The forbidden mate bond

4 - The Manipulative House That Has No Windows

ZYON POV

I'm fast if I were to race, but I can also will myself to the desired location and find myself transported, and it was the easiest way to dismiss Liz's scent. That wasn't the plan though. I should have let the werewolves know of my location. But somehow I was thinking outside of the long-awaited plan.

For years, I had looked around the world, traveling to every country there is, but I had always been alone. It was why I gave up my duties and went to the haunt of my father, who hasn't looked back ever since he left my mother pregnant and ashamed at her coven. Failure is always taken for granted, so a man in my shoes will tell you how much we treasure gold when we find one.

I've sketched this mission for months, I had my followers abandon their homes because they believed in me. I was going to give them what the Elders failed. I didn't plan on hurting the werewolves. If I did that, it meant war, and I can't have that very early until I am inside and have ears and links everywhere.

An ambush by the vampires on the werewolves in the woods, and a rescue from me is a ticket to a pack in the capital. I can meet my father. Pretend a connection and memorize every necessary strategy before we strike. I can resist my vampire traits and display myself as a normal lone wolf in their eyes. No one can mind-link with me unless I let them, and even if they could, I can easily manipulate their minds and get them to forget what they learned. So it was a smooth scenario. That was until I came face to face with Liz when she was passed out in the woods.

She was dauntless, I could tell by how she fought my men. I have to admit, I was so proud of her at the time, while on one of the trees surrounding them, watching from the comfort of height.

And that moment when she looked up at me, was the first spark of fireworks in my life that I was amused by. I already knew she was my treasure that I traveled all over the world and couldn't find.

The house I brought her was set up and furnished a couple of weeks ago by my friends, those she thought she killed and those I staged their murder. We stayed there while we prepared for the mission. The walls were made of brick and no windows for their protection from the sun, should incase the guys foolishly fall asleep without their rings. They could be idiots sometimes.

Liz had passed out after I sedated her. I was scared I would hurt her given the silver that was taking too much time to heal. But, anytime soon, the wolfsbane will wear off and she will be disappointed in me.

My room is on the second floor, it was the biggest and had the softest canopy bed you'll ever find, at least in waterfalls, where I come from, since I know nothing about here. I lay her beautiful sleeping figure on it and sat beside her, feeling her clean-shaven thighs. She was only wearing my plain black t-shirt, which I had bolted down from the tree and put on her after she passed out naked on the soil of the forest in front of everyone.

Her vanilla skin was smudged with blood, it took every restraint I had to ignore the rush in her veins. So I took my eyes to her face instead. She looked peaceful in her sleep. Her heart-shaped pillowy lips were pink and closed, my body reacted before I could control myself, and my fingers reached over feeling their smoothness. Her eyelids partially fluttered at the contact, and the first thing she noticed was my closeness. She terrifyingly crawled back onto the bed. She was still weak. I felt it too, but she was stubborn, she didn't care, she went and raced out of bed, running through the open door, as though she could escape me.

Just earlier she was fearless, what happened to that?

Breathing calmly, I rubbed my eyes and waited a while to give her enough head start before I got to her, finding her in some corridor on the first floor. She was panting, barely standing well on her fragile legs.

My appearance terrified her but she courageously held my stare even though I could see tears filling up in her eyes.

Did I scare her? That's not the plan. I brought her here mainly because I needed to know her more.

"Don't run away from me," I told her and she watched me as though it was now that all the pieces began coming together in her head, fetal accidents, smoke coming out of the vehicle, Vampires, her friends... All those catastrophes.

Yes, I can listen to her putting them together in her thoughts.

"Octavia?" She asked me in a soft and dreadful tone.

"She's with her brother."

"Oh!" She wrapped her arms around her and folded her lips.

"He's not coming for you," I informed her while studying her in the comfort of the silent house.

I can hear her doubt me.

"You are fast." She pointed. I mentally scoffed.

"We all are if we don't have a dose of wolfsbane."

She nodded, somehow in agreement.

"So what did you do actually? Kidnapped me? Do you know every pack in the capital and the cities around us follows my dad's orders? And I am going to be an Alpha. So I am very very important. They're probably on their way here to kill you." She warned with all the threatening masks she could muster.

Right, she must have regained consciousness.

"I am undead. But I look forward to meeting your pack. Some I must kill and some I must gladly thank for having you."

She blushed and looked away. When she shook off my flattery from her head and looked back at me, she disassembled an uninterested attitude. It was funny.

