"Rain Stabler, daughter of the fallen Stabler family, once the betas of Gorion City?"

The old woman’s voice rang sharp and cold, cutting through the suffocating air. She looked down her nose at me, her sharp features carved with disdain.

"Yes, Madame," replied the delta at my side. His tone was clipped, devoid of warmth. "She is fit to be your son’s wife. This arrangement will serve its purpose."

The woman’s upper lip curled as she studied me with thinly veiled disgust. Beside her, her husband’s gaze bore into me, more calculating than cruel. I could feel the weight of their scrutiny, every glance a judgment. Fear crawled up my spine as I thought of their son—the beast I would soon be bound to. Yet something deeper, darker, warned me that rejection would be far worse than the fate awaiting me in that tower.

"Cursed blood," the old man muttered. His lip twitched with contempt. "Why bind our line to another weakling? Why pair one cripple with another?"

His words burned.

The woman’s eyes flashed in anger which shocked me.

"Alaric is not weak!" she spat.

"Then where is he now?" the old man roared. "Locked away! Hiding! Ever since he turned four, he has brought nothing but shame on this house!"

With a ferocious snarl, he hurled his goblet against the marble floor. The shattering glass echoed like gunfire, and I flinched. His hand shot out, pointing at me, a trembling finger full of malice.

"Take her. Marry her to Alaric. And if this fails," he threatened, "I will kill him myself and be done with this curse!"

A tremor raced through my body, my knees threatening to give way. I felt the walls closing in, my breath shallow. But the woman’s sudden movement drew my eyes—so swift it was almost supernatural.

Before I could react, she was in front of me.

Her eyes glowed red.

Red. Not the golden hue of our kind. But… we’re Lycans…

A sharp gasp escaped my lips, my heart thundered against my ribs. My mind raced with the impossible truth. Lycan eyes don’t turn red. She is cursed, too.

Or perhaps I was hallucinating.

"You’ll never obey my son," she hissed. "You will never listen to his temptations. You will never break the rule. If you do…" Her nails dug into my arm. "You will die. And death, girl, is not an option. I need you alive. My son will not survive if you die. Do you understand?!"

Terror swelled in my chest. The delta at my side shifted.

"You have no choice, Miss Stabler," he whispered. "Death or servitude. Risk your life, or lose it now."

The silence followed us as the shaman and I crossed the forest. The path grew darker with each step, the trees twisting into shapes like grasping hands. Wind howled between the trunks, a mournful, haunting sound. I felt the weight of unseen eyes.

We stopped at a door of ancient stone, cold and unmoving. The shaman placed her hand on the carved surface.

"Listen closely," she murmured. Her eyes glimmered with warning. "The creature within is cunning. When I bind your soul to his, his blood will crave you. He will want you. Do not yield to him."

Her words burned into me, heavy as iron.

"Temptation is death."

Every step up the spiral staircase felt heavier than the last. Shadows thickened, pressing in around me. The air turned cold. My breath hitched as something sharp scraped my neck.

I reached up, my fingers brushing the wet warmth of my own blood. A thin crimson thread floated from my wound, twisting, shimmering in the darkness. It stretched forward, reaching…

I stopped.

At the center of the room lay a bed carved from stone, draped in dark velvet.

He was there.

Naked but for a thin cloth at his waist, his chest rising and falling with a rhythm far too slow. His body was a vision of impossible perfection, carved muscle and golden skin. But a darkness hung over him, a terrible, suffocating power.

A wound on his wrist dripped with blood. It joined with mine, a glowing red thread that pulsed between us.

A voice—deep, commanding—filled my mind.

"Help me!" it cried. "Wake me, mate. Free me from this prison!"

I clutched my head, shaking. The voice was everywhere, a desperate, suffocating plea.

"I need you," it groaned. "I need to see you. To hold you. To kiss you."

Terror gripped my heart. My lips trembled.

"Kiss me," the voice whispered again, low and sinful.

I clenched my fists, refusing the lure. My heart may have been broken by Aidan’s betrayal, by August’s coldness—but my first kiss, my virginity, would never be for this… beast.

"Who are they?" the voice roared. A growl, vicious and furious tore me. "Who are the men who fill your thoughts when you are mine?"

My breath caught. He could hear me.

"Let me rise, mate," he snarled. "Let me tear them apart. I’ll end them both."

“But you’re cripled. You’re weak!” speak my mind.

My legs buckled beneath me.

"You don’t understand. I’m no mere wolf."

A cold, dark smile filled his laughter.

