Lyla’s POV

“Mate?” I whispered out not loud enough to hear. I slowly turned my head to look at Pearl for the second time and tried to see if she'd understand what he meant by the word “mate” but I realized she was still crumbling onto the floor, oblivious to what he had said.

“Follow my instructions Damon and kill this disgusting human” The old man yelled one more time.

Pearl suddenly lifted her head, looked at Damon with surprise evident on her face as if she knew him, and then back at me, as if trying to send a word to me.

“You know them?” The old man asked Damon

”No” Damon dropped his gun and walked towards me.

He lifted my chin up and made me look into his eyes and through the dark, his bright blue eyes still shone out his color. His cold and empty eyes scared me to death and made my heart flutter uncontrollably. His eyes were as good as dead, there was nothing living in it.

“What’s your name?” I looked at him surprisingly.

“You’re Damon, right? Lucas told me about you. Please don’t hurt her, please” Pearl screamed at him from the other side of the room.

Almost immediately, Damon pulled the trigger of the gun and shot at Pearl, I screamed out until I realized he had shot at the wall and not directly at her.

“You speak when spoken to” He threatened. His voice sounded different, he talked as if he rarely opened his mouth to make a speech.

“What is your name, Bunny?” He asked gently.

“Lyla” I silently replied, not being able to stop the tears from falling.

“Cute” He simply replied and stood up to face the ruthless old man.

“Why are you hesitating, Damon? You never bring out a gun without pulling the trigger. You know the rules, Son. Once the gun is out, a person must die”

Bang! Bang!!

Damon shot one of the other guys twice in the head and I screamed out as I watched the guy fall flat on his face, with blood pooling around his head. Pearl was already shaking on a spot with beads of sweat dripping down her face.

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing, Damon? You just kill your own people” The man asked.

“Hice lo que me habías dicho” Damon replied in a language that I didn’t understand. (I did as you had instructed)

“Eso no se suponía que iba a pasar. deberías haberla matado a ella y no a él” The old man banged the wall hard before turning to glare at Damon who didn’t even flinch from any of the man’s actions. (That wasn’t supposed to happen, you should have killed her and not him)

“I didn’t want to because I didn’t feel like” Damon turned to look at me once more and began to walk out of the room.

“What am I supposed to do with her then? She is a mistake and you know we can’t take her back”

I was still shaking from the fear and I couldn’t take my eyes away from the guy that was on the floor.

“Send her to my house- Unhurt”

After saying that, Damon walked towards the door and once, he turned to look back at me with a smirk before walking out of the room, leaving me with the others.

“You’re not deaf, you heard what he said, llevarla a su casa” The man said, screaming at the two guys left in the room. “And tell some of the boys to come to clean up this mess”

The two guys walked toward me and I began to move further away from them. I couldn’t possibly move any further than the room, they grabbed me and I tried moving out of their hands.

Seeing that I wasn’t cooperating, one of them yanked my hair and forced me to face him.

“Stop fighting it, idiot”

For the first time that day, Pearl was in tears.

“Lyla” She screamed out as I was being dragged out of the room.

I couldn’t scream because the pain from my hair being pulled was becoming unbearable and painful. All I could do was wave my hand at her for help.

I was roughly pushed into a car as one of the guys blindfolded me. Scared, I began to shake furiously. I couldn’t stay put, I couldn’t think straight as the car began to move towards an unknown destination.

Few minutes later, the car abruptly stopped and once again, I was pushed out of the car. The blindfold was removed and I looked around, trying to adjust my eyes to the light that was shining brightly toward it.

“Move, Perra” One of the guys pushed me towards a door. I looked around to see there was a mansion standing in front of me, the fence surrounding it was so tall that I couldn’t see the surrounding environment.

“I said move, don’t play games with me, Puta” He opened the door and dragged me in.

As we entered, an old woman in an apron walked towards us.

“Tell Damon his visitor is around” The guy dropped my hand, untied my legs and threw the ropes towards the other guy at the door and almost instantly, they both walked out of the door, leaving me with the old woman.

“Come have a sit, my child” The old woman who happened to be the nicest person I’d seen all day, gestured for me to sit down at one of the expensive cushions placed in the center of the house.

“Will you drink some water?” She asked and I nodded trying to check out where I was.

Once the water was served, I took a sip. As it touched my dry throat, I felt sad all of a sudden. It was as if the calmness that came with the cold water brought with it reality.

I busted into tears. As I was still crying, I lifted up my hands to see it was badly bruised and so were my legs. I cried harder as I remembered that Pearl was still stuck in God knows where. I don’t even know where I am not to talk of what my fate would be.

The old woman returned with a plate of food minutes later, took me to sit at the dining table, and almost begged me to eat. I was in terrible fear of the unknown and food wasn’t just as appealing as it used to be to me.

What if the food was poisoned?

