4

THALIA’S POV

My heart squeezed painfully in my chest, and I felt like a bird trapped in a cage made of my own ribs as I stuttered, “I… you, sir—”

His gaze didn’t falter for a single second. He stood there looking like a god of war, tall and terrifying, while he growled, “I won’t repeat myself anymore, Thalia. Strip. Now.”

Several thoughts ran through my head, mostly involving me dying in very creative ways, because I could see the sheer, unadulterated madness in his eyes and I knew I wasn’t important enough for him to show mercy. The idea of what I was about to do made my stomach do somersaults, but instead of saying the curses that were screaming in my mind, I peeled myself off the door. I swallowed hard, my throat feeling like it was full of sand, and slowly slid the straps of the dress down my pale shoulders.

I was covered in a week’s worth of dungeon dust and grime, which was hardly the “seductress” look I would have gone for if I had a choice, but the way his eyes raked over my skin made me prickle with goosebumps that had nothing to do with the cold. I didn’t miss the way his hand moved under the heavy blankets, and while half of me wanted to be sick at the sheer audacity of it, the other half felt a traitorous heat crawling through my skin. I couldn’t help but wonder what he looked like beneath all those royal layers.

I hated myself for wanting to see him bare, but I did.

The dress pooled at my feet like a disappointed heap of fabric, leaving me standing there in a bra and undies that were basically made of hope and prayer, covering absolutely nothing. A feeling of pure vulnerability crawled under my skin, and I immediately wrapped my arms around myself, feeling like a sacrificial lamb at a very expensive altar.

“Come here…” he growled again, gesturing to the foot of the bed with a hunger I had never seen before. For a second, he didn’t even look like a man—he looked like a beast that had forgotten how to be human.

My knees knocked together as I moved forward, trying not to make too much noise because I didn’t want to startle the monster. I just kept praying to the Goddess that I’d leave this room with my soul intact. As soon as I got to the foot of the bed, he swung his legs off and stood right in front of me. He was so tall I had to crane my neck back just to see his face. His voice was hard as he muttered, “Down.”

I looked up at him, trembling like a leaf in a storm, and squeaked, “What?”

“On. Your. Knees.”

It felt like something invisible and heavy slammed into my shoulders, forcing me to obey, and suddenly I was on my knees staring up at his intimidating frame while my heart thudded against my teeth. He reached for the hem of his coat and threw it off, revealing a lean, muscular frame covered in dark ink that seemed to glow with a dark power.

“Open that mouth of yours…” he growled, and when he pulled down his shorts and his cock sprang free, my throat went dry enough to cause a desert.

It was hard, heavy, and frankly terrifying, hovering right in front of my face like a weapon. Before I could even process what he wanted, he gripped the base and slapped me across the face with it. Hard. My cheek was left with a sticky trail, and my head snapped to the side from the force.

“Suck. Now.”

I opened my mouth, my lips trembling as his hard length filled me. I had zero experience, and he knew it. He didn’t care. His hand fisted into my hair, his knuckles digging into my scalp as he forced my head forward. I started gagging immediately, my eyes watering as he pushed deep, hitting the back of my throat without an ounce of mercy.

He started fucking my face with a brutal, steady rhythm, and I had to grab his thighs just to stay upright. Every time I tried to pull back to catch a breath, his grip tightened, pulling my head back even harder. My nose was pressed against his dark pubic hair, and the musky, overwhelming scent of an Alpha in heat was making my head spin. He was growling, a low, guttural sound that told me he was close to the edge.

“Open wider, damn you,” he hissed, snapping his hips forward and burying himself so deep I thought I’d choke right there on his bedroom floor.

Drool and tears were a messy blur on my face, and my jaw felt like it was being unhinged. He was treatng me like a piece of meat, using my mouth to satisfy a hunger that seemed bottomless. He kept going, forcing me to take every inch of him until my lungs were screaming for air, and just when I thought I was going to black out, he pulled away with a wet, sharp pop.

