(Xalik)
With every passing day, Zorya was occupying my heart.
Watching her being groped by Caliath, knowing that he had been abusing her, had taken a toll on me.
I hated that bastard more than Canara.
One day I was going to peel the very skin from his hands and scoop out his eyeballs and keep them as souvenirs.
The rage had consumed me.
My mission became to safeguard her at every cost as much as I could, until I became strong enough to free her from this wretched place.
If only my wolf spirit hadn’t been suppressed.
If only I hadn’t been put under the spell and thrown here.
Then I wouldn’t even be able to meet her.
The only good that came out of my imprisonment.
I had been running blind in a dark forest, consumed by my insecurities.
She was like the moonlight which had suddenly appeared, and now I had a purpose.
A goal: to save her.
When she cleaned me up.
The way her soft fingers brushed against my skin gave me hope.
Pulling me out of that pit of desolation I had fallen into by taking an innocent life.
She assured me I knew it wasn’t my fault.
Her touch calmed me.
Her smile jolted my heart.
And her actions moved me.
The strength she carried even after the situation she was in strengthened my weakened heart.
A ray of hope her actions offered.
Not only did I need to rescue her from this shitty place, but I had to tear it down someday.
When she tied the piece of her gown around my arm, she tied herself to me.
It took everything in my power not to snatch her up and kiss her until she couldn’t breathe.
But no, I couldn’t do that.
She wasn’t mine.
One wrong move and she would suffer a fate worse than death.
I had to keep my distance, act indifferent.
I couldn’t.
I tried.
I failed.
I washed away Canara’s disgusting presence and scent.
Her cold hands left nothing but nausea in their wake.
Sometimes I dreamt of breaking every bone in Canara’s hands for the pain and agony they had caused me. Find the original chapter at g.com.
But I had been bound to her by a master-servant bond.
I couldn’t, until the condition to break the bond was fulfilled.
After getting away from Canara, I tried to sleep but miserably failed.
With Kalish’s help, I had already acquired a special key to unlock any door.
Last time I only left a note for her.
This time I went personally.
“Kalish disrupted the cameras leading to her room, using the device he secretly kept.
“She is pretty.
Do you think she is the one?” He deliberately teased me on the way.
“She must have come from Venus to move your cold heart.”
I sent him a glare, which he returned with his usual annoying smile.
He knew I had no interest in women, and this was piquing his interest.
“I will be quick,” I told him before entering her room.
He nodded with a mischievous smile.
I needn’t tell him to stay guard.
I knew he would always protect me with his life.
Entering her room, I found her sleeping in bed, curled up.
Every instinct in my body screamed to simply snatch her up and run away far from this place.
I slipped into her bed and greedily wrapped my arms around her, seeking that calmness, that peace she brought.
The chaos of my life.
That permanent ringing of rage and murder in my ears.
The voices of my family where they found me weak and pathetic.
Everything droned out when her shocked eyes opened and relaxed, seeing it was me.
Her soft body pressed against mine.
So very different from Canara.
Canara and Zorya were the only two women I had ever touched.
I was raised from a young age to be disciplined, to become a fighter, a warrior everyone will fear.
I wasn’t allowed to speak to women, let alone touch anyone.
I was told my heart would finally choose a woman, not my wolf…that never happened.
Although there were a few who were interested in me.
Canara was the first woman to touch me.
The moment should have been special; it should have been my mate, and instead I was constantly raped and abused.
I closed off my heart to everyone until Zorya.
Something spoke inside me, and from that moment forward, a primal urge to protect her tightened around my heart, becoming stronger and stronger with every passing moment.
Her actions today had sealed the deal for me.
There were a thousand words I wished to say to her, but I couldn’t.
The device was with Kalish, and we only had one.
She curled up against my body instead of pulling away.
The relief flooded me when I caressed her forehead.
The moment was so decisive for me, so pure and only ours.
We didn’t speak and yet our hearts did.
Somehow I knew she wanted me too; she felt safe with me.
She needed me that night after the horrors she had witnessed.
The decisions I made when I left her room were going to have rippling effects.
I turned off my emotions, my feelings, especially when I set foot in that cage again.
Now I was going to win.
I had believed these warriors were like me, forced to participate.
But they turned out to be abusers and rapists.
Openly killing innocent slaves after sexually assaulting them.
No remorse or pity; I felt.
I was going to end their pathetic lives.
I was going to live and come out of this cage victorious.
Only for her, the promise to set her free, just like a butterfly.
She deserved that.
My eyes found her sitting beside Caliath.
Red- he made her wear red today.
It made her hair and features stand out.
A reassuring smile she gave before I looked away and focused on my opponent.
Baram was a bear shifter, and I knew he would shift during the fight.
Since my wolf was locked away, I had to be tactful, remember my training and come out victorious.
The battle began.
I channelled my rage into my fists.
His smirking face fuelled it, and soon I had him trapped between the cage and my body, pummeling his face with my fists.
Bloodied, he screamed and spat on the floor, fighting with everything he had.
He kicked me in the stomach, but I barely felt it.
All I could see was the helplessness of the poor boy he had unalived.
A guttural howl of rage left me as I landed another blow on his pitiful face.
His broken teeth, saliva and splurt of blood fell out.
Then he shifted, seeing he couldn’t fight me, and his bear form pushed me back, his claws reaching for my chest.