“Where am I, please?” I pleaded, asking for some clarity.

“You’re safe, my child” She replied, probably not wanting to disclose the location to me.

“Eat your good before it gets cold” The older woman instructed and left. I didn’t do as instructed, rather, I kept on looking at the food, while the tears still didn’t stop.

“Stop the tears! Now!!” I turned to see it was Damon. He was walking towards me with his killer looks and immediately, I swallowed the tears and cleaned my face.

I quickly stood up, scared of him and what he could actually do. After witnessing him killing a guy tonight, I was sure he wasn’t the person I know.

Damon walked towards me and suddenly held my face in his hands and made me sit back.

“Eat” He simply said. That was enough for me to sit back, grab the fork, and started shoving the food down my throat.

“Good bunny” he complimented while patting my hair down. I wanted to cry but the tears wouldn’t come out of fear.

“Do you know me?” He whispered in my ear. His cold lips making contact with my ear made me shiver.

“No” I shakingly replied, dropping the fork. I couldn’t look him in the eyes out of fear.

*Liar* He turned my face to him and I knew his lips didn’t move when he called me a liar. I shake the weird thoughts coming into my head.

He looked into my eyes intently as if reading me.

On closer look, I noticed the thin scar that ran across his face, starting from the base of his right eye, passing his nose and stopping right at the top of his upper lip.

“Where do you stay, Bunny?” He asked

“California” I replied

“You stay with your family, right? Father, mother, and siblings”

He picked up the fork and placed a bit of the food in my mouth. I quickly collected the food and swallowed it.

“Yes,” I quietly replied.

“Strange, right?” He suddenly asked and I nodded confusingly.

“The bath is ready, Master” The old woman announced upon her arrival. Damon stood up and dragged me by the hand after him.

We got into a room, it was painted blue and almost everything in the room, including the bedspread, the curtains, the wardrobe, and even the tables were blue. He suddenly stepped back a little from me while I continued watching him, placing his hands into his pocket, he said,

“Strip”

What!

“I want to see if you’re worth this foolish games that the goddess is about to start playing with me”

Lyla’s POV

“Strip” He repeated, growling at me this time. I trembled and shivered at the loud and strange sound.

It resonated across the room, making me jumpy and scared. I clenched the hem of my dress tightly, as silent tears rolled down my face.

“Do you want me to repeat myself?” He asked and I began shaking my head furiously.

“No? No, to removing the dress or no to repeating myself”

“No” I just replied silently.

“No? You dare defy me, Bunny” he started walking slowly toward me. I walked away from him as he got nearer until my back hit the wall of the room and I couldn’t run any further.

A murderous look was etched on his face and it wasn’t until he was closer that I saw the scar that ran across his face.

“You dare say no to my request,” He said softly, making me look up at him. Once I did, I saw a hint of amusement on his face.

“You don’t have to remove the dress, keep it on. I just needed to find out how unwillingly you can be under pressure” He said, moving away from me.

He brought out a gun from his pants and pointed it at me suddenly while his right hand banged the wall beside my head, and he caged me with a gun at one side and his hand on the other.

Once the gun touched my head, I shivered and tears again started rolling without control, my mouth was shaking out of the mumbled cry.

I thought he said it was okay!

He suddenly started moving the gun down to my neck, used it to caress my lips as I prayed silently that the trigger should not be pulled.

He stopped at my breast, smiling. Suddenly, he looked me in the eye and I turned, avoiding his gaze. His lips suddenly caressed my cheek before moving dangerously close to my ear.

“Were you trying to protect this? Just asking out of curiosity” He asked, referring to my breast. “Or………” he trailed off as he traced the gun down my body and below he could get right between my stomach, I pushed him off.

“Stop, please” I begged with my eyes closed, becoming uncomfortable with his lunatic actions.

*open your eyes and look at me*

I didn’t know if those were his words or his voice that I keep on hearing in my head but I know I obeyed, I opened my eyes slightly to look at him.

He suddenly touched my eyes with his finger before replacing it with his lips. I shivered at the sudden contact and I felt goosebumps all over my body. It was relaxing yet uncalled for.

Damon moved back, took a big look at me, and commanded, “strip” surprisingly, he walked closer, brought out a towel and turned his back at me, probably waiting for me to strip.

“Why?” I asked, my voice shaky from crying for so long.

“I’m not comfortable with your smell. So, strip, take a fucking shower, put on my shirt and get to bed” he commanded, his back still turned to me.

I stood rooted at a spot, not wanting to move or strip myself of my dress because I didn’t quite understand what the hell that was going on.

“Do you want me to force that cloth off your body just to get you to strip? I’ll fuck you till both of your legs until you can’t walk anymore if you piss me off. So, don’t get me mad at you, Bunny, and don’t make me repeat myself after this. Strip!” He suddenly turned, facing me now.

