Chapter 4 Enemy's Daughter
[Draven's POV]
Silver-grey hair spread across the bed. The girl was still unconscious, dried blood crusted at the corner of her mouth. Eric had brought attendants to treat and clean her wounds. Even in unconsciousness she kept her jaw locked, her brow furrowed—but she made no sound.
There were things waiting for me. I should have left. But Rune refused. He wanted to stay—this was the first time Rune had ever disobeyed a direct order from me.
No.
Not the first time.
In the forest at No Man's Land, the moment he saw her, he had wanted to go to her. He forgot the mission entirely.
In Ironfang's dungeon, I had wanted to kill her. Rune sensed my intent—and turned on me. He threw himself against my consciousness, tearing at my focus, refusing to allow me to make what he believed was the wrong choice. That was when I understood: for the first time, Rune and I had chosen differently. Only after I put down the axe and gave my word that I would not harm her did he finally go quiet.
I frowned without meaning to. My instinct had been correct. She had already affected my wolf after a single meeting. If this continued, the Fate Mate bond would become my greatest vulnerability.
No. I could not allow that. I would not accept it.
I had to leave. I had to take Rune with me.
I tried to reason with him—the girl was being cared for, we still had responsibilities. Rune did not respond. He only wanted to stay near her.
Eric let out a quiet laugh. "You know, Draven—you can refuse her. But you can't refuse your wolf."
I turned a look on him.
He closed his mouth.
I left for the medical tent and let Rune rage and slam against the inside of my skull.
Theron had already compiled the casualty report by the time I arrived.
He was silent for a moment. Then he held something out.
A wolf-tooth pendant.
I took it and turned it over. My body went rigid.
Carved into the back: the Wolfsbane Alpha's mark. Not just any mark—the mark belonging to Wolfsbane's Alpha. The one I would never forget.
My fingers tightened. The tooth cut into my palm. Blood ran between my fingers. I felt nothing.
Because an answer too absurd to accept was slowly surfacing.
Alaric Wolfsbane.
She's his daughter?
Theron watched me, voice low. "Draven—don't jump to conclusions. A pendant doesn't prove her relationship to Alaric. We need to ask her ourselves."
A familiar voice, edged with amusement, came from behind.
"What are you two talking about?"
Nyx walked over. She reached for the pendant.
The next second, my hand moved before I could think. Rune growled low in my chest.
"Don't touch her things."
Nyx froze. Her eyes locked on my hand. The amusement drained from her face.
"You're holding something that belongs to a she-wolf. It's marked with Alaric Wolfsbane's seal." She stared at me. "Whose is it?"
Nyx and I had grown up together, along with Theron. She was a valued friend, a loyal subordinate—and the only woman I had ever taken to bed. Before it began, I had made it clear: there would be no love between us. I had thought she remembered that rule. Apparently, she had started crossing the line.
I didn't answer. The answer was already written on my face.
Theron: "She's in the medical room, isn't she? Let's go ask her."
I turned toward the main house. Nyx and Theron followed.
When the medical room came into view, I heard Nyx laugh—short and bitter.
"You put her here?" She looked at me. "The main house medical room. An Omega you brought back from Ironfang?" A pause. "Draven, do you understand what you're doing?"
My silence darkened her expression.
"Wolfsbane," she said quietly. "You brought back your enemy's daughter."
Her voice felt like an interrogation—forcing me to explain why I had brought her back despite knowing what she was, why I was dragging myself toward ruin with my own hands.
I had no answer.
Rune's roar tore through my mind in waves. Nyx's disrespect toward his mate had ignited something feral in him—he was nearly shrieking for me to rip her apart.
"Did you not hear what Nyx just said?" Rune snarled, voice heavy and vicious. "She wants our mate gone. And you're still standing there? Tear her throat out!"
"She's not wrong!" I snapped back, voice low and absolute. "Nyx isn't wrong. That girl is Wolfsbane. She may even be Alaric's daughter. She is our enemy."
