Maria.

Pain rippled through every inch of my body, raw, throbbing, and unforgiving, not just physical pain. No, that would have been merciful.This was deeper, layered.

Emotionally bruised, mentally wrung out.

I was a threadbare cloth stretched too thin, ready to tear with just one more pull.

My bones ached with every step. My muscles screamed with fatigue. My chest tightened every time I tried to draw air. Exhaustion swirled inside me until my thoughts turned heavy and slow. The night had grown long, unbearably long, and I still hadn’t found a moment’s rest.

Worse, my stomach felt hollow, an aching, gaping cavern begging for something, anything, to fill it. The emptiness gnawed at me, sharp and insistent, twisting deeper with every second that passed. Hunger wasn’t just a whisper anymore; it was a claw dragging across my insides, reminding me I was still alive and still trapped in this misery.

I couldn’t even remember the last thing I’d eaten.

Had it been this morning? Yesterday? Longer?

Time had dissolved into a hazy blur, commands barked at me, wounds stinging raw on my skin, humiliation burning in my veins, and endless running that never seemed to stop.

A deep rumble echoed from my gut, loud enough that I winced, clutching my arms around myself like that might quiet the hunger.

I forced my feet forward, dragging myself down the dim corridor toward my room, clinging to the single tiny hope of collapsing onto my bed, just for a minute, just to stop existing for a breath of time.

I rounded a corner, and froze.

A figure stood down the hallway, tall, broad, shadowed by the dim lantern light.

My heart lurched painfully, instinct tightening every nerve inside me. I could not, absolutely could not, take another confrontation. Not tonight. Not when my body trembled just holding itself upright.

I didn’t wait to identify who it was, didn’t dare risk it.

I spun on my heel, heartbeat pounding like war drums inside my skull. My eyes darted frantically across the corridor, searching for sanctuary, any place dark enough to swallow me whole.

There. A recessed archway, shadowed and narrow.

I slipped into it, flattening my back against the cold wall, trying to breathe soundlessly even though every gasp scraped my lungs raw.

Just a moment.

Just let him walk past.

I turned my head, just enough to peer out...He was right there, standing inches from me.

He had moved without a sound, the shadows stretching around him like they were commanded to follow. For a heartbeat, I could only stare up at him with wide eyes, unable to even flinch.

I recognized him by the color of his eyes, purple crystal, that cut like winter steel.

Adrien.

Another predator in these endless walls.

My knees nearly buckled.

Oh moon goddess...Not another one, not tonight. My body had already been battered, my spirit cracked, my mind barely holding on. One more slow strike and I feared something inside me would finally snap beyond repair.

My eyelids sagged under their own weight, fluttering as exhaustion dragged at them. The world swayed just slightly, like the floor had shifted beneath my feet.

I swallowed hard, steeling myself enough to form words.

"G–Greetings, Alpha Adrien," I whispered.

It came out faint, barely holding shape.

He didn’t return the greeting, didn’t nod, didn’t grunt. Instead, his hand shot out with swift precision and clamped around my chin.

His fingers squeezed, not hard enough to bruise instantly, but firmly enough to ensure I knew resistance would be pointless.

My breath hitched.

He tilted my head upward, forcing my gaze to meet his. The purple crystal of his eyes gleamed with something unreadable, not curiosity, not anger, but a cold scrutiny that made the hairs on my arms rise.

"Why," he asked, voice low and dangerously calm, "were you running from me?"

His tone wasn’t loud, yet it reverberated through the small space like thunder rolling through mountains.

I tried to answer, but the pressure on my chin kept my jaw locked in place. The words, any words, had to fight their way up past fear and the lump forming in my throat.

His grip tightened a fraction, a silent demand.

"Why," he repeated, each syllable deliberate, "were you running?"

My pulse thudded against his fingertips where they held me captive. I opened my mouth to speak, but my voice broke into a shaky breath.

