64: Emma

The effort left me physically drained. I slumped against the wall, my breath coming in short gasps. Across the room, Krea tilted her head, watching me with renewed interest. Had she noticed something? The change in my breathing, perhaps, or some subtle shift in my expression?

"Water," I croaked, partly to distract her, partly because my throat was desert-dry from hours without drinking.

Krea's lips curled into something almost like a smile. "The Alpha didn't say anything about keeping you comfortable."

"The Alpha will want me conscious for what he has planned," I countered, hating the words even as I spoke them. "Hard to mark someone who's passed out from dehydration."

Something flickered in her eyes—acknowledgment, perhaps, or simple cruelty—before she rose and moved to a small table in the corner where a plastic water bottle sat. She uncapped it and approached, holding it just out of reach.

"Ask nicely," she said, her voice honeyed with false sweetness.

I swallowed my pride. "Please."

She tilted the bottle, allowing a thin stream of water to hit my lips. I drank greedily, not knowing when I'd get another chance. Some spilled down my chin, soaking into the dirty shirt Benjamin had forced me into, but I didn't care. Each drop helped clear my mind, fortifying me for what was to come.

Krea had just returned to her seat when the lock on the metal door clanked, the sound echoing in the small space. My heart rate doubled instantly, and I felt Artemis stir weakly in the back of my mind.

The door swung open, and Benjamin Thorne stepped in, his imposing figure filling the doorway. Behind him, I caught glimpses of other men—Stavros, his face tight with anticipation; Bennett, looking uncomfortable but resolute; Cassius, smirking openly; and Alpha Michael Barker. Behind them, holding a medical bag, stood Dr Stone, a man I recognised from my time with Benjamin’s pack.

Benjamin's cold gray eyes fixed on me, his lips curving into a predatory smile that never reached those eyes. He'd changed since I'd last seen him, trading his expensive suit for dark pants and a simple button-down shirt with the sleeves rolled up. Practical clothes. Clothes that wouldn't show bloodstains.

"Emeline," he said, my full name rolling off his tongue with false affection. "You're looking... resilient, despite your circumstances."

I said nothing, keeping my face as expressionless as possible. Every interaction with Benjamin was a battle of wills, and I wouldn't give him the satisfaction of seeing me afraid, no matter how my heart hammered against my ribs.

He stepped closer, inhaling deeply, his nostrils flaring slightly. A slow smile spread across his face, one that sent ice through my veins.

"Artemis is back, isn't she?" he said, not a question but a statement of fact. "I can smell her."

I shook my head, the lie automatic. "I can't reach her."

Benjamin crouched before me, his face inches from mine. "You're lying," he said softly, almost intimately. "I can smell her presence growing stronger. Did you think I wouldn't notice?"

His hand shot out, fingers tangling in my hair and yanking my head back to expose my throat. I couldn't help the small gasp of pain that escaped me as he leaned in, inhaling deeply along the column of my neck.

"I know what you did," he whispered against my skin. "You reached out to someone. Your brother? Your 'mate'?" The last word dripped with contempt. "It doesn't matter. They won't find you in time."

"They will," I said, finding defiance despite my fear. "And when they do—"

"When they do," Benjamin interrupted, "they'll find you wearing my mark again. And your precious Theo will go mad with rage. A Lycan king who can't control himself? Who attacks a fellow leader in front of witnesses?" He gestured behind him, where Stavros and Bennett stood watching. "The council will have no choice but to remove him. It's almost poetic, don't you think?"

"It won't work," I said, though dread pooled in my stomach. "Theo isn't like you. He wouldn't risk his kingdom, even for me."

Benjamin's laugh was cold and brittle. "Oh, Emma. You still understand so little about mates. About men. About power." His grip on my hair tightened painfully. "Let's put it to the test, shall we?"

