Hi Guys and Girls, I'm back!

Sorry it's been a while, but I've been really sick the last four months. I haven't been able to write or edit anything in all that time.

Now I'm back with a new chapter, however I am still recovering from four months of being ill and bedrest so please be a little lenient with any mistakes. By all means if you find any mistakes please feel free to let me know and I'll fix them right up.

Thanks to all those who have stuck with me all this time and especially to those reviewed, you all do inspire me to write!


Chapter 5 – On the Run


Jadeite was completely dreading what he had to do next, but he knew he had no choice. The young mortal woman had been left in his care and she had escaped. It did not matter that it was allowed by the order of the Lycaon Princess, Serena had been his responsibility and he would offer no excuses when the time came for him to face his Prince's wrath.

The moment his Alpha's mortal mate had jumped the wall, Jadeite had ordered Nephlite to follow Serena while he'd asked his own mate Rei to bring him a cell phone before he had followed Nephlite in the pursuit himself.

Unlike mortal movies, in which clothing morphed with the shape shifter, it was not so in real life. Clothing was not a part of them, which was why Lycaon females rarely wore tight or irreplaceable jewellery and accessories, and why the pack maintained several apartments and houses throughout the city where any member of the pack could go for clothing, cash or even just a place to spend the day until the safety of darkness came again.

Jadeite had considered asking Rei to call and inform her brother on Serena's escape from the manor but the duty and the consequences were his to bear. He was the one who should and would deliver the news to his Alpha.

They had to keep Serena safe – even from herself – even if they couldn't stop her themselves. They couldn't lay hand upon her, but they could still follow her beyond her sight and keep an eye on her. As they had continued to do so even after she'd reached the road and flagged down a car that was at this very moment taking her into the city. They had effortlessly kept pace with the car until they could follow no further and the car disappeared from sight amongst the towering structures of the mortal city.

Jadeite stood on the very border of the city in the last line of trees before the city began with Nephlite at his side. Not only was the ground they stood upon the borderline between city and the surrounding woods, but it was also where the Lycaon territory ended and the neutral territory that was the city began. Even though territory borders weren't as important as they had been during the Lycaon Anami War, when Lycaon and Anami kind kept to their own territory – and there hadn't been such a thing as "neutral territory" before the end of the war – there were still Lycaon and Anami territories, only these days the lines of the borders could be crossed without fear, although a little wariness did naturally arise from leaving one's own territory.

Jadeite was torn between continuing the pursuit and keeping the secret of his kind by not venturing into a mortal city in his wolf form. The possibility of being seen was extremely high. The cities belonged solely to the mortals; the mortal kind were easily frightened and they were dangerous with all their weapons of mass destruction that they'd invented and perfected over the last century.

They either had to wait until a later hour in the night when most mortals retired for the night – which would more than hour at least – or they could proceeded on foot in human form. They were faster than mortal humans in their human forms, but they weren't nearly as fast in human form as they were in their wolf forms. The only problem that presented itself was finding adequate clothing.

A naked man running through the mortal city was just as noticeable as a wolf larger than most of their motor vehicles.

Within a minute of the car leaving his sight, Jadeite sensed and heard Rei approach from behind, knowing she carried a cell phone in her muzzle. He could smell the plastic and electronics of the device.

All at once, in the safety of the darkness of the trees, Jadeite shifted back into his human form – indifferent to his naked state or the cool chill of the coming night - and held out his hand for the cell phone.

Darien was going to kill them all, and Jadeite's head was going to be the first on the chopping block.


Rage blazed through Darien like liquid fire as it never had before, fuelling him onward that much faster, making his senses that much sharper, but as scorching as his rage was there was no ignoring the icy sickening dread that weighed heavily in his gut.

Serena had been threatened before. Hell, she had been in peril the night he had found her, the night he had first saved her life; the night his entire life had changed forever when one mortal woman had become the centre of his entire world. But that night had been different, as had the night h

e had brought her to the manor, because he had known where she was at the time and had been there in time to save her.

Now, Darien didn't know where his mate was and as potent as his rage was – at both his mate for running from him and those who'd let her leave the pack's protection – it was nothing compared to his need to find his mate and his fear at what could happen to her between now and then.

That he needed everyone he could spare searching for his mate was all that kept him from killing his two Betas for failing to protect his mate that he'd stupidly left in their charge.

There was no doubt that they would pay, and pay dearly, but right now all that mattered was finding Serena. Once Serena was safely inside the manor once again, Darien fully intended to beat them bloody.

Upon learning of his mate's escape, and once his vision had calmed from a blazing fiery blood red to orange and he had regained some control of himself again, Darien had ordered his Beta's and any warrior who could be spared from the protection of the manor to search the city through until she was found. They had to find her, and everyone under his command should have been in on the search but with all the Damned activity lately, he couldn't leave the manor or his pack unprotected. As much as he was now – or very soon would be – a bonded mate, he was the Alpha and protector of his pack.

Darien had left his company business matters to the mortals in his company the moment Jadeite had called him with the news that his mate had left the grounds of the estate and had disappeared into the city. He had then, with Zoicite and the thirteen other members of his pack who had accompanied him into the city – the dozen bodyguards were merely for the sake of mortal public appearance – blended into the deserted shadows in a city side street.

After shifting to his wolf form that would make it easier and faster to find her – the mortals who saw him be damned – Darien had reached out to Rei and had ordered her to dispatch every able member of his pack who wasn't vital to the protection of the manor to join the search.

And since more and more of his kind had been arriving in his territory since word had spread that the Lycaon prince had found his mate, his mortal mate, there were near double the number to search.

All that mattered was finding Serena.

But the search was taking too long for Darien's liking and in wolf form they were forced to keep to the shadows which often meant taking the long way around, but in wolf form taking the long way around he was still faster than if he was in human form. As Lycaon kind, in human form they were ten times stronger, faster and their senses were just as acute, than the mortal humans, but as a wolf, their abilities were a thousand times greater.

Serena!

Darien skidded to an abrupt halt, digging his clawed toes into the cool grass and damp earth, and lowered his muzzle to the ground. He breathed in deep through his wolf nose, the scent of his mate rich and unmistakable; he would know his mate's scent even long after he forgot his own name. She had passed by here not fifteen minutes before.

Raising his head, Darien looked around with every sense and instinct he had focused and probing.

Jadeite had followed the vehicle that had picked up Serena and had followed it to the city limits, as he had been in his wolf form. He could have changed back and followed but even though Darien didn't like it that he hadn't, they all knew that a naked man running through the city was something that would stand out amongst the mortals and draw the attention of local law enforcement.

Since Darien had been in the city when he'd gotten the news that Serena had taken off, he had taken a chance in heading for the campus. Like all Immortal kind, mortals tended too feel the safest on their own territory and even though Serena didn't think of the area as her territory, it was the place with which she was most familiar with.

And his gamble had paid off. Darien stood in the thick brush of the same park on the University campus in which he had first laid eyes on his mate the night he'd saved her from the brutal murderous hands of the three Damned.

The sun had well and truly disappeared from the horizon as true night had fallen, but there was a full moon above that lit up the night like a silver sun. There was no colour and the shadows were black, but it was a bright and clear night in which even mortal eyes could see. He had not dared to venture too far from the shadows; it was extremely fortunate that he was pure black in his wolf form that blended smoothly with the shadows.

In the distance, Darien could hear cheerful carnival music, laughter and loud excited screams that indicated there was a large mortal gathering, a celebration or a festival maybe.

Of all the nights . . .

Darien sent a silent mental command back to his pack to send some of his warriors to take up the task of hunting Damned in the park tonight. When mortals gathered at night in one place, the Damned descended to hunt like a swarm of locusts on a ripe cornfield.

Then, Darien turned his full focus back to his task at hand. With Serena's fresh scent teasing his senses, Darien no longer needed every available Lycaon he had searching for her; he would find her very soon.

She couldn't have gone far.

Serena must have been dropped off nearby and had cut through the park to get back to her dorm room. She had been running or at least moving briskly; the scent was thinner than it would have been had she been walking as she spent less time in the one place. The longer one remained in the one place, the thicker the scent left behind was.

Darien wondered how she'd reacted when she'd gotten to the building only to learn that she really wasn't enrolled there anymore and that her stuff had been taken away, just as he'd arranged right in front of her. Maybe Serena had thought he'd been bluffing or hopped that he hadn't gotten around to finishing his arrangements with her belongings, but whatever was going on in that beautiful little head of hers, she was heading for the campus dorms.

Chuckling silently to himself, Darien left the bush and took off following the scent of his mate who would more than likely be more than a little ticked off that he really had left her with no place to go except his manor.


If Serena ever saw that arrogant jerk ever again, she was going to kill him! She would be damned if she'd let the fact that he was a werewolf with superhuman strength and speed stop her from taking her revenge on him.

She had finally taken her chance and had gotten away from the jerk and his mansion of prison guards only to get to the dorm to find that her bed had already been given to someone else, her personal possessions had really been taken away and that she was no longer enrolled in the semester – which was hard to believe since the semester would be coming to a close in a few weeks.

Serena had been hoping that Darien had been bluffing when he'd offered the university FIVE MILLION DOLLARS – she still hadn't managed to wrap her head around that – to defer her for a year, or that Darien would drag his feet in arranging her deferment, but the jerk – in the space of twelve hours – had managed it!

Serena wanted to scream.

The jerk was far more cunning and ruthless – and arrogant – than she ever would've thought. He'd not only ended the search for her as a missing person – she wasn't an idiot, she knew that the girls would've filed a missing person's report after a day of her sudden disappearance – but had also given her no immediate place to go. She had no clothes but what she wore, no personal items, and almost no money. She had a few dollars in her pocket that had been in her purse the night she'd been kidnapped from the nightclub. She didn't even have her cell phone as it had been taken from her purse before it had been given back to her the day after she'd trashed the jerk's bedroom.

Now Serena found herself beneath the bright lights in a thick crowd of the Carnival that had been organised to raise money for the student committees, clubs and other student activities of the University. It was their last chance before midterms began and everyone seemed to need a night of relaxation and rest from their studies. The carnival was in the far side of the park – the very park she'd been attacked in – as because of the noise it needed to be kept away from the dorms and other suburban areas. It was noisy with laughter, excited gossiping and chatter, the sounds of the rides, the occasional girlish squeal and the customary carnival music that was uplifting but before too long would drive most people insane.

Serena wasn't there looking to have fun; she'd figured that a large crowd of people was the safest place for her at night, from both the bad Vampires and Werewolves, and one pain-on-the-ass, arrogant werewolf – no Lycaon – in particular. She wasn't an idiot; she knew he'd be looking for her the moment Jadeite was able to get in touch with him, which in the age of communications wouldn't take too long.

