Cara’s pov
The sound of the door slamming shut echoed throughout the cabin, replaying in my mind like a haunting reminder. That was the day I officially became a prisoner and a slave, separated from my semblance of life I was starting to have.
It’s been three days since then, and i have not seen Debby since that day. I’ve been left alone with only silence for company, except for the occasional servant bringing just enough food to keep me alive. Brian’s words, my mate’s words, kept echoing in my head. His cold tone, laced with malice and unforgiving distance, haunted my nightmares. His accusations hung in the air like smoke from a wildfire that had burned everything in its path.
‘Dangerous.’
The word felt foreign, as if it didn’t belong to me. How could ‘I’ be dangerous? I was nothing more than a weak, discarded Omega, treated like a slave, chained like an animal. A prisoner of his cold judgement.
My eyes drifted to the bruises on my wrists, the heavy iron chains biting into my skin. A lump formed in my throat, but I refused to cry. ‘Not again.’ Not after everything I’ve endured in my former pack.
Brian had turned his back on me, after everything we had been through. I kept hoping that this was just a nightmare, that he would come back and tell me he didn’t mean what he said, and console my quaking heart. But every time I woke up, it was to the harsh reality that he wasn’t coming back. My heart ached, not just from the physical pain of the chains but from the emotional wreckage of his betrayal. He had rejected me, thrown away our bond as though it meant nothing. As if I was nothing.
“Our mate rejected us,” I suddenly heard a voice inside my head.
My wolf, who had been silent for so long, stirred awake. Her anger flared, pushing into my thoughts, igniting a familiar feeling that terrified me. Like something was coming alive inside me, a warmth bubbling with fierce, raw energy. My pulse quickened, and I could feel it thrumming in my veins, like molten lava threatening to explode. This time, I didn’t resist it. I embraced it, unlike the cold, dark cabin that was devoid of life. I was tired of fighting it.
The room grew colder, but my skin burned with heat. My heartbeat pounded in my ears, matching the rhythm of the pulsing energy within me. It was the same feeling I had experienced during the attack, the night I had broken the silver chains. It happened again on the first day I was imprisoned. Back then, I didn’t understand it. But now, it is different. Now, I knew something was changing.
I stared at the chains binding my wrists. My breath caught in my throat. ‘Could I break them? Could I really free myself?’
The thought seemed impossible, but I couldn’t stop it from racing through my mind. My body trembled as I tried to stay calm, but my wolf was clawing and thrashing inside me. I reached out to her, but she wouldn’t listen. She wanted to be free. She wanted to escape.
Suddenly, the iron shackles rattled, clinking against the wooden bedposts. I gasped, my eyes widening as the metal vibrated beneath my skin. The room felt alive, humming with an invisible force. I could feel it in every breath, every heartbeat, every chain vibrating in tune with the power coursing through me.
The bruises on my wrists began to fade, the pain dissipating as warmth spread through my body. The chains, once cold and unforgiving, seemed to soften. My heart raced, and I closed my eyes, trying to control the surge, trying to understand what was happening.
But it was too much. Too fast. The energy inside me burst free, like a dam breaking under the weight of a roaring river. I cried out, the force shaking the bed, the walls, the very air around me.
The chains trembled, then snapped.
I fell forward, gasping, my hands free for the first time since Brian had left me. I stared at my wrists in disbelief, the iron shackles lying broken on the floor. I had done it. I had broken them again, no, not just broken them. I had ‘shattered’ them, as though they were made of glass.
The room was still, the air heavy with the aftershock of the power I had unleashed. My heart pounded in my chest, and I could feel the energy receding, though it still hummed beneath my skin, making me feel lighter.
I looked around, half-expecting Brian to burst through the door and punish me for what I had done, but there was nothing. Only silence. Only me. The distant sounds of guards didn’t escape my newly heightened senses.
For the first time in my life, I wasn’t just an Omega, a prisoner, or a slave. I was ‘something’ more. Something powerful.
But with that realisation came fear. If I could do this, if I could break silver chains and unleash a power I didn’t understand, what else was I capable of? Was the dream… and the woman’s voice… were they telling the truth?
The door creaked open, and I jumped, my heart leaping into my throat. Debby stood there, her eyes wide, her mouth slightly open in shock as she took in the sight of me, standing free, the chains broken at my feet.
“Cara…” she whispered, her voice trembling. “What… what did you do?”
I didn’t answer. I didn’t know how to explain that I had just broken chains laced with wolfsbane, something even the strongest of Alphas couldn’t do. I was shocked and speechless. The familiar feeling of weakness crept in, making me lightheaded.
I was losing consciousness, my body weakening from the effort. I looked at Debby, fear in my eyes. She stood at the door, dumbstruck by what she was seeing. Would she tell Brian? Would she raise the alarm?
“Cara… your hair… it’s white,” she finally said, her voice panicked.
I didn’t understand. Different emotions overwhelmed me, hate, anger, heartbreak, all consuming me.
“Debby, please… help me. I don’t know what’s happening to me!” I sobbed, breaking down in tears, letting my emotions spill out.
Debby’s eyes darted toward the door, fear flashing across her face. She closed it quickly before hurrying over to me, pulling me into a tight embrace.
“It’s going to be okay, Cara. You’re not a monster. Nothing’s wrong with you,” she tried to console me, but I cried even harder. We stayed like that for what felt like hours, though it could’ve been only minutes.
“Debby, I’m a monster.”
“No, you’re not.”
“My life, my body… it doesn’t feel like my own anymore. It feels foreign. I keep having these dreams of a woman… saying strange things.”
“Dreams?” she asked, her voice sharp. “What are they like?”
I explained everything about the dreams, the mysterious woman, the strange feelings. When I finished, Debby’s expression darkened. She seemed deep in thought, like she knew something she wasn’t saying.
“It hurts, Debby. Everything hurts so much. And not knowing who I really am? That hurts the most.”
She sighed, her shoulders heavy with the weight of a decision. “That’s why I have to tell you the truth, Cara. What you ‘really’are.”
I looked up at her, confused. “What… what am I?”
“You’re special, Cara. You’re not the dangerous monster you think you are.”
“What do you mean by special? Please, stop… this can’t be real. The dreams, the strange feelings, and now this…” I gestured to the broken chains on the floor.
“Stop, Cara,” she hushed me, her voice firm. “I’ll tell you a secret thats has been lost since time. You’re experiencing these things because you’re not a monster…”
She paused, her eyes locking with mine, her voice barely above a whisper.
“i think You’re a Cupbearer.”