Jannah glared at him, the texture of his thumb against her chin feeling less like a gentle touch and more like a brand of ownership. She didn’t care about the sudden, uncharacteristic vulnerability flashing within his silver eyes, nor did she care about the soft, pleading tone he had just weaponized against her defenses.

"Forget it, Dorrent," Jannah said, her voice dropping into a freezing whisper that cut straight through the narrow space separating their faces. She raised her left hand, using every ounce of her remaining strength to firmly pry his fingers off her jaw, shoving his hand away from her skin with disgust. "Forget it entirely. I do not want you to love me. I don’t want a single shred of affection, pity, or whatever twisted emotion you are trying to manufacture inside your head. Your love would be a curse."

Dorrent’s expression instantly hardened, the gentle light in his eyes vanishing as the stubborn wall of her resistance hit him. He lowered his hand, his jaw locking tight as he stared down at her defiant form.

"If you are going to be this stubborn, Jannah," Dorrent delivered, his voice carrying a rough edge, "how on earth do you expect us to live together as husband and wife? You are refusing to cooperate with the reality of this situation."

"There is absolutely nothing like husband and wife that is ever going to happen between the two of us!" Jannah fired back, her chest heaving as she shoved herself further back against the mountain of white pillows, her dark eyes flashing with untamed fire. "I would rather drink the most lethal poison in my herbal cabinet before I ever let a priest bind my life to yours!"

Dorrent stood up from his chair, his towering, muscular frame casting a shadow over her small body. He looked down at her, his eyes narrowing as he tried to pierce through the armor of her hostility.

"Then at least tell me the truth, Jannah," Dorrent demanded, his voice dropping into a low, intense growl. He stepped closer, leaning over the edge of the mattress until he was occupying her field of vision. "Tell me exactly why you hate me this bad. What did I ever do to you to warrant this kind of vicious malice? Tell me what it is, or tell me how I am supposed to make up for it."

Jannah’s breath hitched in her throat. She looked at his chiseled, arrogant face, the secret of her parents’ bloody demise screaming in her mind. How can you make up for it? she thought, her inner voice dripping with venom. Can you pull my mother and father out of the dirt six feet under? Can you wash the blood off your hands from that terrible slaughter nine years ago?

Looking at the depth of the hatred burning in her eyes, Dorrent felt a sudden, heavy weight drop into the pit of his stomach. Inwardly, the dark reality of his mother’s warning resonated within his mind. He understood completely. He knew exactly what the unspoken barrier was. It was hard—practically impossible—to bring back the dead. It was impossible to undo the slaughter of the two people who had given her life.

But as a dominant, all-powerful S-tier Alpha, he refused to accept defeat. He refused to let a past blackout dictate the terms of his future ownership of this girl.

"Whatever it is that is rotting between us," Dorrent stated, his voice dropping into a vow as he stared into her eyes, "I can make up for it. I have the wealth, the power, and the resources to fix anything in your life. You just have to trust me. You just have to submit to this marriage."

Jannah looked him dead in the eyes, her gaze locking onto his eyes with a cold, calculating intensity that made his breath hitch. "Whatever it is? Are you sure about that, Dorrent? Will you truly do whatever it takes to make up for the damage?"

Dorrent’s chest expanded with a slow, confident breath, a faint smirk returning to his lips. "Try me, Jannah. Name your price. Tell me what you want, and I will make it happen."

"Fine," Jannah spat out, her voice sharp as a razor. "First, let go of me completely, and let me leave this house so I can go back to the ghetto and live my life in peace with my boyfriend."

Dorrent’s smirk instantly vanished, his eyes flashing with a sudden, dangerous darkness at the mention of the doctor.

Jannah didn’t stop. She leaned forward, her voice rising in pitch as she threw her impossible demands right in his face. "Second, since you claim you want to make up for things, are you going to stand still and let me stab you with a blade several times? And most of all... can you promise me right now that you will never force me into your bed? Can you promise that you will never make me your sex toy?!"

Dorrent stared down at her, his expression turning completely flat, his silver eyes turning as cold as winter frost. The silence stretched between them, before he finally let out a breath.

"I can grant you many things, Jannah," Dorrent replied, his voice smooth, unbothered, and completely devoid of any guilt. "I can buy you properties, I can give you absolute security, and I can handle other desires. But I will absolutely not do those things you just listed. Especially the part about our sex life. I am a healthy, dominant Alpha, and my body has finally awakened after five long years. I cannot live without that release, and I certainly cannot live without having you in my bed."

He leaned down slightly, a mocking amusement dancing in his eyes. "And as for the part about stabbing me several times? I am definitely not ready to die just to satisfy your strange temper. If I let you kill me, who is going to be left to ensure that you are never left deprived of sex? I need to stay alive to fulfill my husbandly duties."

