Mated to the Mad Lord-Chapter 97: Lover or whore?

"I just confirmed that you’re not connected to the Coven, so you’ll live," Cain told her. Violet, although relieved, responded with a loud scoff. She had already accepted death, and Cain might as well change his mind. There was nothing that would stop him if he decided to kill her the next day.

"Am I supposed to be grateful?" she retorted, her purple eyes glaring furiously at him, even as her mind screamed for her to stay quiet. His fingers brushed lightly against the injury he had carved into her face, sending a chill down her spine.

She flinched but didn’t avoid his gaze, her stubbornness her only armor.

"You can continue to spy on me, but you’ll report to me first. I’m guessing the people you’re spying for are threatening your parents’ lives," Cain said, his golden-brown eyes locked onto hers with a piercing intensity that made her want to shrink back.

Her heart clenched in shock and utter confusion.

"We both know that you don’t care about—"

"I don’t care about your parents, but I’ll keep them alive if it keeps you in check," Cain interrupted sharply.

"There’s nothing I can do for you! You can get someone to sleep beside you to help you—" Violet began, but her words were cut off as he grabbed her by the jaw, his fingers cold and unyielding. He pushed her head back until she was staring directly into his eyes, their faces mere inches apart. His warm breath fanned her face, and she couldn’t suppress the wave of panic that coursed through her.

"...You didn’t enjoy me touching you? Well, I did! Just because you’re useless to me doesn’t mean your body is, especially now that you’re a woman!"

Violet’s body stiffened, her breathing uneven as her mind raced with fear and anger. The intensity of his gaze bore into her, his eyes flickering briefly to her lips before returning to meet hers. Her body betrayed her with a heat she didn’t understand, but her fear of Cain overshadowed everything. She tried to shake his grip on her jaw off, but his fingers only tightened, their grip ironclad.

"I refuse to become your lover! Find someone else!" she told him, her voice trembling but resolute. Somewhere in her heart, she clung to the hope that now that he had somehow discovered she wasn’t related to the Coven, he might let her go. But instead, she felt him turn her head slightly to the side, his breath warm and menacing against her ear.

A low chuckle rumbled from the depths of his throat, sending another shiver down her spine. "My lover? More like my whore," he murmured before shoving her backward onto the bed. Violet scrambled to grab the edge before she could fall to the floor, her heart pounding in her chest.

"You will be exonerated after you tell me who killed the guard!... And like before, you will remain my personal servant while pretending to be a man. You do know what happens to witches found in werewolf districts, right?" Cain asked, his tone casual yet laced with a quiet threat.

Violet wasn’t paying attention, her hand trembling as she touched the sore spots on her jaw. "Yo-your whore! What the hell do you mean by that? You’re going to force me to sleep with you?" she burst out, her voice cracking under the weight of her fear. Cain ignored her, continuing his grim explanation as though her outburst didn’t matter.

"Witches are hanged, and their entire family with them. The only reason you’ve been able to go under the radar is because you live in the lower section of the districts, where most people are too poor and illiterate to care," he said coldly.

"I won’t sleep with you! You know that, right? It will never happen!"

"The people who might know usually keep them as slaves but gouge out their eyes first," Cain added, his voice calm yet cruel. Violet froze, the horrifying image his words painted rooting her to the spot. She swallowed hard, the lump in her throat making it difficult to breathe.

"...I’d rather die than be—"

"I don’t mind you screaming at me in private, but I might take offense if you do it so often!" Cain snapped, his voice like a whip, making Violet flinch. She stopped mid-sentence, her heart racing as she realized the danger of pushing him too far.

"...Unlike the loan shark who cut your father’s hands, Violet, I can do much worse. Don’t test me!" His deep voice resonated, his golden-brown eyes narrowing as he delivered his warning. Every word sank into her like lead, her mind unable to escape the gravity of his threats.

"I won’t force myself on you. I’m a monster, but not that kind," Cain said, his tone softer, almost reflective. For a moment, Violet thought she might finally be able to breathe, but her relief was short-lived.

"...But when I tell you to swallow, you’ll do it and thank me for the opportunity," Cain added, his voice dripping with cold malice as he turned toward the door. He paused to face the doctor standing by the cell, the man’s head bowed in silent submission, waiting for further instructions.

Cain’s decision to discard every shred of humanity left in him was clear. He had been ready to kill her, and the only reason she was still alive was that she still had a use to him. The sweet, fleeting moments they had shared were gone, forgotten as if they had never existed.

’I’d rather be alone. If you call me a monster, then I should act like one,’ he thought grimly, his body suddenly shifting into his beast form. His clothes tore at the seams, his transformation brutal and swift.

Violet, still reeling from his earlier words, watched in frozen terror as his beast emerged. Her confusion about what Cain had meant by "swallow" evaporated in an instant as she saw the beast turn on the doctor.

The attack was savage, too fast for her to even think about looking away. She watched in horrified disbelief as the beast bit the man in half, blood spraying across the walls of the cell. The crunching of bones was deafening, the sound echoing in her ears as Cain devoured the doctor like he was nothing more than a piece of meat.

The nausea hit her like a tidal wave. She dropped to the floor, clutching her stomach as bile rose in her throat. Her head spun, the room tilting around her as dizziness overtook her senses.

And then, mercifully, darkness claimed her. She fainted, her body crumpling to the floor, unable to withstand the monstrous brutality of the scene before her.