Kidnapped By My True Mate

CHAPTER 4

AYLA CROSS

I wake up startled and when I open my eyes I see that I’m lying on a bed, in a room I don’t recognize.

Where am I?

I look around and see that it’s a cabin in the forest.

Someone brought me here. I touch my forehead and feel a bandage, realizing someone took care of me while I was asleep.

“Hazel…” I whisper.

I get up too fast and the world spins for a second, but I lean against the wall and keep walking.

I’m almost panicking when I finally hear Hazel’s voice.

I find the kitchen and stop when I see Cael and Hazel together.

He’s kneeling in front of her, laughing while she tries to mix something in a bowl that’s way too big for her small arms.

“Not like that, little one. Slowly.”

I just stand there watching them, seeing how perfect they look together.

He is her father.

I leave them alone and go back to the bedroom, still confused, and then when I look at the wall my body freezes.

There’s a picture on the wall and I’m in it, wearing a wedding dress next to Cael.

There are more pictures, and in all of them I’m smiling with him.

“I…”

On the wall beside it, something different catches my attention.

There are maps, photos, and newspaper clippings about my disappearance.

It’s a search board. Cael did all of this.

I touch the wall slowly and turn quickly when I hear him behind me.

“I never gave up.”

Cael stands in the doorway looking at me.

He looks at me carefully, as if he’s afraid of scaring me.

“I never stopped looking for you, Ayla.”

I look at the board. Then at him.

“How… how did this happen?”

He sighs deeply, running a hand through his hair.

“We were coming back from a trip. A car crashed into us. It was a terrible accident.”

“When I woke up, I looked for you everywhere. They told me you and our daughter were dead.”

“But I never believed it. Never. He did this. He made me believe you were dead… while he kept you trapped in that house. Manipulating everything. Damon.”

“I searched for you for years… and when I saw you in that hospital… with him…”

The tears finally fall. I don’t try to stop them.

“I don’t remember anything. Nothing before waking up there.”

Cael slowly walks toward me.

“It’s okay. I can wait. As long as it takes.”

I feel safe with him in a way I never felt in that house.

I’m about to ask something when Cael’s eyes fix on my shoulder and seconds later his entire body tenses as he looks at me.

“What is it?” I ask, confused.

“Ayla… Damon marked you.”

My eyes widen.

“What do you mean… marked me?”

I walk to the small mirror on the wall, pull down my collar, and see the bite mark on my shoulder.

“No… no, no, no…”

“What does that mean?”

“It means he tried to claim you with that mark. He tried to break our bond with his mark.”

“What does that really mean, Cael?” I insist.

He hesitates.

“It also means you’re connected to him in some way.”

My eyes widen and I shake my head, unable to believe what he’s telling me.

“No… this can’t be happening.”

I start pacing across the room while Cael watches me the entire time.

I’m connected to the werewolf who kidnapped me.

“No. This can’t be real. I won’t accept this.”

Tears start falling nonstop and Cael steps closer, holding my shoulders.

“Ayla. Look at me.”

I can’t.

“I don’t want to hear it. I can’t be connected to him. He locked me up. He manipulated me. He—”

Before I collapse, he catches me and pulls me into a tight hug, and I cry against his shoulder.

“I don’t want this… I never wanted to be tied to him…”

“I know. I know that. But look at me. Nothing in this world will take you away from me again. Nothing.”

“But what about this bond? What if he can always find me? What if—”

“I’ll undo it.”

I lift my face suddenly.

“How? How are you going to do that?”

“There’s a way. A ceremony. An ancient one. To break the bond… and redo it the right way.”

“Redo it?” I repeat, confused.

“With me,” he whispers.

Cael lifts his hand and wipes my tears away, but my eyes fall on the large bandage on his body.

“You’re hurt. You were shot. You need to go to a hospital.”

He gives a small smile.

“It’s nothing. I’ve been through worse.”

Before I can insist, we hear Hazel running into the room.

I quickly step away from Cael.

“Mommy!”

I immediately crouch down and hug her tightly, pulling her warm little body against mine.

“Hi, my love.”

She hugs me back, hard, like she’s afraid to let go.

“Where’s daddy?” she suddenly asks.

My entire body tenses at that word.

Daddy.

“Your daddy…” I can’t finish.

“I want to go home. I want daddy.”

And then she starts crying.

