Thorns of her Reality

A Shattered Reality.

I stared at him blankly for a second before bursting into a fit of hysterical laughter. He scowled at me, and I stopped instantly noticing that I was causing a scene. I blushed, a little embarrassed about my outburst, but I knew it. I mean, it all made sense to me now! He was clearly on the verge of some kind of psychotic break down. I am literally on a date with an insane person! Of course, I am! I mean, that sums up my luck, right? How else could this happen to me? I rolled my eyes and pushed my chair back, standing up to take my leave. Damien looked horrified by my response, but I couldn’t care less. I wasn't about to become a new missing person documentary.

“Where are you going?” He quickly asked. I could see the fear in his eyes. I tutted out loud and rolled my eyes.

“Home. I’m going home because, clearly, you have lost your mind.” I muttered as I took a step to walk away from him. He stood quickly, grabbing hold of my hand. It startled me and I retracted my arm, snatching my hand from his and shooting him a frown of disapproval.

“Please don’t leave. Let me explain.” He begged and I could see the pain in his eyes from how I reacted. Why did this hurt him? Why did he care? I paused for a moment, soaking in his pained expression. Everything in my brain was telling me to run for the hills, but for some reason, I couldn’t. What was happening to me? More importantly, why did I care about him at all? I pursed my lips in thought. Seeing his pain triggered me in a way and I didn’t want him to feel like that, especially not because of me.

“Ok.” I muttered. Damien relaxed instantly, letting out a small sigh of relief as he sat back in his chair. He gestured his hand towards my chair, and I nodded my head. Slowly sitting back in my seat. I don’t know what I was letting myself in for here, but I was sure I would find out.

“Explain,” I said in a critical tone. He rubbed his hands over his face and, for the first time, I saw that he was vulnerable. I admired it.

“I share my body with a wolf spirit called Blade. I am a wolf, and I am the Alpha of the Red Moon Pack. When we reach the age of eighteen, we can find certain people that we share the rest of our lives with. They are our mates. You are my mate. I knew the second that I picked up your scent. We look at them as soul mates, and when we mate and mark each other we are mated for life. It is a sacred bond that we believe in. However, some wolves reject their mates.” He began to explain in detail, and it triggered a memory in my mind. Antonio told Damien to reject me.

“What do you mean by ‘mate and mark’?” I asked dumbfoundedly. Damien began to smirk and once again his playful side was back.

“It’s quite literal, but if you want me to be vague, then mate in that sense would mean f**k. Mark would mean that I would use my canines to bite your neck, then I would seal it by licking it. It would leave a bite mark, scarred on your neck and show every other wolf in the world that you are mine.” He said playfully as if he was really enjoying explaining this, and to be honest he probably was. However, my face dropped instantly and immediately I grew fearful of him. His delusions were even worse than I thought.

“That sounds incredibly painful.” I stuttered, looking down at my lap away from him. I began to fiddle with my own fingers nervously. I knew I should have left whilst I still had the chance. I pressed my knees together, squirming at the thought of having someone bite my neck to the point it would leave a permanent scar.

“It’s actually supposed to be incredibly pleasurable,” he said slowly and seductively. Ugh there he goes again! Stirring my arousal. How did he make pain sound so good? I kept a straight face this time. Not showing any signs of arousal.

“Another one of my traits is my sense of smell, Isabella. Not only do you smell so divine that it turns me on, but the smell of your arousal is really starting to drive Blade crazy.” He growled seductively and his eyes began to darken. I squeezed my thighs together uncomfortably, he was arousing me and I needed a distraction.

“There!” I blurted out, trying my best to change the subject, pointing to his eyes, quickly breaking the s****l tension between us. He shook his head for a moment as they returned to their natural rich brown colour.

“Why do your eyes darken? It’s insane, they physically start to turn black.” I began to ramble on as if I was going insane.

“It happens whenever I am aroused, or angry.” He shrugged as if he had never given it much thought himself.

“So, another wolf thing then.” I began to laugh, as if this entire conversation was normal. He looked at me with concern.

“You really aren’t taking any of this well, are you?” He asked, and I stopped laughing at his question. Giving him the bluntest stare I could muster.

“You think?” I asked. “You think I am just going to believe you in all of this. OK Damien, you are a mythical beast with fangs and fur. What do you want me to say?” I said sarcastically, throwing my hands into the air. The waiter beside me cleared his throat, startling me as he grasped our full attention. I blushed red, feeling my cheeks burn with embarrassment.

“Would you like to order, Mister Lawson?” The waiter asked nervously, sensing the tension between us.

“Two of your finest steaks, both done medium rare please.” Damien said dismissively, as if to shoo the waiter away.

“I guess your secret is out.” I mumbled, sucking my lips in childishly and giving him wide eyes.

“Nonsense, Isabella. He is a wolf too.” I scoffed, laughing with insanity.

“I need to leave. You are going to make me need asylum admission before dinner is over.” He rolled his eyes at me and sighed. Standing at his feet and walking around the table. He grasped my wrist and pulled me up to my feet.

