POV Avery
“NATALIE!”
The scream tears from my throat raw and desperate as I watch her crumple to the ground like a broken doll. Blood pools beneath her head, dark and wrong against the forest floor. She’s not moving. Not breathing. Just lying there like every nightmare I’ve ever had made real.
Björn’s laughter cuts through my panic like a rusty blade. “Oh, that’s precious. Look at the little Alpha, crying over her pet vampire.”
I lunge toward Natalie, but two of his wolves grab my arms, holding me back while I thrash against their grip. “Let me go! She needs—”
“She needs to learn her place,” Björn says, crouching beside Natalie’s unconscious form. He grabs a fistful of her hair, tilting her head back at an angle that makes my stomach lurch. “Just like you do.”
“Don’t touch her!”
“Oh, but I am touching her. And I’m going to keep touching her until you remember exactly who you belong to.” His smile is all teeth and malice. “Four days, Avery.”
My blood turns to ice. “What?”
“Four days to make up your mind. Marry me willingly, or your little bloodsucker dies.” He releases Natalie’s hair and her head lolls back to the ground with a sickening thud. “Slowly. Painfully. While you watch.”
The words hit me like physical blows. Four days. Four fucking days to choose between my freedom and her life.
“You’re insane.”
“I’m practical. You’ve clearly developed some unfortunate attachment to this creature, so I’m using that attachment to ensure your cooperation.” He stands, brushing dirt off his hands like he’s just finished gardening instead of threatening murder. “It’s simple economics, really.”
“She’s done nothing to you!”
“She’s corrupted what’s mine. That’s crime enough.”
I’m crying now, ugly sobs that I can’t control. Tears and snot and the kind of desperation that makes you forget you’re supposed to be strong. “Please. Take me instead. Let her go and I’ll come with you right now.”
“Oh, darling.” His voice turns sickeningly gentle. “You’re coming with me either way. The only question is whether she lives or dies.”
Two more wolves emerge from the shadows carrying silver chains. The kind that burn supernatural creatures on contact. They wrap them around Natalie’s wrists and ankles, and even unconscious, she whimpers.
“No, no, no—” I struggle harder against the wolves holding me, but it’s useless. They’re too strong, and I’m too broken by watching this happen.
“Four days,” Björn repeats, signaling his pack. “I’ll be waiting for your answer.”
They lift Natalie between them like she weighs nothing. Her head lolls forward, blood still trickling from her scalp. She looks small. Fragile. Nothing like the dangerous predator who kissed me like she was drowning and I was air.
“Wait!” I scream as they start to leave. “What if I agree? What if I marry you right now?”
Björn pauses, turns back with that horrible smile. “Then I’ll make sure she dies quickly instead of slowly. Consider it a wedding gift.”
The wolves release me and I collapse to my knees, watching helplessly as they disappear into the forest with the only person who’s ever made me feel like I’m worth something beyond my bloodline and breeding potential.
Gone. Just like that.
I’m still kneeling in the dirt, sobbing like a child, when I hear footsteps crashing through the underbrush. My head snaps up, hoping desperately that it’s them coming back, that this is all some sick joke.
Instead, it’s Joanna.
She takes one look at me—bloody, broken, tears streaming down my face—and goes full protective sister mode.
“What the hell happened?” She drops to her knees beside me, hands hovering over my injuries like she’s afraid I’ll shatter if she touches me. “I felt something was wrong. Your distress was so strong it woke me up.”
“Björn,” I manage through the tears. “He took her.”
“Took who? Avery, you’re not making sense.”
“Natalie. He took Natalie.” The words taste like ash in my mouth. “He said I have four days to marry him or she dies.”
Joanna goes very still. “The vampire.”
“Yes.”
“The vampire you’ve been secretly meeting. The one you’re supposed to capture.”
“Yes.”
“The one you kissed.”
“Yes, goddammit, yes!” I snap, finally looking at her. “He took her and he’s going to kill her unless I agree to be his broodmare.”
Joanna stares at me for a long moment, processing. Then she shakes her head. “So get another vampire. Bring Dad a different one. Problem solved.”
The casual dismissal hits me like a slap. “Problem solved?”
“You complete your mission, avoid the marriage, and the vampire who’s been manipulating you dies. Win-win.”
“She wasn’t manipulating me!”
“Avery—”
“She was trying to save me! At the summit, in the forest, tonight—she was trying to protect me from all of this.” I gesture wildly at the blood-soaked ground. “She chose me over her own people, and now she’s going to die because of it.”
“You barely know her.”
“I know enough.”
“You know what she’s told you. What she’s shown you. You don’t know who she really is.”
“I know she makes me feel like I’m not broken.”
Joanna’s expression softens slightly. “You’re not broken, Avery.”
“Tell that to Dad. Tell that to the pack. Tell that to every wolf who looks at me and sees a disappointment instead of a future Alpha.”
“So prove them wrong. Bring back a vampire. Show them you can complete the mission.”
“I don’t want to complete the mission!” The words explode out of me with more force than I intended. “I don’t want to be Alpha. I don’t want to lead a pack that sees me as expendable. I don’t want any of this!”
“Then what do you want?”
The question hangs between us like a challenge. What do I want? Not duty. Not responsibility. Not the weight of expectations I can never meet.
I want stolen moments in clearings. I want someone who looks at me like I’m worth fighting for. I want to wake up next to someone who sees my flaws and chooses me anyway.
I want her.
“I want Natalie alive,” I say quietly.
Joanna stares at me like I’ve grown a second head. “You’re serious.”
“Dead serious.”
“You’re talking about sacrificing your future for someone you’ve known for a few weeks.”
“I’m talking about saving the only person who’s ever made that future seem worth having.”
We sit in silence for a moment, the weight of what I’m considering settling between us like a death sentence.
Finally, Joanna speaks. “So what are you going to do?”
I meet her eyes, and I see the exact moment she realizes I’ve already made my decision.
“I’m going to marry Björn Bloodfang.”