Chapter Two-Lilly

The sound of utensils hitting the fine China, and the distant chatter of the house spilled down the long hallway on the first floor. I'd slipped out of the kitchen after grabbing a quick bite to eat, so I could exchange my books for new ones in the library. 

The moments alone in the library were my favorite. It was kind of Jason to convert the extra office to a library for me, and one he wouldn't let me forget. The thought of his fingertips against my skin brought back too many unwanted memories. 

Being promised to him still left a horrible taste in my mouth. Even after all these years. My time at the kingdom could have been worse, I knew that, but it wasn't what I wanted. I didn't deserve to be ripped from my family, and my life. No one did. 

When they took me from the woods that day, my entire life changed for the worst. Seeing the hopeless look on Emily's face as they dragged me away. It still haunted me at night.

Not to mention the struggle of the two boys we met in the woods. I bit the corner of my lip at the thought of the oldest one, Marcus. He'd been quiet, his dark eyes lingered on me, and even as a young girl, I knew the look in his eyes. 

I wouldn't admit aloud how many times I'd dreamed of him, or the thought of what would have happened living so close to him growing up. 

I tugged the pen from my hair and trapped it between my teeth, nervous habit, and pulled the stack of my books closer to my chest. 

I nearly tripped over the hem of my white dress, but caught myself before making it to the library door. I shoved against it, hearing Jason alittle too late on the other side before freezing. 

I knew jumping at the sound of Jason's voice wasn't normal, or tiptoeing around my own home. 

This time when I mustered the courage to lift my gaze, it didn't settle on Jason's hard brown eyes, but to Marcus' timeless face. My mouth opened in a soft sigh, my insides swam in heat, and whirl pooled around inside of me. 

"Marcus," I said without thinking. His fingertips flinched, and his gaze swept me from head to toe, unraveling my self-control. 

Something about him made me melt, and I wanted him to lick me up. 

I sensed Jason's cool dark stare, and then his chuckle. It forced my spine to stiffen, and my attention moved toward the rest of the room for the first time. A man with dark hair sat in the corner, nursing a cup of tea with a worried look on his face, and the other lycan I knew as one of Jason's goons. 

"Now it makes more sense to me," Jason said, walking toward my side. "Sound the alarm" he said. "We have an intruder here to take my betrothed."

Vomit climbed my throat. I didn't want Marcus to think I loved this man, and it was insane because I hardly knew him. Why was he here? Jason thought he was here for me? Surely, he'd forgotten about the unfortunate girl kidnapped by an entire group of … lycans. After all these years ... 

It'd been a surprise to be thrust into an entire supernatural world that I didn't know existed. Now it annoyed me how they called themselves superior to humans and other supernaturals. 

Their lack of respect for their mates sickened me. Or the fact they disregarded them, kept them locked up for someone they thought was more physically attractive. Jason's mate was one of the maids that lived in the maid quarters. 

For me to be flaunted around in front of her, waved like a trophy turned my stomach. 

"Now. Now. Now," the man in the corner said. "Let's  not be hasty, Jason. We're here for negotiation. I'll admit, I do know this gentleman, and he is indeed, a gentleman. He knows … Lilly, and would like to bring her home."

Bring me home? 

My eyes caught his again as the siren began to blast from the depth of the kingdom. Chaos stirred from within the house, and Jason snaked his arm around my waist, drawing me near. 

Marcus watched the movement, his thick throat worked as he swallowed, and two lycans barreled into the room, grabbing Marcus into a death hold. 

"There will be no negotiations regarding Lilly or Caterina. Take them both to the dungeon. I will deal with the rest later. Sweep the premises, make sure they didn't bring anyone else with them."

Seeing Marcus and his friend being dragged from the room, while his intense gaze lingered on mine flooded me with fear. My bottom lip trembled, and the books in my arms dropped to the floor. 

"No!" I shouted, but the door swung closed behind them, leaving me with one sliver of a glance at Marcus before he was taken down to the dingy dungeon with the rats. 

Jason gripped my upper arm tightly in his grasp, and turned me to face him. Tears brimmed my eyes at the pain—the pain of losing what I would never have—freedom to choose. 

"How do you know him?" he whispered, his dark gaze twinkled with a rage that scared me. "How do you know the wolf?" 

He was a wolf. I knew a few that had traveled through the dungeons, and I knew enough from the library that lycans and wolves had a falling out in the 1800s, and hadn't recovered apparently. 

Because Jason seemed to hate them. 

"I—I,"

"Speak up," he said, drawing me closer. "How. Do. You. Know. The. Wolf?"

"I met him the day I was taken. My sister and I were playing in the woods, and he came along with his brother. I was taken shortly after that." 

Jason studied me, as he often did, for any sign of a lie. He thought he read me well, but he was always so far off. "You remembered his name after all these years, Lilly?" he whispered, letting go of my arm. "Why do you think that is?"

I dropped my gaze. "Because he was the last part of my life before I was taken."

