Aria’s POV
I sat on the edge of the bed, staring blankly at the tray of food they’d left on the table. The room was exactly as I remembered it, my old room in Alpha Logan’s pack house. The same soft curtains draped over the window, the same oak dresser in the corner, the same faint smell of citrus that always seemed to linger in the air.
But none of it felt familiar anymore. Everything felt wrong.
I hadn’t touched the food. I didn’t have the appetite. All I could think about was Denderick, about how much I regretted leaving him. If only I hadn’t run away, if only I had stayed with him and Edward, then none of this would’ve happened. I wouldn’t be trapped in this nightmare, torn from my son, with no way of knowing if he was even safe.
But then I remembered how Giselle had made me feel living under the same roof with Denderick, and I shook my head. Which was better-living with the worst of men like Logan, or living with Denderick and being forced to watch him love another woman?
I wiped stray tears that slid down my face, staring out of the window at the silhouette of the forest in the distance. Every second I spent in this room, I felt more and more like a prisoner. Not just of Alpha Logan, but of my own choices.
A sharp creak broke the silence, and the door swung open without a knock.
I looked up, startled, and saw him.
Alpha Logan stood in the doorway, his silhouette outlined by the dim light from the hall. His eyes gleamed with a cold interest, and a slow, deliberate smile spread across his face as he stepped inside, closing the door behind him.
“Good evening, Aria,” he greeted. His voice was as smooth as silk, yet laced with something darker. “How are you settling in?”
I swallowed hard, my body freezing in suspicion. “What do you want, Logan?”
He chuckled softly and moved closer, his eyes roaming over me in a way that made my skin crawl. “No need to be so tense, Aria love. I’ve come to see how you’re doing. I know this is all… difficult for you. Being away from your son, being back in this territory, everything must be so strange for you. I wanted to make sure you were comfortable, because trust me, you’d be spending a very long time with me.”
It took every bit of strength inside of me to hold his gaze. “I don’t care about your fake hospitality. I want to hold my son.”
He raised an eyebrow as if amused by my demand. “You’ll see him or hold him or whatever, eventually. But first, we need to discuss a few things.”
He was standing too close now, his tall frame towering over me. I shifted uncomfortably on the bed, feeling trapped by the force of his attention. My mind screamed at me to stay calm, not to show him any kind of fear. I knew this man like I knew the back of my hand, and I knew he loved relishing the fear he inflicted on others.
“I’m not interested in your games, Logan,” I retorted. “Tell me what you came here for.”
His smile widened, and he reached out, brushing a strand of hair from my face. I jerked back instinctively, my stomach twisting with disgust.
“Oh, Aria,” he murmured, his voice dropping to a whisper. “You know exactly what I want. It is what I have wanted, ever since I saw you escaping from that pit with those women.”
My blood ran cold. It was in the way he looked at me, the way his hand lingered too long on my skin. And then it hit me, what he was after.
He wanted my body.
“No,” I said firmly, standing up from the bed and backing away. “No, Logan. Whatever you’re thinking, whatever you want, the answer is no.”
His expression darkened, and he stepped closer. I sprang from the bed, but Alpha Logan was already backing me against the wall. “You don’t have a choice in this, Aria. You know what’s at stake. I will have what I want, either way. And the only person who would suffer it is you. Think about your son, at least.”
My breath caught in my throat as I realized just how far he was willing to go. He was using Edward, my son, as leverage to sleep with me. The room felt suffocating, the walls closing in on me as panic flooded my veins.
“How dare you?” I hissed, my voice trembling with fury. “Is this the thing you wanted me to do? Is this how you plan to keep my son alive? By forcing me to-”
And before I could finish the sentence, Alpha Logan grabbed my hand and forced me towards the bed.
The rage inside me boiled over. Without thinking, I raised my hand and slapped him hard across the cheek.
The sound of the slap echoed through the room like a crack of thunder. Logan staggered back, his hand flying to his face, his eyes wide with shock.
For a moment, I thought he might retaliate, strike me back, or worse. But then, his expression shifted, darkening into something far more dangerous. The smile that curled on his lips now was full of malice.
“You’ll regret that!” he growled.
I glared at him, panting. “I don’t care what you do to me, Logan. But if you touch my son, I swear I’ll make you pay.”
He took a step closer, his hand still rubbing his cheek where I’d slapped him. “You think you’re in a position to make threats, Aria? You forget who holds all the cards here. If you don’t do as I say, I will end that boy’s life without a second thought. Do you understand me?”
I froze, the blood draining from my face. The threat was real this time. He wasn’t bluffing. I could see it in his eyes-the cruelty, the willingness to follow through on his words.
How had it come to this? How had I ended up so cornered, so powerless?
Tears burned in my eyes, but I refused to let them fall. Not in front of him. Not while he was watching, waiting for me to break.
Logan turned sharply and stalked toward the door, then stormed out.
The moment he was gone, my legs gave out, and I collapsed to the floor. The sobs I had been holding back finally broke free, wracking my body with uncontrollable grief. I buried my face in my hands, crying until my chest ached, feeling more helpless than I ever had in my entire life.
What was I going to do?