Violet: Luna of The One-eye Alpha

VIOLET’S POV

The sound of my own name being sold echoed louder than the music.

“Sell her to me.”

The words didn’t just ring through the hall.

They wrapped around my throat and squeezed.

I was still on the marble floor, palms slick with spilled wine and my own blood, staring up at him like prey beneath a hunter.

Merrin.

The boy who once ruled my nightmares now stood before me as Alpha, taller, broader, colder. His shadow swallowed the light around him.

Ten years ago, I thought blinding him was the worst thing I would ever do.

I was wrong.

The worst thing was surviving long enough to see him again.

The manager’s greedy voice cut through my panic.

“Of course, Alpha. She’s yours.”

Yours.

The word snapped something inside me.

“I am not property!” I shouted, pushing myself up.

Pain exploded through my ankle. The forced heels. The fall. I crumpled again, biting back a scream as laughter rippled faintly from the edges of the room.

Humiliation burned hotter than the injury.

Merrin crouched slowly in front of me.

Not to help.

To loom.

His gloved fingers lifted my chin, forcing me to meet his gaze. One eye sharp as winter steel. The patch over the other… a permanent reminder of what I’d done.

“Welcome back,” he murmured softly. “We’re just getting started.”

I swallowed hard.

“You already ruined my life once,” I whispered. “Isn’t that enough?”

His expression didn’t change.

But something flickered behind that eye.

“I haven’t even begun.”

The manager hurried back with papers and a pen, hands shaking as if he were presenting tribute to a king.

“She signed earlier,” he stammered. “Full contract consent.”

My stomach dropped.

I remembered signing it. I’d been desperate for work. I hadn’t read the fine print.

I hadn’t known I was signing away my freedom.

Merrin took the pen and held it out to me again.

“Sign.”

The command wrapped around my spine like chains.

I let the pen slip deliberately from my fingers.

It clattered against marble.

A small rebellion.

A pathetic one.

“Please,” I whispered, forcing myself to look at him. “Don’t do this.”

His lips brushed my ear, breath warm and terrifyingly steady.

“You took everything from me, Violet. Now I’ll take everything from you.”

My hands curled into fists.

“I was protecting my sister,” I shot back, unable to stop myself. “You were hurting her.”

For the first time, he froze.

Just for a second.

Then his jaw hardened.

“Careful,” he said quietly. “You don’t want to bring family into this.”

A cold slid down my spine.

He straightened.

“You remember your stepmother’s house?” he continued casually, as though discussing the weather. “The one near the pack border?”

My pulse stumbled.

“I know exactly where they live.”

My blood turned to ice.

“They’re not who I want,” he added calmly. “Unless you give me a reason.”

There it was.

The real cage.

Not the contract.

Not the palace.

My family.

“You’re a monster,” I breathed.

His eyes darkened.

“Sign.”

This time his voice carried weight. Authority. Power that pressed down on my lungs.

My hand trembled as I picked up the pen.

When our fingers brushed, heat surged through me like lightning striking bone.

I gasped.

So did he.

The air thickened.

His eye flashed… not with cruelty.

With something else.

Recognition.

The mate bond.

No.

No, no, no.

Fate couldn’t be this cruel.

He felt it too. I saw it in the tension of his shoulders, the way his breath hitched before he masked it.

But instead of stepping back, he leaned closer.

“If the Moon Goddess thinks she can bind me to my enemy,” he whispered, voice low and dangerous, “I will make her regret it.”

I signed.

The moment ink touched paper, something shifted.

Invisible threads snapped tight between us.

His hand twitched.

Mine burned.

But his face remained carved from stone.

“Welcome to your cage, Violet,” he said.

And just like that, I belonged to him.

He left me on the floor.

Left me bleeding.

Left me shaking.

But he didn’t look back.

Not once.

The dancers whispered as I limped to the locker room.

“Did you see the way he looked at her?”

“She’s dead.”

“She must’ve done something terrible.”

I ignored them.

Fear was contagious. I wouldn’t let it infect me.

I packed my things with stiff fingers.

If I was walking into a cage tomorrow, I would walk in standing.

Outside, night wrapped around me like damp cloth.

I’d taken barely three steps when I heard it.

“VIOLET!”

I froze.

A familiar voice came barreling toward me.

“Zoella,” I breathed as she skidded to a stop in front of me.

She’d cut her hair again. Dyed it electric blue this time. Always rebellious. Always fearless.

“Don’t call me that,” she grinned. “It’s Zoey now.”

Before I could stop her, she threw her arms around me.

I winced as pain shot up my leg.

She pulled back instantly. “What happened?”

“Nothing,” I lied.

Her eyes narrowed.

“You’re limping.”

“Twisted it.”

“Who did it?”

“No one.”

She stared at me.

Then her expression changed.

“You’re lying.”

I grabbed her shoulders.

“You need to go home.”

“Not until I meet your boss and thank him for hiring my lazy sister.”

Ice filled my veins.

“There’s no need,” I said quickly.

“Why?”

