Hi guys, no I didn't fall off the edge of the earth. I know I promised this ages ago, but better late than never. I am still without an editor, so please excuse the occasional spelling or grammical error in my work.
Enjoy!
Chapter 3 – Prisoner of the Wolf
Darien had known that bringing a mortal woman, carried unconscious in his arms, back to his manor would cause as stir amongst his pack and he'd been right. His pack was abuzz with barely restrained emotion ranging from unease, confusion and fear to relief and timid hope.
Jadeite had forewarned Rei before they'd even neared the manor and the young Princess had done her duty and prepared the pack for their arrival the best she could.
Very few secrets were kept within the pack as perfect and unwavering trust was needed to co-exist as they were competitive unruly creatures by nature, but at the same time, Darien was Alpha; he did what he did without the expectation of being questioned.
It was the way of the wolf, Lycaon or not.
Stepping into the crowded but silent entrance hall, Darien looked around at his pack that stood watching him in silence. Near all of his pack had gathered, just under thirty Lycaon kind.
Only six of whom were female.
The Pack had felt him coming. A member of his pack always knew when their Alpha was near. Darien knew the intimidating instinct to submit well; he had lived under his father's rule for centuries until he had sought his own pack and home in the New World. His father was and had been the High Alpha and King of all Lycaon kind for a very long time.
Behind him, Darien's Betas flanked him, still in their wolf forms. A silent warning to the pack that they had better keep their distance for their prince and Alpha would not risk his mortal wolfmate's wellbeing and safety, not even from his own pack.
And there, up on the landing of the second floor that overlooked the entrance hall, near the top of the stairs was Rei, patiently waiting for him. She stared down at him with dark unreadable eyes, but Darien could plainly see her tense stance. He knew his sister well enough to know that she was deeply worried.
In his arms Serena – his wolfmate – was so tiny and light that he couldn't feel her weight at all. He had carried her limp form through the city until the car he'd had Jadeite order Rei to send to him had picked him up. He could have run the entire way but he hadn't wanted his mortal mate in the cold any longer. While his three Beta's had run in the woods by the road, easily keeping pace with the car, Darien had held his unconscious mate in his lap all the way back to the manor.
Now that they were finally home, Darien gently carried his wolfmate up the stairs and swept passed Rei without even looking at her. His eyes were fixated on his mate.
Less than a minute later, Darien gently, tenderly, laid Serena on his bed to rest as his sister and three Betas waited outside the room. He knew that his mate wouldn't wake for a while, she'd been through quite an ordeal tonight and she was exhausted as her sleep had been continuously interrupted by her nightmares over the past four nights. He knew because he had heard every sleep-softened whimper and moan. He hadn't been able to watch her as her window had been on the second floor, but he had heard every word she had uttered in her sleep and he had heard her tossing and turning restlessly.
She would sleep deeply tonight, so deeply that Darien doubted she would be plagued by nightmares.
Covering her with the heavy covers, Darien found himself staring longingly down into her radiant face that was framed by thick silky strands of golden sunlight. Never had Darien seen a sight more beautiful and precious than his mate sleeping soundly in his bed.
Burning desire flared within him, and his Beast cried out for the mating of wolfmates, but Darien ignored his own body's responses to her and hushed his Beast. She needed to rest and so she would rest, undisturbed and safe.
Tenderly, Darien found himself gently caressing her cheek as he pushed away a stray strand of sunlight silken hair from her face that was flawless in its beauty.
Her skin was soft, warm and smooth.
Within, his Beast growled with heated impatience, warning that it would not be held back from claiming her in flesh for very long.
Before he ran the risk of losing his control too far, Darien cast one last longing but content look at her and left the room, closing the doors soundlessly behind him. He would have to organise shifts of his best warriors to guard the door. He would not leave her unguarded, not even for a moment. She was too precious, too important to him and his kind to take any risks with.
For the next few hours though, until his pack settled down somewhat from this astonishing and unforseen happening, Darien himself would remain close enough that guards would not be essential. Not until he went down to rest for the day as he would need his strength for the night to come.
Darien slowly turned away from the thick and heavy hardwood double doors, to face his three Beta's, his eyes flashing with lethal warning. "Nothing is too happen to her. She is too remain safe and secure in my chambers. No one is to enter and she is not to come out."
The three Beta's jumped to attention, standing tall and still before their Alpha's authoritative bearing. They had no illusions; his words were orders to be taken as seriously as their lives.
Darien took a step closer to the three, his demeanour that of thunderous warning. "If anything happens to her, you will know a fate far worse than death."
Darien added a fierce guttural growl for good measure, warning them as the fierce and powerful warrior Prince and Alpha that he was.
And without another word, Darien stalked passed them and entered the room next door to his personal bed chamber. The room was his personal library and it was easily as large as his bed chamber. There was a connecting door between the two rooms, but it was firmly closed. It would not open tonight. He did not trust himself with his mate, not with the heat of battle still simmering in his blood and his untrustworthy Beast champing at the bit, forged from Darien's iron will and well-practised self-control, to get to her.
Darien knew all too well, from his near millennia of battling enemies that the heat of battle could so easily shift into another intense form of heat, a heat that was just as fierce and overpowering as the blood-thirsty rage of war.
As Darien always did upon entering a room – especially one of his own – he scented the air, tasting the scents with his superhuman animal sense of smell, tasting the air for any sign of intruder upon his territory.
The library was just as he had left it; the air within carried only his scent assuring him that his private library had not been intruded upon by any other, friend or foe.
Behind him, Rei and the three Betas followed him in, silent and solemn.
Darien sighed, it had been a long four days and he was in no mood to hear what he knew was coming, but it was better to have it said now that to let it stew. So he closed the door behind them and breathed another deep breath – this one for the sake of his patience – before he turned to face them. They were his family, and they cared about him. He could not deny them that. What they had to say was born from their love and concern for him.
Rei couldn't hide her worry or her doubt, and she made no attempt too. There were things that her brother needed to hear and she was the only one he wouldn't silence. Besides, she had never been one to hold back, she expressed what she thought and believed freely.
She was a princess after all; one who was the reflection of their mother in measures of strength, will and loving nurturing – when she wished to be.
"Darien, I know you have waited, fighting your Beast, longer than most, but you have to understand how ludicrous this is!" Rei's tone was emotional in her imploring for him to understand the truth of her words. "She's human, as mortal as any ever born. She can't possibly be your mate! I know you desperately struggle with your Beast, but to delude yourself into believing that she is actually your mate-."
Darien turned on her with a warning growl and warning fire blazing in his dark eyes. "Do not lecture me! I know what I feel and I know that she is my mate as sure as I know I am Lycaon!"
Rei's eyes and heart softened with sadness and love for her brother, as her temper deflated beneath her brother's iron conviction. "Darien, brother. Please hear me. She is mortal. You are Immortal. There are just reasons why mortals are not matched with us."
Darien swiftly turned his back to his sister, and stalked over to the wall adjoining his chambers where his mate soundly slept. With his superhuman hearing he could hear her soft even breathing and calm heartbeat; the soft sounds assuring him that she was alone in the room and at this moment, peaceful.
Darien sighed as the wave of peace that only his mate could bring swept over him. It was something he hadn't known since childhood in his mother's caring embrace. Now, just knowing his mate rested safely only one room away was enough to bring him peace and soothe his Beast.
"I know well what this means, Rei, but it doesn't matter." Darien said serenely, his tone soothing. "She will grant me a few decades of peace in which I will arrange my affairs and then I will join her in death when her natural life comes to a natural end. Maybe that has always been my fate." His eyes closed against his welling sadness and longing, longing for her and the peace only she could give. "I have lived too long without a mate. I have lost so many and killed even more. Some of whom I called brother."
Jadeite could not stand his mate's pain as well as his own any longer; the very thought of her brother's death brought Rei dreadful sorrow and fear. He stepped forward with the purpose of solemnly imploring his Alpha to hear reason. "Darien. My brother. My Prince and my Alpha. You deserve a mate greater than any of those you hold command over. Could it be that this girl is a victim of the madness your Beast is consumed by-?"
"She is my mate. I know it as surely as you know my sister is your own." Darien snapped impatiently as he turned and looked at them with hard steady eyes. His patience was reaching its end. He was not accustomed to being questioned so, even by those he trusted and cared for most. "Has the potential of this not occurred to you? If mortals can be mated with us, then maybe, just maybe, our race can be saved from extinction."
They remained silent and as serious as the death their Alpha would, in a small number of decades at best, be facing. It pained them that their Alpha had finally found a mate only for her to be a mortal who was not of their kind.
"But it could also lead to the fall of so many." Zoicite pointed out in a low encumbered voice, speaking up for the first time since they'd taken the mortal woman from the alleyway where they'd saved her. "With mortal mates, once mated, our kind will only be able to survive at best a century before they follow their mate into death. No Immortal can outlive their bonded mate."
Darien did not argue the fact, for he knew it all too well. He had seen too many mated Immortals end their own lives in wretched despair and anguish when their mate was taken from them in the wars passed or by the hand of fate.
Instead, Darien looked into the eyes of his third Beta with soft hope in his own. "Then maybe life will become far more precious to us, as it is to the mortals who know enough to appreciate it."
Rei couldn't stand the renewed hope in her brother's calm voice; it was as if he had already accepted his all-too-soon impending death and she absolutely refused to let him so serenely accept that premature death. Her brother was too important to their race, to their survival and to her.
"Darien, it's not only her mortality. What of her vulnerability?" Rei was pleading with him to acknowledge the truth of her words. "For a moment let us forget that you are the crown prince and future king of all Lycaon kind, our Alpha. Not to mention that she will always be a soft target for your enemies. What about life amongst us in general? We are part animal, Darien. It is in our natural to fight, even amongst ourselves. How would she face a challenge?" She indicated at the wall, to the mortal woman on the other side of the wall, "She would be a princess and viewed in the light of our queen-to-be, our female Alpha. How could she possibly live up to her role, her responsibilities? An alpha, female or male, must defend their place."
Darien quickly suppressed the irate growl that tried to force its way up his throat at the thought of anyone daring to challenge his mate and her rightful place in his pack. Should any even think of challenging his mate the way he was habitually challenged, they would face him and his fury instead.
"And you are our fiercest warrior." Rei went on, indicating to him with her hand now. "Diamond will hear of her before long and he will know that now he has the means to destroy you, once and for all. And it will be easy for him once she is in his sights. One moment is all he will need to end her life, and in so doing, yours as well; the both of you dead with a single blow. Please brother, for your sake and the mortal's, return her to the Mortal World and forget her. Let her have the mortal life she is meant to live."
Darien saw red and he gritted his teeth and clinched his fists so tightly that his arms were shaking from the strain as he fought to keep control of himself; his Beast wanted to leap into violent action against his own sister. It was embedded in his kind to protect females, especially those close to him, but the compulsion to protect his own mate before all else was embedded even deeper in the nature of the Lycaon. "This is the life she's meant to live, the life she will live AND I WILL HEAR NO MORE OF IT!"
Even Rei cringed back from him, his unyielding resolve clearly cemented in place and his expectancy to have it accepted and obeyed evident in his blazing eyes.
