Page 55 of Lord of the Lone Wolf (Bonded Hearts #3)
Kitsuki
T he clash of steel and the howls of the dying carried on the wind as Kitsuki strode through the obsidian corridors of Nasume’s castle in Norello the next day.
Outside, his warriors battled in a war that had already claimed too many lives.
The silence in the hallways contrasted with the carnage beyond.
Kitsuki’s hand rested on his sword hilt, ready to cut down any guard foolish enough to block his path. Yet the corridors remained suspiciously empty, as if Nasume had ordered everyone to stand down, as if he wanted Kitsuki to find him.
Nasume has been waiting for this confrontation , his dragon observed. He believes this will end in his favor .
“He is mistaken,” Kitsuki murmured, his voice echoing against the polished obsidian walls.
Kitsuki paused outside the ornate double doors that led to Nasume’s private chambers.
Kizoshi’s words echoed in his mind that no matter how much Kitsuki wished to be the one to kill Nasume, Maseo alone would deliver the killing blow to his father.
The prophecy was clear. Yet Kitsuki could not stand aside without confronting the wolf king himself, without making Nasume understand the magnitude of his transgressions.
With a steadying breath, he pushed open the doors and entered the wolf king’s domain.
Nasume’s bedchamber was a study in opulence and shadow. Black silk draped from a massive four-poster bed, illuminated by crystal lanterns that cast an amber glow throughout the room. The polished obsidian walls reflected light in strange, distorted ways.
And there, reclining on the sheets as if awaiting a lover rather than an enemy, was Nasume.
The wolf king lounged against black silk pillows, one leg bent at the knee, the other stretched across the sheets. He wore fitted leather breeches that hugged his powerful thighs, paired with an open vest of dark crimson that revealed most of his chest and the swirling emerald shifter markings.
But the wolf king had changed since their last encounter. The necromancy he had embraced had ruined his once-handsome features. His skin had taken on an ashen pallor, with faint green veins visible beneath the surface. His amber eyes now glowed the same toxic color.
Despite his depraved appearance, he still maintained the same seductive smile that had always disgusted the dragon king.
“Kitsuki,” Nasume purred, rising from the bed with predatory grace. “How kind of you to seek me out in my private chambers. Have you come to your senses at long last?”
“I have come to end this war,” Kitsuki replied, his hand resting on his sword hilt. “And to make you answer for your crimes.”
Nasume approached, his movements fluid and deliberate.
“Crimes?” Nasume repeated, feigning hurt. “Why is it a crime to desire someone? To pursue what should be mine?”
“It is a crime to raise the dead against their will,” Kitsuki countered. “To sacrifice innocent lives because you cannot accept rejection.”
Nasume waved a dismissive hand. “Politics can be messy. But it can all end right now, Kitsuki.” His voice dropped to a silken whisper. “Say you will be mine, and I will call off my forces this very moment. No more bloodshed. No more death. Only the two of us, as it was always meant to be.”
The audacity of his proposal stunned Kitsuki. Even after everything, Nasume still believed it was all about his obsession. “You started a war and killed thousands of people to force me to be with you?”
“I did it to make you acknowledge me,” Nasume corrected, as if his clarification made his actions more reasonable. “For centuries, you have ignored me, rejected me, humiliated me. I had to make you understand.”
“Understand what? Your complete disregard for boundaries? Your willingness to destroy lives for your own selfish desires?”
Nasume’s expression hardened before melting back into its seductive mask. “My devotion and willingness to do anything for you.”
“That is obsession,” Kitsuki replied, keeping his voice controlled despite the anger building within him.
Nasume shrugged. “One word from you, and this war ends. No more death. No more destruction. Is that not worth considering? Is your pride more important than the lives of your people?”
The question was a blade aimed at Kitsuki’s sense of duty. Nasume knew him well enough to understand that the welfare of his people was paramount. However, accepting Nasume’s terms would mean subjecting himself to an eternity of the wolf king’s twisted desires.
“My refusal is not about pride,” Kitsuki insisted. “It is about dignity and refusing to reward centuries of harassment with capitulation.”
Nasume’s smile faltered before returning, sharper than before. “Is that what you call my courtship? My devotion?”
“Courtship requires consent,” Kitsuki replied. “Devotion requires respect. You have shown neither.”
“I have elevated you above all others in my heart,” Nasume protested, taking another step closer. “You are the center of my existence.”
“Wrong. You do not want to love me. You want to own me. There is a difference.”
