Chapter 2. New Home

Damon Kalesto was sitting on a small stool in his living room. His eyes were glued to something—or rather someone who had taken his breath away. He studied her every feature, from the long lashes down to the almost unnoticeable pimple at the side of her lips. She was just too beautiful not to admire.

He kept a mental note of how her small button nose twitched whenever she shifted, how her lips jutted into a soft pout every once in a while.

It was a creepy thing to do… watching her like this. But he couldn’t help himself.

Ever since he laid eyes on her, it felt as if he’d suffocate the moment he looked away. Her blue eyes had pulled him in with ease and he fell deep into their abyss. He knew exactly what this uncontrollable attraction meant… she was his mate.

With that realization, he wanted to know everything about her, her life before and within those dungeons, her friends, her family. He was willing to listen to it all as long as it was from her lips.

But the unsettling part of it was that this was never supposed to happen. His chances of finding a mate were slim, especially after what happened ten years ago.

And it wasn’t only that. In truth, he hated the word with every fiber of his being: ‘mate’. To him, this annoying string that tied two random souls, was merely the Moon Goddess’ whim.

No one had the right to dictate who a king claimed as his, not even his own creator. He alone would decide his fate… who to love and who to despise, who to protect and who to kill.

However… this woman made his heart beat faster. Back there, he had not wanted the moment to end, but then, before he could even open his mouth to speak to her, she blacked out.

He was angry that he didn’t get to hear her voice, that rags covered her soft skin, and that his mate… was labeled a slave. But what filled his gut with fury even more, were the bruises and scars scattered over her body.

All he needed was her confirmation that those filthy traders had done this to her and he’d wipe them all out with his bare hands. Anyone who had dared to touch her, would feel his wrath.

“Oh! Damon~” Alexis; a sex slave of his, came bouncing into the room. Damon casted an irritated glance at her before returning his full attention back to his mate. With a wave of his hand, he signaled for her immediate dismissal.

Alexis bit her lip, her eyes narrowing on the human sleeping peacefully across the couch. “I have never seen a werewolf mated to a human.” She continued on to say, forcing a smile as she walked up beside him. “How is this even possible?”

Damon clenched his jaw. He didn’t care about why and how, he just knew that she was his mate… nothing else mattered. Who would dare to question him, anyway?

Alexis jolted as his glare sunk into her skin. Without another word, she heeded the unspoken warning and scrambled out of there. But as she was turning the corner, she mumbled something that she thought Damon didn’t catch. “Don’t come crying when you meet the same doom like ten years ago…”

But Damon had heard every word and he was livid. His hands trembled with the urge to crush her face but he didn’t dare leave his mate’s side. Alexis could wait… after all, he had all the time in the world to rip her to pieces.

***

An hour passed by and Sarah finally stirred awake. She opened her eyes to an unfamiliar ceiling, the fresh air drifting into her nose feeling very foreign to her senses. Sunlight streamed in through glass windows, touching her skin with a delicate glow before Damon’s onlooking eyes.

She jolted up and darted her gaze, but froze when she felt a warm breath tickle her neck.

Damon’s nose nuzzled into her from the side, sniffing as it traveled along her skin. “Hmmm,” he hummed against her, basking in her delicious lotus flower scent.

He didn’t know what to say, so he drank in her scent instead of her voice. Perhaps the most urgent thing was to ask about her bruises, but he thought it would only overwhelm her. He wanted her at ease and comfortable before getting to that.

However, when silence reigned between them for far too long, he took one last whiff, then looked up at her. Seeing the look on her face and the wide eyes that stared back at him, he reluctantly leaned back a bit, just enough so she could breath. He wanted to touch her, to continue worshiping her scent… but he willed himself to bear with it for her sake.

Sarah finally released the breath she had been holding and turned her head slowly, coming face to face with the familiar handsome guest sitting next to her, Damon Kalesto.

“Speak,” Damon demanded, the command making her flinch. As a man without much patience, he was getting tired of waiting to hear her voice.

“Where… Where am I?” She breathed, the sound making Damon’s heart hammer against his ribs.

She was sitting on a couch that could probably be passed as a bed because of how large it was, and in front of her, a glass table separated it from another of its size and color. On the grey walls, there were numerous paintings of wolves and such, and the shelves to her left filled with a mix of books and trophies. The space seemed somewhat empty but Sarah couldn’t help but be impressed despite that. It’d been so long since she’d seen a normal house.

“This is your new home.” Damon told her. His face was stoic, but inside, he was proud to have clearly impressed her with this initially useless mansion of his.

“M-My home?” She stammered, eyes snapping back to him. “Why…? Did something happen? H-Have I done something wrong? Whatever it is, I’m sorry! I was just f-feeling a little dizzy at th—”

Before she could finish, a finger had pressed to her lips, halting her words. “I am the Alpha King.” He said, holding her gaze. “And I chose you. From now on, you are my possession, mine to keep and mine to protect. You will stay by my side, Sarah… where my eyes can always reach you.”

Tingles sprouted at her lips, dancing across her skin.