Damon was lying on his side of the bed, his arms folded across his chest and his signature frown in place. As for Sarah, she was the exact same; arms folded and a frown residing on her face. They were both so aggravated by earlier events that neither of them choose to speak to each other since. But as much as they were bothered by it, they could hardly keep their resentment burning thus long. It was already a miracle that they had managed to successfully ignore each other for the whole of yesterday and the day before.
Tonight, however, they could no such thing.
Damon couldn’t deny that it would’ve been so much better if Sarah was cuddling up under his arm instead of huffing and puffing at the other end of the bed… while Sarah couldn’t deny that she felt way better when he was angry at someone else and not her. But… pride…. that was what kept them from reconciling.
Moreover, a few weeks ago when they started sleeping together, they hadn’t slept apart since then… not even once. They had always went to sleep while pressed flush against eachother every night. It was something they both had gotten so accustomed to, but again, pride was what kept them from turning around and pulling closer.
With the torture still at its worse, both parties were now beginning to get convinced that they might be better off if they set aside that pride just this once. And surprisingly, the big, bad and prideful Alpha King was the first to give in.
“Fine!” He hurled forward on the bed and twisted his head in her direction, his perplexed mind rattling with half-assed determination. It was no secret that Damon didn’t care much about anyone except for himself, but when it came to Sarah, it seemed that even he himself was no match. And in an attempt not to make that obvious, he worded his next words in a way that his pride wouldn’t be completely shattered. “Judging by how distressed you are, I suppose life isn’t very pretty when my mood is bad. If you wish to keep my anger at bay, then I suggest that you do not do things to rile me up… which means you should have nothing to do with that hunter… nor anyone else for that matter.”
Sarah’s eyes snapped open, her body stilling beneath the velvet duvet. She was waiting for him to say something, do something… anything. And just when she was about to give in and speak whatever came to mind, Damon thankfully beat her to it. She couldn’t have been more relieved.
“Are you sure that you’re not the one who’s distressed? It seemed like you’ve been busy thinking… a lot.” She said quietly. Her back was turned to him so she freely gave in to the urge to quirk her lips up, but she happened to miss the shadow that was slowly hovering over her from the right.
“Yeah. It looks like I’m the only one who’s been distressed since you’re here smiling like a clown.” Damon pointed out, doing very little to hide his displeasure.
Her eyes quickly swept over her shoulder to see him staring down at her and she nearly jumped out of her skin. She jolted upwards on the bed and shoved him a few inches away as best as she could. “W-When did you see me s-smile? You must have imagined it.”
He shook his head, eyes analyzing her as he shamelessly scooted back over so he was sitting ten times closer than his previous position. “I think not.”
“I think you did.” She insisted strongly, but soon cursed under her breath when she saw that he couldn’t be bothered by her weak objections. “What’s it to you anyway?! You’ve been walking around with your nose in the air and that deadly look on your face for two days straight. I could’ve sworn you were planning on ignoring me forever.” She frowned.
“I could ignore you forever… but I won’t.” Despite how close he was to her already, he still drew impossibly closer, a small smirk visible on his lips… it would’ve gone unnoticed if Sarah didn’t look closely. “You wouldn’t be able to bear the torture.”
She gaped at him. “I wouldn’t be able to bear the torture? You’re the one who ended the match a while ago. I should be saying that to you.”
“You call it ‘match’ as if you think this is a game.” He tsked. “It seems to me that you don’t take me seriously. I’m the werewolf here so trust me when I say that I know exactly how to make you go crazy.”
Sarah couldn’t stop herself from rolling her eyes. The haughty way he was speaking made her want to knock him out cold. Never in her life had she ever went crazy over someone… and it would continue to stay that way in the future. That is, if you excluded that one time when she was experiencing her supposed ‘heat’. “Just like you are? One minute you’re angry and another minute you’re totally fine. I must be messing with your head.” Despite having frowned upon his haughtiness a moment ago, she couldn’t help the pride that seeped into her voice when she spoke her very last sentence.
Damon didn’t consider himself as someone of such lowly qualities so he presumed that she was trying to jest, but nonetheless, he found himself speaking off the top of his head. “Be honoured that you’re the only human who can mess with a werewolf’s head. If you play your cards right, you can have me wrapped around your fingers, however if you don’t, I’ll be the one that has you under my feet.”
Sarah frowned. “Who said I wanted you under my control? I don’t care what you do nor how you do it.”
“You caring about what I do is the very reason why you’ve been upset since the day we went out.”
Sarah’s eyes widened at his words and her composed exterior deserted her. She lowered her head and began fiddling. “I was NOT upset. What’s even there to get angry over?”
Her actions only incited him to narrow his steely eyes in suspicion. “You sure about that?” Damon paused for a second, keenly studying her discomforted figure. “Because you looked quite upset.”
She glared at her fingers, irritated by his persistence. “I said I wasn’t.”
