Chapter 10

My recovery from the brutal public whipping was a hazy, nightmarish blur.

One moment, I was suspended in a cloudy veil of white-hot agony, my vision tunneling as I slipped in and out of consciousness. The next, I became aware of gentle hands tending to my ravaged back with some sort of salve that sent alternating waves of stinging fire and soothing relief through my battered body.

Whenever I managed to pry my eyes open, I found myself in the familiar dimness of the dungeon infirmary. The kind, middle-aged she-wolf I'd seen before always seemed to be there, her expression a mixture of pity and admiration as she worked.

"Such foolish pride and stubbornness," she tutted under her breath as she applied a fresh layer of burn cream. "Nearly got yourself killed with that stunt, Miss."

I stayed silent, lacking the energy to respond. I knew she meant well with her fretting, but nothing could have prepared her for the harsh realities of being born into the elite alpha bloodline like I was. Pain and pushing past limits were bred into us from birth.

Besides, after witnessing those fragmented glimpses into Karl's own shattered youth, I felt no inclinationwhatsoever to play the simpering victim with anyone in his vile pack. Not after they had enabled or turned a blind eye to his torment for far too long.

As the agonizing days slid by in a purgatory of convalescence, it was all I could do to keep my hate for Karl from devouring me whole. He was the reason I was lying here, broken and debased before his entire twisted brood.

Yet the more I simmered in those scathing emotions directed at their alpha, the more our undeniable mate bond seemed to agitate in frustrating counterpoint. It was as if the mystical, cosmic force linking our souls was actively refusing to let my ire burn away entirely.

Flashes of scorching attraction kept intruding on my hatred at the most inopportune moments. Fleeting recollections of how Karl's chiseled, imposing figure affected my baser hindbrain in ways no alpha male had before. My wolf's instinctual fascination with the sheer dominant power he radiated, despite knowing the vicious cruelty lurking behind it.

It only made me detest him - and by extension, myself - even more fiercely. How dare my biology and inner beast find any sort of primal allure in that violently unhinged bastard, no matter how magnetic his authoritative presence?

He was a certifiable monster, one who somehow perceived savage delight in torturing and debasing me simply for existing. There could be no gray areas or blurring of the lines where Karl Corbyn was involved.

...Right?

But then like some unseen force was determined to keep chipping away at my stalwart convictions, that very same beast of a male soon orchestrated our most cruelly ironic encounter yet.

One morning, I awoke to find my steadfast medic missing from the infirmary. Instead, a pair of hulking brute guards loomed over me with bemused sneers.

"Wakey wakey, princess," one jeered as he yanked me upright with hands like steel vices. "Nap time's over. Time to start earning your keep around here."

Too weary and still in too much residual discomfort to resist, I let them drag me from the dingy room and down several winding corridors. We passed through sections of the underground compound I'd never seen before - and judging from the sudden pristine cleanliness and quality of the furnishings, these were clearly restricted areas reserved for only the highest pack elite.

My suspicion was confirmed when we finally arrived at a set of heavy doubledoors, behind which I could make out a variety of masculine scents all competing in an utterly dominating musk. The smells of power, pride, and wolfish magnetism heavily perfumed the air.

We had arrived at Karl Corbyn's private den.

My guards shoved me through the entrance, not bothering with any preamble before announcing my presence with mocking sneers, "Here's the stray bitch you requested, alpha. Figured she could do with some...domestication while she's our guest."

The mocking chuckles that followed filled me with heated humiliation. I channeled it into glaring pure hellfire at the figure sprawled with deceptive nonchalance on the massive, plush bed dominating the far side of the immense bedchamber.

Karl was shirtless, leaning back against a pile of downy pillows with an indolent, predatory aura about him. Yet those pale, cunning eyes of his missed nothing as they openly drank in every curve and dip of my body like a starving wolf beholding its first meal in ages.

"Quiet, you simple-minded curs," he rumbled with supreme arrogance, sounding not unlike a king lazily dismissing unruly peasants. "I'll determine for myself what...uses...this pretty little thing might serve me best."

My fists clenched, nails digging half-moon ridges into my palms. My enraged wolf howled for violence, demanding I unleash every ounce of fury at the smug arrogance dripping from his every word and movement.

Yet when Karl's gaze finally locked onto mine, something besides the resentment flared hot and frantic in the pit of my stomach. An unmistakable, undeniable spark of pure naked want that robbed the breath from my lungs in a dizzying rush.

Our mate bond, the damnable cosmic forces that had inextricably joined our souls, were already hard at work. Simply being in close proximity to Karl's raw, virile power was eliciting a simmering physical response despite my loathing of his vile treatment of me.

I could see the realization mirrored in those razor-sharp eyes as his nostrils flared ever so subtly, no doubt already catching the first hint of my body's primal, forbidden arousal on the air. A wicked, knowing smirk played over that chiseled mouth, silently confirming we were both hapless victims to our infernal bond's incessant demands.

Perhaps sensing the need to regain firm control over the dynamic between us, Karl allowed his gaze to rake over me dismissively once more before refocusing on the guards.

"You're dismissed," he growled out with a cavalier wave of one hand. "Send for Daria and the other females to attend me while...breaking in...my new humble little servant girl."

The venom positively dripped off those last several words even as my eyes blew wide in horror. Horrific visions of what depravities and abuse his spoiled pack bitches might have in store for me under Karl'sarhis twisted notion of "domestication" threatened to drown my senses.

But then Karl's next words, delivered in a dangerously soft tone of absolute command, robbed me of any power to protest or run.

"You'll remain and submit yourself as I command, or so help me, little Lexi...not a single member of this pack will be spared my merciless retribution. Including your beta friend Lucas."

The icy chill of those two simple threats lanced through me as effectively as any killing strike. I truly believed right then and there that this calloused, vicious alpha was entirely capable of wiping out his own loyal wolves without a shred of compunction or regret if I defied him any further.

So with my last lingering threads of resistance severed, I remained rooted in place as the chamber door boomed shut behind the departing guards. Leaving me utterly alone and trapped with the unfurled heat of Karl's smoldering gaze.