So she had to stay hidden until she figured out what to do. She was walking silently, uninterested in any of the fun and excitement around her, back and forth through the crowd of people, not paying attention to anything around her as she wasn't too worried as long as she was in the crowd.

She had to get away, that was crystal clear, and not just to the other side of the city. She had to get well and truly away from the city. She had to hide until Darien gave up looking for her – she ignored the small voice in her head that kept insisting that he'd never stop looking for her just as Rei had forewarned – and it had to be somewhere safe.

Maybe Lita's mother's place upstate.

Serena groaned as she took a seat on an empty bench at the edge of the carnival area. Would upstate be far enough away from Darien and his insane obsessive territorial domineering attitude?

Serena scoffed at herself. The moon wouldn't be far enough away.

Maybe she should just give up now and go back. It would save a lot of effort and stress; it wasn't easy being on the run. She hadn't even been on the run for a full hour and already she felt mentally exhausted and more than a little paranoid; she couldn't stop looking over her shoulder. She didn't like the feeling at all.

Serena winced at the idea but couldn't dismiss it. She hadn't been hurt or mistreated by anyone at the mansion – other than being bored to tears locked in a room the entire time. She'd been taken care of; she'd been well fed and all of her needs had been seen too.

Hell, she'd trashed an entire room without anyone saying anything about it.

And Serena had to admit it to herself that even if one of those she loved most had trashed one of her rooms, she would've had something to say about it. Even if it had been Sammy, even though there had been a time when Serena would've let Sammy get away with murder.

They just didn't care what she did – as long as she stayed inside their protective walls.

It was strange, but Serena found that she almost felt safe inside those walls. The fact that the mansion's inhabitants were werewolves – Lycaons damn it! She had to remember that! – had stopped frightening her; exactly when that had happened she didn't have a clue, but she knew it was the truth.

She wasn't afraid of the overbearing pack of immortal superhuman Lycaons.

And the big jerk did seem insistent about protecting her. He'd saved her life twice now – that she knew of – so how could she think that he was lying about anything?

Well, anything important anyway. Darien hadn't exactly lied to her, but he hadn't asked her permission when he'd pulled her from her classes and had moved her out of her dorm, effectively putting a temporary end of her life as she knew it.

But the truth Serena knew she didn't want to face was that her life had ended as she'd known it the moment she'd been targeted by three Damned that night. Her life would have ended in all meanings had Darien not saved her life.

Twice. In one week.

Serena groaned, well and truly frustrated, as she dropped her head into her hands, closing her eyes. She felt so confused, so conflicted. She didn't know what to do. It was such an impossible situation.

She felt stuck . . . oh hell, she was stuck! Stuck in the middle of something she could neither understand nor control.

Why did this have to happen to her? Why couldn't she just go back to her ordinary every day life and forget about all of this? Yeah, she got it. There were Lycaons and Vampires – what had Jadeite called them? Anami – in the night – not all of whom were good – and that there was some kind of supernatural war going on, but why did she have to be a part of it? She was nothing special; she wasn't super strong or fast nor could she turn into a wolf the size of an SUV.

She didn't even know how to defend herself against an ordinary wolf!

And then there was Darien insisting that she was his soulmate! She didn't even like him and he expected her to just roll over for him?!

Serena huffed; she just wasn't that easy, damn it-!

Serena's entire body tingled with familiar awareness a split moment before her head snapped up, her eyes growing wide. She sat frozen like a deer caught in the headlights of an oncoming train.

She knew it; she felt it as surely as she could feel the cool breeze of the night against her bare skin.

She felt him. He was close, watching her.

Very slowly, very reluctantly, Serena turned in her seat and focused on the shadows behind her. The light from the carnival stretched beyond her, for four to five feet before the orange light was swallowed by the dark of night, only a few feet from a line of bushes and shrubbery that in the spring time sprouted small white and pink flowers.

There was no sign of movement or a single sound to alert her, but she knew it was him without doubt. She had felt the exact same sensation of being watched by him from the moment he'd saved her life the first time; she just hadn't known what the feeling was at the time. Her entire body was tingling with her awareness of him; she could feel him watching her, feel his presence as if he were a missing part of her.

A flash of movement drew Serena's eye slightly to the right of where she'd been focusing and then she saw it.

Beneath the silvery moon Serena could see the distinct silhouette of a large midnight black wolf and the eerie glow of those dark blue eyes that were filled with his blazing temper.

Darien had come for her in his wolf form. She was in trouble now. He was hard enough to escape when he was a man, how was she going to escape the wolf she knew was the perfect predator?

Serena involuntarily gulped and slowly rose to her feet, not even blinking for fear that she would lose sight of him and right now her survival instincts were screaming at her to keep her eyes fixed on him. She didn't trust him for a moment not to do something that would make her even more furious with him.

Something that would no doubt involve dragging of her back to his mansion.

His eyes burned with fury. She felt his intense heated gaze far more than she was able to see it. He was pissed off and determined in the way only the most dangerous and cunning of predators were and it was in that moment that she knew that Darien would never stop chasing her, never let her go, no matter how far she ran.

What more proof did she need? Here he was, less than two hours since she'd fled his mansion, in his towering wolf form glaring at her from the dark shadows with clear intent in his penetrating dark eyes.

Serena knew it was only that he was in his wolf form that kept him from leaping from the cloaking shadows of the night into the crowded area to get her as he would draw the kind of terrified mortal attention that would get him on the news.

Darien would never stop chasing her and now that he had found her it would be near impossible to lose him, but that didn't mean she wouldn't still try. Darien was a force greater than nature itself, and he believed that she was his, for life. Nothing she could say would sway his belief. She'd seen well enough that he was a man who was confident and steadfast in his beliefs and he refused to give as much as an inch when it came to getting what he wanted.

If she submitted to him now, then she would always be submitting to him. He was a man – a force – that listened to no one and did as he pleased; there would never be any negotiating with him, no compromise or middle ground. He expected nothing less of her than for her to bow to his mighty will, and she couldn't let that happen. Not only did she fear the consequences if she did, the feminist within her that was embedded in most women these days, refused to let it happen.

Long gone were the days when women were expected to submit without question to the will of men; just because Darien and his kin hadn't gotten with the modern program didn't change anything in her book.

She may not be able to run far for long, but Serena had to try. Her chances of actually escaping were pretty slim but that wasn't going to stop her.

Darien had to learn that she wasn't his to do with as he pleased.

Right now, Serena was safe amongst the large crowd. In his wolf form Darien would risk too much in coming for her while she was surrounded by mortal eyes; so for now he couldn't get to her, but now that he'd found her Serena knew he wasn't about to take his eyes off her for a single moment.

She was the prey, his prize, and he was the cunning perfect predator that never failed to catch his quarry.

But if he thought catching her was going to be a cakewalk, then he was in for one huge letdown.

Darien's relief that Serena was alright and had been found before she put herself in anymore danger than she already had was beyond any description in any of the languages he knew – and he knew them all. He was furious with her that she had run in the first place but it held nothing when compared to his relief.

But she was going to run again but Darien would not let her run from him a third time. The first time she had managed to get out of his guarded bedroom and the second time she had managed to escape his guarded manor, but there would not be a third time.

Slowly, so not to draw attention, Darien in his sleek black wolf form, stepped out from the cover of the bushes and fully into the silvery moonlight, stalking towards her and only stopping at the edge of the circle of light Serena stood within.

As she stood beneath the orange light surrounded by darkness, Darien was reminded of the first time he'd really seen her. Not the glimpse he had caught when the three Damned had been playing with their food – deep within Darien's Beast growled furiously at how close they had come to losing her before even finding her – but the first time he had really looked at her after the three Damned had been slain.

That moment would forever be burned into his memory even if he outlived time itself; the sight had stolen his breath and had come close to stopping his heart. Time had stopped as he had stared spellbound by her standing beneath the golden glow of the artificial light. Her eyes had been wide and her skin milky pale from the terror the three slain Damned had caused her and her hair had been glowing like sunlight as she had stood frozen before his eyes.

In that moment, the moment he had recognised her as his true wolfmate, everything had changed, in his world and even within him. His beast and the man he was had united and become one by the shared goal of protecting and claiming their mate. Serena had become the most important thing in his life and for the first time in his life he would have gladly fallen to bended knee before her at her slightest whim, the pride and ego in him of a crown prince forever damned to the wind.

In that one moment Darien had truly come to understand why so many a strong proud warriors had been brought to their knees at the very sight of their mates, she whom was everything to them.

And fate it seemed was not without a sense of irony; for fate had given him a mate who did not yet understand what it was to be mated, to be such a significant part of each other that one could not survive the death of the other.

The day Serena had destroyed his chambers had made Darien smile because he had found a mate who was just as stubborn and wilful as he was; Serena would please his mother to no end. Even as a child Darien had been strong-minded and stubborn, and many a time his mother had told him that it would serve him right to have a mate or a child of his own who was just as difficult as he had been as child.

It seemed the Moon Goddess had heard his mother's forewarning.


Serena didn't dare take her eyes off him even for the brief instant it would take her to blink. She was still in the light; still able to be seen by those at the Carnival only a matter of feet behind her, even though she was alone in the immediate area except for him.

The midnight black wolf with piercing watchful dark blue eyes stood only a single step back from the golden circle of light she stood within beneath the overhead light. If he took one more step he would no longer be protected by the blackness of night and he would be noticed, possibly within seconds.

No one missed a car-sized monster of a wolf.

But if he took that one last step, he would have her.

And he knew it. The smug triumph in his glowing eyes was unmistakable. While she stood in the light and he in the darkness of night, all she could see was his silhouette and his penetrating burning dark blue eyes that were so intense that they looked black, but what was worse than those piercing eyes was that the closer he got to her the more she could feel him. She could feel his gaze upon her and she could feel him!

Damn it! Serena silently cursed every god and goddess in heaven for this. She normally wasn't a violent person – the complete and utter trashing of a certain bedroom aside – but now she wanted so badly to hurt something – most preferably him! Although, Serena strongly suspected that if she tried, she would only end up hurting herself.

Serena gritted her teeth in sheer outraged frustration and for the moment forgot that he was an immortal being so much stronger and faster than she was. She just didn't care that he was a wolf bigger than a damned bear! Why couldn't he just leave her alone?!

"You can't do this, you stupid overstuffed mutt! This is kidnapping! I don't want to go back!"

Darien very carefully shifted his body forward without lifting a single paw, just enough for the light to illuminate his features in half-light so she could read more than his eyes. Unless anyone was standing within a few feet, they still wouldn't be able to see him while they were standing in the light. He was black after all. The night was his camouflage.

