Vengeance in His Bed

Shadron stared at the text for a long moment. His fingers hovered over the keyboard, but instead of typing a response, he chose to leave the notification on grey. He locked the screen, slid the device back into his suit pocket, and silently followed the family into the dining hall. The dinner that followed was a tense, silent affair, punctuated only by the clinking of cutlery against porcelain and Dorrent’s gaze as he sat silently watching Jannah reject every single dish the servants offered her.

Later that evening, after the silence of the estate had fully settled into the midnight hours, Shadron walked down the corridor and pushed open the door to Dorrent’s room.

Dorrent was sitting upright on the edge of his bed, his shirt completely removed now, exposing the sprawling, brutal grid of fresh black stitches crossing his muscled torso. A glass of amber liquid sat untouched on the nightstand.

Shadron closed the door behind him, leaning his shoulder against the frame as he crossed his arms. "Joanne reached out to me via text during dinner," Shadron stated flatly, cutting straight through the quiet space. "She’s asking for me to go out to the western sector and see her tomorrow afternoon."

Dorrent didn’t even look up, his eyes fixed on the floor as he applied a gel to a tear on his shoulder. "Why the hell are you standing in my room telling me that, Shadron?" Dorrent barked out carelessly, his voice deep and entirely unbothered. "You are a grown man. If she wants to see you, you should just go. I don’t possess a single need to know about her text messages."

Shadron let out a dry, serious chuckle, his expression hardening as he took a step forward. "I know for a fact that I can’t just execute a layout like that without letting you know first, Dorrent. Regardless of how brutally you annulled the contract, she was your fiancée for three long years. She was your girlfriend, and you need to know when she starts sniffing around your inner circle."

Dorrent finally raised his head, his eyes flashing with light that made his Alpha features look ruthless. "Since she is no more to me, you are free to entertain her however you see fit, Shadron. I am fully aware that you’ve had a lingering eye on her for the past two years anyway. Go ahead. Go out there tomorrow and give her exactly what I never could give her in bed."

Shadron’s eyebrows knitted together, a tense friction rising between the two men. "Aren’t you even a single bit curious to know what kind of proposal she will be presenting to me tomorrow? Aren’t you worried about what she might be planning behind your back?"

"I don’t care in the slightest," Dorrent delivered flatly, turning his gaze back to his wounds. "Joanne cannot do a single thing to alter my plans. She is a high-district woman with a functioning brain, and she only understands the reality of power lines. She knows her boundaries."

"You shouldn’t underestimate a high-society woman who has been deeply in love for three years, only to be casually tossed aside into the dirt for the sake of a slum girl," Shadron warned, his voice dropping into a low, grim frequency. "Hell, for all I know, she might propose that I should find a way to kill you, Dorrent. Her pride is completely ruined."

Dorrent let out a short laugh that sounded entirely hollow, his chest expanding slightly against his stitches. "Then you can just go ahead and kill me then, Shadron. Let’s see if your hands are strong enough to claim the Grefo crown."

Shadron shook his head, a smirk slowly returning to his lips as he shifted the topic, leaning his hips against the edge of the desk. "Alright, let’s talk about a topic that interests you then. When exactly are you planning on marrying Jannah?"

Dorrent’s eyes instantly turned feral, a wave of possessive pride expanding from his frame. "I am going to finalize the marriage contract exactly one day before my upcoming rut period arrives," he murmured, his voice dropping into aheavy rasp. "That way... the very moment the full force of my rut cycle detonations hit my system, I will have Jannah locked inside my bedroom to take care of my body as our official wedding night. Her omega biology won’t have a single escape route."

Shadron stared at him for three full seconds before letting out a loud, disbelieving whistle. "Jesus Christ, Dorrent... aren’t you an absolute, ruthless strategist? You are literally planning to kill your brand-new wife with your S-tier rut pressure on your very first night together."

Dorrent only chuckled, a rumbling sound vibrating from his throat as he picked up the crystal glass.

Shadron stood straight, turning toward the exit door, but stopped at the threshold to cast one final, warning look over his shoulder. "You better watch your back extra carefully, my king. You need to make sure that fierce little girl doesn’t find a way to kill you before you even get the chance to have her take care of your body."

Dorrent’s smirk widened into a crude grin as he took a slow sip of the amber liquid. "By the time I am through with her on that bed, I will have thoroughly killed her with my dick so many times that she won’t even possess a single second of free time to think about killing me."

Shadron let out a laugh, shaking his head as he stepped out into the corridor and closed the door, leaving the room in silence.

Ten minutes passed.

Knock. Knock.

The sound against the door was light, hesitant, yet perfectly distinct. Dorrent’s eyes instantly snapped toward the entrance, his internal pheromones flaring in immediate recognition. "Come in," he commanded flatly.

The door swung open slowly, and Jannah stepped into the master suite. She had stripped off the hated emerald dress, now wearing a simple, oversized gray shirt and cotton pants. In her right hand, she clutched her worn herbs satchel, her knuckles white around the strap. Her dark eyes were fixed on his bare, stitched chest as she marched forward, her posture radiating a stubborn determination.

Without asking for permission, she approached the edge of the bed and sat down heavily on the mattress right next to his thigh. She unbuckled the satchel, reaching into the dark pockets to pull out three distinct, crushed roots that emitted a sharp, bitterly pungent aroma that instantly cut through the pheromones in the air.

"Hold perfectly still, Dorrent," Jannah delivered as she ground the crushed herbs between her small fingers, her eyes locking dead onto the bullet wound near his rib cage. "Let me take proper care of your fresh wounds right now... with my highly specialized, poisonous herbs."

Dorrent didn’t flinch away from the bitter scent. Instead, he leaned his upper body slightly forward, his eyes narrowing into lethal slits as he tracked the precise, aggressive movement of her small hands approaching his torn skin.

"I certainly hope you aren’t carrying any deadly, irreversible herbs in that little bag that will permanently kill my system tonight, little enemy," Dorrent murmured in a low, husky rumble that vibrated right against her fingertips.

Jannah paused, her dark eyes lifting to lock dead onto his handsome, mocking face with a hatred so profound it looked almost beautiful.

"Isn’t that my ultimate goal in this house, Dorrent?" Jannah whispered back fiercely, her fingers intentionally pressing the bitter, burning herbs directly into the open edge of his wound. "Killing you."