Chained.

Few hours ago,

"Erehmn.. I stink?"

Hazel stumbled on how foolish her words sounded. Her body felt the aftermath of fervor from her nightmare. She hardly dreamt the few times she closed her eyes from the short nap she had in the darkness.

It was always dark and listless.

Moreover... Cold.

Very cold.

Remembering how the darkness stole her away, ran cold shivers down her spine.

She didn't want it.

She never want to return back to the darkness. It terrorized her soul. It made her want to run and hide.

It made her want to die.

Death would be a better option than Corruption. It would be better to reduce the greater evils that would be herself than to selfishly pursue her goals of finding freedom and happiness.

Something she promised the old man she later found out was her Grandpa.

The masked man stared at her. Unbearable silence looming over them. Tensing up her already chaotic nerves.

She inwardly cringed on how weak her earlier words expressed. A huge contrast to the menacing creature she was supposed to be.

As the silence stretched into a thin line, so intense it could be cut by a knife making her a bit uncomfortable. Curious and yet hoping he wouldn't ask her of what she dreamt of.

Her heartbeat thrumming loudly in her chest.

Her masked mate with a surprisingly different eye color. Stared at her intently in a single compounding moment before suddenly lifting her up without warning.

She yelped in surprise. Genuinely shocked and increasingly aware again that he was carrying her in his arms.

"What are you doing? Let me go."

She struggled in his strong arms. Unwilling to place herself in situations she cannot handle. She was dangerous to him at this moment. Not a danger that could immediately threaten his life, she was sure he could handle her in this state.

But an unforeseen danger that could escalate into something neither both of them could handle.

Her gums ached.

Her predatory senses flaring crescively aware of her surrounding. The scent of cologne, an intoxicating mix of musk of spices. Straight of a hot bath. His wet hair still dripping with translucent waterdrops. Shimmering with light from the few, dim candlelights that lit up the room they were in.

The water from his dark hair ran in rivulets down his toned naked back. Making her shudder in realisation of him being shirtless. Her face turned beet red. Now fully aware of his powerful frame and ripples of lean muscle she felt as he carried her. Her eyes strayed their way to his chiselled collarbones that were in full display then lower to his defined toned chest. Before violently turning ahead away from his tempting frame she was still far from exploring yet with her eyes. Her throat was parched and the aching in her gums became more painful as she sought for a distraction.

Her body was stiff and unnatural. Her nerves far from relaxing using only raw, sheer willpower from sinking her fangs into his masculine neck. Her body strembled from control.

As if for ones things were going right for her her gaze was pulled in by the room there were both in.

Making her question where the hell she was and where in the hell was the whole army that threatened her life alone with the sheer power of their bloodlust.

The room was big with a medieval tone of lavishness. It was painted with darker colors making the dim candlelights brighter than it should have. The room was sparsely furnished with a large ornate bed as well as other pieces of furnitures that looked ancient yet intriguingly beautiful. The few designs crafted out with an art of a masterpiece that seemed to have their own stories to tell. There was an open chest filled with few dark tailored clothes and a table near the window were a streak of moonlight cascaded into the reading table. Which had a couple of old books that was probably gotten from the wall built in shelves that was coated with few particles of dust. It showed that it was not to long ago that the place was hastily cleaned.

She cleared her throat still staring at the room ahead aware of the gaze that burnt the back of her skull. He probably knew she was ogling at him. If he wasn't here she would have buried her face in her hands in shame.

A low chuckle escaped from behind her. She was self-conscious and in distress. The whole year of killing beasts in the Paths while falling in the boundless darkness. Honing her killing spree. Didn't... Never in her imagination prepared her for this.

She did think of encountering her mate. Daydreamed of it even.

...Or more accurately Nightdreamed of it.

It was a basic pleasure she derived to keep her sane. Nightdreaming of deep happy-filled fantasies. Things she found herself longing for.

Warmth. Love..Happiness and... Freedom.

If they didn't necessarily grant all of her desires she wanted to sacrifice the pleasure of love for freedom.

Never in her life did she expect she would be like a confused maiden with unfulfilled desires. She was not a kind of person that was shy in matters of sex. She knew of the topic albeit not extricately. She didn't have the time to. Nor the desire.

She was probably curious.

But not enough to fry her wits. So her responding to the situation like this was a sort of nightmare to her.

She didn't want to be the cowering one. She equally wanted to dominate the situation. Hell, in normal occurance perhaps she would have. But now, she didn't want to be lured by what she was seeing. She didn't want to stoke the flames that increased gradually.

She wanted to be as far from him as possible.

She wanted to fulfill her Grandpa's wish and be happy.

For that she needed freedom.

And Rusts.

She wasn't going to let the appearance of her mate change that. Not one bit.

So she had to control herself.

Her gaze held a certain determined assertiveness. Calm and yet forceful.

She cleared her throat trying to remove an imaginative lump that settled there. Before turning to his masked face who seemingly was staring at her the whole time.

The golden hue in his eyes keenly observant and calculative. He was reading her.

Forcing down a frustrated groan from her earlier behavior.

She spoke calmly.

"Human, I have feet that resembled yours too. They have a purpose there. So can you drop me down so I can use them?"

She heard the sound of him clicking his tongue behind the mask. Before taking long powerful strides filled with natural grace, apparently embedded in his being.

"You can't."

His voice mesmerizingly smooth and deep. He shrugged nonchalantly. His broad shoulders moved a magnetic charm. His nonchalance made her feel that if it weren't for that fact he would have dropped her down long ago. She then noticed she was in a different gown from the one she wore before. But the blood stains evidence of all the monsters she slayed a year ago was apparent in her skin. The gown was larger covering her entire body making her look like a monk. No atom of skin exposed. She looked like a large white bun.

Confusion etched her lovely features of her face. Ignoring it she faced the most important tasks.

She could still feel the dress she wore a year ago beneath the gown. So she was comfortable with the idea that no one saw her naked.

"What do you mean, I can't?"

Barely surviving what the sound of his voice was doing at the pit of her stomach. It was so tempting elicit uncontrollable shivers down her spine. Her ties unconsciously squeezed tight. She felt his sharp gaze noting the slight reaction. Visibly enjoying it. She fought the urge to roll her eyes.

If it weren't for the mate bond he was in for surprises.

"I see, you lost few mental screws while coming to my world, kitten. You have lost your touch."

His voice possessed a tinge of mocking disappointment and a foreboding revelation.

It alerted all her senses at once.

Making a set of long menacing,glowing black chains appear in her sight.

It chained her neck, wrists and ankles.

Engraved with ancient markings.

Too powerful to restrain her without her knowledge. Too light to pass unnoticed. Too restrictingly heavy in her soul to avoid struggle.

And all because she let her guard down.

This enough could put her in the verge of death if the spell engraved in it was activated.

Her gaze abruptly turned cold and deadly.

A heavy, suffocating killing intent permeated the air.

All directed to the one who held her in his arms.

She suddenly felt...

Cold.