Claimed by my Rejected Mate: Sold to the Brutal Alpha のすべてのチャプター: チャプター 51 - チャプター 53

RYDER’S POVThe pantry of the Spire was a tomb for things that were meant to be enjoyed. It was filled with the scents of excess and expensive cheeses rotting in their rinds, vintage wines gathering dust, and the stale, sweet perfume of the man currently shaking in my grip.I had Jessica’s Stepfather pinned against a rack of century-old Bordeaux. My fingers were knotted so deeply in his silk cravat that I could feel the frantic, pathetic flutter of his pulse against my knuckles. It was a fast, rhythmic tapping, like a moth beating its wings against a glass jar."You always were a gambling man, fool," I purred. My voice was a low, sandpaper rasp, vibrating with a wolf that had been denied its mate for too long. "But you’ve played a losing hand. You bet on a King who’s already rotting, and now the house is calling in your debt."Look at him. This is the man who raised her? This spineless heap of silk and cowardice sold the only light in this mountain for a handful of gold. My wolf wants

JESSICA’S POV The stone floor was cold beneath my thin silk ritual gown, but nothing like the ice running through my veins. The air in the room was thick with the aroma of perfumes: Thornes perfumes, a sweet blend of sandalwood and stale power. I felt like there was a weight on my skin that I can't wash off. As the secondary lock thudded, though, I didn't get panicked. I didn't have the strength to. He thinks I'm a lamb, I thought, my fingers skimming down the thick plaits of white silk. “He says he has set up the altar; he doesn't realize he has just handed me a knife.” My fingers touched the obsidian fragment that Jax dropped. It was cold and keen as a razor and buzzed with a dim dark power. I shuddered as I touched it. "Jax?" I whispered once more, peering up at the pitch black, soot-blackened grate in the ceiling. There was no answer. The distant regular grumble of the Spire's machinery, and the soft hissing of the Null-gas flowing through the vents. I felt a terrible sens