Beneath the surface: Forbidden love
Chapter 7

Marisela

My body froze. My legs threaten to give out beneath me as shock takes over me.

He's eyes went black. Completely black.

Then they were, gold?

He looked primal. Like a predator about to devour it's prey.

All these questions start to swirl in my mind as I run towards the car where Victor awaits me. He looks confused when he sees my frantic state. Everyone had already gone inside, leaving only Victor and myself outside.

Who the hell did my parents give my hand away to?

What the hell is he?

''Princess, are you okay?" Victor asks concerned. "did something happen?'' I ignore him and debate whether I should jump in the car with him,

But what if he is the same as that.. animal! I look at Victor only to find him looking at me with concern.

''Marisela!'' I hear Kael call my name, I turn around and watch as he runs towards me followed by Dimitri, then I hear a growl. I whip my head at Victor confused.

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Victor places a protective arm over me as his eyes glow bright blue as he blocks me from Kael's view.

What?

Victor is one of them.

I did the only logical thing I could possibly do in this situation,

I ran.

''Marisela!'' Kael, Victor and Dimitri call my name, but I run, I don't know where I'm running to, but I don't stop. I was surrounded by trees at this point. I was gasping for air, but I didn't stop.

Who- what are they?

Something inside me is telling me to trust Kael, that I should stop running away from him and run to him, But I can't.

I trip over something and my body falls forward, bracing my hands out in front of me to stop the hard impact. In a panic, I quickly get up, I feel a sharp pain surge through my leg, but I ignore it. Blood starts to trickle down my leg, the pain becoming more prominent as I run further into the woods.

My feet carrying me slower now as I finally spot a small opening in a large tree. I quickly push myself in the opening and try to even out my breathing.

The sounds of the men following behind me grow as I can hear them calling out my name and their feet hitting the ground.

Deep breaths Sela.

Then, I don't hear anything anymore. Did they stop? The pain in my leg is getting worse, but I still ignore it and focus on hearing the sounds around me. No one was following me anymore.

A few minutes pass and I thought I was safe, then I hear something. Twigs breaking. I shut my eyes as tight as I could and control my frantic heart beat. I felt my skin crawl as I heard the sound near the tree I was hiding in. I open my eyes and peep. I don't see anything. I hear heavy breathing close by but I still don't see anything.

Then, I see it.

It walks right pass me as if it couldn't see me, sniffing the air. It had long white- almost silver- hair, scales on its torso. Its back was to me, but I couldn't see what or who it was. But I had a familiar feeling

''Marisela!'' I hear Kael call my name in a distant. The thing in front of me turns around immediately as if sensing me and I gasp.

It cant be.

Screaming as it grabs a hold of my sore leg, dragging me across the ground. My head smashes against the ground and hits a rock as I'm being pulled. Groaning from the impact, my head begins to turn the edges of my sight a darker colour.

Suddenly my foot is let go and I'm lying on the ground. I hear footsteps running towards me. My sight starts to disappear as all I start to see now is darkness and I fall into an unconscious state.

-------------------------

The sheets of the bed tickle against my skin as I twist beneath them, getting wrapped up further in the heavenly warmth. I drop my head deeper into the soft pillow trying to get some well needed sleep. Thunder echoes throughout the large vast room, jolting me from my sleep.

I abruptly sit up in a huge bed that isn't even mine. I carefully twist my neck as I look around the luxurious room. Its dark. Despite the thick curtains drawn over the long windows, I hear the rain hammering down against the glass. Letting out a shaky breath, I try to calm my thoughts, then it hit me all at once.

Kael. He's a monster.

Removing the covers off my body, I throw my legs over the bed, a sharp pain instantly shoots up my left leg. Holding back cries of pain as I limp towards the door. As soon as I place my palm on the door, it immediately swings open almost knocking me over in the process.

''Princess.'' Cory rushes to my side trying to pull me back towards the bed.

''No!'' I push his hands away from me and take an unsteady step back, ''stay away from me!''

''Marisela, please, you're hurt.'' he pleases.

''Are you one of them?'' I yell. He looks offended by this, but he's jaw tenses as he looks away from me.

''I'll let the Alpha know you're awake.'' He says instead as he walks out the room, leaving me standing alone. The pain in my leg getting worse, with a deep breath, I make my way back to the bed and sit.

Alpha? There's that damn word again!

Noticing a set of double doors on the opposite wall, I hobble my way over. Opening the door I notice it leads to a pristine bathroom. I walk over to the mirror and take in my appearance.

My hair sat in wild curls down my sides. I looked pale. My clothes- wait, I wasn't wearing this.

I had on a plain white t-shirt that reached just above my knees. I had a bandage wrapped around my left ankle.

When did I change?

I hear a knock on the door and someone walk in.

''Princess.'' I hear Kael call my name in the bedroom, sounding worried. He barges into the bathroom in a frantic state almost breaking down the door.

''Marisela please, you need to be in bed.'' He's jaw tenses as he takes in my appearance. My heart beats faster in my chest as my eyes land on him. He was only in a pair of black shorts and his torso was bare. The thick muscles of his biceps flex as he carefully watches me. I couldn't help but let my eyes roam his chiseled abs and chest until my eyes land on his.

He smirks. Ignoring him, I walk pass him into the bedroom, I can feel my cheeks redden.

