Chapter 4 The Cage And The Beast Below

CALYRA VEYNE

"You are the monsters! The beasts! Let me go, you wretched cowards!"

Calyra kept screaming and thrashing as they dragged her down the stone stairs into the dark lower chamber of the tower.

At the top, Alpha Therion, Alpha Padain, and Alpha Gomer stood watching her descent down the spiral steps.

"So what now? She just dies? And I lose a cunt I didn't even get to fuck? A virgin cunt, no less," Gomer grumbled, voice thick with lechery.

"Do you ever see the world beyond cunt, Alpha Gomer?" Padain snapped in response.

Gomer only grunted, unbothered.

"I know how this plays out," Therion said, his gaze fixed below. "She's untouched. Still a virgin. And with the thoughts in her head-knowing she'll likely die down there-if Varos is truly regaining strength, if his instincts are returning... then she'll survive. The Varos I knew wouldn't kill her if he can read her thoughts and sees she's no threat, especially not one sent by me."

He paused, his jaw tightening. "It's been a century since the null binders started suppressing him. This will prove whether he's slipping from control."

"And if she comes out alive?" Padain asked.

"Then a bond will already have begun," Therion answered coldly. "We'll force a beast's rut. He won't be able to resist. He'll ravage her-break her body and her trust. I want her shattered for thinking Varos is worthy of my throne."

Padain's tone turned sharp. "This is starting to sound like your ego talking. This isn't just about you. The Nine Courts are at risk. If Varos reaches full strength, we're all dead. And your silly 'beastly rut' won't weaken him."

"I agree with Alpha Padain, High King," Gomer said, for once serious.

Therion turned on Padain, fury flashing in his eyes. "You will learn to trust me. I've kept Varos weak, kept him beneath me for a century. He is my prisoner-and he will stay that way."

With that, Therion turned and strode away, his steps echoing into the dark.

....

As Calyra was being led down the darkest part of the cell, she saw ten tall figures heavily draped in black overall robes, their faces caged with iron-sculpted beast masks. Their appearance was chilling and horrifying to look at. Calyra's skin formed goosebumps; she was frozen with fear.

Four of these figures held heavy silver chains, and the other six were inside the deeper cell, where Varos' rune collar was properly connected and chained to the massive iron pillar in the middle of the big cell.

Varos didn't hurt them. He couldn't even move. He sat with his face against the wall, and only his massive, clawed, bleeding back was barely visible to her. She realised these heavily draped figures were the Null-Binders-and they were hurting him. They were taming and weakening him with that silver chain and runed iron collar tightened around his neck.

The moment the Null-Binders were done, the delta guards pushed Calyra inside the cell, and the heavy iron gate slammed shut. Calyra didn't even try to hit the gate for them to let her out. She knew there was no way out of the iron cage-her cries would only make Varos aware of her presence.

Calyra huddled far away from Varos, scared to death. She wondered if Varos knew his prize for the battle was at the corner of his cell, trying to disappear into the wall.

Calyra sat there for over an hour, watching Varos closely. Then came a low growl, and his blood gushed out from his flesh, streaming down onto the marble bench seat.

Seeing this much blood and the untreated wound, she immediately tore her flimsy clothing and rushed to him-forgetting how dangerous this man was. He was a beast who had been imprisoned for a century, and yet, because of a clawed flesh wound, she forgot about her safety and attended to his wounds first.

Cleaning the open flesh injury-the gashes were too deep and serious, some even infected-she trailed her fingers around his skin. And before she knew it, he clamped his hand around her throat so suddenly, Calyra thrashed as he raised her mid-air like she was a newborn cat.

"Please let me go..." Calyra yelped in pain. As she thrashed, he looked at her so closely, scrutinising her body with his glowing red eyes-then he dropped her mid-air. Calyra's body was wrecked in pain.

He was silent. All he did was grunt. Calyra's heart was beating too fast. This male didn't care about her. He didn't pounce and ravage her like she expected.

"I won't hurt you... I just want to help stop your bleeding," Calyra said, hoping she could gain his trust, even when her entire being was shivering like a leaf-scared shitless. Calyra got closer again, and he pushed her so violently that her frail body hit the wall. Her vision blackened, and she passed out.

Hours passed. She woke up again-and this time, he was seated facing her, studying her like she was something strange and otherworldly. Silent still. She groaned in pain.

"Can you not talk? I only wanted to help you. I'm not going to hurt you!" Calyra said, facing him – like she could even hurt the toe of his nail. He was a big beast-too feral and wild.

"Who are you, little wolf?" A deep, male, reverberating voice came into her head, and Calyra flinched back, the voice hurting her ears as she shut her ears with her hands so tightly.

She looked around to see who spoke; it certainly wasn't Varos; he didn't move his lips. She knew he was silent; perhaps cruel Therion had cut off his tongue.

"Why are you not afraid for your life? You should be clawing at the iron gate, screaming for an easier death, rather than being locked up here with me." Calyra heard this reverberating voice again.

"Did you hear that too?" She asked Varos, but he was inscrutable and remained silent, only watching her closely like a predator monitoring its prey.

She panicked, hugging her knees like it would shield her from this horror or perhaps madness haunting her. When Varos didn't move his lips and utter any word, who else was locked up in here with them?

Calyra began to panic, closing her eyes shut, but even darkness was not peaceful; the screams of her mother and the gruesome memory of how the very womb that bore her was carved out by her father punished her.

"No-no-no-"

She screamed, rocking back and forth. Tears streamed down her cheeks, hot and bitter. She was truly a curse. She had to be. If she weren't, her mother wouldn't have died like that. She would've passed the ceremony and become queen.

She would've protected her.

Her fingers dug into her chest, scratching, like she could rip the pain out of her skin. Across from her, Varos didn't move. Didn't speak. Didn't flinch.

She was nothing but noise to him. Her grief didn't even lift a hair on his skin; she was just a new soul who had only lived eighteen years; she hadn't experienced true pain.

"Brace yourself and save your strength, little wolf, if you have any hope for survival."

She froze. Her eyes darted to Varos; he was still silent. But she felt it now-his presence in her mind. He wasn't mute. He was inside her head. She realised Varos was communicating with her through a mind link.

And what he said next made her blood run cold.

"Therion will force a rut soon. And when it comes, my beast will take control. He's not merciful. He doesn't know the difference between prey and threat-he only sees movement."

Varos's eyes darkened, like storm clouds rolling in behind his pupils.

"Don't run. He'll chase you; my beast enjoys the chase; he will see you as prey and devour you. Don't scream, or it'll see you as a threat and rip you apart. My beast will treat you the way you present yourself, Present yourself as a sex, give him something to mount-and you will be ravaged; only then can you survive."