Chapter Four: Calming his mate

Being held feels foreign to Ara. A feeling she hasn't felt in over a decade, and her brain has forgotten what it feels like. Not recognizing the feeling, her head seemed to see it as a threat, and she continued to scream and thrash around in Eros arms, longing for escape.

Locked in her nightmares, she couldn't differentiate between comforting arms and hands that wanted to harm her.

Eros could feel his ears bleeding, almost literally. How could someone so small have lungs so large? He wondered in his head as he continued to rock Ara.

His ears aren't the only ones hurting; his heart is aching so badly at the distressing cries of his mate.

"You aren't doing it right; let me." His Beast barks in his head. His animal has been pacing restlessly in his head since his mate's cries. His agitation is rising with each scream.

Eros understands his Beast's feelings perfectly well, but he doesn't believe his animal is capable of calming their mate down when he couldn't.

"Wanna bet?" His Beast challenges, a hint of cockiness in his voice. His Beast has always been very arrogant, so certain that he could pull off anything, and he is no different.

He has never met a problem he couldn't solve, and yet, at this moment, he is being defeated by a girl who couldn't be older than twenty-five years.

"Come on, give her to me!" His Beast demands, sounding very impatient.

Accepting defeat is never in his dictionary, but his stubbornness might be harming their mate, which is the last thing he wants.

Swallowing his pride, Eros relinquishes control to his Beast.

As his Beast emerged, the aura of the room changed—more electrified, filled with power so strong that it penetrated Ara's consciousness. She doesn't stop screaming, but her mind doesn't register the change in the atmosphere. Not knowing the source of the change only worsened Ara's agitation.

Staring down his mate's face in awe, Black raised his hand to wipe his mate's tears. He had never seen anything so beautiful and so vulnerable. His mate looked so fragile that he feared breaking her.

Before his hand touched his mate's face, Black started to sing. He sang an old lullaby he'd heard their mother sing when they were babies.

Unlike the wolves, Lycans are born with their beast and can shift from infancy. They grow with their two-legged halves.

Eros didn't expect his Beast to sing. He froze at the sound of his animal singing so eloquently and gently. His voice isn't the best out there, but it seemed to be doing the job. Their mate's screams have slowed.

Why did he not think of this? Eros smacks himself, feeling a little dejected that he couldn't comfort their mate.

Someone is singing.

The voice is deep, soothing.

In her cold, barren world filled with so much pain, Ara has never heard anyone sing. Curious and attracted to the sweet, melodious song belted out in a deep voice, she traces the sound, unconsciously focusing on it instead of the horrifying memories of her past.

With her mind focused on the voice, she began to calm down without realizing it. Her cries slowed to sobs. Her fluttering limbs stopped, and her tensed body slowly relaxed.

Exhaustion kicked in, and she began to feel drowsy. Her sobs turned to sniffles, and her eyes became droopy.

She wanted to sleep, but uncertainty about her safety kept her on edge.

Her eyelids would drop, then snap open a second later, appearing wide and crazy, her body tensing. She would hear the voice singing and slowly relax again.

Watching his mate closely, Black saw her actions, and his heart broke. What the girl in his arms must have gone through to be so alert that falling asleep is so difficult for him.

"It is alright, little one. You can sleep; I will be right here," he says gently, his hand caressing Ara's dark tresses in a soothing motion.

His voice causes Ara to look at Black, and the sight of his red pupils startles her. She flinches, but the gentleness she saw in their depth stops her from freaking out like she did the last time.

Having seen her mate's angry pupils so many times that the brunette had lost count, staying calm under those red eyes, watching her like a hawk, was difficult, but Ara stayed still. No malice or hatred was oozing from the eyes watching her, so the man holding her might be different from her pack members who have only hated and cursed her.

Can she trust him?

Before Ara could find the answer to the question in her head, a phone rang. Ara jumped at the sudden loud voice, her hands instinctively moving to grab Black's shirt.

Black reacted angrily to his ringing phone. Pissed that the device scared his mate, he picked it up and hurled it against the wall, without a speck of concern as to who might be calling him.

The phone struck the wall and shattered, but Black ignored it, his entire focus on his mate, who had begun to shake as her agitation slowly rose.

I am going to kill whoever dared call me. Black thinks darkly in his mind as he gently rocks his mate and begins to sing again to calm her down.

"It's alright, little one. Settle down; no one is going to hurt you," he says between his singing.

Soothed by Black's voice and singing, Ara begins to quieten. Her tight grip on Black's shirt loosened, her body relaxed, and her eyes began to droop.

The door suddenly opens, startling her again and causing her to tense up.

Lyric paces the corridor outside the room where his boss waits with the woman he knocked down earlier. He is still perplexed by his boss's strange behavior with the woman.

His boss has never shown this much interest in anyone. A glance at his watch tells him how late it is getting. If they don't get home soon, Xero will come looking, and he will never hear the end of it from the taciturn, very strict right-hand man.

His job is to keep their leader out of trouble, something that seems to follow him around, and bring him home safely.

When he hears a loud crash inside the room, he fears that someone might be attacking his boss and reacts without hesitation.

Lately, they have been running into assassins frequently, and they're still trying to figure out who is trying to kill their leader.

The Lycan King has so many enemies that it could be any of them, but they have yet to figure out who it is exactly.

He charges into the room ready to smash some assassins' heads, only to find his head on the line.

Furious at someone scaring his mate again, Black flies off his seat, moving with the speed of light toward the intrusion. He grabs the unfortunate soul that had come through the door by the neck and presses.

Lyric's brown eyes widen as he finds himself suspended in the air, his boss trying to kill him.

What the hell?

Shouldn't he be targeting the assassins?

Is his boss pissed at him for hitting the woman?

It was an accident.

"I am sorry," Lyric tries to squeeze the words through his tight throat, but Black is holding him so tightly, making it difficult for air to pass through.

Eros stirs when he senses his driver in danger. "Stop!" He barks at his Beast and attempts to take back control.

Black resists, his mind focused on the person who dared to scare his mate.

"He scared her," he retorted stubbornly to his other half as he tightened his grip on Lyric.