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FROZEN BONDS: THE HALF-BLOOD'S MATE
img img FROZEN BONDS: THE HALF-BLOOD'S MATE img Chapter 4 The Unwilling Bride
4 Chapters
Chapter 6 The Fallen Warrior img
Chapter 7 The Nameless img
Chapter 8 The Abandoned Cabin img
Chapter 9 The Scent of the Pack img
Chapter 10 The White Beast img
Chapter 11 The Retreat img
Chapter 12 The Journey North img
Chapter 13 The River Crossing img
Chapter 14 The Unspoken Desire img
Chapter 15 The Night Ambush img
Chapter 16 The Alpha's Wrath img
Chapter 17 The Bloody Embrace img
Chapter 18 The First Touch img
Chapter 19 The Northern Star img
Chapter 20 The Almost Kiss img
Chapter 21 The Unknown Howl img
Chapter 22 The Red Eyes img
Chapter 23 The Deeper Wound img
Chapter 24 The Fever img
Chapter 25 The Vigil img
Chapter 26 The Morning After img
Chapter 27 The First Lesson Continues img
Chapter 28 The Pride in His Eyes img
Chapter 29 The Invisible Bond img
Chapter 30 The Impossible Truth img
Chapter 31 The River Confession img
Chapter 32 The First Kiss img
Chapter 33 The Pull of the Bond img
Chapter 34 The Plan img
Chapter 35 The Doubt img
Chapter 36 The Turkish Scouts img
Chapter 37 The Uncle img
Chapter 38 The Choice img
Chapter 39 The Separation img
Chapter 40 The Farewell img
Chapter 41 The Land of Wolves img
Chapter 42 The Empty Bond img
Chapter 43 The Turkish Traditions img
Chapter 44 The Warrior Training img
Chapter 45 The Northern News img
Chapter 46 The Forbidden Mission img
Chapter 47 The Journey North img
Chapter 48 The Border Crossing img
Chapter 49 The Frozen Lake img
Chapter 50 The Hidden Cave img
Chapter 51 The Reunion img
Chapter 52 The Traitor img
Chapter 53 The Healing img
Chapter 54 The Promise Kept img
Chapter 55 The Plan of Attack img
Chapter 56 The Night Raid img
Chapter 57 The Betrayal Revealed img
Chapter 58 The Alpha Duel img
Chapter 59 The Victor img
Chapter 60 The Alpha's Return img
Chapter 61 The Divided Pack img
Chapter 62 The First Night img
Chapter 63 The Doubters img
Chapter 64 The Luna's Role img
Chapter 65 The First Challenge img
Chapter 66 The Hunt img
Chapter 67 The Respect Earned img
Chapter 68 The Celebration img
Chapter 69 The Mating Night img
Chapter 70 The Morning After img
Chapter 71 The Ronan Threat img
Chapter 72 The Alliance Offer img
Chapter 73 The War Preparations img
Chapter 74 The Eve of Battle img
Chapter 75 The Dawn of War img
Chapter 76 The Battle Begins img
Chapter 77 The Wound img
Chapter 78 The Fallen img
Chapter 79 The Fury of the Luna img
Chapter 80 The End of Ronan img
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Chapter 4 The Unwilling Bride

The shadow moved at the window, and my heart stopped.

Ronan didn't notice. His attention was fixed on me, his golden eyes gleaming with anticipation as he stepped closer. The door was locked behind him-I'd heard the bolt slide into place. The windows were small, too narrow for a wolf to pass through. I was trapped.

"You've been brave," Ronan said, his voice low and almost conversational. "I'll give you that. Most bitches would be weeping by now." He reached out and traced a finger along my jaw, and I flinched. "But bravery ends tonight. Tonight, you learn submission."

I backed away until my shoulders hit the wall. The furs on the bed loomed to my left, soft and inviting-a trap disguised as comfort. Ronan followed, slow and deliberate, enjoying my fear.

"The thing about half-bloods," he continued, "is that they never know their place. Two wolves fighting inside one body-it makes you unpredictable. Wild." He smiled, and it was the smile of a predator toying with prey. "I'm going to enjoy taming you."

He lunged.

I tried to dodge, but he was too fast-an Alpha's speed, an Alpha's strength. His hands closed around my arms and he threw me onto the bed. The furs swallowed me as I landed, and before I could scramble away, he was on top of me, his massive body pinning me down.

"No!" The word tore from my throat, raw and desperate.

"Yes," he breathed against my ear. "Say it again. Scream. Fight. I want to feel you struggle."

I thrashed beneath him, my nails raking across his chest, but he barely seemed to notice. His weight pressed me into the furs, crushing the air from my lungs. One hand pinned both my wrists above my head while the other tore at my dress.

"Stop!" I screamed. "Please, stop!"

