Chapter 3

LUXURIA'S POV

It's been five days now, and I have been living a normal life... Or, so I had forced myself to believe.

Although the memories of the monstrous Alpha kept plaguing me. His touch, his scent, the overwhelming intensity with which he made love to me—it all made my core quake with a terrifying mixture of dread and desire each time I thought about it. Just like now.

My center still ached sorely after my encounter with him. He wasn't exactly the kind I'd pick for a girl like me who was still a virgin.

I had been using some herbs to help me heal, but I still felt sore. I could hardly walk properly.

Even though the whole night was almost a blur, I still remember fragments of it.

As I scrubbed the floor of the fortress for the second time today, a task my stepmother seemed to find endlessly amusing to assign me, I bit my bottom lip to stifle the moan that threatened to escape at the mere memory of him.

My stepmother had made sure I never had a moment of rest. I never knew what rest felt like.

I had been hiding away from Kahel since I returned from my forbidden night with the monster. My guilt wouldn't let me face him. I couldn't bear to face him, to look into his eyes and see the trust I was betraying.

Not a soul knew anything about my encounter. Not even my friend, Niksha.

As I pushed the bucket forward, a familiar scent struck me. It was so potent, so overwhelmingly familiar, that it stopped me in my tracks.

No... What's happening? I panicked internally, clutching the locket on my neck. The one the man I love had gifted me. But instead of the usual comfort it had always offered me, it made me feel utterly guilty.

Do I actually deserve to wear this locket anymore? When I had hurt the man who gave it to me.

From the second floor of the fortress, I could swear the familiar scent came from outside. It hit me so hard that it was so overwhelming.

"No... This can't be happening..." I said inwardly as I hurried to the window to get a glimpse of what was going on.

I didn't want to believe that it was... No. My heart sank. It couldn't be. He couldn't have found me.

My breath hitched as my eyes fell on a small group of men strolling into the pack.

My eyes scanned the small group of men, and my worst fears materialized before me.

There, leading the group with a dark, intimidating presence that none could ignore, was Alpha Parthe, the cursed Alpha from the North. The very monster I had thought I'd escaped.

Yes. His name was Alpha Parthe. When I returned home after that forbidden night with him, I had done some research about the monster of the North and the curse that had plagued him.

I found out so many terrifying reveals that threatened me to my core and made me pray to the Moon Goddess every day that he never found me.

But it seemed the Moon Goddess was too busy attending to others that she couldn't answer my prayers.

I trembled, my hands gripping the window until my knuckles turned white. I fidgeted, my heart racing as terror gripped me. I shouldn't have been surprised. He had warned me, hadn't he? He had warned me through every touch and every look that night... He had touched and looked at me so intently, almost as if imprinting every detail of me in his memory. I couldn't escape him.

And there he was as if drawn by my thoughts.

As if on cue, he lifted his gaze, his eyes piercing across the distance straight to where I stood, almost as if he knew I was standing there.

Our eyes met, and the world seemed to stop spinning. His coal-black eyes locked onto mine, and at that moment, I knew he had seen me.

In a blind panic, I ducked away from the window, my breaths coming in short, ragged gasps. It was too late. He had seen me. My mind raced. There was no escaping him anymore.

I had to find a solution. Perhaps an escape. I didn't want to die. I heard no woman ever mated to the Alphas from the Wild Wolf pack ever lived for more than two years. They disappear mysteriously.

Despite my plight in my father's pack, I wouldn't want to end up mysteriously gone in two years.

I turned around immediately and tried to flee, but I bumped into the last person I wished to see. Kahel.

His sudden appearance made me flinch, tears springing to my eyes, my emotions a tangled mess of fear, guilt, and desperation.

"Luxuria, what's wrong?" Kahel's voice was filled with concern, his brow furrowed as he reached out to steady me.

I couldn't speak, couldn't form the words to explain the terror that gripped me. All I wanted was to run, to escape the nightmare that had followed me home.

"Nothing, Kahel. I just... I need some time to myself. I am feeling unwell," I lied, the lie tasting like ash in my mouth.

"Is everything alright? You've been avoiding me for days now. Have I done anything wrong?" He asked me, stirring up more emotions within me.

How do I tell him it's not him but me? How do I tell him that I cheated on him with my monster of a mate? How do I tell him I had lost my virginity to another man? How do I explain the strange darkness that was beginning to seep into me since my encounter with my mate?

"Nothing. I've been busy. I have to go now," I said to him, unable to look him in the face as I ran past him. His next words stopped me abruptly, and I could swear he heard the loud thud my heart gave.

"Your father has asked to see you."

***

Terror clenched my heart as I followed Kahel to my father's courtroom.

Inside, the room was suffused with a tension so thick it nearly choked me.

My father, Alpha Odren, sat on his high seat with an expression of anger and disdain. But he dared not utter a word about his disdain as his eyes darted nervously toward the figure seated across from him. Alpha Parthe.

Alpha Parthe's coal-black eyes were fixed on me the moment I entered, burning with an intensity that made my knees weaken. Seven men stood beside him as he sat opposite my father's table.

The court members looked at me with disgust. I was the subject of their scorn, the cursed one who had brought this feared Alpha to our doorstep.

At that point, I knew everyone already knew the reason they were gathered.

As I and Kahel approached the room, I saw the burning rage flickering in Alpha Parthe's eyes at our closeness.

A possessive, dangerous gleam that made my blood run cold. I flinched visibly, my heart pounding so fiercely I feared it might burst from my chest.

We stopped a few feet away from Alpha Parthe, and Kahel gave me a concerned glance, his hand lightly touching my arm as if to offer some comfort. But his touch only served to stoke the fire in Alpha Parthe's eyes, and I quickly stepped away, my skin crawling with fear.

My father finally spoke, his voice barely above a whisper, tainted with fear and resignation. "Luxuria, you already know why you are here. There is no need to say the obvious."

The glare in my father's eyes held the question HAVEN'T I TOLD YOU NEVER TO GO OUT AT NIGHT?

And this was the only time I wished I had listened to my father.

"You will leave with Alpha Parthe," my father continued, his words slicing through me like a knife. "This... arrangement has been settled. He claims you as his mate."

My father's words felt like a tear in Kahel's poor heart.

I felt his body tremble subtly beside me. I heard the rapid beating of his fragile heart. I felt his pain and hurt.

Oh, how I wish things hadn't happened this way.

He took a step back, his eyes averted, hiding the hurt I knew shook him to his core.

I saw the possessive pride in Alpha Parthe's eyes. My gaze darted to the window, and I saw Kaya and Rella, my half-siblings, giggling with delight, trying not to get noticed by our father.

They seemed overly excited that I'd finally leave the pack to a place of no return. Especially Rella, who had always had an eye for Kahel since we were little. With me out of the way, she would surely leverage on it and try to sneak into his life.

The thought enraged me. I couldn't let the man I loved so much slip out of my fingers. Just for a monster who is most likely to kill me.

I didn't know when the words I might live to regret left my lips.

"I do not wish to go with him, father."

Those were the very words that would change my fate and lead me into a life of misery.