Embarrassingly, I began stripping. I looked at him pleadingly once I saw he wasn’t going to respect my privacy. He only etched his eyebrow at me and urged me to go on.

“What are you waiting for?” He asked

“For you to turn” I replied.

“When I did that, you didn’t listen” He suddenly strides towards me but before I could move back, he suddenly turned.

“Make it snappy” he growled. I didn’t wait for further talks before I removed my dress and wrapped the towel around myself.

“I’m done” I called out.

He turned to face me and pointed to a door.

“Go in there and take your shower. Meet me out here in five minutes. Don’t you dare try to run through the bathroom window, there are shards of glasses on the floor right outside and I am not promising it won't reach up to your knee once it enters your legs” he said, scaring me off.

As if waiting for another clarification, my feet stayed rooted at the spot. I couldn’t move, I was too scared to take a step past him.

He had already turned his back to me as he was busy unbuttoning his shirt, and when he peeled the shirt off his body, my mouth opened on its own accord.

Apart from the tattoo covering up half of his body, he is almost a god with that well-sculptured chest and well-built arms.

“Waiting for me to turn fifty before going into the shower” His humor came strange to me.

“What?” I asked, my Brain not processing the current situation after seeing the body of a god.

“Into the shower, now!” He yelled at me and I scrambled away into the bathroom. As I ran past him, I saw a word tattooed on his back; Lycan amidst us. I wondered what that meant but decided against it as it was none of my business.

The bathroom happened to be like a place of relief, I sat on the tiled floor, rested my back against the bathtub, and kept on asking myself how I ended up there.

My body trembled as the first bout of tears started, I was confused, angry, and frustrated. How did I end up in the house of a man who looks so much like my Damon but not him? Where am I?

My brother, Henry would have gone through so much trouble by now. The old man had mentioned that I was an unexpected Abduction, confusing me. Once I remembered Pearl, My heart cried for her.

Not realizing a presence in the bathroom, I was suddenly lifted up from the floor. I screamed at the sudden intrusion and tried fighting off but Damon was too strong to be fought off.

He suddenly dropped me in the bathtub, and turned on the shower, still holding my hand tightly. He took the bath gel and a soft sponge, poured a little bath gel into the sponge, and began washing me.

With a towel still wrapped around my body.

“I can do it by myself” I was exhausted and angry.

“Like I asked you to talk! Listen and listen well, Bunny. When I tell you to do something and you do not follow my instruction to precision, there’ll be consequences and if I do not tell you to talk and you do, I’ll put a bullet straight in your head and watch life escape you. Do you understand me?”

*i would never put a bullet through your head, not now, not ever*

I replied through the water running down my body, despite the other sentence that I heard “Yes”

He walked out of the bathroom, leaving me alone in there.

Once I was done, I walked out of the bathroom with the towel wrapped around me. As I walked out, he was right outside the door. Before I could walk past him, he pulled me back and buried his face in my neck.

“Now you smell better” he replied before walking into the bathroom to take a shower.

I sat down on the bed and held on to my torn dress, waiting for a miracle to happen and probably stitch itself back.

When he walked out, he threw a shirt at me and without questions or words, I knew I had to put it on.

“Get into bed” he commanded

“Why?” I questioned, scared of what could happen if I got into the bed like he had said.

He laughed hysterically, “I do not know how to take a woman by force. If I’ll be fucking you at all, you’ll be the one who begged for it. Now get into the bed with your little ass and tight pussy before you get me mad” He demanded and I quickly jumped into bed, crawling to the farthest corner.

Switching off the light, I felt his weight on the other side of the bed, and before a few seconds, he was breathing heavily.

During the night, I heard wolves howling and I became jumpy as the last one sounded right outside the window. Through the rest of the night, my eyes were wide open, hoping for a miracle to happen or maybe for something to capture and kill me.

But none of it happened and I didn’t have a choice but to sleep a little bit waiting for what will happen the next day

I watched as the tiny, shy girl walked into our apartment, a red rose in her hand. She was looking at the ground even though her mother was holding her hand as she walked in.

“Mary,” the woman exclaimed upon seeing my mother. My mother rushed out of the kitchen and went on to hug the woman before looking down at the pretty girl that was busy hiding behind her mother.

“What’s your name, pretty child?” My mother asked.

The girl slowly walked out from her mother’s behind and opened her mouth to tell my mother her name.

“That’s such a pretty name, darling. Come here and meet my son” My mother, oblivious that I had stopped playing the video game and was already enchanted with the beautiful princess who just walked in, came towards the sofa I was sitting on.

“This is my son, Damon. He’s a nice boy just like you. You can play with him while I talk to your mother, okay baby?” She smiled and nodded at my mother, revealing her pretty dimples.

“If you need anything, I’ll be right there,” her mother told us and followed my mother back to the kitchen.

