Her writer’s block didn’t just lift—it dissolved completely, as if it had never existed at all.
Chapter after chapter poured onto the screen. Her heroine materialized with fierce sharpness and depth, a woman who refused to be diminished by the power of her Alpha mate but understood that their bond would never allow that. And her hero—God, her hero was pure Rune, all controlled dominance and protective fury wrapped in devastating tenderness. Their love story unfolded raw and honest, every sensation she’d experienced translated into prose that made her pulse race.
She barely registered time passing, lost in the rhythm of creation. This would be the most authentic thing she’d ever written because it was her reality being shared with her readers. The thought didn’t terrify her—it thrilled her. Her fans would finally feel something this intense and this real themselves.
They will love this book, she realized with bone-deep certainty.
Of course, Cosette would be over the moon. And Rune—Rune would be proud.
Everything had led her to this moment. Every heartbreak, every disappointment, and every night of lonely creativity had been preparation for this story.
She was ready now. Ready to be vulnerable, ready to be seen, ready to?—
The sound shattered her concentration like glass.
Not loud. Not sudden. Justwrong.
Electra’s fingers froze above the keyboard, her heartbeat skipping as awareness crashed back into her body. Rune was at the council meeting. The patrols were active in the area. Noone should be anywhere near her isolated cabin, especially not moving with such deliberate quiet.
She told herself it was nothing—the old house settling in the warming sun. But the mate bond tightened slightly anyway, unease threading through the golden warmth like a cold wire. Her instincts, sharpened by weeks in the wilderness and heightened by her connection to Rune, screamed that something was fundamentally off.
The silence stretched, thick and oppressive. Electra turned slowly in her chair, dread creeping up her spine.
“Hi, beautiful.”
The voice came from directly behind her, smooth and familiar in the most horrifying way possible. Her blood turned to ice in her veins as recognition slammed into her.
“Looks like we’re finally alone now.”
Tyr Grodin stood in her living room like he belonged there, his boyish features arranged in that familiar smile that had once seemed harmless at book signings. Now it looked predatory and hungry, his eyes fixed on her with a piercing intensity that caused her skin to crawl.
Electra’s chair scraped against the floor as she shot to her feet, adrenaline flooding her system. The mate bond pulsed with alarm, responding to her terror.
“How did you?—“
Tyr moved faster than she expected for someone who looked so ordinary. His body slammed into hers with brutal efficiency, sending them both crashing to the hardwood floor. The impact drove the air from her lungs as his weight pinned her down, his hands already reaching for her wrists.
The scream tore from her throat, raw and desperate, echoing off the cabin walls. She fought with everything she had, trying to buck him off, but he was stronger and had clearly planned this moment down to the last detail.
“Shh, shh,” he murmured against her ear, his breath hot and wrong. “Don’t fight me, Electra. This is how it was always supposed to be.”
Her mind raced even as panic threatened to drown her. “How did you get inside? Rune put in security—motion sensors?—“
Tyr’s laugh was rich with satisfaction, the sound of a man savoring his own cleverness. “Oh, that’s the beautiful part. Your precious Alpha thinks he’s so smart, but he never saw the real threat coming.”
He flipped her onto her stomach with practiced ease, producing zip ties from his pocket like a magician pulling rabbits from a hat. The plastic bit into her wrists as he secured them behind her back, his movements efficient and terrifyingly prepared.
“Birch Fen helped me once he realized what I wanted,” Tyr continued conversationally, hauling her to her feet. “Turns out even some of Rune’s own pack members aren’t too happy about their Alpha choosing a human mate. Amazing what loyalty to the old order can accomplish.”
Electra’s stomach dropped as the implications crashed over her. “The duel?—“
“Perfect distraction.” His grip on her arm was iron-tight as he guided her toward the door. “While your mate was busy playing hero and fighting for your honor, Birch’s men and some of Rune’s men were helping me slip past those fancy motion sensors. They even gave me the security code and a spray to mask my scent. It’s so amazing what people will do when they think tradition is being threatened.”
The morning sunlight felt like a mockery as he forced her outside toward a battered pickup truck. Everything Rune had fought for last night—his authority, their future, the right to choose her—had been nothing but an elaborate smokescreen.
“This was never about you alone,” Tyr said, reading her expression with disturbing accuracy. “It’s about breaking him. About showing the world that even the great Rune Hale can be brought to his knees.”
He opened the passenger door with exaggerated courtesy, like this was a date instead of a kidnapping. “But that’s just a bonus. What matters is us, Electra. What we’re going to build together.”
