Chapter 51: Chained

Damien’s heart pounded violently in his chest as he stared at Sofia. For years, he had wanted to see her break—to watch her hurt the way he had hurt under her betrayal. But now, with her lying limp in his arms like shattered glass, he would give anything to hear her scream at him.

The door to the suite creaked open, and a woman with worried eyes and silver-streaked hair, who had been a guest at the summit, rushed in. She took one look at Sofia—naked under Damien’s shirt, eyes staring at nothing, skin like cold marble—and her face paled.

​She pressed two fingers to Sofia’s pulse and sighed. “She’s not just in shock, Alpha. She’s retreated. Her mind has shut the doors to her body to protect itself from the trauma you allowed in this room.”

​”Fix her,” Damien commanded, his voice trembling with a desperation he couldn’t hide. ​”I can’t fix a broken soul with herbs, Damien,” the healer said sternly, using his name without his title. “If she stays like this, her heart will simply stop. She has lost the will to be alive. You are the only one who can pull her back. You have to reach her.”

​”How?”

​”Talk to her,” the healer whispered. “Not as a Master. Not as an Alpha. Speak to the girl you grew up with. Speak of things she loves, things that remind her of who she was before everything. You have to give her a reason to come back to the surface.”

​Damien frowned. How did the healer know they were once friends?

​The healer left, closing the door softly. Damien sat on the edge of the bed, pulling Sofia’s limp body against his chest. He wrapped the blanket tighter around her, his chin resting on the top of her head.

​”Sofia, please,” he whispered. “I’m sorry. I was a monster. Just… don’t die.”

​He took her small, cold hand in his large, tattooed one, rubbing his thumb over her knuckles.

​”Do you remember the summer you were ten?” he murmured, his eyes closing as he tried to visualize the memory for both of them. “The creek behind your father’s house. You fell in trying to catch a frog, and your dress was ruined. You were so scared of getting in trouble, but I gave you my shirt and sat in the tall grass with you until it dried. We ate wild berries until our tongues turned purple.”

​He felt a tiny, almost imperceptible twitch in her fingers. His heart soared.

​”I remember how you used to laugh,” he continued, his voice thick with emotion. “It was the brightest sound in the world. And the way you’d sneak into the kitchens to steal extra honey cakes for the pups. You were always so kind, Sofia. Even when I started becoming the man I am now… you still looked at me like I could be better.”

​He leaned down, pressing his forehead against hers, his tears finally falling and wetting her chubby, pale cheeks.

​”Come back to me, Sofia. I know I am a monster, but please blink for me. Please.”

​He felt her body give a sudden, violent shudder. A soft, broken gasp escaped her lips, and slowly, agonizingly, her sea-blue eyes began to focus. She looked up at him, and for a second, the vacant look was gone—replaced by a look of raw, agonizing pain.

​She frowned at him and quickly pulled herself away from his arms and stood to her feet.

​”You are a beast,” she whispered, the words dripping with hate.

​”I am not a beast!” Damien yelled, his voice shaking the glass in the window frames.

​”Then what are you?” Sofia challenged, taking another step until she was inches from him. “What do we call a man who ignores the cries of a woman who has done nothing to him? Tell me what to call a man who sat and watched his friends have their way with a maiden? You are more than a beast, Damien. You are a monster.”

​”Don’t you dare,” he groaned, his fingers snaking out to grab her soft arms in a crushing grip. His eyes were turning a dark, stormy grey as his control slipped.

​”And if I do, what will you do?” she dared, her full chest heaving against his. “Will you tear my clothes and fuck me like a lifeless thing again? Or throw me back to your friends?”

​Damien roared in fury, a sound that was barely human, and shoved her away. Sofia stumbled, her hips hitting the edge of the mahogany closet with a sickening thud. She cried out in pain, clutching her head. When she pulled her hand away, her palm was slick with blood.

​”I’ll call the healer,” Damien muttered, his voice tight.

​”I don’t need your help!” she yelled, standing on her shaky legs. “I am your sex slave,” she spat. “So stick to that and stop pretending you have a heart.”

​Damien’s patience snapped. In a blur of Alpha speed, he grabbed her and threw her onto the massive bed.

​”You know what? You’re right,” he said, his voice terrifyingly calm as he pulled two heavy steel chains from a drawer. “I’ve been trying to be kind. Compared to what you did to me—the way you betrayed my trust and broke me—I have been a saint. But you want a monster? I’ll show you how a monster treats a slave.”

​He lunged onto the bed, pinning her down. Sofia’s breasts were crushed against his chest as he grabbed her left wrist. He ignored her struggles, clicking the cold metal of the chain around her wrist and securing the other end to the heavy bedpost.

​”What are you doing?” she shuddered, her breath coming in ragged gasps.

​”Keep quiet,” he growled. He snatched her right wrist, stretching her arm out wide and chaining it to the opposite post.

​Sofia lay spread-eagle on the silk sheets, her hips and rounded thighs completely exposed and vulnerable, her arms pulled taut above her head.

​”I won’t fuck you,” Damien said, standing over her and looking down at her with a look of pure coldness. “But you will stay in that position, exactly like that, until I decide you’ve learned how to hold your tongue.”

​With a final, lingering look at her tear-streaked face, he turned on his heel and walked away.

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