Chapter 4 - Poppy #2
“Yeah, I did what I had to do,” he responds, interrupting my thoughts. He clenches a hand in front of him, staring at his fist. “I took matters into my own hands. You seemed quite…content in Nightclaw. I knew you wouldn’t come willingly.”
I scoff, lifting my head. “Yes, Damian. I was quite content. Thank you very much. You had no business…no business kidnapping me!”
Damian smirks like he’s proud of himself, crossing his arms again. “It is my business. It is my right,” he sneers, and a cold shiver courses down my spine.
I’m merely waiting for the ball to drop. Waiting for him to mention Daniel.
But it doesn’t come. Not the way a man would snap if he found out I was hiding his child from him.
He doesn’t know.
“You and I will be bound by the mating ritual tonight.”
My heart stops.
Oh no…
This is much worse than him simply knowing about Daniel.
“Wh-what…?” My jaw drops, and my eyes widen with shock.
“You heard me. You and I will be mated tonight,” he says calmly while I’m losing my mind.
“No.” I shake my head firmly. There was a time when I desperately wanted him to take this step, to be so sure of us that he wouldn’t want to wait another second to claim me.
But a decade has passed, and pain has festered for far too long. He didn’t outright reject me, but his hesitation spoke volumes that kept us apart all this time.
What’s changed since then? Has he not taken a mate yet? Or am I some kind of consolation for something he lost? A replacement? A second option?
“Why?” is the question thumping in my head with so many others. “Why are you doing this?”
“Because we’re fated mates, Poppy.”
I shake my head slowly in disbelief, brows furrowing as I stare at the man I once loved. A man who has changed so much in ten years.
He’s not the man I used to love. He’s a cruel alpha who’s capable of kidnapping someone against their will. The Damian I knew back then would never have stooped so low.
“I don’t believe you.”
Damian steps forward, towering over me, his scent everywhere, like a curse, eyes cruel, malevolent pits of ice-cold blue.
“You don’t feel it, do you?”
“You’re insane. I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
His face curls into a sadistic smirk. “Denial…” He licks his lips as if he’s tasting the word. “That’s all it is. But after tonight, there will be no room for doubt.”
“I’m not doing it. I’m not agreeing to it,” I say firmly, lifting my chin with an air of defiance. “I want to go h-home…” My voice cracks when my thoughts go to Daniel and what he must be thinking right now. He must be worried about me. I need to get home to my son.
“I need to go home to Fort Smit, Damian. Whatever’s making you believe this ridiculous idea…it will wear off. I just need to go home.”
Damian shakes his head. “You don’t understand, Poppy. You and I are fated mates. You’re in denial; that’s why you don’t feel it.”
“I don’t care!” I snap, throwing my hands up. “It doesn’t matter what you think we are, Damian. You didn’t seem to think this way a decade ago when you hesitated. We are nothing, and I want to go home.”
Damian draws back and flinches as if what I said was a physical blow.
“Why are you so adamant about returning? Is your loyalty to my brother more important than faith?”
My nostrils flare with irritation, and I bite my tongue before saying something I’ll regret. Like something about Daniel. How do I tell him that it’s my loyalty to my son that means more than anything in the world?
“I don’t know you anymore,” I say quietly, glaring at him now. “I don’t know what you’re like as an alpha, but I do know that Alpha Dorian would never do something like this.”
He flinches again. It’s another blow. Perhaps it’s strong enough to make him realize that he’s barking up the wrong tree.
But then he chuckles softly as if he’s climbing back onto the crazy train. “Well, then you are going to find out exactly who I am. I’m not changing my mind, Poppy. You and I will be mated tonight.”
Damian turns and grabs the doorknob, and my blood runs colder than ice.
“Are you just going to leave me here, locked in this room?” I ask, and he glances over his shoulder without opening the door.
“Yes. That’s exactly what’s going to happen. If you can’t comply with my orders—”
“You can’t give me orders! You are not my alpha!”
Damian suddenly slams a fist on the door, leaving a dent in the wood, startling me. I freeze on the spot as he comes closer and points at my face again.
“You were born a Valley Walker wolf, and I am your alpha. Don’t you forget that.”
Gulping, I say, “And if I don’t comply, you’re gonna keep me as your prisoner?”
“It didn’t have to be this way,” he says, nostrils flaring as he hangs his head and shakes it slowly. “But I won’t let you leave this room until I’ve claimed you.”
“Who are you…?” I ask with bitter resentment on my tongue.
“I told you; you will find out.” He looms over me, and there’s a flash of remorse in his eyes.
That’s when I decide to use it to my advantage. Try to make him see reason, even if I can’t give all of the truth.
“I have to go back to Fort Smit,” I whisper, this time fighting the tears threatening to cloud my vision.
Damian must notice, because he pulls back with a frown. “Why? What is in Fort Smit that you need so badly? Is there someone who has claimed you?”
Damian reaches for my shoulder, but I quickly dodge his hand, glaring at him accusingly.
“No! No one has claimed me!” I snap, and he looks like a wounded puppy for a moment. “Nightclaw has been my home for a year. There are things I need from there. Things that are precious to me.”
“Who?” he asks, and I shake my head defensively.
“No one, Damian. This isn’t about anyone else,” I lie.
Damian draws back, his top lip peeling from his teeth to show off his sharp, pearly-white fangs as he nods slowly, thoughtfully.
“If whatever is there is so precious to you, Poppy Barnes, then the only way you can even think of leaving this room is if you go through with the mating ritual tonight. If you do, I will allow you to visit Nightclaw again. When you’re wearing my mark with the veneration it deserves.”
He reaches out toward my neck, but I flinch away, not wanting his touch, and definitely not wanting any part of this.
“You’re evil…” I whisper with disgust, and Damian only chuckles. The sound is haunting, filling the room with his insanity. I’ve never heard that sound from his lips, and it gives me chills.
He’s insane.
He’s lost his mind.
Whoever is standing in front of me is not Damian Walker.
But the fierce gravity in his darkened eyes tells me that he means every word he says.
He’s not letting me out of here without this ridiculous mating ritual fulfilled because he suddenly believes we’re fated mates.
And that means I can’t get to my son without going through with it.
Damian’s eyes flit to the window. “You have a few hours left before nightfall. You decide. Do you want to be my prisoner for the rest of your life, or do you want to be my luna?”
My breath catches in my throat, and I’m frozen in place when Damian turns to leave without an immediate response. He doesn’t need it. He wants me to suffer in the confines of the four walls of this room until I’m forced to make a choice.
But there’s only one choice I really have when I need to get back to my son. And if that means—
“Fine. I’ll do it. I’ll go through with the ritual,” I call out, and this time, Damian doesn’t even spare me a glance over his shoulder.
“Good girl…” he drawls balefully with a spiteful chuckle. “See you later, my bride.”
My gut churns at the use of the name that once would have brought me joy.
Now, it’s a shackle around my ankle, but my only way out if I ever want to see my son again.
As the tears fall from my eyes, I place a hand on my necklace, the pendant feeling warm beneath my palm, and another wave of sadness hits me.
Perhaps if I wasn’t an orphan, if I had parents to speak for me, to protect me, I wouldn’t be in this situation. I wouldn’t know heartache and suffering the way I do now.
But I am a mother now, and the thought of my son out there without me is painful.
I’ll just have to figure out how I’m supposed to get to Daniel without ever letting Damian know about his existence. Now more than ever, I will protect my son from him and his delusions.
One thing is for sure.
I hate Damian Walker.