Captive

31 // A Promise

Damien's POV 

I jolted upright in my bed, screaming. It felt like my heart was being torn from my body. My knuckles turned white as they gripped tightly on the silk sheets. 

No. 

Ace bolted in through the room, his gun raised. When his eyes scanned the room and found nothing, he rushed to my side. Lyon was fast behind him. 

"What happened, Alpha Damien? Are you injured?" His eyes scanned rapidly over my body, looking for lacerations. 

"She...." I looked down around me. The life of my body was being drained from me. I felt myself being refilled with anger, and rage, and possession. I needed to find Cyan, and I needed to find her now. 

"She wouldn't dare. How would she even have found out about the stunt that your mother pulled? You told me yourself that she was disconnected from the werewolf world; there's no way she would have any knowledge of that," Ace argued. 

"I'm going to get her back," I growled, clawing the sheets away from me as I rose from my bed. I began rummaging through my drawers, trying to get dressed. 

"You're thinking too rashly. That could be considered an act of war by the rogues, you know that," Lyon reasoned. 

I slammed my fist against the top of the dresser. 

"I don't give a damn about the rogues, Lyon!" My voice echoed off the walls and rattled the mirrors. "Xander had the nerve to take what was mine, and think that he could get away with it. She was chosen by the Moon Goddess to be mated to me, and I'm going to finish what I started." 

"Why is he being so aggressive? He's never like this," Ace's eyes flashed worriedly towards Lyon. 

I didn't want to hear what they said next. I was out the door, with them calling my name to the wind. 

Cyan's POV 

After Xander had finished telling me his story, I had to get some air. If he was right, Damien was pissed off right now. I couldn't help but wonder how much pain he was in, but I also knew that he may end up taking that pain out on me. 

What had I done? 

"Stop worrying, it makes you age faster," 

I looked over my shoulder to see Xander bringing me a plate of food into the garden. The last time that I was here, things were so much different. I was falling in love with Damien, and I had only known Xander for hours. A lot can change over the course of weeks, I suppose. 

"Thank you," I mumbled. 

"I can't let you go back to Damien malnourished, now can I?" 

I looked up at him, confused. 

"What are you talking about? I've only been here for a few days, Xander. I'm not going back to Damien, not yet." 

He stepped closer to me, squatting as he positioned himself in front of me. It felt like he was talking to me like a child. 

"Do you know what happened this morning, Cyan? He woke up. He woke up, and he felt like his body was incinerating. He knows what you did. We watched it happen to my father. He's either going to bring men here and try to kill me and take you, or worse." 

"What could be worse than killing you?" 

"Trust me, he's my brother. He would find a way." 

A growl in the tree line made my blood grow cold. I could have assumed that it was one of the hundreds of rogues that colonized this mountain. There was something possessive about the growl, something authoritative about it. 

I turned slowly, and when my eyes locked with his, I knew. 

Immediately, Luca and Serena came around the perimeter along with a couple of Xander's other bodyguards. I could see Damien's legs shaking with rage, I watched his jaw snarl and flinch. He was enraged. He knew. 

I watched Lyon and Ace run out from the treeline, surprisingly in their human form. While Lyon perched in front of Damien, beginning to talk to him, Ace made his way towards me. Luca growled, side stepping so that he blocked Ace's path. 

"Let him through," Xander demanded, rising to his feet. 

"What have you done, Cyan?" he muttered. His fingers lifted to my neck, where the mark used to be. "It's nearly driven him mad, we can't control him or talk him down." 

"Let me talk to him," 

"You can't," Ace pleaded. "He'll mark you, and complete the mating ritual." His gaze faded to the ground. I nearly gasped just at the mention of what he was implying. 

"Ace, you have him wrong. He's not a monster. He wouldn't do that to me, he would wait until our wedding night and my initiation. He promised," I squeaked the words out. Even I didn't believe him, not when I saw him in this state. 

"Cyan, he thinks he's lost you to Xander. He won't rest until he has you marked, and officially his. After the mating ritual is completed, not even the Moon Goddess can remove your mark. You'll be Damien's forever. Even though you're human, you'll fall into the mate bond entirely. You'll fall in love." 

"He would rape me to do that?!" I yelped. 

"He would do whatever it took to keep you safe, and away from Xander, away from this. You're not safe out here, and you know it. Come home, I have a car waiting. Lyon will get Damien to come back on foot." 

I looked nervously towards Xander. 

"I know that you did this to prevent a war, Cyan. I know that you got rid of that mark to risk a real chance with me. At this point, I think a war is inevitable. Go back to Damien, and save the war for another day. I can put my people to rest until you figure all this out, I promise you will get another month to choose like The Council promised you." 

My gaze fell to the ground, and then back to Ace. Was I really going to do this? Try to save all the people I cared about, and fail miserably doing so? 

"Let's go, Ace." 

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Oohlala, how the tables have turned. Be sure to vote and comment lots! The more you vote, the faster I update! :)