Hell & beauty
~
Accalia
~

Dauntingly beautiful black eyes hovered over her, nearing close to her shoulder and hot breaths tingled on her bare skin, leaving a track of delirium to haunt her.

Accalia shuddered, clenching her jaw and swayed her head to the side trying not to recoil in disgust.

"Maybe I should bite you instead," the voice was deep and frightfully laced with growls and callous.

The voice sounded humane like it could be human, but Accalia couldn't fathom it. It could only ever be, and will always be a beast.

Accalia had no tears to shed, no words to utter, she was just stuck beneath it and unable to help herself.

She had to endure whatever it would inflict on her.

"Hmm," it taunted, a growl rumbling in its chest and its snout getting closer to her nose, brushing against it.

Accalia gave no response and the beast moped, disappointed by the lack of attention.

"Ain't gonna bite back," it growled out, no longer hovering over her like a gloomy shadow but lying beside her.

Accalia looked it up and down, for that's all her immobilised body could do. It terrified her the amount of freedom it had to her as its fur bristled beside her.

It was thick and unkempt, it felt hard and rough, like small spikes prickling into the skin.

Accalia swallowed, feeling red in the face from anger.

Its pointy claw touched the upper thigh of Accalia's leg and she flinched, tensing and wanting nothing more than to land a punch to its face.

It trailed up her body like a paved path was already made for it and when it stopped her cheek, it gave a slight dig.

Warm blood trickled down Accalia's face and her nostrils flared, turning her head to face it.

"Don't get cheeky," it tutted, noticing Accalia's sneering expression and how her eyes waged with ferocity.

Disliking the challenge, it suddenly latched its huge hand around her throat and she inhaled sharply, her heart slamming against her ribcage.

It only tightened, digging its claws into her throat and giving a low rumble.

"Because if you do, I'll kill your remaining family and anyone you come in contact with," with its grasp only clamping against her windpipe, Accalia struggled for air and felt helpless, unable to move an inch and knowing the chance of it killing her would be fatal and final.

"I'll tear everyone to shreds!" It roared, saliva spitting on her face as its jaw opened to show canines, teeth of a wolf, teeth that could rip a throat out and teeth that could leave an everlasting imprint on Accalia's skin.

~

"They both will be fine," a feminine voice swirled through her senses like liquid, pulling Accalia from her dreams, "The younger cousin only has a concussion, a sprained wrist and bruising. It could've been a lot worse for her. This one may have whiplash, but she'll make a quick recovery."

Accalia couldn't find the strength to get up. Everything was numb, raking through her body and damning into her head. The recollection of the car swerving and flipping flicked through her mind like a movie being watched.

And she was watching it again, her hand grabbing the wheel and trying to avoid hitting that petrified creature, only for Cadence to try and take control once again, but never regaining it.

We should've hit the deer, was all Accalia could process.

"You can leave, healer. You're no longer needed." A deep voice said finally.

Accalia heard feet retreating and a door closing.

She blinked awake, a cry leaving her throat from the dryness and her hand reached for her throat, tears forming as tension rose in her chest.

Her head swayed heavily, as rocks piled themselves on the crown of her head, weighing her down as she tried to sit up.

A blanket covered her body and she felt a slight and fleeting sense of relief that she remained in the same clothes she passed out in.

"Shh," a voice drifted throughout the room like smoke, commanding and resonant. "I think you're in enough pain, don't you think?"

A hoarse scream ripped from Accalia's throat and she flung her body to the headboard of the bed, eyes widening as she rapidly looked around the darkroom.

But she could see him.

A figure sitting in the corner of the room, hands latching at the sides with broad shoulders and the shape of a head tilting.

The silhouette rose to their feet and Accalia shuddered, shutting her eyelids, praying that this was a dream that she was still suffering through.

It felt all too real to be a dream.

The figure was male, unfathomably tall and withholding a demeaning degree of brutality.

He took a steady step toward the bed and Accalia clutched the blanket knowing his form of body mass and height would overpower her in every situation.

