20.

**Daya**





My lips broke into an audible sigh as I glanced towards the large and imposing mansion, the loudly booming sounds of music and human voices travelling away into the growing darkness.

Holding the book close to my chest, I turned back around and slowly made my way to that secluded and weathered stone bench I have found a few nights ago, shielded by few taller shrubs.

I mildly smiled as the soft grass tickled my bare feet with each step, that sense of safety and belonging slowly resurfacing within me.

Even though I loved my brothers, I didn't truly agree with their way of passing time. I just didn't fancy being around so many young humans and their depraved ways.
They were just so...loud and suffocating.

That is why I much more preffered spending my nights here, all alone and closer to nature rather than sitting locked into my own room, forced to endure the sickening and never-ending noise, not to mention those absolutely disgusting various odors wafting from under my door like human body sweat or vapors of that disgusting liquid called alcohol...

Taking ahold of my flowing floor-length dress, I gently seated myself over the cold stone, taking a moment to admire the tiny sparks of light slowly making their appearance and brightening up the sky.

*So beautiful...*

I expressed another mild smile before lowering my sight to the book in my hand, opening to the page where I had left off.
And so I started to read, succumbing back into the fascinating story as the moon slowly rose in all its splendor, illuminating the pages of my book and thus giving me an even better view at the captivating words, along with that unexplicable and all-too-persistent need of just shedding every material covering my body and setting myself free.

I had yet to understand why it was every time I was bathing under the moon's cool rays I could barely rein in this deep-rooted instinct, pushing me to just rip the fabric confinements over my body and offer myself to the moon, basking in its beautiful light.

*Maybe I had done this before...*

I thought as my gaze rose to the softly glowing orb painting the dark sky so majestically, drawn by its ethereal magic. And with a careful look at my surroundings, I lastly gave in to that urge and rose myself from the bench, setting myself free as I dared unbind that satin delicate ribbon resting over the small of my back, immediately feeling those thick straps falling over my shoulders, close to reveal my breasts when my hearing suddenly picked up the sound of a high-pitched trill...Or a whistle?

My brows furrowed as I held the fabric close to my chest with one hand, using the other to take a hold of my skirt as I fastly turned around and took a few steps around the stone bench, curious rather than afraid to follow the source of that sound...

Until my gaze fell over the scarily tall and intimidating male standing right in front of me.

I let out a tiny startled gasp, immediately recognizing him as the very same one plaguing my dreams and mind ever since I had firstly laid eyes upon him not long ago and heard him utter those words to me.

*I love you...*

"As much as I enjoyed the show, Red, I just had to stop you before I did something I would have definitely regretted afterwards..." He told me with a rather bold smirk, earning himself another gasp from me and a shocked stare.

"W-who are you? Why do you keep following me around?" I questioned as I took a step back, carefully watching his every move. And to my utter despondency, he even dared taking a step of his own, considerably diminishing that space between us.

"I s-saw you the other day, following me and Wrath," I kept on blabbering about as he only kept that idiotic grin smeared all over his features, latching himself onto a branch above his head as he leaned closer, allowing me to feel that oddly familiar scent of his and alluring warmth, the sides of his black leathered jacket mildly touching my bare arms as we stood so close...

I gazed into his dark brown eyes, oddly enough finding myself so entranced by his finely-carved features.

*Beautiful...*

"Why can't I stop thinking about you?" The words tumbled their way past my lips before I could even stop them, stunned to notice the sudden change in his dark eyes as he so longingly roamed his gaze all over my face.

"You know who I am. Maybe your mind doesn't remember, but your soul does. Because it can feel how much I love you," He so quietly said, deeply gazing into my eyes as he tried to lean even closer, almost touching my lips.

Letting out a shuddering breath, I held the dress tighter to my chest as I fastly took a step backwards, now breathing fast and hard as I stared up at him in utter disbelief.

"No, you are lying,"

"You just want to take me away from my brothers!" I cried out, remembering what Wrath had told me the day they had rescued me.

However, my words seemed to have only angered him as after running his fingers through his soft-looking jet black hair, his gaze became so wild and before I could even blink he was right in front of me again, gently holding onto my shoulders as he half-yelled at me,

"They are not your brothers!"

"Your brother's name is Rem, and he is the First Alpha!
Your mother is Selene, Goddess of the Moon and your father is Lucifer, the King of Hell!"

Eyes wide, my lip quivered as I silently stared up at him, too shocked to even reply, not only after those words but also because of the peculiar feeling his touch gave me, and within the following moment I ripped myself free from his grip then turned around and ran away straight back to the house.











**Blake**







I lightly smiled as I inhaled the evening fresh air of late spring, tangling my arm with Leila's.

"Feels good huh?" I heard her say from right next to me as we fell into step on the sidewalk close to our apartment building, with no pre-determined destination.

"I seriously needed a break from that apartment. I know we just moved in but I simply can't stand to be in that room and so close to him," I lowly muttered as I absently gazed down the road, hearing her let out an amused chuckle before my attention averted to her.

She only gave out a mild shake of her head in dismissal, for the second time making me feel so confused as to why would she take my suffering so lightly all of a sudden?

I mean what the heck was going on? Did she not care about me anymore?

"Well I'm sorry, but what the fuck is so funny?" I questioned as we entered a random park, raising one brow as I stared at the side of her face.

