The doors of the villa opened to reveal a large room filled with color, laughter, and luxury.

It looked like more than fifty people were gathered there; each of them seemed happy, secure, good-looking but most of all dangerous.

It smelled indeed like danger, that was what Mila's instincts were telling her.

Erik emerged from the crowd with his eyes fixed on her. He was wearing a suit and Mila noticed it suited him unexpectedly well. He was carrying a glass of wine and his eyes were sparkling. In that brief moment, she was convinced that she had never seen a more beautiful man before, not even on TV.

Without saying a word he wrapped his fingers around her hand.

Shortly after, she noticed Samira and Dahiru coming their way.

They were both as attractive as she had them in memory; so strikingly, aggressively beautiful that even the air around them carried a tiny bit of submission. Their clothes were ivory trimmed with gold and clung to their eye-catching, fit bodies, making them seem nothing less than royalty. 

"Welcome, Milena. We are happy to have you and Erik here," said Dahiru smiling and bowing his head.

Samira gave her a stormy hug and kissed her cheek.

"Oh, how beautiful you are. We are so happy to see you. Erik will make the presentations. Let me take your jacket. What would you like to drink?"

That woman seemed such a warm and nice person, it just confused Mila on so many levels. 

"Thank you, but I prefer to keep it on. I don't know. Water?" answered Mila shyly. She was still looking around, analyzing the situation.

"Nobody drinks water at my parties," said Samira pressing a glass of champagne in her hand.

Shortly after, they held a toast welcoming all the guests and the quartet started playing a slow song. Erik took the glass from her hand and led her to the dancefloor. She was too dumbstruck to protest. 

"What are you doing?" she asked and a frown formed on her face.

"I want to talk to you in private. What better way than this? People will think I am whispering poems or lude promises in your ears."

"I can't dance," she said curtly.

"It's a slow song, nothing complicated; just go with the music."

"Sure," she replied rolling her eyes.

Erik seemed to be an unexpectedly good dancer despite his height and muscled frame. He also didn't seem like a person that would enjoy these kinds of things yet he was. 

"You are good at this. How come?"

"There were times when it was one of the most popular distractions."

"Yeah in my grandma's youth..." 

Somehow irritated by that remark, Erik pulled her closer and leaned over to whisper in her ear.

"Milena, I beg you. Do not wander off alone, do not go anywhere without me or Michael, and do not talk to anybody tonight. It is dangerous and it is not a game," he explained, stretching every word.

"Why did you bring me here if I can't do anything?"

"Because it wasn't safe to leave you," he answered curtly.

"I cannot be kidnapped from the kidnappers or can I?"

"Mila, please. I beg you this time, listen and stay out of trouble." He looked intensely into her eyes. 

Why is he so stupidly attractive? Those lashes are every girl's dream. I cannot even be properly pissed. 

She leaned closer and whispered, not forgetting what force was driving her. 

"Do you remember what you did when I begged you for something, Erik?" Her tone was hateful, and she felt how as a reaction his arms constricted around her. It felt good and she almost gasped. Almost. 

"Please don't push it, Milena,"

His voice sounded half angry and half concerned.

The song ended and to Mila's surprise, two women and a man came over to the dancefloor and bowed their heads in greeting towards her and Erik.

"Charlotte, Yelena, Magnus, this is Milena. All your eyes should be on her tonight," explained Erik.

"It is an honor," said Yelena.

Yelena was tall and had dark brown hair and brown eyes framed by thick lashes. She was not pretty in a conventional way but seemed kind and her slender figure and bright smile made her attractive.

"Milady, it's a pleasure," seconded Magnus.

Magnus was blond and blue-eyed like Michael but broad and not that tall. He seemed silent and trustworthy.

Charlotte only bowed her head. She looked at Mila almost disdainfully. 

"She means trouble and you know that, right?" she said to Erik ignoring Mila completely.

"It just is how it is, Charlotte, and I don't remember asking for your opinion," replied Erik, surprising Mila.

"Apologies, sir," answered Charlotte blushing.

