Bought by the Beast King (Katerina and hunter) novel Chapter 178

Chapter 178

HUNTER

My back was broken.

I knew it with the same cold certainty I knew the moon had already peaked. The same certainty I knew I was going to die here, in such a disgraceful way, sprawled on the ground like something that had been discarded.

Next to my mate’s body. My vow to be with her in death was coming true, after all.

I couldn’t feel my legs. It should have terrified me, but the pain had already become dulled into something distant, like it was happening to someone else. Every breath scraped raw from my lungs. Every heartbeat felt wrong. But none of it compared to the ache in my chest when I remembered the way itty had looked at me once she knew who I was.

It wasn’t fear. It was disgust.

I tasted blood and failure on my tongue. This wasn’t how it was supposed to end. I’d already accepted it as a possibility after I carried out my plans for her father. And I’d accepted that my mind would have snapped and I’d have kept her with me anyway, because life without her wasn’t an option.

But this…

Dying beside her as a monster in her eyes, stripped of my power twisted and helpless on the asphalt. This was worse.

I dragged my gaze to Kitty. Blood streaked her face and matted her hair. Her eyes were cold and empty, even when we’d come to this point. I tried to move. My fingers twitched uselessly against the ground. Still, she didn’t say a word to me. Didn’t look at me the way she had less than half an hour ago.

Even without the beast, it felt like my heart had been torn from my chest.

My chest burned. I couldn’t tell if the infection was finally claiming me or if this was what it felt like to lose your mate while still breathing. The pendant rested heavily against my sternum, s pulse stronger now. I couldn’t even lift my hand to tear the damn thing off.

Footsteps crunched closer. Jasper. I didn’t even need to look to know it was him. I didn’t need to see his face to know he had that smug smirk on it.

“So,” he murmured. “This is it.”

I wanted to snarl and bare my teeth, but not at him, at Kostas, who was standing over Kitty. Without my beast, the sound died in my throat.

“You always were too soft,” Jasper continued. “A Lycan King who chose an omega werewolf over a crown.”

My vision swam. The burning inside me wasn’t letting up; I couldn’t even see what Kostas was doing to her. Jasper nudged shoulder with his bare foot, as if he was testing me.

“You really have lost your beast, haven’t you?” he said.

He laughed as he stepped in front of me, blocking my view of Kitty and Kostas completely.

I closed my eyes. This was the price I paid for my greed. For believing I could be both mate and king. But Kitty was paying it, too.

Something moved.

Something beneath all the fire in my blood. Pressure built in my chest, so suddenly my lungs seized. I gasped, choking as agony ripped through my broken spine. The world narrowed to pain so intense it devoured every sound, every breath. every thought.

In the back of my mind, I saw Jasper fall to his knees. I felt pressure outside my body, pressing into my skin. But the one inside me was worse.

I screamed.

Something tore loose inside me, something violent and feral. It surged through my veins like wildfire, burning away the emptiness, the weakness. It was unfamiliar. It felt like the corruption in my blood, but more. It was sharper. More controlled. Magic.

And just like that, my senses snapped back violently. I smelled the stench of that dark magic saturating the air. More than that, I felt it. A presence darker than anything I’d ever felt before More terrifying than anything. It was all around us, and the air was tinted blood-red by its presence.

Before I could process it, my beast slammed back into me. He was whole and furious, and he was hungry.

My bones shifted and realigned with wet, sickening cracks. Strength flooded my limbs so fast it made me dizzy. I roared as I surged to my feet, and the sound echoed in the night. The world sharpened again. Colours deepened. Scents exploded, tangling together. Fear, blood, power. My beast fed on all of it, inhaling greedily.

I turned to Kitty to save her from Kostas, then froze. Kostas was on his knees. Like Jasper. Like everyone around us.

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