Unwanted

He took a step towards me, shifting back into his normal self.

Brown eyes, strong jaw and a domineering figure.

Those were the things I saw as he approached me. The house that was once full of life was now nothing but ashes in the midst of a clearing.

His footsteps were steady, deliberate, and the sound of twigs snapping under his boots made the hair rise at the back of my neck.

His presence was suffocating, each stride heavy with the promise of violence. My pulse thundered in my ears, my chest tightening as I forced myself not to stumble back. He looked like he had stepped straight out of a nightmare—eyes burning with fury, jaw clenched, hands curling into claws he could barely restrain.

“You will soon join your people,” he growled, voice laced with venom. His lips twisted into a cruel smile as he took another step closer. “I’ll rip you apart and scatter your pieces where they belong.” he said, his voice smooth, pronouncing each word like he owned it. “don’t worry, I will try to make it as painless as swift as possible” he said, the scales on his body reappearing “just a little reward for all those years ago.”

Every instinct screamed at me to run, but my legs betrayed me, locked in place by the intensity of his gaze. My heart raced so fast it hurt, and still, I lifted my chin, refusing to let him see my fear.

Then it happened.

He lunged forward, faster than thought, and his hand shot out, meant to strike, to end me. But instead of pain, I felt heat. His palm brushed against the bare skin of my arm, and in that instant, everything shifted.

A spark—no, a wildfire—ignited where our skin met. It wasn’t just heat; it was lightning racing through my veins, a current so fierce it stole the breath from my lungs. His eyes widened, his body jerking as if he’d touched a live wire.

He froze.

The snarl that had twisted his face dissolved, replaced by shock so raw it mirrored my own. His chest heaved, his breath catching as if he were drowning.

“No…” His voice was ragged, broken, disbelieving. His fingers trembled against my skin, but he didn’t pull away. Couldn’t. He was stuck there, making the sparks remain.

I could feel his emotions shift from shocked to scared, but I shook my head. There was no way he could be scared.

I should have shoved him off, screamed, fled. Instead, I stared, transfixed, my body betraying me with the same pull I saw in his eyes. The same truth neither of us wanted.

Sparks didn’t lie.

He was my mate.

And he knew it too.

“I..” i started, finding it difficult to breathe as I was scared to take in air.

My voice seemed to snap him out of whatever daze he was in because he shoved me. “Ah…” I cried out, his talons scraping the outer layer of my skin, but the pain was nothing like the one that shot up my back when i slammed it against the wall.

“you monster” he spoke, rage filling his voice as he walked up to me, carrying me like I was some piece of rag. “you think some stupid tricks would spare you?” he said, spark still spreading everywhere he touched.

“I did not…” he did not let me speak as he shoved me up so that I was standing straighter. I closed my eyes, trying to shut out the pain as he dug one of his claws into my left cheek.

He ground his teeth, as though he was feeling the pain but that did not seem to stop him.

“it’s okay, you can cry” he said, with a sadistic smile even though it looked like he was in pain “I like to hear the cries of my victims, its such a turn on” he said whispering in my ear.

I took in a deep breath, trying to gather as much strength as Icould before headbutting him just enough to release me from his grasp.

“you can’t kill me” I said, spitting out the blood that had gathered from him trying to slowly tear my skin apart starting from my cheeks

His eyes burned with a fury that sent chills through me, his movements sharp and deliberate as he closed the distance between us. I braced myself for the blow, for the pain that always followed his presence, but when his hand struck out, something strange happened.

The force of his attack never reached me. Instead, a jolt of energy cracked through the air, knocking him back a step as though the very act of trying to harm me had turned against him. He hissed in frustration, shaking his hand as though it burned.

Again he tried—claws, fists, every ounce of his rage thrown at me—but each time it was the same. His strength faltered, his body recoiled, and I remained standing, untouched well as best as I could stay untouched. My heart hammered against my ribs, disbelief mingling with dread.

He was hurting himself.

The realization only enraged him further. His growl echoed through the space, raw and feral, before he lunged and seized me by the chin, his grip cruel and unrelenting. My head jerked back under the force of it, pain shooting down my jaw as he dragged my face close to his.

“You may not be able to be killed,” he snarled, his breath hot against my skin, his voice a blade carving into me. His eyes glinted with something darker than hatred. “But don’t fool yourself, Mika. I can make your life miserable. So miserable that you would pray to the gods to take your life instead”

Fear surged through me, My body stiffened, trembling despite my desperate attempt to appear strong. His grip tightened, and for a moment, I thought he might crush my bone. I felt a lump in my throat that I tried to swallow, before his talons dug into my hands, Almost ripping my arm out of its sockets before taking me from everything I have ever known…