"Please," she uttered without thinking. She didn't exactly know why she said it. If this was her way of begging. She despised it.

"Please what?" He shamelessly took another step and his steps took a long stride as his legs met the end of the bed.

"Don't—don't—"

Hurt me.

Kill me.

Have your way with me.

"Where's my cousin?" Accalia asked strongly, gulping with trembling lips.

The lifelessness of Cadence's form scorned through her mind. She couldn't reach her. Accalia wanted nothing but to. She wanted everything to be fine. Just once. Without having to work for it, beg for it and kill for it.

"She's in another room," Lycus snapped bitterly, almost disgusted by his hospitality as he folded his arms. "She's alright — asleep at the moment."

Accalia bit her lip, considering his words as she didn't know the state of her life right now. For all, she knew these moments could be her final ones.

Accalia could almost crumble at the thought. The possibility.

But the reasons she was here, in this bed remained unclear, but the reason was rooted in this lycan's doing.

From her feet to the crown of her head, her body throbbed and stung. She could only imagine what Cadence was enduring.

It subsided, for a dull moment as a question found its way in Accalia's throat and she questioned, "How did you find us? We were long gone,"

Lycus raked a hand through his glossy hair and leaned against a wall. "Your scent. Well, Tala informed me at first and told me about your little stunt. Then I tracked you with your scent. You made it to your town and then back on the road, where I ..."

He trailed off, the rest of the information passing through to her without an exchange of words.

Her father was right. Lycus would have caught on with just a whiff of her scent. He would have found her either way.

Accalia looked down, unruly locks of hair flowing around her face. How desperately she tried to spare the creature on the road. How simply she achieved it. Only to end up hurting her cousin instead. A cost Accalia and Cadence have both paid.

Her cousin now lay in a bed, injured and pained, all because Accalia wanted to run from him.

"Get out of this room." Accalia snarled, clenching her jaw so hard she thought it would snap.

"No,"

Grinding her teeth together, Accalia exhaled a sharp breath of air before speaking. "Lycus," she bit out, voice filled with desperation and tiredness, "Get out!"

Lycus folded his arms and tilted his head at her. "I don't trust you, Accalia, I know you're going to try and escape again the first chance you get."

"Yeah? Well, Cadence and I could've died all because I tried to outrun you," Accalia yelled.

Neither would back down as they clashed gazes, possibilities dancing across their minds as they tried to predict each other's motives.

Accalia wasn't going to bow down and submit to him. Not a chance in this world would she dare to.

Bow to no one unless they earned your respect wholly and faithfully.

Lycus wasn't that. He commanded submission through influence and power, all things that were fear-invoking. He commanded Accalia to submit and accept her fate for what it was. His mate.

"Why won't you let me go?" Accalia asked, distracting herself by looking at the blanket.

"Because you're my mate."

Accalia gripped the blanket for support. Any other lycan wouldn't accept this as easily as Lycus had.

And when it comes to prey, lycans will kill without an ounce of sympathy. After all, that was what a lycan was created to do.

Her family, the Larren family, mainly targeted werewolves. Half-breeds were the most primitive and easiest to catch. Lycans created packs, led them and had the werewolves do their bidding.

It was always difficult to catch a Lycan, let alone kill one and Accalia found herself stumped at how she was in the presence of one.

Claiming they were mated.

"I'm willing to ignite a war just to have you by my side, Accalia. You did trespass into my lands which makes you mine. You're not escaping again."

Mine.

His words made her cringe in discomfort and thought back to her father's statements, her stomach churning. How could he be so right about something so wrong?

"I can't be your mate, lycans usually have a werewolf mate," Accalia uttered.

"In rare cases, lycans can be paired with a human," the lycan responded.

That was true and to a degree, a lycan could be paired with a human, but not a hunter.

Accalia tried to avoid his haunting gaze and he seemed to pick up on this, standing taller.

"Why don't you be the brave little huntress I know you are and look at me,"

Accalia hated to even be in the same room as him let alone look at him for even a second. It would only leave her to flinch as though he laid an invisible mark on her.

He was much more tolerable when she was behind bars.