Darien refused to be questioned. He was Alpha, and his word was law in his pack and his territory. Serena was HIS and he had no intention of letting her go for any reason what-so-ever. He would fight to the death to protect her, he would bow to her every whim and need and he would keep her close. He had obligations to his pack, but his mate was a gift from the Moon Goddess and in so many ways she would always come first.
Before all else. For the rest of their joined lives, however brief that may be.
The first thing Serena became aware of was how warm and comfortable she was, so much so that she didn't want to wake up, but there was something nagging at the back of her mind that was refusing to let her sink back into the sweet oblivion of the warm peace of sleep. It was truly irritating the hell out of her. It was as if a fly had crawled in through her ear and was buzzing around in her head like in some Saturday morning cartoon.
What day was it? Did she have to go to classes or could she sleep in a little and just put in a few extra hours of study in the evening? She was so content she didn't want to move, didn't want to get up and face the long strenuous hours of study for her midterms. All the long hours of study was a major pain that she had to keep forcing herself not to slam the books shut in frustration but it was only a few more months before summer break when she could relax and truly enjoy her sleep-ins for a week or so before really getting into the joys of the warmest time of year.
Summer. The word made Serena smile as summer meant that her studies were over for the academic year, leaving only shopping, relaxing and spending the holidays with her friends. Since Lita's parents weren't using their modest cabin up in the mountains, they had all been talking about spending a few days up on the mountains together. It sounded like a magnificent escape; Serena was really hoping that they decided to do it. It would be nice to get well away and not have to worry about anything but having fun and running out of ice cream – like the last time they had all gone away together; the four galleons of ice cream that they had taken with them had lasted one night. They had all enjoyed eating it but it had made them feel like sickly sluggish hell the following morning.
In other words, they'd suffered from sugar hangovers.
After that they had rationed their supply of chocolate and gummy bears. That supply had lasted three days, not bad considering that they had taken a weeks supply with them.
Upon their return, they had all had to log extra exercise hours to make up for the massiveholiday intake of sugar, fatty foods and lounging about. Not that they'd sat on their behinds the entire time – half the time, maybe.
The other half they'd walked and hiked all over that mountain, and they'd spent hours swimming in the small lake at the base of the mountain and explored some caves they'd found.
They just hadn't been nearly as active as they'd needed to be in order to burn off the massive amount of calories they'd ingested with the ice cream alone.
And now Serena was looking forward to doing it all over again.
With a soft groan, Serena turned and rubbed her face against the soft fluffy pillow that felt like cool silk against her warm skin.
Serena froze. Hang on, something wasn't right. She was too comfortable, too warm, the bed too soft, to be her bed in the dorm.
Very slowly, without opening her eyes, Serena pulled her hand from beneath the heavy covers and ran her hand across the pillow on which her head rested. The fabric was flawlessly smooth and soft like some fine expensive silk.
She didn't have a pillow that was this soft and fluffy and covered with a silk pillowcase.
Too alarmed and wary to move, Serena turned her full attention to her other senses. She didn't need to use her hands to realise that she was lying between silk sheets beneath heavy covers that smelt oddly familiar – and downright delicious in a way that made her toes want to curl like those of a contented cat.
Drawing in a deep breath through her nose, Serena drank in the scent that was earthy – in a deep in the enchanted woods way – and something else that was richly musky. And it was a scent her senses knew because it had been burned into her memory the first time she had sampled it.
Him.
So fast that her surroundings blurred, Serena bolted upright in bed to be greeted by unfamiliar dark surroundings.
She was in a bedroom that was easily the size of the entire floor of her dorm, in the largest bed she had ever seen, covered by the smoothest silk sheets she had ever felt. They were so flawlessly smooth that the surface of water seemed course in comparison. The bedroom around her was obviously that of a man as there was not a single feminine touch in the room that looked like something out of an English castle.
All the furniture, from the enormous bed to the car sized desk were matching deep brown vanished timber; each and every piece of furniture looked like something that was brought at a high-end antique shop reserved only for the wealthiest of clients. The furniture in the room consisted of the enormous bed that she was in, which was large enough to comfortable fit ten people. The headboard was exquisitely carved with forestish designs and was draped in heavy fluffy covers; the thick feather down comforter and the massive pile of pillows were draped in a black silk covering.
On either sides of the bed were a matching set of matching polished bedside tables, both featuring a small black currently light lamp on it's smoothly polished top. Three large heavy deep coloured rugs sat on the polished dark timber floorboards. One was positioned at the foot of the bed and almost ran the entire length between the foot of the bed and the double hardwood doors directly opposite – it had to be at least twenty, maybe even thirty feet! The second, only smaller than the first rug by a foot or two, sat in the centre of the wide empty space between the bed and the floor and ceiling French doors that lead out onto a balcony or terrace or something. And the third rug sat in front of the large hardwood desk.
There were five doors leading in and out of the room. There was the French doors to her left and the large double solid looking hardwood doors directly in front of her on the other side of the large rug at the foot of the bed. Then there was the two single separate wooden doors that appeared to have been designed to be discrete that were in the corner between the wall with the French doors and the wall in front of her. The two doors met in the corner, almost making up the corner of the room. They were in the far corner and more than likely lead to an ensuite and/or walk-in closet or something.
The fifth door was identical to the ensuite door but it was in the centre of the wall to her right, on the other side of the large desk. Where that lead, Serena didn't have a clue.
To Serena's right, on the opposite half of the room was a sitting slash lounge area. There were two large three seater deep brown leather couches facing each other with matching puffy deep brown arm chairs on either side and there was an armchair in the middle. The end result was that it was a place for eight people to comfortably sit with a cup of coffee and just talk.
They looked brand new, as if they had never been used even once before.
And then there was the large desk – the kind with three sides providing workplace to the front, the right and the left – with a slim sleek black computer screen on the top middle that looked more like a television it was so large, and a black leather computer chair that looked so comfortable that it could almost be slept in.
Everything was neat and perfect, like something out of a magazine of the ridiculously rich and brooding. The style was dreary posh Victorian-England. The room was dark and dreary with its deep polished wooden tones and earth tone colouring, from the rugs to the bed covers to the chair leather, all the colours were deep and dark forest colours, browns, crimsons reds, dark greens and blacks.
There was also no sign of anything personal in the room. There were no picture frames, no knickknacks, no books, not even a single piece of clothing.
The room was filled with the telling of a lot of money - whoever lived here liked things old fashioned in décor and had money to burn – but it was Spartan in its core; for heaven's sake, a hotel room had more than this bed chamber did.
It was kind of depressing, breathing-taking in its marvel, but dreary and depressing at the same time.
Where the hell was she and how in the hell did she get here?!
Serena reached into her memory, seeking answers, but the last thing she could clearly recall was standing in the ladies room of the nightclub while Mina, Amy and Lita waited for her at their table to bring back some snacks.
After that, it became fuzzy. What had happened to her last night? Had she had too much to drink after all and had gone home with some guy or something?
But then why did everything around her, even the scent of the air, remind her of the dark stranger who had taken over her dreams?
Serena looked down at herself and saw, with overwhelming relief, that she was still dressed in what she'd been wearing . . . was it last night? The only thing that had been removed, by the feel of it, was her shoes.
Even her jewellery was still in place.
Throwing aside the heavy warm covers, doing so regretfully as the air in the room was freezing against her heated skin, Serena slid off the bed and looked around, searching for anything that was familiar other than the woodsy scent in the room. She refused to believe what her senses and her instincts were telling her, that her dark mysterious stranger was near.
For one thing, he was just some figment of her overactive imagination and too long ignored hormones.
For the time being, Serena ignored the double doors that were the obvious way out and she instead headed for the two single doors on the far left side corner the room. On the way, Serena cast a look out of the French doors to see that the sky was awash with purplish pink and greyish blue indicating twilight. It was either sunrise or sunset, she had no way of knowing until the sky either darkened with the coming night or lightened with the dawning of a new day.
Just as Serena had expected; the first door lead to a windowless walk-in closet the size of her entire dorm room. She closed the door without looking too hard as it wasn't what she was looking for but she did notice that most of the clothes were either black or so dark a colour that they were almost black.
Whoever lived in this room didn't seem to like bright colours, or any colour at all, judging by what she'd seen so far.
Behind the second door, Serena found what she was looking for; an ensuite. It was complete with a huge shower in a clear glass stall and a bathtub large enough to take diving lessons in. There she took a few minutes to make herself more comfortable and then she washed her hands and face with warm water, washing the sleep from her eyes.
Comfortable and more alert – but not exactly refreshed as she was still wearing clothes she had danced and then slept in – Serena stepped back into the enormous bedroom and turned her attention to the double doors, still struggling to remember what had happened last night, or in the very least try to figure out what that little voice in the back of her mind was trying so persistently to tell her.
Now that she was fully awake, Serena felt more alert and cautious. She didn't know where she was or who had brought her here – or why they had brought her here – but she intended to find out. Whoever it was that had brought her here, she would politely thank them and then leave as quickly as possible. Serena knew that she wasn't in the city anymore, or even anywhere near it. There was none of the usual city noise that she was used too. All there was was silence. She would either need a ride back into the city or she would need to call one of the girls to come pick her up.
Serena hoped that last night she'd had sense enough to tell her friends she was leaving without them. She didn't want them to worry about her because she'd suddenly disappeared.
Laying a hand on each of the doorknobs of the double doors, Serena drew in a deep breath to prepare herself for whatever she was going to find – about what lay beyond the doors and what she'd done last night. She had her plan, now she just had to execute it, as Amy would say, and get the hell out of there.
Inwardly, Serena cringed; she had studying to do but right now it was the last thing she felt like doing. She didn't have a headache, well not much of one anyway, but she still felt crappy, like she hadn't slept long enough or she'd slept way too long and had nothing in her stomach to boot.
Throwing open the doors, and taking a determined step through them, Serena found herself face to face with a tall man with long blonde hair that was pulled back in a low pony tail at the back of his neck. Serena couldn't see how long his hair was since he was facing her, but she knew that it was an unusual look for a guy – a straight one at least. His eyes were emerald green and even though he wore a serious expression on his handsome boyish face, there was a spark of kindness in his eyes that was unmistakable.
And even though he made no move towards her, nor showed any kind of threatening behaviour at all, Serena found herself taking a wary step back from him. There was something about him that screamed that he was far more dangerous than he appeared, and strangely whatever the something was seemed very familiar to her. He wasn't pale like the vampires in her dream had been but there was something that reminded her of her dark stranger-.
Her dark stranger.
Serena's eyes widened in incredulous realisation and it was all she could do not to collapse as the memories of last night hit her like an anvil. She remembered now; the vampires cornering her in the alley, a black wolf the size of a family car lithely landing in front of her to put itself between her and her attackers and then the wolf had killed two of the four attackers in a violent bloody battle of ferocious snarls and talon claws and vampire fangs.
The world around her began to spin and Serena had to grab hold of the doorknob with both hands to keep herself from falling. She remembered it all now, including the other three car-sized wolves arriving, standing protectively between her and the black wolf as if they had to protect her from the black wolf that had protected her.
"Miss?"
Serena blinked, forcing herself to raise her disorientated gaze from the floor back to the face of the tall blond man to find him staring at her with concern, watching her as if he were afraid that she was going to either pass out or freak out.