“I get it.” Damon deadpanned, eyeing her flatly. “I wouldn’t have left if I hadn’t thought that I had seen someone I knew, but that was stupid of me since you are, after all, a King’s mate… whatever the circumstances may have been. So henceforth, I can assure you, that I won’t leave you alone again.”
“I don’t care what you do!” Sarah retorted after a moment of simply staring at him, dumbfounded. She was trying her best not to look guilty of his claims, but though her mouth could, her expression could not deny that his words had put her at ease. Hesitating briefly, she outstretched her right pinky finger and turned her face away while still secretly watching him from the corner of her eyes, her pink lips protruding into a pout. “But a promise is a promise, right?”
He glanced at her finger then back at her face in complete annoyance. “You’re seriously doing pinky swear?” He sighed. “I never thought you were this childish.”
Sarah kind of expected that, afterall, she was talking to someone as dignified as Damon Kalesto. But that pride of his, she knew exactly how to deal with it. “Kings make promises all the time. Unless… you’re afraid you won’t be able to keep it.”
Damon’s face instantly tightened indignantly at the obvious challenge. ‘There’s nothing a king can’t do.’ He had learnt that over and over. So how dare she doubt his capabilities? It wasn’t the first time this woman had challenged him. And it probably wouldn’t be the last either. She was becoming more brazen day by day, but the good thing about it was that his life wasn’t as boring for a change… even if she was this irritating.
“Fine.” He agreed reluctantly. Sending her his full dose of a hateful glare, he then rubbed his neck in embarrassment before entwining his pinky finger with hers. “Happy?” He spat, looking away from her as he did the deed that was seen as something highly disgraceful in his own eyes. “I can’t believe I’m doing this.”
His jaw ticked when she nodded her head, a laugh climbing up her throat. “I can’t believe you’re doing it either.”
“Don’t touch me.” Damon hissed, quickly snatching his hand away from her as he realized that he fell victim to her trap. But the movement only made her laugh harder. “Stop it.” He demanded, watching in disapproval as her torturous laughter plagued his ear. “I said stop it.”
Sarah soon sobered up from her laughter and looked over at him. She crossed her arms over her chest and straightened her back then mimicked him in her best manly voice. “I said stop it.” Even though she was mimicking him, she couldn’t stop the smile from spreading across her lips. In this situation, his angered look was more funny rather than scary.
Damon gave her a scornful once over. “You look like a fish.”
“A fish?” She exclaimed, her smile finally breaking away from her lips and replacing with a deep frown. “And you think you look like a handsome King?”
“I am a handsome King.” He corrected, a smug look drowning out his frown. “I don’t need you to tell me that. There’s absolutely no one in this world who can compare to me.”
He let out an exasperated sigh when she rolled her eyes instead of smiling like he had expected. “What is it now?” He asked impassively, looking over her displeased features. She constantly told him that he was moody and all, but he was getting the feeling that she was worse than him. One minute she’s laughing and another she frowning.
“A handsome King like you shouldn’t talk to an ugly fish, should he?” Sarah grumbled bitterly.
Damon stared at her… hard. Her arms were tightened around her chest, her lips were protruding into a pout and her beautiful blue eyes were glaring sharp daggers into him. This time around, Damon was the one who found her expression rather funny than scary. And in due time, a deep chuckle creeped its way up his throat. He could’ve probably held it back if he tried, just like he had been doing all these years. But it must’ve been the fact that he had lived with her for so long that he somehow felt at ease in her presence.
“Don’t try so hard to keep a straight face, it doesn’t suite you. And not every fish is ugly.” He pointed out, flicking her forehead softly with his index finger. “They have that same innocent look and… and… well…” He paused, exchanging looks between the wall and her face. “… maybe a little cute. So take it as a compliment and not an insult. Besides, you should be grateful that I even had the time to comment on your looks when I have a million other things to do in my office.”
Sarah’s lips parted. Her mind had stopped functioning right after he mentioned the word ‘cute’. If he was comparing her to a fish that looked innocent and cute then that definitely meant that he thought the same about her as well. She didn’t need anybody’s help to gather as much as that… Though it was quite upsetting that out of all things, he had chosen a fish to compare her with.
“Ah.” She nodded. She was certain that her cheeks were now as red as ever, but she could do nothing to help it. And running off now without an explanation would only make her more embarrassed than she already was. “I guess. Anyway, did you eat? I can make you something.” She quickly changed the subject.
Damon cringed at her words. “I’d rather you stay away from the kitchen. Everything you cook tastes like vomit.”
Sarah smiled cheekily at his bluntness. “You didn’t have to say it like that.”
“Whatever.” He slowly mirrored her smile. “Let’s go, I’ll do the cooking.” Without waiting for her reply, he reached out and grasped her arm before hauling her off the bed, out the room then down to the kitchen.