“What’re you doing?!” I snapped without a care in the world who heard me. Damien didn’t say a word, instead he pulled me through the restaurant into their kitchen. The manager looked at us both startled.

“Err, mister Lawson. What’re you doing?” He asked nervously.

“The venue room upstairs. Is it empty?” Damien asked bluntly. The manager nodded his head and with that confirmation he picked me up. Throwing me over his shoulder.

“Put me down!” I begged, hitting his back and kicking my legs. He jolted me with his shoulder.

“Just trust me, woman!” He snapped as he continued to carry me upstairs. He carried me into a large room that was empty. Chairs and tables were stacked around the edges of the room. Damien put me down and instructed me with his hands to stay put. I pursed my lips, pissed off with the way he had man handled me. I crossed my arms and stood uptight like a spoilt teenager. He started to undress in front of me and I couldn’t believe my eyes. I blushed, quickly turning my head away from him.

“What’re you doing?!” I yelled in disgust.

“Just trust me.” He pleaded as he continued to strip. I won’t lie, deep down I was desperate to sneak a peek at him, but I was too proud to actually do so. The sound of bones cracking, and a growl had me look at him pretty quickly. I stumbled back in fear, falling to the floor. Desperately trying to shuffle away from it. A wolf, enormous in size, stood in front of me. The fur on its body was darker than the night sky with glowering red eyes that pierced my soul. Its ears curled back, and it began to whine and cry, the further I shuffled away in fear. I stopped for a moment. I couldn’t believe my eyes. Was this really happening? How could it be so beautiful and yet so frightening all at the same time?

The wolf bowed its head, submitting and lying on the floor gently. We both stood still for a few minutes whilst I tried to wrap my head around the situation.

“Damien?” I asked eventually. The wolf snorted, shaking its head. Oh, yes that’s right. He said his wolf counterpart was called Blade.

“Blade?” I asked and the wolf began to wag its tail whilst it continued to lay there.

“ OK, that’s enough, I want to see Damien.” I blurted out in fear. I watched as the wolf turned into a very naked Damien right before my eyes. I had reached my limit of craziness for the day. I turned around quickly, allowing him to get dressed without my prying eyes.

Dinner after that was incredibly silent and awkward. Neither one of us spoke a word. I sat there frozen solid, watching Damien as he tucked into his meal like nothing had happened. Listening to the sound of his knife as it scraped the plate every so often. Miraculously, I had gone off my food. I broke my creepy gaze and looked down at the steak. It looked divine. So, awkwardly, I began poking at it with my fork. Before long, the smell of the steak filled my senses. Pretty soon my hunger took over and I devoured my meal like a starved animal. Damien watched me with fascination, and I blushed with embarrassment. He did not say anything though. I think he knew I needed some silence from him. The drive home was more or less the same, filled with an unbearable, awkward silence. When we pulled up to the ranch, Damien turned the car off and we sat there for a minute.

“Stay in my room tonight.” Damien finally spoke, breaking the silence between us. I slowly turned my head to look him in the eye. I couldn’t help the baffled expression that took over my face.

“I will sleep on the sofa.” He quickly added, diffusing my emotions entirely. I nodded my head slowly, licking my lips nervously. His eyes began to darken and with that, I got out of the car quickly. It was late and every light in the ranch was off. I sighed a breath of relief. At least Rhonda had gone to bed. I didn’t want to warrant any more unnecessary attention on myself tonight. I began to stride towards the ranch, getting a head start from Damien. I heard his car door close behind me as I walked off. Damien rushed to get ahead of me, stopping me in my tracks.

“Say something, please, Isabella,” he pleaded. I shook my head, stepping to the side to walk past him. Not tonight, I thought. Leave me be, please. I begged mentally. He didn’t stop me again, thankfully, and I made my way to his room quickly. Shutting the door behind me before he could even say goodnight. I stood still, pressing my back against the door. I could hear the sound of his footsteps slowly approaching the door from the other side. I held my breath, keeping deadly still, closing my eyes and praying he would walk away. After a few minutes, I got my wish as I heard the shuffling of his feet distancing away from the door. Once I was sure he was gone, I took in a deep breath. Gasping for air as I had held it for so long. I tore off my clothes and rushed to bed. Climbing into it and hiding under the covers.

I wanted to take every minute to appreciate the feeling of the bed and having an actual pillow and blanket. I wanted to savour the soft plumpness of the mattress, but all I could do was hide under the covers in fear. I curled up into a ball, something I hadn't done for a while. I had become numb to Rhonda's abuse over the years and over time I no longer went to sleep in fear, but tonight I was going to have to fall asleep with a new fear. I closed my eyes tightly, praying that I was going to wake up the next morning and that a wolf wouldn't eat me in my sleep. My entire concept of reality has been shattered. I no longer knew what was real and what was fake. I began to gently rock myself back and forth in my tightly curled ball. Go to sleep, Isabella. Just go to sleep.