Lily lay curled tightly on the floor. Her breathing was slow and steady, her face slack with sleep. Peaceful. Too peaceful.
It irritated him. She had no right to sleep like that. Not here. Not after everything her family had done.
He wanted to disrupt it. To snap her out of that fragile stillness. She should be afraid, tense, watching the door like she was waiting for the next blow. Instead, she slept like she didn’t have a care in the world.
Zayn’s eyes drifted toward the pitcher of water on the nearby table.
He could throw it on her. Ice-cold. Jerk her awake and remind her where she was and who she was.
That she wasn’t safe. That she didn’t deserve rest.
He stepped forward, reaching toward the handle of the pitcher.
Then—
A knock echoed through the quiet.
Zayn froze, his hand hovering mid-air. His eyes snapped to the door, a growl building in his throat.
Again?
“What?” He snarled.
A guard’s voice came through the door. “Alpha, we have a situation in the dungeon.”
Zayn closed his eyes briefly. His patience was already hanging by a thread.
He opened the door sharply, glaring at the guard. “What kind of situation?”
The guard stood at attention, eyes straight ahead. “It’s Beta Ezra, Alpha. He’s about to kill the prisoner. We tried everything! But he….”
Zayn didn’t need to ask who the prisoner was. There was only one obnoxious prisoner. Xavier Brightpaw. He didn’t spare Lily a second glance before leaving the room.
The scent of blood hit Zayn the moment he entered the dungeon. It was sharp, metallic, and layered with rage.
His boots echoed down the stone corridor as the sounds of shouting and snarling grew louder. With every step, the pressure in his chest tightened. He wasn’t angry at Ezra exactly, but at the fact that Xavier Brightpaw still had breath in his body. That after everything he had taken, every life he’d ruined, he still found ways to twist the knife deeper.
Zayn rounded the corner and stopped. Chaos.
Ezra was being held back by two warriors, his face twisted with fury, golden eyes burning bright. His claws were out, blood dripping from his knuckles. He was barely holding it together.
And there, chained to the wall, wounded but smirking, was Xavier.
“Let me go!” Ezra snarled, straining against the warriors. “I’ll rip his damn throat out!”
“Enough!” Zayn snapped.
His voice cut through the noise like a blade.
Ezra froze. The guards released him, stepping aside as Zayn moved forward, his presence commanding. Zayn didn’t rush. He walked slowly, every step deliberate, eyes locked on the grinning man in chains.
“What happened?” he asked, though he had his suspicions.
Ezra’s voice was tight. “He brought up Irene.” Zayn’s face didn’t move, but his eyes darkened.
Xavier chuckled, blood staining his teeth. “Oh? Did I say something wrong?” He spat to the side and grinned wider. “You really are predictable, Zayn. Always so sensitive when her name comes up.”
Zayn stayed quiet. “She begged, didn’t she?” Xavier went on, leaning forward in his chains.
“I heard the stories. Screamed until her throat bled. Did you ever get to bury her? Or did my father let the dogs finish what he started?”
Ezra lunged again, snarling like an untethered wolf, but Zayn raised a hand.
“Let him speak,” he said coldly. Ezra growled but stepped back, his fists shaking at his sides.
“You’re hoping I’ll kill you,” Zayn said, eyes still locked on Xavier.
“I’m counting on it,” Xavier spat. “At least that would end this circus. You think keeping me chained up, throwing your Beta at me like some rabid mutt, is going to make me crack? You’re wasting your time.”
Zayn stepped even closer. “No,” he said quietly. “You are.”
Before Xavier could respond, Zayn turned to the guards near the door. “Bring her.”
The air in the room shifted. Xavier frowned. “What do you—”
Footsteps echoed. Two warriors appeared, dragging a thin woman between them. Her wrists were bound in silver, her skin pale, streaked with blood. She stumbled as they pulled her forward and dropped her to the ground.
She groaned weakly, lifting her head.
Xavier’s entire expression changed. His cocky smirk vanished. “…Lia?” he whispered.
The woman blinked up at him through swollen eyes, and even through the bruises, recognition passed between them.
His fated mate.
Zayn watched him closely. “You recognize her.”
Xavier glared at him. “Let her go.”
Zayn tilted his head. “Why? She’s not marked. You never claimed her. Isn’t that what you and your father liked to do? Leave the weak unclaimed, unprotected, broken?”
Xavier stepped forward as far as his chains allowed. “She’s innocent.”
“So was Irene,” Zayn said, his voice cold and even.
“Let her go,” he repeated, voice low.
Zayn tilted his head. “Why? You didn’t let mine go.”
“She’s not part of this,” Xavier said, louder now. “She’s done nothing.”
Zayn’s voice hardened. “Neither had Irene.”
He raised his hand. The guard brought out the whip.
Xavier shouted, lunging forward in his chains. “No!”
The first crack echoed through the stone chamber.
The woman screamed. Xavier howled with pain. Another strike. She collapsed to her knees.
The pain hit him like a storm. Zayn could feel the connection straining between them. Their bond was still active. Every hit she took, he felt. It made every strike unbearable.
“Stop!” Xavier shouted. “Please!”
Zayn walked closer. “You don’t get to beg.”
He nodded once more. The next hit split skin. The girl screamed again.
Then silence. A knife glinted. Before Xavier could even process it, the blade sank into her chest.
She crumpled, lifeless. The bond snapped.
Xavier screamed. A deep, guttural sound that shook the room.
Zayn didn’t flinch. “Pain,” he said simply. “The kind you can’t recover from.”
Xavier’s body sagged against the chains, his face twisted in pain and grief.
Zayn turned and motioned to the guards again. They brought in three wooden boxes. They set them down and flipped them open one by one.
Inside were the severed heads of Xavier’s last remaining allies. The only wolves who still believed in him and had fought for his cause. Their lifeless eyes stared up at him.
“They died screaming,” Zayn said. “Just like she did.”
Zayn didn’t need to say their names. Xavier already knew. His eyes flicked to each one in horror. His chest rising and falling fast. Bile rose to his throat.
“You’re a monster,” he whispered.
Zayn stepped close again, his voice low and deadly. “You haven’t seen the half of it.”
Xavier shook his head. “Just kill me…”
Zayn stared into his eyes. “No.”
He leaned in closer, his breath cold against Xavier’s skin.
“You wanted death,” Zayn said, his voice like ice. “But death is mercy. And mercy is something you’ll never get from me.”