“No. It’s okay, my love. It’s okay.”

But it’s not.

I know it.

She’s calling for Damon.

D*mn it.

What did he do to her head?

How do I tell my daughter that the man she thought was her father never was, and that he kidnapped us when I was still pregnant?

I look at Cael and see him watching us, and I remember how hard this must be for him too.

“I’m so sorry…” I whisper, and he nods as if he understands.

All day long I try to distract Hazel, trying to make her forget Damon for a while.

“The ceremony will be in a few weeks. As soon as I can arrange it,” Cael tells me quietly.

“Okay. I trust you.”

Later, after putting Hazel to sleep, I go take a shower.

When I come back to the bedroom, still wrapped in a towel, I stop at the door.

Cael is taking some things off the bed.

“What are you doing?” I ask.

He looks at me with a small smile.

“I can sleep on the couch. You take the bed. Hazel is in the other room.”

I shake my head and before he can leave, I grab his hand.

“You don’t have to do that.”

Cael looks confused.

“Are you sure? I don’t want to pressure you,” he asks again.

I nod.

“I don’t want to be alone. Not after everything.”

He looks at me once more before agreeing, and then we lie down together.

I close my eyes and try to sleep, but I can’t. I sigh and turn my head, seeing Cael staring at the ceiling.

“Thank you…”

He frowns.

“For what?”

“For never giving up on looking for us. I want my memories back so badly. I want to remember us. How everything was before this…” I whisper, feeling tears in my eyes.

Cael turns on the bed to face me.

“We were very happy, Ayla.”

I bite my lip, trying to remember something like that, but I can’t.

I move closer and lift my hand, touching his face slowly.

“Make me remember, Cael.”

He looks confused.

“What do you mean…?”

I move closer.

“Make me remember what we were like… make me remember us,” I whisper.

I kiss him, and it’s different, like my body has known his for a long time. It’s not like Damon’s.

Cael moves over me, deepening the kiss, and I slide his shirt off and kiss him again.

I want this. I know I’m confused, but I want him. I want to remember my real husband.

Cael touches my face, whispering things, and when his tongue meets mine again, I frown as something suddenly comes back to me.

It’s a memory.

And in it, I’m laughing in a wedding dress, kissing Cael in front of the entire pack.

It was our wedding day.

A few weeks later...

I am ready to be claimed by Cael again tonight.

I look at myself wearing the same dress I married him in.

I quickly look at the door when it opens.

“Mommy?”

Hazel walks in, looking confused.

“What are you going to do?” she asks.

I smile and kneel in front of her.

“I’m going to… fix something, my love.”

She frowns.

“Is it about Daddy?”

I sigh and touch her hair.

“Hazel, Damon isn’t exactly who he says he is.”

She looks at me, confused.

“But he said he loves me.”

“I know. And I don’t want to scare you. I just need you to trust me, okay?”

She hesitates, then nods slowly.

At that moment, the door opens again and Cael walks in.

He freezes for a second when he sees me dressed in white.

“Everything is ready,” he says carefully.

I nod.

“Let’s go.”

When we reach the forest, the entire pack is there to witness our ceremony again.

I leave Hazel sitting in the front and turn my head, seeing everyone staring at me like I’m some kind of ghost.

The entire pack is shocked that I’m alive after years of being missing.

I stand beside Cael, and an old man opens a book, pointing at us.

“This luna was forced and marked by another werewolf who is not her mate, and this bond must be burned and remade with her true mate.”

“Burned? What does that mean?”

He points to a bonfire and my eyes widen when I see him pick up an iron bar from the flames.

“The bite on my skin needs to be erased…” I whisper, and Cael holds my hand before agreeing.

“Yes.”

“I accept.”

“Ayla—”

“I accept, no matter how much it hurts. We need to undo this, Cael.”

Just as my shoulder is about to be burned, something catches my attention and I look toward the crowd.

“H-Hazel?”

She’s no longer sitting among the others.

“Hazel!” I scream.

Cael realizes it instantly.

“Where is she?” he asks, already moving.

I run, ignoring everyone, trying not to trip over my dress.

“Hazeel!” I scream again.

I’m almost panicking when I hear my daughter’s laughter.

I run faster, then freeze when I see Hazel in Damon’s arms.

He’s here.

My eyes widen when I see that part of his face was burned in the mansion fire.

“Let go of my daughter right now!” I scream angrily.

