Her Forever
Chapter 46

Sadie

I felt cold, utterly cold. The night wind was brushing the skin on Seth’s shirt as I was being carried. Opening my eyes, I could see that I was upside down, being carried through the thickness of the woods. The soft crunching of leaves and sticks sounded loud and thunderous. My head was throbbing, and my throat felt dry. I don’t know how long I had been traveling, and I’m not sure if the person carrying has noticed I was awake.

Looking around without disturbing my kidnapper, I tried to get a sense of where I was, but found only tall trees and the scampering of squirrels and rabbits running away. The soft padding of their foot prints against the forest floor was loud, almost like standing too close to a bass instrument. I felt scratching inside my head that clawed at my ears.

Accidentally letting out a slight m**n from the disturbance in my head, my kidnapper stopped. He swung me around, holding my legs in one arm and my back in the other. My eyes were heavy, but I could feel the stillness in his chest. There was no breathing and no thumping of his heart, and it was walking death itself. His body smelled of wet coins and metallic. With the best of my ability, I lifted my gravity-defying lids of my eyes to replace his red ones.

Drago was staring into me, and his eyes showed a passion and longing like Seth does when he hasn’t seen me in ages. Seth’s eyes brought me warmth and comfort, and these brought fear to me. “Little Dove, you shouldn’t have run,” he said while leaning into my ear. “Now, you will have to be punished,” he whispered in delight. My body shivered in repulsion as he carried me close.

We reached somewhere outside the pack territory, not understanding how anyone would replace me. I wiggled to get out of his hold, only to understand my struggling was in vain. His grip drew b***d because of his claws coming out. “Stop struggling, Dove. No one is coming. They are all sleeping peacefully.” He chuckled and sat me on the ground. Drago looked at me with a stern look, letting me know not to move. Pulling my knees to my chest, I obliged, not wanting to get slapped like last time. Looking around, trying to replace where we are yet again, only to be disappointed in my efforts.

Drago came to the base of a tree and mumbled something under his breath while making intricate, invisible designs on the bark. Slowly backing up, a medium-size door to which one would have to bend down to enter appeared. I’ve never seen magic done before, so my eyes grew wide in astonishment. Drago’s lips turned slightly upwards, and he offered his hand. I looked at him and his hand in disbelief. “Do you expect me to take that? Because I won’t willingly.” I spat in distaste.

Drago growled and gripped my upper arm, and led me down the tunnel. I wasn’t sure how I was going to be found now; I’m sure my scent was going to vanish and be stuck with the King of the Vamps for all eternity. Can werewolves smell through magic? I’m praying it’s possible.

We continued to walk through the small tunnel until there was a warm light coming underneath another door. Without pause, Drago opened it and pushed me in, and locked the door with his hand. Apparently, some vampires have some magic ability in themselves. I curse myself for not asking more when I was with Seth.

The room looked like a small ancient cottage. There was still running water and a bathroom, but the furnishings were homely and quaint. Nothing like what a king would be comfortable in. There were several other doors, one looking like to be a bedroom, but I dare not ask.

Standing in the middle of the room, holding my arms together, I wasn’t sure what was to come next. I was marked and mated. What could the guy do? He can’t undo a mark; he can’t undo anything I’ve done, so what purpose do I have here?

Drago cleared his throat and loosened his black jacket that was zipped up to his neck. “Why don’t you sit, and we can talk.” Not having a choice, I walked over to the small living room and sat on the side of the couch. Drago promptly sat in the adjacent clothed chair and put his elbows on his knees with hands clasping together. My head was pounding, begging for a release. The drug he used must have caused something in my head to ache.

“I know you’ve been mated and marked, and I can look past that.” He said, and I snarled at him.

“I do not want to be with you. Are you that obtuse?”

“Watch your tone,” he said, eerily calm. “There are ways around that, Dove. You don’t know the power of soul magic.” I sat there staring, not understanding what he meant. “Soul magic, it is a way to separate souls. You are bound to Seth, but soon he will be stripped from you, allowing another soul to complete you, mine.”

“Never,” I seethed. “I will never let you do such a thing! Why are you doing this to me? Let me be happy, and I don’t even KNOW you!” I said with force.

Drago, losing his patience, stood up. “You will be mine! You calm my beast!” he whispered yelled.

“Doesn’t look like it is working now,” I said sarcastically.

“Little Dove, the moment I saw you in your crib, I knew I had to have you. You exude an aura that calms those around you, and your scent is as sweet as honey. You let the stress of those around you melt away.” His voice became calmer as he knelt in front of me, putting his hand on mine. My body reacted in disgust, and this was not my mate.

“And what do you mean, you saw me in my crib?”

“Dove, I was there at your celebration when you were born. It was a royal affair, and almost everyone was present.” Drago continued to try to touch me, but pushed his hand away.