"We all thought so. But then werewolves die. I saw their bodies. My mom's a doctor." Her nose crinkled slightly. She was getting more comfortable now than she was when she woke up.

"So your mom helps mislead humans?"

"She saves lives." She said that like it was obvious and I am dumb. Which is right.

"Liz, you should-"

"You named me?" Her eyes thinned flirtatiously, I had to swallow to regulate my emotions. I don't know how I feel about her at that long distance. It's about seven feet away from me. I don't think she understands how important this moment means to me.

"I didn't. Your name is Eliza, it's just easier if you break it." I sternly pointed out. It's a lie though. I just wanted to give her something no one had. That's if someone hadn't beat me to it. And if there's someone out there who calls her Liz, that will be the reason I have to reverse my subjective vow to not use my mind compulsion abilities.

"My name isn't that long." She fired back but ended up stumbling back from the effect of the silver and wolfsbane on her body.

Impulsively, I rushed to her, closing the goddamn distance between us. But she retreated, with a frail hand held up, putting another space in our midst.

For God's sake.

"Let me, I can help you."

She observed me with wary eyes and then they traveled around us.

"I don't trust you. Where am I?"

"A place."

"A place where?" She demanded.

"Mine."

"You don't have windows and doors. What kind of a person doesn't have those in their house?" She briefly glanced at me and continued to look around.

"Not a person."

"We have it back at my parents." She argued with a mulish expression.

Does she have to be the recalcitrant mate?

Ignoring that, I tore my wrist enough to have blood spewing.

"Here." I held out my hand to her.

Her face scrunched in the basically no-way-possible comeback I've ever seen.

"What are you doing? It's tacky. Stop holding out your hand like something is expected to happen. Because nothing is happening."

I don't always laugh, but I almost choke. I should be concerned about my healing rate. The skin I had torn had already closed up but I am sure she can help herself.

"Are you generally stubborn or are you reacting to me for the first time?" I cautiously asked.

"I am sorry you envisioned your mate being so obedient and submissive, but that's not me. I don't even know if I need a mate. Mostly one that steals me away." She looked away, hiding behind her plunging hair.

"Your heartbeat says otherwise." It was pumping, making an exciting rhythm. "Can you please just take it?"

She looks up at me, holding my pleading gaze. And with my free hand, I reached for her hand that was in our midst and she let me. Her breathing fastened. I pull her closer and she also lets me. Those good lips of hers parted.

"I don't take blood. I am not a bloodsucker." She quietly murmured.

That stung, but standing there while she was hurting stung worse.

"Please," I begged, and took my wrist to her lips.

Maybe she saw how important it is for me or maybe she trusted me enough to drink from me. But she dug her fangs into my veins and took my blood, her eyes closing to what resembled relief. She was so attractive, and she was mine. She had those perfect natural eyelashes sweeping over her cheeks and long Auburn hair I will admire for eternity.

"What just happened? Did you? Did it just stop the hurting?" She pulled back, taking a step away from me. I snapped out of the trance. "What? your blood cures?" She appeared confused, since this isn't something that usually happens. An Elder once told me I was the only one of my kind. I have often been used for research and treatment in waterfalls since I knew myself.

"You ask so many questions, Liz." I wiped my wrist after the skin mended again.

"What are you?" I can feel her prying eyes.

"I am like you." I simply answered and turned towards the direction of the stairs, worried she might learn the truth if I slipped and let her into my mind.

"You are not-" She began and stopped, scrambling behind me on her tiny feet. "Hey don't walk away from me."

"Some minutes ago you were running away from me." I shook my head, biting back a smile.

"That is because you are startling. You brought down three cars. You have a straight face sometimes. Some will say you're a wizard." She was now jumping. I don't understand the need. It wasn't like she could reach my height no matter how much she kept bouncing on her tiny foot.

"I smiled at you." I chastised her inaccurate fact. In the last hour, since I met her, I've smiled more than I do every year.

"Uhmm... But then you stole me away and took me to a weird house. I didn't trust you." She kept on complaining while we ascended the stairs.

"So what changed your mind?" I asked casually.

"I figured you might have killed me if that was your pursuit."

"Um hmm."

"Anyways, you're faster. Your eyes; they're strange. You're pale and... Nothing I've ever seen. And now your blood?" She tugged my arm and I shot her a look over my shoulder.

"We are unnatural, Liz. We are just sometimes gifted random things."