Refusing to remember anymore, Serena steadied her stance as her survival instincts and her fear merged into one and both screamed at her the same thing.
RUN!
Fear and her instinct to survive hit her hard and instantly Serena could all but taste the adrenaline being pumped into her system. The top half of her body became even colder as she steadied herself.
She had to get away from wherever she was. She had to find someplace safe and stay there. It was all real; the vampires, the impossibly humungous wolves, who for some reason were suddenly interested in her. She had no idea how she knew, but she did know without doubt that she was involved in something that was so out of her league that she was in serious danger.
Zoicite tensed in response to the mortal female's own body tensing. He knew she was going to bolt, but what he didn't know was what to do about it. As he saw it, he had two options; either stop her or let her. If he stopped her, he would have to touch her and there was no doubt that his Alpha would tear strips in his hide for daring to touch his mate. On the other hand if he allowed her to run and she hurt herself or worse, actually made it off the manor's grounds, then Darien would kill him.
Talk about being damned if he did, damned if he didn't.
Deciding on the course that was the least of two evils, Zoicite smoothly moved back as the young mortal woman burst into action, running down the corridor towards the staircase like the hounds of hell were on her tail.
Not looking forward to the consequences of this, Zoicite reached out to his Alpha's consciousness, warning him that his mate was at this very moment running frantically down the staircases towards the front door.
Serena had already nearly tripped and fallen down the wide carpeted staircases twice, but she forced herself to keep going. She instinctively knew that her chances of escaping were slim, and she wasn't going to slow down and in effect make those chances even slimmer.
The house wasn't a house. It was a mansion, in the same décor as the bedroom, but Serena didn't have time to stop and admire it now, even though the entrance hall that she came to at the bottom of the stairs was magnificent.
The ceiling of the entrance hall towered over her head by two high stories with the landing of the second floor running around the wall on three of the four walls, all except the outer wall. There were two staircases, on either side, with more than a dozen exits from the room between the two stories. Ceiling two stories above had large thick beams that arched downwards before coming together to the centre beam that ran from the front of the entrance hall, just above the door, to the back of the room. A chandelier of glass or crystal and gold hung the centre point of the ceiling, dimly light it cast a golden glow over the room while allowing the shadows of the room to remain as dark as night.
The floor beneath her feet was gleaming polished floorboards, just as the bedroom she had woken in had been.
It was awe-inspiringly beautiful, as dreary as the rest of the mansion that she had seen, but breathtaking none-the-less.
Serena spared only a few seconds to admire the grandeur of the mansion before she found what she was looking for.
The large grand double doors that just screamed "exit" were only a few metres away. She was almost outside, halfway to freedom – a place like this had to have some kind of fence. She only preyed that it wasn't too high or that someone had left the gate open as she had no clue how to open the kind of gates that locked electronically.
She was only four feet from the doors when something big and black dropped into her path.
Serena gasped and hastily screeched to a halt to prevent herself from running into him. She only just managed to stop in time to stop short of running straight into him, and she just as narrowly managed to catch her balance on the smooth vanished hardwood floor and prevent herself from landing heavily on her butt.
In her efforts to keep her balance, Serena caught sight of where he had jumped from. Two stories up, from the landing to her right that overlooked her current position; the only possible place he could have jumped from.
Serena's eyes grew even wider – painfully wide – as she realised that he had jumped from two stories above and had landed on his feet as if he had merely jumped down from a few feet. And he had landed capably and without making a sound.
That wasn't humanly possible! Was it?
Serena didn't doubt herself anymore, at least not about what had happened in her life in the last week; she knew who he was the moment she laid eyes on his face.
It was her dark stranger, the one who'd saved her five night's ago, and who had saved her last night. He had been a wolf then; she remembered now. He had changed back into a human from the large black wolf right before her eyes.
She had been attacked by vampires and saved by a werewolf.
A royally pissed off werewolf judging by the blazing fury that lit up his stormy dark blue eyes. His entire form was tense and his jaw was clinched tightly.
Her inkling that he was angry was a moment later when she heard a deep thunderous growl from deep in the back of his throat. The sound was purely that of a severely pissed off predator whose captured prey was trying to escape him.
Movement in her peripheral vision made Serena risk taking her eyes from him as she quickly looked around her and she saw that the entrance hall was no longer deserted; she was surrounded by as many as a dozen people, mostly men, but they all carried themselves the same way as her dark saviour, leaving no doubt in her mind that they were just like her him.
Serena remembered seeing three other bigger than bear-sized wolves the night before and she found herself wondering if any of those around her were one of those three.
Darien narrowed his eyes in displeasure on his wolfmate, trying his best to contain his fuming Beast within; his Beast no more liked seeing their mate run from him than Darien did. When he spoke his growl lingered, "Where do you think you're going?"
At the ferocity in his voice, Serena found herself backing away from him in wary alarm, although some part of her mind did point out that if he had wanted to hurt her then he would have done so already, not brought her to his mansion and allowed her to sleep in a comfortable bed. Not one of them had hurt her; in fact her dark stranger had saved her life more than once.
But still Serena remained wary of all of them. They were – how it was at all possible Serena remained clueless – able to change into impossibly large wolves; they were werewolves and Serena had seen with her own eyes that they were just as deadly as the vampires who'd attacked her had been. Already she knew that both the vampires and these werewolves were superhumanly fast and strong.
And they were all extremely dangerous.
The thing was that, for some reason, she wasn't as afraid as she should be. She should have been terrified, not wary.
Serena only took a few steps back before she sensed someone right behind her and she froze. She didn't dare to look over her shoulder – she didn't want to risk taking her eyes off of her dark saviour, who was the one of them that seemed interested in her – she only hoped that she wasn't as close to one of them as it felt that she was.
"Let me go." Serena begged him, her voice a trembling whimper. It wasn't much in her nature to beg but she wanted – needed – get out of there. Most than anything, she needed to get away from the man – or whatever he was – because she knew that he was the most dangerous to her. And she didn't mean physical danger. In the night club last night she had nearly climaxed from just the memory of him touching her; she didn't want to find out what would happen if he really did touch her again. "I won't tell anyone about you. I promise."
Darien fought against the urge to snatch her up in his arms and hold onto her until all thoughts of leaving him were long gone. Forever. Instead, Darien drew in a sharp breath and ignored what he wanted; he didn't want to scare her but he couldn't let her go. She was his now, forever. "You're not going anywhere. You'll stay here."
At his words Serena instantly forgot about her fear of him. Not only had he sounded pissed off at the very idea of her asking to leave, he had actually sounded possessive! He didn't have the right to keep her here, as if he owned her.
"Like hell!" Serena snapped at him with furious defiance, forgetting her wariness altogether. "Listen here buddy, I don't know exactly who you think you are, but I'm not yours to order about! Just let me go! I want to go home."
In the space of one second to the next, her dark saviour closed the distance between them and was without warning towering over her with less than an inch of space keeping them from touching. "You are home."
Serena had never felt so small or intimidated in all her life, but she refused to shrink back from him or flinch under his blazing intense stare that practically demanded her submission to him. She absolutely refused to submit to him or anyone else, she needed to stand firm and stay away from him or he would intimidate her into staying. She couldn't let that happen. Firstly, the arrogant jerk had it in his head that she was his to order about and secondly, Serena found that she was once again way too aware of him. The scent she recognised from the bedroom upstairs swept around her like a smoker's cloud of pure masculine male, all forest and man and it alone was making it difficult to think against the urge to snuggle up close to him and breathe in the arousing scent that did delicious things to her all over. And the way he towered over her so dominatingly was doing more for her libido than any other guy she had ever been attracted too. He was all hard muscle beneath his black clothing, and Serena knew from personal experience that he was very capable with those large strong hands.
Hands that could kill and defend with such efficiency, what could they do in the ways of pleasure?
If she didn't get some distance between them – preferably a continent – then Serena was going to find herself wildly humping his leg like a bitch in heat.
Darien could smell her body's responses to him and he found himself fantasying about getting her back to his bed upstairs, only this time she would not be alone and she would not be sleeping. He felt himself harden uncomfortably in reaction to his mate's arousal, but he forced himself to ignore his own body's hungers. He would not overlook the fact that she was not of his world, had she been then she would already be under him, but she wasn't and he was going to have to show some patience in claiming her. She was here under his roof and that was enough for him – for now.
But his patience would only last so long, so his mate had better get it through her delicate little head that she was his and he was never going to let her go. She would learn her place here, her place being with him, but until then he would have to keep a close eye on her and prevent her from doing anything stupid that would either get her hurt or place her in grave danger.
He was going to have to have a word with his Beta's, partially the one who had let her out of his room in the first place. She had almost made it outside; as far as she had made it had been too far.
Stepping back from her, Darien turned to the mated female that was Rei's most trusted lady and female confidant. "Summer, take her back upstairs and make sure she stays there."
Summer did not hesitate to obey. The brunette Lycaon female with bronze eyes who was older than Rei by a century, approached Serena with her head slightly bowed and her hands by her side so to appear as non-threatening as possible and indicated towards Serena that she wanted Serena to precede her.
When his wolfmate made no move to comply, Darien narrowed his eyes on her. "You have no chance to escape. Go with her or I'll carry you back myself."
Her temper flared in her eyes with anger that promised retribution, a look that could only be managed by a female met his own gaze and Darien watched with great amusement as she snapped her mouth closed, clenched her fists and glared up at him like she wanted to set him on fire with her eyes alone. All that remained was for her to stomp her foot like a child throwing a tantrum. She had spirit and a temper worthy of a woman, taming her was going to be a thoroughly enjoyable experience.
His mouth watered at the thought.
Just when Darien thought he was going to have to carry out his threat, his precious little mate turned on her heels and stalked up the stairs as loudly and as theatrically as her tiny form could manage, all the while fury rolled off her in waves.
She stalked away like the queen she would one day be.
As the two women reached to top of the first staircase, Darien sent a mental command to Summer to feed his wolfmate.
"She's a feisty one." Jadeite commented once they were out of mortal hearing range. "For a mortal."
"Disobedient and wilful too." Darien mumbled irritably with a deep breath, reminding himself that he was going to have to be tolerant with her. It seemed that taking care of his mate and watching her was going to be a full time job. His mate had seen that she was outmatched and had decided to go back upstairs under her own power, but Darien had no doubt that she wouldn't be deterred from trying to escape from him again so easily.
"But she isn't one of us." Nephlite pointed out in a soft but deliberate tone. "She can't be your mate, Darien."
Darien sharply turned his attention to his second Beta with warning eyes. "She is. I don't know how it is possible but I know she is the one meant for me."
"She is mortal." Nephlite repeated, concern making his hard tone distinctly softer. "You attempt to change her and she will die. You are Immortal brother, should you find a way to mate with her, when she dies as will you. That is the way of the mates."
Darien didn't need to be told, for he knew it all too well, but he wasn't about to give her up over a trivial thing like mortality. "I don't care. I will have a few short decades with her in which I will know peace. Without her I am too close to the edge, I can feel it. Without her I am lost anyway."
