“Strip.”

The word cracked through the cold morning air like a whip.

Caelira’s eyes snapped open. She hadn’t even realized she’d fallen asleep, curled up on the floor, still wrapped in the thin fur blanket.

Therion stood by the doorway.

Fully clothed in black, eyes cold, expression carved in ice. He didn’t move. Didn’t blink.

Just stood there.

Waiting.

“You heard me.”

She sat up slowly, spine rigid. “It’s morning.”

“And you’re mine. The sun doesn’t change that.”

Her jaw clenched. “Why?”

“Because this is the first day of your training.”

“Training?”

“You thought last night was the worst of it?” His mouth twitched. Not a smile. Something darker. “That was just me tasting the surface. Today I dig deeper.”

She stood. Tall. Proud. Naked beneath the blanket but refusing to cower.

“I’m not some mutt you can teach tricks to.”

“No. You’re the bitch I’m going to break.”

She threw the blanket to the ground.

Therion didn’t blink.

But his nostrils flared slightly.

She saw it.

Saw the faint tension in his jaw.

He was trying not to react.

“I already fucked you.” He stepped forward slowly. “Now I’ll mold you.”

“Into what?”

“Whatever the fuck I want.”

He didn’t touch her.

Not yet.

He led her through the palace.

No chains.

No guards.

Just him and her.

But every step felt like shackles dragging across her ankles.

They passed nobles who stopped mid-conversation.

Maids who averted their eyes.

A few sneered.

“That’s the one?”

“The Omega whore the King actually took?”

“Poor thing doesn’t even know what’s coming.”

She heard every word.

She said nothing.

They stopped in front of massive wooden doors.

Therion opened them himself.

The room inside was nothing like hers.

Stone. Cold. No windows. No bed. Just chains bolted to the walls, a table covered in tools, and something that looked far too much like a throne.

“Welcome to my private chamber,” he said casually, gesturing her inside. “This is where I train obedience.”

Caelira didn’t move.

He turned to her. “I said go in.”

“And if I don’t?”

“Then I’ll carry your pretty little ass in by your throat.”

She stepped inside.

Barefoot. Naked. Unflinching.

The doors slammed shut behind her.

“On your knees.”

She stared at him. “No.”

He chuckled.

Then moved.

In one second she was slammed against the wall, wrist pinned above her head, his breath hot against her ear.

“Wrong answer.”

“You want me on my knees, you’ll have to make me.”

“Gladly.”

He shoved her down.

Not hard enough to hurt—but with enough force to remind her who owned the ground she stood on.

“Open your mouth.”

She glared up. “Go to hell.”

He grabbed her hair, pulled her head back until her neck arched.

“Already been there. Brought back souvenirs.”

His free hand unbuckled his pants.

She saw him.

Hard. Thick. Heavy with power and threat.

“Don’t you fucking dare—”

He pressed it against her lips.

“This isn’t about fucking, little wolf. This is about control.”

“Then you’ve already lost.”

She bared her teeth.

Bit down.

Hard.

Therion hissed.

Stepped back.

Stared at her.

Blood beaded at the tip of his cock.

But he didn’t rage.

Didn’t scream.

He smiled.

Dark. Bloody.

“Good.”

She blinked.

“I like when they bite.”

He yanked her up by her hair and shoved her onto the padded bench. Leather straps clicked shut around her wrists and ankles.

“What the fuck is this?” she spat.

“Lesson One: You fight me, I fight back.”

“Go ahead. Hurt me. Break me. I won’t beg.”

“Oh, I’m not going to break you today.” He leaned in, lips brushing her ear. “Today I show you how easily your body betrays you.”

He didn’t fuck her.

Not yet.

But his hands?

They didn’t stop.

He traced every inch of her skin with maddening control.

Soft. Light. Cruel.

One hand between her thighs. The other on her chest.

He whispered filth into her ear while stroking her slow. Cruel. Until her thighs trembled and her nipples were hard enough to ache.

“I can smell you, Caelira. Your slick’s all over my hand and I’ve barely touched you.”

“It’s not for you,” she hissed.

“Then why’s your pussy sucking on my fingers like it’s starving?”

She screamed in frustration.

He chuckled.

“No shame in being owned, little wolf. Not when your body wants it this bad.”

“Fuck. You.”

He pressed his thumb to her clit and rubbed.

Once.

She gasped.

He did it again.

She arched.

“Say it,” he growled. “Say you want it.”

“Never…”

He curled two fingers deep inside.

She choked on a moan.

Her eyes fluttered.

He leaned over her, lips brushing her temple.

“You came for me last night, Caelira. You’ll come again. And again. And again. Until your cunt knows nothing but me.”

She was shaking.

Hating it.

Loving it.

Needing it.

She screamed again…not from pain.

From pure, unbearable need.

“Beg.”

“Go… to hell.”

He stopped.

Pulled his fingers out.

Her hips bucked up involuntarily.

Empty. Desperate.

“You’re not ready yet,” he said, licking her arousal from his hand like honey. “Tomorrow, you will be.”

He left her strapped there.

Panting.

Soaked.

Humiliated.

Burning.

“My King…there’s blood at the gates.”

