The Demon King's Conquest

CHAPTER THREE

AMETHYST'S POV

"Found you."

The two words hit me harder than any slap Beta Dennison had ever given me.

My entire body locked in place as the throne room disappeared around me. The dozens of wolves gathered inside vanished from my awareness.

There was only him. Only those dark eyes. Only that smile.

A smile that somehow looked amused and dangerous at the same time.

The man slowly rose from the throne. His simple movement sent a ripple of tension through the room.

Several warriors immediately became stiff. One even took a step backward and that frightened me even more because these were trained wolves.

They were strong wolves. Men who spent their lives fighting rogues and protecting the pack and yet they looked these afraid. Really afraid of him.

The stranger's gaze never left me and it felt really suffocating like I was being pinned beneath the stare of a predator as if I was being hunted.

My wolf whimpered and retreated deeper inside me as pure fear came out from her.

The stranger tilted his head.

"There you are," he continued, his scary smile still intact.

I nearly lost my balance. He knew me.

No.

Worse.

He is staring and speaking to me. I started to sweat profusely.

Beta Dennison stepped forward.

"Who are you?" he demanded.

But the man didn't even look at him. Not once.

He just did as if the Beta didn't exist. And as if nobody else was in the room except for me.

"Answer me," Beta Dennison commanded.

Finally, the stranger looked away from me slowly and almost reluctantly.

He looked at Beta Dennison sternly.

"I don't remember giving you permission to speak," he said.

His words weren't loud because they were barely audible but they still managed to strike the room like thunder.

Beta Dennison's face darkened.

"You enter my pack, kill my guards, and sit on our throne."

The stranger looked around lazily.

"Your throne?" He smirked.

"I've sat on greater thrones than this."

The arrogance should have angered everyone. But instead, everyone seemed worried.

The stranger looked back at me and then he pointed directly at me.

"I want her," he said carelessly.

Everyone in the room turned toward me.

My breath caught.

"What?" I whispered.

The stranger's gaze remained fixed on mine.

"I want Amethyst."

“He even knows my name,” I whispered anxiously.

No. No, no, no. This couldn't be happening. He couldn't mean me. Of all people. Why me?

Beta Dennison frowned.

"What business do you have with her?"

The stranger smiled.

"None of yours."

A dangerous growl rumbled from several warriors..The stranger didn't react. He seemed not to care.

He simply stared at me like he already owned me. I began to shake as my body felt weak and my head was buzzing.

"I don't even know you," I said to him gently.

"Oh, but I know you," he smiled again.

A chill slid down my spine. He took one step forward. Just one.

"I know exactly who you are, Amethyst."

I swallowed hard.

The way he said my name made me want to run. The memory of the forest flashed through my mind. The crimson symbol. The lightning. The terrifying power. The voice.

At last.

"Oh God," I whispered.

His eyes brightened as though he had heard every thought of mine.

“Is he here to punish me for disturbing him yesterday?” I thought to myself.

"There she is."

The room remained silent because nobody understood. Nobody knew what I did that resulted in this except me and that terrified me even more.

Beta Dennison looked between us.

"What did she do?" He asked him.

The man chuckled.

The sound wasn't warm. It wasn't pleasant either. It sounded ancient and too dangerous.

"She woke me up," he responded.

Then his smile vanished completely and for the first time, I saw genuine danger in his expression.

"If she doesn't come with me..." his voice became deathly calm. "I will destroy this pack."

Warriors immediately stepped forward. Clara let out a horrified sound. My mother's face turned pale. And even Beta Dennison looked shocked.

"You dare threaten us?" one warrior shouted.

The man slowly turned his head and the warrior instantly froze.

Just froze.

It was as if invisible hands had wrapped around his throat and a second later, the warrior crashed to his knees, screaming.

"What is happening?" People screamed.

"Make it stop!"

The man didn't move or even blink. The warrior continued screaming for several seconds before collapsing unconscious.

The man looked back at Beta Dennison.

"My patience is limited.”

Not a single warrior moved or dared challenge him because now they understood that this wasn't a man but something else.

Something far worse.

I stepped backward frightened.

"No."

Everyone looked at me.

"No," the word came out broken.

Weak.

Pathetic.

"I won't go," I said, teary. "I don't know who you are."

I took another step backward.

"I don't know what you want."

I took another.

“So I'm not going anywhere with you."

Then the man laughed.

"You think this is your choice?"

The question shattered the little courage I had.

I looked toward my parents. I turned to my family. Toward the people who were supposed to protect me. Surely this was the moment. I knew for sure that they would say no. Surely they wouldn't hand me over to a stranger. To a monster. To whatever this thing was.

Surely.

I looked at Beta Dennison.

"Please."

He didn't answer.

I looked at my mother in tears.

"Mother..."

