Desire for you- ALPHA RYAN Book 1
Chapter 25

CATHERINE

It was hard to hear her say it like that. But she wasn't wrong and what I really appreciated about her was that she wasn't judgmental. She said what she thought was right, openly and honestly.

'Didn't take long, you desperate thing...' Daeva's voice rang out in my head.

I swallowed hard and held my breath. I didn't dare look into one of the mirrors in Ryan's room.

'Go ahead, only you called me here, no one else." Daeva said again.

Rose growled in my head, signaling for her to leave.

'What do you want?

'Me? I don't want anything, just to get our lives together. That's why you woke me up again, isn't it? Come on, take a look in the mirror...' The hairs on the back of my neck stood up and just from looking, I could see a grinning Daeva.

I swallowed hard and my breath caught in my throat. Maya looked at me uncertainly.

"Is everything all right with you?" She asked me. Daeva put her index finger over her lips and signaled to me not to tell her anything. The whole thing seemed familiar somehow, didn't it? The whole scene replayed in my head. I had the feeling of being schizophrenic when Daeva was around, she made my whole insides churn.

"S-She's back..." I croaked and I felt the pain that overcame me push me to the ground. I screamed out loud "Stop it!" I shouted loudly and tried to hold my head up. I felt like my head was about to explode, my eyeballs were under massive pressure.

Maya stood up abruptly and tried to hold me.

"Find Ryan..." I croaked, gesturing for her to get out the door quickly. "GO THE FUCK AWAY!" I shouted at her when I saw that she wasn't moving.

'Next time, you better do as you're told...' Daeva hissed at me and looked down at me in amusement.

Maya stood there frozen "ARE YOU DEAD, GO AND SEEK RYAN!" I shouted at her. She stumbled back over her feet and ran out.

I grabbed my cell phone and tried to reach my mom. It rang several times, but she didn't answer. 'Get in touch if you need anything...'

'Tzzz Tzzz, just the three of us again? I have big plans for you, Catherine... We're going to rock the whole thing!

"You're going to be called shit..." I hissed at her. I picked up the knife that was on the plate with the cake and walked towards the mirror. I glared angrily at Daeva and plunged the knife into the mirror.

The mirror shattered into a thousand pieces and there were shards all over the floor.

Daeva laughed "Oh sweetie, did you think you could get rid of me with one blow of the knife? Now you see me everywhere..." I looked at the broken pieces of mirror and saw Daeva everywhere. My bloodshot eyes, the black fine veins that were all over my face.

Rose had the urge to transform, but she was incapacitated by Daeva inflicting pain on her.

"DAEVA STOP IT!" I screamed, feeling like I was about to collapse.

'Call off your lapdog, unless you want her to pass out completely, in which case we can continue. However, I would suggest that you both calm down, then we can talk more fluently. Daeva sighed and looked at her fingernails, then looked at me again.

"What the hell do you want?" I looked into the broken mirror and looked into those dark, evil eyes.

'You do realize that I'm a part of you, what you call dark and evil, Catherine...' She commented on my thoughts.

'I'm a part of you, the part you've always tried to suppress. You've only ever favored your she-wolf. There are so many things you don't know Catherine... That's because your parents were incapable of telling you everything. Once a demon, always a demon. I feel the need to make your whole pack go up in flames for ignoring me all your life.' She glared at me with hate-filled eyes.

I bit my lip and glared at her. 'So in defect, you hate me. I'm the one you hate," I added.

She glared at me and said nothing.

'I've been gone less than three days and you're still not marked. Talking about your lover, where is he anyway?

I shrugged my shoulders 'Pack matters' I said simply and sighed. I was back to square one. It didn't really last long.

'I see, pack matters...'

Suddenly Daeva grinned 'You know... You guys really need to hurry up with this marking thing... Did you know that demons have mates too?'

I listened to her, but realized I wasn't really following her.

Her grin only widened 'Oh, your mom didn't tell you that yet? Demons, plural. Does that ring a bell?'

Plural... She wasn't seriously trying to tell me that I had two mates, was she? 'Oh yes baby, that's exactly what I'm trying to tell you... and you know what the best part is? He has risen in person, like a phoenix from the ashes, just to look for you.... He's getting closer and closer to us... Mhmm I'm getting all tingly already!'

I shook my head 'You're lying, you snake' I hissed at her.

She laughed 'Me and lying? Please, Catherine, everything I've told you so far has been true.'

Damn. Why did I get the feeling she was telling the truth? 'Because I am... We were too busy getting revenge on Arnor and James. 'Drama baby DRAAAMAAA' Daeva screamed in my ears, laughing like a madwoman.

I had to replace Ryan. Now.

'When you see him, you'll put Ryan out of your mind immediately. A demon has a lot more to offer, sweetie...'

"I don't want a fucking demon and now shut up." I thought I was going to throw another fit. As if that wasn't enough... I didn't want a jealous alpha male fighting to death over his female....

'You could enjoy that bit of attention on you, couldn't you? Rawwr really sexy when two men fight over a woman. Oh, and imagine if they could come to an agreement! What it would be like to be in bed with two wild animals at once! Damn, you get all wet just thinking about it...'

I rolled my eyes, 'Get those thoughts out of your thick fucking head. It's not going to happen because I don't have a second companion. Ryan is and remains the only one,' I tried to make her understand.

'We'll see,' she said indifferently.

I grabbed my cell phone and tried to reach Ryan.

He wasn't answering his damn phone. Where were they all when you needed them?