The words slammed through the hall like a warhorn.

Therion’s head snapped up. His claws clicked against the armrest of his obsidian throne, his silver eyes flashing with feral light.

“Whose?”

The soldier swallowed hard. “Ours. Six guards. Skinned. Left hanging.”

Silence.

Dead silence.

Then came the low sound from Therion’s throat…not a growl.

Something older.

Deeper.

A rumble from the grave.

“Who dared step into my territory?”

“No crest. But they left a message.” The soldier stepped aside.

Two servants dragged a corpse into the throne room. Headless. Arms twisted backward. Flesh carved with crude symbols.

Therion didn’t stand.

Not yet.

He stared at the corpse.

At the blood painting his floors.

At the insult cut deep across the chest.

“The Nightmare is a Lie.”

Laughter.

Dark. Low. Dangerous.

“They think I’m a story,” he said, rising to his feet slowly. “Let’s make them bleed like one.”

Boom.

The castle trembled.

Screams echoed from the east tower.

Caelira looked up, still shackled in the training room, her heart thudding.

What the fuck was that?

Another boom.

And then…a howl.

Not a wolf’s.

Something bigger. Older. Cracked from the belly of a dying god.

Outside the castle walls…

The invaders moved in packs. Black-robed. Masked. Armed with wolfsbane-tipped spears and poison-coated blades.

“Burn the kennels! Gut the Betas!”

One laughed. “Let’s see if the King of Nightmares screams like the rest.”

They never heard the growl behind them.

But they felt it.

Because the air turned ice-cold.

The shadows twisted.

And then..he came.

Not as a man.

Not even as a wolf.

But as the beast.

Black fur coated in blood. A towering, massive hybrid form…twelve feet tall with bone armor ripping through skin, fangs the size of swords, claws curved like reapers’ scythes. His eyes glowed silver and red, one for each bloodline.

Therion Nyctraeus.

The Nightmare was no myth.

He landed in the middle of them like a meteor.

And the massacre began.

“Fall back!”

“No, wait, that’s not…”

Too late.

One of them swung a silver axe at Therion.

It bounced off.

He grabbed the attacker by the spine.

Crack.

Ripped it out with one hand.

Another tried to run…he caught him with his claws and sliced him vertically in half.

Blood sprayed.

Screams followed.

But Therion didn’t speak.

Didn’t roar.

He butchered.

One by one.

Until the ground was soaked, and the scent of death blanketed the air.

Back inside the castle, Caelira strained against the cuffs.

“Someone…hello?! What’s happening?!”

Footsteps.

Then the door flew open.

Lucien, one of Therion’s lieutenants, entered, blood on his cheek.

“You need to stay down..”

“I heard screaming…let me out!”

“You don’t want to see him right now.”

“Why?!”

“He’s shifted.”

Her mouth went dry.

Lucien stepped forward and began unlocking the straps.

“Do not speak to him. Don’t touch him. And if he looks at you…don’t breathe.”

She yanked her arm away. “You’re not making sense!”

Lucien looked her dead in the eye.

“Because the monster out there? That’s not the man who fucked you last night. That’s the nightmare that ended kingdoms.”

Outside…

One invader remained.

A large male. Cloaked in blood and arrogance.

He stood alone, blade raised.

“You’re just a beast,” he spat.

Therion’s eyes glowed brighter.

The man charged.

Therion let him come.

At the last second, he twisted, dodged, and…

Snap.

Fangs tore through the attacker’s neck.

Blood gushed down his chest.

The man dropped.

Therion stood over him, panting, chest heaving.

Covered in death.

And yet…

Not enough.

He turned toward the forest.

The scent still lingered.

Another group hiding. Waiting.

So he ran.

Faster than any creature had the right to.

Branches shattered. Ground cracked under each step.

He reached the treeline…and they ambushed him.

Five at once.

Daggers plunged into his side.

Silver. Wolfsbane.

He dropped to one knee.

Laughed.

“You think this will stop me?”

He grabbed two by the throats and smashed their heads together until bone cracked.

Another tried to stab him from behind—

He twisted and bit off his face.

The last one fell to his knees.

“Please…”

Therion’s claws sliced him open from groin to throat.

He stood in the carnage.

Eyes wide.

Breath ragged.

Heart pounding.

He didn’t shift back.

Not yet.

Later.

In the castle.

Silence.

Bodies burned.

Stench thick.

He entered the throne room naked, blood dripping from every inch of him. Not all of it his.

Lucien bowed low.

“Thirty-six dead. Four wounded. Two missing.”

“None of mine will remain missing.” Therion’s voice was deeper now. Hollow.

Lucien hesitated. “Your Omega… she heard the screams.”

“I don’t care.”

“She saw the aftermath.”

“Good.”

Lucien’s brows twitched. “She… wasn’t afraid.”

Therion turned his head slowly.

“She should be.”

Caelira stood by the window, staring at the smoldering sky.

Blood stained the horizon.

She saw the field.

Bodies like broken dolls.

And in the center…

Him.

Her knees almost gave out.

He wasn’t a man.

Not even a monster.

He was the end.

And yet her pulse raced.

Not in fear.

In hunger.