The Damned

Love

Nix POV

Today is finally Monday.  I’ve been so worried about Darian because he said all day yesterday that he’s fine, but he said he wouldn’t be healed until today.  I really hope it isn’t anything serious.  Darian has been assuring me all weekend that it’s nothing serious.  I can’t wait to find out what all this is about.  Darian will be picking me up today for school.  I get ready for the day and wait for Darian.

During my first class, Darian informs me to meet him out on the soccer field at lunchtime.  So, morning classes pass and I meet Darian out on the soccer field.  When I get out there, Darian is standing in the middle.  I cross the field to him and he has a huge grin on his face.

‘What is he up to?’  I ask Isla who stays silent.  I reach Darian and he takes a hold of my hands.

“Now, I’m about to show you something that may ring a bell with you.”  Darian says.  He lets go of my hands and lifts his shirt up and over his head.

“Damn!”  I say looking up and down his chest.  His pants hang low enough to show off the v of his hips.  I giggle embarrassed and look down at my feet.  Darian lifts my chin.

“Ready to see why I had to heal?”  He asks with a smile.  I nod very curious.  Darian turns around.  I gasp at what I see.

‘He got a tattoo?!’  Isla says in shock.

‘Not just any tattoo.’  I say.

‘What do you mean?’

‘He got the exact replica of the drawing I dropped the first day of school.’  I explain to her.

‘Awwweee that is so sweet!’

“So, what do you think?”  He asks starting to turn around.  I put my hand on his back to stop him.  I take my right hand and glide it over the tattoo.  It really is the exact replica of the lion’s head I drew.  Sheila, the tattoo artist on the island, did an amazing job.  “So?”  Darian says again.  He manages to turn around this time.

“It’s amazing!”  I say with a blush.  Darian strokes my cheeks.  “My drawing went to great use.”  I smile.

“It did indeed.”  Darian smiles.  I lean up and Darian leans down.  Our lips connect and it’s electrifying.  I will never get over that feeling.  Darian pulls me closer and we start to sway while kissing.  We only pause kissing so that we can catch our breath.  Soon lunch is coming to an end.  We kiss once more before Darian puts his shirt on then takes my hand.  He leads us inside and to my next class.  Classes end and Darian takes me home.  After dinner, he and I talk on the phone for about two hours before I start getting sleepy.  We say goodnight and I crawl into bed.  I fall asleep tonight with a smile on my face.

Nix POV

It’s been almost a month since Darian revealed to me that I am his mate.  Since that time, I have come to feel for him very deeply.  I am just nervous about being the future Luna of this pack.  How can someone like me even be considered a Luna?  I am an outcast and loner.  I have been cursed by the Wolf Goddess with my episodes.  How can one cursed like that be Luna?  I shake off all those thoughts and begin getting ready for the day ahead.  Darian has a chemistry project he will be working on this morning with Nina and Lucian, so, he won’t be picking me up for school.  I feel like it’s a nice day out so I decide to walk.  I put my headphones in and begin walking to school.  I will arrive early but that’s okay because I like being early.  Gives me time to be in the library alone.  I arrive at the parking lot in record time for walking.  I am getting ready to enter the building when I see four figures coming towards me.  I recognize them all.  Erik, George, and David, the three biggest but dumbest guys in school.  Behind them is Rebekkah, the school slut.  She is always trying to get Darian.  I wonder if she knows he’s my mate.

‘That’s probably why she looks so pissed off.’  Isla says to me.  I try to turn away from them and head the other direction, but they easily catch up to me.

“Well, if it isn’t the loner loser.”  Rebekkah snickers.

“Well, if it isn’t the school whore.”  I bite back.  That’s when the first punch comes.  I don’t have time to recover from it before punches come from every direction.  I am soon knocked to the ground and the kicking starts.  I know it’s not just one doing all the work, but all three guys doing it at the same time.  I faintly hear Rebekkah laughing at my abuse.  I feel one of them kick my face so hard that I’m surprised I’m still conscious.

“Remember this the next time you decide to talk back.  And stay away from Darian.  He’s mine!”  The hitting stops.  “You see Darian only lets you hang around because he feels sorry for you.  He is my mate and soon the whole island will know it.  So stay away.”  Rebekkah says then pauses.  “Oh and if you tell anyone about this, the next time we come up to you, you will be dead.”  Rebekkah threatens.  I hear them walking away laughing.  I can’t go to school like this.  I weakly get up and head for home.  Just as I get inside the house, everything turns black.

Darian POV

As I am working on a chemistry project in the Chemlab with Nina and Lucian, I get this awful feeling in the pit of my stomach.  I try mind linking Nix, but she doesn’t reply.