Serena stood frozen as his slight movement brought him closer.

A low warning growl reached her ears, even over the carnival music from behind her. Serena saw him lift his lips a little, revealing the rows of sharp pointed K9 teeth. His growl had a gentle edge to it; the intention was obviously not to frighten her anymore than she already was but at the same time he'd clearly communicated his strong disproval to her words.

It was like banging her head against a brick wall, and Serena had the overpowering urge to do just that; it would be easier than dealing with him. "You have no right to do this to me!"

Darien raised his head a fraction, looked straight into her eyes and narrowed his own eyes, clearly communicating, without words, something along the lines of, 'Oh really?'

Serena got the message as loud and clear as if he'd actually spoken the words, and in the far corner of her mind she was disturbed that she could understand him – in wolf form – so well, maybe even better than when he was in human form. At least in this form he was forced to keep his distance.

Just what was it going to take? How could she make him understand that she couldn't stay with him? They were too different; she was human for crying out loud! He was an immortal! Her life would be but a blink of an eye to him!

Serena slumped in fatigue – mental rather than physical. He was an unmovable Immortal force who couldn't take no for an answer. What did she have to do to make him understand? She just wanted a normal happy life with normal things – husband, kids, a house in the suburbs paid for by a good job. Why was normal so beyond her reach?

"I never asked for any of this! I just want to go home and have my life be like it was before."

Darien's stance and wolfish expression visibly softened with sympathy. It broke his heart to see her like this, so distressed and confused, and as much as he wanted to grant her every heart's desire, this one he couldn't give. There was too much at stake to let her go – her life, his life, and the continuation of not just his people but both of the Immortal races. They would both just have to endure until she came to realise that her place was with him, that she belonged to him. For always.

Serena saw his demeanour soften, but the resolved look in his eyes remained that told her that even though he was sorry – for what exactly Serena wasn't sure – it didn't change anything. He was never going to let her go.

Damn him! He was relentless! He was a spoiled bratty prince who refused to have it any other way than his! The spoiled self-indulged prince and Alpha needed to be brought down to size, and she really wanted to be the one to kick his pedestal out from under him.

Darien didn't like the look on his mate's beautiful face one bit. In fact it almost made him draw back in wary fear. A tiny hint of a grin lifted the corners of her lips, but the grin was not one of joy. No, her grin was one the devil's own mistress would have while plotting the devil's demise. No matter how stronger or faster a male was than a woman, when that look crossed a woman's face, it brought about the same response in all males – total and all-consuming terror that made a man's testicles draw up so tightly that surgery was needed to get them back.

Whenever that grin appeared on Rei's lips, every male of his pack instinctively bolted with their tails between their legs. Rei was cunning and diabolical in a way that only a woman could be and it seemed that his own mate was just as frightening as his sister was.

The Moon Goddess help them if Serena was even half as cunning as Rei.

Serena noticed Darien tense in the darkness, his eyes now far more wary and watchful than they were before. Something must've alerted him to her line of thought and he was justifiably apprehensive. It might be worth a broken toe or two just to see his face when she kicked him but kicking him meant that she would have to be much closer to him than she was and she knew if she took so much as a step towards him, he'd have her back at the mansion in a blink of her mortal eye.

If Darien thought for a moment that she would go back quietly, then he was in for a nasty awakening.

All Serena needed was one moment of distraction so she could lose herself amongst the crowd; what she was betting on was that Darien would flee from mortal attention rather than choose to follow her through a crowd.

Without warning, Serena whirled to run back to the crowd – she didn't like turning her back to him but she didn't have a choice in the matter if she was going to take this chance to run – but immediately came to a halt so abruptly that she lost her balance. She threw out her arms in attempt to steady herself, but there was too much momentum and she found herself falling backwards through the air.

Serena landed hard on the concrete path on her backside. A grunted "oaf" escaped her parted lips.

It only took her a moment to regain her bearings before Serena furiously narrowed her eyes at him, glaring daggers at the huge black wolf and silently willing him to burst into flames.

But of course, he didn't; since when had Darien done one thing she'd wanted him to do?

Unwilling to give in, to submit to him just as he wanted her too, Serena scowled at him and demanded irately, "So what now cave wolf? Are you going to drag me back kicking and screaming by my hair?"

Darien lowered his enormous head to make himself seem none-threatening while at the same time narrowing his eyes again.

Serena wanted to scream in sheer infuriation at the clear translation: 'I'm not going to drag you back by your hair but you are going back.'

It wasn't until that moment that Serena realised that something had changed. She was sitting on the icy path, still in the circle of golden light from the overhead light, but he had moved. He stood outside of the protective circle of light, but now he stood between her and the crowd on the footpath with the orange light of the carnival on his back.

A broad devilish grin spread across her angelic face and Darien felt every strand of fur on his back stand on end in alarm and he knew that his demise was at hand in that smile.

The little troublemaker up to something that would not end well for him, of that he had no doubt.

Serena knew she'd given him warning, but that didn't matter. Her plan had hit her like the clicking on of a light bulb and she wasn't going to waste this chance.

Drawing in a deep breath, Serena summoned up everything she had within her and she screamed with every decibel she possessed. Her squeals and screams had been called deafening – often the phrase "wake the dead" had been used to describe the volume of her screams – as she had been born with the ability of being able to scream loudly at high pitched, deafening levels; a gift she fully intended to now utilize.

"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH! A WOLF! HELP!"

Serena knew her throat wasn't going to easily forgive her for this, but it was worth it when, even over the noisy sounds of the carnival, dozens of pairs of eyes immediately whirled in her direction.

In the darkness of night, but caught between the pool of light from the carnival and the light of the path light above, the shape of the humongous wolf was able to be distinguished from the shadows around him.

There was a moment of still silence and then all hell broke loose. Screams and panicked cries filled the air and people began to scramble frantically in every direction but hers.

And as Darien swung his head around to witness the chaos behind him, Serena was already on her feet, and – taking a wide arc around him – bolted for the crowd like the devil was on her heels – a black one in the form of a wolf.

Within moments Serena was lost in the frantically dispersing crowd, heading in the opposite direction of the campus.

Darien snarled furiously, but didn't go after her. She was mingled in with the crowd of terrified screaming mortals who were fleeing frantically in all directions. It would only be a matter of minutes before armed mortals were swarming the area looking for the dangerous enormous black wolf. The chances of them actually hurting him were practically nonexistent but he was honour-bound to protect his people and their secret.

Instead of following his mate as his Beast demanded, Darien bolted from the immediate area, his fury making his blood boil. Even though he would never harm his mate she was going to pay for this and pay dearly when he found her.

And he would find her. Tonight. Before she did something even more asinine than what she had just done in fleeing from him again! What was it going to take to get it through her stubborn head that she was in grave danger?

Serena carried his scent on her skin, even the newest simplest Damned would know that she was in close contact with him and they would certainly kill her.

Without faltering in his swift stride, Darien sent a mental command to his first Beta's to bring him clothes. Immediately! He didn't care if they had to duck into a store to buy or steal them! He had to resume the pursuit of his mate, in human form, and when he found her he was going to teach her what happened when she continued to defy him.


Half an hour had passed since Serena had hastily ducked into the crowded nightclub – a full hour since she'd escaped a certain jerk at the University carnival – but for every single one of those slow passing thirty minutes the same questions had kept repeating themselves in her mind, over and over, hounding her relentlessly.

Was he still out there looking for her? Would he eventually give up and leave her alone or would he reach the end of this tether and do something caveman-like? If he found her here at the club would he come in after her or would he wait for her to come out?

Surely with all these people crowding the nightclub she was safe from him, at least for the time being. He couldn't do anything while she was surrounded by people; he hadn't chased her into the violently hysterical crowds at the carnival after all. However the down side of her plan was that the club would have to close at some point and she'd have to go out there. This wasn't her usual club and she had no idea what time it closed for the night.

Serena sighed dejectedly and took another sip of her drink, the alcohol going down her throat with a bitter sweet burn. She was still on her first drink – she was being hunted, letting go of her inhibitions right now was not a good idea however she'd been unable to resist the temptation to have at least one drink to calm her frayed nerves.

She felt as cagey and paranoid as a rabbit on the run for its life from a relentless starving wolf.

Now Serena knew how Little Red Riding Hood felt; the fear of being eaten by the big bad wolf wasn't pleasant.

Around her people were dancing, flirting and having a good old time; just like her usual club – if you could call the once-in-a-while visit to the University's nightclub usual – most of the bodies around her were in her age group. The club was dark with colourful techno lights, loud popular music blared from the speakers strategically places around the club, the bar was crowded and supplying overpriced fancy drinks and cocktails and the atmosphere was cheerful and loose.

Serena however, felt detached from the contagious atmosphere. The last time she'd been in a night club it had started with having some fun with her friends and had ended with her smack dab in the middle of a war between Immortal Supernatural beings. She'd been kidnapped and taken into the world of werewolves – Lycaons – and vampires – the Anami.

And now all Serena wanted was to turn back time and make things as they were. She wanted to hang out with her friends, study for exams, work towards her dream of having a normal life and the have the only weight on her mind be the taking care of her brother, but now that seemed so impossible.

Darien would never stop hunting her. She would have to find a place to hide, someplace far away and she would have to stay there.

Was a normal life really too much to ask of fate, or destiny, or whatever supreme force was out there that made the world go round?

Serena took another sip of her fruity drink and closed her eyes, relishing in the taste of the sweet drink and the effect it was having on her. With each sip worries faded further and further into the background. Logic told her that she should still be running, but right now all she wanted was this one brief moment of normalcy. The alcoholic drink was shimmering delightful magic on her tongue and belly, the music of the night club filled her ears and vibrated through her, the pounding beat almost pumping her heart for her and the air around her was intoxicatingly care-free.

Unlike the mansion where the air was thick with grave tension and everything reminded her of him.

It was bad enough that the man himself was a force of nature, but to have everything in the mansion carry his scent or his essence was damn near unbearable. It was like the mansion was a part of him. She couldn't escape him even when he wasn't there! Hell, he even invaded her dreams! Although that wasn't surprising since the bed she slept in was so obviously his! Until now she'd even refused to think about – denial was such a sweet thing – how she dreamed of him and had in one form or another since he'd saved her life that night, the first time. She'd dreamed of him saving her life – both times – and she'd dreamed of being held in his arms.

She had even dreamed that he'd joined her in his bed . . .

Serena squashed the thought right there. There was no way in hell that she was going to let herself be seduced by him into going back to the manor by her own free will. As much as it pained her to admit it – to herself – they had some serious sexual chemistry going on between them. If he hadn't kept away from her, Serena had no doubt that she would've invited him back into his bed before now.

