DARE THE DEVIL

A troubled Roman

“No, Daciana….” Zane’s voice followed the steady beat and pounding of heart that slammed against his ears. It was really dark and Daciana’s bruises were slowing down in the healing process. She was exhausted and tired. Her insides were burning fiercely and turning upside down in pain and something more unbearable than pain and at that particular point, she hated Zane.

“Focus, Daciana…” his voice rang loud again in the darkness and shutting him up didn’t seem so bad. Her sight was unstable, so was her sense of smell and hearing.

“I am….” She tried to pair into the darkness, yet nothing seemed to do exactly what she wanted. Almost immediately, something sped through the air and scraped a flesh on her cheek.

“Jesus…Daciana….” Zane pushed on the control at the wall and immediately made his way to Daciana.

“No…” Daciana raised her hand in the air, halting him from wherever he might be running from.

“I can do this, let's continue,” she added while panting breathlessly.

“No….” Zane snapped and turned on the lights. The stench of her blood filled his nostrils and his wolf growled. The sight of her was painful and he just knew he had to stop, no matter what she said.

“I said that I can….”

“I heard you,” he growled at her as he made towards her. Daciana stared at him with tired eyes, and pale skin yet the determination laced within was like a deep fire burning within. The fire that she needed to push through. The need to be validated, the need to take away the awful reputation that had tainted her and her family pushed her. The need to prove everyone wrong was so strong within her gaze, nothing else seemed to matter. Not her health, not her safety, not the extent she has to go to. That zeal made him give her a resigned sigh. He understood her all too well and could see the struggles she was going through.

Gently, he raised his hand to her cheek and gently wiped away the blood caused by the poisoned dart.

“I know you can do this.” His voice came soothing, calm, pure like he could hear the cries of pain in her heart.

“I know you are stronger,”

“And you are going to get stronger, be stronger, not just for the sake of your name or reputation, but for your own validation.”

“I am not stopping you.” He added and stared right at her perfect brown, tired, yet determined eyes.

“But we have been here for two nights. You are bleeding all over and you need to rest.”

“Alpha Roman would kill me, your mom would skin me alive and if you get hurt than this, I won’t be able to bear it,” his eyes held sincerity, honesty, the very definition of his greatest desire. And with such an honest gaze, she felt safe.

“We will be back here. I will be with you every step of the way. But let's go get a healer now,” he ran his thumb through the scratch on her skin. She winced at the pain it brought and his heart died.

“Please,” he pleaded, needing her to stop already.

With a resigned sigh, she gave in. Relief washed over him and he took her hands.

“Can you walk?” he asked. Daciana rolled her eyes.

“Of course,” she hated the way he pampered her. He was worse than Roman or Jamila. Her mother was the only person who thought her hard, yet loved her. The others enjoyed moving to her every wimps and for someone who needed to be strong, it was not so appreciated, most times.

“You have wolf’s bane in your system, you can’t…”

“I am fine…” she interrupted and started towards the entrance that she knew. However, the energy she thought was still in her veins vanished the moment she took her second step and she fell. Zane ran to her the moment she was about to reach the ground and carried her off the ground.

“You never listen,” he scolded.

“I am fine,” she protested weakly. Yet her head fell to her side and she relaxed into his hard rock chest. The warmth that sipped out of him was soothing and it caressed her skin, feeling her with nothing but comfort and something else. And the burn that tore her inside stretched and ran.

“Yeah, I know,” he answered, knowing how stubborn the new Daciana could be. She was worse than the way she was before and it was beginning to get him worried.

After her return, she had simply wanted to know all about the supernatural world. A world she had no clue of since she lost her memories and he had been of great help. But that wasn’t enough for her. Daciana wanted to be stronger. She had the lowest rank in the leagues of warriors and being stronger was her aim. So she secretly trained, day, night, morning and Zane had been coaching her whenever he had time to. Only, she was pushing herself too much. Ignoring her safety and health, but never once complained of being tired or weak. She was always fine, even when he could clearly see that she was not. Just like earlier, wolfsbane was supposed to make her weak, cry or even scream, yet she did neither. It left a bitter taste in his mouth. And it made him wonder what extent she was willing to go.

Zane carried Daciana through the hidden passage of the training court and towards the manor. The forest seemed lovely and the scent of pine and soil was very pleasing. But Daciana’s calm heartbeat was the very best thing of the evening if only it didn’t get him worried. Her heart was too calm and it was quietly slowing down to his greatest dismay.. He turned his gaze to her calm and sleeping face only for his heart to explode with want, love, worry and so much need.

Guards, warriors and werewolves who were still up so late at night stared at them as he carried Daciana into the manor in horrid steps. There had been gossip, rumours and thoughts on the kind of relationship he might have with Daciana and he only just added to the list of what those rumours could be. He didn’t mind, nonetheless. It was none of their concern and no one dared to question him except for the alpha, Luna and Daciana’s mother.

With worried steps, he took Daciana straight for her bedroom and made to unlock the door. Only for the door to be pulled open. Immediately, he came face to face with Diane.