"Please?" He laughed, low and cruel. "You think begging will save you? You're mine, half-blood. Mine to take. Mine to use. Mine to break."

The fabric ripped. Cold air hit my skin, and something inside me shattered.

My wolf erupted.

Not a full shift-there wasn't time, wasn't space-but a surge of primal fury that flooded my veins like fire. My vision sharpened. My senses heightened. And in that moment of perfect clarity, I remembered.

The knife.

Maeve's knife. The small blade I'd hidden in the folds of my dress, the one Ronan thought he'd taken. But he hadn't searched me thoroughly. He'd been too confident, too sure of his control. The knife was still there, pressed against my hip, waiting.

Ronan's hand moved lower, and I felt his arousal pressing against my thigh. Rage and disgust gave me strength I didn't know I possessed.

My hand slipped from beneath his-he'd loosened his grip, overconfident now that he thought I was broken. My fingers found the knife. Wrapped around the worn leather handle. Pulled it free.

And drove it into his arm.

The blade wasn't long-barely three inches-but it was sharp. It sank deep into the muscle of his forearm, and Ronan screamed.

Not a man's scream. An animal's scream. The scream of a predator who has just become prey.

He reared back, clutching his arm, blood pouring between his fingers. His golden eyes blazed with shock and fury and something I'd never seen in them before: pain.

"You b*tch!" he roared.

I didn't wait. Didn't think. Didn't breathe.

I rolled off the bed, landed on my feet, and ran for the window. The small window-too narrow for a wolf, but just wide enough for a human woman if she didn't mind the glass.

I didn't mind the glass.

I launched myself at it, shoulders first, and the world exploded into a million shards of light and pain. Glass sliced my arms, my face, my legs, but I didn't feel it. I couldn't feel anything except the desperate need to escape.

Then I was through, tumbling onto the cold ground outside, gasping for air, bleeding from a dozen wounds.

Behind me, Ronan's voice thundered into the night:

"YAKALAYIN ONU! GRAB HER! NOW!"

The camp erupted.

I scrambled to my feet and ran. The forest loomed ahead-dark, endless, terrifying. I'd never been in these woods. Didn't know the terrain, didn't know the dangers. But I knew what waited behind me, and that was worse.

Feet pounded the earth behind me. Voices shouted. Wolves howled-the hunting call, the signal that prey was running.

I was the prey.

My lungs burned. My legs screamed. Glass still stuck out of my arms like tiny daggers, and blood dripped down my face from a cut on my forehead. But I didn't stop. Couldn't stop.

The trees swallowed me, their branches reaching out like claws, tearing at my hair, my torn dress, my exposed skin. I stumbled over roots, caught myself on trunks, kept running.

Behind me, the howls grew closer.

Run. Run. Run.

Maeve's word became my heartbeat. My prayer. My only hope.

I burst through a thicket and found myself at the edge of a cliff. The ground dropped away into darkness-how far, I couldn't tell. Below, I heard the rush of water. A river. Maybe deep enough to survive. Maybe not.

Behind me, the howls were almost on top of me. I could hear them crashing through the underbrush, smell their wolf musk on the night air.

I had seconds to choose.

Death behind me. Death below me.

I closed my eyes and thought of Stellan-the stranger I hadn't met yet, the man whose name I didn't know, whose face I'd never seen. I thought of the future I'd never have, the love I'd never feel, the children I'd never hold.

And I jumped.

The fall lasted forever. Wind screamed past my ears. Darkness swallowed me whole. I tumbled through empty space, waiting for the impact that would end everything.

It came faster than I expected.

Water-cold, impossibly cold-engulfed me. The river seized my body and dragged me under, tumbling me like a doll in a child's careless hands. I fought for the surface, but I didn't know which way was up. Didn't know anything except pain and cold and the desperate need for air.

My lungs burned. My limbs grew heavy. The current pulled me deeper, darker, further from everything I'd ever known.

And then, just as I was about to give up, a hand grabbed my wrist.

Strong fingers wrapped around my arm and pulled. Pulled me toward the surface. Pulled me toward air. Pulled me toward-

I broke the surface with a gasp, choking and coughing, and found myself staring into the most beautiful blue eyes I'd ever seen.

They belonged to a man. A stranger. A giant of a man with blond hair plastered to his face and strange markings covering his chest-tattoos, intricate and ancient, glowing faintly in the moonlight.

He held me against the current with one arm while the other gripped a rock on the riverbank. His eyes searched my face, confused, concerned, and something else-something that looked almost like recognition.

"You..." he said, his voice rough with disuse. "I know you."

But I didn't know him. I'd never seen him before in my life.

And yet, as I stared into those impossibly blue eyes, I felt something strange-a pull in my chest, different from the bond with Ronan. This was softer. Warmer. Like coming home.

Then the current surged, and we were both swept away into the darkness.

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