Darien frustrated and irritated her to no end, and she wanted to hate him, but she just couldn't. She owed him her life – twice over – and even though he'd kept her prisoner in his dreary mansion, she couldn't forget that how much she owed him. He hadn't hurt her, hadn't mistreated her; in fact he seemed adamant in providing her with everything she needed or asked for. Even his staff had gone out of their way to give her the food she'd requested while at the same time assuring that she had a healthy and balanced diet.

Which was either really disturbingly creepy or really sweet, she hadn't figured out which yet.

The pack were attentive and protective of her, in such a way that over time Serena knew it would weaken her resolve to escape from them to live her dream if an ordinary everyday life.

Was a normal life really asking too much-?

And then without warning, or reason, her skin started to tingle with that familiar awareness and Serena instinctively knew.

Slowly, grudgingly, Serena opened her eyes, raised her knowing wary gaze and instantly found him in the dark overcrowded club, her gaze drawn to him like a magnetic force.

He wasn't a wolf anymore – not physically anyway – but he was on the hunt none-the-less. The pain-in-the-ass hunter she knew as Darien, Alpha and prince of the Lycaon kind, stood at the corner of the bar closest to the door, glaring darkly at her with a gaze so intense in his furious eyes that it felt as if they were burning a hole right through her skin. He was dressed completely in black, from the smooth almost shinny black long sleeved button up shirt – that Serena suspected was silk – to his black slacks and black leather shoes.

And the deep black coat that reached his shins completed the ominous comic book character look.

Eep! She was in trouble now.

Unable to stand his heated gaze a moment longer, Serena leapt off her stool and did what any creature would do in the face of a dark dangerous – not to mention royally pissed off – predator; she fled – even though a loud voice in her head told her that her efforts to escape him – again – were futile. The man was a wolf – in so many more ways than the physical one – who'd taken the hunt to an art form, and the look in his eyes told her that he was taking this hunt very personally.

Serena knew, without doubt in her body, that the wolf hunting her was the perfect powerful predator. He was superhumanly powerful and ruthless. Escaping him was like trying to escape the sun in the middle of the Sahara desert – sooner or later, no matter how hard or far you ran it was going to find you and make you regret even the thought of running.

Before Serena could move as much as three feet, Serena felt powerful hard arms catch hold of her and she was lifted her up off her feet, and the next thing Serena knew her back was pressed up against the hard cold wall of the nightclub while her entire front was pressed into hard warmth – that was harder than the solid wall at her back.

Serena struggled to draw breath, not because she was pinned too tightly between him and the wall, but because her entire front was pressed into his unyielding form from her ankles to her breasts, making her VERY aware of him as a man.

Helplessly, Serena looked up into the darkest blue eyes she'd ever known that burned with deep blue fire. To put it lightly, he was pissed and then some.

But despite the fury in his eyes and his inhuman strength, Serena felt no fear that he would hurt her. Yes she was afraid – an infuriated immortal crown prince was awe-inspiring – but in this moment she feared his overshadowing presence and the consequences of running from him. Even after all that had happened over the passed week Serena instinctively knew that Darien would never cause her any physical harm.

He would never hurt her. She had never been more certain of anything in her life.

In fact she had felt nothing but a slight jerk when he'd picked her up and pinned her against the wall; the act had been swift and jerky but at the same time it had been deliberate and careful.

But still there was much to fear about this man – this force of nature – who held her captive between him and the wall in a crowded night club. What he could do with his physical strength was just the beginning of what there was to fear – and respect – about him.

Needing space between them more than ever, Serena raised her arms to his shoulders and pushed against him, willing him to step away from her, but she might as well have tried to move the wall at her back; he was hard and strong and he wasn't moving an inch unless he chose too.

In response to her futile attempts to push him back, Darien took a gentle but firm hold of her wrists and pinned them against the wall at her shoulders, and then he inserted his leg in-between hers; in doing so he forced her legs apart until she was helplessly pushed up onto the tips of her toes and as a result was forced to ride his thigh. All Serena could do was gasp and writhe as her most sensitive of places rubbed back and forth against his thick hard thigh.

Darien was very aware of two things. The first was the burning powerful drivewithin him to protect her, to stop her from trying to run from him and the second was her delicate softness that was pressed against him from her breasts to her kneecaps. Darien had to take a fierce sturdy hold on his beast that was all-consumed by lustful hunger fuelled by their fierce urge to protect their mate and their anger at her for running from them.

It wasn't easy to stay his Beast, even after all Darien's long centuries of practice mastering his control over his temper. His Beast wanted its freedom to claim in mate in the way of the wolf, to mark her as his over and over again until even Serena could not doubt their claim over her.

Where he was hard, Serena was warm softness. Darien could feel the heat of her radiating into him like heat from the sun, burning through the fabric of their clothing to scorch his cool toned flesh, but she burned hottest against his invading thigh pressed between her thighs, his greater height and bulk forcing her to ride his thigh like a rider would ride a prized stallion for the first time. His hard – and aching – arousal was nestled against her soft flat belly that with each breath and vain struggle rubbed against him in a manner that was both delicious and agonising torment.

It was not a surprise to him that he hardened so promptly for her; she was his mate and his body knew it as sure as it knew to draw breath.

The blatant sexual attraction between them was strong and undeniable, no matter how much his mate continued to try to delude herself to the contrary.

Serena's entire body was on fire and sensitive to the point of pain. She could almost feel every stitch of the two pieces of fabric that were her underwear and his pants that was rubbing against her most sensitive of places. With each and every little bit of friction, electric heat flared through her; the torturous sweet ecstasy building inside her body, threatening to explode and blow her into tiny pieces.

Her breasts felt heavy even though they were squished up against his tempered steel chest and her rebellious nipples had hardened of their own accord to the point that they ached and throbbed with the need to be touched.

Heat and desire exploded through her like a tsunami of liquid heat and sensation; it was a struggle just to remember how to breathe. Serena couldn't focus on anything but the pleasure his hard unyielding body was giving her. She had never felt anything like this before; the urge to mate was so intense, so powerful, her desire so potent, she didn't think her body could contain it much longer. Her body felt primed to explode! She prayed for more and she prayed for it to end all at the same time.

Her body screamed at her to beg him for more, to beg him to take her with all the animalistic carnal ferocity she sensed inside of him, but as much as her body wanted him the rest of her still feared him. She did not fear him harming her, no what she feared more than her own death was what she knew was the price of becoming his. It would be all too easy for her to submit to him, to allow herself to become lost in everything she knew he could and would give her, but the price of the easy road was just too high. In this dark powerful prince she would lose her freedom and worse she stood to lose her sense of self.

Serena couldn't let that happen. She valued her freedom and her sense of self way too much. She valued her dreams and ambitions that she continued to work so hard towards. In Darien's world she would cease to be Serena and she would become Darien's mate, a princess and future queen who sat in that golden throne beside Darien's, nothing more than a breathing decoration and accessory for the king-to-be.

She couldn't let that happen, she couldn't let herself become what he wanted her to be. She had to get control of herself before her traitorous body took her down a path there would be no return from, a path that ended with her sitting on that beautiful daunting throne.

Darien had never smelt anything as sweet as his mate's arousal. Her rich intoxicating musky scent was an aphrodisiac in itself, one created for him and him alone. It made his Beast purr and growl at the same time, purr in delight and growl with frustrated urgent need to claim his mate in the flesh.

It took one whiff of her scent for Darien to know that his mate was just as aroused as he was – he however was far more practised at controlling himself. He could smell the sweet arousing evidence of her desire and feel her beaded nipples pressed into his chest and the wet heat of her against him as she continued to helplessly ride his thigh. He was so tempted to wedge his thigh even further between her thighs, that would force her to fully grind herself against his thick invading thigh like one would a stallion at full gallop, but Darien grit his teeth and forced himself to remain still. He could smell her fear as acutely, as potently, as her desire.

His mate was afraid – of what exactly he did not know – and he and his beast alike did not like that one little bit. That his mate possibly feared him was unacceptable. He had to do everything he was able to assure her that he would never harm her, not for any reason. No matter how far she pushed him, no matter how infuriated she made him, he would never mean her harm in any way, shape or form. It was his duty, his life's purpose to protect her from harm, to keep her safe and provide for her. She was not of his world but still he had to make her understand, to comprehend, how absolute his devotion was to her.

Serena squeezed her eyes closed and gritted her teeth tightly as she fought against her rebellious over-heated overstimulated body that was blazing with furious desire. While her body wanted nothing more than to rock against his hard invading thigh, to seek out the pleasure and release she knew was a few hard grinds away, her mind and her will refused to submit to him. Submitting to him, even once, would give him all the power over her he needed to consume her whole and she would undoubtedly lose herself in him.

So, even though it was one of the hardest things she'd ever had to do, Serena forced herself to become still, instead using her burning sexual frustration and her emotional conflict to fuel her anger and strengthen her will against him.

Once certain she had enough control over herself, Serena opened her eyes and glared furiously up at him, hissing wrathfully through her clinched teeth. "Get off me, you asshole!"

Despite the fact that Serena currently reminded him of a furious spitting kitten – that he found so completely adorable – Darien growled a furious, unwavering "No!" in response to her demand.

Enraged fire flared in her sky blue eyes at his answer, but no matter how hard Serena tried to make it different, her frantically beating heart wasn't beating so frantically in her chest because of her fury. Lust was fire in her veins, and it had wrapped a hand around her heart that was making it hard to breathe. Her body was hot and flushed with wanting, while electric waves of pleasure were building like a supernova low in her belly and she didn't know how much longer she could keep it from taking her over, from consuming her like a possessing demon. Her heart was beating so fast, so hard that she knew he would have been able to hear it even if he'd had the hearing of a normal mortal man, and she was panting so shallowly that she feared she was going to pass out from the lack of oxygen. Her skin felt tight and heated like she was on fire and where he was touching her, her skin burned and tingled so hotly that it almost hurt. She felt light-headed and her chest was tight while her nipples ached from the absence of his touch. She was burning so fervently that the wall at her back felt like it was made of solid ice.

Deep inside Serena felt the icy touch of fear rise up, her survival instincts trying to give her the strength of will to resist him, but the inner icy touch was swiftly and completely drowned by the raging heat of her lustful desire. This was what she feared, how easily his touch overcame her, consumed her, made her want nothing but to feel more of his maddening addictive touch. But if she gave in she would lose herself to him, he was so . . he was too much! So much so that it felt as if he'd snuff her out like the single flame of a candle trapped defencelessly in the middle of a hurricane. She wasn't strong enough to keep hold of herself against this tidal wave of him.

Serena was so torn between the fear of him she carried within and the lustful burning of her body that she felt as if she were being torn in half from the inside.

