"What is the meaning of this Darius? In my presence?" Father said trying not to sound angry but he was. He was raging in fury and I was well pleased.

"Forgive my manners father but it is what it is." He said with a rude curtsey. Classic Darius.

"What is this insubordination Darius? And in the presence of my subjects?!" Father said and clearly this time,he showed his anger.

He felt downgraded by Darius actions. Darius bowed. "Pardon my manners again father,but I must interfere in this matter. The marriage shall not hold." He said,his eyes holding father's in that same steadfast tendency as his.

Darius turned to the gathering. "I'm about to reveal the truth about this man here and the fake love he pretends to have for my sister." He said and I saw Joshua rolling out the kinetograph. He was in this too? I wondered. Despite making it look like he did not give a damn about me getting married to Eli. Perhaps Darius forced him to do so.

Mother walked up to Darius. "What are you doing? You're embarrassing your father." She said to him through gritted teeth as she faked a smile across the gatherings who were staring at us in curiosity.

"If saving my sister from the clutches of this mad man,then embarrassment shall we all face." He said to her and she was forced to leave his side.

The kinetograph revealed the lunch date of Eli and I earlier today. It revealed the way he mishandled me and the people gasped. Heat rose to Eli cheeks and he knew he was in trouble.

"Do you think this man is worthy of my sister?" Darius asked directing the question at the gathering and they shook their head negatively.

"A man not respecting a woman deserves to remain unmarried." One of the women in the gathering said and the others nodded in agreement.

Tears welled up in my eyes. I was going to be free from this animal. Just then,I heard a loud crash outside and I wondered what was going on.

I believe a few people heard it too as they looked around. Father was oblivious to it. He was fuming with rage that his own son had defiled him. His own son had defended me. Was I not his daughter too? Why did he hate me so much not to even notice me or my feelings?

"I'm sure there is a reasonable explanation for this." He said defending Eli. He was defending a man who hurt his daughter! His own flesh and blood.

"Eli?" He said turning to him.

Eli nodded. "Yes there is." He said a bit shaken while his father looked quite horrified and terrified and disappointed at the same time.

"We do not need any explanation for this. It's final. My sister will not and shall never marry a spineless swine." Darius said in a voice that father often used. Then I realized his authority he got from him.

Father was about to speak when the sounds of gunshots echoed into the walls of the palace Everyone gasped in fright murmuring amongst themselves in despair.

A guard rushed into the palace. "What's going on?" Father demanded of him.

"The town is under siege. The lycanthropes are taking over." He said in a frightful voice.

"Darius!" Father called out despite Darius being close to him. "Fetch me my sword." He ordered. Joshua had already moved out of the house Ina a speed as fast as lightning.

Darius returned with father's sword and in a flash too,they were out.

"Come on now," Mother said pulling me away towards the stairs agitated.

As I followed her panicking, something broke through the window exploding everywhere and bringing out smoke. It was a smoke bomb.

Everyone was screaming and scampering away looking for where to hide. But there was no place to hide. Everywhere was smoky and I panicked. I had warn father about this and now the lycanthropes had taken us by surprise. What happened to the almighty barrier he set up?

I could barely see but I could hear the screams of the people. I wanted to see what was going on. I took my hand away from mother and searched my way towards the door.

"Ashlyn." Mother called in a panic voice but I ignored her.

I fell along the way on some people but I made it outside the door and started coughing,the effect of the smoke bomb taking a toll on me.

I raised up my head and saw how the lycans shifted into their forms and dealt harshly with the people who tried to fight back but they were like ants in the presence of the lycans.

With fire and silver flying around,I knew we stood no chance against these beasts.

I gasped as I saw Darius and Joshua thrown off by a lycan who had not shifted just by the flick of his hands. From his back,I could tell he was massively huge. I could not see him.

Father was fighting off some lycans with a lot of effort. These people were quicker and faster than we were.

I should be there,I should help my brother but what could I do? I was a weak vampire, spineless and unwitting. How could I take down these huge men. I watched as the town I've come to love rendered into dust.

The lycans have no empty threats as father had thought. They carried out exactly what the had in mind. Vulgar barbarians.

I looked away wracking in sobs. I looked back to see Darius still entangled in a fight with this powerful man including father. I could do nothing but I was not about to let my brother die.

"All you had to do was pay the rites but you did not heed to it." He said to father. His voice thundered into my ears. He was not speaking to me but his voice dangerous yet in a way felt silky to me.

Despite at the verge of losing everything,father was still egocentric

"A vampire never bows down to anyone. Not even his enemies." Father said.

