Chapter 4
I didn’t step outside the villa for days after that mess.
I kept my head down and focused on preparing for the mating ceremony.
Until one morning, Queenie burst into my room like her tail was on fire.
“Miss Felicia! Gamma Samuel’s at the door!”
I didn’t even look up. “Tell him I’m not seeing anyone.”
Before the words even left my mouth, the door exploded open with a bang.
Samuel stood there, his white shirt soaked in blood, eyes glowing red with fury. “Why did
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you curse Larissa?!”
I froze. “What are you talking about?”
“You did it because I said she was my fated mate, didn’t you?” he growled, storming across the room and grabbing my wrist so hard I felt the bones grind. “You’re that bitter?”
“I said–let go!” I snapped, stumbling in his grip.
But he didn’t listen.
Samuel dragged me all the way to Larissa’s house, like I was some criminal caught red–handed.
The moment we stepped inside, I saw her.
Larissa was lying on the bed, blood trickling
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from the corner of her lips, her face so pale she blended into the sheets.
A witch stood nearby, “Miss Larissa has been cursed with one of the darkest blood magics,” she said solemnly. “Only the blood of the one who cast it can counteract it. Without it… she won’t survive three days.”
Samuel turned his icy glare on me. “Still want to deny it? Larissa hasn’t seen anyone but you.“”
I looked at him, stunned. “Why would I curse her?”
“Because you want me. And I want her.”
I stared at him, unable to process the level of absurdity coming out of his mouth. Was he serious?
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Larissa suddenly convulsed, coughing up more blood that stained the white linens crimson.
“Now!” the witch shouted. “If she doesn’t take the antidote soon, she’ll die!”
Samuel’s jaw clenched. When he looked back at me, the decision was already made.
“Forgive me,” he said coldly.
The next thing I knew, guards were seizing my shoulders.
“Don’t you dare!” I screamed, thrashing. “I’m the Moonfang Pack’s princess! You lay a finger on me and-”
“Remember who you serve” Samuel snapped. “I’ll take full responsibility.”
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The guards hesitated, but then tightened their grip.
“Let me go!” I screamed, kicking, twisting- “I didn’t curse her!”
Samuel didn’t even blink.
He pulled out a dagger. Then slashed across my wrist.
“Ahh!”
Pain exploded up my arm like wildfire.
I’ve always hated pain. I could take down a rogue wolf with a single blow, but a paper cut made me tear up. And this… this was so much worse.
The tears came fast, unbidden.
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For a moment, just a flicker, Samuel’s hand trembled.
But then his face shut down, cold and unreadable, as he collected bowl after bowl of my blood like I was nothing more than a sacrificial offering.
“You’ll regret this…” My voice was weak, cracking. “You’ll regret everything.”
“I won’t,” he said firmly. “If it saves Larissa, I’ll do anything.”
As darkness swallowed my vision, I heard it
The sound of my own heart breaking.
When I woke, I was back in my bed at the
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villa.
“Miss Felicia!”
Queenie was at my side, crying so hard her eyes were swollen.
“Gamma Samuel went too far! You’ve feared pain your whole life, and now…”
I looked down at my arm, wrapped in tight, blood–stained bandages. The pain pulsed like a second heartbeat.
“Where is he?” I rasped.
“He’s outside” Queenie choked. “He asked the Elders to let him take ninety–nine lashes. Said it was to atone for what he did to you…”
She grabbed my uninjured hand, sobbing. “Miss Felicia, I’m begging you–please stop
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loving him. He was ready to let you bleed to death just to save Miss Larissa. Why would you still care?”
I closed my eyes, my voice barely above a whisper. “I stopped loving him a long time ago.”
The door creaked open.
I looked up.
And there he was.
Samuel, covered in blood. His back was torn open from the whips, each lash carved deep into his skin. He was barely standing, pale as
snow.
“What did you just say…?”