But she did crack and caved into his words, but not for the reasons he may think. Merely to stand her ground.

She hid the beauty he beheld. Strands of obsidian black hair clung to his forehead and below that, were damning amber eyes that were hued with brightness. His skin was marred in faint scars which Accalia thought he rightfully deserved, his face, however, was unmarked and handsome with high cheekbones, a sturdy jaw and solid features.

Damn him.

"Who slapped you earlier today?" Lycus demanded suddenly, a threat lingering in his tone.

Accalia frowned, confused by his words and how on earth he knew that occurred before the car accident.

"It's the mate bond, Accalia," Lycus answered for her, not looking pleased by it. "I felt it after I got your little message from my wolves. Who laid their hands on you?"

"No—no one."

Lycus snarled at her and turned his back, his muscles contracting and tensing, a deadly silence falling upon the both of them as he tried to regain his composure.

Accalia searched around the room, her fleet to escape was on the tip of her tongue and she had the drive for it. A cabinet stood by her bed, and a glass window beside her, revealing the afternoon and bare trees that showed the setting sun.

The room itself was small but organised, but what Accalia noticed the most was the inviting door across the room.

Accalia bit the inside of her cheek, reasoning with herself and knowing it was a long shot.

Slowly, she slid off the bed, reassuring herself this was her best bet.

Looking back at him and how he stayed backturned, Accalia didn't skip a beat as she dashed for the doorknob.

A roar bounced off the walls as an arm snaked around her waist and Accalia was flung back onto the bed like a rag-doll.

Lycus was upon her, hand gripping her wrists and slamming them against the bed beside her head.

"Don't," he gripped tighter, his hold unyielding, "do that again."

"LET ME GO!" She screamed at him, flailing her long legs up to his body to strike at him, but she was caged in.

But that didn't stop her hand from balling into a fist, slipping from his grasp and striking into his face.

A chilling silence dawned on the both of them.

Accalia felt the quickening of her heart thrumming through her eardrums, the silence breaking like a snapping thread.

With widened eyes, Accalia felt a pang of anxiety spill through her insides, aghast by her recklessness.

Accalia slammed her hand that she punched him with over her mouth.

What have I done? She thought to herself, already knowing the severity of the situation and what her action could cost her. She just punched a lycan.

His face fell to the side and his sharp jaw clenched, grinding his teeth together.

"I didn't mean—" Accalia blurted out, trying to resolve everything that just played out if it would ensure her safety. But she cut that sentence off like a slicing knife and replaced it with a sneer.

Blinded and fuelled by rage, Accalia only wished for blood, pain and nothing for him.

These past hours toppled onto her like water, dragging her under and not allowing her to breathe. She was drowning in every single moment these days had brought her, heaviness caving into her head and pulling her further from the surface.

The anger and hate toward the lycan surged with fire, flames that didn't want to be tamed but only to flourish and burn.

Accalia wanted him to burn and suffer. Endlessly.

The man, beast, Lycus stared down at her with an unreadable look but something was underlying about it. Almost daring her.

Lycus's hold on her was suffering and binding, he wasn't going to let her go.

His face came close to hers, so close their noses almost brushed together and Accalia struggled against his hold. "You tend to do that a lot, don't you?"

Accalia jutted her chin at him. "How is your Beta? Is her nose alright?"

A warning growl sounded in her ears.

Her heart pounded against her ribcage with anticipation and stared directly into his eyes, unnerving him.

Lycus chuckled and merely shook his head. "Such a spitfire. Why, of all creatures, was I paired with you?"

The question hung thick in the air, suffocating them both with it and leaving them breathless.

"You can let me go, pretend you never met me and be done with this," Accalia suggested to him.

Before she could even blink, Lycus's canines elongated and he growled at her.

Accalia stiffened, head caving in with torment and her eyes blurring as the string of discomfort didn't loosen.

"Are you going to lock us up again?" Accalia demanded.

The lycan bit his lip and his grip loosened, but only to an extent. He still maintained an inescapable grip on her. "Trust me, I won't make that mistake again."

