“A temporary inconvenience. Once the wedding is complete and the contracts are finalized, the suit will be removed. She’ll perform on command.”
“On command.” The young man laughed. “Like a trained animal.”
“Like an investment.” Merrick smiled. “The most valuable investment any of you will ever make.”
More questions were asked—about her dietary requirements, her temperature sensitivity, her breeding potential. She stood in silence, her fists clenched at her sides, while men discussed her body like she was livestock at market.
I am not property,she thought fiercely.I am not a thing to be bought and sold.
But she couldn’t say the words. The suit pressed against her throat, and her voice was too weak to carry the rage she felt.
They returned her to the room when the call ended.
She collapsed onto the bed, shaking with exhaustion and fury. The video call had lasted nearly two hours—two hours of being displayed, discussed, evaluated by men who saw her as nothing more than an exotic commodity.
Is this what my life will be? Entertainment for rich men who want to own something special?
She curled onto her side and reached for the bond with Valrek, desperate for comfort. The connection was still there—muted, distant, but present. She could feel him: rage and fear and a hunting focus that made her heart race. He was searching for her, and she would fight with everything she had to get back to him.
Even if it meant dying in the attempt.
CHAPTER 21
Valrek made his way back to the cave after his meeting with Korrin with something unfamiliar warming his chest.Hope.
He’d almost forgotten what it felt like—that tentative flutter of possibility, the sense that maybe the future held something other than isolation and struggle. A pack that accepted mixed bonds. A community where Lilani could grow up without shame. A place where he and Ariella could build something together.
Ariella.
The thought of her made his beast rumble with satisfaction. She should be at the cave by now, waiting for him with that shy smile that made his heart stutter. He’d been gone longer than he’d intended, but she would understand. She always understood.
The bond hummed at the edge of his awareness. He reached for it automatically, then tensed. Something was wrong. The connection was muted and distant, like hearing a beloved voice through layers of stone, but the emotion was clear. She was afraid.
He broke into a run.
The cave was empty. He knew it the moment he entered—the absence of warmth, of life, of the honey-and-salt scent that meant his mate. The fire had burned down to embers, casting dim shadows across the stone walls.
“Ariella?” His voice echoed off the walls. “Lilani?”
No response.
His beast surged to the surface, and he let it come as he dropped to his knees, pressing his nose to the cave floor.
Scents. Multiple scents.
Ariella’s trail led out of the cave towards the water, unchanged from when they’d parted earlier that day. She hadn’t returned, even though it was long after midday.
Lilani’s trail followed Ariella’s, but it was more recent. Much more recent.
No.
His heart stopped. Ariella had promised to come back, but something had prevented her. And Lilani, Lilani had gone after her.
His daughter was out there somewhere. Alone. Following a trail towards the human village, towards danger, and towards Merrick Bane and his mercenaries.
The transformation was instinctive. He didn’t fight it this time—didn’t struggle against the beast that clawed at his chest, demanding release. The world went red and sharp, his senses expanding to impossible clarity. Muscles rippled and shifted beneath his skin. Fangs lengthened. Claws extended.
He was Vultor in his truest form now—a predator carved from fury and fear, built for one purpose and one purpose only.Kill anything that threatens what’s mine.