"Then watch me take away everything you own including your family. Starting from him." The Lycan said and threw father far away from him and turned to attack Darius.

"No!" I screamed running towards them and immediately he turned around to my direction and I felt completely weak to my knees. One of his people grabbed me. He let go of Darius and moved closer to me. He made a sign with his finger and the Lycan let go of me.

His height towered against me and I gulped in fear. His demeanor was condescending and royalty I smelled all over him. His dark eyes danced around it's socket.

"Mate." His voice came out gruffly. I stared at him,shock and fear taking over me. I saw Joshua try to take him by surprise but was thrown off by an already shifted lycan.

The lycans gathered behind him and the whole pack surrounded I and my family.

"Take her." He ordered and turned to leave.

I gasped in shock. "That's impossible. I shall go nowhere." I said. He turned back,his eyes spitting fire and I shuddered. I believed he was not acquainted with being turned down.

"Would you rather die?" He asked and he meant it.

"I would rather die than go anywhere with you." I said having a boldness I did not believe I'll ever have despite quivering in fear.

He towered against me. "Then death you shall get." He said,his appearance commanded authority that one must succumbed to and I stared at him horrified. His pack raised up guns loaded with silver and I panicked.

He saw the horror on my face and a wicked smirk tugged a little at the corner of his lips.

"It will be more pleasurable to watch your family die before your eyes and this town burnt to ashes like it never existed and then your death shall follow." He said and his pack immediately turned to everyone and their daylight rings snatched from their finger.

"Take her," I heard father's shrill voice. "If she's what you want to end this. Take her away. Do whatever you want with her." He said and I turned towards him in shock.

Would he never get tired of trying to get rid of me? And to an enemy as great as this,he was willing to exchange me.

"See," he said with a smirk. "Your father is giving you away without much thoughts. Typical vampires." He scoffed and a frown creased on his face.

"Let them go." I pleaded falling down on my knees. He made his pack return the daylight rings and lowered himself to me and held my face hard and I felt agonizing pain. The silver guns were still pointed at everyone.

"Listen, I'll spare this whole town and your pathetic family only on the account that you return with me as my mistress." He said and I gasped.

'Take her." He commanded as he straightened up and walked away.

I scrambled on my knees towards Darius. "Please do not let them take me away. Please I beg you." I pleaded,tears spilling from my eyes as I wept at his feet.

He did not move an inch and when I looked up at him,his eyes were red and I saw defeat in them. He could not save me this time.

I was dragged off his feet by one of the lycans. His large paws encircling my waist as he placed me over his hairy shoulder like a lamb for sacrifice.

I looked at my family and I felt a detest in my heart for them especially my father. Hatred for him was spreading in my heart like wildfire. Darius looked away from me unable to meet my gaze. He had saved me from the hands of Eli,but now he could not save me from the hands of this barbaric monster. No one could. I cried realizing my fate.

•

•

Cardonald, Glasgow

A tear finally slipped from my eyes as the rain drumming on the roof finally subsided. My tears did not drop for the fact that I was separated from my family. My tears dropped because no one could save me from the hands of my new tormentor. Lucifer.

I knew his name that very night when he returned with me here. His pack members had chanted his name ceaselessly and it was that very night I began to fulfil the obligations I had as his mistress.

He had stripped me of my purity and honor. Stripped me of the little dignity I had left and turning me into a whoreson.

It was time I stopped replaying the past. My present was hard enough. What more would my future be?

I walked away from the window and laid on the bed that had bequeathed Lucifer hours ago and the sheets soiled with his scent.

I closed my eyes shaking off further thoughts of him or the night he took me away and made me his. Not to love me,just to bed me.

To me,my family never loved me except Darius. There was no way I would expect love from a vulgar man like Lucifer. His name was the exact definition of him. He was the devil himself.

Lucifer's POV

The morning rays reflecting on my face forced me up. I groaned as I sat up. I was beginning to hate mornings and nights too.

At nights, I'm unable to sleep peacefully after leaving Ash's room and I was hating mornings because when I finally get to shut my eyes,the sun rays forces it open and then I'll have no choice but to awake.

It was all her fault. She was clouding my head at nights and now mornings too. It was also the goddess's fault for making her my mate.

But that was it. The goddess proposed her as my mate and I took her as my whore.

The goddess could chose who my mate was but she could definitely not tell me what to do with her.

I had wanted to reject her immediately that night but Steel got other ideas. We were both angry that we got a vampire as a mate. Of all the creatures in the supernatural, the goddess chose to give us a vampire as a mate! It was very repulsive.

She was quite attractive. Pale and fragile,not my kind of women but she was attractive. Attractive enough to have her in my bed and make her scream my name and watch her roll her eyes back and forth in ecstasy.

