Chapter 3
The underground dungeon on the outskirts of the city was damp and pitch-black.
I was brutally chained to a torture rack, my wrists bound by heavy iron cuffs carved with magic-suppressing runes.
The heavy iron door groaned open. Kieran walked in, his face completely devoid of emotion.
In his hands, he carried a black stone bowl. A thick, dark-green liquid boiled inside it.
It emitted a foul, stomach-churning stench.
Bone-Eroding Wolfsbane.
It was the most vicious, forbidden poison in the werewolf world. Not only would it forcibly burn away a mate's soul mark, but its extreme toxicity would instantly kill the fetus in a mother's womb.
Surviving the potion was like being skinned alive. Nine out of ten she-wolves died in pure agony.
"I'm giving you one last chance, Selena."
Kieran stopped in front of me, holding the bowl.
"Beg me right now. Swear you will butcher that rogue yourself, and I might consider leaving your corpse intact."
"Otherwise, I pour this down your throat, and you and your bastard will experience a hell worse than death."
I looked at the bubbling green poison. The cramps in my belly were growing sharper, but I let out a mocking scoff.
"You only ever know how to play dirty, Kieran."
I met his gaze without a shred of fear.
"Pour it, if you have the guts. Because if I survive this, I will tear you to pieces."
"Stubborn bitch!"
Kieran lost the last of his patience. He shoved the stone bowl into the hands of the two burly maids standing by.
"Pour it down her throat! Every last drop!"
The two maids stepped forward with sadistic grins, pinning my shoulders to the rack.
One of them reached out with rough, meaty fingers, pinching my jaw with brutal force to pry my mouth open.
The nauseating stench of the Wolfsbane flooded my nose.
I thrashed wildly, the heavy iron chains rattling against the stone.
I can't drink it. I absolutely cannot drink it.
I slipped my fingers into my sleeve, desperately gripping the ancient wolf fang token Luca had left me before he went hunting.
He told me that if I was ever in danger, I just needed to wake it with my blood, and he would know.
The razor-sharp edge of the fang sliced deep into my palm.
Warm blood instantly soaked into the mysterious, ancient totem carved into the bone.
The totem flashed with a faint crimson light.
"Drink it! Let's melt that bastard into a puddle of blood!" The edge of the stone bowl was shoved against my teeth.
The poison was seconds away from burning down my throat.
Right at that exact, heart-stopping moment—
BOOM!
A deafening explosion ripped through the dungeon!
The heavy, rune-carved iron door was obliterated by an unimaginably violent force, shattering into a thousand jagged pieces of shrapnel.
The iron shards rained into the cell like a storm of bullets. The two maids holding me were instantly blown backward, screaming as they smashed into the far wall.
Kieran was thrown back several steps by the terrifying shockwave, his face pale with absolute horror as he looked up.
A second later, a bloodcurdling, murderous wolf howl tore through the shattered doorway.