Chapter 22

No One's POV
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'C...Can you not forget me?. Please let me go and, I promise that I will not say anything about you to anyone." Grace tried for one last time, making Zayden irritated a little more, and he wanted to scold her but, he did not want her to cry.
'Anything?", He asked, raising his brow.
Grace felt a spark of hope if she asked what he wanted and if she would give it to him. Then he would leave her forever.
This mere thought brought a small smile to her face. 'Yes!, anything you want, I will work hard to pay any amount which you will ask.", She quickly replied, thinking it was money Zayden was going to ask. Zayden felt sad after hearing her desperation to be away from him.
‘No matter how much you do not want me, sweetheart, I will not let you go. You were mine from the moment I saw you, and I will make you love me.' He thought before replying to Grace. 'Okay!, then what I want from you is…." He pretended to think for a while, and Grace became hopeful. '....is...you." He added and smirked. Her face fell and an old fear replaced the little hope she had.
'Can not you choose any other girl?. Why me?. Is it because I leaked your video?. I am sorry for that but, please let me go. Picking me as your bride is the worst decision of your life. I am not even beautiful, and you can find beautiful models in the city." She pleaded. Zayden looked amazed that she assumed herself not beautiful.
It was true that she was not any model, but he didn't want any model either for him. Grace was the best choice.
'You are beautiful, sweetheart, and the most beautiful woman I have ever met inside out. I can not even think of having another woman by my side other than you."
'I don't want to marry you.", She finally mustered all her courage to reject him directly rather than making him understand in another way.
'Then I am afraid, sweetheart, I will have to force you."
'Y.you can't f.force me. I... I will c.complain to the p.police.", She tried her best to act confident, but was failing miserably. Hearing her out, Zayden started laughing loudly, as if Grace had cracked some lame joke. No doubt she was so cute. No one dared to speak against him but her. He was aware that police can't even touch a single strand of his hair because of the power he held but, it felt nice that she said so. At least she was speaking, unlike other times, crying or getting scared of him.
'Sweetheart!, you are aware of the fact that these cops can't do anything to me!. I had thought you would have learned your lesson from your past experience, but never mind, I like your confidence. Now, you know you have no other choice than to marry me."
'I will not marry you.", Grace answered back. She felt that was the time to fight, or else her whole life would get destroyed. 'I have had enough of this fearful life, you can't do this to me. I have my own life, and I have the right to do whatever I want. I hate you, and I will always hate you." She said everything in one go. He looked at her for a while, trying to process what she just said.
'You will marry me because you belong to me and, if you want to make everything difficult, then let it be." He said in anger and mind-linked one of his men standing behind her brother to place the gun over the boy's head without looking at them. 'Look at your brother, sweetheart!"
Grace did what Zayden asked her to, and her eyes widened in shock and fear.
'No...No...No This is not required! Why are you doing this?" She begged him.
'This won't be required if you marry me quietly, without making a mess. I am not interested in anyone else, and you know that, so don't make this difficult. Take my hand and come.", He offered his hand, and Grace quickly took it. She knew it was worthless to fight. Zayden started taking her to the place where the father was standing and was happy with the thought that soon, they, will be married.
***
'I do.", Grace whispered because she had no choice but to say these two words.
‘My life is done!', She cursed at her own life.
‘Finally, I am going to make you mine, sweetheart, And I assure you that you won't be regretting any moment of it. I will give you everything, money, power, family and a lot of love. I will make sure that no one will hurt you and all your dreams and wishes are taken care of. You are the best thing that happened to me. Now, I have to work upon this to show you how much I love you!' He thought.
'You may kiss the bride." Father's words rang in her ear like a bell when she heard this. No! No! No!, She kept saying in her mind but didn't create any scene. A lone tear escaped from her eyes at the thought that a monster was going to kiss her. She felt her veil getting lifted. She quickly closed her eyes and started waiting for him to kiss and end this shit again.
Zayden wiped a lone tear resting on her cheek and looked at the beautiful face of HIS bride. Even though he was dying to kiss her, he knew that Grace didn't want that, so respecting her choice, he kissed her forehead to complete the ritual. After all, father never said that ‘kiss the bride on her lips'.
No one dared to utter any word on it but, his men started cheering out of happiness!
***
Without letting her meet with her parents, Zayden started dragging Grace out of that place to his villa, and his men followed him like a robot. They had almost reached out of the church when Grace stopped walking. Zayden turned around to see what happened.
'Please let me meet my parents.", She begged. Her tears weren't stopping, and it was hurting him like hell.
'Why should I listen to you when you don't listen to me?", He asked curtly. 'I won't let you meet your parents.", He added and started pulling her again, but she didn't move. She didn't know from where she got this strength. She would never have dreamt of going against Zayden.
