The Lycan King’s Mark (Nevara) by Tiffanie L. Campbell novel Chapter 78

Chapter 78 – The Cage Made of Silk

*Content warning for this chapter: forceful acts. Although not extremely graphic, Reader discretion is still advised.*

Nevara

I wake to the feeling of being held down.

Not by hands.

By tension.

By pressure.

By ropes.

My eyes snap open, heart slamming into my ribs as reality rushes in all at once. My wrists are stretched above my head, bound to the corners of the headboard. My ankles are tied wide apart at the foot of the bed. Not tight enough to cut off circulation-but tight enough that I can’t sit up, can’t turn, can’t pull free.

Just enough slack to struggle.

And I do.

The bed jerks beneath me as I wrench against the bindings, breath coming out in sharp, panicked bursts. The rope bites into my skin. The room spins.

“Tobias!” I scream. “What the hell is this?!”

Firelight flickers.

I turn my head and see him on the far side of the room, calmly lighting candles and placing them one by one around the bed like he’s preparing for some kind of ritual.

My stomach drops.

“What the fuck are you doing?” I demand.

He doesn’t even look at me at first. Just adjusts one of the candles so it sits perfectly straight.

“Setting the mood,” he says mildly.

“The mood for what?” I snap. “You need ambience to hold me captive in a cabin in the middle

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of nowhere?”

He finally turns to me, smiling.

“For our mating ritual, of course.”

My blood runs cold.

“You say that like I’m supposed to know what that even means,” I spit. “I don’t.”

“I took you for granted before,” he says, walking slowly closer. “I won’t make that mistake again. You were my wife. My Luna. And now that I have you back… we’re going to do this properly.”

“Have me back?” I laugh, sharp and broken. “You’re fucking delusional. Do you actually hear yourself? I didn’t come back. You kidnapped me. You drugged me. You tried to rewrite my memories. And when I escaped, you knocked me unconscious and dragged me back here.”

He doesn’t flinch.

“I had to,” he replies calmly. “You needed to see the real me. The man I should have been all along.”

“The real you?” My voice shakes with fury. “You mean the psychotic kidnapper who thinks candles turn rape into romance?”

That finally gets a reaction-a faint crease between his brows.

“You’re upset,” he says gently. “That’s understandable. But you’ll see. I’m going to love you the way I should have before.”

I shift against the ropes again, rage burning through me. That’s when I finally look down and

realize-

I’m not wearing my clothes.

I’m dressed in silk. Lace. Something soft and delicate that I never chose.

My stomach twists violently.

“You changed me,” I whisper. “You put me in this?”

“I thought you might feel more beautiful,” he says. “Not that you weren’t before. You are. I just never paid attention like I should have.”

He steps closer, eyes roaming over me in a way that makes my skin crawl.

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“I see you now,” he murmurs. “How perfect you are. Your skin. Your hair. Everything.”

“Don’t,” I snarl. “You don’t get to look at me like that. You need to let me go. Now.”

“I know you can love me again,” he says softly. “I know I ruined things before. But I’m fixing that. We’ll start over. I just need to make you my Luna again-properly.”

“You are insane,” I spit. “I will never love you. I will never be your wife again. And I will never be your Luna.”

My voice shakes-but it doesn’t break.

“Listen to me very carefully,” I continue. “You tying me up like this? Changing my clothes? Trying to force some fantasy on me? That is assault. That is rape. That is a crime under human law and pack law. You can be stripped of your Alpha title for this. You will be destroyed.”

For the first time, something flickers behind his eyes.

Not fear.

Possession.

“You don’t understand,” he says quietly. “This is how mates are made. How bonds are sealed.

”

“No,” I hiss. “This is how monsters justify what they do.”

He stares at me like he doesn’t hear the words at all.

And in that moment, I realize the most terrifying thing of all-

He truly believes this is love.

The candlelight wavered as Tobias stepped closer, shadows crawling over the walls like they were alive.

“I’m actually glad,” he said quietly, “that you stopped drinking the tea.”

My breath caught.

“What?”

He smiled like he was sharing a secret. “Four days, right? I could tell. Your eyes are clearer. Your scent is different. Stronger.”

My wolf stirred uneasily beneath my skin..

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“You see,” he continued, “the wolfsbane was only meant to quiet you. Not erase you. And for what I’m about to do… I need your wolf awake.”

Cold slid down my spine.

“You’re sick,” I whispered. “You really are.”

“Not sick,” he corrected gently. “Prepared.”

He moved closer, hands folding behind his back, posture relaxed in a way that made it so

much worse.

“You’re still weak,” he said. “You can feel it, can’t you? You can’t shift. You can’t outrun me. But your wolf is there now-just enough for the bond to take.”

My pulse pounded in my ears.

“There’s nothing you can do to stop this,” he went on. “Once we mate-once body, mind, and soul fuse-the bond will snap into place. Complete. Permanent.”

“No,” I said, the word ripping out of me. “You wouldn’t. You can’t-”

“You’ll see,” he replied softly.

My wolf snarled inside me, terrified and furious and weak all at once.

“You think you can force a bond?” I hissed. “That’s not how it works. That’s not what mates

are.”

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