CHAPTER EIGHT-IT WILL BE SO

"You don't think it's too...I don't know...trashy?” Gretchen pulled her low cut top up to cover her cleavage. She realized she was in a different world and she didn’t want to turn everyone off to her straight away by being too much of an ‘Earther’.

Tessa walked over to her then pulled the neckline back down as she shook her head and clicked her tongue. "Show them girls off while you got them, Gretchen. Trust me. You look fantastic."

It's always autumn in the North Woods, so Gretchen wore a low cut knit white sweater and skinny jeans with knee high boots. The part of her that didn’t hate Damien, the one she just didn’t understand, wanted him to notice her.

Jacob opened the door and leaned inside while he nodded behind him. "Are we ready to go or what? The kids went ahead and left us behind."

"We're good to go," said Tessa as she put her arm around Gretchen. “That fool won’t know what to do with himself when he sees you mosey your ass in there looking like that.”

As the four of them walked down the cobblestone path to the outdoor dining hall, Gretchen looked up at the cliffs and woods that surrounded the city as the autumn leaves fell around them. She could smell the food being prepared from across the city and her stomach grumbled.

"Those waterfalls are just beautiful. This place is like a dream," said Gretchen as the mist of the falls washed over her and made her already alabaster complexion glow like the sun.

"You haven't even seen the half of it, Gretch," said Jacob. "You have to go down to the harbor and see the boats come and go. It's so relaxing."

"Here let me give you a hand, sweetheart," Logan said as he took Tessa's hand when they got to the stairs.

As he walked beside Tessa and put his hand on her back to steady her, Logan carefully helped Tessa to the bottom. "Thank you, baby.”

When they entered the dining hall, they went to a table with the other adults in their family and city dwellers while the children sat with their friends at the smaller tables. "Well, for those of you who don't know, this is my twin brother's daughter, Gretchen," said Tessa as Logan helped her sit down between him and Jacob.

Gretchen sat beside her cousin Erik and looked to the others at the table then said, "It's nice to meet you all." When she looked towards the other end of the table, Gretchen saw Damien sit down beside Nicholas and her heart began to thump like a drum being beaten as soldiers marched into battle. Damien looked up at her and she turned away quickly to avoid his gaze.

Too overcome by emotions and thoughts that made no sense to her, Gretchen ignored the basic instincts of her Lycan animal pacing inside her.

His eyes traveled all over Gretchen as he took in every perfect feature of her body on display in her modern clothing. Damien hadn't seen her dressed like that before and it was quite shocking to the old soul. Not that he didn't like what he saw, but he didn't like that everyone else saw it too. Damien realized things were different on Earth, but he didn't like this at all.

Feeling his eyes on her, Gretchen pushed her hair off her shoulders and fanned her face as her cheeks began to flush with color. "So, tell me what is there to do around here? " asked Gretchen as she tried to take her mind off of Damien.

"Oh, you should check out the library," said Erik. "It's filled with murals and statues. And out in the woods there are a bunch of neat old ruins and waterfalls."

"Huh! Not super exciting then?" she asked as she huffed out a small chuckle through her mouth.

Tessa twisted her mouth and shook her head. "No, you kind of have to make your own adventures here, Gretch. It’s a big world, there’s lots of places to run to."

"You know, I think I'm all adventured up for a while," said Gretchen before she drank a sip of wine from her cup. “I think I’ll just hang out here with you all and stay out of trouble.”

Logan looked down the table to Damien and gave him a nod then looked back to Gretchen. "Oh, I don't know. I'm sure there's something for you to get into."

After dinner, Gretchen followed her nose towards the library so she could avoid Damien. As she inched around the room, she looked over the murals and tapestries that lined the walls then stopped at one of a man in armor striking down a dark monster.

The armored king and the monster seemed so familiar to her and Gretchen searched her mind to figure out why. “I know you.” Stepping closer, Gretchen held out her hand and as she nearly touched the king’s face, a voice made her pull away quickly.

"That's King Asnamar.” Damien walked across the floor slowly towards Gretchen. He sensed her confusion and wanted to be the one to explain things, it was his right.

Gretchen sighed and closed her eyes. She had hoped to avoid him, but deep down, her body was buzzing with electricity from the sound of his voice.

"Oh yeah? And who is this big ugly fella he's fighting?" she asked without turning to look at Damien.

Damien came to Gretchen’s side and clasped his hands behind his back as he took a deep breath through his nose and looked up at the ancient villain. "That is the Great Evil."

Gretchen inhaled deeply and the scent of lemon and sage filled her nose making her feel lightheaded like she was sinking down into her bed to sleep. "That's a really terrible name," she joked as she tried to breathe her way through the intoxicating scent.

"We don't say its name," he said. "Speaking the evil's name gives it power again. Some things are better left unspoken."

