Chapter 3 THE DEVIL'S GAME

CHAPTER 3 | THE DEVIL’S GAME

LYRA

“No, goddess please. Don’t do this to me. Don’t fuck me up this way.” I raised my head and prayed for the moon goddess’ mercy.

Dying in the hands of the guards, no matter the punishment, was much better than falling into the arms of any of the Valentino twins.

Everyone knew who the Valentino twins were. They were bad news, and everyone knew to stay far away from them. Damien Valentino was the Lycan King who killed people for fun. I heard he once ripped an Alpha apart in front of his subjects, just because the Alpha sneezed while Damien was still speaking.

Damien was that man everyone ran from when he walked into a room. The man every mother warned her daughters about in hushed nightmares. Rumor had it that he was responsible for the death of his father and elder brother, who would have taken over the Lycan throne if they hadn’t died tragically.

And then, there was Damian Valentino, Damien’s twin. Damian was the king of mischief. Always with something up his sleeve. Unlike his brother, he was goofy and easygoing, but one wrong move and he’d show that the apple didn’t fall far from the tree. People said he wasn’t as bad as Damien, but that was far from the truth.

Last year, Damian was sent to jail for wiping out an entire pack with his bare hands. Everyone heard about it. Everyone became even more terrified of the brothers.

The Valentino brothers were literally the devil in werewolf form.

“Yes, Lyra. You’re mine now.” He laughed before I felt a sharp pain in my arm.

I turned my head and saw a needle. He was injecting me with something. Fear instantly gripped me like a vice.

I wanted to beg for mercy. To fight and break free. To do anything at all to escape this wretched fate. But I couldn’t. My body went numb. Whatever he injected had already taken effect, leaving me a useless vegetable.

“Sleep.” That single word from him was enough to drag me into unconsciousness.

Nightmares plagued me. I dreamt of every trauma I’d suffered, and at the end, I saw the face of a child, blaming me for not protecting it.

I woke up terrified, scanning my surroundings in panic. Luckily, I wasn’t locked in a cell. I was lying in an open field.

I was about to question why I was brought here when a cough came from behind. I turned and found Damien staring down at me with blank eyes.

“Welcome back, little princess. How do you feel?”

I lifted my hand at his question, only to realize there were no bruises or cuts. No pain. No sign of the torture my body had endured.

“W-what did you d-do to me?” I stuttered, shocked.

It wasn’t possible. Not even a Lycan could heal this fast.

“I think you have bigger things to worry about. For example, you should be terrified of what I’m going to do to you.” He dragged his words, making them more terrifying.

And yet, for some reason, the fear I felt earlier wasn’t the same. There was still some fear, but curiosity about him had begun to grow inside me.

“You’re desperate to escape, aren’t you? You want to leave this place for good?” he asked.

I hesitated. My gut whispered that I’d be safer here than anywhere else, so long as I didn’t press Damien’s wrong buttons.

Noticing my lack of fear, he smirked and crouched down. “You’re not afraid of me?”

I didn’t answer. I only held his gaze. That was enough answer.

He chuckled darkly and gripped my face hard enough to make me wince. “You’re better off dead than staying with me. I’ll show you a different type of hell…one that will make you beg to return to your pack. I know how your pack treated you, Lyra. And I’ll give you one chance to escape.”

Shivers racked through me. He’d found out everything already, and instead of pity, he promised to drag me into hell.

“Let’s play a game. I call it Hide and Seek with the Devil. Run as far as you can. Run like your life depends on it… because it does. I’ll count to ten before I come to find you. If I catch you, I own you. You’ll do whatever I want. If you escape, you’ll be free from me forever.”

I wanted to object, but I couldn’t. He had already started counting.

I ran.

The forest blurred around me. His voice followed like a curse, echoing everywhere, taunting me. No matter how far I went, I couldn’t escape it.

Soon, his voice grew closer. I hid behind a massive fallen log, pressing my hand against my mouth to silence my breathing.

“You can’t hide forever, princess. Your fate has been sealed with me since the beginning.”

He walked past. I let out a shaky breath of relief. But when I looked up, he was right there, staring at me.

I screamed, scrambling to run, but stumbled, only to be caught by strong hands gripping my waist.

“I heard my brother had a new toy. I want to play too.”

My breath hitched. This wasn’t Damien.

It was Damian.

He had no tattoos, softer voice, and kinder eyes. And yet the moment he touched me, sparks shot down my spine. His scent, musky and sinful, wrapped around me. My body betrayed me, reacting in ways I couldn’t control.

Damien appeared soon after, his gaze falling on me in his twin’s grasp. I expected fury, violence, and blood. But instead, he smirked.

“She’s mine, Damian.”

“She isn’t yours. She’s ours, brother. Our Lyra.”