Flashback from Chapter 28.

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There was this thrill. About the way the man killed. With such cogency, so barbarically.

Alexander had desired to feel that thrill, to be more than quenched; satisfied beyond replenishment, but no matter how many lives he'd claimed, he simply couldn't seal the deal of a frantic tyrant monarchist, fluttering underneath his flickering skin.

"So we're not going to talk about what happened?" Vera and Heidi followed behind Alexander where he soon led them into his office, which is still in ruins from how they previously left it —after the fight with Augustus and his infamous beloved daughter, Clarity.

Vera heard the prince mumble a jagged, there's nothing to discuss, as he sits in his desk chair clearing his table off with everything hitting the floor. The Alpha peels his shirt off his chest after his jacket, tossing it also on the floor. The sound of breaking glass arouses the hairs on Vera's neck to raise as she damn near jumped outside of her skin, however she remain rigid in a poised stance. She began to peer down at her mate who wrote furiously with pen against paper. "At least tell me what happened with your father, Alexander. Did you kill him?" There was something off putting about that man, The present King.

The swimming possibility that he was even still alive or near her at all times, stirred a disheveled bundle of fear; a silent panic made her involuntarily shiver.

The Alpha sighs even rolling his eyes before resting the back of his head onto the head of his rolling chair, "The King is not dead, he escaped. That's it, and all you need to know." His sentence is cut short, enough to cease any further conversation but Vera still heaved inward a heavy a sigh —becoming all the more mildly frustrated. "As for Clarity?" The inquire is laced with visible worry but instead of voicing anymore concerns, she swallowed it back with a soft gulp.

"As for Clarity; she isn't a factor anymore, Vera. You don't have to worry about her. Or anyone for that matter." This is the first time Vera hears him speak so calmly with less demand. For she knew her alpha male cared for her but at what extent? The way his family didn't hesitate to jump on him, Alexander barley survived. And for what? All by the likes of their semi relationship.

Vera Lee forces her mate to look at her in the eye with a stern grip on his chin, snapping his neck toward her in the process. He doesn't pry her hand off like she half expected but she smoothly wrapped her other hand around his jaw. "You're going to tell me what's going on here Alexander, and you're going to tell me now." The petite brunette demand.

Suddenly before She could blink, Alexander had her turning over, slamming her stomach against his table with her backside pressed firmly against his front; bending her over while the ripped glass probed into her gentleness of skin, it stung so badly Vera felt to be prickled by thorns and bees. The shards of the glass began to cut so deeply that it might've drawn blood...

Inevitably, Alexander took stalled and deep gulps of air, once he tried balancing his labored breathing. The alpha pair made so much heat between them, Vera only wondered could he feel it?

"Vera." The Prince repeatedly calls her name over and over again but his voice is muffled by the fluttering sound of adrenaline inside of her ears, I think that's my heart gloating at the mere skim of bloody contact. "I'm sorry I just have to be alone right now." With finality, Alexander reprimands with his fist encircling around her waist.

Plummeting in the abyss of sweetening madness, goes Vera's heart fraternizing with the mate bond and her drained egoistical energy. With what had been toying with her for the past riveting months, She started to speak the truth that only makes a whimper escape through the field of shattering intellect, "Why won't you accept me?" The defensiveness began to sink in, once Vera ask.

The small girl with thrashing moons in her eyes, found it safe to break down without him actually looking at her. Although Vera didn't want to cry, it wasn't something She could harbor to stop it, these were alive emotions that ruled every bone; every tremor inside of her body. So She turns her back against him, that way she can express how she really feels without his beady red eyes reading the soul's truest desire. Him.

"Am I not good enough, is that it? What can I do to prove my worth to you, Alexander?"

"Nothing." He replies nonchalantly. At this Vera's heart tumbles, folding into it self.

Too afraid her voice would betray herself and crack into millions of pieces so Vera debated internally on how to respond. Assumption was right, he doesn't want her, but he won't allow Vera with anyone else either.

