Chapter 176: This Is How You Do It!

Lila's POV

A comforting type of silence settled over us when she stopped breathing.

Good. She won't live to tell how good fucking my mate was!

I stood over her, chest heaving, fur matted with the evidence of what I’d done. My wolf bent its head, licking its paws clean, savoring the taste of victory.

Glorious.

The woman was nothing now. No threat. No smile. No whore. Just a corpse.

I transformed back to my human form, threw my head back and laughed into the night, my wolf’s snarl mingling with my voice.

Dante didn’t say a word as I dragged my bloody hand across the shredded fabric clinging to me. The transformation had stripped me bare, left me standing naked, unashamed, surveying the ruin at my feet. My kill. My work. And fuck, it was beautiful.

The streetlight made her skin look like wax. I wanted to stomp the soft smile right out of the world for good; I’d done it. That was enough for the night.

Her body was still, finally quiet. I didn’t bother to look at it again…she wasn’t worth the space in my head. But the ground around her told the story of my wolf. Flesh torn in jagged strips, skin hanging open where claws had ripped through like paper. Her throat was a mangled ruin, chest slashed so deep I could see the pale gleam of bone beneath. Blood seeped into the ground in heavy pools, the smell thick, iron and hot, clinging to the back of my throat.

My pulse was racing, not from fear, but from the high that came with taking a life. A high nothing else ever touched. Dante was watching me, chest heaving, his eyes lit up in that way only I seemed to understand. Hunger. Admiration. Madness.

He then crouched and watched the ruin like a man checking a job. The quiet between us wasn't consuming in the way others will feel after taking a life; it was full of something like hunger met and sated. He stood, came to me, and took my face in both his hands the way kings touch queens.

“You’re something else,” he muttered, almost proud, almost aroused.

I smirked, wiping the blood on my thigh. “You didn’t think I’d let her breathe another second, did you?”

He closed the remaining distance, grabbed my chin, and kissed me hard, tasting the violence on my lips. It wasn’t soft, it wasn't tender…it was hunger, sharp and consuming. The kind of kiss that burned straight through the kill and into something darker.

Before I knew it, he had me pinned against the back of a car, his hands rough, his body urgent. I pulled at him the same way, biting, clawing, taking as much as he gave.

The rush of the kill made every touch sharper, every sound louder. We didn’t care that the world was just a corner away… It only made it better, more reckless.

I hoped her spirit was still here, chained to this place, forced to watch me through those glassy, wide eyes. Watch what it means to be claimed. Watch what it means to matter. This is how you fuck, little fool. Something you never learned before dying.

My gaze never left hers, even as Dante slammed me harder against the car, my leg hooked high over his shoulder. Each thrust rattled the car, making it rock like it might split apart. His hand clamped around my throat, holding me in place as he pounded into me, unrelenting.

‘You watching, bitch?’ Dante snarled between his teeth, his eyes burning into mine before flicking to her body on the ground. ‘This is mine. Not you. Never you.’

I laughed, low and cruel, nails carving into his back as the car fogged with our heat. ‘Look closely,’ I whispered to her empty stare. ‘Look at what you’ll never have. Look closely at what ended your miserable life.’

Dante drove harder, his breath hot against my ear. ‘She thought she could take my cock,’ he growled, biting down on my shoulder. ‘But she never felt this. Only you do. Only you get all of me.’

Each thrust hit harder, brutal and merciless, the car groaning with the force. My moans tore free, sharp and breathless, every sound sharpened by her presence. Her lifeless eyes were still wide, still watching…and it made the pleasure even sweeter. Proof of what happens when someone touches what’s mine.

When it was over, when we both finally came undone, I leaned against him, still catching my breath with him still buried inside me. A grin tugging at my lips as he brushed my hair back roughly, his thumb smearing blood across my cheek like some twisted brand.

“I swear, Lila… you’re poison. And I want every drop,” he said, slamming into me one last time, and emptying every last drop before pulling away, his voice low, almost reverent.

I laughed, short and cruel. “Good. And you'll have it all. But now, it’s time.”

His expression sobered instantly. He knew what I meant…Ivy.

We didn’t need more words as he covered me up with his shirt. He walked me to the motorcycle, silence heavy but charged, and drove until the lights disappeared and only the forest remained ahead. The night air was sharp, cutting through the haze of everything we’d just done.

He killed the engine when I told him to, turned to me, and rested his hand against the back of my neck. “I’ll wait. I’ll be here. If you come back different, if you come back broken…I’ll still be here. You know where to find me,” he said, rubbing maddening circles on my neck. “I’ll be waiting, Lila.”

His words didn’t just light a fire in me…they ignited an inferno. A hunger to succeed, to see this mission through, and crawl back to him bloodied but triumphant.

The thought that there’s someone who bends when I command, who obeys without hesitation, sent a twisted thrill coursing through me. Failure isn’t an option. I'll take back all that Ivy took from me this time.

Only a fool would squander an opportunity like this…and I refuse to be that fool.

I leaned in, kissed him one last time, hard and lingering, before pulling back. “Try not to die while I'm gone,” I whispered and he chuckled.

I pushed away his hand slightly, not cold, but because there were things I had to do alone.

Dante watched me shift. Bones cracked, fur tore through skin, and the wolf surged forward. I hit the ground running without looking back, the forest swallowing me whole. My claws dug into the earth, my breath wild in my chest. Ivy is still breathing…and after tonight, she wouldn’t escape me.

Behind me, I could still taste him, still feel his grip, and it only pushed me faster.