The air crackled with the urgency of their return. ALPHA Draven navigated the twists and turns of their path with the grace of an Alpha wolf. Beside him, his Beta, Asher moved with a quiet energy, his keen eyes constantly surveying the landscape, his hand resting reassuringly on the bow of his dagger, a silent pledge of protection. Bringing up the reverse, Sebastian, a man etched with the lines of wisdom and experience, walked with the stoic quality of a leader, a captain of the army and his eyes fixed on the distant figure of their packhouse, a lamp of hope in the heart of the returning men. Draven's heart pounded a grim meter against his cribs, each beat echoing the rising drift of dread that had been steadily erecting since Mateo's message reached him.Mateo had spoken of treason, of a trap, of Jessica being taken, but the details had been shrouded in a nipping vagueness. "Mateo said we had to hurry." Asher stated, his voice laced with concern. The news had arrived like a bolt fro

The weight of the dungeon walls pressed down on Jessica, a physical incarnation of the crushing despair that had settled in her soul. The air was thick with the reek of damp gravestone and decay, a constant reminder of their imprisonment. Each day bled into the coming, a constant cycle of privation and fear. The days were harsh, enduring, and endlessly long. The dungeon, a stark, cold cell sculpted into the bedrock of Alpha Landon's dungeons, held little more than bare and damp gravestone walls, a single, gravel water pail, and a straw- filled pallet for each of them to rest on. The only splinter of light that pierced through the dusk came from a small, barred window high up on the wall, slightly offering a regard of the world they had lost. Their only food came in the form of a single, stingy mess delivered once a day. Each day, a rough, untidy guard, his face hardened by times of violence and Jos stay in the dungeons. He would push a bowl of watery broth and a thin stale bread thr

The air in the dungeon cell felt heavy, thick with the smell of damp gravestone. The only light came from a single fluttering bulb, casting long, dancing shadows on the rough hewn walls. Jessica huddled against the far wall, her chin resting on her knees. Beside her, Vicky, her generally shy smile replaced with a mouth of defiance, strained against the chains that bound her wrists. The previous days had been a blur of endless hunger, the eating emptiness in their tummies a constant companion. Each evening, the dungeon master, a hulking brute with a face like a hammered bobby pot, would shove a stingy bowl of watery gruel through the bars. The stingy mess wouldn't indeed come near to satisfying their hunger, leaving them weak and empty. But there was a flicker of hope in their despair, a lamp of kindness amid the darkness. Tricia it would seem had taken pity on them. Every day, she'd visit, her steps echoing through the cold corridors before a gentle knock sounded on their cell door.

The silence in Draven's quarters hummed with a heavy, oppressive weight. It was a silence that mirrored the emptiness gnawing at his soul, a void that had taken root the moment Jessica, his mate, had been stolen from him. The moon, a pale, silver sliver in the night sky, cast its light through the open window, illuminating the dust motes that danced in the stillness. But Draven saw none of it. His gaze was fixed on the intricately carved wooden floor, each grain seeming to mock his helplessness.He had not touched food in two days. Sleep had eluded him, a cruel tormentor that taunted him with false promises of oblivion. The wolf inside him, usually a constant companion, a source of strength and primal instinct, lay dormant, its usual roar replaced by a whimper of despair.A knock at the door startled him, a small intrusion into his desolate world. He didn't need to look to know it was Penny, the pack healer, her presence a constant reminder of his broken state."Draven?" Penny's voice

The air in the cell was thick with the scent of despair and damp stone. A single, flickering oil lamp cast long, grotesque shadows across the cold, bare walls, dancing in the faint breeze that seeped in through the barred window. Jessica sat huddled in the corner, her back pressed against the rough stone, her eyes fixed on the flickering light. Outside, the world was a cacophony of noise, a constant reminder of her imprisonment – the howling of wolves, the guttural screams of men, the clang of metal against metal. But inside the cell, there was only silence, a chilling silence punctuated by the rhythmic drip of water from a crack in the ceiling.Two days. Two days until Alpha Landon would claim her as his mate, two days until he would break her spirit, two days until she would face the ultimate betrayal – the choice between her humanity and the beast within. Every flicker of the lamp, every creak of the cell door, sent a shiver of fear down her spine. But those fears were dwarfed by