If he was going to lock them back in the cellars, what would he do? Accalia shuddered to think.

"Can I see my cousin?"Accalia asked and turned her head away from him, hate filling her heart if she looked at him for too long.

Lycus didn't answer her question and instead buried his face into the crook of her neck, inhaling her scent, his skin grazing along her trembling skin. Skin to skin. Mate to mate.

A path of heat erupted amongst the two of them and Accalia writhed against him, her wrists burning from his touch and she dabbled with her overflowing thoughts of what to do.

She tried to catch a breath of air, but it got caught in her throat as a grazing sensation crossed her throat. A nip. Close to a bite. And a scream quaked through the room.

She had heard of such things. Lycans forcing the bite mark on defiant and disobedient human mates. All they would need to do was elongate their canines and with brute strength, bite in their mate's neck and a promise would be set into stone.

There was no coming back from that.

And Accalia would be damned if Lycus did it.

Accalia did the most logical thing. With her window of opportunity within reach, she raised her knee between his legs and he went still.

Shoving him off her with shaky hands, Lycus fell to the side and a bellowing noise escaped his throat.

Accalia wasn't about to look back and pried the door open, running down a hall she was unfamiliar with.

She almost tripped, head spinning into a whirlwind of shakiness as she took in her surroundings. In its entirety, the house was grand and lovely, but as she stumbled, it dawned on her that she didn't have the faintest clue of Cadence's whereabouts.

Accalia swallowed and made a right, slamming face-first into something hard, like a wall and stumbled back from the collision.

Looking up, head and body throbbing with ache, Accalia locked eyes with a pair of blooming blue orbs that regarded her with nervousness and shock. Maybe even concern.

And then he spoke, "You must be Lycus's mate, the huntress."

Accalia's eyes almost pop out of the sockets and she cursed that sentence, cursed the being in front of her. She scanned his face and recalled the sentences she had read from books and the heinous things she had heard from her people.

And she knew the person who stood before her.

The man shared similar features to the lycan that could very well be heading Accalia's way.

Jet black hair, tanned skin and muscular. Whilst this one looked more polished and proper with his smooth attire, Lycus came across as rugged and roguish as an animal.

This was Gabriel Fenris. Lycus's younger brother.

This lycan, who also held an Alpha title, ruled in quietness and always strayed away from ongoing battles with hunters. From what Accalia heard, Gabriel was reserved, subtle and more invested in his mate, Nina Fenris, than anything else.

The most evident difference between the two brothers was their eyes. Lycus bore amber eyes that were scarce and made you look away from him. Gabriel's irises were blue like the colour of a cloudless day and hued with shades of cornflower. It made you want to stare mindlessly at him.

"Oh no," Accalia whispered, a cry wanting to spill out as her back met the wall. Not more lycans. Not more Alphas.

Gabriel's eyes softened ever so slightly, raised his hands and said, "You're alright. Everything is—"

Boots bombarded down the hall and a wretched roar broke all things fragile.

Including Accalia's clutch to sanity as she peered down the hall, breathing spiking at his raging body and as Lycus met her gaze, he thundered toward her.

Gabriel didn't hesitate and stood in front of Accalia, shielding her as Lycus came close to his brother, just an inch taller than him.

"What on earth is wrong with you?" Gabriel grumbled, his soft tone being replaced with irritation. "What did you do to her, Lycus?"

Lycus's eyes blazed and he sneered at his brother. "Get away from her now!"

"She's in distress, you fool, can't you see that?" Gabriel scoffed and gestured angrily to his brother, "Probably not seeing as you're the cause of it. Let's give her more reason to hate our kind. You need to leave, go now."

That wiped the snarling look off Lycus's face and he took a step back, as though to look at the situation from a different perspective.

Lycus rubbed his jaw, the anger in his face still evident and flaming. But contemplation dwindled in his eyes.

"Get her to see her cousin and have the healer check in with her also," Lycus muttered coldly but before he turned to leave, a promising look shifted in his eyes, capturing Accalia in a pit of brimstone and flames.

This wasn't over.

Far from it.