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“No. I still want you, Julian Hells, and I hate you and myself because I do. If we were still together, would you have marked me? Because if you’d marked me, you’d be mine and I’d be yours forever. Not Alaric or anyone else would come between us.”

This time, he does turn around, and the Julian I once loved looks at me with the most genuine smile I’ve ever seen.

But I know better. I know his bad parts outweigh his good.

“I would have marked you even if you didn’t ask me to, Lila. That’s how much I loved and still love you.”

I swallow the lump stuck in my throat, wincing as the silver-threaded cuffs around my wrists scrape against the metal bars behind me. I can’t take a step forward, not when my ankles are tied and my body is practically bound to this rusty cage.

But I lift my chin anyway.

I shift just enough to make it look like I’m choosing him, to make him believe I still have a choice, even when he’s got me tied up. For Lina.

“Then mark me. Mark me so that Alaric knows I chose you and that you are the only Alpha I want in my bed.”

Seconds turn into minutes. Julian stands there with a suspicious expression and an undeniable gleam in his eyes.

I think he’ll see through my bluff.

But he proves to be as predictable as I had thought.

His eyes light up with sick triumph as he licks his lips and steps closer. “Your wish is my command, peaches,” he says, voice like oil on fire. “Come to me.”

But I can’t. Not while I’m still tied to this damn wall

Julian’s grin stretches wider when he realizes it. That he still has me tied. That I'm at his mercy, and only he can be my savior.

He approaches like he’s savoring the moment. I brace myself as he crouches, his claw-tipped fingers brushing my wrists. He undoes the silver-threaded restraints like it’s a wedding gift, like he’s unwrapping something that’s his.

“I always knew you’d come back to me,” he breathes as he yanks me forward, away from Lina. “We belong together.”

“No! Mommy!” Lina screams. Her cries pierce the air like glass shattering in a dead-silent room.

She’s full-on wailing now, reaching for me, her little hands outstretched, her legs kicking against the ground like she’s about to launch herself at us. “Mommy, no, please don’t go! Please don’t leave with the bad man!”

My heart cracks open. Her sobs cut into me like a blade, and I’m almost tempted to stay for a minute and assure her everything is okay.

But Julian doesn’t care. He grabs me by the waist and hauls me to the center of the room like we’re stepping onto a goddamn dance floor, like this is some deranged version of a Mating ceremony.

Lina’s cries grow frantic behind me. She’s shrieking now. I don’t dare look back. If I do, I’ll crumble. If I do, I’ll give myself away.

But I feel her. Every desperate scream. Every breathless hiccup. Every terrified, shattered sob.

The smell of Julian’s choking cologne hits my lungs first.

I want to wash every bit of my skin as his forehead rests on mine and his rancid breath slaps my face.

“I always knew you’d come to your senses.

I knew you’d understand who’s the better man.

You smell so good, peaches. Just like you did in my arms when we made love.

Now, show me that graceful neck, beautiful.

Let me sink my fangs into that porcelain skin. ”

He pulls me even closer.

I brace myself.

His lips graze my neck.

I bide my time.

His chest exhales against mine.

I stand on my tiptoes.

Then I strike. One minute Julian is leaning toward the crook of my neck to mark me, and the next minute, my teeth sink into his left ear and I bite as hard as I can till I draw blood.

Julian yells and pulls back, blood streaming down the curve of his neck.

I don’t waste even a second to admire what I just did to him.

“Run!” I scream to Lina.

My baby bolts toward me, but halfway through her sprint, she slips. I don’t hesitate. I scoop her into my arms mid-stride, her startled gasp muffled as she clings to me.

We run.

We don’t look back.

Not when the startled guards by the door yell at us.

Not when my feet slip open on the wet leaves and sharp underbrush.

Lina, Goddess, she wraps her arms around my neck tighter and buries her face there like it’s her last refuge.

The wet leaves squish under my bare feet.

Every step into the woods, into the unknown, into the leaves and branches that slap and scratch my face, terrifies me. The sun is starting to rise, trying to push out the darkness and my weary muscles feel like calling it quits and stopping for a minute.

But I never stop running.

Not when I hear Julian telling his guards not to shoot me and certainly not when I hear the heavy footsteps behind us gaining on me.

I’ll survive.

My baby and I are getting out of here.

“Lila!” Julian’s roar scares the birds from the trees.

“How far do you think you can go?” he shouts again, making sure to add a cruel chuckle to his words so I can hear him loud and clear.

“Get them!” Julian’s command pierces the air like a bullet. “Find her! Don’t let them get far!”

His voice no longer pretends to charm, it’s desperation now. And fury.

Goddess, please…please help me.

The Goddess doesn’t hear me.

No.

She betrays me, because I collide with a huge wall of muscle that without a doubt belongs to Julian or his guards.

My knees buckle, my vision blurs, and for a single terrifying second, I think it’s over. That Lina and I are back into Julian’s arms.

But that’s before the man in front of me speaks.

“Wild one.”

My breathing slows.

His voice is low and broken, like gravel soaked in honey.

His palm cups my cheek gently as if I’m something precious, like someone he didn’t expect to run into.

And then I smell it—him. Pine and warmth, cedar and safety.

My wolf howls with recognition.

My knees give out entirely, and I sob into his chest as his other arm wraps around Lina and I, holding both of us like he won’t ever let us break again.

“I’m here, wild one. You are safe, I’ve got you both.”

He’s here. My Mate is here. And the world finally feels like it’s right again.