"Hmm," she said as she studied the monsters face. "I suppose you're right. It’s just, he seems so familiar to me." Shaking off the memories she couldn’t place, Gretchen glanced at Damien and raised her brow coyly. “Or maybe all evil bastards just look the same to me.”

Damien huffed out his nose at her less than veiled attempt to insult him as he looked Gretchen over slowly. His eyes settled on the deep curve of her cleavage making his cock ache as it started to reach out for her. "Is that how every woman dresses on Earth?"

She crossed her arms and looked down over herself, once again misunderstanding his efforts to understand more about her life. "What's wrong with it? I think I look pretty goddamn good right now considering all I’ve been through the past couple weeks."

Licking his lips, Damien shook his head and waved his hand in front of him. "I didn't say I didn't like it. It's just...I suppose I'll never get used to the way you Earth borns behave."

"Ouch," Gretchen said as she rolled her eyes away. "Do you try to make every word that comes out of your mouth sound terribly rude, or does it come naturally to you?"

"I'm afraid I get it quite honestly, Gretchen. I am what I am.” Damien looked into her eyes with a pleading desire to be put out of his misery. Every word he spoke to Gretchen, no matter how it fell from his lips only fueled some imaginary feud he didn’t want to be part of.

Maybe it was the Hexom in her, or the Mason, but she always managed to be offended by the powerful presence of the old warlock. Her alpha genes weren’t used to the challenge of another dominant being and it made her want to bite back.

"Why are you even still here anyway? Didn't you have enough fun torturing me over the past few days? Or did you decide to stay and make a full week out of it?"

"Nicholas is my grandfather, I'm visiting him," said Damien, avoiding her eyes.

"Right," she said. "You and I have zero reason to even speak to each other anymore, Damien. You can just leave any time now."

"Is that what you really want?" he asked as he stepped closer and looked down in her face. For a moment Gretchen got lost in his dark brown eyes, but then her gaze fell back to the mark he wore on his neck and she quickly broke from the trance she had found herself under.

Gretchen licked her lips as the pain of envy tore across her chest. "Yes, Damien, nothing would make me happier than you disappearing from my life forever.” Afraid he’d know she was lying, Gretchen turned away from Damien and walked to the balconay that overlooked the city. “Just go away Damien and leave me alone.”

"Why?" he asked as he followed behind her.

Groaning as she shook her head and closed her eyes, Gretchen sucked back the tears trying to escape. "Come on, Damien.”

Damien stepped closer to Gretchen. He could feel her doubts and he wasn’t sure if he should press on or not, but he took his chances. "The things you saw, they were wrong Gretchen, I'd never do anything to hurt you. You and I, we're..."

"You and I are nothing," said Gretchen as she interrupted him. "Damien, all you've done since I met you is do things to hurt me. Just...please, leave me alone. Just go back to your stupid castle and stay away from me. I don’t want you here."

Damien blinked away to the floor and licked his lips as her words landed in his gut like an arrow from one of those goblins. "As you wish." Turning to walk towards the stairs, Damien paused at the threshold of the room. "I'm sorry Gretchen, forgive me for anything I might have done to hurt you. I didn’t mean it.”

Gretchen blew out through her mouth as a sick feeling overwhelmed her and her eyes filled with tears. She could sense Damien's disappointment and hurt, and she wished that the words hadn't left her mouth. But that mark on Damien's neck made Gretchen realize that whatever she was feeling for him couldn't be. That mark binds two souls forever and she wouldn't be caught in some love triangle she had no hope of winning.

As Damien walked down the staircase he looked back at Gretchen and he clenched his jaw tightly while he tried to push away the sting from her words. When he got to the narrow path past the city gates, Damien misted back to his castle and walked through the front doors then quickly strode to his room.

After he slammed the doors shut behind him, Damien grabbed the heavy mirror from the back of his dresser and threw it to the floor sending glass everywhere. Then he walked to his other dresser and sent all the things on top of it crashing to the floor.

Hearing the commotion and already being informed about the things that happened, Damien's mother, Rosemary, gently knocked then entered his room. Damien sat against the wall with his hands cupping his head as he breathed heavily. Rosemary knelt beside him and said, "I'm so sorry, my darling."

"She hates me," he said.

Rosemary grabbed Damien's hands away from his face. "You need to give her time. Her mind is awash in confusion and doubts. She isn’t thinking clearly."

Sounding more like a child and less like a seasoned warlock, Damien fell apart in front of his mother. "I just...I don't understand why this is so difficult. I thought once we met everything would fall in place, but it's like she doesn't feel anything for me at all.”

Pulling her son into her soft embrace, Rosemary kissed his forehead and combed her fingers through his dark hair as she spoke softly. "Your father and I didn't have an instant love connection, either, but then one day, I realized that he was the most perfect man in the world for me. Someday, Gretchen will realize that too. The Fates have made this, it will be so."