She likes him. And he does not seem to like her back. I wonder why; she is very pretty.

Charlotte was indeed very pretty with her short-cropped black hair and piercing blue eyes. According to her accent, she seemed French.

Ignoring Erik's order, Mila grabbed a glass of champagne from a table and drank it in one sip looking Erik defyingly in the eyes in front of the new people.

"Stop that! I don't want to have to carry you home," he spat, rolling his eyes.

Mila was aware that one glass would not make her drunk. Neither did she want to be. Her senses had to be awake if she wanted to escape.

"Oh... how effortlessly you manage to kill every possible little pleasure around me," she replied and was surprised to see that the answer didn't anger him but made him subtly sad.

The big room was neatly decorated and people were dancing or chatting jolly. It was one hour before midnight and Mila didn't have any plan yet. 

Midnight will be a good moment. Everyone will be distracted by fireworks and other people. Maybe Charlotte will distract or annoy Erik long enough so that I can escape.

The 'how' was still a problem; she needed car keys or some help.

There was a man across the room who kept looking at her. It felt like his eyes were burning holes into Mila.

He was tall and seemed also muscular, like probably everyone in that room. 

How on earth are they all so fit?

There was something familiar about him and his ebony skin and dark eyes but Mila could not put her finger on what it was. Had she seen him before? Unlikely. He smiled when he saw her looking at him, seemingly happy that he finally caught her attention.

Mila smiled back and a thought bloomed in her head.

Maybe this guy is not as crazy as everyone around. Samira and her husband seem to be aware of the situation and actively ignoring it. Awful people, as nice as they appear on the surface.

She smiled again as seductively as she possibly could, hoping that the seduction thing would not have the same effect it had on Erik and make the man stand up and leave. The embarrassment of that moment didn't leave her for days after. 

But this man smiled back and it seemed alluring.

"I am going to the toilet," she said to Erik.

"Michael will come with you."

"I am not going to go with Michael to the toilet! It's just one room away and he is a guy," said Mila annoyed.

"I can go with her," said Charlotte who must have overheard the conversation.

Erik frowned not knowing what to think.

"Yes, I prefer that," said Mila.

"Fine."

Mila walked away with Charlotte following her closely. That was not going as planned.

"I think you can pee on your own. He is overdoing it," said Charlotte.

Mila smiled. Charlotte seemed nice in the end, too bad she was seemingly working for Erik.

The bathroom was as luxurious as the rest of the villa, a mixture of white marble and heavily adorned golden fixtures. Samira and Dahiru seemed to not share Erik's minimal taste. She leaned over the marble sink and looked at herself in the mirror. Her cheeks were pink from the alcohol, still, she seemed to be fine.

The door opened and closed. Mila turned around surprised. The man from before entered the bathroom. He seemed to have understood her intentions.

When the lock clicked under his fingers, Mila started having second thoughts. She might have evaluated the situation wrong.

"I...I didn't think I would find you here and with another's smell all over you. I was waiting for you... For decades."

Okay, he is crazy too. Fuck. Let's see if I can play along and get something out of it.

"Hello, I am Mila. And you?" she asked shily.

"Akin. I am Dahiru's brother."

That explained the familiarity; they shared some features like that smile that now seemed anything but enchanting.

"Akin, let's get away from here," she said and tried to smile. 

"I understand you are in a hurry; I can't wait for us to be together too," he said coming closer and pinning Mila against a wall. He grabbed her wrists and healed them above her head. His grip was very strong, so stiff, and unexpectedly rough. 

"Your smell is so odd, still the most magnificent thing I have smelled all my life," he said inhaling with his face pressed against her hair. After that, Mila could clearly see how his eyes lit up and became bright golden from the dark brown they used to be.

"Jesus Christ," she muttered thinking she was hallucinating, that drugs must have been in the champagne or that she was finally losing it.

The index finger of her right hand started to hurt and when Mila looked at it, she noticed that the strangely shaped scar she had was glowing.

The next thing she acknowledged, was that Akin seemed to not be in control of himself anymore because he squeezed her wrist so strongly bone popped and she cried out in pain.

