Chapter 9

Shemika had been a part of the Rurik pack for close to five weeks. The Vale Pack, or rather Ylenia, hadn’t made any moves to reclaim her, but she didn’t mind. She was finally being treated like a queen. Lyosha catered to her every whim and she had no pack responsibilities. He told her that her only duty was to “be beautiful.”

Every day, Shemika woke up at her leisure. She took care of herself, ate whatever she desired, which was usually just meat for dinner. She wore stunning clothes. Then, she would join Lyosha for a few hours, sitting by his side as his trophy.

It was perfect. She imagined it was similar to the life of a trophy wife.

She dressed in a dark red bra-sized top, the jewels jingling as she moved, and a matching dark red skirt with a slit down the right side. She had styled her hair into an intricately woven side braid, adorned with diamond flowers.

She strolled through the halls, enjoying the sound of her tinkling jewels. She was always alone, until she sat by Lyosha’s side. She hadn’t slept with anyone yet, despite several men making it abundantly clear they wanted to.

Shemika was halfway down the hall, near the back entrance, when she spotted Caturix again. She hadn’t seen him since their brief initial meeting. He was at the end of the hall, disappearing behind a door she hadn’t been through before.

Shemika watched as he vanished behind the heavy steel door, so different from the rest of the warm cherry wood doors. She waited outside the door for a while, but he didn’t come out. Eventually, she gave up and went to find Nikandr to ask about Caturix again.

He had given her only a little information about him. Apparently, Caturix was Lyosha’s adopted son, taken in after his parents died. He didn’t spend much time with the rest of the pack. He was a loner, a fact Nikandr repeated too many times.

When she asked about the facial scarring, Nikandr was suspiciously evasive. He told her that no one except Lyosha knew much about Caturix. He only ever showed up when Lyosha needed him.

Nikandr was outside the community building, chatting with a she-wolf. She was on the shorter side, with warm brown hair and pencil-thin straight brows.

“Hi, Nikandr,” Shemika said, joining them.

The woman’s brow quirked slightly, almost humorously. She didn’t seem very friendly.

Nikandr turned to her, offering a kind smile. “What’s up, Shemika?”

“I just wanted to ask about…” Her gaze shifted to the woman, unsure if she wanted to discuss this in front of the unfamiliar she-wolf. “More about Caturix.”

The she-wolf shuddered at his name. “My advice: Avoid him,” she said, her eyes wide.

The advice immediately irritated her. She wanted the opposite of avoiding him. “And why is that…” She let the sentence hang, waiting for the she-wolf to fill in her name.

“Lyudmila,” the she-wolf supplied. “And, trust me. All the women have spent the night in his bed and no one goes back for seconds,” she said with a shiver.

“Well, Lyudmila, thanks for the advice. Now run along.” She made a shooing gesture. “So Nikandr and I can talk.”

Lyudmila narrowed her eyes as if considering defying her, but then turned on her heel and stormed off in a huff.

“Okay,” Shemika began, fixing Nikandr with her sharp gaze. “Tell me about Caturix.”

A look of disgust crossed his face. “What’s there to say, little wolf? Trust everyone in this pack when we say, he is better to be avoided. I’ve had to comfort the women who’ve spent time in his bed. I don’t want the same for you,” he said, rubbing Shemika’s arm comfortingly.

She tried to hide it, but she couldn’t help but crinkle her nose in a mix of irritation and repulsion for Nikandr. “I saw him go into a room on the far other side of the building.”

“I mean, yeah. He works at the far end of the building, but it isn’t a room. It’s a staircase that leads down to the holding cells. I told you, he’s our pack’s punisher,” he answered, splitting his attention to wave at a passing man. “Look, little wolf, I don’t really want to talk about that guy.”

Her brow raised at the change in tone. “What’s a punisher?”

She could tell she was aggravating him, but he answered, “Alpha Lyosha keeps Caturix close. He does anything the alpha says. Lyosha is on the older side, but he doesn’t need to be strong with Caturix as his muscle.”

He was probably only telling her about Caturix, hoping the agreeability would encourage her to let him into her bed, but she had her sights currently set on Caturix. “What’s the facial scarring from?” she asked, knowing she’d never have the nerve to ask the man in question.

Nikandr scowled. “That’s from Lyosha when Caturix was a little boy.”

Ah, so step-daddy wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows. She could sympathize with Mileva as a mother. “Why did you say you ‘comfort the women’ who’ve spent time in his bed?”

Nikandr’s scowl deepened. “He destroys women. Nothing about his lovemaking is gentle. They cry after,” he said quietly, his voice hushed. “He can’t even be calm in bed. He nearly tears them apart, but for some reason they all had to learn for themselves,” he added, almost jealously.

Of course, they all learned for themselves. Caturix was the definition of dark and dangerous with eyes brimming with trauma and a flashing red light telling her to stay away.

“When does he finish with the punishing stuff,” i.e., when does he come back upstairs so she could look at his scrumptious face again? She wanted to hear the voice that accompanied that face.

Nikandr peered over, still irritated. “Caturix finishes around dinner and goes to his room to sulk as the prisoners are brought food.”

Ah, so that was why he never joined dinner.

It was hours until dinner, she realized with a frown. She’d have to pass the time somehow, even though what she wanted to do was go down there and meet him now. She didn’t need too much backstory. It wasn’t like she wanted anything more than to have her own time in his bed. Then she’d leave him be.

“Nikandr,” she began, crossing her arm over her ample breasts.

His eyes shot down before popping back up to her face, his cheek heated with embarrassment. “Yes, little wolf?”

“Do you want to introduce me to a few people before dinner?” Before she ultimately snuck away to finally speak to Caturix and perhaps share his bed real quick.