"So that was fun" Damien comments in a deep-cocky voice next to me.

We walk down the long windy halls of the pack house. From every angle people begin congratulating us. I ignore them promptly, but Damien takes knowledge of each and every one of them, giving them a thankful nod. I've never seen him so proud in his life. It makes my stomach churn in sickening circles.

"You can let go of my hand now." I snap at him as we continue toward his room.

"Why? We are an approved mated pair Lucia, you need to get used to this. You're my partner now." My wolf growls angrily in my head. She doesn't like the thought of us being partners with Damien and neither do I.

"We may have announced the pairing, but we aren't actually mated." I snap. "Now let go."

He smirks at my words. He quickly looks up at a passerby who congratulates us on our recent pairing. He thanks them with a half smile. Then he looks back down at me. He squeezes my hand tightly in his, almost squishing it.

"You will not tell me what to do." He growls, low and fierce. My wolf shakes slightly at the tone, but holds her ground. She's not weak enough to fall under his Alpha tone. After all, she is a Beta by blood.

"I will do what I want," I retort.

He growls at my defiant ways. "I will break your disobedient habits, Lucia."

My features form into a deep frown. My eyebrows pull together angrily. "Go ahead and try."

We reach his room after what feels like forever.

The night so far has been long and torturous. After getting through the lengthy announcement, the Alpha kept us there for a socializing party. People approached us and congratulated us for our pairing. With the Alpha watching, I had to keep a slight smile on my face. It was harder to do than anticipated. It took all my energy, especially when Raymond and Ruben came up to congratulate us. Ruben did so promptly, but Raymond watched my demeanor. He read right through my facade. He did not congratulate us, but merely gave a nod in my direction.

Damien closes the door behind us and I quickly untangle my hand from his. I take a large step away from him.

He frowns. "What the hell is wrong with you?"

"Nothing. I'm just done holding hands is all."

He rolls his eyes. "Whatever. Get undressed."

He reaches for the buttons on his shirt and starts to undo them. My eyes go wide in shock. "Excuse me?" I hiss.

He glances up at me with dark and agitated eyes. "I said, get undressed."

"I know what you said."

"Then what's the problem?"

"I will not be getting undressed, especially with you so close to me."

He smirks, "What's the problem? I've already seen you naked, remember?"

My mind flashes back to my first kiss. When Damien practically mauled me in the woods. I gulp unconsciously and a light pink blush brushes over my embarrassed cheeks. My fingers knot in little angry balls at my sides.

"I remember," I manage to hiss out through locked teeth. "But I'm not letting that happen. Ever again."

He raises an eyebrow at me. "Lucia, do you get how this whole mating thing works?" He takes a step closer to me, I step back. "The Alpha, my father, agrees on a pair." He steps closer to me again, and I step back once more. I feel the wall closing in on me from behind. "Then that pair is announced to the whole pack." He moves closer again. I retreat. My back hits the wall lightly. I'm cornered. "Then that pair gets to go back to their room and have a little fun as they complete the bond."

His right hand reaches toward my neck. His fingers collide with my skin and gently slide down, toward my shoulder. My stomach churns in rapid cycles as I feel a sickness rise from within me. His fingers gently push away the spaghetti strap and bra strap, leaving my shoulder bare. He smiles down at me. An evil glint lingering in his hateful eyes.

My wolf growls angrily at his stare, he's threatening her. She knows it. And just like her, I'm not willing to back down.

My left hand swoops up to quickly slap away his right hand from my shoulder. I glare up at his surprised eyes. I can feel the anger building inside of me. My wolf pissed that we even let him come near us.

"Try and touch me like that one more time and I will hurt you. Physically and pridefully. You and I both know that I have the strength and skill to not only resist you, but to actually fight and hurt you. You've been skipping too many practices for me not to have the upper hand. And what would that tell your father if you were to be beaten by your own female mate? It would tell him just how weak and cowardly you truly are. So as long as you stay the hell away from me, we won't run into that problem." I hiss is a low tone.