“Royal?”

“Yes, Dove, I guess it is time you knew,” he sighed and walked over to the bookshelf, looking as if he was searching for a memory. “Your birth was special, special because you were born without a wolf.” He paused to gauge my reaction.

“What?” I rolled my eyes. Is he saying I was born to werewolf parents? Again? This guy had really lost it, and he has me mistaken for someone else.

“That’s right, Dove, you were born from werewolf parents. Royal parents. The king and queen that has ruled the past 1000 years.” My heart almost stopped. My parents, and supposedly still alive and are or were going to be present at the official mating ceremony. I could ask them if I was their daughter, if I ever got out of here.

“You are actually the firstborn. They waited to have children, but when they did, they produced the most precious heir.” Drago looked at me longingly. “As all the royals such as myself, the fae, elves, and even some musical creatures came by your crib to glance at your beauty, we all realized that you were not the same as your parents. You were without a wolf.”

“W-why? Why would I not have one?” Why did I have to be so different?

“They say the Goddess Selene only knows the answer to that question; however, I had my own theories.” Drago brushed his hand across the books. “I think your soul was too pure to have a wolf inside. Everyone noticed how your aura seemed to wash over them and calm the beings inside of them, and I just took it a bit farther. I had to have you. For the first time in my 1200 years, I had felt peace. My demon was finally satisfied not just by b***d, but by your presence.” Drago continued to walk back to me and sit down on the couch next to me. My arms were crossed to keep his hands away from mine.

Could all this really be true? He seems to believe it to be so. Then why haven’t my parents come to replace me?

“To make sure you would remain mine, I told them I was your mate. They let me come visit you every day. I watched you grow until the age of five, just to visit. I had no s****l desires for you. That doesn’t come until you turned 18, mind you, until one day, you were gone.” His hands balled up into fists. “They somehow figured out that I was not your mate and had you sent to live with your aunt.” Drago jumped up from the couch and placed a hand on the chair beside me, squeezing it until the chair backing cracked.

“I was livid. I traveled out of Bergarian and into the Earth realm and found you. Your aunt and uncle were on their way out of the pack territory.”

“No,” I whispered as I stood up.

“I found them and your uncle tried to stop me, but one of my men got to him first.”

“No, no, no!” I covered my mouth with my hands.

“Your aunt survived, but I compelled her to never speak again, especially about what happened. I also compelled her to live until you could take care of yourself until you were of age so she wouldn’t die from the loss of her mate.”

“Oh, no, no!” I screamed. “Then you stalked me!? Left roses on my bed, did you watch me sleep at night, you sick freak!? This isn’t Twilight, this is real life! And I don’t have an infatuation with you. You caused me to live my life without my parents, death of my aunt and uncle, and you expect me to care for you now?” My arms were rising above my head, pointing at the vampire in disgust.

“They took you away from ME! The one person who can calm me, I can love you the way you want! Not some DOG, some warrior! I am a king! We could rule side by side for both kingdoms!”

“I am not your mate, or beloved, or whatever you vampires call it. I’m not yours, and your soul belongs to someone else.” I tried to reason. His eyes never left mine, and he shook his head away at the idea.

“My mate, ha,” he ran his hand down his face. I couldn’t imagine my mate giving me feelings such as these,” he pointed to his unbeating heart.

“It is true, and your mate will be better, my friend Nathan, h-he felt the same way about me. Then, we found his true mate, Diana, and he is so infatuated with her he doesn’t think of me the same. Trust me, let us all help replace your mate! Maybe the pack could help!” I said hopefully, pleading, “Just please, don’t do this. I would never be happy with you in that way.” He took so much from me. I will forget the loss of my parents through childhood, but the death of my aunt and uncle, I’m not sure how I could ever forgive that. I’m desperate for him to let me go, to see any sort of reason. Yelling and screaming won’t help, but bargaining may.

“You will learn to love me.” He turned around, not listening to any of the words I spoke. “You will love me in time, and until then, we will stay down here until I replace a witch willing to practice the soul magic.” I started silently crying, my head only wanting to burst once more. I wanted Seth, and I knew I would never love this man. How cruel could he be?

“I know I was forceful before, and I won’t do it again.” He rubbed his thumb on my cheek, and I ripped my head away. “I’ll never love you,” I whispered.

Drago took my hand and pulled me up, so I was following him. He led me to the bedroom and sat me down. “I’ll be a caring mate, and I will do everything in my power to have you love me.” Once he shut the door, all the pain in my heart came tumbling down. Why did I have to be so weak? I sobbed into the pillow, wishing it was Seth’s chest I was crying into. My head throbbed as more tears fell, and I finally fell into the sleep that I really needed.