The Beast's Possession
49: Kidnapped from my pack.

**Aife

pov**

It was official, I was possessed by a demon. Or better yet, the devil himself was pulling my tongue to ruin my life for good.

Why, just why I had to say those things to Bane?

Of all the people, I knew what that man was capable of and I still told him that I basically thought he was unlikable, and unlovable in all the ways possible.

From the moment he threatened me, or better yet, assured me there would be a punishment for my behavior, I decided to listen to him.

Not one word left me during the rest of the drive. Every time Bane asked if I was hungry or needed to use the restroom I just shook or nodded my head as a response.

At one point, I almost dozed off, but the nap I was dreaming about never became a reality as Bane announced we were almost there.

From then on, I paid more attention to the surroundings as he navigated the vehicle through the forest and into an open field in the middle of it.

All I could see were houses, one bigger than the other, lined up almost perfectly, and surrounding the biggest of the buildings right in the middle of them.

Not surprisingly, Bane parked the car in front of the monstrosity of the house.

I glanced at the main door and a tall, dark man instantly caught my eye. He had a blinding smile across his lips and he actually looked like he was bouncing on his heels in happiness. When Bane got out of the car, the man bolted towards him.

My jaw hit the floor when both of them hugged each other so tightly, their faces became beet red.

Their happiness was almost contagious until they broke the hug and the man, who I assumed was Killian, pointed at me.

Bane's mood soured on the spot as he rolled his eyes and grumbled something I couldn't hear.

The man opened the car door and offered his hand to me, what did nothing but annoy Bane even more.

"Good day, gorgeous. Jason Killian, at your service," he introduced himself as I got out of the car.

I side-glanced at Bane, attempting to silently question him, but he didn't pay attention to me.

Unfortunately, I was too busy focusing on the beast to notice how Jason brought my hand to his lips and kissed my knuckles, which once again, made Bane look beyond livid.

"Umm, Aife. Nice to meet you," I muttered as I awkwardly pulled my hand out of his grip and wiped it against my dress the moment his eyes focused on Bane.

"It's so cool you found time to visit me, asshole. Let's go inside, we did some renovation work around here, you won't believe how cool the house looks now," he walked to Bane, threw his arm around the beast's shoulders and dragged him inside.

Not knowing what I was supposed to do, I silently followed them both.

As soon as we entered the building, I was so taken aback by how beautiful it was inside and out that I became absolutely speechless. Jason told me I could sit down so I did just that. I didn't pay attention to anything they were discussing and focused on the interior.

Bane's house was impressive, but this one was on a brand new level of stunning.

I had no idea how much time had passed when I realized I was left alone. Well, not quite.

When I came back to my senses, I jumped in my seat as I noticed a beautiful woman sitting across from me, a gentle smile across her lips.

"You must be Bane's chosen Luna, right? My name is Vanessa, I'm Jason's mate," she introduced herself.

It was weird how most people who surrounded Bane were standoffish and vile, but the mate of a close friend felt like a safe space.

Vanessa had this inviting, calm and trustworthy aura surrounding her. She had to have many friends because although I knew nothing about the woman, I already found myself wanting to stick around the vibes she was giving off. "It's nice to meet you. My name is Aife," I tried to be polite but stick to the tiniest amounts of information.

I wasn't dragged here to back up Bane's lies. If he wanted me to mislead his friends, he would have told me that during the drive.

"You have no idea how happy you're making me, Aife. We never thought this day would come, you're a miracle worker."

I furrowed my brows. What? Did I miss something?

"Bane looks so happy. I have no idea how you managed to tame that beast, but I'm glad you did. Jason and I were worried about him. We feared he would keep going like he always did, pushing people away and leading the life of a loner. But all that changed when you came around," Vanessa was holding back the tears as she spoke.

For some reason, I realized I didn't have it in me to break the illusion she had created. She looked genuinely happy, I didn't want to ruin it for her.

"What I'm trying to say is thank you. We owe you, big time, both of us. Thank you for coming around and changing things for him. Truth to be told, Jason and I were scared Bane would die alone, without experiencing love and happiness ever again. He deserves the world and you're the one who's giving him it all."

She tried to smile, but it was clear she was stuck in the past. Although I didn't want to make her feel bad about telling me too much, I had to ask something. "What do you mean by ever again? Has he ever been in love?" "Yes," Vanessa sighed. "Once. Although Bane is rough around the edges, he knows how to love. And when he does, he loves hard and deep. Can we discuss that later? It's too soon to open wounds that aren't fully healed yet." The only issue I had with Vanessa was that she didn't stop talking about Bane and what that monster deserved. Clearly, they were close friends and she held him pretty high in her eyes, but I wondered if she knew anything about how he was when they weren't around.

When she finally finished one of her rants of praise, I cleared my throat and flashed her a fake smile, "yeah, I'm also happy he kidnapped me from my pack."

I tried my best to sound like I was joking, just to check if Vanessa knew anything about Bane's pack's practices of stealing women. Unfortunately, her reaction was all I needed. She knew. She knew everything.

Vanessa's eyes widened as she started looking anywhere but at me, clearly uncomfortable. "I'm sorry, I told him ages ago he should stop doing that nonsense, but it's not like I'm someone Bane would listen to, right? I managed to change Jason's perspective on things, so maybe you could do the same with Bane."

"Huh? What do you mean? Did you have to change anything about your mate?" I was genuinely confused. From what my parents taught me about mates - they were created for each other, a perfect fit. Mates didn't change for each other because the other always thought they were perfect.

"Well," Vanessa dragged, shifting in her seat to get a little more comfortable. "When we met, Jason was visiting Bane's pack. I was one of the women taken from other packs and on that day, we were lined up for pack men to choose. Jason came to see the new meat with Bane and the rest is history." She shrugged and offered me a weak smile.

Although I wanted to scream, I pushed down the anger I felt. Vanessa's reaction was yet another proof that some women were taken from their packs differently, just like the new ones who arrived recently. None spoke of their packs being slaughtered or burned to ash.

The silence dragged on, but as soon as I gathered enough courage to ask Vanessa what was her experience with Bane's pack, the beast sat next to me, threw his arm around my shoulders and announced he and Jason had decided to spend more time with us.