Semua Bab Destined mate: Bab 31 - Bab 40

Scene: Underworld BarCris – POVThe bar reeked of sin and sulfur.Smoke curled through the air like ghosts hungry for flesh. Bodies moved in slow chaos—drunken rogues, low-level demons, witches nursing broken spells. The Underworld’s forgotten came here to disappear.But we weren’t here to disappear.We were here to find him.Damien stood still near the back wall, arms folded, face carved from stone. His golden eyes didn’t blink once as they scanned the crowd. Not even when a drunken satyr bumped into him and slurred, “Watch it, mutt.”The satyr didn’t get a second word out.I shoved him to the ground with silent precision, barely even glancing at him.“There,” I said under my breath.I didn’t need to point. Damien had already locked eyes on him—Ashiel’s mate. Tall. Lean. Ocean-gray eyes and a predator’s stillness. Beautiful in a cold, calculated way. He was speaking to someone cloaked in shadows—probably a dealer. His aura flickered with secrets and rot.Damien smirked. “Found you.”

Damien – POVI glanced toward Ashiel, seated at the far end of the library. He looked pale. Empty. Like a ghost of the vibrant man he used to be. His glow—his laughter, that cheeky smile—was gone.We were all gathered around the long library table. Cris hunched over his laptop, Ken beside him flipping through field notes, and Luxian with a worn-out book on werewolves open in his lap. He’d been reading a lot about his kind lately, learning everything he could. He was doing better than expected—stronger. It had been a month since his last episode, and still… no sign of the sickness returning.I planned to talk to him tonight. I couldn’t keep waiting. We were running out of borrowed time.“We’ve been here for two months and we still don’t have a clue where Leif is,” Ken muttered, dragging a hand down his face.“I think we should return to town,” I said, turning to Ashiel. “We all need a break.”“You’re right,” Cris added, eyes still on his screen. “If we get a lead, we’ll come back.”I t

Damien – POVI walked deeper into the forest, my heart pounding in my chest.The look on Luxian’s face—the fear—haunted me. It echoed inside me like a curse.“I didn’t mean to do it.”The voice rang in my head.I ignored it, collapsing against the base of a tree, trying to calm my breathing.“You haven’t fed us in a month, Damien. I couldn’t hold back. I crave blood. You can’t fight that—it’s our nature.”I clenched my jaw, trying to block him out, but he kept pressing.“Give us blood. We made a deal.”I opened my eyes and looked toward the stream. A deer stood there, drinking peacefully.I rose, moving slowly.“Don’t you dare give us deer blood,” the demon snapped, disgust dripping from every word.“I can’t keep drinking human blood,” I muttered aloud.“I can hear your thoughts, Damien. You’ll only get weaker with animal blood.”“Then I’ll be weak,” I growled. “Better weak than a monster.”“Why not… werewolf blood?”I froze.“What the hell—was that you?” I asked my demon.“No,” he re

EARLIER – BEFORE THE KIDNAPPINGThird Person POVDerick stood at the tall, iron gates of Damien’s mansion, gripping the straps of his worn-out backpack, eyes wide with disbelief. Armed guards stood like statues, their weapons tucked against their chests, their eyes alert and unforgiving.“What the f**k…?” he muttered under his breath. “Who the hell does Ken know that lives like this?”A guard stepped forward, expression unreadable. “Who might you be?”Derick cleared his throat, suddenly unsure of himself. “Ken’s… brother. He told me to come here.”The guard narrowed his eyes, said something into his earpiece, then nodded and stepped aside. “You’re clear. Here’s the door code. Don’t wander where you’re not invited.”Derick entered the code with shaking fingers and the gate buzzed open. The moment he stepped into the mansion’s foyer, his jaw dropped.“Holy sh*t…” he whispered. “This place looks like it belongs to a mafia boss or something.”Black marble floors, high ceilings, abstract a

Damien – POVThe forest swallowed the moonlight.Branches clawed at my arms as I tore through the woods, Ashiel and Cris on my heels. My lungs burned, but the mate bond blazed hotter—Luxian’s pain was a beacon in my veins, pulling me forward like a noose tightening around my throat. Every heartbeat pounded with his fear. Every breath reeked of silver.“They’re close,” I snarled, tasting blood from biting my tongue.Ashiel raised a hand, forcing us to slow. His eyes swept the dark, wolf-sharp. “Traps. Everywhere.”The scent hit me—gunpowder, oil, sweat. Dmitri had planned this well. Silver wires stretched low across the path, nearly invisible in the dark. Wooden stakes soaked in wolfsbane jutted from the ground at odd angles. A whisper of movement to our left—Cris’s hand shot out, grabbing my shoulder before I stepped on a pressure plate.“Careful,” he hissed.The bond yanked harder. Luxian was hurting. Bad.I pushed forward, ignoring the sting of wolfsbane as I brushed past a tripwire