"Vera, you are the only one for me." The Alpha says this with zero emotion shedding from his face, but favorably his jaw ticked. He seemed passive annoyed that Vera doubted if she'd heard him correctly but she chose to submissively gawk into the opposing wall before her.

Internally, Vera's heart is leaping with joy over ponds of love and everything good in the world, fifty shades of pastel colors. "But we can't be together-"

"At least not right. Not until all of this is over." Alexander towers over Vera's figure, standing to his full height. He began to trail deeper into his office leaving her closeted between her thoughts and contemplation. "Until what is over?" Vera for once is filled with hope and began to forge pictures of her and her male which pleases the subconscious.  Though he doesn't directly say how he feels, maybe he's been planning for them all along after all.

Maybe he wants me. Vera thinks.

"There's war right around the corner and I can't risk giving into faulty pleasures only for you to be—weaponized or seen as a sign of weakness." Alexander purses his lips, his fingers skimmed the length of a bookcase. He pulled out a few books along with a suitcase which he slapped down onto the table.

Vera leaned up against the table as he flipped through pages sharply. The Alpha's frown deepened as it looked to be like he was studying something. "I hear you." Vera doesn't press the bold manners of romanticism anymore, "So what are your plans overall, Alpha?" She teases. She gawked at his exposed biceps, sculpting his physique with her eyes and her eyes only. For now, only her sight could touch him.

Alexander steals a glance at his effortless and lovely female counterpart. She was the sweetest thing in his eyes and she was clueless to how important she was to him. For there was nothing he'd ever loved more, nothing he could ever love more. In the future, Alexander had expected to impregnate her with his seed, but he knew all too well— there was no safe place for a child of his in this world. Especially when his father still posed as a threat to him and his partner. His father was a ridicule man, Alexander would never gain absolute peace until he was taken care of, for good.

"I plan to kill my father first," Alexander was so sure of himself that it could be done. His vein flickered in pulses whenever he spoke of his ill intentions toward anyone. Like it was secret and shouldn't be premeditated, but how could he not talk about it or gloat when he had the most miraculous plan? It was too easy and grimy to not gain contentment. "How you expect to do that?" Vera teased.

Alexander pulled the material cover from under the suitcase on the table, opening it slowly and dismissively. He undid the buttons and pulled out his secret weapon that would end his father swiftly. He was holding his secret agenda in his palm and it spurred butterflies his chest. "With this." Alexander spoke so proudly, full of mischievous.

Vera's eyes widened, as she slapped her hand across her mouth. What Alexander was showcasing was malevolent, yet confusing to the point it vigorously stunned her. Here it was again, the same ghostly item that has staked the lives of not only Alexander's brother but also his mother. It was timelessly exuberant. Had it not been so important, Vera would've thought it was insignificant.

"This clock," Alexander smirked. "It'll do the deed for us both. I'll have it's component remodeled to fulfill its usefulness." He spoke.

Just as he had reinstated his plan, the pieces began to fall peaceably together and the rest was history. Alexander would have the materials of the clock molded and shaped into a weapon, giving it an entirely new identity.

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There it was, the fleeting memory I experienced again just before my muscles became slacked against the stone and metal wolfsbane coated shackles. These strange evil men, stripped me from my clothes, I was already bare footed. They crossed an invisible, sensible line once they undid the knot in my hair. I felt ashamed once my body was being assessed by everyone around me.

Nude.

Vulnerable.

Twisted.

I felt like an animal. Like a criminal, when truly I was innocent with not a single stain of blood on my hands, but half admittedly, I was all the more guilty at the same time. I was guilty of verbatim. Of manipulated emotions and instinctually standing up for what I believe is justified.

I knew that I was doing the right thing, my intentions were ecstatic yet, I felt deserving of the actions that would follow suit after being stripped in front of all of these boastful eyes. These people weren't here to see their Luna be persecuted, they are here to feel pity towards the eighteen year old girl who fell in love with their prince. Alexander was too prideful to convey how he deeply felt about me being whipped, possibly even killed.

