Fake Bride

Chapter 3 

Damon's POV

For years, I have lived alone.

Lived feared.

Lived like a monster.

No one dared come close, not unless I made them. And I always made them. Fear was better than loneliness, I told myself. Fear kept me from losing what little sanity I had left. But through all those lifeless years, only one soul stayed by my side. I had saved them once, long ago, and they never left. I never asked why. Selene, I'd always be grateful to her.

But even with them there, a part of me was still missing.

My bride.

They called me the cursed Lycan. It wasn't just a name, it was a sentence. A punishment burned into my very soul. Centuries ago, I fought a demon. I thought I could win. I thought I could end him. But he didn’t kill me. He did something worse.

He cursed me.

He banished me. Chained me with silver-laced bonds that weren’t visible to mortal eyes. These chains, ethereal, ancient, alive, wrapped around my very essence. They didn’t just bind me. They tortured me. Made every breath feel like agony. Made every night colder, every century longer.

And only one person could break it…

My fated bride.

She would be able to see the chains. Touch them. Break them.

But no one had. Not in the 70s. Not in the 80s. Not even in the 90s. And now, in the 2020s, I was beginning to believe she didn’t exist.

Each year, I came to the Werewolf's auctions. I hated them. Hated the sick men and women in masks who bidded on living beings like cattle. But I came anyway. Just in case. Because something in me hoped, just once…that I’d find her there.

This was the last time. I had sworn it.

Then I felt her.

A strange, raw, powerful aura.

The girl in the cage, she had blue eyes. Blue hair. Something about her screamed at me. My wolf stirred, lifted its head for the first time in decades.

Her.

I didn’t wait. I stepped forward. “One billion.”

Gasps. Whispers. Silence.

Then, the auctioneer nodded.

"Sold."

They opened the cage. She looked at me..and I saw it.

Terror.

She knew who I was. Everyone did.

I didn’t care. I grabbed her. She tried to speak, to pull away, but I didn’t give her a chance.

“What are you doing?!” she cried. “Let go of me! What are you?!”

I yanked her closer.

And in a blink, we were gone.

Teleported. Straight to the Dark Castle.

The winds howled as we landed on the cold stone floor of the grand hall. Her eyes darted around, breath ragged. Her body shook.

“This,” I said coldly, “is your home now.”

She stared at me like I’d gone mad.

“From now on, you are my mate. We will marry. Tonight.”

“What the hell?!” she shouted. “I’m not marrying anyone! Least of all you! Is this how you get married to someone? I don't even know you”

But I didn’t respond with words. I acted. Fast.

My claws extended, and under the pale glow of the moonlight streaming through the glass dome, I scratched her with my fangs. Just enough. Enough to mark her.

She screamed. Fainted.

Her body dropped, limp, into my arms.

And something in me shifted.

The bond. It flared.

She’s the one, my wolf howled inside. She’s the one. I feel her. I feel her soul.

My body trembled. The chains inside me stirred.

She… might be the one.

When she woke up, she was in her room.

Her hair was tousled, her skin pale. Her eyes fluttered open, confused.

"Where am I...?"

I sat on the chair across the room. "You’re in my house. You're here because you are my mate."

She sat up fast. "You keep saying that! What are you talking about?! This is crazy. Let me go!"

I stood.

“There’s something you must do.”

I waved my hand. A dress was brought in…white, elegant, shimmering with soft moon threads. Her mouth fell open.

“You will wear this. We’re to have a ceremony. It won’t take long.”

She threw the dress at the wall. “I’m not doing anything! You’re insane..”

But she stopped.

She saw my eyes.

They were glowing now. My wolf had risen again, drawn to her, desperate.

“You don’t have a choice,” I said quietly. “All else you want to go in exile.”

I knew that had an effect on her immediately. Everyone feared me of course, she can't be different.

She finally came into the ceremony hall.

Dressed in the gown.

Barefoot.

Her eyes held fury and fear. But also… something else. Sadness?

I turned to her, heart pounding. This was it. This was the test.

If she saw the chains… she was the one. If not… I had to end her, that's how it has always been.

 She stood there, nervous. Her eyes shifted around the dark marble room, as if looking for a way out.

I took a step forward. “Come here.”

She didn’t move.

I frowned. “Now.”

She flinched at the edge in my voice but obeyed, walking slowly until she was standing right before me. Close enough to hear my breath. Close enough for me to smell the fear rising from her skin.

Good. Fear kept things real.

But something about her scent, it wasn’t just fear. There was something else underneath. Something sweet.

My wolf stirred. “She’s different…”

I grabbed the edge of my shirt and pulled it off in one swift motion.

She gasped, immediately turning her face away. “What the hell are you doing?”

A smirk tugged at the edge of my lips. “What? You don’t like what you see?”

“Put your damn shirt on,” she hissed, cheeks red.

“Look at me.”

“No.”

“Look. At. Me.”

Her eyes slowly slid back to my chest, hesitantly. Her lashes fluttered. I could see the confusion on her face as her gaze danced over my skin.

“Do you see it?” I asked, voice lower now. Darker.

She blinked. “See… what?”

“The chains. They’re there.”

She took a step back, her breath shaky. “There’s nothing there… You’re just shirtless.”

I moved closer. “Look again.”

“I said I don’t see anything!” Her voice cracked slightly.

I could feel the heat rising in me. The curse coiled tighter, like it always did when I was disappointed. When hope slipped through my fingers again.

“You can’t see it,” I muttered. “Then you're not the one.”

I reached for her.

Her eyes widened. She stumbled back. “W-What are you doing?”

The rules were clear. If she couldn’t see the chains, she wasn’t my bride. And if she wasn’t my bride, I had to end her. It was the only way to keep the curse from growing worse.

I raised my hand.

My claws sharpened.

She whimpered.

But before I could touch her, a force slammed into me, knocking me off my feet. I crashed into the floor with a grunt, my head spinning.

“What the…?”

I looked up at her, stunned.

She hadn’t moved.

She was just staring at me, chest rising and falling fast. Her hands trembling.

My wolf growled. “That power. It came from her.”

I stood, wiping the blood from my lip, my eyes locked on her. “What are you?”

She shook her head slowly, backing away. “I don’t know… what are you too? Why are you doing this to me?” 

“What the hell are you?” I barked, my grip tightening on her shoulders.

She looked so small beneath me, trembling like a leaf in the wind. Her lips quivered. Her eyes, wide with fear, searched mine for mercy she wouldn’t find.

“Talk,” I growled. “Now.”

Nothing.

She just stared, eyes brimming with tears she wouldn’t dare let fall.

I clenched my jaw. My aura surged….dark, untamed, lycan. The air around us thickened, bending to my dominance.

“You knock me to the ground and act like you don’t know how? Do you take me for a fool?”

“I-I swear I don’t know…”

“Lies,” I spat, yanking her closer. “That power….it obeyed you. Why?”

She whimpered, her hands weakly gripping my arms, useless. “I’m scared.”

“You should be.”

I could snap her neck. Right here. Right now. I’d done it before to the others who failed to answer.

But something stopped me.

I snarled, pushing her off me. “Take her to the maid’s quarters.”

The guards stiffened.

“She’ll work as a maid. Since she doesn’t know how to speak, maybe hard labor will make her remember.”

I turned away, voice like steel.

“I’ll be watching.”