LUXURIA.
I ran breathlessly into our chamber and couldn’t hold back the torrent of emotions threatening to consume me.
He was still the same selfish man I had known. The same ruthless creature who saw lives as mere tools for his own survival.
Why should I trust all he had said to me earlier? He only thinks about himself and no one else.
I clawed at my arms as if trying to hold myself together, but the anger, the grief, and the sheer disbelief were too much.
How could he even consider this?
Why would he even think of using the poor girl for this purpose?
Sibile had lived her entire life running, fighting to survive, and carrying a burden she never asked for. And now, at the very end, she was to be nothing more than a sacrifice?
A broken sob burned my throat, but I forced it down. My hands trembled as I wiped at the tears that streaked my cheeks, furious at myself for even shedding them.
Then the door creaked open behind me.
I stiffened, knowing exactly who it was before I even turned.
Parthe stood there and looked at me ridiculously like I was being stupid for even crying about this.
“Luxuria…”
“Don’t!” I held up a hand to stop him from speaking further, “Why are you this selfish? Why?” I whispered. “You’ll be heartless enough to go on with this? Can’t you make a decision for this girl since you are an Alpha? Your word is law!”
He exhaled slowly as if this entire thing was just… exhausting for him. As if I were exhausting him.
“Not in this case, Luxuria,” he replied ever so calmly, stepping into the room and closing the door behind him, “She is dying anyway. This is our only best chance.”
“No. Don’t make this about us. This is about you. Because I’d never be this selfish!” I spat, letting the tears fall freely.
“Selfish?” he repeated, a cold, humorless chuckle escaping his lips. “You think I want this? You think I like this?”
He took a step closer, and I instinctively stepped back.
“You are asking me to let her die for nothing,” he continued, “You think that is kindness? You think that is mercy? Because I see it for what it is-a waste.”
“You’re selfish…” I whispered again, avoiding his gaze.
“You’re really saying that?” His voice was calm, infuriatingly so. “She is dying, Luxuria. Whether we do this or not. That is a fact.”
“So that makes it right?” I choked out, my vision blurring. “That makes it okay to use her like-like she’s nothing? She’s not just a convenient solution to your goddamn curse, Parthe! She’s a person. A girl who has suffered more than anyone ever should.”
He tilted his head, regarding me with quiet patience.
“You want someone to blame?” His voice remained maddeningly steady. “Blame Rorden. He’s the one who poisoned her. He’s the one who took her choice away. If you want to be angry, be angry at the man who did this to her. But he’s dead, Luxuria. He’s dead, and she is going with him.”
I shook my head violently, wrapping my arms around myself. No. No, this wasn’t right.
“She’s still breathing,” I whispered. “She’s still here.”
“She’s lucky to have been alive until now. Did you take a look at her at all?” He paused, shaking his head slowly, “She won’t make it until sundown. She is at death’s door. And once she crosses it, she will be nothing but a wasted life-unless we use this one chance to make her death mean something. There is no point in wasting that one life that could have saved me.”
I paused, trying to rationalize what he was saying, but the thought of using an innocent girl wasn’t sitting well with me, no matter how hard I tried.
“It’s barely two hours to noon, Luxuria. Everything is set. This is our only chance. And once it’s gone, it’s gone forever.”
My stomach twisted painfully.
I knew he was right.
But knowing didn’t make it any easier to bear.
***
ALPAH PARTHE.
The entire pack stood still, awaiting the series of events we had for the day.
It was going to be a full day.
The witches were all set for the rituals. The scent of burning herbs and ancient incantations coiled through the gathering like a living thing.
Kalaril stood among them-Alpha Modred’s right hand and, surprisingly, an AshBlood wizard. One of the greatest I’d recently gotten to know was in attendance.
The irony still struck me.
Funny how things spiraled for him… Who would have thought that the greatest AshBlood hunter of all time was actually an AshBlood wizard who hid his identity so well that no one, not even the most cunning among us, had ever suspected?
Love had undone him.
Love is truly pain.
All his guards were let down because of one woman… Rashina… Alpha Modred’s mate.
I wasn’t the only one who fell heads-over-hill for her. There was something about that woman-something unnatural, almost fated in the way she made great men fall at her feet. She had reduced legends to desperate fools. Even Kalaril, the once-ruthless hunter, had been stripped of his armor for her.
But in the end, it worked in my favor. Today, Kalaril stood here, spearheading the rituals. There was no other person I could trust more than him.
The gathering was vast. Representatives from every pack I had conquered in battle two days ago stood before me, each of them now bound to my rule.
Their Alphas had fallen beneath my claws. I had defeated them. Therefore, their territories had been absorbed into my own. Their packs were now mine.
I made sure former Luna Rella and her mother, former Luna Carli, were also present.
They were meant to be mourning Alpha Kahel, but this was one of the perfect revenge they deserved.
This was justice.
For what they had done to my mate, they deserved this moment-to stand here, powerless, watching as the world moved on without them, as everything they had once held on to, which had made them proud and wicked, turned to ash right before their eyes.
And that the one woman whom they had treated with so much disrespect and disregard would be the one ruling over them.
Kahel must have been a fool to have thought that he could stand against me. I knew killing Alpha Odren wasn’t the only reason Kahel fought against me.
The truth was, a part of him had wanted me to fall.
He had dreamed of my death.
He wished I would be defeated so he could bask in the knowledge that I died, leaving Luxuria behind.
But he was the one who had died.
And now, as I stood here, ruling over the remnants of his legacy, I felt nothing for him. No regrets. No remorse.
Only the cold satisfaction of victory.
Bastard.
I felt soft fingers slip into mine, intertwining with my own.
Delicate against my roughness. Warm against the cold tension coiling in my veins.
I squeezed lightly, reassuring her that everything would be fine.
We had one hour- just one hour from the moment the sun hit its peak to see this through and complete the rituals.
I’d be a fool to say I wasn’t nervous.
Because I was nervous.
Fucking nervous.
I exhaled slowly, steadying myself.
We couldn’t afford a single mistake.