Chapter 4
1728words
She trailed him through pulsing corridors that seemed alive with light. They stopped before a massive door that parted without sound. A wall of scent hit her—sweet, damp, alive with countless flowers and herbs.
The vast courtyard from the banquet sprawled before her. Overhead, the glass dome filtered starlight into soft beams that nourished exotic blooms competing for space and color. The air hummed with life—breathtaking beauty that masked hidden teeth and chains.
Then she spotted Lina.
Her friend sat beside a pond dotted with blue lotus blossoms, draped in white silk. She'd grown thinner, her face ghostly pale. Two Kaelen guards towered nearby, watching her every breath like stone sentinels.
"Go on," Carlos murmured, amusement threading his voice. "Chat with your friend. Maybe she'll teach you some… survival skills."
He turned and walked away, leaving her in the beautiful prison garden. His message couldn't be clearer: watch how another broken bird sings, and learn your place.
Ella's nails bit into her palms as she marched toward Lina.
At the sound of footsteps, Lina looked up. Joy flickered in her eyes before drowning in fear and guilt. She rose unsteadily to her feet.
"Ella…"
"Why?" Ella's voice rasped with barely contained rage. No greeting. No pleasantries. Just raw accusation. "Why did you give in so easily? What happened to the Lina I knew?"
Lina's lips quivered as the blood drained from her face. She darted a glance at the guards. "Damn it, Ella, keep it down," she whispered. "You don't get it. Fighting back means nothing here."
"Nothing?" Ella nearly laughed. "So you just let him treat you like a toy? A damn pet? That display at the banquet—aren't you ashamed?"
"Ashamed?" Tears spilled down Lina's cheeks as she clutched Ella's arm. "I drown in shame every single day! But fighting back? That just brings worse punishment! You think Xavier's 'kindness' comes free? It costs my complete surrender! One hint of resistance and he'll make me wish I'd never been born!"
Lina's words hit like a physical blow. Seeing the bottomless terror in her friend's eyes, Ella's anger crumbled into something more complicated.
Lina's eyes darted toward the guards. Finding them distracted, she pressed something hard into Ella's palm, closing her fingers around it.
"Hide it," she hissed.
Ella felt a small, rough seed against her skin.
"Listen," Lina whispered rapidly, voice shaking. "Their real weapon isn't strength—it's instinct. They track by scent. They mark through smell!"
Ella's stomach dropped as she remembered Carlos burying his face in her neck.
"He's feeding you special food, right?" Lina's eyes widened with urgency. "It's laced with his pheromones! Once you're saturated from the inside out, he'll move to more… direct methods. His bodily fluids, his secretions—they'll cover your natural scent completely. After that full marking, you'll never…" her voice cracked, "never escape."
"What do you mean 'never escape'?" Ella's voice sounded distant in her own ears.
"It means your smell broadcasts to every Kaelen that you're his property. No one will help you—that would challenge their leader. And he can track you anywhere in the universe by that scent." Lina's eyes darkened with despair. "Xavier controls me through this invisible chain. I'm just his walking, talking possession, branded with his smell, trapped in his territory forever."
The world spun around Ella. Now she understood Raven's warning. This wasn't just captivity—it was biological slavery with no expiration date.
"This seed weakens the scent bond," Lina whispered. "It won't break it completely, but it'll dim the signal."
A shadow fell over them. Xavier had materialized silently behind them.
He approached with a pleasant smile, as if blind to the tension crackling between them. Without hesitation, he pulled the suddenly rigid Lina against him, his arm around her waist leaving no room for protest.
"My little pet has made a friend," he said to Ella, his cultured smile never reaching his eyes.
"Oh, I forgot—you were friends already."
He bent to kiss Lina's forehead. She closed her eyes obediently, though her lashes trembled.
"Carlos always had… peculiar tastes," Xavier's gaze slid back to Ella, condescending and mocking. "But since he chose you, you must have some special quality. Perhaps you'll learn to enjoy your new life, like Lina has. Find your place in our world."
Each honeyed word dripped with venom, pronouncing her sentence with elegant finality.
Ella met his gaze without flinching. The seed in her palm seemed to pulse with warmth—a tiny, defiant heartbeat against her skin.
After meeting Lina, Ella's rebellion took a new form: silence.
She stopped hurling herself against the door or testing the room's soundproofing with screams. When Carlos brought food, she ate quietly, eyes downcast, refusing to engage. Whatever he said, however he watched her, she remained stone-faced—not fighting, not yielding, simply absent.
