Chapter 8

• Garren's POV:
• I furiously lifted the lady in my arms and walked back to the castle.
• As I walked past the houses, I could feel other vampires' eyes on me and hear their annoying whispers.
• It was good for them that they knew their place and how to act. As it was, I was very upset and wanted no one to talk to me.
• I walked into my castle and went straight to my bedroom, putting her on the bed with a low sigh.
• I looked at her dirty, wet face and then inhaled the scent of her blood, which made my mouth water.
• I moved my thumb to wipe a trail of blood on her jaw when she flinched. Despite being unconscious, she was still responsive to my touch.
• She was my enemy's daughter, whom I planned to use easily. But why was I now feeling like this? It pained me when I raised my hand to her, and I felt like my heart was being stabbed when she cried out to her parents.
• I moved to my desk and touched my bell for a second.
• When a knock came through, I cleared my throat.
• "Come in, Thelma," I answered calmly.
• She quickly walked in and gave a bow.
• "I am at your command, Master Garren," she said in a respectful tone.
• "Clean and take good care of her until she regains consciousness. Also, prepare a new set of clothes for me," I instructed without paying attention to my nakedness.
• It wasn't my intention to let my lycan take over, but he wasn't happy with the lady's behavior. More like he wasn't having it.
• To me, she was just an attractive woman to be used, but to him, she was his mate, and he wanted her at all costs.
• At first, I was curious why he was interested in her, but he made sure to leave me in the dark. So I decided not to pressure him into revealing why.
• All I could do was work on how to kidnap her.
• For months, my men watched her go on hikes, and at times she and her brother would shift into their wolves just to enjoy the breeze and nature outside the pack's border.
• I wanted to go for the guy, but after hearing how arrogant and sarcastic he was from my men, I decided to go for the girl. Although she looked tough, she displayed a lot of emotions, making her an easy target to get to.
• My orders to my men were simple: watch over her for as long as you can, and the minute she strays away from her brother or pack members, that would be the chance to kidnap her, and that's exactly what they did.
• For months, they watched her and reported to me her everyday activities and reactions. With time, I found myself looking forward to hearing what she would be doing next. It dawned on me that she wasn't like most women I had come across. The fact that she loved doing things that most women wouldn't want to do became amusing and interesting to me.
• The day I took it upon myself to join my men to observe her was the day I saw her running into the forest in tears. She was far away from her family and seemed to care less.
• It was a sad scene to look at, but also an opportunity to be taken, so I went for it and kidnapped her as planned.
• While she lay unconscious in my arms, it became clear to me why my lycan had wanted her badly. She was our mate, and that made me somehow displeased because we had already set out a plan to torture her if she wasn't going to cooperate with us.
• When we reached my castle, I went straight to my office with her, putting her on my sofa. I stood there looking at her because I couldn't stop admiring how beautiful she was. She was very attractive.
• When she woke up, I was shocked at how calm she was in such a situation. She even made me laugh and confirmed that she knew we were her mate.
• I expected her to at least hate my other half, who was a vampire, but she seemed to care less.
• Her first attempt to run away was amusing to me, but when I observed how she easily killed the entrance keepers of my castle, it became clear to me that she was an alpha queen and much stronger than I had heard in stories and books.
• I took that time to ask Thelma to summon the coven witch to create an invisible forcefield around my entire territory.
• I needed the lady alive and well before she could face the coven. They were the ones who would give the final verdict on what to do with her. In exchange, they were going to let me kill Ian however I wanted and in any way I wanted. That alone was supposed to bring me joy, yet I felt conflicted about it.
• Having Ian's daughter here was going to force him to come for her, and he was going to come with everyone who had a hand in killing our two elders and burning our territory down. That's exactly what the elders of the coven were waiting for. And once they were all here for her, they were going to undergo a trial. But before that, Ian was going to be put to death by my hand.
• "Master, your clothes," Thelma whispered.
• I grabbed them from her hand and put them on while thinking of a way to seek an audience with the elders of the coven.
• They hated the sight of me because of what I was, yet they needed me because of what I was capable of offering them.
• I was an abomination to their kind, yet they couldn't pass up the opportunity to use me for what they wanted.
• The only one who truly liked me was Bianca Daisy Manroe. She was my parents' close friend before they died at the hands of Ian's family.
• She saw past what I was and treated me with kindness as she would her own family. For that, she was heavily criticized by the other elders, yet they couldn't remove her from her seat because she was the key negotiator between them and me. If they were to let her go, I would step away from them, and they would lose a valuable puppet who was a rare breed and a myth to some: a hybrid, half lycan and half vampire.
• Me.