After being yanked out of the river, Wren felt her world was a chaotic blur of cold water and darkness. She gasped for air while coughing up water, and her body shuddered. The water was cold as ice.
Suddenly, her arm was gripped by a rough hand, pulling her out into the muddy bank. But her vision seemed unclear. She couldn’t tell whether what she was seeing was real.
Acwulf stood over her and blocked the little light filtered through the trees. Her eyes gleamed, and his face marked triumph and a predator’s satisfaction. He finally caught his prey and was now ready to be devoured.
“You’ll regret this,” Wren rasped.
Her throat was raw from inhaling water, but Acwulf only smirked. She was like a ragdoll, almost lifeless and barely able to stand. Wren knew she couldn’t fight him but tried so hard to hide the fear.
Acwulf crouched down with his face inches from Wren. His mouth smelled a mixture of smoke and alcohol, a scent that made her stomach twist.
“Regret?” he chuckled.
“Darling, I feel relieved for the first time in months. You’re mine now. And no one would take you away from me.”
Wren’s body shivered from the cold, and his voice shivered, but defiance still flickered in her eyes. She wanted to scream and claw at him, but her muscles felt heavy with exhaustion.
Acwulf’s men surrounded them, watching with anticipation and cruelty. They were like Acwulf, behaved like beasts who took pleasure in violence, and never knew how to show mercy. Two of them seized Wren by the arms, hauling her to her feet. Her legs were wobbly but didn’t want to go. They had to drag her against the rough bark of the forest floor. Her skin got scraped, leaving ugly and bleeding marks. She almost flinched from pain.
“You think this would earn you something? But it would only destroy. You would cry for help,” Wren’s voice trembled.
Acwulf’s laughter cut through the night like a jagged blade. He yanked her closer, his breath hot against her ear.
“Earn me something? You still don’t understand, do you? I would live for as long as I wanted once I am done with my need for you. You’re the one who needs saving.”
Wren tried to pull away, but her body wouldn’t cooperate. The more she fought, the more she became weaker. What am I going to do? What the hell did Acwulf want from her? Did Conri send him to look and capture her? Or did he send him to kill her? Wren shivered more with the thoughts.
The men dragged her deeper into the woods. The canopy overhead grew denser, blocking the moonlight until the forest became a shadowy maze of trees and silence. Wren’s heartbeat thudded in her ears, but anger and hatred fueled her spirit to keep fighting.
They reached the mouth of a cave, hidden behind thick vines and overgrown brambles. Acwulf’s men shoved her inside like trash. Wren stumbled and landed hard on the stone floor.
The cave smelled damp, the air thick with mildew and earth. Chains rattled in the dark corners, clinking like ghostly echoes. Then, Acwulf stepped inside, smiling.
“You’re special, Wren,” he said, circling her like a vulture waiting for its prey to die.
“You have no idea what kind of power you hold. But don’t worry. I’ll show you later.”
He shackled Wren’s wrists. It was made of pure silver that burned her. But Wren couldn’t feel it as her mind spins. Acwulf’s words were like poison, sinking into her consciousness. But she refused to let it get through her and be held like a pawn.
The howling of wolves sends shivers into Wren’s spine. Somewhere out there, Reule was searching for her. She could feel it in her bones. He would come. He had to.
Wren pulled against the chains, testing them. Her wrists ached as the metal dug into her flesh. It burned her even more, but she tried to use it as a reminder that she was still alive. She would fight and never give up.
Acwulf crouched in front of her, his eyes narrowed.
“You can’t escape,” he said with deep confidence.
“No one’s coming for you. By the time anyone figures out where you are, you’ll be nothing but a memory.”
A flicker of doubt crossed Wren’s mind, but she shoved it away. She couldn’t let him get inside her head. She needed to focus, to think of a way out. But as the minutes ticked by, the exhaustion gnawed at her.
Her vision was blurred. Wren felt like the cave was closing, and the wall pressed tighter and tighter every second.
Acwulf stood, his shadow stretching long across the cave floor.
“Sleep now, Wren. You’ll need your strength in the days to come,” he instructed and turned to leave.
Wren’s eyelids fluttered, her body succumbing to the exhaustion that weighed her down. But just as she began to slip into unconsciousness, a sudden surge of hope lit inside her. She couldn’t tell if she was dreaming, but she saw Reule. She saw him running in human, then in wolf form. Reule was furious and ran like lightning. He was enraged at what they had done to me. Wren heard him whisper, “I’m coming. I’m coming. Wait for me. I’m coming.”
Wren smiled upon hearing his voice. Earlier, while drowning in the river, she thought that she would never see him. It scared him more than dying. She wanted to see him, hear his voice, even for the last time.
She didn’t want to die without saying goodbye. Wren wanted to apologize for not realizing it sooner. She understood now who he was to her and why they met. The incident had awakened her to a realization. Reule was her mate. And she hoped that it wasn’t too late for them to be together and bond.
“Moon Goddess, please let me live and see him again,” she prayed as she drifted to sleep.