Kira struggled to make sense of what he meant now.
“What was he talking about again?” She asked herself before asking him. “Remember what?”
Dave’s response to that initially was his face softening, as if he was savoring a private, twisted memory. Then there came a slow, affectionate smile that spread across his lips as he raised his hand from her arm, and reached up to gently caress her cheek.
“My sweet,” he murmured.
Kira instinctively turned her face sharply away from his touch in disgust, leaving his hand hanging in the air for a moment.
“How stubborn.” Dave said as he let out a soft chuckle while staring at his hanging hand.
“Tsk, tsk,” he shook his head, disapproving of her behavior. Suddenly, he grabbed her face roughly, making her wince, his fingers digging into her skin as he forced her to look at him, “You are pushing me,” he said to her, “But, I won’t budge.”
Then he smiled, a smile which reflected his obsession and madness.
“Now, I would like to continue with what you seem to have forgotten,” he uttered, changing the topic and releasing her face from his tight grip. “I am hurt you don’t remember, but I can’t blame you now, can I?”
Kira simply ignored him, looking around and thinking of what she could do to help herself. She had already figured that he was stronger, and she would not be able to take him down, even with the training she had gotten so far. She might be able to fight, but she was not sure about winning.
“If maybe I could get my hands on a weapon or something,” she thought while looking around, “Maybe Scream? No, no,” she dismissed the thought of screaming immediately. That would not end well.
As she kept thinking, she had no idea when Dave leaned in closer as he began to speak. “It was the first week you arrived at the pack,” he began, bringing her out of her thoughts.
She stared at him like she was bored out of her mind as he kept talking, his voice now softened, as if he was telling a cherished memory.
“I visited the mansion,” Dave continued, “Your home, but now I am your home,” he added with a soft laugh, amused by his words. “Anyway, I visited the mansion for something, walked in, and it was the first day I saw you. The day I knew you were meant to be mine.”
He smiled so happily while he told her everything, and relieved the memory. “You got scared when you noticed you were being watched. I think you felt that way, and then you started shouting, ‘Who’s there? Who’s there?’ ” Dave laughed loudly this time, mocking the way she had shouted. “It was hilarious to watch. You were so funny, that I even had a hard time holding myself back from laughing out and getting caught. You were so beautiful, so scared, my sweet. You were simply divine.”
As Dave spoke, Kira’s mind flashed back. She remembered exactly what he was talking about. The day she tried escaping the pack, that was it. That day she had felt like someone was watching her, and it was…
“That was you?” She asked him, her eyes widening in shock.
Her mouth went dry, and for a moment, she could not speak. How long has he been watching her?
“Uh-huh,” Dave nodded eagerly, his eyes lighting up and showing how happy he was for them to talk about this cherished memory of his.
“Yes, my sweet. It was me,” he whispered with his sinister smile curled on his lips. “Don’t you think it was romantic?” He asked and leaned back slightly, studying her face as he waited for her to respond to him.
“You were so perfect,” he continued, still waiting for her to respond. “So… mine.”
Kira didn’t even know how to respond to everything he just told her. She just stared at him, stunned in silence as her mind tried to understand or rather process the depths of his madness because he was really mad.
It was like there was no humanity left in him. All she could see was that twisted smile, those crazy eyes of his, nothing else.
“Don’t you think it was romantic?” He asked again, his grin widening as he waited for some sweet, loving response from her. He believed that this was the moment she would finally accept him and understand what he had been telling her all along. That she belonged to him.
But with all that waiting, Kira remained silent, not uttering a word and not showing any sign of affection or acceptance. It made him boil with anger, his face slowly changing. He could no longer stand the silence.
He had expected her to fall in line and give him the validation he deserved and so desperately craved. Instead, she was giving him nothing, except a cold, distant stare.
“I see,” he muttered, the corner of his mouth twitching as he realized that the connection he was looking for was not going to happen. “It’s okay, you can play hard to get. Sooner or later, you will come around.”
As predicted, the twisted and sweet affection he had shown her earlier shifted, and it was no surprise to Kira. She was already used to seeing him shift so suddenly, but that didn’t mean he didn’t scare her.
His face was now hardened, and he grabbed her by the arm again as he turned her around, forcing her back into motion.
“Enough chit-chat,” he snapped, his tone cold and final, “Let’s go.”
He then pulled her forward, dragging her along with him. He even intentionally increased his grip on her arm as punishment, making Kira shoot him glares as she still tried to break free of his hold.
“Keep resisting and make me kill you, my sweet. I will have my way with you before I do, so just keep testing my patience,” he warned her as he kept pulling her.