Chapter 7
Chains and Promises
Kyra’s POV
The first sound I heard was chains dragging across stone.
The sound wasn't loud just a regular scrape and rattlebut it hurt like nails. It smelled like wet earth and iron, and the walls were heavy with the smell of blood that had dried on them long before tonight. The more I went inside, the faster my heart beat. The guards probably left me alone because they thought I wouldn't stay long.
However I couldn't stay away.
Not from him.
It's not from Damon.
He turned his head when he heard my steps. His hair was damp, stuck against his forehead, shadows sharpening the cruel lines of his face. His arms were tied to the wall with chains, but his sharp, storm-gray eyes were free. They burned into me like they always did.
“You shouldn’t be here.” His voice was raw, low, but steady.
“I didn’t come for you,” I lied, my hands curling into fists.
A smile curved his lips, though there was no fun in it. “You never do. Yet here you are.”
I wanted to scream at him, to tell him that I hated him, that I would always hate him. But my throat failed me, tightening with every word he hadn’t spoken yet every word he’d ever used to break me.
“I came to make this clear,” I forced out. “Whatever this… bond is between us, it ends here. You’ll reject me, Damon. Tonight.”
His smirk faded, replaced by a silence that stretched so heavy it made my wolf stir inside me, antsy and rebellious.
Finally, he spoke, each word sharpened by quiet fire. “I’d rather die bound to you than free without you.”
The chains rattled as he shifted against the wall, his body too tense for someone so bruised and weakened. My heart beat.
“You don’t get to say things like that,” I snapped, my voice breaking. “You don’t get to make this harder than it already is.”
“You think I’m trying to make it hard?” His eyes narrowed, searching mine. “No, Kyra. This is me living. This link is the only thing keeping me alive here.”
I shook my head, stepping closer despite myself. “You ruined everything. You ruined people I cared about. You put this curse on me on us. And now you want me to believe you care?”
His jaw tightened, but he didn’t look away. “I never wanted this bond. But I’ll never reject it. Not you.”
The words stung, not because they were mean, but because they sounded so close to something I wanted to believe. My wolf pressed against my ribs, claws scratching, longing, pulling me toward him.
“No,” I whispered harshly. “You don’t understand what you’re asking. The Resistance is already watching me. They think I’ve picked your side.”
“Have you?” His voice was low, scary, but not toward the question itself.
My lips parted, but no sound came out. I hated that he could quiet me with nothing more than a look.
“I defend you once,” I said finally, “and they think I’ve betrayed them. Do you know what that means for me?”
His eyes softened, just slightly. “It means you’re standing where you belong. At my side.”
I laughed bitterly. “Your side? You’re in chains, Damon. You’re useless. The Resistance won’t hesitate to kill you if I let them. And maybe I should.”
His eyes flickered with something dark and unknown, but when he replied, his voice was steady. “Then do it. Kill me, Kyra. If you hate me as much as you say, end it right now.”
My breath caught, my wolf roaring inside me, fighting the very thought. My hand shook where it hovered over the knife at my waist.
But I couldn’t.
“Coward,” I whispered.
“No,” he said, leaning forward as much as the chains allowed. “I just know you won’t. Because you feel it too. This link isn’t a curseit’s truth. You and I… we were meant.”
The word meant twisted like a knife in my chest. I turned away, moving, needing room from the weight of his gaze.
“Stop saying that,” I mumbled. “Stop making this sound like fate when it’s nothing but the Moon Goddess’ twisted joke.”
For a moment, quiet filled the prison again, broken only by the drip of water from the ceiling. Then his voice came, softer this time.
“Maybe it’s a curse. Maybe it’s punishment. But if it’s punishment, then I’ll take it. Because being chained here, bleeding, broken… none of it matters if it means you’re mine.”
My throat tightened. “Don’t. Don’t call me yours.”
He gave a sad smile. “Then why are you here, Kyra? Why do you come back, even when every part of you screams to stay away?”
I hated the question because I didn’t have an answer. Or maybe I did, and I refused to say it aloud.
“You’ll reject me,” I said again, stronger this time, though my voice trembled. “If you won’t do it for yourself, then do it for me. Free me from this bond.”
His eyes glinted, angry and unwavering. “Never.”
The word hit me like a blow. My wolf surged, anger and desire mixing until I could barely breathe. I slammed my hand against the wall beside him, chains creaking from the impact.
“You don’t get to trap me like this!” I shouted, my voice cracking. “You don’t get to hold me hostage with something I never wanted!”
“And yet,” he said gently, “you’re still here.”
I wanted to scream. I wanted to tear the chains from the wall and choke him with them, or maybe free him just so I could watch him run and prove he would never stay. Instead, I stood there shaking, breath ragged, looking at the man who had ruined my life and bound my soul.
Before I could answer, footsteps echoed at the top of the stairs. My head snapped up, heart racing. The prison door creaked open, and a voice rang down the stairs.
“Kyra? Are you down there?”
It was Rowan leader of the Resistance.
Panic rushed through me. If he found me here with Damon, everything would unravel.
I turned back to Damon, despair squeezing my chest. “Say it,” I hissed. “Say you reject me. Now.”
He leaned closer, chains creaking under his weight, his lips touching the edge of a smile that was more dangerous than defiance.
“No.”
The footsteps grew louder. I froze, torn between anger and fear. My wolf clawed inside me, ready to fight anyone who touched him even if that someone was Rowan.
“Kyra?” Rowan’s voice was closer now.
I pressed my hand against Damon’s chest, feeling the steady beat of his heart even through cuts and blood.
“Why are you doing this to me?” I whispered, broken.
His answer was simple, unshakeable, and it broke what little control I had left.
“Because you’re mine. And no one not Rowan, not the Resistance, not even the Goddess herself can change that.”
The basement door creaked again, Rowan’s shadow falling across the steps.
And I realized with a sick twist of fear if I didn’t choose right now, I might lose everything.
Rowan’s footsteps stopped just outside the cell, his voice low and suspicious as he asked the question that made my blood run cold “Kyra… whose side are you really on?”