He stands there shocked. I side step away from him then walk toward the couch in the room.

"I will be sleeping over-"

Before I can finish my statement, a loud growl rings through the air. My wolf shrinks from the power and a moment later I feel sharp nails dig into my upper left arm followed my sharp teeth penetrating the tender skin on my neck. I cry out in pain as a surge of fire tears through my body. The flame branches from my neck all the way to my core, my wolf howls loudly. Her body convulsing in my mind. She falls to the floor as the pain rages.

As soon as his teeth are removed from my neck and his claws torn from my upper arm, I follow in my wolf's footsteps and fall to the ground. I hit my knees hard and topple over as the fire burns in my shoulder. I pant heavily and reach my right hand up to cover the freshly bleeding wound on my neck.

I hear a snicker, but the pain drowns out most of the sound. I try to focus as I hear him speak.

"If you want to play the hard way, then fine. I will just make you beg for me to have you in bed. And when that time comes, I won't go easy on you. No, I will make it excruciating, but everything you are about to feel before that happens will hurt ten times more than that. I will have you crawling on your knees, begging for me. Just you wait."

I listen as his feet head toward the door. He opens it wide, and slams it shut behind himself.

As I realize I'm left alone, I groan and squeeze my throbbing shoulder. Luckily the pain is starting to dwindle. I breathe in slowly and let out long-relaxed breaths. I continue this small charade until I am assured that the pain is bearable. I lean up from the floor. As I do, the room spins momentarily. It stops after a brief moment and I stand. Luckily Damien's room comes with it's own bathroom. I guess I'm going to have to tend to my own wounds.

I continue toward the bathroom.

I get in and flick the light on. I hurry toward the closet, opening the door wide. I scan and quickly find some grey face-cloths. I scoop a few up and turn toward the sink. I sigh at the mere sight of myself. My once nice hair is tousled a bit, my mint green blouse soaked on the left side with a deep crimson red, and my neck is chopped up.

I run the water until it is lukewarm. I place one of the cloths under the running water. Once it's moistened, I reach it up and touch my neck. I hiss inwardly as a sting races through my shoulder.

You know, when Mom was telling me about marks, she never mentioned anything about it being this painful. Actually she mentioned no pain at all. She even talked to me about how a mark between mates could become a sensual spot. Yet this feels like an open gun wound from a hunter's weapon. Could it be because we did it wrong? My mom did mention something about marking during mating. Could that be why it hurts so much?

After cleaning the injuries, I feel myself grow tired. My arm is all patched up but the mark on my neck stopped bleeding pretty quick like I'm assuming most marks do. The wound is no longer openly bleeding but his teeth marks remain there as a slightly darker shade than my skin, as they will forever. I look up into the mirror. I see bags under my eyes already. This whole day has taken years out of my lifespan, I just know it. Between not being able to tell Greyson before the ceremony and having to actually sit through the whole thing and smile, I've lost a good 20 years.

I'm about to reach for the light switch, when suddenly another surge of fire bursts through my mark.  I groan in pain as my wolf howls toward the sky. My core and stomach ache, feeling as though I've been punch in the gut several times over. I hunch over and grab hold of the counter. My fingers grip the surface firmly as I wait for the pain to pass.

It never does.

I groan and look up into the mirror. My marks is glowing a feint red. The pain continues to flow into me rapidly. Sharp stabs pound into my gut rapidly. I groan and try to stay standing on my quaking legs. I take shallow quick breaths and flick the bathroom light off.

I hobble my way back into Damien's room. I stumble quite a few times but manage to balance myself before I fall.

I get to his couch and collapse onto the sofa cushions. My legs unconsciously curl up to my chest and I hug my throbbing stomach. I groan at the stinging pain. My wolf pants heavily in my head, swaying around. She's trying to bear through it, but we've never felt a pain quite like this one before. I focus on my breathing. I try and wait for the pain to go away, but it continues.

Eventually, a blackness takes over. I'm not sure if it is from exhaustion or the agony.