Chapter 2 TO THE BACK END

Chapter Two

The auction was over, but its echo lingered in my bones.

The chains on my wrists had been removed, yet the weight of them remained. Every step I took from the cold marble stage to the shadowed hall outside felt heavy, as if I was walking deeper into a life I hadn’t chosen.

Kael Draem didn’t look back to see if I followed. He didn’t need to. The way he moved—broad shoulders cutting through the crowd, head held high—made it clear: wolves obeyed him. Even me. Especially me.

The murmurs of the other bidders trailed after us like smoke. I could feel their stares, their whispers. The girl who fetched the highest price. The human-blooded wolf. The one Kael Draem claimed.

But there was one gaze sharper than all the rest. Darius Draem—Kael’s stepbrother—stood at the edge of the hall, his arms folded, his jaw tight. Unlike Kael, Darius had no tattoos, no obvious scars, but his eyes burned hotter than fire itself. He hadn’t liked losing me. I didn’t know whether it was the sting of pride, or something darker, but the promise in his stare made my stomach knot.

He would come for me. I knew it.

Kael’s men flanked us as he led me outside. The night air hit like ice, carrying the scent of pine and wet earth. Torches burned along the courtyard, their flames reflected in the black iron gates ahead. Beyond them, Kael’s carriage waited—sleek, black, trimmed with silver like a coffin meant for royalty.

“Inside,” he ordered, his voice deep and flat.

I hesitated. Just for a heartbeat. Enough for him to notice.

Kael turned, and the full force of his gray eyes crashed into me. They weren’t just cold—they were unreadable, dangerous, like steel polished until it gleamed. “Do not mistake my silence for patience,” he said quietly, so only I could hear. “I bought you. You breathe because I allow it. Now. Get in.”

My throat tightened, but my legs obeyed. The interior of the carriage was dark leather, smelling faintly of smoke and cedar. I slid onto the seat, my pulse skittering, and Kael followed, the door slamming shut behind him.

The carriage lurched forward.

For a long while, there was only silence. His presence filled the small space, pressing in on me until my skin prickled. He sat opposite me, legs spread, arms resting casually, as if he had all the time in the world. The tattoos on his forearms twisted with every shift of his muscles—wolves, thorns, flames. Symbols of power. Symbols of ruin.

Finally, he spoke. “You will learn the rules of my territory. Break them, and you will regret it.”

His tone was calm, but it left no room for doubt.

“What rules?” My voice was smaller than I intended, but it didn’t shake.

Kael leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “Rule one. You do not leave my lands without permission. Rule two. You do not speak of what you see within my pack to anyone outside it. Rule three.” His gaze sharpened, like a blade against my throat. “You do not defy me in public. Ever.”

My chest rose and fell faster. “And in private?” I whispered before I could stop myself.

His mouth twitched—not a smile, not exactly, but something close. “In private, you will learn what happens when you test me.”

Heat crawled up my neck, unwanted, treacherous. I hated the way my pulse betrayed me in his presence, hated that part of me burned at the thought of testing him, even knowing it would hurt.

“You think you own me,” I said finally, forcing the words past my dry lips.

Kael leaned back again, his expression unreadable. “No. I know I do.”

The rest of the ride was silence, thick with unspoken words.

When the carriage finally rolled to a stop, I exhaled as if I’d been holding my breath the whole time.

Kael’s territory loomed before me. The Draem fortress wasn’t made of glass or gold like the Lyra estate I grew up in—it was carved stone and steel, black walls rising against the moonlight like jagged cliffs. Wolves moved along the ramparts, their eyes gleaming silver in the dark. The air itself seemed to hum with tension, as if the ground remembered every drop of blood spilled on it.

“This is where you live now,” Kael said, stepping out first. “Try to survive it.”

The great iron doors groaned open, revealing a hall lit by torches and lined with banners—silver wolves snarling on black cloth. As we entered, heads turned. Warriors, advisors, servants—all eyes fixed on me.

Whispers surged.

The auction girl. The outsider. The half-blood.

My skin prickled.

Kael ignored them, striding down the hall like he owned every stone, every shadow. Which he did. I followed, my pulse pounding in my ears, until we reached a staircase winding up toward the tower.

At the top, he opened a door and gestured inside.

My room.

It wasn’t what I expected. Not a dungeon, not a cell. The chamber was wide, draped in dark velvet, a canopy bed against the wall, silver curtains rippling in the night breeze. A fire roared in the hearth, painting the stone walls in gold.

Too beautiful. Too dangerous. Like him.

“You’ll stay here,” Kael said. “Until you prove you can be trusted.”

I turned, heart hammering. “And if I never do?”

His gaze pinned me where I stood. He stepped closer, closing the space until I could feel his breath stir my hair. His hand brushed the doorframe near my head, trapping me without touching.

“Then you’ll still stay here,” he murmured. “Because you’re mine, Ria. And nothing in this world will take you from me.”

The way he said my name sent a shiver down my spine.

But far below, in the shadows of the fortress, another voice echoed silently in the night.

Darius watched from the courtyard, his fists clenched, his jaw set. He hadn’t forgotten the heat of the bidding hall, the way Kael had stolen what he wanted. And he would not forgive.

“She won’t stay yours for long, brother,” he muttered, his eyes fixed on the tower window. “Not if I take her first.”

The night swallowed his words, but the promise remained.

Inside the tower, I stared into Kael Draem’s storm-gray eyes and realized that the auction had only been the beginning.

The true war had just begun.