“Why is she back so late?”

“And why is she smelling of blood?” she growled fiercely at him. Her motherly instincts kicked in and the need to protect her own overwhelmed her. turning her brown eyes to red.

“Is that wolfsbane?” Roman immediately entered, coming from behind the door. His eyes fierce, wide and the glare that followed made Zane understand that he had not thought that very training section through before he carried it out with Daciana.

“She needs a healer, first,” he swallowed and gave the both of them a reply. Roman moved past Diane and took Daciana off Zane’s hold. He quickly mindlinked his pack healer to come over and placed her gently on the bed.

“Where was she? And how did it get this bad?” he snapped at Zane for even letting such a thing happen in the first place.

“We were out training and she didn’t want to stop,” Zane followed Diane inside. His heart was beginning to race inside his chest at the sight of Daciana who was getting paler and paler than he had initially thought. A healer came walking in before Roman could snap back at Zane and they gave her space, allowing her to work.

The room turned quiet and everything and everyone in it became apprehensive. The wolfsbane had gotten deep into her system and her heart was slowing down rapidly. It made them scared and the paler her skin turned, the more it frightened them.

“What kind of training requires wolfsbane?” Diane turned sharply to Zane whose gaze had not looked away from Daciana’s pale skin. His guilt was tearing his heart apart and he was berating himself for letting Daciana talk him into taking such tedious and terrible training that she was clearly not prepared for. Zane didn’t give her an immediate reply, because he knew that she might want to cut his head if he said anything. So he remained mute and when she was tired of glaring at him, she looked away.

“The wolfsbane spread quickly,” the healer said.

“But it's nothing to worry about. She seems to have grown a lot of tolerance for this poisonous substance,” she added. Everybody’s eyes widened and they turned to each other. They were surprised at that revelation and turned to Zane who had been spending more time with Daciana than they. He was shocked, but not as they were. Something had told him that Daciana was doing something inappropriate a few months back. She was always late to training and pale and looked dying. But he didn’t know that she was making herself intolerable to wolfsbane. That might be the reason why she didn’t go weak quickly as he had expected during training.

“I didn’t know about this,” he mindlinked Roman who was at the verge of killing him. Roman of course, did not see a reason to believe him, but Zane was his beta and friend after all and he couldn’t simply ignore that very truth. He was trustworthy and he had to remember that though he was blinded with rage.

After an hour, the healer left Daciana, revealing that she was better and would need to recover from the damages that the wolfsbane might have done. Only then did everybody truly feel relieved and simply walked outside to give her some space.

“Why was she training with wolfsbane, Zane?” Roman had to start his interrogation the moment his head was clear from worry and panic.

“We were at the playhouse,” he answered, knowing that they would know exactly what he was talking about. The playhouse was a ground for every warrior, guard, werewolf who had to defend the pack, themselves, their name before fully being a strong warrior.

“The playhouse???” Diane’s eyes widened and raged descended once more.

“Are you mad?” she growled, feeling the need to tear the beta into shreds.

“Diane….” Jamila walked in on them at that particular time. She had been busy with the midwives because a pup was being delivered. Complicated issues arose and there was no time to get to a hospital and she had to help, somehow. However the pup still died and she had to return home. It was to her surprise to see the three of them still up and raging with such strong emotions and tension..

“What is going on?” she moved closer to Roman whose gaze burned with fire.

“Daciana got hurt while she was at the playhouse, training, and there was wolfsbane in her system,” Zane answered, since the others were too angry to do so.

“Oh my!”

“Where is she?” she turned to her room, without waiting for anyone to give a response. Getting inside, she first listened for her heart beat before anything else. Only then did she breathe a sigh of relief, before checking if she was okay. She wasn’t fine, truly, but it could have been worse. After she was satisfied, she came out and still met the three of them. Roman and Diane were still raging and Zane was feeling helpless and guilty, though he kept a front of the beta they knew to be cold and harsh.

“Did she have to go to the playhouse?” she entered, understanding why everyone was angry.

“I tried to stop her, but she was bent on going there. With or without me,” he explained, resisting the urge to gnash his teeth at Daciana’s stubbornness.

“I preferred being with her, rather than not knowing what she was up to.” He lowered his gaze from the angry ones of his alpha.

“I should have stopped her and I regret that,” his voice shook with guilt. Roman sighed, looking away from him.

“It’s a good thing that she is safe,” Jamila stepped forward and smiled.

“And we all know we can’t stop her from doing anything she sets her mind to,” Jamila smiled, easing the tension in the air.

“She risked her life, Jamila, for what exactly?” Roman was not having it.

“To be strong, and she did it so recklessly. What would happen if she actually died while training?” he roared at no one in particular. The fear he had felt earlier was still sizzling in his heart and in the air.

“Roman…..” Jamila tried to calm him down.

“This stops now. No more training or practice, nothing.” He growled before she could continue. Then he turned a sharp gaze to Zane.

“This nonsense stops now.”