Chapter 2 A Cage of Velvet and Thorns

Chapter Two: A Cage of Velvet and Thorns

The Alpha's estate was a palace built to intimidate-high ceilings, cold black stone, endless halls that echoed silently. At night, the wind howled through the rafters like ghosts mourning what had once been warm. But nothing inside those walls welcomed warmth. Not the fireplaces that roared but never heated, not the chandeliers that sparkled but cast no comfort.

And certainly not the Alpha.

Aria moved quietly through her new prison, her bare feet soft against polished marble, her hands forever tucked into the long sleeves of the gowns they forced her to wear. She felt like a doll-dressed, posed, paraded, but never seen. Her room was spacious and luxurious, with velvet curtains and a carved bed that seemed far too grand for someone who had grown up sleeping on straw.

Yet for all its splendor, it was still a cage.

Kael had not spoken to her since the night he summoned her to the Elder's gathering. Even then, he'd only barked orders. No good mornings. No shared meals. Not even a glance in her direction when they passed in the halls. And still, somehow, his presence was everywhere.

She felt it in the way the guards stood straighter when she approached. In how the servants dropped their voices to whispers. In the eyes of the warriors, filled with disbelief that she-fragile, meek Aria-was now Luna.

Each day she lived under a weight that was not hers. And still, she bore it.

But at night, when the estate grew still and her door locked behind her, Aria would stand at the window and stare into the wild forest beyond. It whispered to her. Promised escape. Promised freedom.

One day, she told herself. One day, I will run.

The gathering had been a disaster.

Held in the ceremonial dining hall, the Elders sat like vultures along a long, blackwood table. Kael stood at the head, as imposing and emotionless as ever. Aria sat at his right-an ornament.

The Elders questioned her. Prodded. Laughed.

"What talents do you bring, Luna?"

"Do you even shift?"

"The Alpha needs strength, not... sweetness."

Kael said nothing.

Not when they mocked her.

Not when she fumbled her answer.

Not even when she dropped her goblet and spilled wine across the table.

He simply stared ahead, as if her presence were a shadow that would vanish if he ignored it long enough.

Afterward, Aria escaped to her room and locked the door with shaking fingers.

She didn't cry.

But something inside her cracked.

Lila came in secret.

Once a week, under cover of darkness, the healer-in-training would sneak through the servant tunnels to bring Aria herbs, tea, and whispered comfort.

"He treats you like a ghost," Lila hissed one night, brushing Aria's tangled hair. "You're his mate, not his prisoner."

"I think he's both."

Lila paused. "You should leave."

Aria flinched. "You know I can't."

"Then at least start watching. Listening. Finding allies. You can't stay asleep in this place."

Aria turned toward the mirror, studied the girl with hollow eyes staring back.

"I'm not asleep," she said. "I'm surviving."

The nightmares returned with a vengeance.

Of being chased. Hunted. Of claws tearing through the trees. And always, always, a silver gaze watching her fall.

She would wake drenched in sweat, heart pounding, the silence in her room too thick to breathe through.

Her wolf-if she had one-remained silent.

She had never shifted. Never even felt the stir of power beneath her skin. That was part of why the pack hated her. Why she hated herself.

But the dreams... they felt too real.

Something was waking inside her.

Days turned to weeks.

Selene arrived unannounced, sweeping through the estate like a storm cloaked in perfume and silk.

She was everything Aria was not-tall, confident, commanding. Her laugh echoed like a blade drawn in delight. She kissed Kael on the cheek as if she had never been replaced.

And he let her.

He let her.

Aria stood at the top of the stairs and watched them speak in low tones beside the hearth. Selene's hand on his chest. His eyes were on the flames. Neither noticed Aria.

She turned and walked away.

She didn't scream.

Didn't cry.

She wrote it down.

In a little book that Lila had gifted her.

He didn't stop her hand. He didn't stop her eyes. He didn't stop her.

Aria's sickness came suddenly.

A wave of nausea during breakfast. Dizziness in the garden. Then a sharp cramp that had her doubled over in her chamber, gasping for air.

The pack's physician was summoned.

And the words he whispered changed everything.

"You're with child."

The floor vanished beneath her feet.

She told no one but Lila.

"You can't stay here," Lila whispered fiercely. "He'll reject it. Or worse."

"He's never touched me in kindness," Aria said, hands over her belly. "How could he love something born of silence?"

"Then leave. Now. Before they find out. Before Selene poisons him completely."

Aria looked at the moon through the window.

One day has become now.

She made a plan.

She mapped the tunnels with Lila. Hid supplies beneath her bed. Learned guard patterns. Timed the estate gates.

All while Kael watched her less and less.

Or maybe, for the first time... more closely than she realized.

He had noticed the way she'd gone pale. The way she avoided meat. The way her scent was changing.

His wolf knew.

But Kael did not act. Could not feel. Not yet.

He buried the question.

Until the day she would disappear-and take his unborn heir with her.

Aria had already begun planning it in silence, step by step, like a ghost mapping her own escape. She said nothing, gave nothing away. She simply endured-each insult, each cold glance, each night spent staring at the ceiling wondering if her child would grow up in chains, too. She had no illusions of Kael's affection. He hadn't even noticed the changes in her body, the soft swell of her belly hidden beneath thick layers. But one day soon, she would vanish. And with her, the future he never knew he had.

To be continued...