CYRUS
“I came here to get you out.” She whisper shouted, “And I don’t know the man. I only met him today. I asked a man at the gate for the person that runs this place and he took me to him.”
“Well, he wants you.” I said gruffly. I didn’t know what I was being an asshole, but I couldn’t stop myself.
What did she mean when she said she was here to get me out? How the hell did she plan on getting me out? Unless she had a key, there was no other way out here. I could lift a train, but somehow, I was not able to bend these irons. Whatever they were made of, it was strong as hell.
She shrugged. “I don’t want him.”
“What do you want?”
“Not what. Who.” She corrected, her voice a breathy rasp, “You.”
The honesty in her voice tugged at my heart and I took an involuntary step towards her, but I stopped myself just in time. She looked like she was going to cry again and I cursed myself.
-Console her-
My instinct was clearly telling me to console her, that she was hurt, something that I could already see from the defeated lines of her shoulders, to the look on her face, in her eyes. It was probably stupid of me to be ignoring my instincts, but I was also hurt too.
I had been discarded without so much as a second glance, all in the name that what we had couldn’t work out because of what I was. So just because I was a lykae, just because I had a beast inside me, I didn’t have feelings?
Or maybe mine just didn’t matter.
Yet here she was, telling me that she planned on getting me out. That she was here for me. That she wanted me. What had prompted this change of heart all of a sudden?
“Its you that I want, baby.” Her voice broke on the words, her eyes sad as she reached her hand out through the adequate space the bars provided.
This time, I didn’t move away. When it came to Avery, I didn’t have much strength nor willpower. Especially now that I had been missing her, wanting her for days and many sleepless nights and she was finally here standing in front of me, telling me what I had dreamed of hearing.
Something I had heard for the past week only in my dreams, never in reality. That she wanted me too. And the fact that she called me ‘baby’ made my knees go weak. It was impossible to stay mad at her.
Her small hand made contact with my stomach and since I wasn’t wearing a shirt, she touched my skin directly. I jerked, a breath escaping my lips. Her eyes lit up at my reaction, a flicker of hope trickling in. My head fell to rest on the iron bars, on the opposite side of hers as she dragged her hand over my abs, her nails, tracing every ridge and contour of my abs.
That was how we stood. Her outside, me inside, the both of us on both sides of the bar, our heads resting on the same iron bar, with our hands holding on to said bar. Two people thrown together, a connection forming amidst war, lies and deceit.
Was there really hope for us? Would we thrive or would we go under?
Her breaths tickled my chest. They were starting to get heavier, shallower, and her hand was starting to slide lower. It was with a heavy heart that I had to pull her hand away. I couldn’t get hard at a place like this. Not when there was nothing I would be able to do about it. I couldn’t jerk off with my best friend in the next cell and I sure as hell wasn’t going to do that with the cameras watching me.
She watched me with wide eyes, biting on her bottom lip in that way that drove me insane. I reached up and pulled the lip free. She was looking at me like she wanted me. To distract myself, I decided to focus on more pressing issues.
“How did you know where I was?”
“I don’t know how to tell you this, but…” Her eyes darted away, then she looked back at me, “There was a footage of you being captured.”
I frowned. “A footage?”
“Yes.”
What the hell? Avery didn’t have ant reason to lie so I knew that she was saying the truth. And if she was, how had a footage of me being captured gotten out, and why?
“Where did you see this footage?”
“I was on my way to your place today, and I decided to make a quick stop at an eatery in case you had not eaten. I saw-”
“My place?” I cut her off. What was she going to do at my place.
Her eyes turned sad and full of guilt. “Yeah. I was coming to your place to see you and tell you that I’m sorry.” Her hands shot out to grip my wrist and because her hands were so small, they couldn’t cover them. “I am so sorry for everything. For leaving you, telling you that i want you to stay away from me. I didn’t mean those things.” She whispered, “I was only scared and shocked and I acted on that fear. It was wrong of me to attempt to throw away what we have because simply because of what you are.”
Her apology rocked me, and any remnants of anger I felt towards her, dissipated that instant. She was my mate after all. I couldn’t stay mad at her forever. I was gaping to have to forgive her sooner or later.
“Do you understand me, Cyrus?” She pressed. “I want you.”
Tingles spread along my spine on hearing those words.
“What about what I am?” I asked, whispering, “Me being a lykae? Are you okay with that?”
“I don’t care about that. It’s a part of who you are and even if you could change, I wouldn’t ask you to, because it is what makes you who you are.” She held my eyes. “I accept you just the way you are.”
I cleared my throat. Hell, I shouldn’t like hearing words as much as I liked hearing this one. The amount of power this woman had over me had to be studied.
“Good. Okay. Thats good.” I said, at a loss for anything better to say.
“Do you forgive me?” She asked and I nodded. “I need to hear you say it, Cyrus.”
“I forgive you.”
The fact that she cared about me forgiving her, told me how much she actually cared about me. Her feelings were genuine and not being forced. Fuck. Avery was actually here, apologising to me and asking for my forgiveness. In all my wildest dreams, I had never expected that something like this would happen.
I always felt like I was the one who wanted her more than she wanted me and I was sure of that until today. Well, I was positive I still wanted her more than she wanted me, but I just never expected her to actually want me this much. I never expected her to care for me this much.
“Thank you.” She said, her voice laden with emotion, “Back to what I was saying, when I was inside the eatery, a footage came on of you being captured. And the vehicle that you were put in, had a logo on the side. I had to do some work, trace where the company was, until I ventrally found it.” Her eyes filled with tears again, “I watched the video, Cyrus, I’m so sorry that happened to you.”
I dragged my knuckles down her cheek, appreciating her, consoling her as I consoled myself.
“I’m okay now.”
“But you’re not.” She frowned, “You’re being held here against your will and you’re injured. What are they doing to you?”
She stretched up to trace her fingers along the outside of the injury on my forehead, just corner of my left eye. My lids fell shut and I pushed my head into her palm, seeking her comfort, her warmth.
“How did you manage to convince the general to let you in here?”
“I made up a crazy story. I don’t know how he believed me, I sounded deranged even to my own ears.”
I chuckled. It was the first time I had made any sound related to the feeling of happiness ever since I came in here.
“Tell me.”
Our faces were so close to each other, only separated by our height difference. To the camera, it could look like I was threatening her up close, just the same way it could look like we were having an intimate moment.
“I told him that I knew a lot about your kind from books I read and that I could help him achieve it is whatever he wants from you.”
My brows rose in disbelief, “Just that?”
She nodded.
“And he believed you?”
She laughed, “Yeah.”
Wow.
She was crazy, she was beautiful, and most importantly, she was mine.