Chapter 118: Chapter 118 She Would Rather Die
The moment Reginald first laid eyes on Phoebe was not when he went to the beta’s house with his mother to become Phoebe’s stepbrother.
He had encountered her much earlier than that day.
The memory remained crystal clear—a small girl swinging beneath a wisteria tree on a makeshift rope swing.
Her lengthy brown hair created a striking image. Damp curls clung to her flushed cheeks while she giggled with pure joy.
Even at that young age, Reginald felt captivated by her beauty. Though he couldn’t name the emotion then, he found the little girl enchanting. He had wanted to walk over and join her games.
He was merely a young boy at the time.
"You’ve always belonged to me, Phoebe." Reginald pressed his lips to her forehead before drawing her against him tightly, ignoring her desperate attempts to break free.
Phoebe clawed at his face and shoved against his chest, but her efforts proved useless against his superior strength.
"Please... no..." Phoebe’s voice broke. Reginald’s touch made her skin crawl—the identical revulsion she’d experienced whenever Kevin approached her.
She’d endured Kevin’s torment, then Perry’s claiming, but she doubted she could withstand Reginald’s assault. Exhaustion weighed her down. She just wanted this nightmare to end.
"Relax. I’ll be gentle with you." Reginald’s hand stroked her spine as he buried his face in her neck. The sight of the king’s mark on her sensitive skin filled him with hatred.
A cruel smile twisted his lips as Reginald sank his teeth into the existing mark, ensuring the king would sense exactly what was happening to his mate. Perfect. Let him suffer.
He needed Perry to understand that Phoebe was his prisoner now.
"Ahhh!" Phoebe’s scream tore through the air, the sound echoing painfully in her own ears. Reginald was destroying the king’s mark, and once again she felt the mate bond pull tight with agony.
——
Perry’s POV
I’ve sent every available warrior to hunt for Phoebe. Beyond that, I’ve sealed all pack borders to prevent Reginald and his followers from slipping into Obsidian Claw territory undetected.
If this search fails, I’ll personally lead an assault on the Obsidian Claw pack. I’ll ensure that pack—and every alliance supporting them—pays dearly for this betrayal.
I plan to burn them all to ash, wipe them from existence entirely.
That’s the depth of my fury.
But suddenly, I collapsed to my knees as crushing pain slammed into me. The warriors surrounding me rushed forward to check my condition.
"My king, are you alright?"
Their worried faces filled my vision, but they froze when I let out an enraged roar.
"Get back!" I snarled. My chest felt like it was on fire, my blood boiling with rage. If any of them touched me now, I couldn’t guarantee I wouldn’t tear them apart.
The urge to kill someone consumed me because I knew exactly what Reginald was doing to Phoebe. He was touching her! Putting his filthy hands on what belonged to me!
The still-healing stab wound in my chest made everything worse. This type of injury took forever to mend properly.
"I’m going to murder him..." I gasped, struggling to my feet before barking fresh orders at my warriors, who scattered immediately to carry them out.
None of them wanted to push my temper further—they understood they might become food for wild wolves if they did.
——
"Damn it all!" Reginald’s rage exploded. "If she dies, you die with her!" He threatened the young healer, who looked barely qualified for the job. She was simply the first healer he could locate.
Phoebe had bitten through her own tongue when he had touched her.
She was attempting suicide. Was being with Reginald so unbearable that she would rather die?
What drove her to such desperate measures?
"I—I’ve managed to stop the bleeding," the young healer stuttered, staring at Reginald with terror. She appeared to still be learning healing magic, which explained her limited abilities.
Stopping bleeding was elementary knowledge for any healer, but that seemed to be her extent.
"Do something more! Why isn’t she conscious yet?!"
"I—I don’t know... I’m sorry, I don’t know." Fear made her shake violently. "I think... you should bring her to a proper hospital..."
Reginald then seized a small girl, just a toddler, obviously the young healer’s little sister. "If anything happens to her, something will happen to this child too."
The toddler wailed, tears rolling down her round cheeks as she reached desperately toward her big sister.
"Please, please don’t hurt her. I’ll do whatever you want. I’ll try harder!" Panic consumed her now.
Reginald and his men had invaded her home after discovering she possessed healing abilities. He didn’t have time to locate a more skilled healer when Phoebe started choking on her own blood.
Additionally, Phoebe lacked the natural healing powers of typical shifters, meaning she wouldn’t recover quickly. Without immediate action, she would die.
He absolutely refused to let that happen.
He had sacrificed too much to lose her now. She was finally in his grasp—he wouldn’t allow her to slip away so easily. Not even death could take her from him.
"Take her to another room! Keep her there!" Reginald threw the little girl to one of his warriors, ordering him to lock her away.
The child sobbed in terror, and the warrior had no alternative but to obey.
Afterward, Reginald paced through the house while the young healer fought to save Phoebe’s life. He paused before a family photograph.
"You have an older sister? Where is she?"