"I think you should stop trying to avoid him so much, you know? Maybe..." She momentarily paused to blow out a breath,
"Yeah, maybe things are not what they seem to be, okay?"

My eyes widened as soon as I heard her utter those words, watching her untangle her arm from mine and take a few quicker strides forward before turning around to face me as she walked backwards, giving me a smile as she simply said,

"You could just...stop running away from him you know?"

*What?*

"What do you mean?" My brows furrowed with evident confusion as I stared at her like she'd just grown two heads.

*What the fuck is she talking about?*

"Uh...nothing?" She replied in a rather squeaky voice, seeming a little freaked-out as she took a glance to her left and right, apparently looking for a means to escape.

Oh no missy.

Oh she was onto something. She was onto something and I had every intention of finding out exactly what it was.

"Leila, what do you mean with that?" I asked one more time, this time using a more serious tone as I pointedly looked at her.

She rapidly shook her head, keeping her lips sealed as she kept on walking backwards, trying to keep the distance between us as my pace gradually increased.

"Leila, don't make me chase you and torture those words out of you," I threatened, earning myself a giggle from her. And before I could even take a second breath she had already turned around and broken into a sprint down the cobblestone alley, obviously taking me by surprise.

"Hey! Not fair!" I yelled after her as I immediately started to run as well, hearing her let out a squeal and a louder laugh as she pushed herself to go faster.

"Yeah you better run and pray I won't catch you!" I shouted after her as we ran like two crazed chicks through the fairly empty park, passing the trees and neatly trimmed bushes almost in a blur.

She obviously knew something that I didn't, and wasn't too keen on telling me. But why?

Why would she hide something from me?

What...or better said who would force her to hide something from me?

My gaze narrowed as I suddenly remembered those casual waves and light smiles Azrael started giving her lately.

That motherfucker.

"Leila, wait!" I hollered after her, obviously wanting to let her know that I wasn't going to torture her anymore to get my answers.

But unfortunately, I didn't get to as out of nowhere, I found myself floating through the air like I weighted nothing, seconds before my back hit a tree, effectively knocking the breath out of me.

I let out a pained groan, feeling my blood run cold and my body paralyze in fear as my eyes met a pair of dark brown ones.

"Well hello there my little traumatized flower..."

"Wrath..." My lips uttered his name before my mind could even register it, now praying that Leila hadn't stopped running and was already far away from us, all safe and sound.

"It's Warren. Get that into your pretty little skull, darling," He hissed with a step closer, making my breath hitch within my throat and my eyes flutter closed, mentally beating myself up for forcing the boys to remain home and let us have our walk by ourselves.

*Fucking idiot!*

"Fancy meeting you here, huh?" He queried, raising one brow as he even dared lean closer, letting me feel that scorching heat and that familiar, nauseating scent of his, forcing back to surface those sickening images of what he did to me the last time he got this close.

"Or have you been following us?" He leisurely whispered, feeling a stray tear slipping down my cheek as his nose skimmed over the other one.

"You just couldn't stay away from me, could you?"
He gently pressed a kiss over the corner of my mouth, making me gag and want to just spit in his face.

And without even realizing when or how, my breathing suddenly quickened, for some unknown reason feeling myself increasingly becoming so angered, to the point where I felt like I was actually going to explode.

"Listen you little piece of shit," I growled as I tightly fisted his shirt, slamming his back against another tree. And only now I could notice the way his eyes quickly shifted to that fiery ember, smirking at me as if he was actually...enjoying it.

*What the fuck?*

"Go on darling. Show me just how angry you are..." He whispered with that sickly sensual voice of of his like a slithering snake, firmly grabbing ahold of my ass and even going as far as grinding himself once against me, letting me feel his stiff erection through his jeans.

My eyes widened, momentarily stunned by his actions, thus giving him the opportunity to continue with his advances.

"Go on baby...Consume yourself with...wrath..." He slithered in my ear, oddly enough registering itself rather like a command into my brain and before I could even control myself my palm enclosed into a white-knuckled fist, landing with a violent blow straight in the middle of his face.

He cackled so deviously as a thick and dark red rivulet trickled down his lips and chin, his tongue darting out to have a taste as those burning embers glowed even fiercer.

"That's it baby. Give yourself into it. Let me feel that monstrous wrath lying within..."

And like a switch suddenly flipped on, my unrelenting anger unleashed itself like a furious torrent, raining with a set of fast punches colliding with that stupid face of his.

"Gaaah!"

"You motherfucking bitch!" I roared as I kept bashing his face in, letting out all my anger and desperation.

"Oh yes! Oh fuck yes!" He kept howling out between blows, sounding like he was having a freaking orgasm or something, the thought of it making me feel so fucking sick.

So I kneed his balls two times, just to make sure he wouldn’t follow me then ran away like my life depended on it, set on finding Leila as quick as possible and haul our asses back home, to safety.

"Leila?" I called out after her as I kept on running down the same path she had previously taken, not even minding the pain and blood seeping from my knuckles as I desperately searched for her.

*Oh God please let her be okay!*

I lightly sobbed as I kept searching and searching within the growing darkness, scared shitless as soon as I realized that she was nowhere to be found.

And with one last ounce of hope, I fished my phone out of my jacket pocket and dialed her number, immediately hearing it ring from somewhere close, so I followed the sound.

Only as soon as I found it discarded somewhere near a bush, I felt my knees give up on me and my breathing stop.

"LEILAAA!"