"I am hybrid," he hissed. "Lycan and vampire. I kill with claws or with fangs. Choose your poison.”

I couldn’t breathe. My body shook with the truth of it.

That’s why they called him a beast.

And that’s why every woman before me had died tragically.

“Please, help me! I can’t do this anymore! I'll take it back!” I screamed at the shaman.

They locked me inside this cursed castle—a week of solitary confinement to “calm the beast” with my presence.

“I won’t tell anyone about this! Just please!”

The shaman turned to me.

“There’s no turning back. Your lives are bound now. You’re married to him.”

Before I could argue, the man who had escorted her shifted his form, his body melting into the shadows as they both disappeared, leaving me alone.

I turned to the man lying unconscious on the cold stone floor—a beast in a man’s skin. My heart clenched with regret. I should have never accepted the offer. I knew death awaited me on my birthday, but at least it would’ve been a clean death, not something horrifying like this.

If I died here, no one would even know. My body would likely be torn apart and scattered across this tower.

I’d learned something in my time here.

The women who had come before me didn’t disobey the rules because they lacked willpower. They obeyed because they couldn’t resist. Alaric was a predator designed to seduce his prey. The bond between us made me crave him in ways I didn’t want to admit.

I shuddered painfully. I wanted him to touch me, to hold me, and that thought terrified me.

Now, on my sixth day in the tower, I woke drenched in sweat, my mind fogged with the remnants of a vivid dream. He had been there, faceless but relentless, his touch burning into my skin. His whispers echoed in my mind.

“Come to me, mate,” his deep voice purred. “Wake me up. You know you want to.”

“No,” I muttered.

I wasn’t his. I couldn’t be.

I thought of August, the man I had once wanted to marry, and Aidan, the one I had foolishly loved. Either of them would have been better than this. But those feelings were long buried beneath betrayal and pain.

“Those names again.” His voice sharpened in my mind. “I will kill them the moment I awaken.”

A sharp pain stabbed through my skull, and I felt warm blood trickle from my nose. His anger fed my suffering, his hunger consuming me from the inside out.

“But you can’t disobey the rules, Rain,” I whispered to myself.

“Yes, you can,” he countered. “Don’t fight it. We’ll both enjoy this.”

I pressed myself into the corner of the room, trying to block him out. But his voice was relentless.

“Those people you loved—they abandoned you. But I won’t. I’ll keep you safe, mate.”

His words pierced through me, stirring memories I had tried to bury.

I thought of Janna, her bloodied body standing on the cliff edge. She had attacked me that day, and when I fought back, she slipped and nearly fell. Aidan and August had seen the scene, but they believed her over me. They believed I had tried to kill her.

They didn’t listen when I tried to explain.

Their betrayal had driven me into the delta’s trap. That man offered me an escape from their wrath, but it came with a price I was now paying with my very soul.

Tears streamed down my face. I’d been hunted, cast out, and left to fend for myself. And now, I’m married to a monster.

“Feel this, mate,” the beast whispered.

A searing heat erupted in my chest, spreading through my body like wildfire. I gasped, clutching at my throat as the pain overwhelmed me.

I stumbled through the room, desperate for water, for anything to soothe the fire burning inside me. My vision blurred, and I tripped, falling against something solid and warm.

My hands trembled as I felt the contours of a muscular chest.

“No,” I whispered, dread pooling in my stomach.

Laughter rumbled in my mind, turning into a deep, guttural growl that filled the room. I forced my eyes open and froze.

Before me stood the beast. His fangs glistened, his eyes glowing with hues of red and gold. His gaze pinned me in place, predatory and hungry.

“Mate…”

My heart pounded as I realized what I had done. I had touched him. I had broken the one rule I was supposed to follow. I had awakened him.

“Now,” he growled, a wicked smile spreading across his face, “let’s take care of our needs.”

The walls shuddered as his laughter echoed through the tower, but the sound was interrupted by two powerful growls from the staircase.

The beast stepped in front of me, shielding me as two figures emerged from the shadows. My breath caught in my throat.

Aidan and August.

The brothers shifted back into human form, their golden eyes blazing with fury.

“She’s ours,” they snarled in unison.

I staggered back, my mind reeling. How could they claim me after everything they’d done—after they had hunted me, imprisoned me, and left me to rot?

The beast’s laughter thundered again.

“She is my mate. You cannot take her from me.”

“Let her choose,” August snapped. “She’ll come to us. She belongs with us.”

The beast turned to me, his gaze challenging. “Is that true?”

