After My Alpha Drugged Me for Ten Years

The bond broke ten years ago, but the mark still burned cold on my neck when Declan stepped into the clearing.

I was kneeling in the dirt when his SUVs arrived. Silver cuffs bit into my wrists. My knees had gone numb an hour ago. The enforcers had dragged me out of the cabin at dawn and left me here, waiting, like a package ready for pickup.

Declan's boots crunched on gravel. Expensive leather. Polished. I kept my eyes on the ground and counted his steps. Seven. Then he stopped.

"Stand up."

His voice hadn't changed. Smooth. Controlled. The kind of voice that made other wolves obey without thinking. I used to love that voice.

I didn't move.

"Stella." He said my name like it was a command. "I said stand."

My legs shook when I pushed myself upright. The world tilted. I locked my knees and focused on breathing. In. Out. In. Out. The wolfsbane they'd fed me this morning sat heavy in my stomach, thick and bitter.

Declan looked exactly the same. Tall. Broad-shouldered. The Silvercrest Alpha insignia gleamed on his jacket collar. His dark hair was perfectly styled. His jaw was clean-shaven. He looked like a king.

I looked like something dragged out of a grave.

His eyes moved over me. Clinical. Assessing. He didn't flinch at the silver scars on my wrists or the way my collarbone jutted sharp beneath my skin. He'd seen me like this before. He'd put me like this.

"You've lost weight," he said.

I didn't answer.

He turned and walked to the cabin. I heard him open the door. Heard his footsteps inside. When he came back out, he was carrying the rotting wooden table from the kitchen. He set it down in the clearing between us and placed a single document on top.

The Luna Accord transfer.

I'd known it was coming. I'd spent ten years knowing it was coming. But seeing it there, real and official with the Silvercrest seal stamped in red wax, made something twist hard in my chest.

"You'll sign this at the Pack Alliance Ceremony," Declan said. "Two days. In front of the assembled Alphas. It will be clean. Dignified. You'll transfer your grandmother's territorial rights to Ruby, and then I'll release you from the bond."

Release. Like I was the one holding on.

Deep inside me, behind the wolfsbane wall that had been there so long I'd almost forgotten what it felt like without it, something moved. A flicker. A breath. Solace. My wolf. Barely alive. But alive.

The mark on my neck pulsed once. Cold. Dead. But the pulse was there.

Declan's enforcers were unloading equipment from the SUVs. Chains. A transport cage. They worked efficiently. They'd done this before.

I looked at the document. Then I looked at the cabin.

The dosing logs were inside. Ten years of them. Every morning, they'd made me sign a log confirming I'd taken my wolfsbane willingly. Confirming I understood it was for my own safety. Confirming I was cooperating.

Declan needed those logs. They were his proof that I'd been cared for. That I'd been protected. That everything he'd done had been legal and necessary.

I moved before I let myself think about it.

I turned. Walked to the cabin. My legs were shaking but they carried me. I heard Declan say something behind me but I didn't stop. I pushed through the cabin door and grabbed the stack of logs from the shelf where they'd kept them.

Ten years. Hundreds of pages. My signature on every single one.

There was a box of matches on the counter. The enforcers used them to light the wood stove. My hands were clumsy with the silver cuffs but I got the box open. Got one match out.

I struck it.

The flame caught. Small. Bright. I touched it to the corner of the top log and watched the paper curl and blacken.

"Stella." Declan's voice came from the doorway. Sharp now. "What are you doing."

I didn't answer. I dropped the burning logs onto the dirt floor of the cabin and stepped back. The fire spread fast. Dry paper. Ten years of documentation. All of it turning to ash.

"Stop." His Alpha tone cracked through the air like a whip.

My body froze. The tone hit me hard, dug into my bones, tried to force obedience. For a second I couldn't move. Couldn't breathe.

But the logs were already burning.

I turned and looked at him. His jaw was tight. His hands were clenched. He looked furious. He looked scared.

"You needed those," I said. My voice came out rough. I hadn't used it much in ten years. "Didn't you."

He didn't answer.

Behind him, the enforcers were running toward the cabin. One of them grabbed my arm and dragged me outside. I didn't resist. I let them pull me toward the SUV. Let them shove me against the vehicle's frame.

The third enforcer was focused on Declan, who was shouting orders about water, about putting out the fire. No one was watching me.

I pressed my back against the SUV. Angled my body. Reached into the hem of my sleeve where I'd sewn the burner phone months ago and pulled it out.

One number saved. I'd memorized it ten years ago. The night before Declan locked me in this place.

Levi Gardner. Lycan Prince.

I typed three words: *Silvercrest pack house.*

I hit send.

Then I dropped the phone into the mud beneath the SUV's tire and let the enforcer grab my wrists and haul me into the back seat.

I didn't know if the message went through. I didn't know if Levi would come. I didn't know if he even remembered me.

But I'd spent ten years not knowing things.

I could survive not knowing one more.