Darien closed his eyes and basked in the peace that she made him feel just by seeing her. Peace he hadn't known since he'd been nothing more than a young pup under his parent's watchful and loving gaze.
"If a few decades are all I can have, then I will live them bathed in the joy and warmth she creates within me."
Darien didn't need for his eyes to be open to see the worried glances exchanged between his Beta's.
For the next twenty-four hours Darien forced himself to stay away from his mate. Or as away as he was prepared to go. She was safely locked in his bed chamber with two guards posted at the door, one male and one female. He had left the specific instructions that only the female guard was to enter his chambers if the situation called for her to do so. He had made it clear that no male was to enter unless absolutely necessary, but by that he meant that Serena was in mortal peril because an army of Damned had just broken into the room. He had also made it abundantly clear that she wasn't to leave his chambers for any reason.
Food, and everything else she had needed, had been sent to the room within the first few hours of her waking.
Darien knew she still slept, he could hear her soft peaceful sigh-like breathing, the strong rhythmic melody that was heartbeat and the occasional rustle of bedding as she turned in her sleep.
That he knew how angelically beautiful Serena was when she slept was one of the reasons why Darien was keeping his distance from her. At least for now. He wasn't too trusting of his control around her, and he didn't want to either frighten her or introduce her into his world before she was ready. Mortal females were so much more delicate than Immortal females.
Another reason why he had practically locked in himself inside his personal library was that immediately after his mate had been returned to his chambers, an acoustic chaotic feast of crashes, thuds, bangs, shattering reverberations and colourfully screeched insults had entertained his pack for over half an hour.
Judging from the ruckus, Darien had been able to deduce that his chambers had been turned upside-down as she had thrown and destroyed things during her childish tantrum. And judging by the distinct sound of what had to be his computer monitor hitting the wall and then the sound of fabric being maliciously torn, Darien didn't hold any hopes for his computer or for his clothes that had been in his closet.
Darien had made a mental note to keep her far away from his library and office.
None of his personal possessions meant anything at all to him, especially now that he had found his wolfmate, the precious gift that she was. She could bring the entire manor down on top of him, spend away every cent and dime to his name, and he would never so much as raise a hesitant protest. What he had was hers, he was more than willing to lie anything at her feet that her precious heart desired. He would conquer the world – all of them – just to see her look at him with more than anger and caution in her beautiful eyes.
His mate was so tentative, but at the same time, even though she had feared him – he knew the bitter scent of fear well – she had still refused to submit to him in the least. She had a will that he would be thrilled to see passed onto any offspring, should the Moon Goddess deem him worthy of progeny one day.
Darien couldn't help but smile at the thought. For so long he had thought himself doomed, that he would never find his mate and now here he was; with his mate beneath his roof and considering a child of his own.
A child he would adore and cherish every bit that he did his mate.
Behind him, Darien sensed someone enter the room, even though they made not a single sound. He was seated at his desk in his library, not working so much as he was working through his thoughts, which mostly revolved around his mate, whom he could hear continuously in the next room. Her breathing and heartbeat were as soothing to him as harmonious music was to the mortals.
"Have you regained yourself, brother?" Rei asked, her tone saturated with sarcasm and restrained tempter; that she was extremely displeased in him was obvious.
Darien had been expecting his sister to come to him immediately after the pack had dispersed from the entrance hall after the excitement his wolfmate had caused, but Rei hadn't. In fact Rei had waited until now, the next day, to even come near him.
Darien didn't need his heightened sense of hearing that allowed him to hear within most of the mansion to know that his house was a buzz with excitement over the newest member to their pack. There were a lot of mixed feelings about him and his mate ranging from joy that their Alpha had finally found his wolfmate, to caution and fear from what it meant that their Alpha's mate was mortal, to a frail renewal in hope that there may be reason to hope again after so long.
Slowly, Darien turned to face his sister. She was not waiting patiently for his reply.
"I never lost myself, Rei."
Rei scoffed at his reply and gave him a sceptical glare. "Please, you all but stomped your foot and dragged her upstairs by her hair like some mortal caveman."
Darien gave no response, even though he had a nagging feeling that this was going to be one of those times when his remarkably preceptive sister was going to be right and as a result would demand an apology to be paid.
The silence stretched between them until Rei drew in a deep calming breath and her eyes visibly softened. "Jadeite showed me everything. You saved her life. If you ever manage to remain in the same room with her without provoking her with your domineering pride, she will thank you. Even mortals are not above showing their gratitude for saving them, but you need to soften your approach towards her if you want her to stay."
Darien's fierce will and even fiercer temper flared to life in his dark eyes. The thought of her leaving him was inconceivable to him. "She will stay!"
"Because you hold her here, not because it is her choice." Rei closed the distance between them, walking up to the large polished wood desk her brother sat behind, never looking away from her his hard blazing gaze. "She is not of our world. She knows nothing of our ways. You need to remember that. Try explaining the situation to her calmly instead of acting like a wild territorial animal."
Darien knew the soft imploring tone was born out of love and concern for him, but before he could admit her that she just may be right, someone approached the door, making no effort at all to quieten their hasty steps, and knocked loudly.
"Enter." Darien called passed his sister through the closed door.
A moment later, the doors opened and a male Lycaon of his pack entered. "My Lord." He greeted with a swift respectful bow of his head.
This Lycaon was one of the pack's greatest hunters and warriors, outside of Darien himself and his Beta's. His name was Talc and he often went out of his way to prove his loyalty and willingness to serve his Alpha and the pack. Darien saw many qualities in Talc that would make him a great leader given the chance. They had fought together in many battles for centuries; Talc's loyalty and respect for him, his prince and Alpha, had aided him in maintaining control over his Beast within for near of three centuries. Talc held on because of his Alpha's example of inner strength.
Outside of the Beta's and his own family, Talc was the member of his pack that Darien trusted the most; even if something did happen to himself, Darien knew that Talc would serve and protect the pack as avidly as he did now.
Unfortunately, Talc had yet to find his mate and for too long the signs that his Beast was starting to overshadow the man within were growing more noticeable with each passing month. Talc was of strong body and will, but without a mate he would undoubtedly turn within the next five years.
Darien always knew how close an Immortal was to turning, he couldn't pin it to the day, but he always knew when it was close. He had to know, for the sake of his pack and now his mate. As Alpha it fell to him to keep his pack safe; it was his duty to "deal" with those who posed a threat, even if that threat came from within.
Darien had already accepted – although it was in no way his will or wish – that within a few years, Talc would become too far gone and Darien would no longer allow him near Serena or any other female. Sadly females were the first to be attacked by those who were turning or had recently turned, the damned souls driven mad by their bloodthirsty desperation to have a mate.
Once an Immortal was on the cusp of turning, only one's true mate could pull them back from the brink, but once an Immortal crossed that line and drank human lifeblood and became of the Damned, then nothing could bring them back. Nothing could make them as they had been before.
It was the fate of all who did not find their one true mate. Darien had been well aware that that would have been his fate had he not found Serena. So, mortal or not, Serena was his salvation and whatever time he had with her he would treasure.
Darien fought the smile that threatened to spread across his lips. He understood Talc's turmoil all too well, and he wished Talc, and every other struggling Lycaon, a mate, mortal or immortal, either way the salvation was the same.
Talc stood tall and proud before him, showing no evidence of the inner war he was forced to fight every moment of every day. "Prince Andrew of the Anami Clan has arrived at our gates. He requests an audience with you."
Darien's eyes narrowed in suspicious thought. Andrew was a prince and Anami, who weren't as animalistic as Lycaon kind. The Anami were far more sophisticated and refined as they weren't at the mercy of their impulses as the Lycaon kind were. Because of this it had always been Andrew's way to announce his intention of visiting before he even left his own mansion.
There was only one thing that could have brought Andrew to the Lycaon Manor without first giving the notice the Anime deemed civilised.
Darien silently nodded his consent and Talc bowed his head low to him as he left the room, closing the door soundlessly behind him.
Darien was in his library and his mate slumbered in the next room. A single wall that any Immortal could break through like wet tissue paper was not enough to appease him. He needed more between the Anami and his mate.
Although Darien knew that his best and most trusted friend outside of his pack would never harm anyone in his pack unjustly, let alone his mate, Darien was in no mood to take any chances with his salvation.
Darien dismissed his sister, making it clear with a look that he wanted her too keep away. Not for her safety, Andrew would no more harm Rei than he would Darien himself, but because she had irritated him enough for now.
Sensing and hearing the gates of manor's ground swing open – silently to mortal ears – Darien moved swiftly through the halls, down wide a staircase, and entered his main office. Here he was still close enough to his mate to hear her clearly or get to her quickly if she needed his protection, while he was further enough away that he would be able to stop Andrew or any of Andrew's own before they could get to her.
This office, his main office, was used mainly to address pack business, handle and oversee his various companies and other assorted means of monetary income for the pack, and the odd business meeting that had to be held at the manor for one reason or another. Although Darien disliked bringing outsiders to the manor, especially mortals who had no idea who or what he really was, but sometimes it was just unavoidable.
Barely thirty seconds later, the doors opened and Andrew entered, flanked by Darien's Beta's. Andrew had left his own entourage outside manor walls in this instance, which he did not normally do – Andrew's coven was as welcome here as Darien himself was in Andrew's mansion. Besides, there was no danger for the Anami Prince here unless he himself became a danger to them.
They had both fought for this peace between their two races for too long for either to risk their friendship and the treaty.
But circumstances had changed since Serena had entered his life, and his manor, and Andrew knew his well enough to know that. Andrew had come inside alone, leaving his Beta's outside, because of their friendship and trust.
But still, Darien's Beast howled at him, warning him against allowing another male – and an Anami – into the manor while Serena was there.
Darien remained unusually watchful and tense in Andrew's presence even as he presented his Anami friend with a welcoming smile. Darien knew why his Anami friend had come, he had been expecting him – maybe not quite this soon – and he was welcome too; Serena presented as much hope for new possibilities for the Anami race just as much as she did for the Lycaon race.
"Andrew, it is a pleasure to see you my friend," Darien greeted cordially as he extended his hand. As much as he wanted to get straight to the heart of the matter, he had been raised a prince and in the presence of other royalty he would always be well-mannered – at least until they gave him reason not to be. "It's been weeks since you've graced the manor."
Andrew returned a half-hearted smile in return and took Darien's hand but released it without shaking it. "It has been much longer since you have graced my mansion."
And then Andrew dropped all pretence of formality. His expression became ardent, and hopeful. "Is it true, my friend? Has a mortal been claimed as your bondmate?"
Darien made no attempt to hide the truth from him, for the discovery of a mortal mate was significant to all Immortal kind, and Andrew had his trust. "Yes. I do not know how this is possible, but have no doubt, she is my rightful mate." He did not try to keep the hint of warning from entering his eyes that came straight from his beast, although he did hold back to accompanying warning growl.
Andrew had never received such a look from his friend before, not even when they were enemies and had met on the battlefield. Such a look was often associated with males in regards to their mate's safety and wellbeing and Andrew knew it – if this mortal woman had been his instead, Andrew would have been no different, no less overprotective or cautious with her safety.
Andrew bowed his head ever so slightly and stepped back, a clear pacifying gesture and demonstration of submission in the Lycaon way. "Is there anything to explain what makes this mortal so unique?"
