Sayori's gentle steps barely made a sound on the chilly stone floor as she walked along the corridor, the moon high above the east wing.
She knocked on the thick door once before stopping in front of it.
"Come in," replied a deep, unmistakable voice from inside, low and obviously stressed.
She went inside.
Fenris stood next to the fireplace, his sharp features covered by shadows. Something within him came to a complete standstill as his mesmerizing, blood-red eyes darted in her direction.
She had just washed her hair, and it was still damp. Her fair hands were red and raw. A bandage peeked out from under the hem of her sleeve.
She performed a curtsy.
"I have details..."
"You were cleaning," he broke in, his tone dangerously low.
"I… I always have. The jobs help me think," Sayori said, blinking.
His jaw clenched.
"You carried feed bags. You scrubbed floors. You were bleeding."
"I've recovered enough—"
"You are my mate," he growled, his voice on the verge of a snarl. "And in this house, you worked like a dog."
Sayori's reaction was to take a step back, but not out of terror; rather, it was because the storm was brewing behind his eyes.
As his rage mounted, the hearth burst into flames, with the flames reaching higher.
"By whom were you given your tasks?"
"Nobody. I... I just wanted to be of use."
"That is not your burden," he stated, each word with a hint of the ancient and wild. "You are mine; you are not a servant."
The room was filled with electricity.
After that, he disappeared.
---
By dawn, pandemonium prevailed.
The castle employees stood in the courtyard, barefoot and shivering in the cold.
The cursed Alpha's eyes held the magic-born, the enchanted, and the ancient in speechless awe.
Fenris walked in front of them like a storm brought to life, saying frigidly, "You allowed my partner to work with bloody hands and fractured ribs."
Thalen was standing to the side, looking stern.
Nobody dared to utter a word.
"You will wash the walls with your power bound for every day she was ignored, for every wound you allowed to fester," he said. "No spell. Nothing but pain and hands. You'll experience what she went through.
"And you will remember," he said in a low, lethal tone.
---
With her heart racing, Sayori gazed out of her room's window.
She had no intention of bringing this about.