Touched the chain

Chapter 6

Damon’s POV

My hand was wrapped tightly around her neck. With just a twitch of my wrist, I could snap it. End her.

She looked up at me with those blue eyes…wide, afraid, confused. And yet, still bold.

Ungrateful. She was ungrateful. After everything. After I spared her, fed her, sheltered her. She dared to question me? She dared to defy me?

But then…

“Da…mon,” she choked out, her voice cracking, barely above a whisper.

And just like that, everything in me… froze.

My fingers loosened their grip as a sharp sting shot through my body. My knees buckled slightly, and I staggered.

The chain. That damned cursed chain.

The pain hit me hard, slamming into my chest and spreading like fire through my veins. My vision blurred, and my breath came in short, ragged gasps. I could hear her, barely…gasping, coughing, but all of it became distant noise. I was drowning in my own agony.

“Are you okay?” she asked softly, still breathless, her voice laced with worry.

She reached out, trying to touch me, but I flinched back as if her hand would burn me. My legs gave way.

“Lord!” Selene cried, rushing forward and catching me just before I collapsed completely.

“Help me to my room,” I growled through gritted teeth. “Now.”

Selene, always silent and swift, wrapped her arms around my waist and guided me to my chambers.

“Is it the chains again?” she whispered as we walked.

“Yes,” I gasped, my jaw tightening. “But this time… it’s different. It’s deeper. It feels like something’s… tearing.”

A wave of nausea rolled through me.

I was dying slowly. And this is evident that my end is near. But this pain… it was something else entirely.

I sank into the bed, cold sweat coating my forehead.

And then the memory hit me.

The way she had called my name…“Da…mon.”

It wasn’t just desperation. It was familiar.

That voice. That tone. That fear.

It was the same.

The same as her.

Aria.

My first love. My last weakness.

She had begged me the same way, right before the demon ripped her away from me.

“Aria, please stay with me!” I had cried out, blood staining my hands.

But she only coughed, a sickening gurgle in her throat, and then… her hand fell limp.

That day, a part of me died.

And tonight, when she Ivy….called my name like that, it was like being ripped open all over again.

What is she? Who is she, really? Could it be?

Was she…?

“I’ll call the physician!” Selene said quickly, panic rising in her voice as she moved toward the door.

“No!” I snapped, grabbing her wrist.

She froze and turned back to me, her eyes searching mine. Concern. Affection. And something else she hadn’t dared say out loud.

I remembered it. I had heard her thoughts recently.

She liked me.

But I couldn’t allow it. I wouldn’t.

She was nothing more than my kin. A descendant of the family that had bound themselves to me generations ago.

They had helped me when I was first cursed. Cared for me, protected me, hidden me from the world.

Until it came to her.

The last of their line. The girl who ran from her duty, only to be hit by a car and left dying on the road. I saved her. And now, she was bound to me too…like the rest of them.

She had been my guide, my bridge into this chaotic modern world I barely understood.

“Lord, what's really going on?

“She is my bride,” I whispered.

Selene’s lips parted, unsure. “But… she’s not—”

“I said she is,” I cut in, raising my hand to silence her. My voice was weak, but the command in it was absolute.

The truth rang in my chest like a bell. I didn’t know how I knew it. But I did. I had that feeling she was mine.

“No buts. Just go. Get her here,” I commanded, my voice low but sharp, laced with a cold edge that made even the walls tremble. “She needs to start working as my personal maid. Now.”

Selene hesitated. “What about the punishment?” she asked softly, eyes lowered but voice steady, like she was treading on a blade.

“Forget it,” I said, already rising from the bed, straightening my robes, trying to mask the throb still lingering in my chest.

Her brows pulled together with worry. “Are you sure you’re fine?”

I didn’t respond gently.

“I said I am. Just go!” I thundered.

She flinched, and then…just like that…she was gone, her footsteps echoing down the hall as guilt settled over me like a second skin.

I sighed, pressing my hand to the chain that still burned faintly under my robe.

A few minutes passed. Then I heard the faint sound of footsteps. Uneven. Tired. Hollow.