Her body was all I wanted and for a vampire,she had a very alluring body that sends signals down one's loins without even a touch.

Instead of letting such beauty pass by without having a taste just because I despised her being, Steel and I agreed to have her as a mistress. Please us and we were done.

Why she was crowding my mind was what did not go down well with me.

"Do not worry yourself too much Helldog. You just had her last night." Steel said to me.

I shrugged nodding. "You're right Steel. She was pretty good last night." I said to him with a smirk.

He chuckled. "And you pushed her away like you had the worst experience ever last night." He said.

I stood up from the bed stretching. "I'm not about to let her know she pleases me just so fine. I'll like her to think she's worthless in bed." I said pulling on a shirt.

He laughed out. "We're so much alike." He said as I pulled up my breeches.

I chuckled. "After all,we share one mind." I said to him and walked out of the room.

"Alpha." Killian,my second in command called the instant he saw me.

"Killian," I said to him as I walked into the living room. "Any information about the land Cromwell possessed?" I asked him.

He nodded. "The land was forcefully taken from us the lycans under your father's reign. Cromwell's pack believe it's their rightful property." He said.

The land in question belonged to us. All towns from the royal mile in Edinburgh down to Glasgow belonged to only us the lycans. Why other creatures of the supernatural derived joy in claiming our properties irritated me and always aroused anger in me.

Cromwell's pack was a flimsy pack of warlords that I could render to dust without effort. I was not my father who did things leniently. I give warnings only twice and the last is action.

"Did you send my letter?" I asked him.

"Yes Lucifer. He returned it. Pieces inside the envelope." He said and I grew in fury. The warlords knew not what I was capable of.

"The news of my dealings with the vampires must have not reached their ears." I said with a smirk. How I would love to see the surprise and horror on their faces when we take back our land.

"Do not issue another warning to them Kill. This is the highest insult a lycan can take." I said to him and he nodded and walked away.

Just then I saw Ash walking down the stairs. I could feel her emotions and I could tell she was sad. I do not care. I said to myself.

"Trying to take another town I see." She said to me.

"Who told you,you could come out of your room?" I demanded ignoring her question.

"Every wall is a prison for me. It does not matter if it's up there or down here." She said in that boldness I first heard that night I took her away with me.

"That room is your prison." I said to her with a frown.

"Yes it is my prison. Where you have your will with me." She said raising her chin.

I smirked. "You signed up for this." I said to her.

"I had no choice and I did not say yes." She said and I bridged up the space between us.

Grabbing her waist tightly as she pressed into me. Her eyes wide in shock.

"Technically,with your moans you said yes. I drive you to great heights of pleasures and you cannot deny that my pretty." I said to her as I drew a line down her arm. Why did I sound that way? I cleared my throat and pushed her away from me.

She's only been here for a few days and I was already losing my senses. Why would the moon goddess give me a dead soul as a mate? Why? I was not so cruel to deserve such fate, was I?

Ashlyn's POV

I was shocked when he held me so closed to himself and say those words but the moment he threw me aside,I knew he was just playing with my mind.

The brute was making a mockery of me. I watched him walk away from me as I took in deep breaths. Someday I hoped to make him beg,beg at my feet for the ill treatments he was making me face.

But I knew that someday was far from me. What could an unwitting vampire like me do?

Shaking the thoughts of Lucifer out of my head,I walked out of the house daring the freedom he did not let me have.

For the first time since I was brought in here,I observed the environment I was in. Beautiful trees surrounded the house.

A stony pavement that ran out in lines leading to different parts of the forest.

One of the lines led to the stable and I followed it. I've had thrills for horses for a very long time but I was never allowed on one. As a princess of the Clutch,one must not be seen participating in such things. I scoffed remembering father's words. It was always the carriage or the car and nothing else. What a boring life I've had to live!

I walked closer to the stable and my eyes immediately fell in love with a beautiful mare with pale brown skin and freckles on the white mark on her face.

"Hey beautiful," I said to her smiling as I ruffled her mane. She allowed me stroke her despite just meeting me for the first time. "What's your name?" I asked her and she snorted.

"Her name is Snowball." Someone said and I turned to see a tall and laggy man coming towards us with a saddle.

Seeing a lycan always scared the shoots out of me. This particular lycan didn't look scary or as vicious as their alpha,but still yet his height struck a bit of fear in me.

"That's a very beautiful name," I said looking at Snowball. "She's very beautiful." I said again.

"Do you have some sugar with you?" I asked him and nodded with a smile.