He knew the end result, and still demanded I went through with my words. I wanted this, and he was allowing me to have this. After everything he has given and out of everything he has stolen. Alexander stiffens behind his podium as Paxton voiced tales and short stories to the crowd of people, just before the people of the pack would take turns searing into my body with knifed weapons and glass pieces.

"I remember the first time this little Luna-to-be was introduced to me. Never mind that, we never formally met. We just took on the involuntarily roles of being aware of each other." Paxton speaks above the hurrays and whispers amongst these warriors, but all they could greedily focus on was my body. My knees began to tremble before I sulked nakedly into my shackles.

"I caught sight of her during the ritual mating ceremony in the wood, the first night of the Feral Eclipse," Paxton reminisced casually about the night he had taken Eve right in front of me. He had caught me glaring at him each time he thrusted into her pivoted cavern, like a caveman. Eve had wanted to get away from him, but he had trapped her with the mate bond and a child.

"My initial thought was, how fitting this thing was for my alpha. My King Alexander would be pleased to have such a petite femme fatale at his side and as his bed warmer." Aroused chuckling doused the room at his sick joke. My cheeks became inflamed immediately as I continued to glare at the Gamma. "Vera Lee if you just so happen to Survive this punishment, you'd be proving everyone around here incorrect. You were a lot stronger than what any of us expected. For a turned."

While Paxton continued his rant, I could not help but to wish for my punishment to come a lot quicker. I didn't need the time to think about this any longer than I had already. Bile began to rise to the back of my throat as my mate stared complacently. He didn't bark or try to protect my name even if in the matter of hours I will be dead. Now do I doubt if he ever cared about me to begin with.

"However, if you die. You'll be what you always were. A sickly weakling." Paxton grimaced toward me with his lips baring in disgust. I never liked him. He was the physical embodiment of the wolf he possessed. Like every other male in Alexander's pack, he saw women like objects. Specks he could sex and play with me. "You will be the first predesigned suitor to our nation that was flawed. You were never meant to be our queen. Good riddance with you, peasant." Paxton growled, before walking down the stairs.

The Gamma disappeared behind me, presumably where the weapons he intended to assault me with. The prosecution begun, and my arms shook with thready eruptions. The trial has just begun but before Paxton could ready his whip, approaching footsteps and a voice haunted his movement. Who I last expected to see was pleading for this madness to end. He didn't want to see me get hurt.

"I dare you to stop. Alexander Bane why are you doing this?" It is Lionel who stands in front of my stone, facing my burdens. He is far too late. I am committed and it is me now who everyone expects to see be brutalized

"Brother stop this madness, this is your mate you are sentencing!" The secondary alpha on site charges to his brother with questions, that stalled my punishment. I didn't need to see the look on his face as I'm dying. I couldn't have Lionel here to witness this.

My heart thumps ferociously for him. His emotions are too severing inside of my heart and mind, maybe I could survive for Lionel. He could inspire me  to survive this. Maybe I could...

"Exactly right brother, she is my mate not yours. I do as I desire with my mate. Feel free to watch on standby of her punishment." Alexander coldly demanded, Lionel's teary eyes ran empty. Before I could register, Lionel had stricken Alexander without a second to spare, directly planted onto his nose.

"She was never yours damnit, she was mine too!" Lionel shouted out, before he could get another word out Alexander had punched Lionel in the face, before fisting the black shirt he wore.

Still chained, weakened by wolfsbane I say with the breathe I still have, "Stop it! Please you have to stop it Lionel. Alexander leave him be!" It took twelve more men to pull the boys apart. "Lionel I know what I must do!" I couldn't help the tears streaming from my irises, my squeezed my legs tightly together to keep my strength. I was so close to collapsing, god forbid I'm still alive after the whipping.

"Get him out of here." I cried. "I don't wish for Prince Lionel to see me like this." I begged and cried. My hands shook as the wolfsbane proceeded down my veins, I could feel it coursing and mingling within my feral blood.