And then she walked in…Ivy.

Her hair was a tangled mess, her clothes rumpled like she’d wrestled with the wind and lost. Her eyes were rimmed red, but her face… it was blank. Emotionless. It startled me more than if she had come in screaming.

She didn’t even wait for me to speak.

“You sent for me. I’m here. How may I help you?” she said flatly, her voice distant, almost mechanical.

I scoffed, caught off guard. What’s gotten into her? She doesn't seem like her real self anymore.

“I told the guards to stop the search,” I said, testing her reaction.

She nodded faintly. “Alright,” she replied, no life in her words.

Something sharp twisted in my chest.

She blinked slowly, then added, “Hope you’re fine?”

And just like that, I felt it…my heart cracked, just a little. Why did those simple words hit me so hard?

“If you’re fine, I’ll leave now,” she added quickly, turning to walk away.

But I couldn’t let her go. Not yet. “I’ll help you get your revenge,” I said, and her steps slowed. “I’ll find him. I can find him, if I wanted to…right now. But I need you to touch the chains. They’re killing me. Slowly. Only someone destined can remove them. And that's you.”

She turned halfway. Her expression unreadable.

“No need to explain,” she muttered. “I understand. It’s my fate. I’ll do as I’m told.”

And she turned to leave again.

“You’ll be working as my personal maid. Starting now, until you're able to finally touch and remove the chains. And your reward, you'd get all these riches, the mansion and everything else here.” I announced, voice clipped.

She stopped and looked at me…really looked at me…with a stare so cold, it cut through me like ice.

“Alright.”

No resistance. No emotion.

Something was wrong.

I couldn’t hear her thoughts anymore. She must have done something to stop me from hearing them.

What have you done? I stepped closer, suspicion growing. “What have you done?” I asked, voice dropping.

She backed away, alarm flashing in her eyes.

“I did nothing!” she cried suddenly, voice breaking. “Please, let me have peace! Just… please! You’re always threatening to kill me. I’m just a weak wolf. I don’t have anyone. I don’t have anything. Just let me be! Don’t torture me anymore. Or else I might just have a heart attack…I beg you!”

She dropped to the floor, crumbling like a broken doll. Tears streamed freely down her cheeks as she sobbed.

But me? I just stood there.

I didn’t understand tears. I never had. One of the traits of being cursed. I lacked feelings.

“Get me tea,” I said coldly. “Make it yourself.”

She wiped her tears roughly, her hands trembling with rage and exhaustion, and stood up, walking out in silence.

What was that?

When she returned, she handed me the tea wordlessly.

I took a sip.

The bitterness slapped my tongue instantly. I spat it out and threw the cup across the room. It shattered into pieces.

“Ew! What is this? Is this the best you can do?” I barked. “Make another one.”

She didn’t flinch. Just shrugged and walked away again.

But just as she stepped out, I heard it.

“I need to find a way to kill him. As fast as possible.”

Her thoughts.

The hatred.

It stabbed through me like a blade, and for a second, I couldn’t breathe.

I stood up abruptly and slammed my hand on the table, sending books and ornaments flying. The rage boiled over.

How dare she hate me? After I saved her and also promised to get revenge on her ex.

She returned moments later, another cup of tea in her hand.

“Take,” she muttered, holding it out.

But I didn’t even glance at it. I smacked it out of her hand, and the cup crashed to the floor, tea splattering like blood on the marble.

She looked up at me then…and I saw it.

Fury.

“What the heck is wrong with you?!” she screamed. “Why are you frustrating me?!”

I moved fast. My hand shot forward, grabbing her chin roughly. I forced her to look into my mask.

“You hate me,” I growled. “But I don’t give a damn. Because in the end… I own you.”

She pushed against my chest, trying to break free…but then her hand grazed the chain on my chest.

And nothing happened.

No surge of energy. No forceful pushback. She touched it.

My eyes widened beneath the mask.

“I just touched the chains…” she whispered, disbelief melting into joy. “I touched the chains!”

She stepped back, stunned, then laughed. Actually laughed. And then she started jumping in excitement like a child who had just won a lottery.