‘Something’s wrong.’  I say to Xavier.

‘I’m sure she’s fine.  She might just be asleep still.’  Xavier replies.  Just then the bell goes off signaling the students to start heading towards their first class.  I try mind linking Nix again, but still nothing.  ‘Okay.  Maybe something is wrong.’  Xavier says.  I look over to Nina and she has a far off look on her face.  I wonder who is talking to her.  Just then the door to the lab opens.  Mrs. Hendricks comes over to us just as Nina looks between myself and Lucian.

“Nina, Lucian, and Darian.  You three have been excused for the remainder of the day.”  Mrs. Hendricks informs us then leaves the lab.

“Nina, what’s going on?”  I ask with that feeling in the pit of my stomach still.

“Get your things quickly.  I’ll meet you two at the car and tell you on the way.”  Nina says quickly getting up and leaving the lab.  Lucian and I look at each other before quickly getting up to grab our stuff and meet Nina at the car.  Lucian had decided to pick up Nina and me this morning so that we could discuss the project on the ride to school.  I quickly grab my things and race out into the parking lot.  Soon, I am to Lucian’s car and Lucian and Nina are ready for me.  We get in and start driving.  I know this route.  It’s the route to the hospital.

“Alright, Nina, what’s going on?”  I say.

“Nix is at the hospital right now.  Mom started to mind link me saying that Nix was beaten up pretty bad.  Nix had decided to walk this morning, but when she got to school, she was apparently beaten by someone.  Nix made it inside the door to our house just before passing out.  Mom says that it doesn’t look good right now and wants at least you there, Darian.”  Nina explains while a low growl sounds from my throat.  Who would do such a thing?  We arrive at the hospital, Nina tells me Nix’s room number, and I make a mad dash for her room.  Doctor Alec stops me and says he’s just getting ready to check on her, but that I can go ahead and go to the room.  Once inside the room, I feel like I might collapse myself.  On the bed lays my beautiful Nix, unconscious.

‘She’s so still.’  Xavier says.  I immediately grab the chair in the room and move it so that it’s next to Nix.  I take her hand in mine just as Doctor Alec comes into the room.

“Who did this to her?”  I growl out.

“Alpha…Darian.”  He begins.  “She has not been conscious to tell anybody anything.  Unfortunately, her wounds are so great that it could take a couple days for her to regain consciousness.”  Doctor Alec says.  My eyes close hoping that it won’t take more than a couple days.  I would be lost without her.

“Thank you, Doctor.”  He comes over and does a few checks on her then leaves the room.  “Please, baby, wake up soon.”  I whisper against Nix’s hand.

Nix POV

Last thing I remember is getting home.  After that, everything is black.  For a long time now, I’ve been feeling tingles all over my body concentrated at my hand.  Sometimes the tingles are concentrated at my chest.  Is Darian here?  I wonder.  I have tried talking to Isla but she’s been quiet for a while now.  I have no idea how long everything has been black for.

“Please wake up, baby.”  I hear a man’s voice say and instantly recognize it as Darian’s voice.  That’s when I feel something wet on my hand.  Is he crying?  “I can’t lose you.”  He says.  I need to wake up, but I can’t move anything.  I concentrate on my hand and feel my fingers brush against his hand slightly.  “That’s it, baby.  Move them again if you can hear me.”  Darian says softly.  I concentrate to move my fingers again.  They moved!  I feel Darian get onto the bed with me and realize there is a loud beeping sound going on.  I must be at the hospital.  I need to open my eyes.  I need to see Darian.  I concentrate, but it’s not working.

‘Open them very slowly.’  I hear Isla say weakly.  Finally, she’s talking again.  ‘Just concentrate and open them slowly.’  Isla says again.  I do as she says and concentrate again on opening my eyes.  I start to feel the heaviness of my eyes fade.  I slowly start to open my eyes.  The first thing I see when they are fully open is Darian leaning over me slightly.

“Hi, baby.”  He smiles weakly.  He doesn’t look like his normal self.  He has dark circles under his eyes and his hair is more unkempt than usual.  Darian leans down and softly plants a kiss on my forehead.

“Darian?”  I say and my voice sounds weak.

“Yeah, baby.  I’m here.”

“How long have I been asleep?”  I ask.

“You’ve been unconscious for three days now.”  Darian replies solemnly.

“Three days?!”  I say shocked.  I never imagined that it’d be that long.

“Yeah.  You have been so weak that Isla hasn’t even been able to heal you fully.  I’ve mind linked Doctor Alec, so, he’ll be in shortly to check on you.”

“Oh.”

