Chapter 94: Help me…
July 16 2026, 7:07pm.
For a long time, Nyx’ara had only known fairytales. She had read books and watched movies that depicted love, kisses, and sex as something mushy, sweet... and something that makes the toes curl and the stomach knot due to how beautiful it was.
She had even eavesdropped on the conversations of some of the young maidens back at her father’s house when they talked about their kisses with their partners, the kind of love they shared with their fated mates... and even sex.
But goddess, none of those stories could compare to what she was experiencing right now. None of them prepared her for the degrading feeling that slammed right into her bones the moment Rhys possessed her mouth like she was his toy, and he, her master.
Her first reaction was to fight. She thrashed wildly against his hold, squirming like the mere thought of being around him... of having his lips pressed against hers repelled her in ways unimaginable.
But that was a lie.
Her fingers desperately scratched against his bulky arms but because her nails were too short to draw blood or even skin, all her efforts were futile. Rhys, on the other hand, seemed quite unfazed by her discomfort and her futile attempt at fighting against him.
"L-let go!" She hissed against his mouth, but instead of doing as told, one of his hands curled around her neck, pulling her so close that if she moved any closer then he would devour her entire face. His other hand skilfully slipped into the bedsheet to forcefully clamp at the inner part of her thigh.
—And the force plus the heat that surged through their bodies as his hands glided against her skin had her breath hitching in her chest. Against her will, her back shot forward, arching like she did not wish to spend another moment apart from him.
But she did. She wanted to be as far away from him as possible.
Her hands instinctively curled around his neck too, pulling him close. Rhys’ lips curled at her body’s reaction to his touch. It was no secret that the woman hated his—and his brothers’—guts, but it was also true that she loved being touched by them more than she would like to admit.
He could feel the way her body shook under his palm. He could feel the pressure building up inside her veins with every moment his fingers skimmed against her body.
A rumble spread across his chest and slipped through his lips when a small pleasurable sound escaped the back of her throat. It gave him just enough courage then and he tilted her head backward— just enough that she would look into his eyes as he said;
"You like this... don’t you?"
But Nyx’ara did not respond. She could not.
Because in truth, she could not fathom why her body always seemed to betray her whenever these men were concerned. She could not understand why with them, it was almost impossible to be as upright and stiff as she had been with Flynn.
She had dated Flynn for years but never kissed him once and never bothered about it. Yet here she was, aching for a man she met barely a month ago.
She hated how her body reacted to him and his brothers like they were the yin to her yang. She hated that she was drawn to them like a moth to an open flame.
The hand between her thighs moved upward until it was only a few inches away from her sweet spot, and she moaned then, tilting her head back to give him better access.
Rhys wasted no time as almost immediately, his hands clamped on her waist, then moved— one going to cup her rear, the other sliding between them.
This— this moment, when it was him and her and nothing else between their bodies... his tongue scraped the roof of her mouth as he dragged a finger down the center of her, and she gasped, her back arching.
"Al-Alpha—" the words caught somewhere in her throat, subdued beneath layers and layers of kisses that made her feel like she was drowning.
"Little murderer..." he said against her lips, the nickname like a prayer more devout than any ’offering’ her father had offered up to the moon goddess on that dark solstice morning.
His tongue swept inside her mouth, in time to the finger that he slipped inside of her, and the sensation made her mouth fall open in a silent scream as she bucked against his first thrust. His finger seemed to stretch her... fill her... and she could not help but scratch at his shoulders as if begging for support. Her hips undulated, demanding more, craving the fullness of him, and his growl reverberated in her chest as he added another finger.
And another.
Nyx’ara moved on him. Lightning lashed through her veins, and her focus narrowed to his fingers, his mouth, his body on hers as his fingers plundered into her most sensitive parts with a force that had her broken rib protesting painfully.
His palm pushed forcefully against the bundle of nerves at the apex of her thighs, and she groaned his name, throwing her head back as she shattered completely in front of him.
And by the time she was done, she was repeatedly calling his name; "Alpha Rhys... Alpha Rhys...!" Like it was a prayer and she was a sinner.
All her life, she had only cum twice... and these men were responsible for the two times it happened. They were responsible for building her and breaking her however they saw fit.
Not like they hadn’t warned her about that before.
For a moment, her body went stiff. Her mind went blank and only the words that Azriel had said to her once in a fit of anger remained with her:
"We will break you..." He had said, and now that she thought about it, he had really meant it.
They had... all of them.
—
Seraphina pushed herself to her feet, her body trembling with rage and disgust and despair all coiled together until there was no way to tell where one feeling ended and the other began.
Her hands clenched into fists as the doors to her cell creaked open and a bodyguard stood tall, looking down at her with a hint of mockery and amusement gleaming in his eyes.
All her life, she had never been looked at that way before.
In fact, she had only been respected right from the moment she was born, so that... that attitude from the guard struck at somewhere so deep, it was physically painful to think about.
"My lady," the guard continued, his voice sounding like he was holding back laughter, "...Alpha Draven asked that you should be released today. He believes that you have been punished enough and asked us to remind you of your chance to—"
"Just keep shut for a moment!" She snapped in annoyance, interrupting him.
Even though the guard did not fully respect her now, especially since he was one of the selected few who had been tasked with ’punishing her’, his lips still instantly clamped shut as soon as she ordered it.
He opened the door wide, watching her with keen interest as she stepped out of the cell and began to walk forward with slow uncertain steps.
In his mind, he thought about how this was not the lady Seraphina everyone used to love and fear. He thought about how this woman here was a washed-up version of her, who immediately lost her favor in the eyes of the Alphas as soon as she married that murderer.
Seraphina and the guard seemed to be thinking the same thoughts, for as soon as she stepped out of the dungeons into the sunlight and realized to her embarrassment that the Alphas were nowhere to be found, her face hardened.
She turned to her father, who was the only person waiting for her, and hissed; "Did they not come?"
Her father shrugged, eyed her tattered clothes, and spat; "How do you expect the same men who did this to you to show up now? Girl, what is so special about them that you love so much?"
Seraphina lowered her head at the sound of her father’s pained voice. She squeezed her eyes shut and tried to hold back her tears... but they fell anyway.
"Everything, father." She said, hating how weak she sounded. "I love everything about them. Please help me win them back."