DARIUS POV Last night was amazing. Daya and I connected in ways I never imagined. We didn’t just have sex. We promised ourselves to each other. We spoke about our future. I haven’t thought about my future since Calvin died. Since losing him, I’ve lived day to day, checking boxes, completing tasks, and trying to hold myself together for the good of my pack. Now, with Daya, I feel like I have a purpose again. Not that my pack wasn’t a purpose to live, but over time, I resented my role as Alpha because I had to do it, it was never a choice for me to make, or a choice I had time to process. One minute, I was the carefree younger brother of Alpha Calvin Barnett, the next, my brother was dead, and I was the new Alpha. How can I love a role that was never mine to have, not in this way at least? But Daya, fuck. She sees me. I think as an alpha female and older sister, she understands the pressure I experience. She also doesn’t stroke my ego like other she-wolves. Daya calls me out on my

DARIUS POV I don’t know what to believe, or who to believe, anymore. Justin was one of my closest friends. We grew up together. We helped each other through some of the shittiest times of our lives. He became one of the best warriors in the pack and earned his spot as lead trainer. I have no idea when he lost his way and resented me so much. Mara. I thought she was obsessed with becoming Luna and having power. Maybe she still is, and somehow Justin convinced her to join him. And Daya? Is she even really my mate? Has this all been a lie? She has always kept me at a distance and hesitant to be with me. Justin was the one who found her and brought her here. She disrespected me on her first night here. She lived next door to Justin this entire time. Are they chosen mates? Everything is too much of a coincidence for me to trust any of it. I am overwhelmed. Overwhelmed by anger, betrayal, loss, pain. You name it, I’m feeling it. And Daya is right there, still trying to convince me I c

DAYA POV “Hey! Let us out! We haven’t done anything wrong! Fucking assholes!” “Amy, stop yelling. Nobody is listening to us. Save your energy.” “Sorry, I’m not willing to just roll over and be held captive like you, Emmy. Maybe you’re into bondage, but not me.” “Chill out Amy! We are in this together. We all told Daya we would be here with her no matter what. This is the no matter what.” “Saph is right. Can we just calm down and wait for Daya to wake up? I wish they would take those chains off her. Is she going to be okay, Saph?” “Yea, Pearl. She’s going to be fine. I’ll try and wake her again.” “No need. I’m awake. Hard not to sleep with you four squawking at each other.” I roll over, facing my sisters in the opposite cell. I flinch as the silver chains shift around my wrists and ankles, burning untouched parts of my skin. At least they had the kindness to give me a long shirt, so I didn’t have to stay naked after my fight with Darius. I hate him for putting my sist

DAYA POV “Daya?! What’s wrong? Is it the chains?” Pearl asks in a complete frenzy. I am unable to answer as my body is wracked with intense pleasure and surges of energy. My wolf is pressing forward, trying to take control. But the silver in the chains is forbidding the shift and causing her pain. It’s a crazy see-saw of pain and pleasure I’m experiencing. “What the fuck?” I hear Amy’s confusion as well. I almost want to laugh at her response. But all my focus is on trying to placate my wolf. She is battling me for control, even more, this second full moon, unwilling to not have the mate bond confirmed. “Amy, Pearl, relax. She is okay. Sort of. It’s a full moon. The mate bond is manifesting again. It will be like this all night until the moon is gone,” Amy says solemnly. I turn away from my sisters, facing the cold, concrete wall. I can’t bear to see them pitying me in this state. I have officially hit the lowest point in my life- bound in silver chains, in a dungeon, sufferi

DAYA POV Emotional rollercoaster doesn’t come close to describing the last 48 hours. Perhaps emotional pendulum? We have swung back and forth, from one extreme to another. Yet, it seems like that suits our journey. We have both lost so much and were gifted with so much hope and promise with this mate bond. It makes sense that we both would be hesitant to trust the bond, much less each other. I certainly didn’t help matters much by trying to deceive Darius. Never again. This man has proven time, and time again, that I can trust him, and that he is willing to trust me, even after I hurt him. My feelings for Darius become even stronger as he ravishes my body. My Goddess, this man, and his tongue could save the world if oral sex was the key to happiness…well, it may just be. But I refuse to share him, or that skilled tongue with anyone else. The world can implode around us, and as long as Darius is between my legs, I’d die happy, and oh, so satisfied. As I come down from my intens