Page 17

17

EVE

D arkness pressed in on me, damp and heavy, seeping through the rough stone walls and creeping into my skin.

I couldn’t tell if it was day or night—there was only a hint of light, the musty smell of mildew and the cold presence of iron bars. I forced my eyes open despite the ache between them. A constant throb pulsed behind my forehead, making everything blur around the edges.

Where was I?

I tried to piece it together, but memories kept slipping, fragmented and hazy. The last clear image in my mind was Logan.

Fierce and unyielding, his wolf tore through Damian like he was made of paper. He’d fought for me, killed for me.

And now, the freedom he’d carved out of that fight had vanished, leaving me trapped here—more prisoner than I’d ever been before.

The cold stone floor bit into my skin as I adjusted my position, and a rough, rattling sound echoed. Chains on my wrists scraped against the floor. They were heavy, digging into my skin, and I winced.

“Stay awake,” I muttered. I’d learned in the Heraclid pack that drifting too far from reality was dangerous. Letting my mind slip meant giving up control.

I touched my forehead, feeling the faint imprint of a bruise, the reminder of that old woman’s rings before everything had gone black. It felt distant, foggy, like it had happened to someone else.

I pressed my fingernail into the center of my palm, the small pain keeping me tethered. The chains bit deeper into my wrists, and a bitter laugh escaped my lips, rough and hollow.

“Stupid,” I whispered. “Stupid, stupid, stupid.” For a single, unguarded moment, I’d thought I had made it out. Something new in front of me, a real life, maybe. Freedom.

The Shadow Moon Goddess must have known I was naive to even imagine it.

Logan’s face surfaced in my mind, clear and sharp. His eyes had held such fury, such a primal need to protect. And for one wild, reckless moment, with Damian gone, I’d believed in that protection. I’d believed I could let my guard down.

Did Logan even know where I was? Or had he moved on, the fact that he’d fought for me enough to satisfy whatever instinct gripped him?

He’d done his part, and now I was gone. What more could I expect from the man?

I let out a long, shaky breath .

A dry chuckle drifted over from the cell beside mine. “Oh, did I hear a sigh? Already worn down, little dove?”

That voice, raspy and sardonic, like nails scraping on stone.

“You,” I muttered, leaning my head against the bars to try to see the rest of the subterranean prison. I had to know where she was.

In the cell next to mine?

“Surprised to see me?” she said, her tone thick with mockery. “Honestly, after all my trouble on behalf of your dear Heraclids, I thought I might get a thank you, not a prison cell.”

I knew better than to believe anything that came out of her mouth, but confusion prickled at me. “Trouble on behalf of the Heraclids?”

“Oh, wouldn’t you like to know?” Bitterness seeped from her. “Not all favors are appreciated. I imagine that’s a lesson you’re quite familiar with.”

My mind spun, but the haze of exhaustion clouded every thought I tried to hold on to. I was about to press her further when heavy footsteps clapped against the stone, growing louder and closer, reverberating through the silence.

“Oracle!” The word tore through the quiet, burning into me, even in here.

I recognized his voice immediately—the new enforcer, Alpha Grayson’s latest attack dog. Alaric.

My heart seized, my stomach twisting into a knot, as I now knew exactly where I was.

No, no. Not here, not again.

“Isn’t this a funny turn of events?” Alaric chuckled. “You, of all wolves, landing back with the Heraclids. It’s like a sad little boomerang.”

My blood ran cold.

A smile erupted on his lips. “Didn’t realize your dear old friends missed you so much?”

No, no, no.

I gripped the cold metal of the bars, the pit in my stomach sinking deeper.

I was right back where I’d started.

A low laugh from the old woman cut the tension. “Alaric,” she purred, drawing out the name like it was a secret she intended to keep. “Come on, now. I’ve done you a couple of good turns in the past. You know I was offering up the girl as a favor. I didn’t have to. There are plenty of other packs who would have loved to benefit from her visions the way the Heraclids have done. But I came here.”

“After you offered her up to the Orions, I bet.” Alaric’s stance shifted. His face remained unreadable, cold and impassive. “We all know you serve your own interests first, Mariyah.”

Mariyah.

“Oh, please,” she scoffed, waving a dismissive hand in his direction. “Look who’s talking about loyalty and truth. You, who waltzed into the Heraclid fold after being Orion’s beta.”

His jaw tightened, but he didn’t flinch. “I made my choices,” he said, each word clipped. “And I don’t answer to a vagrant like you.”

Her laughter grew harsher. “Oh, is that how it goes now? Orion’s discarded beta has a new script. Should I be impressed, Alaric? No longer appreciative of Orion’s former might?”

Alaric’s eyes flashed with dark amusement. “Orion is nothing but a rotting artifact, clinging to scraps of power while pretending it means something. Logan feeds them promises of greatness, clutching his pride like a fool, while his so-called strength and unity leave them scattered, vulnerable, and one step from extinction.”

The words slammed into me. Alaric—Logan’s former beta. A betrayer. I’d known Heraclids could be ruthless, that they’d taken in all sorts of defectors over the years, but this… This was something else. Logan’s own second-in-command was here, with the Heraclids, spitting on everything he’d once sworn to protect.

“In any case,” he continued through clenched teeth, “this isn’t about you. It’s about her . You are simply a royal pain in the ass.”

“The only royalty under the Shadow Moon is Orion pack,” Mariyah hissed back with such fervor a wave of mystic power rolled over me.

Alaric flinched as if slapped, then let out a long exhale. “You’ll stay here and think about what you’ve done like a good little old witch, while Alpha Grayson decides what to do with you next. As for you…” He bit his lower lip. “I can see why Damian wanted to fuck you. There’s something in your aura. Delicious. I’d take you now if I could, bend you over that chair and give you something any oracle would beg for, except…”

Just stop. Stop.

I hadn’t been with Damian ever and the thought of Alaric’s desire, the stench coming off him, made me want to gag .

“Except I think Alpha Grayson has his eye on you.”

He clicked his tongue and winked before stuffing his hands in his pockets and strutting out of the prison.

Grayson.

My throat closed up as I desperately tried to push the thought aside. I needed quiet, needed space, to reach into the void of the Shadow Moon Goddess for any vision that would help me find a way out of this.

“Seems they aren’t done with you yet.” Mariyah chuckled.

“Shut up.” I closed my eyes, seeking the place inside me that would transcend into the space where visions could arise.

“I still have my bargaining chips, don’t you worry about me, little dove. And this old body is more lithe than one might think. You could almost call me a serpent shifter, except I always keep this shape. Something wholly alluring about being a mature woman, wouldn’t you say?”

I exhaled sharply, trying to block her out.

“You, on the other hand?—”

“ Shut up. ”

She cackled again. “You are fucked.”