"I always keep 'em in my pocket." He said still smiling as he handed the sugar to me.

What a nice person! Would it kill the rest of them to be nice? Especially their doltish head of an alpha.

"Thank you," I said to him as I whispered into Snowball's ears trying to gain her trust to allow me feed her and I did gain her trust as she ate right from my palm!

"You're quite a lucky lady to have Snowball feed from your hand. She does not let anyone aside the alpha come close to her." He said to me and I chuckled.

Of course! I've mated with the alpha and his scent had rubbed off on me too. That was why she trusted me.

"What's your name?" I asked him.

"Ripper." He said. I stared at him in surprise and immediately masked it with a smile. Terrible and dangerous names these men bear. What happened to Scott? Samuel? Xander?

"Nice to meet you Ripper." I said still with a smile.

He smiled back. "You too mi'lady. Ever rode a horse?" He asked me.

"Oh me?" I exclaimed softly. "I've never ridden on a horse before." I said to him.

"Would you like to give it a try?" He asked me.

I nodded almost immediately. It was a dream come true. I watched him release Snowball from her quarter.

I followed him to the open space in the stable.

"I'll be done saddling her inna minute." He said with a bit of struggle as Snowball made it hard to saddle her.

After a lot of struggle,he finally saddled her.

"Ready?" He asked me and I nodded,swallowing back the lump that filled my throat.

He helped me up on the horse and I immediately fidgeted. For something I longed for,I was impossibly scared about it.

"Be careful. She can sense your discomfort and try to make you at ease and that would not work out very well for you." Ripper cautioned.

I nodded but I was still scared as I held her reins. I was not properly balanced on her due to my fear. She moved forward and tried to correct me but she did it wrongly.

She raised her front legs up and I came falling down from her.

I screamed closing my eyes in fear and expected to fall face down on the ground but a pair of strong arms caught me.

I clung tightly to my rescuer until I inhaled his scent. It was awfully familiar. It was no other than Lucifer. I opened my eyes only to look into his pair of dark ones. I gulped in fear. Just a look at this man installed fear in me.

He stared at me and then with anger in his eyes,he let go of me and I dropped hard on the floor.

I gasped in shock at the impact of the fall. Why did he save me if he was only going to let me fall? Tears stung my eyes. Not for the fact that he let me fall but the impact the fall had on my behind.

"You do not know how to ride a horse yet you mounted one." He muttered under his breath and my vampire ears heard him. He kicked past me towards Ripper.

"Do not ever do that again without an authorization from me. Do not even allow her on any of the horses." He lashed out warnings at Ripper who nodded simply.

I scrambled to my feet. "You cannot do that!" I exclaimed.

"Fetch me Ruthless." He said to Ripper, ignoring me. Ruthless? What bloody lycan was bearing this name too?

Ripper walked away.

"You cannot forbid me from riding a horse!" I said to him again.

He turned his venomous eyes at me and for a second it flashed golden revealing his lycan eyes.

"And who are you to tell me what to do?" He demanded.

"I'm Ashlyn Ambrosia, daughter of Khalid Ambrosia,the vampire king." I said to him in defiance.

"Last time I remembered, you're nothing but my mistress here and your father practically sold you for his own selfish reasons." He said sneering.

That almost made me break down as it pierced me deeply. He triggered my worst pain.

"Do not think because you get to have your way with me that you can treat me the way you like." I said to him looking him dead in the eyes with fear of what he might do to me lurking in my mind.

He smirked. "I believe I am already treating you the way I like princess." He mocked coming closer to me.

"Do not consider my submission as a weakness. The beast inside of me is sleeping not dead." I said to him in a boldness I've never felt before. A boldness I knew would get me hanged soon.

His eyes grew darker as he loomed over me. "Someone's tongue is getting sharper than before," he said frowning.

"What can I say? The mighty hell dog's unbearable attitude is rubbing off on me." I said sarcastically and I regretted it the moment it came out of my mouth.

He held me in a painful grasp. His expression darkened. "Now listen to me you little swine," he said gripping my arm tighter and I winced in pain. He was about to unleash the devil inside of him on me.

"You're nothing but my little whore and there's nothing you or anyone in heaven or hell can do about it," he said in a viscous anger. I whimpered as his fingers kept piercing through my skin. "I know how to punish you for this act," he said pushing me to the ground. "And in the nearest future, you would never think of defiling me." He said in a low menacing tone.

Ripper returned with Ruthless and Lucifer sent him off. "Take him back." He ordered. His eyes not leaving my face as he stared wickedly at me.

I was about to be punished and I knew what my punishment would be but yet I was scared it was something that would be different from before. I was in big trouble.