"I want you," he said in a very deep voice, almost unearthly, pressing his lips violently against hers.

She tried to push him away but he was much stronger than her, heavy as if made of stone.

"No, please! Don't. I am sorry I gave the wrong impression. I just want to get away from here," she cried desperately.

He appeared to not hear or not understand what she was saying; he just tore at her dress and ripped it open revealing along with her underwear the ugly scars on her abdomen. The situation reminded her so much of her father and of her begging him to stop, begging for somebody to stop him from hurting her.

"Stop it. I don't want to," she cried out again. Her scream was buried under the sound of the door creaking and bursting open.

Erik was standing there with glowing green eyes, literal claws on his fingers, and an expression beyond anger.

He didn't say anything, just pulled Akin away violently clawing at his chest.

"Go away. She is my mate!" screamed Akin.

"No, she isn't!" 

Claws elongated out of Akin's fingernails too, but he didn't have time to do anything because Erik punched him so hard he flew through the window outside in the garden.

At that point, Mila was sure she had gone mad. She just cradled her injured wrist and pulled the scraps of her dress over her body.

The loud noise attracted people and Michael, Angel, Dahiru, and Samira came running towards them. Michael took his jacket off and unbuttoned his shirt running towards where Erik and Akin were and fire seemed to be going off.

"Erik, stop it! You are going to kill him!" screamed Michael but Erik did not listen and pushed him away with violent rage not taking his glowing eyes off Akin.

In an instant, he was digging his claws into Akin's abdomen and Akin howled, making him back off.

Akin's bones started popping and Mila was convinced she was entirely mad when fur covered his body and he turned into a wolf. He was huge and shaggy and jumped toward Erik.

"Erik!" she screamed without thinking, realizing she didn't want him to get hurt in the end.

Her scream distracted him and the wolf tore at his arm.

Erik's eyes were still glowing and his canines looked like fangs. Whatever beast was inside him seemed to be taking control preparing to kill.

At that point, Michael's bones started cracking too and his clothes burst as he changed into a brown wolf himself.

Dahiru was looking desperate at the scene; he clenched his fist and his eyes started shining like Erik's.

"Akin, I command you to stop!" he screamed at the brown wolf.

Mila didn't even notice when Samira kneeled down and put a coat around her whispering, "I am so sorry. We are so, so sorry, Milena."

It was like lightning stroke Akin and he turned back to his human form not being able to move. He was bruised and bloody and the wound to his abdomen seemed horrible.

"But she is my mate," he said from behind clenched teeth.

Hearing that made the claws on Erik's hands, which had just retracted,  pop out again. Michael and five other wolves of different colors jumped from the background and surrounded him to stop him from slicing Akin's throat.

He didn't seem to care; it looked like he was prepared to kill them altogether.

Then his glowing green eyes met Mila's, the claws retracted and he pushed Michael away, walking towards her.

He was a dangerous monster and he was walking towards her.

"Don't be afraid. I am not going to hurt you," he said kneeling down to look her in the eyes and stretching out his hand but not stepping too close.

Mila was still trembling and her pupils were dilated in fear. She was suddenly aware of the fact that everybody in that room could probably snap her neck with very little effort.
She looked at Erik and at the blood dripping from his forearm then she looked at Akin who was moving her way and she shivered again unwillingly.

"I want to go away from here," she whispered to Erik.  She was not sure why, maybe because it was a version of the devil she knew that was in front of her and she feared him less than the other option.

She looked at his extended hand and slowly put her small palm into it.

The things she was previously thinking did not even scratch the surface of the danger she had actually gotten herself into.

Erik lifted her into his arms almost effortlessly.

"What are you doing, Erik? You might be an Alpha but she is MY mate," screamed Akin, his face torn in anger and pain.

"Are you afraid of heights?" asked Erik ignoring him.

"No," said Mila.

"Good," was the only thing Erik said when he leaped with her in the air. It felt like flying, and it was certainly supernatural how he could leap tens of meters without effort.

They disappeared into the forest while Mila caught a glimpse of Dahiru retaining Akin.