Silence became her shield. Knowing scent was the trap, she minimized all contact, delaying the complete marking as long as possible. She hid Lina's seed wrapped in cloth deep in her hair—her only secret, her only hope in this sterile prison.
Carlos noticed the change. His golden eyes narrowed with interest, like a predator watching prey try a new escape trick. When feeding her, his fingers lingered longer on her lips; sometimes he'd stroke her chin, feeling the defiant pulse beneath her skin.
Ella fought the urge to bite him, burying her rage deep inside.
That "night"—in this timeless place—Ella received a new "privilege": a hot shower. A wall slid open to reveal a gleaming bathroom.
Steam filled the space as hot water cascaded over her body, easing her knotted muscles and frayed nerves. For the first time since her capture, she felt something close to peace. The mist blurred everything, briefly shielding her from that constant sense of surveillance. She closed her eyes, pretending she was anywhere but here.
The bathroom door slid open without a sound.
Ella's heart lurched. Through the steam, she saw the silhouette she dreaded most.
Carlos filled the doorframe, arms crossed, blocking the light. His eyes cut through the mist like lasers, stripping away the steam's protection, leaving her naked and exposed.
"No!"
The cry tore from her throat as she tried to cover herself. Before her arms could move, iron fingers clamped around her wrists. Carlos had crossed the room in two strides.
He yanked her arms apart and up, forcing her to stand exposed and vulnerable before his scrutiny.
Shame and rage made her tremble. But Carlos's eyes held something worse than lust—clinical assessment, aggressive appraisal. Like an art collector examining a piece before adding his signature. His gaze traveled from her neck to her chest, down her stomach, to her curled toes.
"Your scent," he said, voice cutting through the steam, "still carries too much rebellion."
He buried his face in her wet neck and inhaled deeply. His warm breath against her skin sent unwanted shivers through her body. As if he could smell her defiance, her rage, her secret plans through her very pores.
"Needs… correction."
He pulled a dark crystal vial from his belt. When he removed the stopper, an overwhelming scent flooded the room—stronger than his natural smell. Wild, primal: rain-soaked earth, lightning-struck pine, and raw musk. A scent that screamed ownership.
He poured thick ointment into his palm and pressed it against her neck. It burned with his body heat as he spread it roughly across her skin. Ella thrashed wildly, trying to turn away, but he held her immobile.
His scent invaded hers, contaminating, overwriting, claiming.
Next came her wrists. He gripped them one by one, methodically applying the ointment to the pulse points where her skin was thinnest. Then her ankles, the same vulnerable spots.
This wasn't cosmetic—it was ceremonial. A primal marking ritual, sealing her scent beneath his own.
"Now…" He stepped back, admiring his work before leaning in to inhale deeply, his golden eyes gleaming with satisfaction. "This is how my property should smell."
My property.
Those two words shattered the wall of silence she'd built. Humiliation, rage, hatred—all her suppressed emotions erupted at once.
"You bastard!" She shoved him with all her strength, her wet body slipping from his grasp. Every filthy curse she knew poured from her lips: "You sick animal! Perverted monster! I am NOT your property! I will NEVER be yours!"
His response was swift and crushing.
For the first time, something like anger flashed across Carlos's face. He seized her and slammed her against the cold, wet wall. The shock of chill against her heated skin tore a cry from her throat.
The sound died as his mouth crushed hers in a kiss of pure dominance.
This wasn't a kiss—it was conquest. His lips bruised hers, teeth drawing blood as he forced her mouth open. His tongue invaded, carrying his taste and the ointment's scent, claiming every corner of her mouth as if trying to mark her from the inside out.
Her struggles were pathetic against his strength. Her lungs burned for air, her mind going blank as she endured the assault.
After what felt like forever, when spots danced before her eyes, he finally pulled away.
Ella collapsed against the wall, legs buckling beneath her. She gulped air desperately, but every breath filled her with his scent. No escape, not even in her own lungs.
Carlos towered over her, her blood staining his lips. He licked it away slowly, his golden eyes holding the satisfied calm of a storm that had spent its fury.
Without another word, he turned to leave.
The door whispered shut behind him.
"Haven't you figured it out yet, little flame?" His voice penetrated the door, cold and clear. "Every time you fight, you're just begging me to find new ways to break you."
Then silence. He was gone.
Ella slumped to the floor, lungs heaving. His scent was everywhere—in her mouth, her nose, the very air she breathed. That overwhelming smell of forest and musk, now mixed with the coppery tang of her own blood. No escape.
She curled on the cold tiles, body shaking with exhaustion and terror, tears mixing with shower water on her cheeks.
Something inside her shattered.
