Chapter 23
PARTHE.
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No matter what happens, I don’t think I want Luxuria to die in the dungeon. It’s been a week now, and she still languished in that cold, suffocating darkness.
I had sent the maids to retrieve her–ordered them to bathe her, cleanse her of the grime and damp. She was to be brought to my chamber. There are rules she must follow if she seeks to survive peacefully here in my pack, under my protection.
The heavy oak doors to my chamber creaked open, and I turned, expecting Luxuria.
But it was Shikta.
I stiffened. She wasn’t who I was meant to see tonight.
She strode in with a practiced grace, her figure draped in fabric that clung to her curves, deliberately dressed to steal my attention.
Her lips were painted dark, matching the lustrous black silk that clung to her… Just as I liked it. The flicker of candlelight caught the sheen of her skin, a thin layer of sweat glistening along her collarbone.
I knew what she wanted. But I was in no mood for that.
“Parthe,” she purred, her voice grated against my nerves. She was too close now, her fingers brushing my bare chest. “You seem… troubled.” Her smile curled wickedly, dark eyes glinting as though she already knew my thoughts,
I took a step back, trying to breathe, trying to distance myself. “There are things on my mind,” I muttered, turning away from her, hoping she’d take the hint.
She didn’t.
Instead, Shikta moved closer, a soft, slithering sound accompanying each step she took. Her scent–heady, spiced–enveloped me, suffocating and intoxicating all at once. I felt her hand slide up my arm, her nails sharp against my skin. “What things?” she asked, voice lilting. “Surely nothing that I can’t help you with.“,
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“I crave peace, Shikta,” I admitted, feeling a strange bitterness cling to my words.
“Sometimes I wonder… what it would be like to live without this curse, without the constant pull to destroy everything in my path.”
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Her laugh was low, mocking. “Peace?” Her fingers lingered on my shoulder, her touch insistent as she leaned in, the heat of her breath brushing against my neck. “You are powerful because of this curse, Parthe. Do you really want to rid yourself of what makes you strong? What makes you feared?”
Her lips hovered near my ear, and I felt a shiver crawl down
my spine. Her words pricked at the edges of my resolve. I knew she was wrong–deep inside, I knew it—but there was a sick part of me that clung to her words, that craved the power the curse afforded me, no
matter the cost.
It was a battle I fought daily, and Shikta was its temptatio
She always made me see the good side of this curse. She is the only one that keeps me from losing my sanity to it. She makes me see the benefit of it
“Without the curse, you would be nothing more than a man,” she whispered, her fingers grazing my chest, drawing slow, deliberate circles, “But with it, you’re something more. Something unstoppable. You could have anything. Anyone.”
Her lips barely brushed the edge of my jawline, and my muscles tensed, my hands clenching at my sides. I could feel the hunger in her touch, the way her body pressed against mine with calculated insistence. But my mind drifted elsewhere–to her. To
Luxuria.
A part of me didn’t want her to barge in on me like this with Shikta. I must make the atmosphere clear enough to clarify my rules and regulations.
“You keep lying to yourself, Parthe,” My wolf, Ravorn, said annoyingly at the recess of my mind.
He had taken it upon himself to torment me each time the thought of our mate popped up. He has been eager to be with her, but, fuck, I am scared of tainting her innocence.
“Stop it, Rav,” I shut him out immediately and focused on the distraction before me. A distraction I wished I could dismiss.
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My eyes darted toward the door, and I saw it slightly ajar. So slightly that it shouldn’t
matter. No one dared peep into my chamber unless they had a death wish.
Shikta’s hands slid lower, her fingers tracing the fabric of my tunic, her voice a constant, honeyed whisper. “Why resist what you are, Parthe? The power you possess… it thrives in
the darkness, not in futile desires for peace. You were born for this.”
Chapter Comments
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R
Visitor
2 days ago
Good. I hope she finds a way to leave him!
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