Layla’s pov.I wake up with a clear head and a lucid mind, and almost immediately I can tell that I have done something stupid.Not just stupid, but something that is such a blatant betrayal of all I have been trying to do ever since Damien and Alek were brought in by Ryan.I ran over to them. Instead of away.The scene plays back in my mind like a tape and I lie here, watching it like someone who’s been spellbound to and cursing under my breath at the reality of all this.I try to get up, but then the mate bond flares almost immediately and Damien and Alek barge into the room. My walls are up immediately.I feel the look on my face go cold, ice cold, and then Ryan comes in, looking more calm and composed than the other two, but also equal parts worried.Ryan walks past them and stops a few feet away from me, a good distance away that he’s not too far, but he’s also not too close.“How are you feeling Layla?” Ryan’s voice is cold.Almost on cue, I remember the words I had said to him
I do not give Ryan a direct answer and he does not press me for one.He tells me he can wait. He WIll wait, until I decide to let the truth of it come out.He leaves and so do Damien and Alek. I am left with myself, and my thoughts, and the worst thing is that I find myself thinking of a lot of things. Things that for once are not related to plans of escape, or ending it all.I think of what Ryan has just said now and what that could mean for me. He says they’ve changed.But how true can that be? How can they have changed? And why now? Why at this moment?Alek’s statement about the moon goddess having her reasons for reopening our mate bond comes back to me and I scoff at it because where was she when all the horrible things were happening?Where was she when I was here, suffering horrors more than I could say, more than I could bear.?Where was she?A blaring silence is my only response.I can’t hear anything else except for the silence. Even Fey keeps quiet.Lunch and dinner ar
Damien’s pov.The mate bond flares, and I do not care if she is with him or if they are meant to be having a private discussion right now. The mate bond flares so strong that I cannot stop myself from storming out there and going after my mate, because that’s what she is.She is mine, and I will always protect what’s mine.Alek catches me on the way and as he watches me dash past, he issues a light warning into my head, “Brother.” I hear the tone of his voice.I know what he means by saying that, but he’s always been the weaker one. He’s always been the one more open to negotiations. A true Alpha does not negotiate, not in the face of their instincts.I locate my mate, and she’s with him, in the gardens, a hand braced against a pillar and her breathing coming hard and fast, fast enough that I can hear it.She’s hyperventilating.The voice of the Earl heir reaches my ears as he asks, “Are you okay, Layla?”But I'm already on my way to them, the need in my bones too strong a thing to
Layla’s pov.Alek stands as he’s always stood, always by the side, never fully involving himself in any of these things, while I stand with a bewildered expression, wondering how this could have happened.Or why it could have happened, because wasn’t I just with Ryan half an hour ago?Didn’t we just speak?Both of them are glaring at each other, wounds already healing rapidly. There are little cuts on their faces though, some bruises here and there, and with each look I take I know that they are not going to clean themselves up.They’re just going to leave the blood on their faces and glare at each other all day. “How did this even happen?”I want to slap myself mentally because I said I wouldn't ask this question. I promised myself I wouldn't get myself involved, but I can't wrap my head around it so I have to ask.Both of them dart brave glances at each other, and then those glances become full-on stares, and in a split second they’re glaring at each other, low growls emanating fro
Layla’s pov.Damien is surprised when I come to him.There’s a tinge of disbelief leaking into his purple eyes and he looks away almost as fast as he looks at me. The next time he looks at me, there’s a determined glint there now.I can almost imagine the words running through his head right now.~An Alpha does not cower.An Alpha does not feel shame.An Alpha does not feel regret, or remorse.~I find myself feeling a bit sad for Damien, just a brief flash of pity before it’s gone. The memory of the rejection comes back again, but with that memory comes a lot of other memories.Memories I had locked up before, not wanting to let them surface. I remember how hard his father was on him. He and Alek.I remember how he would be the one bearing the brunt of most of the pain. How he would protect Alek, and how that turned his expression stonier, his heart colder.I can’t say I understand who Damien is right now, but I know a bit of who he was, and that might have shaped who he is, so as b
Alek is chortling as he looks at Damien’s face. Damien looks softer with the band-aids on him. It’s a new look on him, and I can't say that band-aids are a fashion statement, not that I know of, but Damien looks like he can pull it off.“You look tame, brother.”Alek smiles wide, showing his teeth and I have to look away from him too because his smile, it’s something.Then there’s Ryan, who I want to avoid looking at, because just like Damien he’s covered in a number of band-aids, but his are not solely on his face. They’re on the side of his arms too, and while he looks like he’s okay and doesn’t care about them, I'm sure they hurt and he’s not taking too well to them.Damien looks tame.Ryan looks wild.And Alek looks like he’s having the time of his life.“I’ll be out in the gardens if anyone needs me.” I get up and make my exit as briskly as I can because sitting in the same room as all three of them does something to me I don’t think I can wrap my head around right now. There’s
~~~~~~~~~~~~ “He won’t like that. Men don’t like that.”I try to smear butter onto my toast and keep a straight mind on what Breanne is saying. My cheeks are flaming. My heart is pounding.“Men like a challenge, they like an easier challenge more but trust me, at the end of the day, those who put up the longer challenges always win out.They’re the more exciting ones.”She stops and then her voice comes again,“Are you even listening to me, Layla?”Breanne sounds like she’s already tired and exhausted with me already so I put on one of my most pitiful faces, making puppy eyes as I turn to look at her. Her expression changes immediately, like a person trapped in the spell of a particular image, and while I realize that image is me, she bursts into a light chuckle the next second.“Okay, that was very good, but no need to look so pitiful in front of him.” I pause and Breanne pauses too, looking at my expression and chuckling before she sidles closer,“You ARE doing this because of him,
I go back into the manor to look for them.The strangeness of this action feels like ice on my skin, because two days ago, if anyone had asked me what I would be doing at this moment, I'd have said I'd still be in my room, not doing anything and waiting to die from hunger or lack of sunlight.Yet here I am, looking for the same three people I consider the current punishment the world is dealing to me.Their scent fills the whole place….It’s almost like everywhere I step foot, there’s a slight fragrance that tells me Damien has been here, Alek has been there,Ryan has been… literally everywhere in this house.I find them in one of the relaxation rooms, and the moment I come in, all three of them snap their heads to me. It’s an eerie sight, but it becomes less eerie when I feel the mate bond pulsing. Damien and Alek must have sensed me, and Ryan… must have heard my footsteps.They’re reading books.They each have a book in hand, and the sight of it makes me feel something squirm in me