Cursed

Ashlyn's POV
I was shocked beyond the extraordinary. Lost for words as Iona immediately connected to the nine foot tall lycan in front of her. He was taller than every other lycan I have seen.
They're eyes locked also connecting me with Lucifer.
"Turn away." I immediately told her but she said not a word to me. I turned to leave but Iona was having a mind of her own as she stayed rooted to where she was.
"I am Steel. The invincible One of the Nightwing pack." He said.
I rolled my eyes. Oh great,he was just as proud as his body he was in. "You are?" He asked in a sweet and innocent tone.
"Iona." She simply said to him and turned away.
Finally,I thought to myself.
"Iona,forgive me but you cannot leave." Steel said to her calmly.
"I'm not leaving,I just need to talk to my human self." She said and I knew she meant me. We really had a lot to talk about. I wanted to know why she'd abandoned me until now.
Why did she not also snarl at Lucifer and his lycan? Why did she act so calmly to them. I wanted to scream,make him pay for the loss of my child but here Iona was taking this all too calmly for me.
She walked a bit farther from him and rested on a rock as she gazed into the night sky and focused on the moon as she let out an howl. I've noticed since my first shift that she was in love with the moon. Perhaps for the way it listens when she cries and how it guides her through the darkness of the night.
I barely knew her and yet she was a part of me.
"Can we talk now?" I said to her.
"Yes we can Ashlyn." She said.
"Why the sudden arrival after all these years? You showed up once and never again. You did not even say a word to me after that day. Twas like you disappeared." I said to her and she disagreed.
"I did not shut you out,you kept me locked in." She replied.
"How?" I was baffled.
"Your first change frightened you and you swore never to let me out. And as the years went by,I tried to talk to you but before I dare to speak,you shut me out by sinking into an abyss of melancholy. You were so frustrated about your life situation that you completely forgot I was a part of you that you could reach." She said.
I swallowed hard. So it was my fault. Not only was my vampire side suppressed,I had forced my wolf into hiding.
"How did you get out now?" I asked her.
"We shared the similar connection with the baby and when you'd cried about it and not your misery,it forced me out. The full moon was a part of it too, rejuvenating my energy to break away from the loneliness you kept me." She said and I sighed. "I'm sorry I did that to you but why did you not attack Lucifer for what he did to us?" I asked her.
She chuckled. "Do not be naive Ash. I'm you remember? I have no control if you don't take charge. Only when you're strong enough to take charge would I emerge." She said to me and I realized she was right.
She was a part of me and I was weak,was I expecting her to be strong? She was in my body,a worthless body I'd say. She rested on the rock still looking at the moon.
"You're here to stay I presume?" I said to her.
She closed her eyes. "Only if you'll let me." She said and I nodded. Of course I was letting her stay.
Lucifer's POV
I groaned as I shifted back to human form. "What the bloody hell was that for Steel?" I asked him in anger.
"What the hell are you asking me Lucifer?" He asked,a bit angry and very much excited. Excited that he's finally broke free.
I felt a plaid placed over me and I turned to see Ripper. "Let's go in alpha." He said and I wrapped the plaid around me and stood up. The people dispersed making a way for me to pass through. Unable to murmur what they'd just seen for fear of incurring my wrath.
Could this be true? All what mother had told me? Was that why Steel could break free?
I got to my chambers and donning on new clothes.
"Finally I broke free! Free from the curse!" Steel exclaimed joyously in my head.
"Okay, that's enough." I said.
"Excuse me for being so excited that the curse has been lifted." He said pouting.
"It's not a curse Steel." I said to him trying not to roll my eyes.
"Pardon?" He said. "If being caged in your mind all my life unable to shift,is called what? A blessing?" He hissed.
"It was a price we had to pay to get me here." I said to him.
"That price is a curse! A curse I say!" He yelled at me and I had flashes on how it had all happened. How Steel was locked inside of me and how I was made this way.
I walked down the stairs to find Roselia hovering over Ashlyn in a bid to cover her nakedness and the pack members stood around aloofly.
"What are y'all looking at?!" I barked at them and they shivered, scampering away. I took off my shirt and went to her, placing it over her shoulders as she stared at me and reluctantly wore the shirt and buttoned up.
The long sleeved shirt fell along her thighs. She said nothing to me as she turned to walk away and I made an attempt to pull her back.
"Don't you dare touch me Lucifer Saunron." She said shooting daggered glares at me. She was furious.
"I have every right to." I said to her and from the corner of my eyes,I could see the pack members coming together again to watch the scenario including all of my mistresses.
"If I was not an unwitting vampire,you would not have had the right to." She said to me.
I had no clue that my perky vampire mistress was actually an hybrid and I was thinking this was not what this was about.
"I apologize for my unruly behavior earlier tonight." I said. For the first time in my life I was apologizing and I could still hear the shock gasps behind me from my pack.
Tonight was a night of surprises.
"Apologize?" She asked me staring hard at me. "What will apologizing do in this? You killed my baby. My baby!" She yelled at me and looked ready to tear me into pieces but knowing Ashlyn,she could not.
"He was also mine!" I yelled back. I was also frustrated by this. Why did everything I touch have a way of backfiring at me. "I put him in there remember?" I mellowed staring down at her stomach.
How would I have taken the news if the child was still in there? Would I have been happy about it? I could not tell but deep down I felt a remorse that I'd been the reason why the child could not live. I was not so cruel after all.
"I do not care! All I know is you murdered my baby!" She yelled.
"Our baby!" I corrected her,grabbing her shoulders in anger. I did not want to get upset. At this point,I should be comforting her but this anger was another curse on me. "It was not a deliberate act! If I had known you were carrying a child,my child,I would have been more patient with you." I said to her.
"Does it matter? You murdered our child coldly just like you slaughtered the warlords children like animals." She said and I grew furious.
"Enough! You know what went down there that day. It was a battle!" I bellowed at her.
Tears slipped down her eyes as she pushed away from me. "I will not forgive you for this. For the loss of my child. I hate you Lucifer Saunron! I hate you!" She yelled for the second time tonight.
"I'm damned already. I do not need more damnations from you." I said to her. She walked closer to me, wiping the tears from her eyes.
"That's what you'll keep getting. Damnations all the rest of your life." She said to me looking directly on my face,not batting an eye.
I grabbed her shoulders again shaking her in anger. "Stop it! Stop it," I warned her unable to control myself anymore. I was hurt. Hurt by everything she was saying and I was not usually this way. "You know why I'm tolerating all these from you?" I asked her staring into her eyes without breaking contact.
She smirked bitterly. "Why? Because of my body?" She asked dryly.
Usually that would have being my answer but not tonight. Everything was changing.
"Damn you Ashlyn Ambrosia. It's because you're my fucking mate!" I yelled at her and she stared at me rigidly. Everyone was murmuring. What I did not want them to know was finally out in the open and I said it to their ears myself.
Ashlyn Ambrosia was my damned mate. My hell I could not run away from. My cursed fate.