He nodded to Dr. Stone, who stepped forward and opened his bag. "The serum will suppress her wolf temporarily," the doctor explained, withdrawing a syringe filled with amber liquid. "It won't prevent the marking, but it will make her wolf... compliant."

"No," I gasped, renewing my struggles despite the silver burning my wrists. "No!"

‘Artemis!’ I called desperately in my mind. ‘Artemis, please!’

I felt her stirring, gathering what little strength remained to her. ‘Ready,’ came her weak response. ‘When he bites... fight…’

Benjamin nodded to Krea, who moved behind me, holding my shoulders with bruising force as Dr. Stone approached with the syringe. I thrashed wildly, but with my hands bound and Krea's grip like iron, there was nowhere to go, no way to escape the needle that slid into my arm with practiced precision.

Cold spread through my veins almost immediately, and I felt Artemis slipping further away, our connection weakening as the drug took effect. No, no, no. This couldn't be happening. Not again. Not after everything.

The room tilted and swayed around me as Benjamin dismissed the doctor with a wave of his hand. Then he was leaning over me again, his face blurring slightly in my vision.

"Don't worry," he said, his voice seeming to come from far away. "I'll take good care of you. Just like before."

I tried to speak, to curse him, to call for help, but my tongue felt thick and useless in my mouth. The drug was working faster than I'd expected, leaving me helpless as Benjamin pushed my head to the side, fully exposing my neck.

"You should be honoured," he murmured, his breath hot against my skin. "Not many get to wear the mark of an Alpha twice. And fewer still get to be the instrument of a king's downfall."

I felt his canines lengthen, felt his intent like a physical weight pressing down on me. Panic surged through me, and I screamed—not just with my voice, which emerged as little more than a strangled whimper, but with my mind, hurling my terror and rage through whatever remained of our connection.

"Help!" The word tore from my throat as Benjamin's canines sank into the marking spot on my neck, right where Theo's mark should have been. White-hot pain exploded through me, radiating outward from the puncture wounds.

Inside me, I felt Artemis rise up, summoning her last reserves of strength. As Benjamin's teeth broke my skin, her howl joined my scream—a sound of defiance, of refusal. This was not our mate. This was not our choice.

The pain was blinding, all-consuming, but through it I felt something else—Artemis, flowing through me like liquid silver, her presence suddenly stronger than it had been in hours. The barrier between us shattered completely as she surged forward, filling every part of me with her wild, untamable spirit.

‘MINE!’ The word thundered through our shared consciousness—not Benjamin's claim, but Artemis's claim on me, on our body, on our bond with Theo. ‘NOT YOURS!’

I felt Benjamin stiffen against me, felt his surprise as resistance met his attempt to mark me, to force his will on me. This was different from before, when I'd been young and unprepared. This time, Artemis and I stood together, united against his invasion.

Benjamin bit harder, his growl of frustration vibrating against my skin. Blood trickled down my neck, hot and sticky, but the marking wouldn't take. Couldn't take. Not while Artemis held our true mate bond like a shield against Benjamin's violation.

Outside, beyond the basement walls, I thought I heard commotion—shouting, the sound of breaking glass, pounding footsteps. Or perhaps it was just wishful thinking, my mind creating the rescue I so desperately needed.

Benjamin pulled back, his face contorted with rage, blood—my blood—staining his lips crimson.

"What have you done?" he snarled, striking me across the face hard enough to snap my head to the side. "What is this?"

I couldn't answer, the drug still heavy in my system, but I managed a smile—small, bloodied, defiant. Artemis's smile as much as mine.

The door to the basement burst open with a crash that seemed to shake the foundations of the building itself. Through drug-hazed eyes, I saw figures pouring in—my brother, his face a mask of fury; Lycan warriors; and there, at the centre of them all, a presence that made my heart leap even through the pain and drugs…

Theo, his eyes blazing with a purple-blue fire that promised retribution, his voice cutting through the chaos with a single word that seemed to hold all the power of his ancient bloodline.

"Mine."