Dangerous

Desmond POV

I couldn’t believe this woman standing in front of me.

She had the audacity to ask me to marry her?

“Do you know what you’re saying?” I questioned, my voice calm but edged with curiosity. There was a clear, distinct chill in my tone.

She looked at me, skeptical—but her eyes were burning with confidence.

“Yes. I’m seriously asking you, sir. Would you marry me?”

I didn’t answer right away. I just studied her face.

She clenched her fists slightly, like she was already regretting asking.

But… I thought for a moment.

I did need a woman to pose as my bride. Just a fake bride. Ever since those ridiculous rumors started spreading—accusing me of being homosexual.

I wasn’t. I’m not one of them.

I’m… a vampire.

I avoided humans the most, especially the ladies because I was afraid of sucking them dry.

“Do you know who you’re asking to marry you?” I asked again, narrowing my eyes at her.

I wanted to be sure this bold little female knew what she was doing. She was brimming with frustration, anger, and a strange kind of fire. Her emotions were practically radiating off her as she was looking at me with absolute resolve

“Yes, I’m sure of what I want,” she said. “Let’s get married. There’s nothing standing in the way… unless—are you already married? If you are, I won’t bother you again.”

I chuckled. “No, I’m not married.”

“You want to marry me?” she asked.

“Hm. It’s a deal,” I said. “But I have my rules.”

She raised a brow.

I smirked.

“Rule number one: no intimacy,” I said bluntly.

“Rule number two: we’ll each live our own lives. But in public, we’ll act like the perfect couple.”

She was still kneeling before me. The scene felt bizarre—this woman proposing to me. I couldn’t help but chuckle inwardly.

I gently replaced her hand with mine, helped her rise to her feet, then without much thought, pulled her to sit on my lap.

She flinched, startled by the sudden action, and a small smirk crept across my face.

“Why do you look so frightened, dear wife?” I asked teasingly.

Then a voice broke through the moment.

“You all—who is this man? You’re such a filthy whore, Agatha!”

It was him.

Her ex. The same man who had just abandoned her for her sister.

Agatha turned her face from mine to him. Her earlier confusion hardened into a frown.

“Mark, what do you want?” she snapped. “What are you doing here? Weren’t you going to marry your precious Maleficent? Why are you here now?”

She stood, voice rising.

“My business shouldn’t concern you. Whether I’m a whore or not—it’s none of your damn business.”

Mark’s fists clenched.

I couldn’t tell if it was because he knew, deep down, that she never cheated on him. Maybe he was surprised to see her in the arms of another man.

But the way his face twisted? Yeah. He knew the whole scheme.

He never intended to marry Agatha. It was always about Maleficent. He’d chosen her long before this day.

Mark stepped forward, his eyes burning with jealousy.

“Do you even know who you’re sitting on? Since when do you have a relationship with this man? Agatha, tell me—since when?”

I smiled.

Why was he so rattled just because she was sitting on my lap?

Good. I liked his reaction. I wanted more of it.

Let him burn. Let him choke on the sight of her choosing me.

Didn’t he know?

Didn’t he understand the man she was sitting on—was her husband now?

Earlier, I may have scared her. But now? I was all too happy to play this role…

Especially if it meant provoking Mark.

Agatha pov

I wrapped my arm around the man’s shoulder. He didn’t reject me—not even a flinch.

That alone should’ve told everyone I wasn’t lying.

But Mark? He wasn’t having it. He pointed a trembling finger at me, rage laced in his clenched teeth.

“The son of the Lucas Empire can’t be your husband,” he spat.

His outburst brought the whole damn crowd with him. His family. My so-called family. Even her.

“Oh dear sister, who is this man?” Maleficent cooed, staring at the man I was sitting on like he was dessert.

“Sister… is he your lover?” she asked, her tone dripping with false innocence.

“Yes,” I said with a wicked smile. “He’s my lover. What did you expect me to say? ‘Oh, Maleficent, I have no one’? Please. I have class.”

I rose to my feet, still clinging to the moment.

“If I’m going to cheat, I cheat up. I don’t downgrade. That trash you brought to pretend as my boyfriend? He wasn’t even good enough to play the part. This man—he’s the real deal.”

“I’ve been cheating on Mark,” I declared, eyes locked on Maleficent. “Mark was just my side piece. I only stayed with him because I needed my mother’s inheritance.”

“But this man? This one I’m with now? He’s the one I love.”

Mark’s rage boiled over. His face was red, teeth grinding. “How dare you, Agatha? How dare you use me!”

He was glaring, shaking, barely keeping himself from exploding.

But this… this was only the beginning.

This was just a taste of the revenge I had planned.

I clenched my fists. I didn’t care about these people—but I was going to destroy them.

“Sir,” my ‘husband’ said, his voice like cold steel, calm but packed with lethal weight. “You don’t have the right to call my wife a hawk. Watch your vocabulary… or you might just find yourself behind bars.”

His words cut through the air like a blade.

Mark shut up instantly. His jaw locked, his temple twitching from the pressure building in his skull.

I stepped off the man’s lap, heels clicking against the marble as I walked straight toward my family—and Mark’s.

My eyes landed on Maleficent, hard and unflinching.

“You got what you wanted,” I said. “You wanted Mark? Take him. But what gain do you think that brings you?”

“You’ll never have my mother’s property,” I spat.

Then I turned to my father.

“Mr. Damian,” I said coldly. “I, Agatha Maleficent, cut all ties with you and your daughter. I am no longer part of this family. None of you are to come near me ever again.”

His finger trembled as he pointed at me, face twisted with rage. “You… you bitch of a daughter! How dare you! It’s a father’s right to cut off a child—not the other way around!”

I smiled sweetly.

“Please, dear father. Control your anger. Your blood pressure might spike.”

That seemed to push him over the edge.

I turned back toward the man.

“Shall we go, husband?” I asked softly.

He looked at me with a quiet smile, one that didn’t reach his eyes. He was still a mystery, and yet—he played along perfectly.

He took my hand and kissed it.

“Dear wife, let’s go.”

We left them there. My ex. My fake family. All of them in stunned silence under the bright moonlight.

Outside, under the cold shine of the moon, we stopped.

Face-to-face now.

“So, mister,” I said, staring at him, “why did you accept the marriage proposal I gave you, huh?”

He looked at me, his eyes were deadly giving me the chills.

“That’s not the question you should ask. We both have our purposes. Just focus on yours.”

His words were sharp. Distant.

I closed my mouth, reminded again that he was a stranger. A total stranger. Was he even human?

I was a wolf, and still—I couldn’t sense him. Not like a normal human. Not like any creature I’d ever encountered before.

What was he?

“We should go to the city hall,” he said, glancing at his watch. “Get the documents signed. Finalize the contract.”

“Yes,” I said, grounding myself again. “We already discussed the terms.”

I swallowed hard.

I was doing this to reclaim my mother’s inheritance. To take back what they tried to steal from me.

“Shall we shake hands, new husband?” I asked, holding my palm out, masking the ache in my heart.

He took my hand. “Yes, lovely wife. Do you see?”

Three hours later, we stood at the city hall. The documents were signed. My name… and his… sealed in ink.

I stared at the page, heart hammering.

I had just married a stranger.

A stranger whose species I didn’t even know.