Chapter 2

Aria's POV

I followed him into the great hall because standing outside while all those wolves stared at me felt worse. The place was colder than I expected. The stone floors seemed to suck the warmth right out of my sneakers, while torchlight flickered against the high walls. Somewhere in the distance, a pack of wolves howled as though they were gossiping about the new girl.

The silence inside pressed against my skin, almost as if the entire fortress was waiting for me to make a mistake.

Draven stopped in the middle of the room and turned toward me.

Up close, he looked even bigger. Scars cut across one side of his jaw, and his golden eyes reminded me of something that hunted at night. He wore a black leather jacket and black jeans, giving him the entire look of a man who owned the mountain and everything inside it.

“Come here,” he said.

I stayed where I was.

“You could at least pretend to ask nicely.”

He did not smile. He simply waited until the silence became uncomfortable before closing the distance himself.

Something cold and smooth brushed against my throat.

I jerked backward, but his hand was already behind my neck, securing the sleek black collar with a soft click.

The moment it locked into place, a low hum of magic awakened against my pulse. It felt like a live wire waiting for an excuse to strike.

“What the fuck—”

“Rules,” he cut in, voice flat and final. “No clothes unless I say you can wear them. No touching yourself. You will kneel when I enter a room, answer when I speak to you, and follow the limits established by the contract. Your safeword is the one boundary I will always respect. Everything else is under my authority for the next forty days.”

I laughed sharply.

“Jesus Christ. No clothes? Kneeling? You are a controlling bastard, you know that? What next? Do I have to ask permission to piss?”

The corner of his mouth twitched as though he almost found me amusing. “You can piss when I allow it. Same for everything else.”

“That’s not a rule, that’s a personality disorder.”

He stepped closer until I had to tip my head back to look at him.

“Strip.”

My stomach dropped.

“Right here? In the middle of your creepy great hall?”

“Right here. Now.”

I crossed my arms.

“Make me.”

The collar gave me a mild warning shock.

It was enough to make my entire neck tingle and force a gasp from me. My hands immediately flew toward the collar before I could stop them.

Draven remained completely calm.

“That was the polite version. The next one will hurt. Remove your clothes.”

Heat rushed into my face.

With shaking hands, I pulled my hoodie over my head and dropped it onto the floor. My tank top came next.

I hesitated when I reached for the button on my jeans, but I forced myself to continue. I pushed them down and kicked them aside with my sneakers.

When I finally stood there exposed beneath the torchlight, I instinctively crossed my arms over myself.

A couple of pack members had appeared in the doorway.

I could feel their eyes on me.

“Lower your arms,” Draven ordered.

“Fuck you.”

Another shock struck the collar, sharper than the first.

I hissed and lowered my arms.

Draven walked slowly around me, studying me with an unsettling calmness. My skin burned beneath his gaze.

“You’re already wet,” he said, almost conversational. “Interesting.”

“I am cold, asshole. That is all.”

“Keep telling yourself that.” He stopped in front of me. “Kneel.”

I remained standing out of pure spite.

For three seconds, I refused.

Then another shock traveled through the collar, and my knees buckled. I hit the cold stone floor hard enough to make me wince.

Draven crouched in front of me until we were at eye level. “Good girl. That was not so difficult.”

“Do not call me that.”

“I’ll call you whatever I want. You’re collared and naked in my hall. Your body already knows who it belongs to even if your mouth is still catching up.”

I glared at him, my cheeks burning.

“Forty days. Then I am gone, and you can find someone else to play your sick little power games with.”

He stood and looked down at me.

“We will see.”

He paused before continuing.

“For now you stay exactly like that until I say otherwise. No covering up. No touching. If I catch you with your hand between your legs I’ll edge you for hours and leave you aching.”

Without looking away from Draven, I raised my middle finger toward him.

“Any other fun rules I should know about?” I asked sarcastically. “Do I have to bark? Roll over? Beg for scraps?”

“You’ll beg,” he said quietly. “Just not tonight. Tonight you learn what the collar feels like when you push. Tomorrow we start the real training.”

He turned and walked toward a side door before stopping to glance over his shoulder.

“Follow me. On your knees. Keep your hands behind your back.”

I remained frozen for half a second.

Pure defiance burned through me, while the collar hummed softly against my throat.

I clenched my jaw, laced my fingers behind my back, and began crawling across the cold stone after him.

Every inch of me felt exposed. Nipples tight, skin prickling, with that unwanted heat pooling low and steady.

My mind kept screaming that I hated this, that I would fight every second, that the second the contract ended I would leave, and never look back.

But my body was already betraying me, and the worst part was knowing he could see it.

The hallway beyond the great hall was narrower and darker, lined with more torches. The distant voices of pack members echoed through the fortress as they spoke quietly among themselves.

Someone wolf whistled as I passed.

Another voice muttered something about the new girl being fresh and mouthy.

Draven did not even look back.

He simply kept walking as though he already knew I would follow.

And I did.

By the time we reached a heavy wooden door, he finally stopped and opened it.

Beyond it was a bedroom.

A large bed stood against one wall, covered with dark sheets. A tall window overlooked the black mountain landscape outside, and the faint light of the moon spilled across the floor.

Draven pointed toward a spot near the foot of the bed.

“Kneel and stay there. I will be back.”

I crawled to the spot and settled back on my heels, keeping my hands behind me.

The collar felt heavy and warm against my throat.

Then the door closed and his footsteps slowly faded down the hallway.

I sat there in silence, trying to process everything that had happened since I entered the fortress.

I had signed a blood contract, and allowed an Alpha I barely knew to take control of my life for forty days.

And now I was alone in his fortress, wearing the mark of his authority around my neck.

And every part of me, from my stubborn mind to the uneasy feeling in my stomach, knew there would be no easy way out.