"Enemy?" Rune roared louder. "Then why was she hanging in Ironfang's dungeon? If Alaric truly saw her as his daughter, why was she there? She's not the enemy. She's our Mate."
I clenched the wolf-tooth pendant until it bit into my skin. My voice turned cold.
"Don't forget who killed my parents."
Rune did not answer. He let out a low, grieving sound—and went silent.
If she truly was Alaric Wolfsbane's daughter, then the fact that she carried his blood was reason enough to kill her.
—Because Alaric had killed my parents.
I pushed open the door to the medical room.
Eric stood to one side. She was awake.
Those green eyes looked at me—calm, clear. No fear. No pleading. Only a stillness I could not make sense of.
Nyx moved to follow me in. I stopped.
"Get out."
My voice was quiet.
Nyx hesitated. She looked at me—anger shifting slowly into something closer to grief.
"Draven…" She seemed to search for words. In the end, all she said was: "You're going to regret this."
She turned and left.
Theron stayed outside.
I walked in and threw the pendant onto the table beside the bed.
Her eyes dropped to it. The next second, her hand shot out and closed around it—tight, as though it were the only thing she had left. My blood was still smeared across the surface.
"Your pendant," I said, watching her. "The back is engraved with the Wolfsbane Alpha's mark." My voice dropped several degrees. "Tell me your name."
"Kaelan."
She did not look at me.
"Full name."
My voice hardened.
She closed her eyes briefly, as though accepting something that had already been decided.
"Kaelan Wolfsbane."
The world went still.
Wolfsbane.
Alaric's blood.
My Mate.
Three words colliding in my skull.
Kill her.
The moment the thought surfaced, my wolf turned on me.
Rune slammed into my consciousness. He was telling me: She is not the enemy. She is our Mate.
I clenched my fists. For the first time, I realized that controlling my own wolf was harder than controlling any enemy.
I can't kill her.
That realization made me angrier than the fact that she was Alaric's daughter.
Because it meant—
I, Draven Blackthorn, could no longer make my own choices.
I stared at her for a long moment, fingers curled into fists at my sides. Then I turned and walked out.
Theron followed. "What do we do with her? Kill her? Throw her in the dungeon?"
Kill her.
The answer had almost reached my throat.
Then—
"You wouldn't dare." Rune's roar shattered through me. It was a threat. I went rigid. My wolf was threatening me. "If you hurt her—" Rune's fury was tearing through my mind like claws through flesh— "I will destroy myself. You put her in a cell, I will kill everyone there and go in after her."
My breath stopped.
Because I knew he wasn't bluffing. He would do it.
I closed my eyes and forced the rage down.
"Put her in the farthest cabin on the edge of the territory. Get her out of my sight."
My voice was unrecognizable—cold, flat, distant.
"No." Rune's voice exploded through my mind. "Bring her back. Keep her in our room. Keep her near us."
I snapped my eyes open. "Shut up."
But Rune did not obey. He kept roaring, slamming against me. "She's our mate. She needs us."
I dug my nails into my palms until blood welled. I could not face the fact that my wolf had turned against me.
Rune was the only thing I had ever trusted.
I would not let a Fate Mate destroy that.
"Theron." My voice came out hoarse. "Get the wolfsbane compound."
Theron's expression went tight with shock. "Draven—you know what that will do to him."
"I know." I did not hesitate. "Bring it."
Theron exhaled slowly, went to Eric, and returned with the syringe.
The needle pierced my skin. For the first time, I felt Rune's disappointment wash over me like cold water.
"Draven…"
His voice was soft. Broken. Then silent.
Since the day he woke when I was seventeen, Rune had never been this quiet. He had walked beside me through blood-soaked battlefields. He had sat with me on a cold throne. He was the one thing that would never leave me.
And now—for the sake of a Fate Mate—he had turned against me.
I closed my eyes and let the darkness take me.
I slept for a full day.
When I woke, a guard came running in.
"Alpha! The Omega—she escaped the cabin."
