Chapter 218: I’ll make you suffer

Elvira stood staring at the bookshelf that had crashed to the floor, spilling its contents across the floor.

She had been hiding for over an hour, and Dorian still hadn’t appeared. She had begun to assume he wouldn’t come up at all when she unconsciously leaned her weight against the shelf, instantly offsetting its balance and sending it backward with a deafening crash.

Thickly bound books were strewn in every direction, and a major section of the wood had split cleanly in two.

She prayed no one had heard the noise; she wasn’t even certain if Dorian had returned to the mansion yet, let alone if her desperate plan would succeed. Trapped in the study, waiting here was her only option.

Just as she debated whether to attempt lifting the heavy shelf or leave it where it lay, footsteps sounded in the hallway. Someone was coming.

Panic seized her. She backed away from the wreckage, her eyes darting around the study for anywhere to hide herself. The footsteps halted right outside the door, followed immediately by the sharp rattle of the knob as it slowly turned.

Without thinking, she bolted across the room toward the mahogany desk and dived beneath it. Her ankle hit the edge of the leather chair, sending a sharp jolt of pain up her leg, but she gritted her teeth, suppressed the gasp, and curled into a tight ball.

The door swung open, and Dorian stepped in. He paused at the threshold, his gaze locking onto the fallen shelf and the scattered books across the floor.

His eyes slowly swept the room, his nostrils flaring softly as he inhaled the air. A strange, unfamiliar scent lingered, mixing sharply with the tangy trace of fresh sweat.

He advanced further into the study and pulled the door shut behind him. Though the room appeared vacant, his predator’s instincts screamed that someone was here–or had been here mere seconds ago.

He checked behind the second bookshelf and the velvet curtains. There was no one in sight, and the study had no obvious hiding spots.

Still deeply suspicious, he turned on his heel to exit, but a peculiar scent suddenly cut through the air.

He froze, slowly turning back around. His handsome face twisted into a mask of pure rage. His eyes flickered once, then bled into pools of black coal, and the atmosphere in the room turned thick with tension.

"Elvira!" he barked, his voice as cold as ice. "Come out of there. Now!"

Silence reigned for several seconds before Elvira slowly crawled out from beneath the desk. She straightened, hands clenched into fists at her sides, her chin raised in defiance.

"You’ve got some nerve," Dorian began, stalking toward her like a predator closing in on trapped prey. "You killed Martha. Tried to kill Samantha. Connived with my uncle. Tried to murder my wife."

Throughout his tirade, Elvira remained silent. She stood her ground, staring up at him with an eerie, unblinking gaze.

"I’m not going to mince words," Dorian continued coldly. "I’m going to kill you. But first, I’ll make you suffer for every single thing you’ve done."

He closed the remaining distance, his fingers snapping around her wrist in a tight grip. "Don’t bother trying to pull one of your vicious tricks. It isn’t going to work this time."

As he moved to drag her out of the study, a sudden, cold laugh broke from her lips; a humorless sound that stopped him dead in his tracks.

"Dorian, Dorian, Dorian," she murmured with a pitiful shake of her head. "Always the hero. Always the King ready to mete out punishments to his enemies. That might have worked the first time you made me jump to my death, but not this time."

It took only a second for her words to register. By the time he realized what she meant, it was already too late. Her free hand was clamped tightly around the talisman resting against her chest.

"Elvira!" he growled warningly. "Don’t you dare..."

She ripped it off.

Instantly, the dormant mate bond flared to life with a violent intensity, having been suppressed for months.

It slammed into Dorian’s mind, sending him staggering backward with a deep groan. His grip on her broke, his black eyes morphing into gold as Shadow clawed his way to the surface.

It felt as though his brain was being torn to shreds, an agony he strangely didn’t want to end, with a sickening, uncontrollable yearning for the woman standing before him.

Elvira stood very still, watching him with a cruel, triumphant smile.

?"Conri knew you would be completely powerless against the mate bond," she gloated. "That was why he got me the blood-magic potion from a Sorceress, to keep you tied to me. He knew this plan would work, and you walked right into it."

