Chapter 196

ALPHA PARTHE.

A whimper caught my attention, and I shifted my gaze to Luxuria.

She was pale. Too pale.

The sight of her, so fragile and bound, weakened by their cruelty, made something in me twist. For a moment—just a moment—I faltered. The need to rip her away from these bastards ate at my insides like a beast clawing to get free.

"Luxuria..." I was only able to take two steps forward before the rope around her tightened, violently yanking her backward.

She stumbled, her breath hitching, before crashing against the chest of that halfwit, Alpha Jalar. His thick, dirty fingers dug into her shoulder as he held her in place. His grip was both possessive and triumphant.

"Aha..." He exhaled, amusement curling at the edges of his voice. "Not that fast, Monster."

My muscles coiled, every inch of my body screaming to lunge at him, to carve the satisfaction from his bones.

He smirked, tightening his hold on her. "I told you, didn't I? That one day, I'd take her from you?" His lips curled wider. "And now—" He yanked the rope, forcing her against him. "Isn't she in my hands?"

I growled, my vision bleeding red, and the world around me pulsed with it.

So, this was some sort of a conspiracy between my enemies? It felt so good to know that I could pull such a crowd. It meant I was stepping on a lot of toes, and people feared and detested me as they should.

And today, I'll remind them painfully of all the reasons they hated me.

But before I could take another step, another man spoke, "We meet again, Parthe."

I knew that voice even without looking. I knew it like the scent of blood on my hands.

I turned to meet the face of the man whom I'd recognize from anywhere, Alpha Zegan, and I wished I had killed him the day I had the chance to.

His voice was so calm as if we were sitting by the stream and talking about the weather. "I bet you thought you'd killed me." He smiled, and the scar I left on his face twisted with his smile. It ran from his temple to his jaw, and satisfaction skittered through me.

I took a step toward him, my rage curling around my throat like a noose. "I wish I had. But at least I left you with a reminder. How does it feel, Zegan, to wake up every day with that ugly mark of failure burned into your flesh?"

Zegan's smile faltered, and I smirked.

"You're not really the smartest in the room, Parthe," Rorden's words pulled my attention back to him,

He jumped down from his horse, coming to stand before me, and I clenched my fists, the hunger to rip him apart burning hotter. My fingers itched to sink into his chest, to wrap around the feeble organ still keeping him breathing, to crush it until he knew—really knew—the extent of his insignificance.

"You had all the signs," he continued, watching me with something close to pity. "Yet you ignored them."

I arched a brow, barely restraining my irritation. "The fuck did you just say?"

His smile stretched wider. "I am Rorden Candor, first son of Alpha Candor. A direct descendant of Alpha Xanda."

The words didn't make sense. Not immediately.

My mind fought to stitch them together, to shape them into something rational. But the longer I stared at him, the more the pieces slid into place.

"Hello, brother. Nice to properly meet you."

My stomach twisted.

I blinked twice to be sure I wasn't in another nightmare. But no. This wasn't a dream.

I studied him properly, truly looked at him. The sharpness of his jaw. The subtle familiarity in the set of his eyes. The same fucking arrogance that ran in our cursed bloodline.

Was I actually just seeing all of that, or were his words twisting those images in place in my head?

"What the fuck are you talking about?" I gritted out, eager to return to battle because I felt this was just a delay tactic from him to distract me.

"I've come to take what's rightfully mine, Parthe. That which our father so generously handed to you while his illegitimate son—" he pressed a hand to his chest mockingly, "I—was cast aside like filth. He thought I was a curse. An abomination." He spoke, and I saw pain and anger flash in his eyes.

He wasn't making this up.

Every inch of him radiated truth, soaked in bitterness.

"Your all-perfect mother lived her perfect life at the expense of my mother's happiness. You lived the life that was originally meant to be mine, and now, all that is about to change," He added and flicked his finger to someone behind him, and Alpha Jalar released Luxuria, who walked toward him without a single will of her own.

A chill gripped my spine.

"What did you do to her?" I drove my fist into his cheek without even hesitating to give it a thought.

Bone cracked. Blood splattered.

But Rorden only stumbled back with a chuckle, wiping his mouth like he welcomed the pain.

"What the fuck is wrong with her?" I turned to her and moved to touch her, but she snarled at me in a voice that wasn't hers.

I froze, horror gripping me as she bared her fangs.

"Luxuria... Look at me," I said, eyes wide with terror and panic as I reached to touch her again, but this time, not only did she snarl at me, but her claws elongated, and she lunged at me, brushing the side of my rib.

I hissed at the impact but didn't stop there.

Suddenly, she began shifting into her wolf. But this wasn't the ordinary wolf I knew her to have. This was...

No.

What's happening?

This was her wolf but with a touch of... The beast?

"What... What is..." I stumbled backward, my eyes blurring a bit as I tried to understand the situation.

My gaze flicked from her to Rorden, who stood with smug satisfaction at the way things were unraveling before me.

"Surprised, huh?" He said, "You never paid attention. Not for once, you selfish bastard," He said.

"Your mate has been the cure to your curse, dear brother, but you've been too blind to see it. She lived under your roof, taming the monster you forced into her—" A dry laugh. "But you were too busy fucking other women to notice she was drowning in it."

The world stopped.

The truth in his words hit me hard... Too hard.

I made to move toward her absentmindedly, my heart beating painfully slow as a thousand voices were already singing in my head and telling me how much of a fool I had been.

"But she's the daughter of Ordren... Tervan confirmed it," I whispered uselessly to myself.

A single tear, for the first time in a long time, burned its way down my cheek as I stared at the woman I had condemned without even knowing it.

"You trusted a man who had been planning your downfall along with your mistress for several years now." Rorden laughed, and I didn't even have the strength to be surprised. "I guess it's a good thing Shikta lost the bastard she was carrying, either way. Saved you from raising another man's son as yours," he spoke in a way that one would consider 'brotherly,' but I saw past all that.

He was satisfied. In fact, he was dying of satisfaction.

Why wasn't I feeling anything? Where were my emotions? Where was the rage—the grief—the terror that should have been eating me alive?

They were right here with me a moment ago. But I guess they had all been turned off by the sight of my mate being a beast... A beast I created.

The news of Shikta's disloyalty barely scratched the surface. Perhaps in another moment, in another life, I would have felt something. But right now, it just felt like another betrayal in a long list of my failures.

But that didn't mean that I wasn't going to kill her with my bare hands.

She misled me. She kept misleading me. Little wonder she was always about me leaning toward my darkness rather than away from it.

She had guided my downfall with careful hands, weaving destruction so perfect she knew I'd never see it coming.

She sorted my destruction so much that she was willing to do anything to have it.

A loud growl filled the air, and I turned in its direction. It was my mate, lunging toward me with the speed of light.

And before I could have the opportunity to brace myself for the attack, she sunk her claws into the other side of my ribs, making me bare my teeth at the impact.

Blood gushed out of my wound, and that was when I realized that the first wound was still bleeding profusely.

I wasn't healing.

Why the fuck wasn't I healing?

Something was wrong.

Terribly, terribly wrong.

Author's Note: MATED TO MY OBSESSIVE STEPBROTHER is still sizzling hot. It is the kind of forbidden romance you wouldn’t want to miss. Quickly add it to your library and join in the thrill.