Damon’s POV
The moment my lips touched hers, the mate bond intensified. My heart was beating faster as my grip on the side of the bathtub tightened. I could see this ring of colors form around us right in my head. I knew if I opened my eyes to look, it’ll be real.
I felt as if an electric current was being run through me. I was supposed to hate this feeling, I was supposed to not want this bond but here I was locking my mouth with this beautiful woman.
I did what a real coward would do- back off.
I removed my mouth and leaned away from the bathtub she was sitting in. Kissing her wasn’t part of the plan. I’d only wanted to help her and maybe play with her a little when I heard her struggling with getting washed.
I opened that door without thinking twice.
“That was fun” I spat, as if I didn’t care.
I stood up and was about walking away from her when she suddenly held on to my hand, not letting go.
“What do you want Lyla? I asked, trying hard to remove her hand from mine.
Removing her hand shouldn’t be as hard because of how fragile she was compared to my huge body but mentally, I was fighting myself so hard against how good her hand felt in mine and how that sent loads of signals to my brain.
“Are you going to talk or keep on staring at me like I just stole your child?” I yelled at her.
“Sorry,” she muttered out before dropping my hand abruptly.
At that moment I fought everything in me to not grab her and kiss her again and tell her I didn’t mean to yell at her.
“Don’t ever touch me again” she spat, looking at the water intensely.
“If I recollected, it was a kiss not a touch, bunny”
She clicked her tongue before responding, “it’s practically the same thing”
“I don’t give a fucking care. It was just a kiss. A kiss. It means nothing to me and it shouldn’t mean anything to you as well. Just a regular kinda kiss and you’re acting as if i impregnated you”
“You’re crazy”
I smirked at her before bending to mock her to her face properly. I stopped when I realized her eyes were swollen with tears.
That pulled at my heart.
“Lyla,” I called out and she ignored me.
I held her face in my hand and tried getting her to look at me. I almost lost it when I saw a single tear drop from her eyes.
“Why the fuck are you crying? You know I hate tears. I told you that already” I yelled at her.
“I hate you, Demon. Get out”
“Listen and listen good, Bunny. Nobody tells me what to do. This is my home, my territory and you belong to me. You have no goddamn right to tell me what to do or else I’ll put my gun in your head and blow it off” I threatened.
She shivered beneath my touch and tried removing my hands from her face.
It was at that point that I realized she was scared of me.
“Please,” she begged as she tried removing my hand. The tears were getting too much and I needed to leave before I did anything crazy.
“Fine! I’ll be in the bedroom and I give you five minute to get that pretty ass of yours out there. If you don’t come out by then, I’ll drag you out myself, understood?” She nodded as more tears dropped from her eyes.
“And stop the tears already. It’s not like I hit you or something” I yelled once more before walking out of the bathroom.
I smirked once I remember how I’d lied to her about reaching a bargain with her brother. I was concerned with how worried Lucas was about Lyla and I had to do my findings.
That was when I found out that Lucas was friends with her brother, Henry Salvatore.
I was about to pick up a shirt for her when I saw the phone dropped earlier on the bed, ringing. I picked it up to see it was Tunde.
“I said I should try my luck and it worked” Tunde joked and I almost cursed at him again.
“What do you want?”
“How’s Lyla?” He suddenly asked.
“She’s dead. I killed her” I replied angrily.
“You’re joking. People don’t just kill their mates like that”
“Well, I did and guess what, I’m sending her body to you___ wait, I never said she was my mate, loser”
“Don’t deny it. How could you keep this from the whole pack?”
“I have no obligation towards the pack. My life is my life and no fucking body has the right to it and Lyla isn’t my mate”
The fact that I held no obligation towards the pack was the truth and the lie about Lyla not being my mate was necessary.
“I haven’t seen you like that with a girl and you want me to believe this one ain’t your mate”
“You take it or leave it Tunde, she’s not my mate” I growled.
“What’s a mate?”
The question came from right behind me and I quickly closed my eyes to think about what convincing explanation I could give to Lyla.
I hadn’t even realized she was out because of the stupid argument I was having with that loser.
“It’s none of your business” I threw her the grey shirt that I picked and told Tunde, “Let’s talk tomorrow”
“Wait, there’s an emergency. Your father felt insulted by the way you attacked him and he brought it out at the pack’s meeting today. The Alpha reached a conclusion that he’ll fight you at the Arena on a chosen date. If you win, he’ll let you lead the pack and if you lose…” he hesitated.
“Get on with it”
“Lyla will be killed”
My blood boiled at his words and before I could control, I saw my claws coming into view.
“Fuck!,”
Lyla’s voice brought me out of the terrible anger that was consuming me. I turned and glared at her despite being grateful for that little interruption.
She had hit her injured leg against a chair.
“Are you there, Damon? Do you need me to come around with that stuff?”
“No” I growled in an unrecognizable voice.
I needed to let my beast lose. If I don’t, I might end up hurting someone tonight.
“I’ll see you tomorrow” I barked out before dropping the phone angrily on the table prepared to walk out.
I turned around to see Lyla standing there, not understanding whatever it was that was going on.
Once her eyes met mine, she gasped. Muffled noises left her mouth and when I tried to move closer to her, she moved away.
It was when I saw my reflection in the mirror that I realized that my eyes had transformed. It was blood red, a sign that my anger could wreck a village.
Angrily, I threw a vase at the mirror, making Lyla scream in fear. I took a turn and left the room, not stopping at anywhere but the forest before I fully transformed into my beast.
Howling as loud as I could, I cursed the goddess for everything she’d done so far. I could withstand everyone hating me for what I looked like but never will I be able to get over the pain of how scared my mate was.
I guess she hates me more now.