"No." Although Darien wished that he could find something, something that could be used to identify others of Serena's kind; if there were any. It wasn't beyond the possibility that Serena was the only one of her kind. "I have tasted her blood. There is no trace of anything Immortal, or anything unique about her in that respect."
Andrew was thoughtful for a long silent minute, before he turned his attention and his gaze back to him. His tone he used was even and careful, as if he knew he was walking upon hazardous ground. "Blood is not the specialty of the Lycaon kind. It would be wise to allowed me to taste her for myself."
Violent warning flared in Darien's dark eyes and it took every ounce of his control that had been built over millennia to keep from growling at the Anami prince. As it was he knew warning fire flared to life in his eyes, promising death to all who defied him, to any who brought any harm to his mate.
Normally when he was around Andrew, Darien had always tried to act far more good-mannered than he truly was. "I tasted her blood to heal a wound. There will never again be reason for her to bleed outside of nature's way."
Andrew was hesitant, but he pressed non-the-less, although very cautiously. This matter was of too important to allow the fearsome tempter of the Lycaon Prince to make him hold his tongue. "You know I would never harm any of your own, my friend. It was merely a suggestion, but surely you must see the importance of exploring the mystery that is imbedded in her very being? My suggestion-."
"-shall be taken under advisement." Darien curtly interrupted through his teeth, making it abundantly clear that the unspoken warning was final.
Andrew regarded him for a long time before glancing briefly to his Beta's, who had wisely stayed out of the conversation, and he turned his focus back to Darien. "I have lived as long as you have, my friend. I have yet to see a mate so overly protective, even by Immortal standards."
"She is my mate." Never had words more certain escaped Darien's lips, and Andrew recognised his words for what they were; the dead certain words of a self-confident crown prince.
"She is mortal in our world," Darien stated, "and she is even now in far more danger than any female of our kind has ever been. I will take no chances with her. She is not only my mate and possibly the one destined to bare the next of the royal line of the Lycaon race; she is also new hope for all Immortal kind. If mates can be born of the mortal world in which females are plenty, then our races may have a chance of survival."
Andrew had already considered that, long before entering the gates of the Lycaon estate; in a matter of days a lot had come to rest on the shoulders of this one mortal woman. But it had also crossed Andrew's mind that if she was not all that they hoped she was, then this mortal woman could very well be the final metaphorical nail in the coffin of the Immortal races.
Hope could be as dangerous and damning as it could be life-affirming if proven to be false.
"But if not, then she is the destruction of a prince and much needed warrior in these desolate and desperate times, especially with Diamond growing more powerful with each passing year. So many are loosing hope and falling to the Darkness." Falling to the Darkness was the Anami term for falling into Damnation; the Darkness was what Anami called their Beasts. "You are needed now more than ever."
Andrew raised his arm, indicating to the top of the west wall, beyond which one floor up Serena dwelled, still locked in Darien's own bed chamber.
"She is mortal; there is no known way to change her state without risking her life. She will live, at best, a century and then what will befall you?"
"Death." Darien stated without pause or compunction.
"My point exactly."
"She is my mate!" Darien all but thundered in his friend's face, his Beast straining against the hold Darien held on him; the Beast within him was itching for a fight – one which Darien was tempted to allow; it was only centuries of friendship that kept him from unleashing his Beast upon the Anami Crown Prince. "I will not be without her for one more moment!"
Andrew allowed a long moment of silence to pass between then, so Darien could regain himself, before he spoke again.
"As your people cannot be without you." Andrew sighed with regret, his words earnest and beseeching, even though he knew that no words would ever convince Darien to part with his mate, or outlive her.
Andrew decided a change in subject might be a better course. Lycaon kind knew no concession when it came to their mates; in that the Lycaon and the Anami kind were very similar. "And what of Diamond? If word of her has reached my ears then it will be but hours more at best before it reaches his. When Diamond learns of her he will come for her with all the strength and force of his Damned Army. Bringing her into the night has made her the most coveted creature in all of creation." He paused for a single heartbeat, and then asked inquisitively, "What have your parents to say of this?"
Darien waved his hand dismissively. "I have greater concerns than my parents. What's more they cannot change what I have done or decided. She wasn't safe any longer in the mortal world. Saving her a second time and leaving her would have condemned her. With my scent on her flesh and word of my infatuation bound to spread, Serena would have been hunted without my constant protection. My pack is enough to protect her for now. If I must I will send for more forces from my father, but no Damned, Diamond or otherwise, is getting anywhere near her."
Andrew could see that the Lycaon prince, a man he had known for centuries and had come to call trusted friend, was obviously beyond reason when it came to the subject of his mate. It did occur to Andrew that Darien could very well be so touchy because he had already had this pointed out to him by his own, but Andrew was not going to let this go, at least not for long. When it came to one's mate it was extremely difficult to look beyond. Darien was the prince of his kind; he had responsibilities and duties that extended beyond his mate.
Andrew allowed the change of topic. "What of the other packs of this continent? Can you not send for them?"
"With word of my mortal mate, many of them will come of their own accord." Darien looked out the window, thankful for the increase of Lycaon numbers in his immediate territory. "Either to witness her with their own eyes or to protect her as many will potentially see her as the first new dawn of hope our race has known for millennia."
"And ours also."
Darien turned back to the Anami Prince, surprised and a little suspicious.
Correctly interpreting Darien's expression, Andrew held up his hands in a mean-no-harm gesture. "Fear not, my friend. I do not mean her specifically, but what she is. If a mortal mate can be given to one of your race, maybe there can be such a hope for us." He bowed his head respectfully to the Lycaon Prince, "You have my word, my friend. She will be protected by my coven, as surely as she is by yours. I will dispatch a unit here at once. They will be yours to command. Should you need more, or my personal aid, all you have to do is say so."
Darien nodded his head silent in thanks. Normally his pride would not allow have allowed outside help from the Anami to protect his own mate, but he was prepared to overlook it this once – pride ran deep in the Lycaon race – for Serena's sake.
Darien was not a fool; he knew what his friend and fellow prince was trying to say, but he hadn't needed too for Darien knew it all too well.
Serena could just as easily be the harbinger of their Damnation as she could be their salvation.
Andrew departed a few hours later, an hour before the sky would begin to brighten with the first rays of dawn, and Darien found himself in his own chambers watching his mate as she once again slept soundly in his bed.
His room was so completely trashed – as the mortals would say – that Darien was purposefully not looking at anything but her. Honestly, the room would've looked better if versatile explosives had been detonated within it. Wisely his wolfmate had left the bed untouched by her destructive tempter, leaving her a place to sleep, while very little else had been shown the same mercy.
When she was awake, Serena was a force of will that tried his patience and tested his self-discipline, and she had a spitfire tongue that rivalled even that of his sister's, but when she slept she seemed so delicate and innocent, so much like child. She slept peacefully, appearing even smaller in his humongous bed and thick fluffy covers. Her expression as serene and calm, her breathing soft and even and her golden hair sprawled around her, draped over the mountain of pillows, like an aura of golden summer sunlight.
Her scent – sunlight, vanilla, milk and honey – was the sweetest most intoxicating scent he had ever known; he wanted to drown himself in it. He wanted her sweet untainted scent to soak into him and become imbedded in his very pores.
Darien knew her scent now, so deeply that it was a part of him. He would always be able to track her no matter how fast or how far she ran. Not that he would let her; soon enough she would know why she had to stay and it wasn't only because her life would be forever more in danger from his enemies.
He, more than anything, wanted her to want to stay. She belonged with him, at his side for as long as they both lived. Their life-forces were one now, interwoven so tightly that he would never be able to live without her, and when she learned to love him as her mate, she wouldn't be able to live without him either. Not that he wished for her death, he would die for her but he would do so knowing that she would live on. If he had too, he would eventually make her promise him that she would never do anything to endanger or harm herself, even if he was lost.
Even though he could never make the same promise in return.
Darien sighed heavily, closed his eyes and bowed his head. Everything was so complicated over one detail; his mate was mortal. She was so soft and small and defenceless; Immortal females weren't as physically strong as Immortal males were, but they were still near a hundred times stronger than a mortal man. They were able to fight to protect themselves and they healed quickly. Immortal females were physically weaker than Immortal males, as it was in nature, but they still were able to put up a fight and take what the males had to give – not that any would dare to harm a female other than the Damned.
Serena couldn't. She couldn't even flee, not with an Immortal on her heels. She was defenceless in his world, even though she had a will and a temper that rivalled this planet's worst hurricanes. If an enemy got anywhere near her, she would be dead in an instant, taken from him forever.
And knowing that, terrified him. Already Serena was as precious to him as Rei was; more so than his very existence.
He HAD to keep her protected and safe, and if making her a prisoner in his manor was what it took, then so be it.
Unable to keep away from her a moment more, Darien silently walked around to the side of the bed on which his mate slumbered and he gently sat down on the bed and half turned his body to gaze down at her.
His wolfmate was far more beautiful and feisty than he ever could have dreamed. Of course he had seen women with greater outer beauty in many various forms, but there was something about her that outshone them all; an inner beauty that made her shine brighter than the full moon in a black starless sky.
Deep down, Darien knew that Serena did not belong in his hostile world of darkness and despair, but unless he had no other choice at all, he couldn't let her go. If she had merely been his only hope, and she would be safe then maybe, just maybe, he would have had the strength to watch her walk away from him, but he was the prince of his kind and an Alpha; she was reason for his people to hope.
Careful not to disturb her, Darien picked up a strand of golden hair from the bed that was so thick it filled his hand and held it.
Oh, by the Goddess! The strands were like warm silky wisps of water creasing his flesh. Each strand smelled of her and the shampoo she used – the wild jasmine shampoo that Rei favoured that she had given Serena when he'd had some personal items delivered to her.
The urge to rub the strands of hair against his face – and other places that would start something that his unsuspecting mortal mate definitely wasn't ready for – was almost unbearable. He hadn't known these levels of difficulty in maintaining his hold on his control since he'd been an inexperienced adolescent over nine hundred years ago.
For so long Darien had waited for her, and he was thankful for her right down to the very essence of his Immortal being, but trust the Moon Goddess to continue to test him in giving him a mate he had to continue to wait for.
For every ounce of mercy the Moon Goddess supplied, so was a grain of salt given.
Something was stirring her from her sleep, even though her slowly waking mind told her that it was still dark out.
Serena wanted nothing more than to roll over and go back into the blissful abyss of peaceful oblivion, but whatever was pulling her into consciousness was sounding an alarm bell; one that was telling her that she had to wake up as she was no longer alone.
Grudgingly, but knowing she had to heed that little voice, Serena pulled herself from her dreams and allowed the awareness of her senses to reconnect to her consciousness.
There was nothing but silence greeting her ears and even though Serena didn't open her eyes she knew it was still dark around her as no black orange golden shadows of light swirled beneath her closed eyelids. Her sense of touch and smell told her that she was still resting in the impossibly soft large bed – that she hadn't had the heart to destroy when she'd been delivering her vengeance down upon her captor's possessions. The only irritating thing about sleeping in the bed that had to be softer than the clouds of heaven was that she knew without doubt that it was his bed. She could smell him here in and around the bed more than in the entire room in general.