I hadn’t meant to run from him, only from anyone who might hurt me, but trying to explain weakness to a wolf bred to devour it felt like laying out my throat for a blade.

My knees trembled again, more violently this time, exhaustion tugged at me like a riptide, threatening to pull me under into sleep, or collapse, or oblivion, whichever came first.

I blinked slowly, fighting to stay upright, fighting to remain conscious long enough to get out of this moment.

Because one thing was certain...If Adrien so much as pushed an inch harder...My body would give out entirely.

"I wasn’t running away!" The words scraped out of my throat, thin and strained, as Adrien’s grip on my chin held me captive.

My voice sounded foreign, smaller, almost trembling, but I forced it out anyway, desperate to defend what little dignity I had left.

He leaned closer, his breath brushing across my cheek like a frostbitten wind.

His eyes narrowed, the silver in them hardening into steel.

"So now I am a liar, huh?" His voice cracked like a whip, sharply rising. "You’ve grown bolder, Maria."

Hearing him say my name like that, or rather spit it, made the small hairs at the back of my neck rise. He made it sound like an accusation, like a crime I had no right committing.

"Alpha, I really wasn’t..."

But the excuse, the explanation, the plea, whatever it was meant to be, never made it out completely.

His fingers released my chin only long enough for his palm to swing upward and connect with my cheek. The slap echoed through the hallway like a gunshot.

My head snapped sideways. A flash of white exploded across my vision, then dark spots scattered like ink spills. The sting burned across my skin, spreading outward in small fiery sparks.

For a moment, I couldn’t breathe, couldn’t hear, couldn’t think.

Just pain.

Images blurred together. The walls, the floor, the Alpha looming over me, they all smeared at the edges as my head swam. I forced my feet to stay rooted, forced my body not to crumble, because the last thing I wanted was to be on the ground in front of him.

Adrien’s voice sliced through the haze, filled with outrage, as if he was the one wronged.

"How dare you refer to me as a liar?" he thundered, the sound bouncing in my skull.

He stepped closer, towering over me, a shadow swallowing what little strength remained inside me.

"Now answer my question," he snapped. "Why were you running away from me?"

My mouth parted, but nothing, absolutely nothing, came out.

Because what could I say? That I was terrified? That all I had wanted was rest? That every Alpha here made my heart race with dread, not reverence?

Admitting that was like begging a predator to sink his teeth deeper.

So I stayed silent.

Not defiant, just empty, beyond explanations, beyond words.

But silence only poured gasoline over his rage.

His body tensed, his shoulders squaring as though he took my muteness as a direct insult. His nostrils flared, eyes blazing brighter.

Then his hand lifted again.

"No..." The word barely formed in my mind before pain snapped across my opposite cheek.

Another slap, sharper, crueler, deadly precise.My head whipped to the side, and this time I couldn’t stop the strangled sound that escaped my lips. It wasn’t a cry, not fully, but a broken gasp that betrayed everything I tried to hold in.

Two consecutive strikes.

My legs buckled.

My vision rippled like water disturbed by a stone. The walls leaned, then folded inward, shapes bending and twisting. Colors washed out, leaving only outlines and a growing shadow at the center, Adrien’s silhouette.

I felt my body tilt forward even as my brain screamed to stay upright. My knees hit the ground, the thud vibrating up my bones, rattling my teeth. Pain shot through my legs where they met the cold floor.

Still, I tried, pathetically, to push myself up, fingers trembling against the tiles, but nothing worked, my limbs were numb, struck dumb by exhaustion and agony.

Adrien loomed above me, but even his form blurred, like fog crawling over a mirror. Sound muffled, distant voices, or maybe just echoes created by my spinning head.

My lips parted, searching for breath, for words, for something to keep me tethered, but there was nothing left in me to give.

The hallway darkened around the edges, like ink spreading across parchment.The world tilted again.

And then...The darkness swallowed me whole. No more pain, no more voices, no more demands or questions or punishments.

Just blessed, deep, silencing black.