“You need some fucking lessons,” he muttered, his chest heaving. He grabbed my waist and threw me onto the bed so fast I didn’t even see the ceiling. I fell into the soft sheets, barely catching my breath before he dragged me to the edge, spreading my legs apart with a rough, impatient strength.

He lined himself up, and against my own judgment, I groaned as the thick head of his cock parted my folds. If I’m to be honest right now, I hated that I was dripping wet and aching for him to fill me, but the sheer, ruthless power of him was doing things to my body that my brain couldn’t stop.

“I’m going to put you in your place,” he growled, his eyes flashing a terrifying shade of red before he snapped into me with one sharp, devastating thrust.

A strangled scream escaped me, and my head tipped back as his grip on my hips tightened. He moved with a brutal, steady rhythm, his hips snapping into mine with deep thrusts that felt like they were reaching my very soul. I knew that when an alpha was in a rut like this, it was a nightmare for everyone involved, but I found myself rocking back to meet him, an insatiable hunger welling up in me that made no sense.

He flipped me over, pressing my face into the sheets and restricting my breathing while he took me from behind. The friction was intense, a dirty dance of skin hitting skin, and the heat between us felt like it was going to set the bed on fire. I was sobbing and moaning into the pillows, my body arching and shaking with every heavy hit.

Suddenly, the air in the room seemed to crack as his large hand came down hard, smacking my butt with a stinging force that made me jump.

“Alpha, please!” I screamed, whimpering into the mattress as my toes curled into the silk.

He groaned, a deep and animalistic sound that vibrated through my entire spine, before his hand came down again. Smack. “You only speak when spoken to,” he growled, his voice like grinding stones.

He was absolutely ripping me apart, and God help me, I was loving every single bit of it. When was the last time I’d been touched like this? When was the last time I’d been fucked? Exactly. Never. So maybe the universe was finally doing me a big favor, even if this was going to be my last day on earth. I let out a broken cry as he drove into me again, his strength enough to crush me, and I just held on for dear life.

Sunlight spilled through the curtains the next morning, and I squeezed my eyes shut, feeling a warm, strange energy blooming in my chest that made me feel more alive than I had in years. The bed was soft, and for a second I forgot I was a prisoner, until a voice made me freeze.

“Schedule the meeting to 9:00 AM.”

It was Alpha King Rael. I refused to move, letting him and the other man at the door think I was still unconscious. The person at the door paused and whispered, “Should I call the maids to clean her up and take her back? And also the healer maybe?”

There was a long silence before Rael grunted, “No, let her feel the pain from last night. She should grow to hate me.”

I frowned internally. Pain? What pain? I felt completely rejuvenated, like I’d just had the best spa day in history instead of a night with a madman. I slowly sat up, my hair a mess and my skin still smelling of him. I fixed my gaze on Rael and the middle-aged man at the door. The Alpha King looked perfectly put together in his dark cloak, but I noticed he looked… fearful. He was staring at me like I was a ticking time bomb.

“Impossible…” the man beside him exclaimed, his face going pale.

I swung my legs off the bed, looking at them both with a confused tilt of my head. “Huh? Me what?.. uhhh?”

The now red-faced man beside him looked like he was about to have a heart attack. “You’re fine. How can that be?”

Were they talking about what happened between us? Did they expect me to be bedridden? Or dead? Rael took a step forward, his brows furrowing. “How did you—”

The other man had already scrambled out, yelling for Elodie—the priestess. I was left alone with my nemesis. Alpha Rael took a step forward, his brow furrowing as he moved into my space, and suddenly, the entire chamber felt different. The air became heavy, the scent of him was overwhelming, and even his breathing became ragged as his eyes turned a bright, glowing gold. He stared daggers into me, his jaw clenching so hard I thought it would actuallycrack.

He looked like he was about to explode, his voice vibrating with a lethal edge as he started to say, “Thalia Thorne, who the fuck are—”

But he stopped mid-sentence, his eyes widening in shock. Because in that exact second, a voice that had been silent for over a year—the wolf who had abandoned me after I disobeyed her—finally spoke up in the back of my mind.

“Mate.”