And then the reason for the alarm bell hit her smack in the face and her eyes snapped open, going wide, and Serena was instantly awake and alert.
The mattress beneath her had been sloping downwards on one side; the way a mattress did when someone heavier than her was sitting on it. She was slopping down sidewards because he was sitting on the bed beside her, staring down at her with him piercing intense gaze that did things to her that made her curse at her traitorous hormonal body.
With a startled cry, Serena bolted upright and used the momentum to leap away from him and across the bed.
That had been the plan anyway.
What Serena hadn't realised in time was that he was holding a chunk of her hair in his hand, and even though her hair was long she wasn't Rapunzel for crying out loud! She made it a full metre – which only put her in the middle of the bed – before her hair was pulled tight.
Serena cried out in pain at the sharp jarring pain that spanned half of her scalp and she dropped down onto the mattress in mid-leap.
Automatically, Serena grasped hold of her hair tightly in hand to both ease the pressure and the pain and to yank her hair free from his grip as she rose awkwardly on the soft mattress to her knees.
Without warning, as she yanked on her hair, her hair came free and Serena found herself flying backwards. Since she had been putting both her strength and her body weight behind the yank, Serena found herself flying backwards through the air with more force than she normally would have and that was why she hit the other end of the bed with enough momentum to bounce her back up into the air, the momentum continuing to send her flying backwards.
Serena reached out desperately to grasp the sheet but it was too late; she was going to hit the floor at a painful awkward angle. She wasn't going to die or anything, but it was going to hurt! Not only was the bed huge, it also had the added quirk of being unusually high.
Serena closed her eyes and waited for her painful jarring impact with the hardwood floor.
"Precision isn't your gift, is it?" Inquired a familiar – and very amused – voice from above her.
Serena opened her eyes to find that she wasn't on the floor at an awkward angle as she'd expected herself to be, but rather she was still horizontal, even though from her hips upwards she was laying over empty air – while looking up into a pair of dark blue eyes that were twinkling with genuine amusement.
Now that she was no longer bracing herself for impact of pain, Serena could feel warm steel braced under her shoulders and with a startled silent gasp she realised that it was his hands!
How in the hell had he gotten over to the other side of the bed so fast that he'd caught her as if he'd been there ready to catch her the entire time?
Never mind, Serena told herself as she dismissed the unspoken question a moment later. She knew. She didn't know how it was possible, but she knew. She'd had two days to think about her situation and what had happened to her over the passed five days -.
- god he had a handsome face! The kind that was said to have been sculpted by angels. Serena knew her thoughts had just jumped with the abruptness of lightening in mid-thought, but she couldn't bring herself to remember the horrors she'd gone through in this past week. Not when she was so close to him, in his hold, staring up into his gorgeous face that was so close to hers that she could feel his warm sweetly intoxicating breath on her face. His face was flawless, without a single freckle or wrinkle, his skin was tanned so evenly that it couldn't be anything else but natural, and his deep blue eyes were twinkling with amusement that made him seem less imitating by more than half.
And then there was his body and by god, what a body it was. Serena could feel his hands spread across her back. His hands were so big that they cupped her shoulders, his fingers almost meeting between her shoulder blades; Serena instinctively knew they were hands skilful in many things. He held her weight as if she weighed no more than a down pillow and his scent made her think of wild untamed predators and hot passionate love-making deep in the forbidden woods; the masculine musky scent that made her think only of forbidden carnal things was so intoxicating that it was making her head spin.
Unable to help herself, Serena drew in a deep breath, filling her lungs and drowning her senses in his scent that was as potent to her as if he'd been drenched in concentrated pheromones. He smelled like the forest, man and raw sex. This was a man who was capable in all things physical and for a moment she actually considered crawling back onto the bed and begging him to join her.
But if she did, what would he do? Would he take her up on her offer, and if he did would he be as fierce and as intensely passionate as he seemed to always be in her company or would he surprise her by being slow and gentle?
Serena shuddered in his hold, but she made no move to act on her lustful thoughts.
"Are you hurt?"
And just like that, the spell was broken and reality bit her on the ass.
Ignoring his now caring and concerned and everything else that should have been outlawed for the sake of women everywhere eyes, Serena began to struggle against his hold on her even though in her current position she knew it wasn't the smartest thing to do.
Her dark handsome protector chuckled, amusement returning to his eyes, and the next thing Serena knew, she was flying upwards through the air for a brief moment before she landed on her stomach in the middle of the bed facing in the other direction.
Too wary around her dark protector slash captor to keep her eyes off him for a second longer than she had too, Serena bolted up onto her knees once again and whirled to face him. He was watching her with amusement and something else, something new and different, in his eyes, something that made his eyes appear darker.
Serena was irritated and frustrated that she was amusing him so thoroughly that she felt liquid fire flood her veins and she exploded, finally at her limits – with him.
"Bloody hell!" Serena snapped at him, "Who the hell are you that you can't do anything normally like everyone else?!"
Of course, he didn't answer her. He only continued to stare at her with his intense watchful eyes as his chuckling died down.
Serena took the opportunity his moment of distraction presented and looked him over from head to toe.
Before she had drifted off the sleep last night, a memory had flashed through Serena's mind. It hadn't been clear because at the time she had been terrified and more than a little out of it, but she had remembered a name. One of her attackers from the second attack had called her dark wolf saviour by a name; by his name.
Darien.
It suited him. A normal common name like John or Steve never would have matched him.
Not this man, if he even really was a man.
Apart from Darien's piercing dark blue eyes that alone could probably make most women start stripping before he'd even spoken a word and thick black locks that you could lose a hand in – not to mention his tall muscled build that Heaven's warrior angels would be envious of – the most noticeable features about him were his commanding domineering presence, his raw sex appeal and the sense of danger that hung around him like a bad cologne he'd bathed in. Anyone with the bad luck to be in his presence would have an instant overwhelming reaction; men would be wary and intimidated by him, easily recognising him as the natural top dog, the man in charge, one who was dangerous and shouldn't be underestimated. While women were still intimidated but their first reaction to him had to be the instant urge to remove their underwear. The man was lethal and oozed raw wild jungle sex like he ate it for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Serena had seen proof of just how dangerous he was. He had saved her life twice now from dangerous supernatural foes and he had come through it without a scratch.
Not to mention that it seemed that he could turn himself into a wolf the size of a family car.
"Thank you."
Serena startled even herself, so deeply buried in one part of her mind that she hadn't even been aware of another part of her mind sending the word to her lips. She looked into his dark eyes and saw that fascinated confusion had consumed his face. He seemed both surprised and unsure as to why she had thanked him.
"For what?" He asked her, softly. The surprise was gone; in its place was genuine curiosity.
"For saving me," As an after thought, Serena added, "twice."
His smile stole the air from her lungs and almost made her whimper in desire. She felt so hot and achy and tingly all over, in ways that were unfamiliar to her and it scared her. The man was dangerous and it had very little to do with the fact that he was a werewolf. He was so overwhelming, so intense, that she just couldn't handle it; she couldn't handle him.
"I would say that it is my pleasure," Darien replied in a sultry voice. "But it's more than that."
Swallowing against the lump in her throat and the butterflies in her stomach, Serena tried to snap herself out of it. She failed before she even tried, so she instead turned her full focus to her confusion. The way he had phrased his response had been strange.
"More?"
Serena expected him to explain his statement, but instead she watched as Darien walked slowly around the bed, never taking his intense eyes from her, until he was at the foot of the bed. He placed his hand on the high footboard and regarded her with interest, as if wanting to have the best view of her.
What was with him? He kept looking at her like he couldn't believe she was real. There was something about his gaze that almost felt as if he had waited for her and now that she was there he couldn't quite wrap his head around the fact that she was.
Was that why she was still there? He had the hots for her or something?
That didn't quite fit. That night that she'd tried to make a run for it, he'd said that she was to stay here, that she was home.
If she hadn't seen him turn from a wolf to a man then she would've believed he was a complete nutcase, but maybe she was the nutcase. Here she was, in the house – that was more like a mansion – of a werewolf who kept looking at her like he was the big bad wolf who wanted to eat her up like she was Little Red Riding Hood, and refused to let her leave. The only thing that kept her from losing her mind from fear right now was that it had become clear to her that it didn't seem to be his intention to hurt her. He'd fought for her and had saved her life twice on two separate occasions . . .
Wait a minute. Serena's eyes narrowed as she ran through the two separate events. The first time he'd saved her, he'd appeared out of the darkness – a few seconds too late for her taste – and he'd slayed three vampires before he'd even given her any notice. The second time however, he'd appeared just in the nick of time and hadn't as much as slayed her attackers for the sake of killing them because they were evil than he'd fought to protect her. The entire second encounter had been about protecting her; that had been made obvious when he'd placed himself squarely between her and the bad creepy Vampires, viscously and warningly growling at them like they'd just attacked his mother.
Serena could understand how he had happened across her the first time. It was understandable as now that she thought about it Darien must have been hunting or tracking them or something. But that second time . . . it had been the second time in four days in a different part of town in an alley way behind a loud nightclub?
Either someone in the Heaven's above really liked her, or somehow Darien had known that she'd been in danger.
"How did you know?" Serena asked him, her expression morphing into one of suspicion and wariness.
Darien visibly became serious and guarded at the change in her demeanour, and he regarded her carefully, speaking just as carefully, as if considering every word and action so not to be caught out on anything he didn't want to be.
Like someone who had something to hide from her.
"Know what?"
"That I was in trouble that night at the club." Serena searched the facts for a reasonable explanation because she really didn't want to face the most obvious one. "Being attacked by-." She swallowed thickly; she hadn't been able to say the world out loud yet. "- vampires can't be that common. You killed the ones who attacked me that first night, so unless there was someone who wanted revenge for them, which doesn't seem that likely since none of the others who attacked me the second time even mentioned then other than saying that I'd escaped death that night. I don't know why I was attacked a second time in four days, but regardless of that," Serena stared straight into his eyes, searching for the truth, "how did you know that I was going to be attacked that second time?"
Darien waited a brief while before he answered her, but there was nothing telling in his eyes when he spoke. "The scent of the vampires," – for some reason the term seemed to amuse him – "and myself was left on your skin. Other Immortals could smell it-."
"I showered!" Serena protested defensively. She showered every night unless something prevented her, which there hadn't been in over a month. She had even showered that night the vampires had first attacked.
"Regardless, the scent remained. Once marked, the scent of Immortals that is only able to be detected by Immortals, remains for weeks." Darien explained steadily, as if he were explaining himself to a child. "A kind of toxin is released into your blood and skin when an Immortal feeds, even when I used my saliva to heal your wound, I left something lingering on your flesh and in your wound."
A terrifying thought snaked its way into her unprepared mind and Serena wanted to throw up as an icy hand of dread and terror wrapped itself around her heart and tightened, then it squeezed her stomach too for good measure. "Does that mean I'm going to become one of you?"
Darien was shaking his head before she even finished asking her question. "No. First off, you didn't receive anywhere near enough venom for that to happen. It's a myth that a mortal can be turned by just being bitten by an Immortal. Fluid exchange is needed, one way or the other, depending on the race of the Immortal."