She didn't even bother to look back at me.

"No," I whispered.

Clara looked terrified but I knew she wasn't bothered about me. She was only fearing for herself, for the pack and for everyone except me.

"Please," I begged. "Don't do this to me."

Nobody responded. And then Beta Dennison finally broke the silence.

"If taking her will spare the pack..."

My heart stopped.

"...then take her."

I felt absolutely destroyed as I stared at him.

I was certain that I was dreaming.

"What?"

The word barely came out.

Beta Dennison didn't look at me and my mother still couldn't look at me either.

"No."

I shook my head in disbelief.

"No."

"You can't be serious," I cried out, holding my father on his collar desperately. "I'm your daughter for goodness sake. "

The words echoed through the room. And somehow hurt even more after I said them because nobody reacted.

Nobody. Not my mother. Not Clara. Not Beta Dennison. Nobody.

The silence told me everything. That I wasn't their daughter and never had been. The realization ripped through me.

Every birthday they forgot. Every insult. Every punishment. Every rejection. Every moment I spent wondering what was wrong with me. Why they hated me, and why they loved Clara instead of me—their biological daughter.

Suddenly, it all made sense. They never loved me at all. Not once. Not ever.

I had spent nineteen years of my life, begging for scraps. Nineteen years hoping. Nineteen years waiting. All for nothing.

"Please."

I looked at my mother.

Just once.

One last time.

"Please don't let him take me."

She lowered her gaze and that was my answer right there. Something died inside me. Right there in that room.

The stranger watched quietly then he stood.

"Good."

I immediately stepped backward.

"No."

He took a step forward and I took another back as panic exploded inside me.

"No!"

I turned and ran.

I barely made it three steps away when a hand wrapped around my wrist. It felt like iron and unbreakable.

I screamed.

The stranger effortlessly pulled me back.

"Let me go!"

I fought him, kicked him.

Nothing.

It was like trying to move a mountain.

"Please!"

Nobody helped.

The stranger leaned down slightly. Close enough that only I could hear him.

"Done crying?"

Hatred surged through me and I slapped him. The man slowly turned his face back toward me with the red mark on his cheek faded almost instantly.

His eyes flickered and to my horror… he looked amused.

Not angry as expected but amused.

"Interesting."

I wanted to scream but instead, tears kept falling.

The man sighed dramatically.

"As entertaining as this is, we should leave."

With one effortless movement, he dragged me toward the exit. I struggled the entire way and as we reached the doors, I looked back one last time. One last desperate time. Hoping, praying, begging for someone, anyone to stop this but no one did.

The throne room doors closed behind me.

*****

Outside, a sleek black vehicle waited which looked expensive and far too expensive for anything I'd ever seen.

The stranger opened the rear door and I immediately tried to run again. But it was a terrible mistake because he caught me before I got two steps away and his grip tightened around my arm.

"Enough,” he said, his voice becoming cold.

For the first time since meeting him, genuine anger appeared in his eyes. I froze as fear locked my body in place.

"Get in."

I didn't move.

He smiled ruthlessly. Then he pushed me into the car and slammed the door shut.

Seconds later, he also entered the car and we began to move.

I sat pressed against the far door. As far away from him as possible with my heart still racing and my eyes were still burning from tears.

Then finally, I gathered enough courage to speak.

"What do you want from me?"

The man turned slowly.

I noticed his gaze.

Dangerous. Predatory. Beautiful. Terrifying.

"What did you say?" He asked as if he didn't already know.

"W-what do you want from me?"

He simply stared then his hand shot forward and his fingers tangled painfully in my hair. I cried out.

He pulled me hard toward him and my breath caught. His face was close enough for me to see every detail of his impossibly perfect features and fear flooded me. Pure fear.

His lips curved.

"First lesson," he began as his grip tightened.

"You never question a demon."

Demon???

The word echoed inside my head.

Over.

And over.

And over again.

Demon.

"No..."

He grinned.

"Demon."

I stared at him in horror. The forest. The power that made my body so numb. The warriors that were killed and the ones that were frozen in place just by a single glance of this man. The fear that permeated around the room earlier on.

Everything suddenly made sense. He was a demon. A f*****g real demon.

It wasn’t just a story as I’d grown up to believe. Heck, as every werewolf grew up to believe. It wasn’t a legend. Not a myth either.

A demon!

The demon watched me, as the knot in my stomach grew tighter. He leaned closer, his lips brushing the shell of my ear. A strange shiver raced through my body. One that frightened me almost as much as he did.

His voice dropped lower. Softer. More dangerous.

“Are you going to kill me?” I shuddered. If the rumors about these creatures were to be believed, no one ever came close to them without dying.

A red glow flashed through his eyes, and he uttered one word. One devastating word.

“Mate.”