'Because you love me and also you had taken vows of fulfilling all my wishes during the wedding and right now, my wish is to meet my parents.", She said, while a tear rolled down her eyes.
She didn't know, but, unknowingly she touched the weak point of the Zayden. Yes, he loved her. He was not sure of his feelings till yesterday. He thought she was just his obsession or something, which he couldn't figure out, but when he heard that his sweetheart was going to marry someone else, his wolf and his rage were out of all limits. His wolf finally uttered that word, which he was hiding for a long time.
‘MINE.'
His wolf was furious that he wanted to kill everybody and take Grace with him, but it was Eric who calmed him down and came up with the perfect plan. It was then that he realized that he had fallen in love. He was in love with Grace, and he would never let her go, NEVER. Along with this, Zayden also felt that his wolf was hiding something from him.
'Fine but, hurry up. Otherwise, I will make sure that you won't be able to see them again." Zayden said with the intention of not letting her meet her parents again, but Grace concluded Zayden's words as if he was threatening to kill her parents."
'Th. Thank you.", She whispered, and tried to snatch her hand from his grip so that she could meet her parents, but Zayden didn't let her go. Instead, he followed her toward her parents. Once she was near her parents, she jerked his hand away and ran toward them. Her sisters were crying terribly over her father's and mother's shoulders. While her brother was hugging her mother and crying too.
When they spotted Grace, both her sister, brother, and her mother hugged her and they just kept crying instead of saying anything.
It seems like they are mourning over someone's death instead of feeling happy.', Zayden thought and stood near them, clearly not being affected by looking at everyone's tears except one. Then Grace walked toward her father, who was not looking at her at all.
'It's not my fault, dad. I didn't plan all this, nor do I have any idea about it. Please, trust your daughter, dad" She called for him with a shaky voice, and her father didn't look at her. She signed and held a sob. Zayden grabbed her wrist and pulled her along with him. Grace was not willing to walk, and that was why Zayden was dragging her with him. She wanted to cry for HELP, but she knew no one would come. Her hope was her father but, he was not ready to trust her. According to him, she had called Zayden. How could a father not trust his daughter? This mere thought was bringing tears to her eyes.
'Please let me go.", Grace shouted but, the sound appeared like a whisper from her mouth. Zayden felt sad but, she didn't leave any other choice with him. It was a marriage in the human world and marking in werewolves world which could ensure his claim on her. He opted for the first option because marking anyone without their permission could be painful.
He opened the door of the back seat and gestured for her to get in.
'Get in, sweetheart!", He ordered but, Grace didn't move an inch. She couldn't take steps toward an unknown future, and it was irritating Zayden a little. 'Eric, kill her family.", He ordered Eric, who nodded his head, knowing how his Alpha was threatening Luna with his fake threats.
'No..No. I am getting in." She said and quickly lifted her dress slightly to get in. He closed the door and instructed his men to reach his place first, making sure to check the security and arrangement of everything. His men were more than happy for their Alpha.
After a minute, he asked his driver to start the car while he got inside, next to her. He pulled the barrier glass between the driver and passenger seats. Grace was crying and crying without realization of her surroundings.
‘Quit crying, sweetheart. You're hurting yourself.', He thought. He had no idea what he should do, so he mind-linked Eric.
‘What should I do?. She is crying non-stop."
‘Give her some time, Zayden. When she gets normal, then talk to her. She won't talk to you now.', Eric replied.
Recalling the previous way of calming Grace, Zayden came close to her but, she scooted more toward the door, but Zayden being Zayden, followed her action.
'You must realize now that I will not let you go, sweetheart, so you better accept me as your husband." He said.
Grace scoffed at that. 'Husband? That...that was no marriage. You forced me."
'I know I did, but that was never my plan, you know that, right? Moreover, all the wedding vows that we took were forced but not fake.",
Grace opened her mouth to answer it but, she couldn't. Because Zayden was right about it which, clearly meant that he was indeed her husband, Observing Grace lost in her thought, Zayden dipped his head in her neck, thinking about his mark on her soft and smooth skin.
'You smelt nice.", he praised.
'S.Stay away f.from me." She said, getting scared.
'Nope! Not now. You are my ma..wife now, and I have all right with you, sweetheart.", He joked.
'Please..", She whimpered, and tears started welling in her eyes. Zayden quickly gave her some space and sat straight.
'Don't worry. I won't do anything of those things." He said truthfully. He didn't have any intention of taking her to bed as soon as possible because he knew that until she wouldn't agree to it, their intimacy would be termed rape, and he could never think of doing that even though he was much stronger than her.
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#TBC