Sage Pov:
Sage had been trying to open the lock with a hairpin all morning.
She'd found it in the wardrobe along with clothes that somehow fit perfectly. Expensive clothes. Clothes that made her look like she belonged in a castle instead of a hospital apartment in Seattle. She'd ignored the clothes and focused on the door. The lock was old but solid. The hairpin bent and didn't accomplish anything.
She was sitting on the bed, exhausted and furious, when the door opened.
The man who walked in was the one from the alley.
Sage knew it immediately, the way his presence filled the entire room. He was the one who grabbed her. The one who smelled like pine and smoke. The one who apologized while kidnapping her.
He was also the most beautiful man she'd ever seen.
That last part made her want to punch something.
He was tall, massive really, with black hair that looked like it belonged in a shampoo commercial. His chest was bare except for scars that told stories of violence and survival. His arms were carved muscle. His face was sharp and angular and absolutely lethal. But his eyes were the worst part. His eyes glowed. Literally glowed. Golden amber light that made her instincts scream run, this is dangerous, this will destroy you.
"You're awake," he said. His voice was deep and smooth and it did something to her nervous system that she hated.
"I want to leave," Sage said immediately. She stood up, putting the bed between them like that would help. "I don't care what you want. I don't care about your kingdom or your prophecy. I want to go home. Now."
"I am Kael Thornwolf. Alpha King of the Northern Realm." He moved into the room slowly, like he was approaching a frightened animal. Which, okay, was accurate. "I'm the man who brought you here."
"The man who kidnapped me," Sage corrected. "The man who drugged me in an alley like a criminal."
"Yes." He didn't deny it. He didn't look sorry either. He just accepted it like it was a fact. "I did that because my kingdom is dying and you're the only person who can save us."
Sage laughed. It was the same hysterical laugh from the day before, the one that came from the broken part of her soul.
"I'm a nurse," she said. "I know CPR and how to insert an IV. I don't know how to save kingdoms. I don't even know you. I know werewolves aren't real. I know this is either a very elaborate prank or I've had a psychotic break."
"Werewolves are very real," Kael said calmly. "You're in our kingdom right now. You've met our people. You're living proof that we exist."
"Or I'm hallucinating." Sage pointed at him. "You're a hallucination. A very handsome hallucination but definitely a hallucination brought on by stress and betrayal and my ex-boyfriend ruining my life."
"Your ex-boyfriend didn't ruin your life," Kael said quietly. "He freed you from it. From a life you weren't living anyway. From people who didn't deserve you."
Sage stared at him.
"How do you know about Marcus?"
"My trackers watched you for weeks before bringing you here," Kael said. "We needed to confirm the prophecy was accurate. We saw your life. We saw the people around you. We saw that they didn't value what they had."
"That's stalking," Sage said. "That's illegal stalking."
"I'm aware." He moved closer and she moved back, maintaining the distance between them. "But I needed to be certain. You are the Luna the prophecy identified. You're my fated mate."
There it was again. That word. Mate. It made something in her chest respond even though she was trying to be angry. She pushed down whatever that feeling was.
"Okay, so here's what's going to happen," Sage said, forcing herself to sound confident. "You're going to unlock that door. You're going to let me walk out. You're going to call me a very expensive Uber. And we're all going to pretend this never happened."
"The bonding ceremony is in three days," Kael said like she hadn't spoken. "You can accept the Luna bond willingly, or I will find ways to convince you."
The casual threat made her blood go cold.
"Convince me how?" Even as she asked, she didn't want to know the answer.
"I could keep you here until you have no choice," he said. "I could use the suffering of my people as leverage. I could make you understand what's at stake. I could seduce you into accepting." He paused. "I could do many things. But I don't want to. I want you to choose this."
"I choose to leave."
"Then you're choosing to let my people die," Kael said. His eyes were still golden, still glowing, but there was something in them that looked almost like pain. "There's a child in the villages below. His name is Lycan. He's eight years old. His parents died from the curse three months ago. He's feral from grief and illness. In two weeks, he'll be too far gone. The curse will take his mind completely. He'll become a monster. And I won't be able to save him because I don't have you."
Sage wanted to cover her ears. She wanted to not care. She wanted to be the person who could walk away and not look back.
She'd never been that person.
"What does the bond actually do?" The question came out before she could stop it. "Rhys said I'd change. That I wouldn't be the same person. What does that mean?"
Kael was quiet for a long moment. It was the first time she saw him hesitate about anything.
"The Luna bond merges your soul with mine," he said carefully. "It gives you access to pack magic, to wolf abilities, to power you can't imagine right now. It changes you physically and spiritually."
"And mentally?" Sage pushed. "Will I still be me?"
"You'll be enhanced," he said, but she could hear the lie in his voice. "Stronger. More capable."
"That's not what I asked." She moved closer despite every instinct telling her to run. "Will I still be me? Will I still have my own thoughts? My own free will? Or will you control me?"
Kael's jaw clenched. She could see him fighting something internal, deciding whether to tell her the truth or keep lying.
"The bond is meant to bind two souls together," he finally said. "It's supposed to create perfect partnership. But historically, when a human bonds with a wolf, there's an imbalance. Your humanity is weaker than our animal nature. The bond tends to... overwhelm you. Reshape you to fit what we need you to be."
"You mean it erases me," Sage said flatly.
"Potentially." He looked at her directly and his eyes weren't lying anymore. "Yes. If the bond is completed the traditional way, you would gradually lose your memories, your personality, your sense of self. You'd become what the kingdom needs. A perfect Luna. An obedient queen."
Sage felt the room tilt.
"And if I refuse?"
"Then I keep you here until you accept," he said. "And my people keep dying. And Lycan becomes a feral monster. And my entire kingdom falls."
"So my choices are lose myself or watch people die," Sage said. "Those are my options."
"Yes."
At least he wasn't pretending it was something else. At least he had the decency to be honest about how terrible this was.
"I want to see the child," Sage said. "Lycan. I want to see him. And I want to see your dying kingdom. If I'm going to make the worst decision of my life, I want to understand what I'm dying for."
Something flickered in Kael's expression. Respect maybe. Or hope.
"Rhys will take you to the villages tomorrow," he said. "You'll see everything. You'll understand the cost of refusing."
"And that's supposed to make me willing to lose myself?" Sage laughed bitterly. "That's supposed to make this okay?"
"No," Kael said quietly. "It's supposed to make you understand why I'd do anything to save my people. Even this. Even taking you. Even asking you to give up everything you are."
He turned toward the door.
"Wait," Sage called out. "If I do this. If I accept the bond. When does it start? When do I start losing myself?"
Kael paused in the doorway.
"The moment you accept the bond, the transformation begins," he said. "It takes weeks to fully complete, but you'll feel the changes starting immediately. Your thoughts becoming less yours. Your instincts becoming stronger. Your humanity slowly fading." He looked back at her. "That's why we can only give you three days. After that, my people will force the ceremony. And you'll have no choice at all."
He left her alone in the stone room with the weight of impossible choices crushing down on her chest.