“Would you like to play?” I asked and she shook her head, meaning she wasn’t interested in my game.

“Why?” I asked, blinking at her.

I might have been seven but I wouldn’t lie that I like this girl very much. She was pretty and the color of her eyes is the same as my favorite color; emerald green.

“I don’t know how to play” she replied with her melodious voice that sounded like a song to my ears.

“Can I teach you?” I asked and she looked at me strangely.

“You’re not a teacher” she replied, almost making me laugh.

“I’m a big boy. My mother told me I was old enough to take care of myself when I turned seven last month. So that means I can teach you how to play too. How old are you?”

“Five” She replied, showing me her five fingers.

“Okay, Princess. Can I teach you now? The game is called rocket league” I asked, already getting impatient.

“Princess,” she said and sat right beside me, a sign that she was ready to be taught.

“Yes, Princess. You look just like a Princess to me and I’ll call you that every day” I informed her, making her smile at me.

We began the gaming lessons and I taught her everything that I knew about the game including how to start it and how to play, not caring if she got everything I was saying or if the teaching was too much for her. I just wanted to keep staying beside her, and listen to her talk about her favorite movies, color, and friends.

By the time it was evening, she was ready to leave with her mother. She promised to come back again after that day while I tried to contain my sadness and look forward to seeing her again.

She kept her promise and kept on coming back with or without her mother.

The last day I saw her was on a Friday, a year after our first meeting, she came to our place after coming back from school in her father’s black car usually driven by their driver and we decided to go out to the park. My mother said I needed it, I needed to mingle with friends since I was homeschooled. She told one of her father’s bodyguards to go with us.

My father had forbidden me from going to school, he said it’ll corrupt my mind, and change me from following the family’s legacy. He said it’ll soften me and make me cry like a girl.

I didn’t know what school looked like and I haven’t been to one. I didn’t have any friends other than my beautiful princess and with her, I don’t care about anybody else.

By the time we got to the park, it was evening already. The first thing we saw was a swing. She sat in one and I stood behind her, pushing her the other way, making her giggle and laugh.

She was laughing so hard and I was glad she was happy. I was also glad I was the one that was making her laugh and not someone else.

It got into my head and I began pushing her more than usual. She told me to stop or slow down but I didn’t listen, I thought she liked it, so I continued.

Suddenly, she was thrown off the swing, landing with her face flat on the ground. She cried out in pain and I quickly ran to her side.

“You hurt me, Damon” she cried out.

“I’m sorry princess, I didn’t mean to hurt you. I’m sorry” I held her tiny hands and kept on apologizing.

I had hurt my princess and I’m a monster.

“Why are you crying, Damon? I’m the one who’s hurt not you”

“I’m hurt because you’re hurt, Princess. That’s why I’m crying too”

She cleaned my face with her dirty hands, told me to stop crying, and threw her hands around my neck, hugging me.

“I know you didn’t mean to hurt me, D. It’s okay” I smiled at her and she smiled in return, with tears on her cute face.

“I promise I’ll always protect you, Princess”

“Okay, D” she replied and hugged me back.

I made that promise thinking I’ll always be there right beside her, protecting her, keeping her close, I never knew she was going to leave that same night without a goodbye.

It seems I never kept any of my promises, not to her, not to my mother, and not to myself.

Damon’s POV

I woke up startled, drenched with my own sweat even though the A.C. was on, confused at first but then got angry at myself for having that nightmare again.

Ever since she left, I’d always dreamt about our meeting but never about her leaving. Guess this night was a different night then.

After she left, I cried, whined, and begged just for me to see her again and when my father got tired, he threw me into the dark room for two days, without food or water. I was dying not knowing what I’d done to deserve such a punishment.

Even when he, later on, thought I’d forgotten about her, I didn’t.

A figure came into my sight and when I turned, I realized it was my mate that I’d saved earlier on that was curled up in a corner of the bed like a ball, sleeping soundly like a baby.

I moved closer to her, and removed the hair that was covering her face. She looked so beautiful with her long eyelashes and pouty lips. I thought of how those soft lips would feel against mine. The thought sent signals right to my dick, making me hard all of a sudden.

Calm down, big man! She’s out of limits! For now!

Unlike other werewolves who had the ability to communicate with their wolves, I couldn’t. That was the price I had to pay when I refused to say the oath of allegiance.

I can’t deny the fact that my mate was beautiful and how much her eyes reminded me of that of my princess but I know if she was the same person, her life would be in danger.

Gently I kissed her forehead and her shoulder before standing up to leave the bed, in fear of what would happen if I stayed.

I wanted her, I wanted to mark her and make her mine but I know I should be careful with her, she’s fragile and I know I shouldn’t touch her.

I need a run!

I took one last look at my mate, before walking out of the room, stripped my cloth off my body, walked into my closet, and shifted into the curse that I was.