Chapter 2

I felt my entire world freeze over at the utterance of the same man who killed my parents and ruined my childhood. I couldn’t tell if he knew what I looked like, but something about the way a dark smirk made its way to his face made me uncomfortable. Something about his smirk reminded me of who this man was and why he thought of himself as untouchable.

“My sweet little mate,” he whispered as he lifted his hand and brought them to my face. He trailed his hands over my face with the dark smoke still intact. My feet seemed to have a mind as they stayed rooted to the spot. His trails left hot feelings in their wake, and I enjoyed how he touched my face.

Lila, my wolf, seemed to enjoy this even more because all she did was purr in comfort. For a split moment, I felt betrayed even by my wolf. She was acting like a damn weakling; this wasn’t the Lila I had all my life. My wolf is strong, but I blamed the mate bond for her reaction.

I shouldn’t be doing this. I shouldn’t be letting this murderer touch me like I was his property. I couldn’t let him keep getting away with this. I wasn’t supposed to enjoy the touch of a monster.

“Get your filthy hands off me,” I screamed in a voice that I didn’t believe could belong to me, and I could feel the entire hall freeze over in silence. Nobody had dared to tell this monster a piece of their mind, and I am not surprised they thought I would be a weakling like them. I would rather die than let myself be tossed around like a piece of trash. 

“Don’t do that again; I’m not a very forgiving man, sweetheart,” he drawled as he touched my face gingerly as if trying to master my features, and I knew it was now or never. If I didn’t end this madness now, I would have to deal with it for a long time.

“I don’t care what you think you are. You are a monster, and that’s what you will always be,” I scoffed. I could feel all the blood in my body pumping in response, and Lila chose that moment to recoil to the back of my mind. I understand her not wanting to go against her mate, but she could have chosen this time to support me, especially since she knew the trauma we both went through.

His lips curled up in a dark, sinister smile as if he was enjoying every bit of whatever was happening here, or me calling him a monster was merely massaging his already larger-than-Mount-Everest ego.

“Sweetie, don’t make me hurt you. I am not a very nice man, and you are pushing me to the wall. Trust me; you don’t want to see the real monster side of me,” he replied, still touching my face and finally, I realized I had had enough of his stupid fingers, leaving this weird feeling all over my face, which I seemed to enjoy badly.

I pushed his hands away from my face and looked at him in utter disgust.

“I don’t want to be your mate. I don’t want to be your Luna; I want you to reject me,” I spat out, making the rest of the audience gasp, and Lucius froze for a millisecond.

“You have no idea what you are requesting, little mate. You’re mine now, and you’re going to be mine till you take your last breath. There’s no rejection going on around here,” he replied softly while returning his hand to touch my face. It was as if all my anger had nothing on him, and he was having a swell time treating me like this.

If he didn’t do it, I would do it myself.

“I, Vesta, reject you, Alpha Lucius, as my—” I was slammed against the wall by Lucius, cutting off whatever I wanted to say, and tears stung my eyes. His hands were still on my neck, making breathing very difficult for me, too.

“You will not reject me,” he ordered gruffly, and I nodded rapidly in fear. The man looked like he was going to hurt me. This was the first time I saw him up close and personal; his eyes looked like they would eat me up. The gray space looked empty like I was staring into the devil's soul, only that Alpha Lucius had none.

“Am I fucking clear?” he shouted, and I nodded again before realizing he was blind and he couldn’t see me. I wouldn’t give up this easily; I wasn’t a weakling. I am an alpha wolf and wouldn’t let him intimidate me like this again.

“I reject you, Alpha Lucius, as my mate, and I would rather die before I accept you as mine,” I croaked out, and he saw red. His hands pressed against my neck tightly, and I could feel my air supply getting cut off. I managed to see Lucius’ face, and he looked like the actual demon he was. Every facade of that alpha he had was gone.

I was in pain, and I knew I would die very soon, and the thought of dying didn’t scare me. If anything, I would be reunited with my parents again rather than be mated to this monster.

I felt Lila struggling away from me, and my head started to be empty again. My wolf was getting away from me, and she wasn’t fighting back, and slowly, the room began to spin very fast. I was losing consciousness, and I couldn’t feel my wolf, too, again. I tried to reach Lila, but she was gone. The place she used to be was empty. Slowly, everything went pitch dark, and I stopped feeling the pressure of the demon’s hands on my neck.