What if the monster you were sold to wasn't the real danger?

They call him the Monster. Nine wives. Nine graves. No heirs.

I was supposed to be the tenth.

Sold by my family to save a sister who betrayed me, I thought survival meant staying invisible.

 But when I healed Alpha Kael Cinderclaw in the snow, I accidentally bound us together, a mate bond neither of us wanted and neither can sever.

Now I feel his rage like fire beneath my skin.

 He feels my fear like a blade against his throat. And the fortress that buried nine wives is watching us both.

My family wanted me erased.
His enemies want me dead.

And Kael? He looks at me like I'm the one thing he can't afford to want—but can't let go.

They wanted a sacrifice.
They're getting an awakening.
In a world where power is everything, the wolfless girl just became the Alpha's greatest weakness, and his most dangerous obsession.

Chapter 72 – The Warning She Needed Too Late


By the time training ended, my entire body felt wrong.


Not weak exactly. Weakness was easier to understand. This felt deeper than that, like my body had stopped cooperating with me fully and neither of us knew how to fix it anymore.


Mira had finally forced the session to end after I nearly reopened the wound on my arm trying to continue through it. She didn't argue this time or lecture me about resting. She just looked at me for a long moment with the same uneasy expression she had been wearing more often lately, then told me to go before I collapsed in front of her.


The corridors were quieter than usual as I made my way back through the fortress, but I barely noticed them. My mind stayed fixed on one thing.


If I got hurt badly now… I would die.


Chapter 72 - Chapter 72 – The Warning She Needed Too Late