I hesitated, my heart caught between fear and despair. Despite everything, I couldn’t deny the small, fragile hope that they could still save me.

“Y-yes,” I whispered,

“Then let me kill you before I hand you to them,” he snarled, his fangs bared as he lunged.

“P-please… d-don’t k-kill me…” I begged, my voice trembling.

I couldn’t understand myself. Moments ago, I was willing to die, wishing I had never married him. Now, here I was, pleading for my life.

But then again, I was his wife. I should survive… right? As long as I didn’t break the rules.

Then it hit me—I already broke them.

“Who must I kill? You… or them?” His voice dripped with malice.

I swallowed hard, my gaze darting to August and Aidan, bleeding and broken on the floor. He hadn’t fought them fair; instead, he’d unleashed the beast within, his hybrid strength obliterating their lycan prowess.

No match for him.

This wasn’t just a fight; it was slaughter. Even together, Aidan and August couldn’t hold a candle to the raw power of a hybrid—especially one awakened after years of slumber. And worse? A hybrid bound by marriage was even stronger.

If he ever impregnated me… he'd become more powerful. A hybrid seed in a pureblood lycan? It would destroy me.

I looked at my friends again. They were more than allies—they were family. I had risked everything to save them once. Was that all for nothing? Would they die here, in front of me?

“L-let them go, and… I won’t leave this place.”

“And why should I believe you?” His voice slithered into my mind like a predator stalking prey.

His eyes scanned the room, full of disdain.

“All the women who came before you—all the ones who awakened me—wanted to leave. None of them wanted to stay. None of them wanted to carry my child. Just like you. You’re all the same.”

My lips parted in shock.

“What…?”

“You think I killed them because they broke the rules? No. I gave them everything they could ever want—a throne, a crown, a life as my queen. And yet…” He crouched, his claws gripping my chin, forcing me to meet his gaze. “They rejected me. They chose death.”

I froze.

Could it be true? Had everyone misunderstood? Were those women not killed for breaking his rules, but because they refused him?

“They didn’t want me to touch them. They didn’t want to bear my child. And so,” he smirked, “what else could I give them but death? Rejection deserves punishment.”

My heart pounded as I tried to crawl backward, but he closed the distance with ease.

Panic clawed at my chest. What could I do against him? All my life, I’d relied on Aidan and August. Yes, I was pureblood, but I was no match for a hybrid. No one was—except…

Except their mate.

The realization hit me like a bolt of lightning.

“Now… do you want to suffer the same fate?”

His red eyes burned brighter, his pale skin almost luminous. His fangs lengthened as his monstrous form came closer.

I was going to die. I knew it. He was unstoppable, and I was just another victim in the endless cycle of women sacrificed to his rage. Unless… I'd end it.

“C-can you promise me everything you promised them as well?” I forced my voice to steady as I asked.

His head tilted.

“Of course, mate. I will do anything for you. Anything…”

“Would you… would you die for me?” I asked through gritted teeth. “Those two… they were willing to die for me. They loved me enough to make their lives revolve around me. That’s why I loved them. So could you do the same?”

Lie.

I locked my thoughts, shutting them away. He didn't know what I was planning.

Legends flooded my memory, stories told to us as children about the hybrids. Only four had ever existed in our world. Their dual bloodlines made them invincible—unstoppable monsters worshipped and feared. Only their mates had ever defeated them.

And that’s what I’d do.

“P-promise me you’d love me.”

“I’d love you, mate,” he purred. “I’d offer you my life. I’d die for you. I’d rule the world and make you queen. No one could harm you. No one would even dare.”

I bowed my head, pretending to submit, masking my disgust with feigned loyalty.

“I will stay with you, Alaric. Through thick and thin.”

Lie.

I would kill him. I’d drive the blade into his heart myself and end this nightmare. For Aidan, for August, for all the women who’d died before me.

“How about bearing my child?” he probed.

I bit my lip. Could I fake that too? Could I carry his child long enough to destroy him, or would I have to end it before it even began?

I raised my head and met his gaze.

“I’d bear as many children as you want. I promise.”

Another lie.

I’d make sure none of his kind would survive.

Before I could think further, he crossed the distance between us in a blur, his strength overwhelming as he lifted me and carried me toward the window.

My brows furrowed. Confusion prickled at the edges of my panic.

His lips curled into a chillingly sweet smile, his eyes gleaming with wicked intent.

“Then before we begin our forever…” he pressed a cold kiss to my lips, “you should die first.”

My heart stopped.

Before I could react, he hurled me out of the tower window.