In her desperation, Serena frantically, desperately, struggled against Darien's unbreakable – but pain-free – hold on her. Fighting with the desperation of an animal trapped facing certain death. She was fighting for her very existence. She fought even knowing that it was futile, he was all strength and ruthless will, and she hated it that she would never be free of him unless he chose to let her go.

Unfortunately, as if fate itself willed her submission to the Lycaon Prince, with each and every defiant desperate struggle, Serena was grinding her heated moist centre into and along his thickly muscled thigh sending hot electric bolts through her overheated body straight to her throbbing womb.

OH DEAR GOD! She wanted him! She was burning for him! She wanted to beg him to take her; it didn't matter that they were in a crowded night club. She wanted everything his strong hard body could give her, no matter the cost.

She wanted him. She wanted him inside of her. Oh, god, she wanted him deep inside of her where her womb throbbed and pulsed and vibrated with white hot pleasure that was driving her into madness.

And there was nothing she could do about it, nothing she could do to resist him, to put some distance between them. She was his captive, in more ways than one, and cruelly that knowledge only seemed to arouse her even more. His every touch stroked and stimulated something very primitive, something very female, deep down inside of her that she had never known existed and all she wanted was more.

And she wasn't the only one who was aroused; Serena could feel the hot hard length of him pressing into her thigh as yielding as a long thick iron rod.

Serena bit down hard on her lip to keep from crying out, or worse, begging Darien to do everything to her that his hard erection was promising her. She was so close, so very close, to surrendering to him, to surrendering to what their bodies so urgently wanted. It would be so much easier to just give herself to him, to become whatever he wanted her to be in exchange for the end of this burning raging desire inside of her, than to keep trying in vain to fight it. She was so sick and tired of fighting against him and herself; the temptation to just give in was so seductive.

It had been like this, bubbling beneath the surface, since the first time they had met. She'd been overcome with his blatant power and sexuality, his strength and his strength of will that first time he'd come close to her and licked her neck. To say that Darien was dominant would be the greatest understatement of the century. He was dominant, as stubborn as a jackass, obsessively possessive, overprotective, spoiled and accustomed to getting his way; if she wasn't careful he'd completely overpower her and she didn't just mean physically. She could so easily lose herself to him, in him.

And even worse, she would lose her heart to him.

For the sake of her own survival she HAD to resist him, but her survival instincts faltered against her flaring desire and it only made her panic all the more. Her struggles become more desperately frantic and wild while at the same time she was helplessly withering against him, lost in carnal desire.

Darien inwardly cursed and gritted his teeth so tightly it hurt, unable to prevent himself from becoming even harder with arousal as she increased her wild struggles and withering; already he was so close to coming in his pants like some inexperienced puberty cursed pup.

Damn it! Darien silently cursed himself and the fates. He was near a millennium old! He had mastered his control centuries ago; he wasn't some inexperienced pup in heat at the mercy of his raging hormones! But oh, by the goddess! He wanted, he burned, to press his erection into her, clothing or no – the mortals around them be damned – and just thrust himself into her hot wet softness.

But for her sake Darien fought the raging compulsion, but he would not remain so gentlemanly if she didn't stop her incessant struggling! His Beast was hammering and thrashing against the bounds of Darien's control to mate with her, to mark her as his own and cement the bond between them. She was his wolfmate and there were traditions to appease – not to mention his own internal driving urge to mate. He had yet to brand her flesh with the mating mark and until he did, in the Immortal world she was not yet officially his mate.

However Darien was reluctant to mark her until she was ready. Besides there weren't any in his pack who would dare dispute his right to her.

It was damn near killing him to wait, to force himself to keep away from her – at least in part – but if she didn't cease her futile struggles, she was going to receive his mating mark right her, right now, whether she liked it or not! And since the mating mark required the physical act of mating, now just wasn't the time or place, regardless of how his Beast insisted otherwise.

Needing to still her – for her own sake as well as his sanity – Darien leaned further into her until her struggles stilled beneath him as he pinned her between him and the wall at her back with enough of his weight to completely still her wild writhing movements.

Serena froze, realising that she couldn't move other than to flex her ankle or wriggle her fingers. He was pressed into her so firmly that Serena couldn't even turn her head as his chin was now resting against the side of her head; she could feel his hot ragged breath against her ear and neck, and she wanted to scream in sheer sexual and mental frustration.

Darien felt Serena's body go limp beneath him and felt relief that she had finally submitted – or at least for the time being accepted that she was caught and there was nothing she could do. Sexually and mentally frustrated, and more than a little pissed off at her contantly fighting against him, Darien found himself growling into her ear that was pressed against his lips; the sound rough with arousal and fury. "Now you listen to me very carefully, Serena. You are coming home with me. You are going to stop this foolishness. You are not going to try to escape again and you are going to obey every order I give you, do you understand me?"

Serena cried out in frustration and fury, sounding more the wild furious cry of a feral animal. Unfortunately the sound was swallowed up by the music before it could carry and alert anyone to her distress. She wanted to get away from him but she couldn't move, trapped between the hard wall and his even harder body. His full body hold on her unbreakable but painless.

Physically, Serena had no choice – for the time being – to submit to him, to still her struggles, but her tongue was still free.

"Go to hell!"

Darien found himself both admiring her unrelenting will and cursing it. She was his mate, she was supposed to submit to him, damn it! What was it going to take for her to learn that?! "We can do this the easy way or the hard way Serena, but either way you are going to do as I tell you, when I tell you."

Serena felt powerless and frustrated trapped against him as she was. He was like a brick wall, in more ways than the physical. There was no middle ground with him, no room for compromise; it was no wonder that she so greatly feared losing herself to him. He was so accustomed to getting his way without question, to being the Alpha, that there was no room for anyone else's opinions or ideas.

As Darien pulled back enough to look into her eyes while making sure that didn't release his hold on the rest of her, Serena could only stare helplessly into the dark timeless depths. It would be so easy to fall in love him, he was the epitome of everything male; he was iron-willed, masculine, dominant, possessive, protective, dark, handsome and he was raw sex on legs. He called out to and stroked every feminine part of her, and he aroused her like crazy, but if she allowed herself to fall in love with him there would be no choice for her but to submit to him.

Just as he wanted. Falling in love with him was his win because if she did, Serena would lose herself in him in every way, and she couldn't let that happen. No flower could bloom when overshadowed so completely by something so much greater, stronger. Her only chance to survive with all of herself intact – including her heart – was to get away from him now, before it was too late.

Serena ignored the voice in the back of her mind that whispered to her that it was already too late for her.

"Just let me go." Serena pleaded him, her words so soft and frail that it was a wonder he heard her over the music, even with his superhumanly heightened senses.

Darien's heart nearly froze in his chest at her whimpered plea, the expression on her face and her tone of voice were so pitifully feeble that it was all he could do not to crush her close to him and hold and protect her against all the evils of the world, both her world and his. No matter how much he wanted to give her everything she desired, he couldn't give her this. She was his and he had to protect her, there just wasn't any other choice.

"I can't. You need to be protected." He would always be the one standing protectively between her and the dangerous of his and every other world.

"Why?" Serena asked, completely and utterly wretched. "Why do I need to be protected from anyone but you?"

Darien chose to ignore her last question; she would learn in time that she would never need any form of protection from him. Well, maybe birth control but that was something they would need to discuss later.

"Because you are mine." Darien whispered softly, tenderly.

Serena felt like banging her head against something hard until she knocked herself out, then maybe she would get some peace from him.

At Serena's aggravated expression, Darien's patience was at an end. Without warning, he smoothly stepped away from her and with a startled cry Serena, suddenly unsupported by his hard body, slid down the wall to land with a thud on the hard floor.

But before Serena could blast him with her spitfire tongue for practically dropping her – and with a flash of a smug grin that she did not see – Darien grasped hold of her arm and pulled her to her feet.

Keeping holding of her arm in a careful but firm grip, Darien then turned and headed for the exit, half dragging, half carrying her with him.

Serena gave another startled yelp but could do nothing to break his hold on her as he practically dragged her out of the club – she was fortunate that it was by her arm and not her hair – and out into the cold of the night.

Without breaking his stride, or even slowing down, Darien turned to the right and Serena immediately realised where he was taking her.

A long shiny black stretch limousine was parked just off to the side of the club's main entrance to which Nephlite already had the back door open for them as if he had known they were coming at that exact moment.

Serena mentally shrugged. Nephlite probably had known that they were on their way out of the door before they had even gotten to it. Darien and his pack were good at doing creepy unnerving things like that.

At least Nephlite's expression was grim, his eyes apologetic.

Serena wondered if his repentance was for his Alpha or for her.

They reached the long vehicle in less than ten seconds from exiting the club, and all Serena could manage before Darien all but threw her onto the soft back leather seat was an objecting, "hey!"

Thinking quickly, more desperate to get away from him than ever now that the reality that she was being taken back to the mansion had hit her at the sight of Darien's limousine, Serena quickly scrambled across the long backseat to the other side as Darien climbed in behind her.

Before Darien realised what she was doing, Serena had the opposite door open and was out and running, knowing that Nephlite would do nothing to stop her as he wouldn't dare to touch her at the risk of his Alpha's fury. That had been confirmed for her tonight on the mansion's cliffs; unless they really had too, they would not lay a hand on her.

"Serena!" Darien called after her, but Serena only hastened her pace, running with everything she had even though logic told her that she wouldn't get far before he caught up with her and made her pay dearly for running from him again; he was already as irritable as a tormented bull.

But she still had to at least try, no matter how futile her efforts to escape were.

In the limousine, Darien growled incredulously in the back of his throat and threw his head back against the back of the seat in complete and utter disbelief and exasperation while resisting the strong urge to slap his hand over his eyes. He could not believe this woman! Just what was it going to take to get it through her impossibly thick head that she was in grave danger outside of his protection?

Darien, exhaustedly and calmly, stepped gracefully back out of the limousine and turned to stare after her, her long golden hair flailing behind her. He was growing wary of chasing her, but he knew that unless he did she was bound to find herself in trouble up to her pretty little neck in no time.

And the ironic thing was that they called him stubborn and difficult.


Serena once again found herself backed up against an icy wall, only this time it was at the mouth of the alley rather than in a crowded night club.

Serena had to wonder if it was just coincidence or if it was fate that had brought her back to this familiar situation. On the other hand, it could just be really bad luck. She was after all, alone in the middle of the night in the middle of a less than respectable neighbourhood.

At least this time her attackers were human.