I stormed out of the room, down the stairs. "Where are you going?" Tristan asked me, giving me a confused look. "I have to replace Ryan, it's urgent!" I said and looked at him "My she-wolf isn't able to communicate with him at the moment..." I said desperately and ran my fingers through my hair.

Tristan nodded "Maya is already searching with Michael. What should I tell Ryan?" he asked me.

"Tell him to come here right away, Daeva's back and we have a big problem..." I croaked out.

He looked at me in confusion "Do I have to lock you up again?" he asked, looking at me uncertainly.

"NO!" I exclaimed, "No one is going to lock me up. Do you understand me?" I felt sick again at the thought of being locked up again. If I didn't know any better, I had developed a phobia of dungeons and cells.

Tristan was communicating with Ryan, I just hoped he would come as soon as possible.

I looked at the mirror hanging next to the front door. Daeva gave me a mean grin. 'He won't come, you silly thing, he doesn't want to hurt you...' she said in a disappointed tone, as if she was sad, but then grinned again like a honey cake horse.

I picked up my cell phone and tried to reach my mother again.

Finally she answered the phone! "WHERE ARE YOU?" I shouted into the phone.

"Oh wow... What's wrong, Catherine? Has something happened?" she asked me.

Suddenly I was on the verge of tears.

'Crybaby...' Daeva chirped.

"M-mom... My... My demoness..." I managed to squeak out. "She's back..." I whispered softly. Tristan gave me a pitying look and leaned against the wall.

"I'll be back, love, I'll be on my way right away. Don't do anything. Stay where you are." She said and hung up.

I looked over at Tristan, who stood there calmly and said nothing.

This could go well...

RYAN

I argued with Onyx for my control, he was sure he could mark Catherine.

I was in the deep woods of our territory and had built a fire. I heard the wood crackling and tried to enjoy this quiet moment.

'Catherine must be worried about us... you need to go to her...' Onyx tried. He was seriously trying to make me feel guilty.

'I won't do anything, Catherine will be taken care of. Maya is with her, she's doing wonderfully.' I said, so preoccupied with Onyx that I didn't let others into my thoughts.

'Grrrrrr I'm going to tear you into a thousand pieces'

I heard the rustling of the trees, even though there weren't many leaves on the trees, it was nice to sit here and watch nature.

The wind began to whistle and the clouds stretched across the sky. The moon wasn't visible yet, but soon it would be.

Just the thought of Catherine made me hot, her beautiful face, her lips, her soft skin, which was like porcelain.

'Yeah, she's perfect...' Onyx gasped and bared her teeth.

A force grabbed me and slammed me against the nearest tree. It came as such a surprise that I hit my head hard against the trunk. I immediately transformed and looked around me.

I let out a growl and was highly alarmed. Who was on my territory without me realizing it? There was no one to be seen. It couldn't be, I mean Onyx himself was puzzled.

The force came again and knocked me to the other side, towards another tree.

A figure of flames appeared in front of me, gradually becoming more human.

His eyes were green with black tints, his hair slicked back and stylishly coiffed. His jawline could cut rocks and if we had it straight from rocks, he looked like a fucking boulder. I'd seen a lot of muscular men, but he looked stronger than Alexander and had something sinister about him. He resembled the Siksilk brand model, Stephen James, yeah that was about right. Moon goddess, he's risen from the flames?! I could only stare at him, as perplexed as I was.

"Who the hell are you?" Devil... that's right.

He grinned at me and showed me a row of gleaming white teeth. He had tattoos along his neck, down his arms. The rest was covered by his black shirt, which stretched across his chest.

Comparing us, you'd have thought he was my older brother or something...

"Who am I? Let's put it this way... To put it mildly, I'm your nightmare..." he shrugged and clapped his hands.

Smoke surrounded him and he turned into me... HE TURNED INTO ME!

Onyx let out a low growl and prepared to attack. I ran at him, snarling, ready to rip his head off, but he dodged me elegantly, causing me to trip over a root and fall to the ground.

He smiled at me, or rather I smiled at myself. "I'll be the one you could never be for Catherine, mate. You should have listened to your wolf and marked her. I've been watching you all day and all day I've been giving you a chance to come to your senses.... Well you blew it. Again." He said and came closer to me.

I guess I didn't hear, right? We were talking about the same Catherine, MY Catherine! My anger rose to my head "You're tired of life? You won't touch my mate or I'll rip your head off!" I spat at him

He grabbed Onyx's muzzle and squeezed damn hard.

"You'll be my prisoner for now, if you behave, we can talk about an option." He said and suddenly we were gone from the forest.

What the moon goddess? I found myself in hell.

"That Ryan, is my home, welcome." He said and looked at me icily.

"Mi casa e tu casa" he said with a grin. I had turned again and looked around me.

"I ask you for the last time, WHO ARE YOU?" I was fucking furious and wanted to go for his throat.

"My name is Elijah, they call me Ilay." He walked towards a cabinet of alcoholic drinks. "I think you want the bourbon?" He said and poured. He handed me the glass and sipped his.

"Listen Ryan. I don't like things to end disgustingly, even if we demons are known for being fiendish. I've lived in this world for thousands of years, rule over a portion of the dead, and have a mate just like you."

The words consort made my blood rush to my head. I gritted my teeth and was about to smash the glass in my hand. "Your mate?"

He nodded "Catherine, Daeva is my mate. I scented her when her demoness was first freed. I never thought life would punish me with a quarter demoness. Between us demons, that's a shame, but nothing beats the love of a mate..."

As disparagingly as he talked about Catherine, I wanted to rip out his damn eyeballs and play ping-pong with them.

"You won't touch her..." I growled, breaking the glass in my hand.