CHAPTER THREE

My breaths hitched, and for a second I forgot how to breathe. It was only when he moved away from me that I regained my senses.

"It wasn't fun for me—" I tried to say, but was interrupted by a snap of his fingers. And he scoffed, an irritated look plastering his face. "Remember when I said you're my property?" He asked, taking those menacing strides towards me yet again.

"It means you follow each and every of my rules. Now, rule number one," he paused, raising up one of his fingers.

My face was focused on his shoes, and I couldn't even dare look at him. My thoughts were a tangled mess. This still felt like a nightmare, one I couldn't wake up from. When would it end?

"You look at me, while I'm talking to you, little wife," He said in a calm yet lethal voice. I forced myself to look straight in his eyes, and I almost averted my look.

His deep blue eyes were so cold that I felt like my whole body was freezing. His eyes literally felt dead, and I drew my lips in. Here. Here was the monster I made.

"Rule number two, you obey every single order I give. You answer every question I ask; you do as I say. Remember, your pack is in the palm of my hands. I could do away with it, just as you did with me, once you make a funny move. Do you understand?" He asked, and I nodded.

"Good."

"Rule number three, the most important rule of all: Never ever forget what you are. My darn property," he said darkly, his lips curved up in a wicked smile.

"The day you forget what you are, is the day you submit yourself and your pack to ruins. You have no right to object. Is that clear?" He asked, but I remained quiet.

His brows arched, and he lowered his gaze. "Waiting for me to repeat myself, little wife?"

"Kaelan..can you just let me explain myself? Please. It really wasn't my fault. I didn't mean to—"

He scoffed, his brows knotting. "Rule number two broken."

"You know, little wife? I really hate when my rules get broken."

"Don't tempt me." He said with an air of finality.

"I didn't mean to break the rule. I was just —"

"You can't just stop talking, can you?" He bellowed, moving closer to me. I took steps back, and he matched each step I took, till my back hit the wall behind me. I gasped when he put his hand on the wall, caging me totally.

He leaned closer, and I clenched my fists until my knuckles ached and turned white. What was he going to do?

"Seraphina, ever since that darn day I walked out of the hall, I've lost my humanity. And right now, the only thing ringing in my head is to make you pay for every pain you caused me," he said against my ear, and I gulped.

"The demons in my head keep screaming at me to let them out in full force, but I'm pulling a restraint. I'm fucking restraining myself from ruining you in a snap. So, just help yourself by doing exactly as I say."

He leaned away, tucking both hands into his pockets, his jaw clenching,

"Don't. Push. Me."

I could feel my legs trembling under his gaze, as the tension between us heightened, till it was broken by the clank of shoes just above the stairs.

"Ohh, Lucifer is back."

A sultry voice sounded, and Kaelan moved away from me, turning his gaze to where the voice sounded.

I followed his gaze, and when I saw a woman dressed in a red dress that barely covered her skin, walking towards us, my brows knotted, and my head spun.

Kaelan had a mate? Of course he did. The Moon Goddess would have granted him a new one. So why... why bring me here as his wife? Was her presence just another part of my punishment? Did she know? It's been ten years already. And besides m, he wasn't the one who rejected the mate bond. I did.

She finally got to him, and she hugged him, pressing her chest to his. She smiled seductively, before placing a peck on his lips, and my breaths turned ragged. Wait. What the hell? Am I getting... jealous?

Oh damn you, Seraphina. I cursed within myself.

The woman looked over Kaelan shoulders and her gaze settled on me, her face twisting in an hint of disapproval.

"Who's she, Kael?" She asked facing him. I was quite surprised that she had no idea who I was. "Go upstairs, Isolde. Now." He barked at her, and she cast me a look of contempt before walking back upstairs.

"Remain in those freaking clothes before I get to you, and we'll have a party of trouble," he said to her, and she smiled, before casting a smirk at me. She took the stairs, and disappeared behind one of the rooms.

"It's your first day at my castle. Feel free, wife," Kaelan taunted, his lips curved up in a mocked smile, before he went up the stairs too.

Immediately he left, I crumbled down to the floor, my head throbbing with an ache. Kaelan disappeared for ten good years, only to reappear when my pack was at the brink of crumbling.

When my father had told me that a pack had finally agreed to form an alliance with us, and help us get back to our feet, I had been elated.

"What did they say they wanted in return? Will they be helping us for free?" I had asked my father, and he had looked away from me, before replying. "You, Seraphina. The Alpha asked for you to sign a contract marriage with him before he can help."

He had come undercover as a knight in a shining armor to save my pack. My father had known who he was, but he didn't hesitate giving me out to him, in exchange for protecting his reign.

Kaelan had come for me at my weakest. I got caught, and now I'm trapped in his web, with no way out.

"May I take you to your room, miss?" A voice asked, and I turned to see a middle aged woman staring at me. "Huh?"

"Your room,"She repeated, and I nodded faintly. I walked behind her for a while, before we stopped at a door.

"Here we are," She said, her voice a bit jovial. I looked behind me, and I saw a large double closed door just across mine. She followed my gaze, and answered my unspoken question.

"Ohh.. that's the Alpha's room. He asked that your room be directly opposite his," she said.

The devil's room is across mine?

"Thanks for your help ma'am," I said to her, and she smiled warmly. "Tara. Just call me Tara," She said, and turned to leave.

I looked at the door separating me from Kaelan, and I sighed inwardly.

I stepped into the room I was allocated and slumped onto the bed, the dead look in Kaelan's eyes haunting me. It was so cold, so utterly lifeless.

A single, terrifying question echoed in the silence: Just how far did my rejection go that it turned him into this—into the monster they now called Lucifer? What had he been through in those years?