Betrayed by My Ex, Marked by His Alpha Emperor Brother

Chapter 15

Elara’s POV

“Michael Harrison.”

He released my hand as I settled onto the cushioned bench across from him. The carriage door clicked shut, sealing out the bitter cold. Warmth wrapped around me immediately—thick velvet seats, a small heating stone glowing amber near the floor.

“And you are?”

“Elara.” I pulled the torn edges of my dress tighter across my chest. The wine stain had dried into a dark, ugly bloom across the bodice. “Just Elara.”

“Well, Just Elara.” His smile was easy. Practiced. “That was quite an exit back there.”

I said nothing. My fingers ached as feeling returned to them. The heating stone pulsed like a small, quiet heartbeat near my frozen bleeding feet.

“There’s a physician’s supply in my townhouse,” he said, leaning back against his seat. “A few blocks from here. We could get those cuts cleaned and bandaged properly before infection sets in.”

Something tightened in my chest. A warning. Faint, but there.

“That’s kind of you,” I said carefully, “but unnecessary. If you could drop me at the nearest public inn, I’d be grateful.”

“At this hour?” He tilted his head. The lantern light caught the angles of his face—pleasant, unremarkable, forgettable. The kind of face that blended into a crowd. “Every reputable establishment in this district closed when the palace bells rang late. You’d be knocking on locked doors until dawn.”

He’s not wrong, Moonlight murmured. But something...

“I’ll manage,” I said.

Michael studied me for a moment. His hazel eyes moved across my face with an expression that hovered between sympathy and something else. Something I couldn’t name.

“Of course,” he said. “I’ll tell the driver.”

He didn’t move.

Instead, a new scent crept into the enclosed space. Sweet. Floral. Heavy, like jasmine crushed between warm fingers. It curled through the air like smoke, settling over my skin, sinking into my lungs with each breath.

Pleasant at first. I thought it was just incense, or perhaps a heavy cologne he wore. Almost soothing.

Then too pleasant.

My eyelids grew heavy. The ache in my feet dulled. The sharp edges of fear and humiliation that had kept me rigid began to soften, blur, dissolve like sugar in hot water.

Elara. Moonlight’s voice cut through the haze. Sharp. Urgent. That scent. Something is wrong. That is not perfume.

I tried to sit up straighter. My spine refused. My muscles had turned to warm clay, pliant and useless. My fingers, which had been gripping the torn fabric of my dress, slowly uncurled and fell limp into my lap.

“What—” My tongue felt thick. Clumsy. “What is that smell?”

Michael’s expression changed.

The warmth drained from his eyes like water through a cracked bowl. What remained was flat. Appraising. The gaze of a man examining merchandise.

“Clever girl.” He crossed one leg over the other. Casual. Unhurried. “Most don’t even notice until they’re fully under. The scent is a specialized compound—black-market, very expensive. Designed specifically for lower-rank wolves. It suppresses the neural connection between your conscious mind and your wolf’s instincts. Essentially...” He paused, as if selecting the most precise word. “It makes you docile.”

Cold horror flooded through me. But my body didn’t respond. My arms hung at my sides like dead things. My legs wouldn’t move. I was trapped inside my own skin, screaming behind a wall of artificial calm.

Fight it, Moonlight snarled. I could feel her thrashing inside me, clawing against the invisible chains the scent had wrapped around us both. Push through. MOVE.

I couldn’t.

“Don’t strain yourself,” Michael said. He reached beneath his seat and produced a small glass vial, empty now. He turned it between his fingers with the casual familiarity of someone who had done this before. Many times before. “It takes only a short time to fully metabolize. The more you resist, the more energy you waste.”

The carriage turned a corner. Then another. The rhythm of hooves changed—cobblestone to packed earth. We were leaving the main streets.

“Where...” My voice came out slurred. Distant. Like speaking through water. “Where are you taking me?”

“Somewhere quiet.” He tucked the vial back under the seat. “Somewhere private.”

My hand slipped from my lap. The small beaded purse I’d been clutching—the only possession I’d brought from the palace—tumbled to the carriage floor. It slid beneath the bench with the motion of the wheels.

I couldn’t bend down to pick it up.

I couldn’t do anything at all.

Stay conscious, Moonlight growled. Her voice was growing fainter, as if she were being dragged underwater. Whatever happens—stay awake. Don’t let go.

The carriage stopped.

Michael stepped out first. Then he reached back in and grabbed my arm—not roughly, but with the efficient grip of someone handling a package. He hauled me out onto a quiet street. Neat hedgerows. Shuttered windows. The kind of residential lane in the capital where neighbors minded their own business.

He half-carried, half-dragged me through a plain wooden door into a modestly furnished front room. The air inside was stale. It smelled of old malt liquor and dust. Curtains drawn tight. No servants. No sound except the creak of floorboards beneath his boots.

In the corner of the room, I noticed it—a crystalline device mounted on a bronze tripod. Faceted like a gemstone, its surface shimmered with faint arcane light. A recording crystal. The kind used to capture magical images.

My stomach lurched.

He dropped me onto a long sofa. The cushions were threadbare. Old. My body sank into them like a ragdoll, limbs splayed at angles I couldn’t correct.

“You know,” Michael said, shrugging off his coat and tossing it over a chair, “I almost didn’t stop for you. Figured someone from the palace guard would collect you eventually.” He crouched beside the sofa, close enough that I could see the fine lines around his eyes. The absence of any warmth in them. “But then I thought—who would bother? After that little spectacle in the banquet hall?” He chuckled softly. “Your precious Alpha looked at you like you were dirt on his shoe. The whole court watched him interrogate you as if you were a common criminal.”

Each word landed like a fist against bruised ribs.

“No one is coming for you, sweetheart.” He reached out and brushed a strand of silver-white hair from my face. His touch was gentle. Clinical. “No one even knows you’re gone.”

LIAR, Moonlight howled from somewhere deep inside me. But her voice was barely a whisper now. The scent had nearly smothered her completely.

Michael straightened. He glanced at the recording crystal in the corner, checking its position. Then he turned back to me.

“Let’s make this easy,” he murmured.

His fingers found the first strap of my dress. He pushed it down, slowly, watching my face for a reaction I couldn’t give.

The fabric slid off my shoulder. Cool air hit bare skin.

“There we go, sweetheart,” he whispered.

Tears burned behind my eyes. Hot. Furious. They slid down my temples into my hair because I couldn’t even lift my hand to wipe them away.

Move, I screamed at my body. Move, move, MOVE—

Then came the howl.

It rose from somewhere outside—not distant, not close. Everywhere. A sound that vibrated through the walls, through the floorboards, through the marrow of my bones. Deep. Primal. Saturated with a fury so pure it made the air itself tremble.

Michael froze. His hand still rested on my bare shoulder. His head snapped toward the front door.

“What the—”

The front door exploded inward with a crash that shook the entire house, sending wood splinters flying in all directions. Through the wreckage, a massive silver-white winter wolf walked in, his eyes burning like ice-blue fire, his curled lips revealing fangs capable of tearing open a human throat effortlessly. Even through the haze of the drug, I recognized those eyes. I recognized that magnificent and terrifying creature.