Chapter 35: The Strenuous Nature Of A Feral Mind

Unknown Location, Las Vegas, Nevada....

  Duko could hear the concern in the tone of Rae who had apparently found him and tracked him deep underground beneath the storm tunnels. She was at his side, although he had not understood how it was possible nor how she knew he'd been gone. Rae had tears streaming down her cheeks when she found Duke unconscious and covered in blood, she feared the worst as if the prowling animal that had attacked so many others had gotten to him too but upon closer inspection she was relieved to find that it had not been his blood that she was privy to seeing cover his body. He appeared to have been in a good deal of pain and his body was quite heavy, much too heavy for him to lift himself up off the ground. She had followed what she thought was Duke as he headed toward the tunnels howling in pain and staggering as he attempted to get as far away from people as possible.

At first, she believed him to have been drunk but that wasn't at all the case. He seemed to be having difficulty with his head as he leaned against a nearby wall aiming to take some of the pressure off it. Rae cautiously followed watching in horror as he collapsed gasping and growling as he hit his head and faded from consciousness.

"Duke," she said kneeling beside him as she attempted to rouse him. "Duke I don't know how to help you."

He blinked some before reaching up and caressing her cheek. Something of a wolfish grin filed across his handsome face before he suddenly pressed his lips into hers catching her off guard. She took notice of the glow behind his eyes, the eerie yellow hue, and the fact that he'd still been smiling when she pulled away unsure of what she was witnessing.

"YOU ARE MINE!" growled Duko getting to his knees and stalking after her.

Rae was confused for a moment unsure of what to do as she saw what looked to have been fangs protruding from the normal rows of perfect white teeth from her husband. Even with this strangeness, she didn't feel that Duke was capable of hurting her. He was having a difficult time fighting whatever urges were running rampant through his body, but he wasn't going to hurt her, something in their bond assured her of it. She couldn't place how she knew it but she understood that he needed her and that it was fortunate that she was able to find him.

"Duke," she said approaching the unstable larger man as she placed her hands on both of his cheeks and stared right into his rapidly color-shifting eyes. "Focus...just focus...look into my eyes."

Duke growled and then whimpered as his fangs went through a phase of protruding and retracting at once while his weary muscles grew tense for a few moments then finally relaxed after he'd been staring into her eyes allowing the eerie calm to wash over him that she seemed to have provided.

"R-Rae?" he asked in confusion as he looked around in the darkness. "W-What the hell?"

Rae seemed relieved that he'd calmed down and sighed. He slowly got to his feet leaning on his wife for support as he attempted to make sense of what was happening to him. She insisted on getting him back to their room unsure if anyone had seen him or if he'd possibly hurt anyone while not in his right mind.

They took the back entrance back into the casino careful to avoid the cameras and climbed into the elevator back to their penthouse suite.

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The Penthouse Suite, The Silverwire Casino, Las Vegas, Nevada...

Rae managed to get Duke back into their room without anyone spotting them and asking questions. She didn't know how long his temperament could hold after what she'd just witnessed. Thinking quickly, Rae managed to escort her half-dazed husband into the shower and allowed him to rest for a bit before she set to work cleaning him up and putting him to bed. She didn't bother with dressing him after he'd been clean as she'd known all too well that Duke preferred to sleep in the nude. Still reeling from the effects of whatever hold his affliction had on him, Duke was still groggy but she managed to get him into the bed where he collapsed a third time that night. She didn't see any cause for alarm as he was snoring as loud as ever signaling that he'd only been asleep after everything that happened.

As the hours passed since their return to the suite, Rae had been up watching her ailing husband like a hawk as she made sure to keep him inside this time. She had heard stories about war veterans going through psychological problems when they returned from combat, but this was odd in itself. Duke continued to sleep rather peacefully for which Rae was thankful, he quite possibly had been sleepwalking and given to night terrors the first time and she reasoned it was what triggered this strange episode of sorts.

Rae found it odd that she managed to find him so quickly, she'd gone out and had no clue how to locate him or why he'd just suddenly vanished in the middle of the night. She simply operated via a gut feeling, it became stronger and stronger the moment she left the casino and headed outside. She could almost feel something of a magnetic pull toward where Duke had been and followed it without question as if she knew deep down that she'd find him. Rae had heard stories of people being bonded in love and even saw movies but to experience something so powerful that it compelled her very being was another thing altogether. She still hasn't had the chance to process it much but continued to keep a watchful eye on her slumbering husband.

How much she seemed to care for Duke caught her off guard completely. They were only married for a short time, but it felt as if they'd been together for years, maybe more, like everything between them had been right in the world and everything else before their union was wrong and unnecessary. Rae shook her head believing that she'd finally lost her mind, too many horror movies and science fiction books from her misspent youth.

Still, she couldn't help but feel the pull towards Duke even while she watched over him. She walked toward his side of the bed, she took a moment to run her fingers through his sweat-slick hair and stroke his face as she kissed his lips and whispered words of assurance into his rather large ears.

He seemed content for the time being, but she wanted to make sure he'd been well. One could never be too careful in a place like this and after seeing those thugs harass him, Mrs. Duke Lovell wasn't taking any chances.