Dorian was actually in control of his own self. It was Shadow and Soren he couldn’t control. Both beasts were fighting inside him, driven completely insane by the sudden, overwhelming pull of the cursed bond. He shouldn’t have come up here alone.

He tried to mind-link Jake or Anthony, but with both beasts tearing his mind apart from the inside, the mind link was severed. If he didn’t do something soon, he would lose control, and what followed would be disaster.

"I’m going to kill you," he swore, his voice thick and raspy, as if every syllable hurt.

"I’d like to see you try," Elvira mocked, laughing lightly. "Go ahead. Make a move against me and see what happens."

Gritting his teeth until his jaw ached, Dorian shoved himself off the wall and stormed toward her. His hand half-shifted, sharp claws erupting from his fingertips.

Driven by rage, he lashed out, striking Elvira across the arm. His claws bit deep into her flesh, tearing the skin wide open as blood spilled out.

Suddenly, a wave of searing pain instantly exploded in his own arm.

He collapsed to his knees, his head feeling as though it were splitting right down the middle. Shadow snarled furiously within his chest, multiplying the excruciating pain tenfold.

Right before his eyes, the deep claw wound on Elvira’s arm knitted back together, healing seamlessly in seconds. She didn’t even flinch; she didn’t show the slightest flicker of pain from the strike.

He glared up at her through a red haze, his entire body trembling as he exerted every ounce of willpower to hold himself back.

"What did you do?" he snarled.

"You didn’t really think the mate bond only tied you to me, did you?" she taunted, circling his kneeling form slowly. "Oh, Dorian. You’ve been played. It does much more than that."

She halted in front of him, cupping his face in her hands with an insane smile stretching across her lips. "As long as you are bound to me, any harm you attempt to inflict on me will be reflected back onto you a hundredfold. Hit me, slam me against the wall, whip me–I won’t feel a single pain. But you will. Excruciatingly."

Dorian shoved her away from him, collapsing backward onto the floor. He needed to get out of there. The longer he resisted Elvira, the weaker his mind became, and the more dominant Shadow and Soren grew.

"You actually thought I would let some useless trash take my place as Luna?" Elvira continued, her voice hardening into venom. "I never stopped being your Luna, Dorian. I never stopped being your wife. If you had just taken me back, none of this would have happened. But you chose to flaunt that little bitch in front of me, and you honestly thought I would let it go?"

She began to strip. She pulled off her clothes, then stripped off her bra and panties until she stood completely naked before him. This was the moment she was supposed to call Conri as instructed, but the intoxicating taste of power made her want to savor the victory herself.

"The more you fight the mate bond, the deeper you’ll suffer," she whispered, stepping toward him. "If you try to hurt me, you suffer the pain. And if anyone else dares to lay a hand on me, your own beast, starved for me, will rip them to pieces."

She straddled his thighs and shoved him down. He hit the floor hard, the back of his skull striking the tile with a dull thud. He tried to throw her off, but it was like trying to tear his own limbs from his body. His muscles felt like lead, his thoughts completely drowned out by the suffocating haze of the bond.

The only way out now was if someone came in and saw them, because he had lost the ability to fight it alone.

"Don’t worry, Dorian," Elvira crooned maliciously, her hands sliding downward to unbuckle his trousers. "Before anyone manages to find us, you will have mated with me. You will have placed your mark upon me. And, the Moon Goddess willing, I’ll be carrying your child."

...

Downstairs in the living room, Alyssa was getting restless.

"Dorian has been up there for quite a long time," she murmured, her brow furrowing as she glanced back toward the stairs. "What could be keeping him?"

"Maybe he left already," Anthony suggested thoughtfully.

Alyssa shook her head, unease prickling at the back of her neck. "No. He’s still in the study."

She tried to brush the feeling of unease aside, but an urgent, nagging instinct demanded she go upstairs and check if her husband was safe.

She rose to her feet. "I’m going to go check on him."

Without waiting for a response, she crossed the living room and hurried up the stairs, heading straight down the hallway toward the study. The closer she got, the more her unease heightened. Something felt wrong.

"Dorian?" she called out softly, pushing the door open. "Did something happen...?"

The words died instantly in her throat.

She froze at the threshold, her eyes growing wide with horror as she took in the scene unfolding before her.