Prey.

23.

*Warning! This chapter contains themes that audiences find mature. You have been warned!*

Neela tossed and turned the whole night. She could not get into a comfortable position whatsoever. She felt it was probably due to her sleeping in a new place.

It's also probably because I'm living with demons and was attacked.

Neela whined when she felt the other side of the bed shift. She pretended to still be asleep and turned to where she felt the shifting. Slowly and hesitantly, she slightly opened her right eye; there was nothing. Neela thought it was her just hallucinating, because of the many fears and worries she then had.

Neela closed her eyes once again but felt more shifting. She was too tired and scared to open her eyes fully and to take an actual look around her. She just decided to ignore it. She shrugged the shifting off as just a hallucination because she's just so tired.

After a few minutes, Neela felt a weight on her whole body. Once her heart was pounding against her ribcage, Ryan brought up his right hand to caress her cheeks. All of Neela's sleepiness left her body, once she felt his cold hand on her blood-flowing cheeks.

Neela's eyes shot open and were met with blood red eyes that were delicately illuminated by the moonlight. She opened her mouth to scream, but Ryan's right hand that was previously rested on her cheek quickly moved to Neela's mouth, so no one would hear her scream. Ryan chuckled darkly when he felt Neela's body shake as her shaky breaths escaped her mouth.

Ryan finally brought his left hand up to hold her wrist, the same wrist that he had grabbed earlier. Even though Ryan wasn't squeezing her wrist, it was burning. Neela whimpered and turned her head to see that the mark on her wrist was glowing. As Neela attempted to move from under Ryan, he pressed more weight onto Neela's front. She then attempted to push him, but he took both hands off of her and swiftly pinned both of her arms above her head.

"Please don't hurt me, master," Neela pleaded silently as her eyes began to well up with tears. "Master? I didn't think you'd be calling me that yet." Even though Neela couldn't see, she could hear the smirk in his words. "You told me to call you that in your dreams," Ryan smiled at her words and said nothing. "Please get off mmph-" Ryan abruptly pressed his lips to Neela's. She panicked and tried to move her head away, but he grabbed Neela by her chin to hold her in place.

Neela winced when Ryan had begun biting her lip, which made the girl purse her lips tightly. "Open your mouth for your master," Ryan demanded in a gravelly, dominating voice. Neela shook her head as tears finally escaped her eyes. His grip on Neela's marked wrist tightened, "open your mouth or I'll break it," he threatened.

Slowly and shyly, she opened her mouth. As soon as her mouth was opened the slightest bit, Ryan plunged his tongue in Neela's mouth with no warning. Neela tightly closed her eyes while he violated her untouched mouth.

Ryan let go of her arm and quickly sat up to bring Neela on his lap as his hand grabbed ahold of her hair. He pulled her head closer to deepen the kiss. When he finally stopped, she immediately took large, shaky breaths of air. She heard a dark chuckle close to her ear, "you're so scared, but you feel pleasure from me. I can feel it," He placed a few pecks on her cheek.

"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.