The wolf king’s eyes flashed with anger before he smoothed his expression once more. “Perhaps I have been overzealous in my pursuit, but can you blame me? You are everything I have ever wanted.”
He reached out to caress Kitsuki’s face, but the dragon king caught his wrist.
“Do not touch me,” Kitsuki warned.
Rather than pulling away, Nasume leaned into the grip, his smile widening. “Your touch still burns me, even in anger.”
Disgust rippled through Kitsuki. He released Nasume’s wrist and stepped back. “This conversation is pointless. You hear only what you wish to.”
“Then help me understand,” Nasume implored, his voice dropping to a seductive purr. “Tell me what I must do to win your heart. I have tried everything else. Force. Gifts. War. What must I do to make you mine?”
“Nothing, because I do not want you. I have never wanted you. I will never want you.”
Nasume’s handsome features contorted with genuine pain before he mastered himself once more. “You cannot mean that after everything I have done for you.”
“Everything you have done has been for yourself.”
Nasume paced, his movements agitated. “I have loved you for a millennium and endured countless rejections.”
“And yet you never once considered that my lack of interest was not a game but my true feelings.”
Nasume’s composure cracked. “Because it makes no sense. We are perfect for each other as powerful, immortal kings. No one else could ever understand you as I do.”
“Understanding requires listening, and you have never listened to me, Nasume. Not once in all these centuries.”
The wolf king stopped pacing, turning to face Kitsuki with frustrated confusion. “What have I not heard? Tell me, and I will listen now.”
“No,” Kitsuki said, shaking his head. “I am done trying to make you understand boundaries you have no interest in respecting.”
Nasume’s expression darkened. “Is this about your human? That pale imitation of what we could be together?”
The mention of Auslin sent a spike of protective rage through Kitsuki. “Do not speak of him. You lost that right when you attacked him in my castle.”
“He attacked me first,” Nasume protested, though they both knew it was a lie. “Besides, he is a fleeting distraction. Humans die, Kitsuki. They wither, age, and perish, while we endure. Why invest your heart in something so ephemeral?”
Kitsuki chose not to correct Nasume about Auslin’s lifespan being tied to his own immortality. “Because Auslin respects my boundaries, values my choices, and loves me as a partner rather than a possession.”
Nasume scoffed. “Pretty words for a pretty face. But when he is dust in the ground, I will still be here, waiting. I have time, Kitsuki. All the time in the world.”
The casual dismissal of Auslin’s life and their bond stoked the fire of Kitsuki’s anger. He had always maintained his composure with Nasume, never allowing himself to confront the wolf king about his behavior.
But now, with the sounds of battle echoing beyond the castle walls and the memory of Maseo’s near-death experience at Ishibiya’s hands fresh in his mind, Kitsuki’s patience had reached its limit.
“No,” Kitsuki said, his voice hard as steel. “Your time has run out.”
The wolf king raised an eyebrow, intrigued rather than intimidated by Kitsuki’s shift in tone. “Oh? And what does that mean?”
“I will no longer accept your blatant disregard for my boundaries as an unfortunate character flaw. I refuse to pretend that your obsession is anything but the twisted, selfish fixation that it is.”
Nasume’s eyes widened at the uncharacteristic display of emotion from the normally controlled dragon king. “Such passion,” he murmured, misinterpreting Kitsuki’s ire. “I knew it existed beneath that cold exterior.”
“This is righteous anger,” Kitsuki corrected him. “You have pursued me relentlessly despite my obvious rejections. Worse, you have touched me without permission and threatened those I care about.”
“Only because you refused to see reason,” Nasume argued. “If you did not deny what exists between us?—”
“Nothing exists between us except your delusions, which have led you to start a war that has claimed thousands of lives. You have dabbled in forbidden necromancy, which has destroyed you. You even threatened the life of your own son.”
The mention of Maseo acted as a spark to dry tinder. Nasume’s pleasant facade cracked, revealing the rage beneath. “What does that pathetic half-breed have to do with anything?”
“Not only did you almost kill him, but you intended to sacrifice his soul to Ishibiya,” Kitsuki reminded him. “Your own son, Nasume. Have you no shame?”
“He is nothing but a mistake,” Nasume spat in disgust. “Ishibiya would have put his worthless existence to better use than he ever managed on his own.”
The casual cruelty with which Nasume dismissed his own child ignited the protective rage within Kitsuki’s dragon, clawing against his restraint. “He is worth a hundred of you.”