More men alongside the twelve other men pursued Lionel outside of the dungeon as he screams and hollers, spitting my name! He prayed to the goddess for me.

"Now where were we?" Paxton smiled, "Alpha may I proceed?" He chastised. My mate shields his bloody nose with his palm before swiftly nodding. Paxton was too eager and too bold in his movement, he picked up his chosen whip coveted in glass. He began to softly count to three, before striking my back.

I barley flinch.

This goes on for awhile, Paxton uses all of his upper body to put momentum into his hits. I feel the lashes travel all the way down to my legs, as ten more slices decorated my backside. I bite back my lip tremendously, until soon he trades out the glass whip for one with wolf canine in wedged between the sewing. I know something he doesn't. While the men had taken my clothes and stripped me plain naked. I hid the dagger I had been keeping in between my thighs. It was slipping each time Paxton had lashed at me.

Whip!

I lay my head softly against the stone, as the wolf's teeth bit into my shoulders and neck. I'm not sure how extensive the healing factor goes, but once the wolfsbane rushes cleanly through my tendons do I finally feel the ample heat of my wounds sizzling and bleeding. Blood drips down my legs and thighs.

Whip!

Paxton strikes me time after time again without even breaking a sweat.

Whip!

I'd been counting in my head how many lashes I'd received and he had exceeded his limitations of seventy lashes. My tears have dried up and all is left is the substantial pain, my eyes began to flutter shut.

When Paxton finally ends his reign, who I expect next to begin his terror is who I've been counting on to step closer into my body. After the fiftieth lash, my body lost all its desire to keep on going. I've saved my lasting amount of strength just for him to get closer, and I know I would have to make this count.

One last time.

Prince Alexander steps up to the plate, he doesn't speak, he only glares at the selection of antagonizing scourges. He doesn't go to the extreme as Paxton does with his choice, instead he chooses a more traditional whip, that is old and brown but large in size. The saliva in my mouth dissolves, as he takes his position, lurching backward before milling his whip behind his back, until it finally impacts right on my spline.

I allow this to last for a couple more hits, all that I could manage without collapsing into a pile of sand.

After the alpha had sliced his whip down my scared, bruised and broken down backside for the seventieth time—I finally break one of the chains with my hand, yanking it around until the clasp fall.

Paxton had accidentally hit the chains enough during his assault on me, that he had caused them to weaken around my wrist. Alexander is too hot to notice, when he goes in to lash me again, I grasp the whip in the spur of a second, tugging the Alpha with it towards me.

I can see the shock colored in his eyes. I can see my home again, and my raw ending.

My bones are impatiently singing. Gasp break away around us, it has only been a second and my whole body is promising to betray me. I have to act fast. I cannot waste anymore time.

My right hand wraps around the back of Alexander's neck, tugging him towards me until his lips overlap on top of mine, I kiss him with passion.

I kiss him with thirst.

I kiss him with need.

I kiss with blood spilling from between my lips. Both of our eyes are wide open as the kiss is reciprocated. His hands fall at the curves off my waist and just as they do. The dagger that I've been hiding, I puncture it cleanly through his heart.

Alexander's teeth pinch my bottom lip, as the dagger is surrounded by his profound, hearty organ. The dagger cuts deeply, Alexander's eyelashes flutter closer together until his red irises lose their shape and cherry hue. When he falls, shattering to the ground, I fall on top of him. We resembled and laid lifeless like paperweights. While my body began to menacingly shut down, I felt all the more beautifully pathetic.

The dagger still being imbedded into his chest where his heart belonged, the opposite end of the dagger pierces through my own heart as well. I feel the same pinch before I realize I am dying.

I lay on top of my mate until my last breathe, as my male is already dead. In the end as our hair lay golden and our hands turn into sand, he was right.

The clock has served its deed.

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The end. This is the last chapter of Feral Eclipse. The epilogue is up next!