Chapter 199

ALPHA PARTHE.

Rage. Desperation. Fear. It all crashed into me like a wave.

I shook, my vision blurring with red – the kind of red that wanted me to spill the blood of just one man... Rorden.

My hands clenched into fists so tight my claws punctured my palms when he strode lazily toward me with a smug smile on his face.

Like this was all some cruel fucking joke.

Like this wasn't the end of my fucking world.

I snapped my head up, my vision tunneling to where he stood, amusement dripping from every inch of his face.

"I will kill you." I gritted out.

"You should be thankful I didn't kill them, Parthe. I had the chance to." He shrugged, his voice dripping with arrogance. "But at least I got a taste of her so many times that my cock still juices up at the thought of it…"

My breath hitched. My vision blurred.

"Well, even if it was without her consent…" A slow smirk twisted his lips as he lowered his voice to a conspiratorial whisper. "You know how we, AshBloods, are… We take even the things people would not give willingly."

Oh, how I'd enjoy ripping this monster's heart out. I would make him beg for death.

He took advantage of my mate severally without an iota of respect or shame.

He must have used a spell to make sure I never felt the betrayal... Just the way I used to do whenever I went to fuck Shikta.

I couldn't even stomach a taste of my own poison.

No. This wasn't my own poison. This was worse.

Rorden had defiled Luxuria, and she gave in without a fight due to the influence of his magic.

I didn't want to begin to imagine how she had felt after finding out all this and how I had thrown her out without as much as hearing her out because of my rage and jealousy.

Fuck.

I was going to rip him apart. Tear the flesh from his bones. Crush him until he was nothing but dust beneath my feet.

I lifted my head, my coal-black eyes locking onto his smirking face.

"You will die tonight, Rorden."

I immediately mindlinked Noshi, one of my healers, and asked him to meet me at once.

In less than a heartbeat, Noshi was there, kneeling beside me, "Goddess above! This is bad!" He said, gesturing for the other ladies he brought to come and help him. I was too distracted to see one of the people who had come with him.

Shikta.

Fucking Shikta.

My head snapped toward her, and my fury exploded.

"Get the fuck away from her!"

She froze, startled by my sudden outburst. "Alpha, I only—"

"I don't want you near her. I don't want you anywhere fucking near her!" I surged to my feet, standing between her and Luxuria, "If you as much as breathe the same air as her, your death would come sooner than I have planned!"

Noshi's worried voice brought me out of my haze, "Alpha, we need to stop the bleeding."

I sucked in a sharp breath, shoving everything else aside.

"Take her in and do everything you can to save my pups." Noshi was one of the strongest wizards I knew. And I trusted him that much.

Noshi and the witches barely had their hands on Luxuria before a sudden cry ripped through the night.

It was raw. Torn from the depths of someone's very soul.

Everyone's attention snapped to the sound, and my eyes locked on something that kept me totally unsure of how to feel.

It was Tervan. In partial control with his wolf.

And Shikta.

She hung from his grasp, her feet barely brushing the blood-soaked dirt, her hands clawing at his wrist where his claws had already sunk deep into her throat.

The sight should have made me feel something.

Anger? Satisfaction? Pain?

I didn't know. I didn't fucking know.

But I just stood there, watching.

Watching as she choked on her own blood, her eyes wide with the disbelief of betrayal... The same betrayal I felt.

Tervan leaned in and rasped. "I told you, didn't I? I told you I'd kill you with my own hands, you whore."

A garbled, wet sound left Shikta's mouth—an attempt at words, but she couldn't speak.

She was already dead.

With one savage, bone-splitting yank, Tervan tore his claws free from her throat.

A red arc of blood sprayed across his features as he looked straight into my eyes and smirked at me with satisfaction.

Shikta's body convulsed. Her mouth moved, her fingers twitched, her glassy eyes still holding the last traces of terror as she turned her gaze to meet mine.

She had so much to say. I saw it. But what should I care? Her sins had caught up with her. Killed and betrayed by the same man she had betrayed me with. Such twists of fate should happen more often.

I only wished I had killed her myself for all the wrong she had done to me and my mate.

I checked my emotions, and I found out that her death meant absolutely nothing to me.

"Go on," I said to Noshi, "I have some unfinished matters to attend to."

*

It was a clash of power. Two AshBlood wizards born of the same cursed bloodline? Bound by blood, divided by hatred. It was certainly bloody.

Power lashed out in every direction, scorching the ground and splitting the earth beneath our feet.

Backing down was never a trait my bloodline was used to. And now, seeing that Rorden was from my father's loins, I knew this was going to be far from over.

Rorden wasn't just any enemy—he was my father's bastard. A stain on my bloodline. A living reminder that the curse running through our veins could breed something even filthier than me.

And he had desecrated what was mine.

I let my beast take over. He did the same. But there was a reason they called me the Monster of the North.

Rorden couldn't come close.

We clashed like two storms, our magic roaring between us as the battlefield trembled beneath our fury.

Our spells collided, exploding in violent bursts of dark energy, shaking the very foundation of the war raging around us. We were burning through our magic, matching each other blow for blow, and neither of us was willing to submit.

But he was slowing down.

And I? I was just getting started.

His chest heaved, sweat and blood dripping down his face, but he refused to fall.

I surged forward.

"Your warriors are dying like flies, Rorden."

I twisted my body, driving my fist into his ribs, my claws extending at the last second—piercing deep, injecting venom.

He roared in agony.

"I bet you didn't see this coming," I added.

Rorden staggered back, blood gushing from his side, his lips curling into a snarl. "You just got lucky, you bastard," he spat, blood dribbling down his chin.

"I always am. Look..." I gestured somewhere into the field. His eyes followed where I pointed, and I watched the moment his arrogance shattered.

"Isn't that Alpha Jalar? He seems to have let himself get killed by a Gamma. My Gamma!" I let out a satisfactory laugh as I saw his so-called 'seven Alphas' fall one by one to the ground.

"Seven Alphas, Rorden?" I taunted, stepping closer. "And yet they die like common foot soldiers."

A smirk pulled at my lips as I watched the despair creep into his eyes.

"Tell me, brother… was it worth it?"