Serena refused to acknowledge that little voice of reason in the back of her mind that was right now telling her that she was an idiot for running from Darien again because A, there was no doubt that Darien would find her AGAIN – and when he did he'd be even more pissed off at her than he'd been in the club – and B, serious trouble always seemed to be on her heels just as persistently as Darien was.

But Serena knew perfectly well why she kept running from him, why she had to run from him. It was that one reason that made it possible for her to ignore the little voice inside her head that kept insisting that the only way to stay safe was to stay with him. Darien was determined to protect her and right now it seemed that she did need protecting – although she'd rather rip out her own tongue than admit it too him.

But just who was going to protect her from him? Darien was way too overconfident that she was his for the taking; he didn't seem to have a doubt about the fact – and her pride detested it. Not only did she fear him overshadowing her, consuming her, she also feared how easily she could lose her heart to him. To say that he stroked everything feminine inside of her would be the greatest understatement of the century. He was the kind of man that was fantasised about from a very young age; the prince charming in the stories all little girls listened to with such enraptured awe.

From the cradle, Prince Charming was the man girls were told they should want to be with, but what sounded good in fiction was not always sensible in real life. In real life Prince charming was a fallacy, too good to be true, too perfect to stand the imperfections of the harsh real world. In the fairytales Prince Charming saved the princess, swept her off her feet and took her back to his palace, that was the story told over and over in various versions and on first appearances all was good and well, but take a second look and what have you got?

An arrogant sexist jerk and a brainless useless Barbie doll who fainted on a whim and always managed to get herself kidnapped without a thought of doing something to save herself other than waiting around for said arrogant jerk to rescue her.

And never once had any of those Prince Charming fairytales mentioned an intense sexual attraction that burned the princess up until there was nothing left of her free will or her senses.

None of that was for her. Serena didn't consider herself brainless – her lifetime of bad grades aside – and she didn't want a domineering obsessive prince to carry her off to his palace and look after her for the rest of her life like a porcelain doll. She wanted her freedom, she wanted to be able to stand on her own two feet and not rely on anyone else. And one day after she had lived her life, she wanted to find someone whom she was on even ground with, someone who listened to her and respected her.

Darien couldn't be further from that. Darien was a dominant, arrogant, self-righteous jerk who constantly showed off and used his supernatural abilities to so effortlessly overpower her. He ignored her and everything she valued. She valued her freedom; he kept her a prisoner. She wanted a mortal life and he was an Immortal Lycaon warrior Prince

. . . . . . . who could, and would, swallow her up, heart and all, until there wasn't anything of her left.

Serena looked around at the ugly scorning faces of the five men of some kind of gang that had surrounded her, trapping her with no effective means of escape. They were mortal and four of them were armed with knives or pipes.

Strangely though, Serena wasn't afraid of them. Maybe because she'd faced far worse monsters recently or maybe it was because she knew that Darien was at this very moment coming after her. She'd only made it four city blocks – though not in a straight line – before she'd had to stop in effort to catch her breath.

That was when the gang of black leather-dressed thugs had stepped out of the darkness of the alley like sewer rats – and her apologies to the rats.

What was it about her that seemed to attract trouble like honey attracted bears?

The biggest, ugliest one took a cocky swaggering step towards her. "Oh, we got a pretty one. I wonder if you taste as good as you smell."

Speaking of smell, the five of them reeked of alcohol and BO so badly that it was all Serena could do not to gag. On top of that she actually had to resist the urge to roll her eyes. That line had sounded so much more intimidating coming from the lips of a vampire that actually could taste her. And kill her. Or use her against Darien.

"You don't know who you're dealing with." Serena told them boldly, feeling the need to warn them even though they deserved what was coming to them; Serena could tell what they intended to do to her by the way they were leering at her.

Serena made a mental note to get some mace or something.

"Oh, yeah?" The ugly one chuckled with mocking amusement, taking yet another step towards her. "And just who are we dealing with?"

Serena raised her chin in a clear sign that she wasn't the least bit afraid of him. She didn't need to be; there was no way Darien hadn't come after her. "I'm protected."

Most of them looked around, most with condescending amusement, but one – the youngest was small and skinny and pale and had to be no older than fifteen – did look around with a hint of wariness, as if he expected her protector to suddenly jump out at them from the shadows.

The kid had good instincts, Serena mused.

"Really? I don't see anyone." The ugliest smelliest one ridiculed loudly. "Just who protects you?"

Serena guessed that he had to ask for the sake of his own self preservation; wasn't there a hierarchy or something in gangs? There was always someone else, someone bigger and badder that the other bad guys feared.

"I do."

Darien couldn't have made a more theatrical entrance if it had been scripted by Hollywood's finest, Serena thought with resigned amusement as Darien stepped out of the deep black shadows behind the ugly one, who was the closest of them to her. Pure lethal malice consumed his sinfully handsome face.

Before Darien delivered the first blow, he deliberately reminded himself that this time those threatening his mate were mortal and as much as he wanted too, he could not kill them. He would beat them within an inch of their lives, but they would live. These five mortals were fortunate that he was not young and without control, for a younger Immortal would have killed them without thought or hesitation for the crime of threatening his mate.

The five turned on him, raising their various crude weapons high.

"Get him!" Bellowed the most pungent of the group.

Darien could only grin in anticipation as the first – who just happened to be the one who'd been the greatest threat to his mate – came at him with a long pocket knife raised and pointed at his midsection. The others were a step behind him, ready to 'take him down' in the true cowardly gang style – cheating with greater numbers and crude weapons.

Of all his centuries of war and battle, not once had a mortal even come close to causing him any form of harm; tonight was not going to be the first. He had fought armies of Damned and powerful Anami and still he had yet to be bested.

Normally, Darien would have delighted in taking his time with them, maybe even toying with them, but not tonight. Tonight he would handle them with efficient swiftness. He was exasperated and at the limits of his patience. His mate had caused him enough aggravation for one night; all he wanted now was to get her back to the manor and take steps to assure that she would never run from him again.

Three times in one night wasn't just irritating, it was downright humiliating that such a small mortal woman could run from him thrice in one night! He was the feared warrior Lycaon Prince and she was a young mortal woman who was making a mockery of him!

Serena watched, wide eyed, knowing that all that intense fierce fury that was rolling off Darien in waves would all too soon be focused on her. He was beyond pissed; he was crackling like a thunder cloud, and she knew without a doubt that he wouldn't let her run from him a fourth time – ever.

But while Serena was all too aware of Darien's dangerous mood, her attackers were either too stupid, too stoned or too cocky to recognise Darien as the threat he was.

One moment Darien was standing still and silent, the next Darien disappeared into thin air and out of sight. Serena almost felt sorry for the morons who were about to have their butts handed to them before they even knew what was happening.

Out of the corner of her eye Serena caught a glimpse of a blur of black before the ugly loudmouthed one was sent flying back though the air until he slammed into the wall three feet to her left. He fell to the ground without so much as a grunt, most likely knocked out cold before he'd even hit the wall.

Serena winced. He'd be feeling that for the next month.

Turning her focus back to the others, Serena noticed that one of the remaining four was already lying face down and motionless on the ground exactly where he'd just been standing the moment before. Darien had taken him down before the attacker had taken even a step.

"What the hell's going on?!" The tallest of the remaining three demanded frantically, sounding bewildered while his expression showed fearful panic as he whirled around and around.

"Who gives a crap?!" The second of her attackers snapped, obviously just as panicked and scared as the other two. The third of the remaining attackers, the youngest was deadly pale and stood motionless, frozen in terror.

"Let's get outta here-!"

The second one didn't even get the chance to finish his sentence, as he was picked up by an unseen force and sent falling with greater speed than gravity was capable of into the concrete beneath their feet.

The attacker groaned painfully and then was still as he lay on the cold hard surface.

The youngest turned his impossibly wide terrified eyes to her and let out a pathetic whimpering sob.

Serena gave him a sympathetic look and shrugged her shoulders. She couldn't say that they didn't deserve what they were getting – they had tried to jump her after all – but this one was even younger than Sammy was, maybe only fifteen. Years of protecting and caring for her brother made her feel sympathetic towards this boy who didn't seem ti know any better. "I warned you. Run now and he might let you go."

Not to be told twice, the youngest whirled on his heel and took off in the other direction, running for all he was worth.

With four of the five mortals unconscious on the ground at his feet – all lived despite the snarling murderous demands of his Beast – Darien took a moment to tighten his control over himself and his Beast.

Both of them had been pushed far by their mate this night.

Darien had shown the fifth, who he could still hear running hurriedly away, mercy because it had been his mate's own suggestion for him to flee. If she had seen it within herself to show the fifth mercy then he would allow it to be so. The fifth had been barely more than a child, and he was not one to harm children, so long as their paths did not cross again, the child would know his mercy.

With the threat dealt with, Darien turned his narrowed blazing eyes on his mate who still stood in the same spot she'd been standing when he'd arrived to save her once again.

It was nothing short of a miracle that this time those who had threatened her this time had been mere mortals; with his mate's talent for finding danger Darien had half expected to find her being attacked by a swarm of dragons – which had long since been extinct. That his mate's attackers had been mortals was the only reason he had hesitated before interfering when he'd first caught up with her.

It had taken Darien a great deal of restraint to keep himself hidden in the shadows out of sight to watch. He had hoped to teach her a lesson so that she would not so readily run from him again. He wanted to scare her a little with the truth of how easily she could get herself into trouble but never had there been the slightest risk of any of them touching her. He would never allow harm to come to her, even for her own good. He had been in the act of revealing himself to the mortals when Serena had loudly proclaimed that she was protected. He was still furious at her beyond measure for her behaviour this night, but he regardless felt a swell of male satisfaction that she knew that he would come for her, that he would protect her.

It was progress.

Darien knew that not one of them had laid a single touch upon his mate, but still that knowledge did not keep his eyes from sweeping her form from head to toe for any sign of harm. A single mark upon her delicate soft skin would mean death for all five of the mortals who had threatened his mate.

Now that his mate was safe, Darien somewhat relaxed his hold on his anger. Enough was enough! Serena had put herself in grave danger by leaving the manor and continuing to run from him as if he were her enemy. He would have to take even more drastic steps to protect her, even from herself.

Especially from herself.

But first things first; his highest priority was getting her back to the safety of the manor.

Serena's eye widened in alarm and she actually gulped at the incensed look in his blazing eyes. Black fire flared violently within the dark blue depths, and she felt like a kitten facing off against a furious predatory alpha wolf.

A description that wasn't far from the truth of the situation.

A pair of warm steel hard arms wrapped around her waist. That was all the warning Serena had before the ground disappeared from beneath her and the world suddenly span and blurred around her. The next thing Serena knew she once again found herself in the limo, Darien sliding onto the backseat beside her.