Fluid exchange?! Why did she have the feeling that he wasn't just taking about a blood transfusion?
"Second," he went on, either not noticing her moment of distraction or ignoring it. "A mortal can't be changed into an Immortal. Immortals are born, not turned."
Serena knew she shouldn't ask because she feared the answer, but her curiosity was roused. "What happens if it's tried?"
Darien looked unblinkingly into the eyes of his mate, knowing that a whole lot of conflicting emotions were flickering in his eyes as he considered her and her fate. "The mortal dies. There has never been an exception in all recorded Immortal history."
Oh, Serena felt a little dismayed; she didn't like that she was finding everything he was telling her so intriguing. She wasn't normal; a normal girl being kept in a werewolf's mansion should have been terrified, but no, she was intrigued.
At least it was a relief that she wasn't going to turn into a werewolf or a vampire, or so Serena kept telling herself.
Needing a distraction from that line of thought, Serena realised that they'd wondered off topic. "So, back to the original question, how did you know? I get it that you could still be smelt on me-." Boy did that sounded suggestive! Moving on. "- and I remember my attackers the other night mentioning they could smell it on me that I'd been bitten, that's why I ran, but how did you know?"
With a brief pause and an obvious mental shrug, Darien answered her, all the while giving her a meaningful look. "Something happened the first time I laid eyes on you, and I know you felt it too; you just don't know what it means. My people know it; most pray for it to happen to them."
There was weight and significance to his words, Serena sensed that what he was telling her was very important. To him.
"In our world, each Immortal is born to be the mate of another," Darien went on, keeping his tone even and steady. "There is no one else for them and until they find each other there is no peace for either of them. There is a darkness – we call it our Beast – that cannot be soothed without one's true wolfmate. No one else will do, it's like two parts of the one soul is born into the world, destined to find each other, to become whole, and until the soul is whole again the Beast within rages. Wolfmates are bonded, for life. They become a part of each other so profoundly that if one dies, so does the other. When mates find each other, they know it instantly and from that day onward they cannot part without dying."
Serena had a dreading horrible suspicion that she knew where this was going; she'd heard him the other night even though at the time she hadn't listened.
And then Darien looked straight into her eyes and said in a deadpan tone, "You, Serena, are my wolfmate." Then he walked around to the other side of the bed and looked down at her with conviction in his powerfully intense penetrating eyes. "And I'm never going to let you go. I've waited for you all my life."
Serena was so far out of touch with reality that her vision was starting to blur as she tried to wrap her mind around that! She could deal with the werewolves and the vampires trying to kill her, but not this!
This . . . this . . . this force of nature thought that she was his mate?! Oh, hell no! She couldn't handle college guys for crying out loud, and he wanted her to handle him?! The man who, when face to face with whatever god resided in the afterlife, would tell him that he was in charge now?! She could barely remain coherent around him for two minutes, and he wanted her to be around him for the rest of her life?!
Forget it!
And what about her say in all of this?! She had never been the type to lie down and be ordered about! And she wasn't going to start now. He was just going to have to realise how really really wrong he was and let her go.
"You were stalking me, weren't you?!" Serena accused as it all fell into place. It was the only way he'd been able to be there to save her that night. Everything was falling into place, like that one piece of the puzzle being slid into place that made the whole image become clear.
"I knew you were my wolfmate the first time I saw you, but I also knew that as a mortal, who had just been terrified out of her mind when you'd been attacked by creatures you believed weren't real. So I gave you a few days to gather yourself, but I was always there watching you; from sunset to sunrise. I watched and protected you, as I will for as long as my heart beats."
Serena couldn't bear it any longer. She couldn't stand him towering over her looking down at her as if he believed every word he was saying. Scrambling away from him – this time making sure that he didn't have a hold on her hair – she jumped to her feet, but kept the bed between them, grateful for some distance separating them.
She was no one's mate, and if she ever was, it would be by her choosing, not his! As tempting as it was to fall into this sexy man's arms and just let him take care of her, Serena loved her independence and her life and she wasn't about to give it up for anyone, not even someone she owed her life too twice over.
"I don't know what you think is going on here, but let me clue you in," Serena glared at him, her tone as sharp as a fighter's blade, as she reached for her jacket; it was cold in the mansion and it would be even colder outside. "I don't care what you think I am, I'm going home, while you are going to focus really hard on not stalking me anymore!"
"Oh really? Is that what you think is going be?"
Something about his tone made Serena look up at him as a wary uneasy feeling spread through her. His tone was too cocky, too arrogant; his tone was downright mocking!
Darien now stood with his arms crossed at his broad hard chest and was looking at her with a partly amusement, partly daring expression on his ridiculously handsome face.
Serena recognised that look for what it was; the arrogant stubborn smug expression of a spoiled crown prince! Darien was a man who was so accustomed to getting his own way that no one else's wants or opinions even occurred to him.
"You're staying. I'm not even allowing you out of this room without me with you."
Serena eyed her dark saviour with fierce tempter in her eyes. "Are you telling me I really am a prisoner here?!"
He just continued to stare her down, not even blinking. "You are my mate. You belong here. You are staying. Here you are safe and protected. As long as there is any danger to you, you will remain under my protection, but if you need or want for anything, you only need to speak of it. You will have everything that is at my disposal to give."
Serena gritted her teeth to keep from screaming at him; she hadn't missed the whole 'I-am-a-big-strong-man-who-can-provide-for-you implication in his little speech. What she really hated was how her inner primeval female side responded to the you-Jane-me-Tarzan.
By God, this man was so charismatic and alluring that he called out to everything female inside of her. If she wasn't constantly fighting him there was little doubt in Serena's mind that she would have been throwing herself at him.
Fortunately Serena had had plenty of practice at dealing with her hormones; she was a former teenager after all. So she did was she had always done; she ignored them.
"I want my freedom." Serena told him.
He regarded her like a patient father would his temper tantrum throwing child that he was indulging. "Do you want to keep your life? You are known in this now; news of you has already spread throughout the entire county. There is no place you'll be safe except here with me with my pack to protect you."
Serena's eyes narrowed into slits as she processed what he said and translated the meaning. Her reply came through her gritted teeth with all the warmth of Neptune. "So I am your prisoner."
"You are my mate." Darien amended with emphasis on the first word.
Serena screeched in sheer frustration through her teeth, she wanted to throw something. She wanted to hit something – with him at the top of the list! Yes, she'd gotten it that they were werewolf like creatures, but that didn't mean that he could do this to her!
Darien was becoming aroused by her outburst; life and fury making her eyes blaze with life and will, her entire face and neck were flushed and her tiny rigid feminine body was the most erotic thing he'd seen in all his long centuries. He wanted her, ached for her, there was no doubt about that, he hungered for her more than he had ever hungered for anything in all his existence, and that included blood during his recently passed dark days.
But sadly, now was not the time. She would come to grips with the truth soon enough. She couldn't deny what was right there in front of her, no matter how hard she tried. He would be patient – for now – and then he would reap the rewards.
For now, Darien would leave her be before he did something far from honourable; it also wouldn't hurt for her to calm down and think about what he'd said. Maybe next time she would be much more appreciative of all he had done for her.
"By the way."
Serena turned around to see that her dark pain-in-the-ass arrogant jerk was no longer standing by the bed watching as she fumed. He was halfway out the door, waiting patiently for her attention.
"The name's Darien."
And the door closed and locked behind him.
Serena bent down and picked up the first thing she laid her hand on – a black leather boot that had come from his now empty closest – and threw it with all her strength at the door wishing it had been him she was aiming at.
But despite her anger at him, the errant thought that she'd been right in assuming Darien was his name ran through her head.
Feeling impotent and even more enraged, Serena did the only thing she could do; she threw herself on the bed and screamed into the pillow that was soaked with Darien's intoxicating scent.
Darien needed to run after dealing with his mate. She was so frustrating and wilful, but what he really needed to work off was the lingering arousal that lingered from her adorable little tantrum.
It was scarcely an hour until full light and even though his kind suffered no effects from the sun's rays, daylight hours were their most vulnerable; day was when the mortals ruled the earth while the Immortals had the night. That was the unspoken treaty that had come to be long ago, but Darien was willing to risk being seen.
He needed to let his Beast loose away from his mate.
In his wolf form, Darien ran the estate's perimeter, as he did when he was restless, checking the heart of his territory for any sign or scent of intruders. He had his vulnerable mortal mate to protect now; he would run the perimeter much more often.
After his conversation with his wolfmate, a few things had become clear that Darien needed to think hard about and he thought best when he ran wild and free as a wolf.
The most immediate was the protection and security of his wolfmate. Before he had left, Darien had ordered two of his pack's females, both of whom he trusted, to take his mate into his personal library next door while his bedchamber was cleaned and put to rights. He had of course made it clear to the females that his wolfmate wasn't allowed to repeat her tantrum in his library that she had in his bedchamber. Some of the tomes in his library were records of his people's history and were millennia old.
The next on Darien's list was the wooing of said wolfmate. He was more than experienced with the opposite sex – mortal or Immortal – but Serena seemed to have something of a resistance to him when it came to his attempts to charm her. He was going to have to try something else but it was going to be difficult as he couldn't give her what she claimed to want most; her freedom. He would have to try something more subtle until she stayed of her own choosing.
Unfortunately, subtle was not among his usual practices. If his pride and ego had allowed him, he would have asked Nephlite, his Beta most skilled in subtleties.
Then there was the amount of attention his mate was getting. Darien hadn't been exaggerating to Andrew earlier that morning; every day more and more of his kind arrived in his immediate territory. Not only rogues – those of this kind who chose to be alone instead of belonging to a pack and travelled the world with very few ties – but entire packs. On top of that, the unit of Anami Andrew had promised would be arriving just after sunset.
Darien would not have them near his wolfmate – only partly because they were not of his pack; Andrew would be sending his most trusted – but because it had mostly been Damned Anami that had attacked her. He didn't want to scare her, or freak her out as the mortals said, anymore than she already was.
Although, Serena was taking everything remarkably well for a mortal. The way she had fought with him just now, a man who could become a very large wolf who had killed in front of her innocent eyes, gave testament to either great bravery or one impressive temper that made her forget just what he really was.
On top of Serena and the seemingly never-ending string of problems that followed her, Darien still had his multimillion dollar companies in the mortal world to run, from which came the money that kept him and his pack in the finest of modern comforts. The companies were multi-million dollar corporations, so money wasn't the problem. He had hired mortals to handle the majority of the dealings of his various companies, but there were still some things the mysterious young handsome CEO had to take care of himself.
And to add even more to the list of things he was leaving unattended, remaining at the manor with his mate meant that he wasn't hunting the Damned, which no doubt would result in more innocent mortals dying.
When he returned to the manor Darien was going to have to organise teams of his pack and the willing visiting Lycaons to take on additional hunts.
Feeling more at ease with his priorities organized, Darien returned to his manor, just as the sunlight hit the grounds of his estate over the rise of trees and the tall surrounding wall. He had been gone a full two hours longer than necessary, but he had worked a lot out and he had never let the manor drift from his earshot. If his mate or his pack had needed him, he would've reached the manor in less than two minutes.
