Chapter Five

With the aid of the adrenaline from my anger, I rushed over to Damien the moment he finished talking, punched him hard and kicked his balls. Damien fell on his knees cursing in pain, his hand covering his aching membrane. I grabbed him by the collar, forcing him to stand up and pushed him against the wall.

"Who the heck are you?!" I shouted at him. Rage was written all over my face.

"Acting feisty now, aren't you? You should've done that when I was still scaring the shit out of you." Damien smirked and pulled my hands off his collar.

"And to answer your question, I'm a shifter just like that pet cat of yours, but I can shift into any person I want to. In Wraindel, shifters like me are called-"

"Personne." I finished his sentence; I felt my anger drain off of me as it was slowly replaced by fear. I tried to limp away from Damien but he pulled my wrist, stopping me.

"Hey, I'm not going to kill you Actel. I was just trying to scare you and confirm the rumors about your inability to shift. And looking at you now, my plan pretty much worked out well." He chuckled softly and offered me a friendly smile.

"W-why?" I managed to ask as I tried to pull my wrist out of his grip.

"Well you might be wondering what that shadow was that I shifted into. That shadow is a supernatural being called a Preneur. It takes and kills shape shifters that chose to remain in the human world." Damien explained.

"What does that even have to do with me?" I asked in confusion.

"It means that you can't stay here any longer, Actel. People like you and me belong to our Wraindel. There are shape shifters who chose to stay or live on Earth and all of them chose to forget who they are, thus they never ever tried to shift into anything or anyone. Doing so causes the shape shifters to lose their control over their powers as years pass by, causing trouble and harm to humans. There are still a lot of them that are hiding in the corners of this world and it is a Preneur's job to find them all in order to keep the peace and balance between this world and ours. It's been years since you got here, and that makes you a target." Damien elaborated as he moved here and there trying to pick up my scattered belongings.

"As you witnessed earlier I cannot shift for Pete's sake! I'm not a threat!" I responded while I gestured to all of me.

"The Preneurs don't know that, do they?" Damien pointed out.

"In fact, just a few of the entire Wraindel population knows that. Just your parents, yourself, your cat, the royal adviser and me." He added as he placed my belongings into my torn bag.

"How'd you know I was the princess? Where did you even hear that rumor about me?" I limped to Damien and gestured for him to give me my bag.

"Oh, right. I'm sorry for these." He apologized as he gave me the bag.

I raised an eyebrow at Damien, demanding him to answer my questions.

"We'll talk later. Let's get you fixed up. Have you even eaten yet?" Damien suggested as he lifted me up in a bridal style position.

"H-hey! Put me down!" I complained at him.

"Given your current state, you certainly can't walk home. So be a good girl and let me carry you." He held me tighter in his arms as he walked me home.

Damien knocked on my front door when we arrived at my house. Logan's forehead creased the second he opened the front door and saw me held in Damien's arms. He automatically took me from Damien.

"Hey, what happened?" Logan softly asked me as he carried me to my small sofa. Concern was written all over his face.

He turned to face Damien after he placed me carefully on the sofa.

"What did you do to her Damien?! You were sent here to protect Actel, not hurt her!" He shouted angrily at Damien.

"Look, I didn't mean to hurt her! I just wanted to show and warn her of what'll happen if she stays here any longer! She wouldn't have believed my words if I just told her about the Preneurs! She had to see what was coming for her. Scaring her was the most effective way I found to make her understand!" Damien defended himself brushing back his hair in frustration.

"There is always another way to do things Damien, you know that. These ways of yours are too harsh to be acted upon! Actel could've hurt herself on the process of running away from you. We agreed to discuss this further before you could act on your stupid idea!" Logan argued, his frustration matching Damien's.

"But she didn't get hurt! She can manage a scratch or two." Damien was now getting furious.

"You know each other?! What the hell is going on?!" I finally managed to interrupt their argument.

"Oh, didn't Logan here tell you yet? I was sent her with you by your father to look out for you from afar." Damien explained as he smirked at Logan.

"I could've explained everything to her tonight if you only moved as we planned Damien." Logan sighed and sat on the other sofa.

"Damien here is the son of the royal adviser, so your father trusted him on looking out for you. I shouldn't have asked for his help in convincing you to come back with me to Wraindel." Logan continued.

"How come I never heard about the Preneurs until now?" I decided to ask both of them.

Logan looked at Damien, telling him it was his turn to give me an explanation.

"It's because any information about them are confidential, Actel. The documents about the Preneurs are kept in your father's study. I only happened to overhear your father and my father's conversation about them when your father visited our house. They were on their way to meet the Leader of the Preneurs to make some negotiations. Curiosity got the best of me so I followed them both and witnessed what the Preneurs are and how'd they looked."

"What were they negotiating?"

"I don't know. I wasn't lucky enough to hear their conversation with the Preneur Leader." Damien answered me honestly.

I was about to ask another question when my stomach grumbled in hunger.

Both Logan and Damien looked at each other before they burst into laughter.

"I should probably get you some food. Would want some too Damien?" Logan offered as he stood up.

"That would be lovely, we haven't really eaten yet. I'll go and clean myself while you're at it." I informed Logan while I tried to get up.

"Hold it right there little Missy. Let Damien take you upstairs to your room. You still pretty much can't walk yet." Logan ordered before he started walking to the kitchen.

Damien on the other hand gave me an awkward smile, asking for my permission to carry me.

"Oh, bother." I sighed in defeat giving Damien a hint that it was okay for him to carry me.

Damien automatically lifted me up and started climbing on the stairs.

"Just drop me in front of the bathroom. I can take care of myself from there on." I told Damien as he stepped on the last stair.

After I took a quick but refreshing bath, I wrapped myself with a new clean towel and limped out of the bathroom.

I was shocked to see Damien standing in front of me.

"Well umm, I was waiting for you to call me when you're done. I figured you'd need my help to get to your room." He explained shyly.

"Oh, it's okay. You've done enough. Thank you for your help." I thanked Damien wholeheartedly.

Damien's dark chocolate eyes locked with mine. He stepped closer to me and brushed a loose hair strand behind my ear, his thumb slightly touching my right cheek. I felt a hot tingling sensation in my stomach at the small contact.

"I'm glad I didn't hurt you much." Damien breathed before stepping away and heading for the stairs.

I let out a breath that I didn't know I was holding the moment Damien was out of sight.

What the hell was that?