“Baby, who did this to you?”  Darian asks looking down at me.  ‘Oh and if you tell anyone about this, the next time we come up to you, you will be dead.’  I hear Rebekkah in my head saying that.  I begin hyperventilating and crying.  Stuttering that I can’t say.  “Nix, baby, you need to calm down.”  But Darian saying it doesn’t help.

“Darian, I’m going to have to ask you leave so that I can get her calmed down again.”  I hear Doctor Alec say.

“No!”  Darian growls out.  “Just give me a couple minutes.  I am sure I can calm her down.”  Darian says sternly as I continue freaking out.

“Very well, but if I don’t hear her calmed down in three minutes, I’m coming back in and kicking you out.”  Doctor Alec says.

“Nix, baby, I won’t ask again.  Please calm down.”

‘I’m so weak.  He doesn’t deserve this.’  I say to Isla.

‘But we love him!’  She yells at me and I know it to be true, but still.

“There’s no other choice.”  I say between breaths.

“What?”  Darian asks.

Darian POV

“There’s no other choice.”  Nix says rather quietly.

“What?”  I ask confused.

“I, Persephone Phoenix Delaney…”  Nix starts and I know she’s trying to reject me.  Xavier and I growl out a no and I gently crash my lips to hers.  She’s still freaking out so she doesn’t kiss back, but after a minute I feel her relax and start to kiss me back.  Once she’s completely calmed down, I pull away very slightly.

“Mine!”  I growl out trying to get her to look into my eyes.

“I love you.”  She says opening her eyes to stare right into mine.  I pull away a little bit in confusion because I’m not sure if I just heard her correctly.

“Say again?”  I say.  Nix’s eyes close briefly, but then she opens her eyes and stares right into mine again.

“I love you, Darry.”  She smiles and her eyes light up.

‘She loves us!’  Xavier cheers in my head.

“I love you, too, Nixie.”  I smile and lean down again to meet her lips with mine.  If I thought the tingles were amazing before, I was sadly mistaken.  Now that she and I have shared our love the tingles are magnified…or at least it feels like they are.  I pull away so we can catch our breath.  I mind link Doctor Alec that she’s clam and he can come back in now.  Doctor Alec comes walking in and I, unhappily, get off the bed so that he can check up on my mate.  “I’m going to step out to make a call real quick.”  I say and step just outside the door, but in a spot that I can still hear them.  I call Nix’s mom and tell her that Nix is awake.  She is happy that I was there for Nix when she woke up.  I hang up and hear Doctor Alec ask Nix what I said to her to make her freak out.

“He asked, umm, he asked…”  I step into the room.

“I asked her who did this to her, but as I’ve told her, I won’t be asking again.  I don’t want her to freak out again.  It broke me to see that.”  I say.  Nix looks at me with a sad look on her face.  I go over and take her hand in mine.  I give it a kiss to reassure her that I’m fine now even though she tried to reject me.

“I see.”  Doctor Alec says.  “Well, it seems that your healing powers are finally starting to work again, so you should be able to go home tomorrow evening.”  He says.  “I’ll be back with some morphine for the pain.”  He leaves and I sit in my chair.

“You look like hell.”  Nix giggles looking over at me.

“Hey.”  I chuckle.  “Sleeping in a hospital chair takes its toll.”

“You mean you slept there every night since I’ve been in here?”

“Yes.  There was no way I was going to leave you in case you woke up.”  I say honestly.

“Oh.”  She blushes.  “Why did you stop me?”  Nix asks looking away slightly.

‘Why did I stop her?’  I think for a minute.

‘Why did we stop her from rejecting us?’  Xavier says filling in the blanks.

‘Oh.’

“I stopped you because I would have just rejected it anyway.  But when you say that sentence, it immediately hits like a brick wall, no matter what the other person’s response to it is.  I didn’t want either of us to feel the weight of that sentence being complete.”  I reply.  Nix looks at me then.

“But I am too weak to be Luna.”  She says.  I growl.

“Weak?!  You just woke up after three days of being beaten nearly to death.  There is nothing weak about that!  And I would never accept your rejection!  Not for anything in the world!”

“I’m sorry I tried.  I just didn’t know what else to do.”  Nix looks away for a moment but then looks back at me.  “I will never, ever try again.  I love you.”  She smiles.

“You better not try again because I love you too.”  I lean forward and kiss her.  Just then Doctor Alec comes in with a syringe.  He injects the morphine into her IV and she yawns.  “Try and sleep, baby.  I’ll be here when you wake up.”  I say which earns me a smile and a nod.  Nix soon falls asleep and I pray that she’ll wake up in the morning and not slip back under for days.

