Prey.

42.

It's been days since the attack. Ryan hasn't left Neela's side since he was able to walk again. He finally had his gloves so he could now touch her while she was unconscious. Ryan has almost snapped completely once he saw the three, long cuts that trailed down Neela's body; he couldn't smell the demon on her, so it must really be dead.

"Angel?" Ryan lifted his head off Neela's stomach when he heard her mumbling in her sleep. "Hm?" Neela asked, not knowing that she has been out for almost a week. "If you're waking up, do it very slowly."

"Please, just let me sleep," Neela whined while turning to lay on her right side. "Neela, you should wake up for a little bit. You've been asleep for a week." Ryan's covered fingers ghosted over Neela's also covered side, which made her body contort from the ticklish feeling it gave her.

"A week?" Ryan smiled and shook his head at her unknowingness, "yes, angel, you were hurt really badly." Neela turned to lay on her back once again and stretched out her limbs, many cracks could be heard, but also an outcry of pain was heard.

"Careful, careful, careful," Ryan placed his hand flat on Neela's stomach. "It's okay, just breathe and relax. Does it hurt a lot?"

Now with her eyes wide open, Neela noticed that Ryan was touching her....and not hurting her. "I—it's just really sore." She placed her hand over her sore side and felt various pieces of surgical string only on that side. Slowly, she lifted her eyes to meet her mates. "D-did you do this to me?"

"No!" Ryan instantaneously yelled and stood with his hands in the air, "you ran out of the house. You ran from your brothers, me, our relationship because I don't know why. You wouldn't listen to Seans words when he told you to sleep, and a demon came and attacked you. Angel—I—," Ryan paused for a few seconds while looking at the corner of the room, "you almost died."

While being hesitant on believing Ryan, Neela looked around the room to have very foggy memories of jumping out of a window and running, then feeling a floaty sensation. Was that her memory of almost dying? "I was having seizures while you were dying. I-I couldn't come see your body or to try and help because I had to be left on the ground, convulsing, because I was in so much pain."

Ryan walked back over to the bed and deeply looked Neela in her eyes, "my demon willingly took all of your pain, so you wouldn't feel any of it."

Neela took that as a lie, "he loves it when I'm in pain, though."

"No, Neela," Ryan spoke seriously. "Demons have a choice to take their mates' pain if they want. I didn't want to take your pain, I could've changed you to be like me if it didn't take your pain." Ryan's eyes begun to shake, "I've been asking father about how the process goes, friends, family. I've been preparing, waiting for the day to do it, but when the time could be right—it just wasn't." Ryan whispered softly.

"You could have just done it at any time, right now if you wanted." Neela shrugged which made Ryan chuckle, "I couldn't do that to you while you were well."

"You've done a lot more to me while I was well," Neela started matter of factly while trying to sit up, but failing. "That was my demon doing it to you, I had no choice in that. You know this much, you know my feelings for you."

"But, why would you stop there?" Ryan froze to those words, "you've branded me, kidnapped me, fed from me. There's a lot more you could do, why stop?" For the first time, Ryan felt a lot of emotions wash over him in that little phrase, and it hurt a lot.

Yes, it had always hurt him to see Neela hurt, but this was a new kind of hurt he's never experienced. "Neela, you are paralyzed for a week. You see all of your memories, all your friends leave your mind. They're crying out for you, you're probably crying for them. But you can't do anything about it because you're not able to move; they all become dead to you, you wouldn't know anything about them anymore. The only memories you would have are with the person who changed you."

Neela gulped as she heard Ryan's words come out freely and truthfully. There was no hesitation in his eyes while he spoke, a sign of telling the truth. "Please don't do that to me," Neela's eyes begged into Ryan's.

As Ryan looked into her eyes, something looked confused in Neela's eyes. When Ryan would do the smallest touches to Neela's skin, or the slightest bit of air that touched her that came from his mouth, her heartbeat would pick up and he could feel his mate growing nervous. "You're starting to feel me," Ryan bent his knees and came just inches away from Neela's face.

Knowing that what he said was, once again, true, tears begun to well up in Neela's eyes. "I don't wanna have feelings for someone who has hurt me. You helped push my dad over the edge to kill himself," Neela sat up this time, not missing a beat. Had she regretted it when she did? Yup, but she wasn't going to let him see her in pain.

"Neela, just please let me in. My love can heal you," Ryan was almost on his knees. Neela could tear Ryan apart more than he, or his demon, could ever do. And right now, she's ripping him limb from limb. "I'll make it all better, I promise."

Defeated, Neela laid back down on her hospital bed. "I don't know what to do." Neela was at a crossroad in this situation. She could try to be happy with whom she was destined to be with, or she could keep the cold act going on while still trying to find a way out.