He chuckled, his almost white hair reflected off the bright lighting in the library. "You have no idea, do you?"

Jason let go of my arm, and watched as I scurried to pick up my books. "Idea about what?" I asked. 

When I stood back up, he smiled, and it reminded me of a snake. "It's almost comical how humans are so clueless." He walked around me, looking me up and down, making me squirm. His breath hit my ear, and I shivered. "Why do you think Marcus is here for you, Love?"

I had no idea, until it hit me. My eyes rounded. The intense connection I felt for him after only meeting him once. The way the other maids described their longing. 

Marcus was my mate. 

Jason chuckled. "It's too bad, because my father promised you to me," he said. "And I don't give one shit about your little mate bond. He'll be dead before the sun rises. So, don't think you're going to ride away on the back of that mutt to live happily-ever-after. You will marry me, I will mark you, and you'll do as I please until I'm done with you. Nothing has changed. He isn't your knight in shining armor that you read about in those books."

A single tear slipped down my check, but I hid it from him. I didn't want him to know he made me cry, or that his words affected me at all. 

The library door swung opened, and one of the lycans raced inside. He was sweaty, and by the look on his face, I knew something happened. "Boss!" he said, watching as I slipped toward the corner of the room to return my books for more. 

"They took her."

The silence made me turn around. They took Caterina. A simple smile pulled from the corner of my mouth. Caterina had tried to calm me the day we were taken. She spoke about a daughter, and leaving her behind. But she was made to watch after Jason like a mother, since the previous king killed his wife in a fit of rage. 

Which was my fear for myself. Death because Jason had a bad day, or because I would never truly love him like he wanted. Caterina grew attached to him, and I knew she cared about him like a son. 

I was kept in the same castle as him, raised to marry him, because his father liked the way I looked. It was sickening. 

Jason stood stark still, his hands laced behind his back, his posture statuesque. "Lilly go to your room. Stay there."

I grabbed the first romance novel I could reach, and swept from the room, wanting to know what he planned, but knowing better than to ask. I took the steps two at a time up the windy staircase to the third floor, plummeting into my room and taking a deep breath. 

A sob broke from my mouth, and I tumbled to the plush rug beneath me. Why was he brought back into my life only to be taken away? The pain in my chest felt heavy and made it hard to breathe. 

I wiped beneath my eyes, a headache formed from the blasting sirens, while I walked toward the window and pushed it opened. Lycans raced around the perimeter, shouting and calling after one another. 

Sitting on the ledge, I curled one knee to my chin and watched as everyone raced from the house, when it hit me. 

I was alone. I was never truly alone. 

My gaze moved toward my door, and the silence outside of it. The dungeon was located beneath the house. The door was outside, but lead to an attached basement. 

Jason walked from the back of the house with the man from the library with him. It looked as if he was letting him go. Why? To bring back Caterina? Or to send him back to the wolves as bargain. 

Either way, it left Marcus alone … in the dungeon. 

Biting my lip, I retied my auburn ponytail, and walked toward the door, opening it to make sure no one was around. 

It was now or never. 

I could be brave. I could save my mate. Human or not. We could escape. Shutting the door behind me, I crept down the hallway and into the living room. The silence felt odd and out of place. 

The moonlight hit my skin when I opened the door, and I took a deep breath of autumn air. Loud voices grew further away as I slunk against the side of the house toward the dungeon door. 

A lycan raced around the side of the house, and I ducked down behind a neatly trimmed shrub. I waited until he was out of sight before continuing toward the door. It swung opened in a loud and angry creak, before I gently shut it behind me, and descended the stairs. Rocks and dirt clung to my feet as I walked shakily down the steps. 

The lighting was dingy and dark, but enough for me to see the cells, and that no one watched them. I'd only been to the dungeon once, when I was brought in, because Jason didn't allow me down there. 

Besides one time when a small pup was put down here for trying to escape. Caterina snuck me down here because she was watching me, and fed the small pup, until they saw fit to let him back up to the quarters with his mother. 

I remembered one thing from that night. The nail drilled into the cement wall that held the key. I always wondered why Caterina didn't grab it and let him out, but I realized it was to keep herself safe. They would have killed her. 

The sad thing was that I didn't think they would kill me, but make my life hell. 

I dragged a foldout chair toward the corner of the room, where I grabbed the key that hung from a giant keychain. 

The pull-string light switch swung slowly in the wind from the small cellar windows as I walked toward the cells. The darkened corners were pitch black, and I was unable to tell if Marcus was still down there or not. 

"Hello?" I whispered into the darkness. 

"Lilly?"

I stopped, and turned to face him. He emerged from the far corner of the cell to the right, the moonlight from the window spilled over his tall frame. Everything about him screamed to me. 

He stopped at the bars, and wrapped his big fingers around them. His lucious mouth made my thighs weak, and formed a ball of lava in-between them. 

I'd never reacted to a man this way, and it all made sense. 

"Marcus," I said into the silence. "I'm—I'm here to save you."