"You need to be punished."

Tears almost welled up in her eyes, afraid of her impending doom.

If Luna didn't give up her virginity to the Vampire King and losing her status as Hecate's High Priestess, it would have been so easy to escape from the situation.

Her husband had tempted her, and now she could not do anything to fight and defend herself or teleport away from her troubles.

Waves of anger radiated off Apollyon's imposing shoulders when he captured her jaw, wrenching her head firmly to look into his cold, blue eyes.

He kissed her brutally—so ironic from the way he used to kiss her before with aching gentleness.

Now, he was forcing her lips apart while his tongue penetrated her mouth.

By the time Apollyon had wrapped her so tightly with her cloak, Luna was sure that wherever her husband would have taken her, he would not hesitate to kill her.

But the blood bond still stood between her and death itself.

By the mood he was currently in, killing her on the spot would be quick and merciful.

Luna didn't know if he had it in his soul to forgive her.

"Please," Luna whispered back as she tried to wriggle out of his grasp, but her husband wouldn't budge.

"Shut up, wife." Apollyon roared, his blue eyes twinkling dangerously. "If you don't, I would not hesitate to hurt someone innocent. I couldn't kill you as my wife, but I could certainly kill someone without an ounce of guilt if I could get this rage out of my system."

Luna knew at that moment that there was no mercy and guilt in his black soul.

The Vampire King wasn't different from the Archdemons.

Did she save a monster with no redeeming quality at all?

Luna choked back her pleas, knowing that it would be useless as it would just pass through one ear and to the next, but her pride was in tatters.

It couldn't stop the tears of regret from falling down her cheeks.

Luna should fuel her sorrow and regret with anger.

She wasn't in the wrong here.

If she followed her husband's orders that she stay in their marriage chamber, then Luna wouldn't find out that Apollyon had intended to treat the women like whores in an auction house for his guests' viewing pleasure.

All the other Kings wanted to approach them, but Apollyon had warned them, "Don't move."

He pointed his sharp silver blade to anyone who dare come running towards them to seek what was the source of the commotion.

The Faerie Prince halted, his clenched jaw dropping in shock.

The Dragon King followed suit.

His handsome face had darkened with confusion, wondering why Apollyon had hurt his fellow King, Panterra.

This event could lead to a full-scale war, and all the agreements they were supposed to sign today as a sign of allegiance will be thrown out of the window.

The Vampire King lifted Luna and carried her away, shoving her legs on either side of his hips.

Luna wounded her arms around her neck and buried her face where his neck and shoulder met.

The only thing which gave him comfort was her naked body pressing against her husband.

Apollyon adjusted her while his hands held her thighs, raising her higher above his hips to keep her from sliding down his body.

A man slipped from Luna's vision.

Remus had planted himself firmly on their path.

She immediately ducked her head so that the Werewolf King with the nine-tailed fox tattoo would not recognize her as the Amazon who had escaped from his clutches.

Luna began to mumble a litany of curses and prayers to the Goddess that she wouldn't get caught.

Did he recognize her by the silver hair?

At first, Luna feared that Remus would run right over them, forcibly take off her mask to see her face and figure out that she was the same Amazon warrior as the one he had seduced to claim the Sacred Valley as his own territory.

Apollyon slipped one arm around her waist as if drawing her like a shield that Luna could hardly bear the mock tenderness of his embrace.

"Stand aside, Werewolf King." Apollyon commanded, "Unless you wanted to follow the path of my good friend, Panterra."

The Werewolf King's eyes were dark and hollow, but his voice rang with a conviction Luna had never heard he was capable of. "I will not stand aside and allow you to escape your responsibility as a Host to this goddamned auction."

"This does not concern you."

"Do you want to go to war with every King who had attended this hellhole for the sake of allegiances?" The Werewolf King Remus had stood his ground and lifted his chin in arrogance. "If all of the Kings present in this event ganged up on you because of what you did to the Feline King, you would be reduced to mere ashes."

"You test my patience, Remus." The Vampire King snarled, his arm tightening around Luna's waist, cutting off her oxygen. "This lady isn't a mere Escort. This is the Vampire Realm's Empress, and she is my goddamned wife."

They didn't even hear the Werewolf King's response to that.

Apollyon had already teleported into a location Luna had no idea on.

The Vampire King threw her to the bed.

Apollyon climbed after her, shredding the fabric of her cloak with his silver knife when Luna tried to pull her cloak, covering her body as she rolled out of bed and ran towards the door.

Luna was determined to put a distance from her and her psychopathic husband but to no avail.

There was no door in the room.

It was an ivory tower with no exit.

Was Apollyon trying to imprison her for her disobedience?

The Vampire King had successfully shredded her cloak, hacking them into pieces.

Shivering in nothing but her naked body, Luna's eyes widened as she stared into her husband's furious gaze.

She almost breathes a sigh of relief that Apollyon wasn't cutting her skin with his weapon.

Luna guessed it was too early to celebrate.

She stilled when Apollyon moved on top of her, pushing her down to the bed with his enormous weight.

She was rigid when she had felt the cold blade skating over the fluttering pulse in the hollow of her throat down to the centre of her chest in a mocking caress.

With a single downward slash that was shallow but enough for her to bleed, The Vampire King—her kind, loving, and patient husband from her Honeymoon—had hacked the upper layer of her skin.

Luna yelped at the sudden shock of pain, slowly replaced by a moan of pleasure when Apollyon's tongue licked the gash, his vampire saliva working its magic.

Every time his tongue moved at the edge of the wound and lingered there, her hips shot upward, wanting to feel her husband's hard length.

She wanted to remove his clothes and grind against him, hitting her sweet spot.

"Husband." Luna's pride crumbled as she whispered, "I want to feel your skin against mine."

"No, this is your punishment for your disobedience." Apollyon's voice was hard and uncompromising, and his hellfire gaze seared her soul.

With a sob of anguish from her torture, she sought to wriggle out from under him, but Apollyon had caught her wrists, forced her arms apart, and grabbed for the manacles tied to each of the bedposts.

Luna didn't have the power to fight him as she had already lost her strength.

She felt helpless when the Vampire King had chained her wrists, removing himself on top of her body just for a moment to tie her feet to the other remaining bedposts.

She trashed and kicked helplessly, but it was so easy for Apollyon to overpower her.

"Husband." Luna was breathing hard, pulling at the chains, but she felt like screaming every time she did it.

It felt like thousands of needles prickled on her wrists.

It hurt.

There must be some magic attached to the manacles themselves.

Resistance was futile.

Luna would die trying. "Husband, please."

She lay in bed beneath him as still as a statue, silently gauging Apollyon's strange mood.

The Vampire King's eyes drank their fill of her as if it was her sacred right.

Trembling with humiliation over her submission to appease the Vampire King, she scoured his face for a sliver of compassion that had eluded the vengeful beast feasting on his humanity.

Luna's search didn't give any results with fingers shaking in fear, for she did not recognize the man in front of her.

Luna swallowed audibly as she tried again. "My King, you must understand that it was never my intention to anger you or hurt you. I only wanted to watch over the Consortium, and instead, I found out that you---"

She avoided his gaze.

"You betrayed me with your promises to keep the women safe from being treated like an animal." Luna bit back a sob and said angrily. "So, how did it feel to see your wife being treated like that?"