LOGINIvara's POV“I beg you, please spare me.” Nathan’s screams and pleas pierced my ears, pulling me back from that ridiculous thought.I shook my head hard. What is wrong with you, Ivara? Why would you want him to touch you? This was crazy! I was sure Xlynor was manipulating me. This wasn’t me.I turned to Xlynor. “Do you…” I stopped then pressed my lips together, turning back to Nathan.“No… please—” Nathan's voice broke in half. “Alpha, please, I made mistakes, I know, I was selfish and evil but please—give me one last chance. I do not want to die.” He pulled so hard against the ropes that blood welled at his wrists. “Please—”My stomach clenched so badly I thought I might be sick. Even though I wasn't supposed to kill him, his screams made it seem so. I didn't want this.“Raise the bow.” Xlynor's command came.I tried, but my grip wasn't strong enough. It wasn’t that I couldn’t. I just wasn’t in the right state of mind. “I… I can’t.” I barely said it above a whisper.“I didn’t ask tha
Ivara's POVXlynor froze, his hand stilling on my neck mid-motion. I waited for him to step back or release me, but he just stayed pressed against me, his breath warm on my neck and his grip still on my wrist. But whatever had been moving through him a second ago went quiet, like a current being cut.The ache at the back of my neck came in slow and dull, where his hand had been. The sudden ache made me instantly regret every word I'd just said.I paused, registering what I'd just thought. Regret? I was regretting it? What was there to regret? What had this man done to me? Now I was thinking stupid things? Why was I thinking I shouldn't have taken back something I'd said to get free of him? What kind of sense did that make? None! Apparently, I was starting to lose my mind, or maybe I had already lost it.“Xlynor?” I called out to him, seeing he hadn't moved. “Are you there?”No response.I tried to twist free, but his grip on my wrists stayed firm, keeping me pinned beneath him.He slo
Ivara's POV I glanced around desperately. Thankfully, the guards weren’t openly staring, but not looking didn't mean not knowing. They had to notice what their Alpha was doing. And if they hadn't, at least they could hear.I needed to get free. I needed to get free without making this worse, since he wasn't letting go and I had approximately no leverage and no plan.Before I could think it through, a plea slipped out. “Please… I’m sorry. I take it back—everything I said. All of it. You're not stupid, I'm the stupid one, I'm dumb, I take all of it back—”He didn’t move a muscle.I swallowed emptiness. “Xlynor…” My voice was embarrassingly unsteady. “Do you realize that there are guards in this yard? Anyone could come through that entrance. We're in a yard in the barracks and you're… you're doing this. You're going to ruin your reputation,” I whispered, and it came out like pulling a splinter.“You haven't taken everything back,” he said, against my hair.I raised a brow. “I said I tak
Ivara's POV“Go get your brain checked. You're losing it, sicko.” I said to his face, then turned on my heel, facing the weapons on the table. I picked up the bow.I had approximately zero experience with guns. The bow was at least something I'd held before, ‘even if held was the extent of the relationship’ it was safer. At least I knew how it worked. Nock the arrow, pull back, aim, then release.I had no idea where the vital points were in a human body or where to avoid when it came to Nathan, so his legs were the target. Non-lethal, probably. Yeah, probably. I was literally doing my best, but there was a chance I'd cripple him. But it was better than killing him, right?I still had no idea why Xlynor was so hellbent on making me do this. None of his explanations made sense. He was obviously a terrible liar. But why would he even lie to me? It wasn’t like I could go against his absurd rules anyway.I took my stance, nocked the arrow, and raised the bow. I found Nathan in my sight-lin
Ivara's POV“Why do I have to do it? Why me?” I finally found my voice.Xlynor shrugged. “Easy. You aren’t a Dark Hounder, but you’re in Dark Hound. You can’t get anywhere with that softness. And not even finding a man to fuck you so you’ll get too filthy for me to keep you as mine would save you.”His words echoed in my head and my hand stilled on the gun while it slipped from my fingers and clattered to the ground.I turned to him. “What did you just say?”“Pick it up.”I didn’t. “What did you say?”“You thought I wouldn’t find out about how magnificent your craziness got?” He gave an upturned smile.I swallowed. He knew. How the hell did he find out? And then he kept silent all this while? I must've been a fool. Oh, damn! Wait! Xlynor wouldn't keep silent all this while, right? I told Zane too. Don't tell me that Zane snitched. No, Zane wouldn't.“That… I wasn’t… it’s my body and I decide what to do with it.” I defended shakily. “I’m not discussing that with you, and I’m done here!
Ivara's POVI yanked my arm free from Xlynor's grip. “You're not going to…” I stepped back. “You're not making me —”“That's exactly what I intend to do.” He looked entirely unbothered by my reaction. “I like that you're not slow about it.”“I'm not going to kill someone!” My voice came out louder than I meant it to.“Yes, you are. Didn’t you always want to use weapons? Now do something real with it,” he huffed.“I'm not a psycho. I didn't ask to be anybody's executor, and you're not going to make me one,” I scowled.“Your opinions aren't particularly relevant here.”I took another step back, but he covered the distance in two strides, and then his hand curled around my neck — not squeezing or threatening, but firm enough to keep me exactly where he wanted— and he looked down at me with that expression that had stopped being readable to me a while ago.“First, you don't step away from me. Second…” His eyes moved to the center of the yard. “You're going to go back there, pick your weap
IVARANo, this shouldn't be happening. Not after everything I went through just to escape.“Father!” I yelled, struggling with the guards who were trying to rip my clothes off me. Of course, they'd obey him, the almighty Gamma.Father stopped in his tracks, then spun around. Even the guards paused.
IVARA“What makes you think you should eat that when you didn’t spend a dime on it?”“You're useless!”“You should be dead! I blame Loyd for bringing this crap into our world!”“Look around, does anyone here live without a wolf? Even the Omegas are above you!” My stepmother, Maybelline’s insults an
IVARA What had just happened? One second, I was waiting for Adrian in the park, the next? I was here, half-conscious in some confinement.Confinement? A fvcking confinement! My eyes widened. What?I dragged myself up, my legs wobbling as the room spun around.“No, no.” I whispered, I couldn't poss
Xlynor's POVOf course, Isagi would always find a way to piss me off. Even though he knew how much I hated being called brother by him, he still did it. Always insisting that since both our mothers were demigoddesses, we were siblings.“Don’t fucking call me that,” I scowled.Isagi pouted dramatica