"Gifted?" She perplexedly questioned when we got back to my bedroom, and I headed for the restroom.

"Eliza, I am sure you have studied your kind."

She didn't say anything to answer that. She seems calculating. So I took the time to wash my wrist while she was out there in the room waiting for me. But the moment I emerged from the restroom, she continued to tail me around the room like a devoted puppy.

"You didn't chain me, ain't I your jailbird?"

Okay, this is going to be a long night.

"You are my mate." Why would I need to chain her?

"How do you know?" She asked and my brows automatically rose. She immediately rephrased. "I mean, you are okay with it?"

My eyes squinted as I pulled out leftovers of my lunch from the fridge.

"Did I give you the impression that I wasn't?"

"I don't know... I never had a partner." She bashfully hooked the locks of hair behind her ear and laced her fingers together as she stood next to the small island in my studio. "So I don't know if kidnapping randomly happens in this kind of thing."

I shove the meat into the oven and twist, confronting her flushed face, my hands gripping the worktop edges. "Of course, Liz. You are made for me. It is only me you'll have."

She bit her bottom lip, nonetheless, a smile spread on her face.

I push up and walk around to get a plate and a cup.

She spun in her stance, her eyes following me everywhere.

"Okay, so let's make something clear, I am not property. I will not be your punching bag, slave, or housewife." She sounded authoritatively funny.

I can't smolder this one, I chuckled. "Where are you getting these ideas?"

"Because you didn't even ask me if I am okay with us? So it's clear my opinion didn't matter."

"Women don't usually have the right to decide this kind of thing." I served her the steak and a glass of water on the island and pulled out a stool, picked her up, and set her on it.

Her face scrunched confusedly at the gesture and she shook her head.

"Eat. You will gain more strength."

She took the cutleries in both hands on the island, collectedly wetting her lips before she made eye contact with me.

"This is a new era, Zyon. I am going to be an Alpha. I have my plans too. Schools and professions. I will not be anyone's entity." She began cutting into the meat with the knife. "I have seen marked partners whose husbands just ignore them and have mistresses and they only serve for breeding purposes."

"Isn't that the point of partnership and all?" I shook my head at her assertion.

"Cheating on your mate?" She disappointedly exhaled before she began to chew the portion in her mouth. "Mmm." She moaned at the food and pointed at me with the fork in her hand, with a full mouth. Everything she did was endearing. "This is some good steak." She nodded at me after she calmly chewed the contents in her mouth. I only intriguingly scrutinized every angle of her, even when she continued to assert, "Men are always favored when they pull this stupidity off but women are always called out if they were to do the same?" She shoves more portions into her mouth, and I almost laughed. "They will be called whores and could even be rejected by their mates for that offense. And when a man does it? The woman is required to tolerate and look after their pups as though her heart is made of steel. As though she didn't break at the emotion of seeing her mate with another?" She annoyedly spat without looking at me, instead, she sliced more pieces of the steak she was enjoying, and added more into her pouty mouth, smearing grease all over her lips. They were so shiny and even smoother than when I felt them while she was passed out on my bed.

I step closer, leaning on the counter, with thirst and longing to kiss her. She noticed my stare and cautiously looked up at me.

"I will not maltreat you, Liz. In case you're scared of it. And I will not let anyone maltreat you either." I conduct myself and instead, I only wipe the stain from her lips with my thumb. They were, as I imagined, soft and slippery. It sucks I had to withdraw my hand, to avoid appearing like a psycho. "After all, I've been waiting for over eighty years for you, why will I cheat?"

She believed me, I comprehended that easily. But the moment I took back my hand and set it back on the countertop, her gaze darted down and her jaw tightened.

"Men don't keep their promises."

"How so?" I retorted, dipping my head down, but still, I could get a flash of her expression.

"I just know." Thankfully, I could hear her thoughts. They were dark. She worries about her mom and dad. Turns out her father isn't royal, but she loved him anyway.

"So what do you want from me?"

She glanced briefly before her gaze passed by the wall behind me.

"Stability and steadiness, that you're not going to be of any sort of those things. Ever, Zyon."

She was terrified of getting into this. I got it.

"Okay, here's a bet." I hold out my pinky finger, my elbow resting on the quartz surface. "I will surprise you, Liz. I will be everything you didn't believe was possible."

"What if you fail?"

"Then that's only when you have to reject me."

She smiled and I jerked my chin at her hand. Her smile brightened even more and she hooked her small finger around mine.