"You are a disgusting, pathetic monster!" Jannah cursed him, her face flushing a deep, furious crimson as she glared at his arrogant posture. She wanted to wipe that confident smirk off his face so badly her nails dug into the palms of her hands. "Do you honestly think you are the only man in this world? I don’t need you! If I leave this place, I will meet other powerful, capable Alphas out there who can satisfy my body very well, without me having to look at your hideous personality!"

Dorrent growled, his winter-frost pheromones suddenly flaring slightly in the room, heavy and commanding. "I doubt there is a single man alive in this city who can satisfy you the way I do, Jannah. Let’s not play games here. With how big your sex drive is, you only want a powerful man who can last long and handle your heat like I can."

He took a slow step closer, his eyes narrowing into a dangerous glare. "And quite frankly, I doubt that sweet, gentle doctor Damian can satisfy your biological needs the way an S-tier Alpha can. So do me a favor and do not mention that Mafia’s son in this conversation ever again. You need to start remembering your place, Jannah. You are going to be a married woman very soon, and your lips will only belong to me."

Jannah’s rage reached a boiling point. She grabbed a pillow with her left hand and hurled it violently at his chest, though he didn’t even flinch as it bounced harmlessly off his muscular shoulder.

"You never speak a single shred of sense!" Jannah screamed, her voice shaking with anger. "All you ever know how to talk about is bedroom matters! Every single word out of your mouth is dirty, crude, and utterly obsessed with sex! That is exactly why I will never, ever respect you as a person! You are nothing but a beast driven by lust!"

Dorrent didn’t get angry. Instead, a smug grin spread across his handsome face as he reminded her of the reality of their history. "You can call me a beast all you want, little herbalist. But let me remind you of something very important—this entire alliance between us began in the bedroom after all. If you hadn’t been the one who voluntarily stepped up to my bed, reached out your small hands, touched my cock, and aroused my system so intensely, we wouldn’t have ever come to this point. You chose to awaken the monster, Jannah. You don’t get to complain about the consequences now."

Jannah felt embarrassment and desperation wash over her mind. The memory of that manual diagnosis, of her fingers wrapped around his heavy manhood while his father clapped in the background, made her want to disappear into the floor. She looked up at him, her voice suddenly losing its sharp edge, turning soft and almost pleading as she tried a different tactic to escape the trap.

"Please, Dorrent..." Jannah whispered, her dark eyes looking at him with genuine desperation. "Please just give me some time. Let me continue to act as your physician. I swear to you, I will research the best herbs, I will mix the most potent remedies, and I will treat your condition until you are fully cured. Once you are well, you will be able to sleep with other beautiful, high-bred women like Joanne or anyone else you want. There is absolutely no need for all of this insanity. Why do you want to force a marriage without a single drop of love, only for the sake of sex?!"

"No way," Dorrent delivered ruthlessly, his voice completely flat and unyielding as he shot down her proposal without a moment’s hesitation. "Marrying you just for sex is already an incredible progress compared to the five long years of humiliating impotence I had to endure before you walked through my door. I am not letting my cure walk out of my life."

He leaned over her, his eyes boring into hers with a terrifying intensity. "And who knows, Jannah? As we have wild, intense sex every day, maybe you will eventually forget about that doctor and fall for me anyway."

Jannah didn’t reply to him. The exhaustion of the frantic screaming, the overwhelming panic, and the uselessness of arguing against his unbending wall of arrogance completely drained the remaining strength from her body. She was tired. Her mind was entirely spent. With a defeated sigh, she turned her body away from him, lying down on her side and facing the blank wall, giving him her cold shoulder.

Dorrent stood over the bed for a silent moment, watching her. The sight of her turning away didn’t deter him. He stepped closer, slowly lowering his body onto the edge of the mattress right behind her.

He reached out his hand, placing it gently onto her slender waist. Jannah stiffened instantly under his touch, but she didn’t have the energy to fight him off. Dorrent began to slowly, deliberately caress the soft curve of her waist through the thin fabric of the gown, his long fingers trailing up and down her skin with an intensely possessive rhythm.

He leaned his head down, burying his face into the side of her neck, his hot breath washing over her skin. He slid his lips upward until they brushed against her earlobe, pressing a soft, lingering kiss right against the delicate skin.

Jannah couldn’t control the involuntary reaction of her biology; a sudden shiver coursed straight down her spine, and her breath hitched softly in the quiet room.

Dorrent felt her small reaction against his chest, and a chuckle rumble within his throat. He tightened his grip on her waist slightly, his voice whispering the final, chilling promise right into her ear.

"I can’t wait to be sharing my bed with you every single day, little wife."