𝐀𝐑𝐃𝐄𝐍✔️

TWO|SACRIFICE

  I AWOKE TO a gentle and rhythmic swaying.

My arm draped around his neck, my head nuzzled into his chest; thick with muscle. It felt as though a weight had plummeted into the pit of my stomach as it all came flooding back.

The jump. Water weighing heavy on my lungs. A hand pulling me back. Lips on mine. Sparks.

And then, the man who refused to let me die. The man who jumped off a cliff to save me; my mate.

It suddenly all made sense, why I was here, my failed attempt to end my miserable existence, and with the realisation, a whole new sense of dread began to fill me.

What if...

Before I could even finish asking my own question my eyes grew heavy and I felt as though I was falling.

Then suddenly, I was enveloped in darkness and I felt the familiar weight, and burn, of my chains. The very same chains that that monster had kept me in for years. The scent of metal and blood mingled into one. A rogue tear crawled down my cheek.

Was it all a dream? Did I ever even escape that hell in the first place? There was no end to this hell. What had I ever done to deserve a fate like this? Why me?

There was a loud screech of metal on stone as someone shoved the heavy door ajar, and a dark figure slipped into the dank room, "I need you, Arden."

He tried to drag his way over to me in the corner of the cell, but he stumbled and shook, bones heavy and saturated with rum.

He was drunk, again. I clenched my eyes shut and prayed for this all to be over soon. I felt the chains fall from my body — heard them clatter to the floor, followed by the familiar sound of a zipper.

"Please..." I begged. "Please, don't."

"I do this because I love you..."

I could smell the foul stench of alcohol on his breath. He slipped a callused hand underneath my shirt. I grit my teeth, desperately holding back the cry that threatened to spill from between my lips. I looked up, staring the beast straight in the eye. His eyes were dark and his body driven by lust. Beneath his scrutinising glare, I was nothing more than prey, something to be acquired, used, and then discarded. His hands were rough, wandering idle and free, where ever he wished.

My resolve was fading, my walls slowly crumbling to the ground until they were nothing more than ashes, kicked up to dust by fleeing feet. Sobs that wracked my body, doubling over with disgust as I tried to make myself as small as possible. As if that would stop him. The monster growled in approval, his thick hand hovering below my breast.

" — And I do this because I need you."

I choked out a strangled cry and prayed that this time, he will make it quick. Maybe this time, he would be gentle.

He shoved me onto the ground, and before I could even register what was happening he was on top of me. A broken scream echoed the walls as he thrust into me, his hips crashing against mine over and over again.

I screamed. And I screamed. And I screamed.

But no one came to save me. No one ever came.

"WAKE UP!"

I thrashed against whatever was restraining me.

I would not let them take me. Not this time.

" — Nurse!"

I heard a door slam and my eyes flew open. I held a hand up, shielding my eyes from the blinding white lights. The room was pale. Everything white. Sterile. Strange machines beeped and ticked all around me, I followed the wires down to my scarred arms. Where was I?

Then my focus landed on him, his piercing blue eyes staring right back at me. I froze in fear.

He sat beside the bed I was laid upon, much too close, yet somehow, not nearly close enough.

A vicious growl rumbled from somewhere deep within his chest and instinctively I flinched away. He was just another monster. He would hurt me.

He snarled, his beast visibly clawing at the edges of his mind and begging for release. And yet he did not look angry, only confused and maybe even slightly hurt, "What is your name?"

His voice was deep, attractive; in that same warm way as a fire in winter. It caused a small spark to flicker to life inside my chest, a spark that would soon light an ember, to light the flame, to cause the inferno. It would be our destruction.

I remained silent, careful not to provoke him. Staring at him with large and fearful eyes, like a deer caught in the headlights, bracing for the strike.

The last time I told someone my name was years ago. I told that beast of a man when he took me. He used my name against me, telling me that he loved me. He didn't.

If he had really loved me, like he said he had, he wouldn't have done all the terrible things he did. He wouldn't have beat me black and blue and left me for dead most nights.

He used to tell me that if I ever left him, he would find me. No matter how far or fast I ran, and for a long time I believed him.

I shuddered at the thought of his hands against my body again, nobody should ever be able to touch another person the way that monster touched me.

Though it had been two years since I had escaped that hell and all the bruises he once gave me had long ago faded, I still bore scars all over my body to remind me of him. It was his own sick way of claiming me.

He used to say that nobody could ever love me the same way he could, and the scary part was that I believed him. Until now.

"I said, what is your name?" He repeated, seemingly growing frustrated.

" — No." The word flew from my lips before I could stop it, shaking and quivering like a frightened bird unable to take flight.

"What do you mean... No?" He didn't like that. My heart began to beat faster in my chest, my blood seemed to chill, running thick and fast through my veins.

"Please, if you let me go, I promise to never set foot on your land again," I whispered, my voice was shaky and horse, I hadn't spoken much since the night I escaped.

He looked angry. "No"

Warm tears began to stream down my cheeks. This man, my moon-bound mate, was just like the monster. Maybe he was worse. I had run from one evil and in turn, found the devil.

The best that I could hope for is that he would kill me. That way I'd finally be free. My heart pounded in my chest like a drum, growing faster and faster with every passing moment.

"J-Just... Just do it fast." I closed my eyes and braced myself, expecting to feel the impact of a fist or, something... Anything.

I would rather die one thousand times than go through years of torment and torture all over again. But nothing ever came. When I opened my eyes the beautiful stranger was staring at me, an unreadable mixture of emotions on his face.

Confusion. Pity. Rage. "I would never hurt you."

That's what the monster used to say. He used to say he loved me. He used to say that he needed me. That he would never hurt me. But he did. Over and over and over again.

"Lies," I whispered.

Rage. That emotion I was always so good at Inciting. Now the emotion was clear on his face. I saw it in every handsome, aching line that marred him. He was filled with rage, just like a monster. Just like every man I'd ever known.

He stood so fast his seat toppled backwards, the harsh bang making me blanch back in fear. He stormed out the door, slamming it so hard behind him that the loud crash made my ears ring. But the harsh sound only served to cement my fears.

He was a monster.