Chapter 4

Iris's head felt heavy as she dizzily opened her eyes. It felt like an eternity when she was last time intoxicated enough to pass out or made to blackout. The former was due to her extra fast metabolism that made it hard for her to become drunk. The latter, though, was scary and brought very bad memories.

Since she hadn't been drinking before passing out, she remembered the handsome Dominic guy with his henchman, clearly sent by her brother to torment her. One of them must've drugged her. That must be why it was hard to focus on her thoughts and she felt like she was in a car. A tranquillizer strong enough to take her down was only present in Y's stash.

So many terrifying outcomes made her want to cry out, but her tranquillized body wouldn't cooperate.

Dom felt his mate stir and open her eyes. He could see she was struggling to keep them open, keep herself awake and also recognize where she was. The moment her mind registered where she was and what had been done to her, her senses became heightened. He could sense her trying to gain control over herself that the tranquillizer had taken away.

He saw her clumsily shiver and try to open her seat belt, simultaneously trying to do more magic as her uneven breathing continued. He could sense her panic and all he wanted at that moment was to stop the car and comfort her, but he couldn't, he knew she wouldn't allow him. After so much struggle and inability to use her magic caused as a side-effect of her mind being out of focus, she asked frustrated,

"Where are you taking me? Why can't he just leave me alone?" The last part was whispered helplessly to herself as she was about to break down again, in anticipation of years, probably decades, of torture like a routine that her brother repeated every century.

'It is to remind you of what you did, sister! To make sure you never forget what you took, the catastrophe you caused.' His promise of eternal torment ringing once again in her ears.

When she received no answer from her apparent abductor, she calmed herself down. Maybe she couldn't do magic on him, but the car they were in or the path they were on wasn't a part of him. Since she knew she could survive an accident easily, giving herself time to run away, she first cast a spell to destroy the brakes of the vehicle she was riding and then caused the road to suddenly burst open in the middle. Thankfully, they had been driving along a lonely countryside road where no one could see anything for miles.

As expected, the car went out of control as Dom and Iris were sent flying out of it due to the destroyed road. Iris knew the injuries were fatal to any normal human, but that's not what they both were. She didn't know how fast he could heal, so she quickly got up to run at her fastest, only to come face-to-face with her abductor's henchman, "And where exactly do you intend to run to? We are in the middle of nowhere, no matter how fast you run and in whichever direction. You can't outrun Fonsi."

"And how many times have I told you to not call me that! Only Dad could." replied Dominic from behind her, standing without a scratch.

"You said you could take care of her alone. You should be glad I decided to tag along in my car. Imagine if I had left her to you or she might've actually slipped." The henchman told.

Iris saw them busy bickering, so she decided, since she couldn't do magic on any of them, she was going to take her chances and run. That's exactly what she did. She ran as fast as her top abilities could allow her, but in a matter of seconds, she had strong bulky arms wrapped around her, stopping any further movement. The momentum brought both of them down with her, under her abductor, who seemed simply tired of it all,

"Are you going to let the fact that I am not going to hurt you sink in?" He asked from on top of her.

"Let. Me. Go!" She breathlessly growled at him, trying to get herself free from his grip on her wrists, restricting her movements.

"I will. If you promise not to attempt to run away and listen with a logical open mind." He tried reasoning with her.

She thought for a moment and not seeing any options but his steel eyes looking down from mere inches above her, she growled, 'Fine!' He nodded and got off of her cautiously, still not trusting her to not run away yet.

"I understand your extreme reaction. I was warned about this-" He merely began when she interrupted,

"Warned? by my brother? Of course, he warned. But he can warn all he wants. If you think saying anything like that would get me to come with you willingly to my next torture session, you're wrong! I am not coming without a fight and, even then, I'd rather die than be tormented like that ever again." she felt a sudden bravery in the face of death.

"Iris! Iris, Iris. How do you want me to tell you that you will believe it, I am not going to hurt you?" He asked with such sincerity in his eyes that she almost believed him by asking, "Then why won't you leave me alone? What do you want from me?" She sounded almost like a broken child who didn't have the strength to gather her broken pieces anymore.

Seeing and hearing his mate like this, it felt like a knife being turned inside his guts. Dom didn't know such a feeling even existed before Iris came into his life. Now he had so much to tell her and so much to do to get her to be truly happy and fearless. Her look and tone made him want to tear those who had turned her this way to shreds.

He was about to give a truthful answer to keep her calm and prevent her from running, but before an answer could be provided, howls were heard coming from where they had been driving. The three immediately knew they were werewolf howls and just that made Iris lose whatever calm she had had.

Almost all werewolves in the world were under her brother's orders. He was the oldest werewolf alive who had achieved immortality by magical ways and now every werewolf looked up to him and carried out every command like an order from God himself. One moment she was standing listening to what Dom could possibly want with her and the next moment she was running at top speed in the opposite direction of the howls.

Dom and Freddie were well aware of the approaching threat. But before anyone could do anything, Iris took off again. This time her panic was well understood but there was no time to talk her down. Dom nodded at Freddie who went to start his car as Dom himself tranquilized the runaway Iris and carried her to Freddie's car, and laid her delicately on the backseat and buckled up in the passenger seat as they resumed their initial journey, only faster this time.

Dom turned to stroke his unconscious mate's brunette locks, feeling a newfound sense of protectiveness, "Don't worry, I am gonna take you far away. Somewhere Y can't hurt you anymore. You'll be safe now, forever." Then nostalgically asked his friend,

"Take us home, Freddie."