Prey.

24.

"Please stop this," Neela's voice shook while she quietly sobbed. "Why should I?" His deep voice teased, "you're getting so excited." He suddenly attacked her neck with kisses.

Please help me. He's gonna hurt me.

"They can't hear you. Master blocked them from hearing your thoughts." As Ryan pulled away, his fingers began playing with the hem of her shirt, "you don't know how tempting you are to me right now."

Ryan's lips ghosted from Neela's jaw to her neck, then to her arms. Goosebumps rose on Neela's arms as his kisses moved to the palm of her hand. "Remember what I told you earlier?" Ryan whispered. Even more, goosebumps appeared on Neela's skin as his warm breath fanned the spots where his moist lips had kissed.

Neela said nothing and turned her head to look to the moon, that being her only escape. When Ryan noticed this, he took one of his hands off of Neela's wrist and put it under her chin and moved her head so she was looking at him. "Answer your master's questions. Your master isn't patient, you know this."

Neela's throat and mouth went dry as she was forced to look in his eyes. "That I...I'm his mate?" Once Ryan heard the words he wanted to hear, he focused his attention back on Neela's arm. More specifically, her wrist.

"I plan to make sure that you know it," he smirked.

"What do you—mph," Neela was pushed back down on the bed. Ryan's hand covered her mouth as he made his way on top of her and sunk his teeth into her wrist. As he was biting, he looked at Neela through his eyelashes which made her feel excruciating pain.

Tears flowed freely out of Neela's eyes. She couldn't scream as Ryan's hand was latched over her mouth. She couldn't break free. She couldn't move. She was too weak. She had to endure every single second of the torture.

Seconds later, Neela felt relief. The wound was still painful, but it didn't feel like it was on fire like it previously had. Ryan let go of Neela's hand and Neela instantly grasped her own wrist to protect it from Ryan. All he was focused on was shutting her up because she was still crying.

Neela then blinked through the salty tears and brought her wrist up to her eyes so she could see the damage that had been done. There was a mark on her wrist. It looks like it had been branded. Once her head wasn't so fuzzy, she could make out what it was.

His name.

He has marked her body with his name, just like in the dreams.

It's not in the same place, though.

The real-life mark is much more exclusive.

"That's to remind you every day and night that you belong to us now," Ryan smirked, "brings back memories, doesn't it?" He darkly chuckled as he slowly began removing his hand.

"How do you know about them?" Neela asked referring to her nightmares. As Ryan was getting off the bed, he chuckled again. "I'm the cause of all of your nightmares. I'm the dream master." He harshly threw the quilt back onto Neela's shaking body and went to the doorway that led to his room. "Remember, you're my play toy. This is just the beginning."

Neela felt the need to puke when he finally left, but her energy levels were at 0. Tears endlessly flowed out of Neela's eyes; her pillow was wet, her hair was probably being matted around this time.

She slowly pulled the covers around her disgusting body and had her face down in the pillow. Maybe sleeping like this would kill her during the night.

If it kills me, don't worry. I'll be asleep. I won't feel a thing.

Once Sean came in, more tears flowed out of Neela's eyes, "he-he returned and h-he was in his demon form. I— he bit me, kissed me," Neela put her head in her hands, "I feel so dirty and disgusting." She managed to whisper through her tears. "You look terribly sick," Sean placed his hand on Neela's forehead, "you're feverish."

"I know why he hasn't killed me yet," Neela smiled, "because he gets his fix my toying with me." Sean inwardly sighed. Personally, to him, being toyed with and alive is much worse than just death. He couldn't even imagine the humiliation she felt.

He decided to change the subject, "let's get you in the shower, yes? Breakfast will be done shortly."

She shook her head, "I don't wanna."

"No," Sean said in a way that reminded Neela of her strict father. "I won't let you skip breakfast, get up." He gently pulled the blankets off of her body.

"I'll be back in 30 minutes, I was you to be done or semi done showering." Neela nodded and begun to get up off the bed and made her way to her personal bathroom.

Neela took the time to scrub every inch of her body, she even scrubbed her teeth when she was brushing her teeth. Neela just got dress in a pair of sweatpants and and a regular, plain shirt.

Once Neela was finally done showering, she was able to look at herself in the mirror finally. She looked terrible. Yes, her hair was matted. Yes, her whole body was pale. Yes, her eyes were sunken in and dark circles surrounded her eyes. Yes, her eyes were also lifeless.

And yes, there were bruises on her neck.

She was a broken girl. She sluggishly walked around the house and went to the dining hall, mostly everyone was already there. Neela sighed when everyone's eyes laid on her. When Neela felt a hand on her shoulder, she violently flinched. She screamed and quickly took steps away from the person, which accidentally made her hit her head off the doorway. "Woah! It's just me!" Landon yelled and grabbed Neela by her cheeks.

"Neela, are you sick? You don't look so good," Caleb asked cautiously as Neela was seated next to him. She didn't answer him, "is your head okay? You hit it pretty hard," no answer once again.

"You don't need to be scared, Neela, it's okay. Just listen to our rules and nothing like that will happen again." Neela meekly nodded at Sean's words. By the way everyone was looking at her, they all probably knew what had happened last night.

"You're late, Ryan," Caleb grumbled when he heard feet softly patting on the hardwood floor. "Sorry," he said and sat down at the head of the table. He may be normal again, but Neela felt paralyzed again.

When Landon noticed that Neela was out of it, he softly called her name. Once she looked at him, he raised his eyebrows in a concerned way. Neela nodded at him and grabbed a piece of cinnamon-sugar toast.

That's not all you're eating. Sean said in the strict father voice once again.

"Does anyone know how I ended up in my room last night?" Ryan asked and looked at everyone's faces. He made sure to look at Neela a bit longer than everyone else.

It's probably a little cold, angel, don't worry. He said to only Neela. His voice sounded so close to her, it made tears fill her eyes again. Sean noticed this and nudged Ryan's foot from under the table.

"But, seriously, I have no idea how I got there. The last thing I remember is all of us being in the living room."

Why doesn't he remember?

It's apart of the curse. Sean replied.

"We saw you going there after we all talked, don't ask silly questions." Landon said, looking right at Ryan. "Does Neela know? You all wanted to tell her."

"She knows everything that she has to know," Sean lied as he got up to fix Neela a bowl of fruit and sat it in front of her. "What happened? You're all lying. Her scent is different." Ryan was about to say something until Landon picked up a knife and threw it at Ryan and it landed in the table with precision.

Neela looked in between the two men and noticed that Landon's eyes were crimson, "don't ask silly questions."

"I know my limits, but I'm asking! Father to us what to and what not to do. I feel like we had broken one rule already," he stood up as he began to panic. "Then father will take her away. We already broke a rule, she's gonna leave!" He paced the room with his hands on his head.

I don't wanna be here anymore. Neela quickly said and stood up. The moment she stood to her feet, her vision got blurry and her head began to hurt.

"Neela, you hit your head, you have to be careful,"Caleb grabbed her arm. "I'll be fine...." Neela trailed off, "I just have to..." Neela whimpered out and couldn't get her vision to focus. Everyone's now concerned voices now started to fade away.