Damon smiles.

He adjusts Hazel in his arms like he’s showing off a prize.

“Hazel is my daughter. And you are my wife.”

“You’re crazy. Step away from her now, Damon.”

“You still don’t understand, my love. I’m here to give you a choice.”

Cael steps beside me, glaring at him.

“Touch her and you die,” Cael says.

Damon laughs.

“Oh, Cael… always so impulsive.”

“What choice?” I ask, already knowing.

“Come back with me. Come home with our daughter. Be my wife again.”

“Or watch him… and everyone here… die.”

“You wouldn’t do that,” I whisper.

“I would do anything for you, Ayla.”

Hazel tightens her grip around his neck.

“Mommy,” she calls softly.

I shake my head, tears filling my eyes.

“Let her go. She has nothing to do with this.”

“She has everything to do with this. She’s the reason you always come back. She’s our daughter, Ayla!”

I take a step forward, but Cael grabs my wrist and stops me.

“There’s nothing between us and there never was. You kidnapped me and erased my memories, Damon! You’re not my husband — you’re sick!” I scream.

Hazel starts crying and clings to Damon tighter.

“Hazel, look at me…” I whisper.

“You’re scaring our daughter, my love…”

“Stop calling us that! We were never a family!” I shout.

“You’ve already lost. Your plan didn’t work, Damon.”

He frowns.

“What?”

“Because I remember. I remembered my life with Cael, and you were never in it. I was never yours…”

His smile fades and he takes a step forward.

“This isn’t over, Ayla.”

“It is. I’m not going anywhere with you again. Now give me Hazel.”

“No.”

Cael steps toward him, but I stop him and my eyes widen when I see what Damon is holding.

It’s a black button.

“One more step and everything here explodes.”

“What…? What did you do?”

“Bombs. Spread through the forest. Through the clearing. Through the entire ceremony. If I press this, no one walks out alive.”

“That won’t happen. You won’t hurt anyone,” Cael says.

Damon laughs.

“You always believed too much in people, Cael.”

“Why? Why won’t you leave me alone?” I ask.

Damon looks at me possessively.

“Because I’ve always loved you. Since college. Since the first day I saw you.”

“You felt something for me. You smiled at me. You laughed with me. Until he showed up.”

He nods toward Cael.

“You got pregnant by him. You chose him. And you destroyed everything we could have been.”

“That’s not true. I never felt anything for you.”

His face hardens and he threatens to press the button.

“Careful,” he growls.

I step forward without thinking.

“No! Don’t do this!”

“Decide now, Ayla. Or I press it.”

My eyes fall on Hazel.

She’s crying now, calling for me softly.

“Mommy…”

“Let my daughter go,” I beg. “Please, Damon. She’s innocent.”

“She’s my daughter too,” he replies.

“Then listen to me. If you want me to go with you… then let her go.”

Cael turns to me immediately.

“No. Ayla, don’t do this.”

I don’t look at him.

I can’t.

“If you really love me, prove it. Let her go.”

Damon hesitates.

Cael steps forward.

“She’s not going with you.”

“I’ll kill you. And then everyone here.”

“Please! Please, Damon. Don’t hurt them. Don’t hurt anyone.”

Tears fall uncontrollably.

“I’ll go with you. I’ll be yours forever.”

The tears keep falling down my face.

Damon nods, then sets Hazel down.

“It’ll be okay, sweetheart,” he whispers, kissing her forehead.

Hazel runs to me and I sob as I hold her tightly.

“It’ll be okay. Cael will take care of you.”

She cries, clinging to me.

“Mommy!”

Cael steps closer.

“You’re not going with him. I won’t let you.”

I stand and hold his face with both hands.

“You will. Because you need to take care of her.”

“I’ll come back. I always come back.”

“Don’t do this. Please,” Cael begs, tears in his eyes.

I close my eyes, memorizing his face so I’ll never lose it again.

Then I lean in and kiss him.

I cry and kiss him at the same time.

“I don’t remember… but I know I love you,” I whisper against his lips.

His hands tremble as he holds my face, and then Damon yanks me back by the arm.

I stumble, but I don’t resist.

Cael steps forward, ready to chase after us.

I turn one last time.

“Take care of our girl,” I say.

Hazel screams my name as Cael holds her tightly.

“Ayla!” Cael shouts after me.

I’m doing this for them.