Belonging to Darkness

Four

Serena watched as he closed the distance between them. He looked angry, furious even. His cold stare and the harsh lines on his face were very clear.

"You think to leave?" He wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her close then shook his head.

"Let me go." Serena pushed at his hard chest but he didn't budge. "Let. Me. Go."

"You do realize you are a long way from home?" He held her at arms length and looked into her eyes. "I cannot have you leaving my home whenever you feel like it. The choice is no longer yours. Danger lurks everywhere in this realm and I will not have you die over your foolish thoughts to leave."

"Do you think I wanted any of this?" She broke free of his embrace and circled the room.

"You took me from my home, my life, and placed me into some nightmare. A nightmare I can't seem to wake up from. I am still debating on whether or not I am crazy because this does not happen in real life. It just does not. Fantasy stories? Maybe yes. But I am not in a fucking book. And you!" Serena pointed to Karantoes. "Damn you! You think you can waltz into my life and tell me what to do? Well, you can't. No one can. I have been in charge of my own life for a very long time now and you will not be the boss of me."

His eyes, once blue, now turned into dark slits as he looked at her. "Your freedom is not up for discussion. This is not a nightmare, Serena, I assure you this realm and I are very real. Do not leave again, or push me to do something I will regret. I only have so much patience and restraint and you threaten to break what little I have."

"Why should I care?" she retorted. "Why should I even stop to listen to you?"

"You should care."

"You don't seem to care about my feelings, why should I seem to care about yours?"

A deep growl rumbled from beneath his chest. In a blink of an eye, he flashed to her side. "You have broken what little patience I have."

His large hand became shackles as they wrapped around both of her wrists, locking her in place. "You think this isn't real? That I am only a figment of your imagination?"

She nodded and struggled in his grasp. "I want to wake up."

"You left me no choice." Kar leaned down and fused their lips together, silencing her reply. His kiss was angry, demanding, yet Serena felt herself slipping into the kiss.

His tongue stroked the seam of her lips, demanding entrance. Her defense slipped and she opened her mouth to his kiss. She had been kissed many times before but never like this. Never so hot, and demanding that it made her ache. As soon as she began to forget she was kissing the man who was responsible for all of this, he stopped, and pulled away from her. She felt hot, too hot. That kiss set her body on fire.

His hands moved to rest in her hair, and his thumb began stroking her cheek.

"That was very real,"he pointed out.

Serena caught her breath and looked at him for the first time. He was really tall, she had to tilt her head back to stare at his face. Kar was a very handsome man, not like the boys she had dated in school. He was all hard, and muscled, an immense presence in the room. He was the type of man that would make a woman feel safe at night. She found his face very attractive-too attractive, maybe-he had a scar right above his eyebrow but it did not take away from his appeal. Instead, it made him look dangerous and sexy.

"Why did you take me?" She whispered. Her body felt foreign to her. Her skin-too tight-felt on fire. One kiss made her feel this way.

"Because you are mine." Kar declared. "And I take what is mine."

Serena shivered at his claim. It made her feel even hotter-a feeling she had never experienced before. Something had to be wrong with her, she thought. Minutes ago, she was angry at him, and now all of her thoughts schemed with plots to have him.

Her body felt foreign to her.

"What do you know of mates?" he inquired, breaking her out of her thoughts.

Serena rubbed at her arm. "Mates?"

"Yes, soul-mates?" he prompted.

"It's a bond between two people. I'm not too sure. Why ask such a silly question?"

"It is much more than that." Kar scoffed. "In this realm mates are sacred. If a male is lucky enough to find his true mate then he has found the one who completes him. They are the very breath we breathe. The reason of of our whole existence. Yet so few of males find them these days."

"There was a war," Kar bit out. "A war which took the lives of many innocent females and children. Many died and the female population of our realm suffered greatly. Now, it is almost impossible to find your true mate. Many males grow crazed and claim females who do not belong to them, they are the ones who become the nightmares of this realm, they lose hope of ever finding their true mate to claim something that is not rightfully theirs. What was once an honorable society has been reduced to lying, stealing, and killing."

"That's horrible. Why would people do such things?"

Serena looked at Kar and knew he was in pain. The loss of his people weighed heavy on him, she could tell.

"Greed can make a man do anything. For one mans victory it cost the whole realm. Now it is a miracle to ever be blessed with such a gift." Kar lowered his voice and looked to Serena. His eyes were so intense they made her stop and stare at them.

"Did you lose your mate?" She asked softly.

"No." he shook his head. "I did not lose her."

Serena cocked her head sideways and folded her arms into her chest. She felt a stab of jealously that he had a mate somewhere out in this realm, yet he stood in front of her moments ago and kissed her with such passion it made her ache for more.

"Where is she then?"

"I'm looking at her."