“Because the manager sold me to a one-eyed Alpha monster.”

The joke died on her lips.

“Repeat that,” she said quietly.

“Forget it.”

Her jaw clenched.

“Say it again, Violet.”

I looked away.

“That Alpha bought my contract.”

Zoey’s hands curled into fists.

“I’ll kill him.”

“You’ll do nothing,” I snapped. “He’s Alpha.”

“So what?”

“So he can wipe us out without blinking!”

She hesitated.

Just for a moment.

That was enough.

“Let’s go home,” I said.

She didn’t argue this time.

She just crouched down.

“You’re not walking home on that leg. I’ll carry you.”

“Zoella… don’t you dare… I can walk.”

Too late. She crouched down and threw me over her back like a sack of potatoes.

“ZOELLA!”

She just laughed, sprinting down the dark street.

“Hang on, princess! Taxi Zoey is on duty!”

Despite everything…

I almost laughed.

***

Home was small. Old. Fading.

But it was ours.

Mother was already waiting outside.

The moment she saw me, her face drained of color.

“Violet, what are you doing back here? I told you…”

Zoella cut her off.

“Mum, can you at least let me put her down before you scold her to death?”

Mother’s voice cracked.

“You shouldn’t have come back, Violet. You know what this means.”

“I’m not running anymore,” I told her.

“Do you hate us that much?” she asked softly. “Don’t you understand? If Merrin finds you here…”

“He already did.”

Silence dropped between us like a blade.

“I work for him now,” I said quietly. “That’s the deal.”

Mother swayed slightly.

“What deal?”

“He leaves you and Zoey alone.”

Zoey stiffened behind me.

“What?” she snapped.

“It’s fine,” I insisted.

“It’s not fine!”

Before the argument could explode, my phone buzzed.

Unknown number.

My heart knew before my mind did.

I answered.

“You have fifteen minutes.”

His voice was calm.

Cold.

Commanding.

“Merrin?”

“Wolves-Heaven Palace. Now.”

My stomach dropped.

“Wolves-Heaven?” I whispered.

Even saying the name felt forbidden.

It was royal territory. No common wolf stepped foot there without invitation.

“It’s late,” I said carefully. “I can come in the morning.”

Silence.

Then….

“If you waste one more second,” he said softly, “consider your family dead.”

The line went dead.

The world tilted.

Zoey grabbed my arm. “Who was that?”

I couldn’t breathe.

Mother’s voice trembled. “Violet… what’s happening?”

I looked at them.

Really looked at them.

The only two people I had left in this world.

“I have to go,” I said.

Zoey shook her head violently. “No. Absolutely not.”

“If I don’t…”

“He won’t…”

“He will,” I snapped.

They didn’t understand.

Merrin didn’t bluff.

Ten years ago, I’d seen what he was capable of.

And now he had power.

Pack power.

Alpha power.

Mate power.

I swallowed the rising panic.

“Lock the doors,” I told them. “Don’t answer anyone. Not even if they claim to be pack guards.”

Zoey grabbed my wrist.

“I’m coming with you.”

“No.”

“You’re not walking into a death trap alone!”

I cupped her face.

“You’re the reason I survived the first time,” I whispered. “Don’t make that survival meaningless.”

Her eyes filled with fury.

And fear.

I pulled away before she could stop me.

The road to Wolves-Heaven Palace felt longer than it ever had.

Storm clouds gathered overhead.

Wind howled through the trees.

Every step sent agony through my ankle, but I didn’t slow down.

Fifteen minutes.

If I was late…

No.

I refused to imagine it.

The palace gates loomed ahead, tall, black, iron, guarded by wolves in uniform.

They opened before I could knock.

Of course they did.

He had been watching.

I crossed the courtyard alone.

Thunder cracked overhead.

The massive doors opened slowly.

Merrin stood at the top of the staircase inside.

Waiting.

He hadn’t changed clothes.

He hadn’t relaxed.

He looked exactly as he had when he bought me.

Possessive.

Controlled.

Dangerous.

“You’re late,” he said.

“I ran.”

His gaze dropped to my ankle.

For one second…

Concern flickered.

Then it vanished.

“Come here, Slave.”

It wasn’t a request.

It was a command.

I climbed the steps anyway.

Each step felt heavier than the last.

With every inch closer, the bond between us pulled tighter, sharp, burning, impossible to ignore.

I stopped in front of him.

He didn’t move at first. He just watched me.

Then he leaned down slightly, his voice low enough that only I could hear.

“You should have stayed gone ten years ago.”

The words sliced clean.

I lifted my chin. “You should have stayed away from my sister.”

His jaw tightened.

Lightning tore across the sky, flooding the room with white light for a split second. Thunder followed, loud, violent.

The doors behind me slammed shut.

The sound echoed.

Sealing me in.

Alone.

With him.

The air changed. Heavy. Dangerous.

This wasn’t an argument.

This was war.

And I had just walked straight onto enemy territory.

Alone.

He took one slow step toward me.

Then another.

“You have no idea what you’ve done, Violet…”