The Ruthless Lycan's Hybrid Priestess Mate

Consequences

Rhea

It's like I'm in a trance. My every nerve consumed by utter shock. Daciano’s mark sears into my neck, like a branding, a burning reminder that this isn't a nightmare I can wake from. The gasps of the onlookers jolt me back to reality, and my fingers lift instinctively to my neck, touching the fresh mark. A sob catches in my throat. This really happened. He really marked me.

My face flushes with mortification. He marked me in front of everyone, even though I’m not his mate. He staked his claim in the most dehumanizing and humiliating way possible. When he finally lets go, my legs give out, and I crumble to the ground. My head bows, my hair forming a curtain around my face. Tears sting my eyes, but I blink them away furiously. I won't let him see me cry. I won't give him that satisfaction.

“Now you’re mine in every sense.” He grits out. “Every single person in this pack is going to see that mark and know immediately that you belong to me. And you shouldn’t expect help from anyone either. I’m sure they’ll know better than to engage you in your foolhardiness.”

He pauses a beat, to let his words sink in, before he says, “Take her to my private quarters.”

Strong hands lift me, and I keep my head down as they lead me out of the palace. The walk is a blur, my mind too overwhelmed to register anything but the burning mark on my neck and the shame coursing through me. When we reach his private quarters, I’m shocked by the contrast of this place to the palace. It’s an entirely different wing, isolated from the remaining buildings. And where the palace is extravagantly and lavishly decorated, this place is subtle and intimate, it’s a place whose decoration is personal and thoughtful. The isolation of the building points to the obvious fact that Daciano is someone who likes his privacy. The guard locks me in and leaves. Finally by myself, I allow the tears to fall freely, realizing I’m utterly and completely f****d.

I curl up in a corner of the room, and when the door opens and Daciano walks in, I shuffle farther into the wall. His eyes sweep over me, the same blank expression still on his face.

“I have one last lesson I need you to learn. I need you to understand that every single action of yours will come with a consequence. And after what you’ll witness today, you’ll be sure to know your place and worth in this place.”

He opens the door, and moves away to let me pass. “Go out and see what you’ve done.”

At first I hesitate, dreading to know what he means, but the look in his eyes make my limbs work, and I find myself obeying his orders.

I come out of the room, immediately stopping in my tracks when I see Ivan chained up. He looks terrible. He’s on his knees, completely stripped off his clothes except for his shorts. His arms stretched outwards beside him, bound tightly to two sturdy poles with silver chains that tear into his skin. I’m certain those wounds will never heal. Silver is the kryptonite of wolves, and I’m certain that each second is filled with unimaginable agony. His face is bloodied, and one of his eyes is swollen shut, his broken nose caked with dried-up blood. He looks at me through a hooded eye, which is almost completely closed too as he mumbles incomprehensibly.

Oh goddess.

I did this to him. My stubbornness and desperation to escape caused this. I shouldn’t have made him go against the Lycan. A part of me should have known he’d be held responsible. But I’d been so consumed with panic and the urgency to get to mother I didn’t even stop to think about him. I wonder if he’s cursing at me right now, regretting the very day he set his eyes on me. My gaze cuts back to Daciano, a single word on my lips, “please.”

He doesn’t act like he hears me, striding forward towards Ivan. When he gets to him, he turns back to look at me. His face doesn’t let on what’s going through his mind, for all I know, he could have on the same expression on his face watching paint dry. Ivan doesn’t protest as Daciano effortlessly lifts him off the ground. Blood flows his mouth, dribbling down his chin, and it takes everything in me not to throw up from the grotesquerie of the entire scene. Daciano’s eyes are still trained on me all through. He makes sure I take in his every move. My heart is in my throat now. I want to scream for him to let him go and kill me instead. But I know death is not a mercy he’ll grant me. He wants to completely break me, piece by piece until it’s impossible to put me back together.

“Remember that you did this.” He pauses a beat, his eyes never leaving mine, then excruciatingly slowly, he reaches into Ivan’s chest. His hand remaining there for a moment before he drops an unmoving Ivan on the floor. The scream tears through my lips before I even fully register what Daciano just did, all my eyes are focused on, is Ivan’s bloodied heart in his hands.