Fearful, despite the fact that she knew he wouldn't harm her no matter how pissed off she made him, Serena scrambled back across the seat, away from him.

A low, furious hiss from low in his throat filled the dimly lit space, and he growled without looking at her, "Go for that door again and I'll bind you so tightly you won't be able to so much as twitch a finger."

And he would too, Serena realised, he wasn't bluffing. His tone portrayed that louder than his threat had. He was pissed off beyond measure but still he hadn't threatened her harm. He'd threatened to tie her up, to make her uncomfortable, but he could've just as easily threatened to break her hand, but he hadn't. Such a threat would be hollow and they both knew it. He wouldn't harm her, no matter how far she pushed him.

And just like that Serena had had enough for one night. She was exhausted and couldn't stand it all anymore. She wanted to be done with Lycaons and Damned vampires and she wanted so much to be done with Darien. She just wanted to go home, back to her normal life where she was no one special.

"Just let me go! Please. I want to go home." It was a helpless plea, which was all she could manage. It had been such a long exhausting night. She didn't have the strength to run anymore, not tonight at least.

Darien gritted his teeth and closed his eyes against the helplessness in her plea. He was furious at her for running from him – three times over – but he no more wished her discontentment or misery than he had before she'd run. She was his, his to make happy, to grant her every wish, but he was just as honour and duty-bound to keep safe and protected. She was his, she belonged with him and one day he would help her to come to terms with that.

"You can't." Darien hissed through his clinched teeth. "Not ever. You will learn it one way or another that your home is with me now." His eyes remained closed, his mate was hurting and so was he. His mate's misery was torture to him, but there was nothing he could do if he was going to keep her safe. "Run as many times as you like, but each and every time I will drag you back. You are mine and sooner or later you will have to accept it. If I have to keep you tied up to keep you safe, then so be it."

Serena balked at the serious threat of tying her up; she wasn't a wilful pet damn it! "You don't have the right! You can't just keep me prisoner for the rest of my life!"

Darien had to admire her strength and her spirit; even now when she was so undoubtedly defeated and captured, she remained defiant. A greater Queen the Immortal World would never know, if only he could keep her alive long enough.

Darien slowly opened his eyes, and gave her a hard resolved look that spoke of near a millennium of practised resolve. "I will do whatever it takes to keep you safe, Serena."

Serena was left speechless before the unyielding dark eyes of a force greater than she could ever be. Despite her frustration and anger at him, all Serena could thing about was how stunningly handsome he was vowing to keep her safe.


True to her nature, the moment they had arrived back at the manor, his mate had resumed her defiant rebellion against him. When his mate had tried to run from him the moment the car had stopped – for the fourth time in one night! – Darien had finally found himself pushed too far. He had picked up his mate, thrown her over his shoulder and carried her – kicking and screaming like a banshee despite how exhausted she obviously was after such a long night – up to his bedroom.

Darien had shouldered open the doors with so much force that they bounced off the wall with a loud bang that left them shuddering and then stalked over to the bed where he had dropped her unceremoniously onto the bed. After which he had just as swiftly left the room, closing and locking the doors behind him.

Serena had tested him tonight, in many forms, but reguardless progress with her had been made. His mate may not yet see it, but something between them tonight had shifted, changed.

Darien turned his back to the now locked double doors, to see Rei standing only feet from him shaking her head disapprovingly.

Rei looked up into her brother's dark eyes, incredulously, unable to believe just how clueless he was. He was over seven hundred years old but apparently he still had no idea at all how to deal with a woman outside of his own kind. "I can't believe you! Why don't you just tell her the truth instead of carrying on with this stupidity?"

Darien growled low in his throat, a warning to his sister. He was still angry with her for what she had done tonight; he knew very well who was responsible for Serena leaving the manor grounds. "Mind your tongue, Rei. My mate is no concern of yours!"

Rei clenched her jaw to hold back a growl of her own. The time had just ended in which Rei believed that her brother was not only far more controlled than her, but any Immortal on the continent.

"The more you keep doing this, the harder she will fight you." Rei drew in a deep breath, to calm herself, before going on. She loved and respected her brother, but he was so proud at times, and so clueless at others. "She is the perfect mate for you; her will is just as strong and as immovable as yours. She may just have the strength and will to survive in our world, but I fear you're destined to butt heads for the rest of eternity." She looked deeper into her brother's eyes, imploring him to see reason in her words, "In order for that to even be, you must stop commanding her like she's one of your warriors on the battlefield."

This time Darien's growl was louder, warning her that he was close to losing his control on his temper.

Rei was wary, but she had been born into this world and she knew her brother and her own kind. The Lycaon kind were so alike to their counterparts, the mortal wolf of nature. Their behaviour was just as competitive, aggressive and protective. They were a pack, a family; they protected each other and shared what they had, and Darien was the Alpha of the family.

It brought great joy to Rei's heart to know that her brother had finally, finally, found his mate, his peace, but because his mate was mortal it also made her anxious, dreading what lay ahead for her brother. That tiny little mortal had the power to save or destroy her brother.

Rei understood why her brother was so fiercely overprotective and possessive of his mate – it was their natural way. All mates were the same, loyal and protective of each other to no end. But never before had Rei seen a male so relentlessly watchful of his mate; it wasn't without reason, but at the same time there was no reasoning with him.

"I will do whatever I must to keep her safe," Darien growled at her, his tone ice cold and hard with fierce warning.

Any other – except their parents of course – would have stopped there at the dangerous warning and fiercely aggressive behaviour Darien was displaying for fear of having their throats ripped out, but Rei refused to fear her brother. Logically she knew he would never harm her – no male Lycaon would ever harm a female, their own or otherwise – but right now he wasn't as rational or as controlled as he had always been.

Rei had been born a princess, and yes she knew that she was a little spoiled and accustomed to getting her way, but Darien had been born a future king; he expected to get his way each and every time. But Rei couldn't let him this time, for his own good. She loved her brother and respected his right of leadership, but he was wrong in this and he had to see that.

It was for his own sake. He couldn't see it, but he was unintendedly driving his mate away – and scaring her at the same time – with his domineering possessive and overprotective behaviour that she was not accustomed too. In the mortal world, in modern times, women were taught to be strong and independent and that they did not need a man to complete them. In the Immortal world, though women were taught to be strong and their own person, they also knew that in order to be complete they needed their mate. Immortal women grew up knowing that one day they would be expected to submit to that mate. A mate who would love and protect them no matter the cost and in doing so gave the woman every power and sway over her mate.

"How safe is she like this?" Rei challenged her overbearing brother. "You keep her locked up and she will never stop trying to escape. She will keep trying until she escapes again and I fear that you won't be there to save her the next time. The more you keep her at a distance, the more danger she's in."

Rei stared into her brother's intense eyes, imploring him to listen to her with her witchlike eyes, but as the moments passed silently between them Rei realised that she could scream at her brother all day trying to get him to listen but it would do her no good. Darien had been raised to be a king; when he believed his way was the right way there was nothing anyone could do to change his mind.

That was what Rei found to be so sad about her brother. He was the perfect king, with an iron will that could withstand anything a hard royal life could bring, but a consequence of such will was that he might just lose the mate who was destined to save him.

Rei sighed deeply, as she pulled her gaze from her brother's and gentled her tone, "You don't see it brother, but you have given her so every reason to flee from you, but what reason have you really given her to stay?"

In some part of his mind, where logic still dwelled, Darien knew his sister had a point, but his wolf instincts to protect, possess and dominant were too deeply embedded him, as they were with all his kind. He had to protect his mate, to make her see that she was his and have her bend to his will in order to keep her safe. His mate would never want for anything, and she would never again be in the danger she had placed herself in this night.

He had been stupid in leaving the manor, to leave her here without his protection. He had been a fool to trust the safety of his mate in any hands but his own. His most trusted had failed him this night and he had failed his mate in allowing her to put herself in such grave danger.

Darien refused to make that mistake again. Never again would she be without his protection, no matter what lengths he had to go to, she would be with him – or close to him – at all times. Serena would learn her place soon enough; she would learn that she belonged to him and that her place was at his side, whether that be for a matter of decades or eternity.

Right now, however Darien needed to do three things. Firstly, he needed to tear his Beta's a new hide for of their failure – whereas normally he would have let it go as he would have been rational enough to accept the fact that it hadn't really been their fault – secondly, he had to tighten security in the manor, for his mate and for his pack, and lastly he had to contact his parents and have them look into the histories for anything that may help him in regards to his mortal mate.

The Moon Goddess wouldn't have granted him a mortal mate without someway to keep her safe. There was but a dying ember of hope within him that there might just be a way to somehow turn Serena into one of his kind, an immortal Lycaon.

All his life – and for the entire recorded history of his kind – it had been believed that such a thing was completely impossible, but before he had found Serena, the same thing had been believed of having a mortal wolfmate. There had to be a way, not everything that was impossible could forever remain so.

With an aggressive, frustrated, growl Darien spun on his heel and stalked off down the dark corridor, leaving his sister staring after him with sad eyes.


Rei gently closed the door behind her, not making a single sound. Stealth and grace was as natural to her kind as breathing was to mortals. She had waited a few minutes before she'd entered her brother's chambers in which his mortal mate was once again imprisoned.

For a long minute, Rei said nothing, only watched the mortal woman with amusement and a sense of growing fondness.

The mortal, Serena, her brother's mate, was still fuming it seemed. The young woman Serena was stalking back and forth in front of her brother's bed like a pissed off caged wild animal, glaring daggers at the floor and mumbling obscenities under her breath that mortal ears wouldn't have heard unless they were standing right beside her.

However, Rei wasn't a mortal, her ears were better than those of a nature's wolf, even while in her human form.

"-that blasted mutt! That bloody idiotic, spoiled, arrogant mongrel! When get my hands on that flea-ridden ass I'm going to . . . !"

Rei raised an eyebrow in gleeful amusement as a tiny grin spread across her painted red lips. She felt oddly proud of the mortal woman before her. She had a stubborn streak that seemed relentless and a tempter that gave shame to all others; Rei even suspected that included her own even though her nickname among her own pack was Spitfire. It was also apparent that this tiny fragile creature, who could so easily be accidentally harmed among the superhumanly strong Immortals – although most wouldn't even dare to near her for fear of their Alpha's rage – refused to give in for anything but her own way, her own mind.

It amused Rei greatly that her strong dominant brother had met his match in a woman so tiny.

Rei stepped forward into the light of the chandelier above that didn't quite reach the outer edges of the room, and said with a friendly voice, "Forgive my brother. Believe it or not, he does this for your own good."

Serena gasped, startled, and whirled around, her racing heart in her throat – she'd thought she'd been alone – to see the woman her age – or at least she looked her age – she recognised as Rei, Darien's sister.