Darien glanced up at the balcony belonging to his own bedroom and a wolfish toothy grin spread across his muzzle.
Maybe he should see what his mate was doing when she thought he wasn't near.
Serena hadn't been able to get back to sleep after her dark captor – now confirmed to be known by the name Darien – had frustrated and pissed her off to no end. So she had showered, opened the door to request her breakfast be brought to her early – a routine she was unfortunately getting into – and had looked for something to do.
She had already destroyed, maimed or damaged most objects in the room, so she couldn't do that again, as sorely as she was tempted, even though Darien hadn't shown any reaction at her turning the room upside down and inside out; the only room she had spared was the bathroom. It had been left alone because when she had turned her sights on it the day before her sense of self preservation had piped up and pointed out that she needed that bathroom in working order as she was currently trapped there.
A full two hours after she'd finished her breakfast, Serena had been surprised when the woman guard – who had medium brown hair and kind hazel eyes – had asked her to follow her into the next room so that the room could be "cleaned".
Serena had complied but it had been with a self-satisfied grin on her face. She didn't feel the least bit guilty about the damage she'd caused because Darien had deserved it, and he obviously had more than enough money to pay for the damages.
And hadn't he just this morning – before dawn she might add – pledge that anything she wanted at all was hers? What was a little destruction of his bedroom when he had promised her anything she wanted –.
– except for what she actually did want of course. It seemed that his promise only applied to things that kept her there as his prisoner. It could be worse, Serena supposed. If she had to be in a cage, at least it was gilded and she was comfortable.
She had been lead through the door in the wall opposite the French doors – that had been locked – and into a library slash office that looked like a smaller version of the library in Disney's Beauty and the Beast. The walls were lined with shelf after shelf of old looking books but there wasn't a speck of dust to be found. There was a large dark vanished wooden desk just off the centre of the room, complete with computer and big overstuffed rotating computer chair on wheels, behind which was a large impressive smoky marble fireplace big enough to fit five grown men standing inside without touching each other.
There were no windows, but the entire ceiling was made of glass, lighting the room with plenty of natural light but with the way entire room was designed, no direct natural light would ever reach any of the shelved books.
Her two female guards who had allowed her awe at the sight of the room to pass before they'd politely asked if she wanted anything, to which Serena had declined as she'd known they'd meant anything other than her freedom. If she was going to escape her captors then she was either going to have to convince Darien to let her go or she was going to have to get away herself.
But unlike before, the two guards had not left the room once she'd made it clear that she didn't want anything. Instead they'd taken their posts at the main double doors opposite the desk, inside of the room.
That had made her smile impishly. It was as if they didn't trust her in the library alone for some reason. Gee, Serena wondered what the reason for their mistrust was.
He he. There was just something about this place – and its master – that was bringing out her inner devil that had kicked the usual residing little angel from the premises.
And so for the passed hour Serena had busied herself on the computer, researching vampires and werewolves on the internet. Most of it seemed like made-up paranoid crap and superstition, but she paid attention to the main reoccurring points. Daylight was bad for vampires who lived by drinking blood – it was easier to believe now that she had been attacked by vampires, one of whom had drunk her blood like it was a fine wine. Lycaons – an older term for Werewolves – turned into enormous wolves – Serena suspected that the little titbit about only being able to turn during a full moon was fictional as she had been attacked twice without sign of a full moon.
Serena had no idea how much of the rest was actually true, but the more she knew about Vampires and Lycaons the better.
She did, however, find herself very interested in the parts that outlined ways to kill vampires and werewolves. She wondered where she could get a gun with silver bullets. She would only need one silver bullet.
After a solid hour of research, Serena grew tired of all the contradicting repetitive information and she settled for researching normal wolves as that information was fact not myth and made-up paranoid fiction that best suited a low budget horror movie.
One internet site seemed particularly helpful; it described the behaviour of an Alpha wolf and it was spot on with Darien's characteristics. Whoever had written it made it sound as if they were describing her own dark pain-in-the-ass arrogant jerk. Only they left out a few descriptive keywords, like 'asshole', 'conceited', 'spoiled', 'domineering' and 'raw sex on legs'.
Eventually Serena was so engrossed in what she was reading that she was reading it out loud, mumbling the words to herself, only partly aware that she was doing so. " '. . . wolves have incredible and long-lasting stamina and . . .' "
Serena scoffed, halting in mid sentence. "Stamina, huh?" Well, doesn't that just figure-."
"You have no idea how long-lasting my stamina is."
Serena shrieked, startled out of her wits, and jumped straight up out of the chair like the chair had suddenly taken a chunk out of her behind. Then she scrambled back away from him where he stood behind the chair she'd just leaped out of.
The stupid ass had whispered right in her ear with that smooth-as-silk suggestive tone of his without even alerting her that he was in the damned room! Fortunately she was too startled, her heart racing too frantically in her chest, for the intended effect of his silken promise to have its true intended effect on her.
With her heart racing, Serena turned and glared daggers at him while he had a devil's grin on his face and heated lustful delight in his eyes – that were twinkling again!
"How did you get in here?!" Serena demanded, placing her hand over her heart in an effort to keep it from bursting through her ribcage.
The main door was right in front of her; his desk faced it and she hadn't noticed any movement at all!
Wordlessly, Serena watched as Darien pointedly looked left at the wall and there, to the right of the desk, was the door she'd entered through that lead to his bedroom. His answer to her question was obvious.
He came in through the side door that connected with his bedroom.
Serena turned back to Darien and glared her mightiest at him. Needing to mask her embarrassment at being so easily taken by surprise while reading aloud the information she had, she glared accusingly at him. "Well, announce yourself or wear a bell around your neck or something! Jeez!"
This bloody mansion was full of people but she rarely heard any of them! There were no footsteps in the corridor or the occasional cough or sneeze, not even the sound of something being dropped and it wasn't because of excellent soundproofing! It was because the inhabitants of the house just moved that silently, and nothing was dropped, probably because of the superhuman reflexes she herself had witnessed.
The most common sound Serena had heard so far were hushed whispers outside her door; that was her only proof that the house was even inhabited. In fact she had even gotten into the habit of dropping things and walking loudly just for the sake of the noise!
He – Darien – was watching her still with amusement in his penetrating twinkling eyes and it was then that Serena realised that she wasn't afraid of him anymore. She was still terrified from her body's responses to him, but she wasn't afraid of him. She knew he would never hurt her or he would have done so already. He had even said several times that he would do anything to keep her safe.
You didn't promise that to someone you intended to hurt.
He was an arrogant jerk, but he had never laid a hand on her other than to save her from harm, or the few gentle caresses that had always been along her cheek or her hair.
But Serena wasn't about to fall in love with him – the blazing and intense sexual tension between them aside. He was a dangerous man to love; a heartbreaker. Serena suspected that if she did allow herself to fall in love with him it would be completely and she knew very well how much a broken heart could destroy someone.
She had known enough pain from love lost to last a lifetime; she had loved her parents with all her heart and loosing them had destroyed a part of her. Forever.
Darien sensed his mate's abrupt mood shift, he could see her pain in her eyes and he quickly sought out a means to distract her from her current line of thought, whatever it was. With time they would come to know each other well enough that he would know what caused her such heartbreaking sorrow and know what to say to soothe her, but for now he was forced to distract rather than comfort.
His eyes fell on his computer and a small playful grin spread across his lips.
Serena noticed Darien quirk an eyebrow as he glanced at the computer.
"Nice to see you know how to use a computer as anything other than a projectile." He said with a deep chuckle in regards to what she had done to his bedroom.
Memories of her parents were immediately drowned out by her embarrassment and her anger that was aimed directly at him. Serena wanted to hurl the computer at him! He was making fun of her just because he wanted too!
The first thing Serena was going to do when she escaped from him was get a gun and find a silver bullet.
Sapphire had spent the entire night making sure everything was as it should be in the underground lair where the bulk of the Damned of the city dwelled during daylight hours. It was not the grand palaces they had once occupied in the times of old, but it was safe and hidden from those who hunted them and it offered complete shelter from the harsh sun for the Anami Damned.
They changed dwellings often to keep those who hunted them guessing. Currently their safe haven was within the three levelled basement of an abandoned industrial factory above that had been restored enough to suit them; mostly with the possessions they had stolen or taken from their kill. They were on the outskirts of the city. The always made certain that they remained on the opposite side of the city that bordered the Lycaon territory as the city belonged to the mortals – or so was believed by all but the Damned who did not care in whose territory they hunted.
It secretly gave Sapphire dark pleasure that even though the Lycaon prince had tried to find the lair of the Damned in the city for over a decade he had yet to even gain a clue. The Damned feared the warrior Lycaon Prince, but they feared their own Prince more. The Lycaon Prince would only kill them, whereas the Prince of the Damned had long ago made death a mercy.
The Prince of the Damned had been away from the City for over a year, leaving Sapphire in charge in his stead. The Prince hadn't even told him, his second in command, what his mission had been that had taken him from the city for so long, but whatever it was, the Prince was returning by Sapphire's own summons.
Sapphire had sent word to his Prince as soon as he had returned to the safety of the lair and it had been replied too almost immediately.
It had only read – written in mortal blood – 'Arriving two nights hence.'
Of course, Sapphire had told his Prince everything and had known its importance would outweigh anything his master was doing.
It wasn't every day that their greatest enemy acquired a mate, let alone a mortal one.
Sapphire snapped to attention as the doors whooshed open with a loud piercing metallic bang and the Prince and Leader of the Damned – one of the most powerful and oldest surviving of their kind – stalked into the throne room like the dominant ruling power that he was.
Without greeting anyone, took his place on his black solid gold throne on the five stair high dais on the opposite side of the room from the door.
Sapphire was the second in command. While the rest in the room fell to their knees, he had earned his right to remain on his feet, expected only to bow his head.
"Sire." Sapphire greeted reverentially. He had two fresh terrified mortal females – always the most beautiful that could be found, even though mortals paled so in comparison to the flawless beauty of an Immortal female – ready for his master to feed upon, waiting at a moment's warning to be brought to him.
"Tell me of this mortal bitch the Lycaon whelp has found." Prince Diamond demanded in a low icy hiss.
"I have tasted her scent myself, my Prince." Sapphire answered quickly, he had earned his place as second in command of all Damned, but the Prince of the Damned would still kill him as surely as any other. "I witnessed with my own eyes that he regards her as his mate."
"This is what we've been waiting for." The Prince of the Damned sounded downright triumphant. "The demise of our enemies is now at hand."
"Excellent, my Lord." Sapphire bowed his head.
"But this mortal mated with a Lycaon requires further enquiry." Diamond told him, his tone one of calculation. "Either the Lycaon Prince has fallen into madness or there is something unique about her."
"Should I investigate for you, Sire?"
"No." The Prince of the Damned turned his attention to the dark figure who had escorted the Prince to the Lair of the Damned but had remained unnoticed in the doorway of the Throne room. "I have someone else in mind to investigate this. Someone who can get closer to her than any of us."
Beneath his low black hood that cast black shadows over his face, the figure grinned with evil delighted anticipation.
Yes. He could get closer to the Lycaon Prince and the Lycaon pack than any other Damned on Earth and they wouldn't even know he was there until it was too late.