''Marisela-'' His jaw clenches as he pulls me back into him. My face reddens at the close proximity, and my heart starts racing again, as if remembering that im supposed to fear him. Or it. Whatever this non human is.

''Hear me out... please.'' I can hear the vulnerability in his voice. He lets go of me and I take a step back. He notices my hesitancy and sighs. He moves to the bed and sits. ''Please sit.'' He gestures to the space beside him. I refuse. "I promise hurting you is the last thing I could ever do to you." After some time, I hesitantly move to sit beside him on the bed and we sit in silence.

"I know you have questions." He sighs running his hand through his hair.

"Damn right I do!" I snap, getting up but failing miserably as I fall back down because of my leg, Kael catches me before I fall. His arms immediately wrap around my waist. Electricity shoots through my body from his contact. And my cheeks flush. He felt it too.

"I promise to tell you everything, but you need to rest please." He looks at me with concern. But I brush it off. He notices my frustration. Nonetheless, he gently places me on the bed and moves to sit a meter away from me. Good! I can't have my body reacting the way that it does to him when we're so close, even him being a meter away doesn't help much.

No, not this time buddy, I want answers and I want them now!

''What are you?'' I ask not looking at him. Funny how I recall having the exact conversation earlier, only the questions were directed towards me.

I hear him sigh beside me. I glance over at him and notice he seems to be having a debate with himself, then he finally speaks.

''Have you ever heard of Lycans?'' he asks still not looking at me. I raise my brows wondering what this has to do with anything.

Lycans? I would read about them in stories growing up back in Greemalia, but I never thought they were real, I always thought they were just a myth, like werewolves and fairies...but then again so were Sirens. Instead of speaking, I nod my head slowly. Of course he doesn't notice this, he isn't looking at me, so I speak up.

''Only in books.'' I say, he gives a ghost of a smile, then it disappears. He turns to me, finally looking at me. I notice just how serious he looks in this moment.

''I'm a Lycan.'' He admits, still looking at me as if waiting for a reaction. I take a sharp intake of breath.

He's a Lycan? What the hell is that?

"Lycans, are of Royal bloodlines, there are very few of us. We are much stronger and faster than a werewolf, and slightly bigger in size." He explains after seeing my reaction.

Werewolves? As if sensing my question, he continues.

"Werewolves live all over the world, Calarrad, is a kingdom mainly of werewolves, very few humans live among us. You know my father as King, which he was before I took over, I am the alpha king-the leader of all were kind." He finishes leaving me even more confused.

My heart beats franticly inside my chest. From what I've read on his kind, I'm pretty sure he can hear my heart racing. I get up and walk over to the window. He doesn't follow me.

Good. I need to think.

We clearly both have secrets about who we really are. And quite frankly, I don't think I'm afraid of him. Just surprised ... Really surprised.

''Princess.'' I hear him say behind me. I didn't hear when he got up.

Everything I read about Lycans and werewolves started coming back to me. Everything was starting to make sense to me. Maria referring to him as Alpha. The conversation I had with Rosa. I turn around and face him, noticing just how close he was to me. I couldn't help but stare at his bare chest. The butterflies in my stomach were going haywire. I shook my head to clear all these wild thoughts, clearing my throat, I look up into his deep blue eyes.

Gosh, I wanted to tell him to throw a damn shirt on instead, however, that is not what left my lips.

''Am I... are we..'' I gulp, '' Kael why am I really here?'' something flashes in his eyes. I couldn't quite see what emotion it was. He took a step closer to me. He looks into my eyes, watching me, as if trying to find something, anything. Then as if the world stopped spinning and time froze, he speaks.

"You're my mate, princess." I look at him confused.

"Like a soulmate?" I ask, a ghost of a smile appears on his face and he nods. A part of me knew the answer already but I still couldn't believe it either way.

He's hand cups my cheek, but I didn't fight him this time.

''Yes princess,'' I open my eyes to look at him, ''you are my mate.'' We stare into each others eyes for what felt like forever but it was only a few moments.

I may not know what a mate actually is, but judging by his reaction I know it isn't something good.

''Kael I-'' I begin to say but he cuts me off with a gentle shushing noise, his hand slipping in to my tangled hair.

''I'm so sorry, Marisela.'' He whispers, "please don't be afraid."

His eyes search mine briefly, my own wander to his lips and back to his eyes. Why did I just do that?

He's eyes look darker, more intimidating. Slowly, I watch as they go black. Gold starts to swirl in the depths of his eyes.

Only this time it didn't scare me, in fact I found it intriguing. The deeper I looked into the swells of his eyes the more beautiful they looked.

"I'm sorry," He says looking away, "it's my wolf." He shut his eyes. When he opens them they are almost back to his normal color, but I could see how he was struggling with his wolf. The gold still swirled in his eyes. He took a step back, he's hand leaving my face. I watch as he silently fights his wolf.

"I'm sorry I have to leave." He says, and storms out the room, slamming the door in the process making me jump slightly.

I was alone with my thoughts, in a room I had no idea who it belonged to. I walked back into the bathroom and decided that I needed to take a shower, but just as I was about to walk into the shower, I saw a large bath tub and decided to have a bath instead, it will help calm my frantic state of mind.

When my bath was done, I discarded all my clothes and sat in the steamy bath tub with my injured leg hanging out.

What the hell just happened between Kael and I?

We're mates.

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