Serena pressed her hand to her chest over her heart and fought to calm her frantically beating heart, but did nothing to calm her anger that had been reignited by the last few minutes. She'd heard the wolf Princess's words clearly through the door – Serena had had her ear pressed up against it at the time, remorselessly ears dropping – as she'd argued with her brother on Serena's behalf.

"Well, no one ever asked him to do anything for my own good!" Serena felt a little guilty as she knew that the Princess wasn't the one holding her here against her will, but on the other side of that coin, she wasn't helping her to escape either – Rei had told the others to let her go knowing that she'd be caught and brought back sooner or later so earlier didn't count! "He hasn't got the right to keep me prisoner like this!"

Rei had a feeling, an intuition, that she was really going to genially like this mortal woman. Any woman who could bring her brother so close to losing control was one Rei wanted to know well. Sometimes, her brother had the control worthy of a saint and more often than not it drove Rei up the wall.

But on the other side of that coin, Darien's strength and control had become an inspiration to so many.

Her grin fell from her lips and Rei became serious. Darien's mate needed to understand some things, but that wasn't going to happen if she left it up to her brother. Not when he was acting so male. If she had been in Serena's shoes she too would have thought her brother was nothing but an obsessive controlling jerk.

With a heavy sigh, Rei walked over to Darien's couches in the corner and took a seat in one of the black leather armchairs. Once she was settled and comfortable, Rei raised a hand towards the couch to her left, wordlessly inviting the young mortal woman to join her.

Serena hesitated at the Lycaon Princess's unspoken invitation. Serena felt no fear of the princess and even though she couldn't bring herself to trust anyone in the manor, she suspected the princess had come close to gaining her trust. It seemed that the princess had things to tell her and the regal calm look on her face told Serena that she was going to hear them one way or another.

With a yielding sigh, Serena took a seat on the couch the princess had indicated and settled in to listen, just as she had for Jadeite.

It wasn't as if Serena had anything else to do or any place else to go.

"Believe it or not, my brother does have the right." Rei began, addressing her accusation first. "I know you don't understand our ways or our world, but even though you were born worlds apart from him, you were born to be his as he was born to be yours. You can't know it but he is the best of our kind."

The princess's voice was so soft and genuine that Serena found it soothing, so much so that she found herself relaxing enough that a great deal of her anger and frustration eased. With the polite Princess it was easier to hold back her sarcastic comment that she wouldn't have hesitated to throw at Darien, 'that doesn't speak a lot for your race.'

The princess obviously loved her brother. It reminded Serena of the great amount of respect Darien's pack had for him. Serena sensed that such reverence wasn't given lightly.

Such reverence was earned.

"Darien's strength, courage and leadership have kept us all safe, kept us all going for centuries longer than we would have without him."

The glazed look in the princess's eyes told Serena that Rei was miles away.

"Darien believes that there is a way to save our race against extinction and his resilient beliefs have kept many on the brink continuing on. He is good, kind and generous. He is loyal to you," Rei looked into the light blue eyes of her brother's mortal mate, again imploring her to understand what she was trying to convey about her brother, "– devoted to you, to no end in ways so cemented that you can't yet comprehend. He would do anything for you; he would give his life for you as simply as that. He is protective of his family and especially of his mate. He will never hurt you, never betray you. He will dedicate the rest of his life to doting upon you. Your needs will be his air, your wants and desire his water. Your smiles his wine and your touch his heaven."

Serena knew that the princess believed every word she was saying with all her being, but the concept of such promised obsessive life or death devotion was terrifying to her. While it was part of the world Rei had been raised in, it was not part of her world, her reality.

"You don't know it, but you are the most important and precious thing in the world to him now. And on top of it all, believe it or not, you have renewed hope for us all. Before now not one of us has been mated to a mortal; mortals do not survive the Change from mortal to Immortal. But you are different. You represent a new hope, a future for us all. If we can be mated to mortals then maybe we can save our race. Maybe we can give our race a future." A dreamy optimistic smile came to Rei's lips. "Maybe even one day we will be able to step out of the darkness that has been our safe haven for far too long."

As silence fell between them, and Rei remained wherever she was, Serena studied the princess. Serena had witnessed the princess in her own mate's – Jadeite's – presence and had seen how precious she was to not only her mate, but all the males around her, and it awed her. Serena instinctively knew that the princess had spoken the truth about everything she'd told her, and that included just how devoted her brother would be to her and how important she was to those here just because she was female.

It wasn't in Serena's nature to be selfish, to not think of others, but it seemed that she was the only one thinking of herself now. She wasn't blind, she knew for she had seen it for herself that everyone here – Darien especially – was protective of her to the point that they would sooner die than see harm fall upon her.

Hell, she'd only been able to escape from the manor because of that fact. Well, that and the fact that every male here seemed to be terrified of what Darien would do if any of them so much as laid a finger on her.

But while Serena knew she was physically safe – no harm would ever befall her here in the manor – what about the fear, the peril, she felt for herself?

Darien was a force of nature, he was in charge – dominant – and he knew it, and no one disputed that fact. He was accustomed to being obeyed without question, without hesitation. His word was law and that was that, the end. He was domineering, as stubborn as a mule and as arrogant as a prince.

He'd told her that she was his mate, that she was his, and that was it. No arguments, no negations, no care for what she wanted or thought. He just expected her to say "alright, you're the boss" and stand silently and docile beside him for the rest of her life.

That wasn't her and it was in no way what she wanted. Yes, Serena had come to understand that that was the way it was in this world of Immortals, but she wasn't a part of this world and she didn't want to be.

She wanted to be with someone who loved her because of who she was, not because someone or something had decided that she belonged to him. She knew nothing about him – other than he was some kind of immortal prince who could turn into a wolf and that he was an arrogant jerk to rival all others – and she knew even less about the world he'd dragged her into.

Darien had saved her life – three times. Serena wasn't ungrateful for that, but was she just supposed to give herself to him to repay him that debt?

How was she supposed to love a man she didn't know? How could she decide whether or not she should stay, even if she had a say in the matter, when she didn't even know what it was like in the mansion outside of Darien's rooms?

And what about her true fear? Darien was just TOO MUCH! Yes, she was attracted to him in a major way, yes he was handsome and dark and mysterious, but if she stayed with him what would be left for her in the end? He was so overbearing and dominant, so powerful, in so many ways. She could so easily get lost in him, in his world, and she feared that in the end there would be nothing left of her sense of self.

Was it so unreasonable for to have a little sense of self preservation? The strength, the will and self preservation that was needed for a woman to deal with Darien on a daily basis was immense; she just wasn't that woman. She wasn't that strong.

Serena feared and knew that if she gave into him, if she submitted to him, then she would lose herself in his shadow so utterly that there would be no hope of ever getting her true self back.

So, the question was, could she sacrifice herself to him to save his dying Immortal race, even knowing that the end result might not be a happy ending? If she submitted, she forfeited herself and there was a part of her that wanted to submit, to feel the pleasure and security and safety Serena knew Darien would give her.

But could she stand to pay the price, could she risk losing her identity?


Darien had known soul-deep mental fatigue and wariness many times before. He had fought in countless battles in his lifetime and after the adrenaline and the rage of war had faded, there had always been a wariness left behind in not just his body, but his mind and soul as well.

That was how he felt now, completely and utterly drained, physically and mentally, as if there was a heavy burden on his soul that he had carried for far too long. How was it possible that one so small could be so much trouble? Trouble seemed to flock to her like bees were drawn to honey.

In the solitude and quiet of his office, Darien sat at his desk staring out the window as the morning sun rose over his territory, the golden light washing away the last of the shadows of night.

If only the sunrise could so easily wash away his exhaustion and frustration.

From the cradle Darien had been raised to be strong, to be the one person everyone else could look too for strength and leadership. His parents had raised him knowing that they were raising a future king and because they had loved him they had done everything they could to make him strong.

And because his parents had loved him, Darien had strived to become everything his parents had wanted him to be. He was a strong and firm but always fair alpha who bore the burdens of leadership proudly. His loyalty to his people, his pack, his family and his mate knew no fault and he took his many responsibilities and burdens on his shoulders without even a single complaint. He protected his pack and the pack's income, he dealt with the day to day issues that arose and he protected the city by hunting the Damned that dwelled in the shadows of night.

So many, Darien knew, saw him as infallible, but whatever else he was – prince, alpha, leader – he was still a man. He felt hunger and pain, love and loss. And yes, he felt fatigue.

He was strong. By the goddess he had trained both mentally and physically since his adolescence so he knew the depths to which his strength ran, but his strength was not limitless.

For so long Darien had forced himself to remain strong through the bleak lonely centuries, waiting for the day his mate found him, holding onto the ever fleeting hope that she would enter his life before his Beast Damned him.

And now that he had found her, the one he had been waiting for for seven centuries, his one true mate – that she was mortal mattered so little to him, he would treasure every moment he had with her – couldn't stand the sight of him.

And it hurt him more deeply than he would ever let show.

But what really tested him was that he did not need to stand for this, for a mate who so heedlessly fled from him, for he knew mortals well; he had watched over them since he had come of age so long ago. He knew how to break her, how to get her to stay and submit to him; he had seen and felt it tonight.

While Serena's spirit and mind fought against what was fated, her body knew him for what he was.

Her one true mate.

It would be all too easy to overwhelm her senses with his touch, to make her beg him to take her, to mark her as his own for the rest of their lives. He could have done so tonight, pressed up against the wall of the mortal nightclub. She had been on the verge of losing herself in the heat that boiled between them.

But Darien had stopped himself, had forced himself to step away from her before he too had lost control. He didn't want to force her, either intimately or in her decision to be with him. He wanted Serena to choose him of her own free will, to choose to be his, to choose to love him . . .

But he was so tired of being alone in the darkness, of having to fight to keep everything he had. Why was a loving mate so much to ask of the Goddess? Had he not served his people and the Goddess herself with everything he was and did? He had long ago devoted his entire immortal life to the protection and wellbeing of the innocent.

Was a willing mate really asking too much? He didn't want submissive or meek qualities in his mate; he loved Serena's stubborn pride, her strength and her fire. She was stronger than even she knew, as she would need to be to be his mate and survive in his world.

Hell, who was he kidding? Serena already had more than enough strength to not only survive in his world, but to be the strong imposing Queen his people so desperately needed. She was small, but her will and her temper would one day have all bowing to her.

Darien closed his eyes and basked in the warm sunlight that shone down on him from the sun rising on the horizon.

He would love and protect Serena until the day she died and he followed; was it so much to ask for her love in return?


Chapter End Notes:

I am half way through editing Chapter 6 - The Anami.