Chapter 2

Lillian's POV

I couldn't see Ismail's face clearly, but I could feel his hand on my jaw was icy cold, causing me to shiver involuntarily. 

Was this the normal body temperature of a person? 

He said if I was the cure to his illness, but I was completely clueless. I didn't dare to simply to make up an answer, so I just kept quiet. 

Unfortunately, my silence only worsened his disposition toward me; he continued to tower over me. 

With a disdainful sneer, he remarked, "You're already in my bed, so put away your tricks."

What tricks? 

What was he talking about? 

I was dumbstruck by his remark. Before I could even react, I heard his breathing become heavier. 

He suddenly leaned forward and pressed on my shoulders. Without warning, he then began to undress me. 

His movements were quick and precise. His voice carried a deep, almost menacing tone, "Let's see if you really have what it takes to cure me!" 

It was pitch black, and I could barely make out his face, but the intensity of his gaze bore down on me like a spotlight, making my blood freeze.

I tried to stop Ismail from undressing me. My voice was quivering as I asked, "I-I-If I say I can't cure your illness, will you let me go?" 

I didn't want to have anything to do with this terrifying man, not to mention to consummate this marriage.

"Well?" Ismail sneered as he noticed my attempt to stop him. He tightened his grip and hissed, "Put your hands away!" 

"No!" I clung to my collar tightly. 

Only a fool would listen to him and let go at this moment.

Seizing the opportunity while he was talking to me, I turned around, trying to feel my way out of the bed from the other side. 

But his reflexes were sharp. He was one step ahead of me, grabbing the corner of my nightgown. 

I fought back with all my might to break free from his grasp. Then, I quickly ran off. 

He stormed over from the foot of the bed and roughly yanked me back onto it by my arm. Towering over me, he ripped my nightgown off in one swift motion.

I only felt a cold sensation on my skin, and I struggled with embarrassment and anger, shouting, "Ismail! As the future Alpha of the Dawn Army, how can you bully a weak woman like me?"

Ismail was unmoved by my threats and struggles, pinning me down with his muscular body and whispering coldly in my ear, "You married me, no? And, now you're my mate. Don't tell me you've changed your mind. It's too late now." 

He stripped me of all my clothes and warned me menacingly, "You better behave this time, or your fate will be the same as theirs!"

As he spoke, my heart turned to ice. What did he mean by "as theirs"? Who were they? 

Did he mean the fate of his previous six wives, who couldn't survive their wedding night? 

Fear consumed me as I stared at his blurry face in front of me. Clenching my teeth, I dared not make another squeak. 

His movements were violent and savage, with no regard for the fact I was a lady. 

I failed to break free of his grip, and hence I had no choice but to grit my teeth and endure his assault. Eventually, exhaustion overpowered me, or perhaps it was more accurate to say that I was tortured into unconsciousness by this man on top of me. 

In my dream, flames raged around me, and in the distance, I saw my sister Chloe reaching out to me, pleading for help. She admitted to having been a terrible sister, always tormenting and bullying me. 

She begged me to save her, to keep her from dying or being disfigured. 

But just as I reached out to grab her, a flame shot up and consumed her entirely. 

"Chloe!" I screamed out her name, jolting awake in a cold sweat. 

My heart raced as I caught my breath while wiping away the perspiration on my forehead. 

Thank goodness! I was relieved that it was only a dream. 

After a few moments, I regained my composure.

Now, I could finally see the decor of the room. I realized that everything before me was so unfamiliar. I was at a place I'd never been. 

I sat stunned on the bed for a while, suddenly realizing the pain and discomfort in my body as if it had fallen apart. 

The memories before sleep gradually sept back into my cortex – Ismail's appearance, the scene of him pressing on me... When I lowered my head, I saw my n*ked body. 

Then I turned my head to the side and saw a man lying there! 

I realized it was Ismail, my newlywed husband, with whom I had just shared an intimate time the previous night. 

Just the thought of spending my wedding night with a total stranger made me feel sad and angry.

With anger, I lowered my head to look at Ismail, but was surprised to find that I still couldn't quite outline his face in the darkness. 

His arm was around my waist, and his eyebrows furrowed. When I cautiously tried to push his hand away from me, I realized that something seemed off about him. 

Was he... shivering? 

Indeed, even though the room was still dark, I could clearly see and feel that his body was shaking as if he were enduring some kind of unbearable pain.

Legend had it that Ismail was a sickly man. Did his illness start to act up? 

Or was he just having a nightmare?

Instinctively, I moved away a bit from him, thinking that if he had a nightmare like I did, waking him up should do the trick, right? 

With that thought in mind, I slowly reached out my hand and attempted to poke his shoulder with my fingertip to wake him up. 

But my fingertip had barely touched his skin when, all of a sudden, he sat up from the bed and lunged toward me. 

This startled me, and I instinctively tried to move away, but he managed to somehow grab my neck in the darkness. 

While tightly strangling me, he gnashed his teeth and muttered, "Why did you give up on me... why... why?" 

"I... Help!"

Ismail's strength was immense, and he squeezed my neck so tightly, making it almost impossible for me to breathe.

"Let... go..." I struggled to speak as I used my trembling hand trying to grab Ismail's shoulder.

But the Ismail in front of me seemed to have gone insane, muttering something incoherent and acting completely out of control. His strength made all my struggles in vain.

I finally understood how his six ex-wives died – they must have been all strangled to death by him when he went mad like this!

Soon my lungs ran out of air. I started to get dizzy, and my strength slowly diffused away from my body. Everything seemingly slowed down, including my struggles. 

Just when I thought I was going to be that seventh wife of his who would die in his hands, he suddenly released me. 

I fell off from the bed before I curled up like a shrimp on the floor.

I gasped for air, greedily. I did not even have the strength to sit myself up at the moment. 

Suddenly, I heard Ruby whispering to me. "Lillian, I sensed the wolf in Ismail just now..." she trailed off.