Chapter 3 #2
The movement jerked the chain taut, yanking Elsa off balance. She stumbled, her shoulder slamming into his as he shouted, voice raw with fury. “We’re sentient beings! We have a right to live!”
Xar moved faster than Elsa could process.
One moment he was standing at attention. The next, his paw connected with Rowan’s face in a brutal backhand that sent the man reeling. Blood trickled from the corner of Rowan’s mouth, stark red against pale skin.
Xar stepped closer, muzzle mere inches from Rowan’s face. His growl was low, menacing, barely restrained. “Disrespectful human.” The words dripped with contempt. “Let me do the honors and deal with him, my prince.”
Prince Ryxin raised one clawed hand.
Xar froze. Then backed away with a grudging nod, though his green eyes remained locked on Rowan with barely concealed violence.
“Enough.” Ryxin’s tone carried restrained power, the kind of command that didn’t need volume to cut through noise. He turned his piercing cyan gaze on Rowan. “Your human laws have no weight here. Not even your Interstellar Protections Agency—that worthless IPA government—can save you.”
Each word landed like a stone.
“You entered our territory and landed on our capital planet, desecrating our Holy Land.” Ryxin’s voice dropped lower, more dangerous. “Consider yourselves fortunate if my brother, the Alpha King, is persuaded by Lux to spare your lives.”
Xar let out a sharp laugh, his muzzle pulling back to flash teeth. “And how is your little pet earning her keep, my prince?”
The question punched through Elsa’s chest like a fist.
Pet.
Her breath stopped. Her mind flew to the missing woman—the brunette who’d been with them in the escape vessel. The one who’d vanished somewhere between the crash and the medical bay.
“Do you have her?” The words burst out before Elsa could stop them. “The fifth survivor? The brunette woman who was with us?” Her voice climbed, desperation sharpening each syllable. “Does she live?”
Ryxin’s cyan eyes shifted to her. Something flickered in his expression—amusement, maybe. Or satisfaction at her fear.
He chuckled, low and dark, and licked his lips. His sharp teeth glinted in the dim light. “She lives. She’s keeping my nest warm.”
Mia shrieked.
The sound tore through the chamber, high and broken. Her knees buckled, pulling the connected chain with her as she collapsed. The weight dragged Elsa down, her own knees hitting stone hard enough to send pain lancing up her thighs.
Dread coiled tighter in Elsa’s chest, wrapping around her ribs like ice.
Nest. Warm. Pet.
“No,” Rowan snarled, thrashing against the chains. “I refuse to become some mutt’s toy!”
Milo joined him, yanking hard at his own bindings. The sudden, erratic movements sent sharp pain shooting through Elsa’s wrists as the chains connecting them jerked violently. Her balance wavered. Her knees scraped against stone.
“Stop it!” Elsa hissed, struggling to stay upright. “You’re hurting us!”
Ryxin moved.
She didn’t see him close the distance. One moment he was standing several feet away. The next, his massive paws were wrapped around Rowan and Milo’s throats, lifting them effortlessly off the ground.
Their heads looked comically small in his grip. Like an adult playing with children’s dolls.
They kicked. Squirmed. Gasped for air that wouldn’t come.
Ryxin’s grip remained unyielding. His voice dropped to a dangerous rumble, his tail stiff behind him. “Enough. You will stop this foolishness.”
He turned to Xar, who stood at attention, awaiting orders. “Disconnect the two females from these dimstars. They are more valuable and need to be protected—from their own.”
Xar dipped his head. “Yes, my prince. It would be my pleasure.”
He stepped forward, claws working the bindings with practiced efficiency. The chains connecting Elsa and Mia to the men fell away with a clatter, leaving only the cuffs around their wrists.
Behind them, the other guards moved closer to Rowan and Milo. “We will take the dishonorable males to the pits.” One of them spoke, voice low and gravelly. “They’ll learn to behave. Or fail and die.”
Ryxin released his grip.
Rowan and Milo crashed to the floor in a heap, gasping and tangled in chains. Their bodies hit stone with sickening thuds.
The prince’s cyan eyes snapped to the women. Mia cowered, trembling so violently her chains rattled. Elsa forced herself to stand straighter, chest heaving as she fought to steady her breathing.
Ryxin loomed over them, his gaze sharp enough to cut. “Compose yourself.” The words were directed at Mia, cold and precise as a blade. “If you know what’s good for you, you’ll stop this pathetic display.”
He paused. Let the silence stretch.
“The Alpha King not only hates displays of weakness—he hates waiting. And he’s waited long enough.”
The finality in his voice made something crack inside Elsa’s chest.
This was it. No more delays. No more medical bays or healing domes or temporary reprieve.
They were about to face the monster who held their lives in his clawed hands.
And from everything she’d learned so far—from Yarx’s weary warnings, from Xar’s barely restrained violence, from Ryxin’s casual cruelty—the Alpha King was far worse than any of them.
Elsa glanced at Mia, who shook beside her, silent tears streaming down her pale cheeks. Then at Rowan and Milo, being dragged toward the doorway by guards whose expressions held no mercy.
The pits, one guard had said.
Elsa didn’t know what that meant. But the way Rowan fought against the chains, the way Milo’s face had gone ashen—they knew.
And it terrified them more than anything else that had happened so far.
The guards hauled the men through the archway. Their struggles grew weaker. More desperate. Then they were gone, swallowed by shadows and stone.
Ryxin’s attention returned to Elsa and Mia. “Come.”
Not a request. A command.
Elsa’s legs moved before her brain caught up. The ankle chains clinked with each shuffling step, forcing her into a pace that felt deliberately humiliating.
Mia stumbled beside her, still crying quietly, her shoulders hunched as if the weight of their gazes would crush her.
They followed Ryxin deeper into the fortress. Xar fell into step behind them, his presence a constant reminder that escape wasn’t an option. The two guards from the chamber joined the procession, their claws clicking against stone in perfect rhythm.
The corridors were carved from dark rock, lit by those same blue-glowing gems embedded in the walls at regular intervals.
The architecture was ancient and foreign, built for creatures far larger than humans, with ceilings that soared into darkness and doorways wide enough to fit three wolfmen side by side.
Every step brought them closer to whatever waited at the end of this march.
The Alpha King.
The creature who would decide their fate.
Elsa’s fingers found the implant behind her ear again, tracing its edges compulsively. The universal communicator that ensured she’d understand every word of her own sentencing.
Perhaps he’ll be reasonable, she thought desperately. Perhaps he’ll listen.
But the echo of Ryxin’s words followed her through the twisting corridors:
You will face the Alpha King, who will determine your fate.
Not negotiate. Not discuss.
Determine.
Like they were problems to be solved. Resources to be allocated.
Property to be claimed or discarded.
Ahead, massive doors loomed—twice the height of any human structure, carved with intricate patterns that might have been beautiful if they weren’t so clearly meant to intimidate.
Ryxin stopped before them. Turned to face Elsa and Mia with that same mocking curl of his lips.
“The Alpha King,” he said quietly, “does not tolerate weakness. Or defiance. Or anything that wastes his time.”
His cyan eyes locked onto Elsa’s. “Choose wisely how you present yourself.”
Then he pushed the doors open.
And Elsa’s breath caught in her throat at what waited beyond.