Nix POV

It’s been a week since I was released from the hospital and I can’t seem to be getting any sleep.  I keep having one nightmare over and over again.  It’s the four bullies beating me up.  Since being released, I think I have gotten a total of fourteen hours of sleep.  That’s an average of two hours a night.  It’s so frustrating.

“Sweetie, still not sleeping?”  Mom asks as I come downstairs.

“No.  And I don’t know what else to tell Darian about why.  I’ve told him various things but I don’t think he buys my stories.”

“He’s your mate.  Now that love is in the air he can feel your emotions through the bond.”

“What?!”  I ask confused.

“Yes.  With shifters, once the word love comes out of both mates’ mouths then the bond intensifies.  You and he will now be able to feel each other’s emotions.”

“Wow!”  Just then I hear Darian pulling up on the bike.  I could’ve sworn we talked about me getting my own rides for now.  I take a deep breath, grab my bag, and head outside.  I ride to school with him and my four bullies stare me down.  I cower away.  Darian grabs my hand and walks me into school.  Classes go by quickly today.  When I get home, I work on some homework, eat dinner, take a relaxing bath, and crawl into bed.

Darian POV

As soon as I get all my homework done, my phone starts ringing.  It’s Mrs. Delaney.

“Hello, Lycandrica.”  I say answering the call.

“Darian.  I need your help with something.”

“What do you need?”

“I need you to come over tonight and try sleeping next to Nix.  I’m thinking that maybe if she knows you’re there, she will sleep better than she has this past week.”

“I’ll be right there.”  I say knowing something has been up with Nix this past week.  I actually asked my mom about it and she said that once that amazing three word sentence is exchanged between mates, their bond does intensify to a point where we can now feel each other’s emotions.  It’s fascinating really.  With werewolves, they have to be fully mated before they can do that.  I get in my Audi and head for Nix’s house.  As I pull up, I notice that her bedroom light is off.  I go up to the door and knock.  Mrs. Delaney welcomes me into the house.

“She’s trying to sleep now, but I don’t think she’s having much success.”  Mrs. Delaney says sadly.

“Why hasn’t she been sleeping well?”

“The nightmare of the attack comes to her every time she closes her eyes.”  She says looking away.

“I see.  I wondered.  She tried telling me some stupid reasons, but I didn’t buy them.”  I reply.

“Yeah.  It’s part of the mate bond.”

“Yeah.  My mom told me about that.”  I smile slightly.

“Well, she’s upstairs in her room.  You may go up there.”  Mrs. Delaney says with a smile.

“Thank you, Lycandrica.”  I bound up the stairs quietly taking them two at a time.  I enter Nix’s room and see her struggling in her sleep.  I also notice she has a body pillow set up lying next to her as if it’s a person.

‘Take the pillow’s spot before she wakes up.’  Xavier says.  I quickly, but quietly, move the pillow and slip under the covers.  Nix is facing away from me and is currently asleep, so, she doesn’t exactly know I’m here yet.  She gasps awake, but doesn’t move from where she is.

“Goddess, why can’t you just let me sleep through a night?  Is it because I haven’t told anyone about the attack?  You know it’s not as easy as that.  I can’t just go up to Darian and say ‘Oh, Darian, you know that attack?  Well, my attackers were…’”  She shouts but doesn’t finish so I still don’t know who her attackers were.  “They would kill me if they found I told anyone.”  Nix adds quietly.  At that statement, Xavier growls.  Nix’s head whips to look at me and I smile sheepishly.  She turns back around with a groan.  “Darian, what are you doing here?”  She asks facing away from me.

“Your mother thought that I might be able to help you sleep.”  I reply honestly.  “I know you are scared, but if you let me, I can help.”  I say feeling her fear.

“I just don’t know how to tell you.”  She sniffles.

“Come here.”  I hold out my arms to her.  Nix turns around and scoots closer to me.  I bring her into my arms and hold her close.  “Give me your hand.”  I say.  She slowly gives me her hand.  I place it on my chest so she can feel my heartbeat.  “Feel that?”  Nix nods.  “That beat is all for you.  There is no one else.  Ever.  And I will do everything to protect you.”

“How?”  She says quietly.

“Well, being future Alpha, I have a commanding presence.  I can even use my Alpha tone on those who would hurt you.  The Alpha tone is something they can’t go against.”  Nix leans into my chest.

“Erik, George, David, and Rebekkah.”  She says into my chest and starts crying.  I rub my hand up and down her back to calm her.

“I will take care of it.”  I promise.  Nix winds up falling asleep while still crying.  I watch her sleep for a bit, before I decide to try and sleep for myself.  We both, thankfully, sleep through the night.