Prey.

44.

She had begun to feel lightheaded as Ryan's demon carried her to his bed by her throat. He released his hand and dropped her on the bed before the pain got worse. Ryan forcibly jerked her so she was face to face to him and placed his arms around her waist.

Neela peered up and noticed that Ryan's eyes were closed, his breathing pattern had also changed to a more steady and deep one. All that could be heard was the ticking of a grandfather clock and Ryan's breathing.

He could feel her eyes on his face, so he grabbed the back of her head and jerked her head forward so his chin rested on top of her head, her face against his chest. "I—do you love me?" Neela blurted out her words which made Ryan sit up in the bed so he could get a better look at Neela.

"Of course," Ryan spoke simply, "why'd you ask?"

She looked down into her lap as her dainty fingers went to play with Ryan's to hopefully not make him anymore angrier than he already was. "Because you hurt me. If you love me, then why do you hurt me?"

"You know good and well I have no control over what happens when we're careless." Ryan snatched his hand out of Neela's. "I'm sorry," Neela whispered to herself, "I don't wanna make you mad."

"Just know this," Ryan's demon grabbed the back of Neela's hair as he hunched his back to become face-to-face with her. "No one will love you anymore than Ryan. Now me? You could die and I wouldn't feel a thing."

Neela asked in confusion, "then why'd you take away my pain when I was dying? Or why aren't you hurting me now?" Ryan's demon groaned and laid back down, "keep asking questions and see where it gets you, I dare you."

~~

Ryan banged loudly on Neela's door, making her jolt awake. "I know you had the same dream," Neela grew nervous once she heard his voice. "I'm tired of us having to deal with this. Let me in and we can try to see if something works, okay?" Ryan pounded again, "please, Neela, I just want to sleep!"

Neela walked up to the door and slowly opened it, "look at you, you poor thing," Ryan cooed, "you're so sleepy."

"I've been dealing with these for years, I don't know why it's taking such a damper on me now." Neela complained as she went to her bed and laid down. "I can't relate to that, I've only had good dreams of you until recently. My demon now decides to take away your nightmares and manipulate them so I'm conscious of what's happening." Ryan flashed Neela his glove-covered hands and proceeded to cup her cheek. "Can you still feel me?" Ryan changed the subject to something the couple was both curious about.

"If you came here just to tease me about something I can't get out of, just leave." Luckily Neela was wearing a long-sleeved shirt to bed, or something could've went bad when she pushed away Ryan's arms. "No, baby," Ryan cooed and placed both of his hands on Neela's cheeks. "I'm just curious about what you're feeling. You need to talk about it or you're gonna go crazy with emotions," Ryan sat on his knees in between Neela's legs as one hand begun playing with her hair, "you've been through too much," Ryan whispered while sincerely looking into Neela's eyes. "I told you before, my love can heal you. You just have to let me in," he slowly inched himself to stand while Neela was unknowingly moving back on the bed. "You could really get hurt if you don't express your feelings."

Neela then went on about how it's so hard to trust anyone, she just doesn't know how to let people in; it's a scary thing for her to try and do. "You have a lot of friends who are girls," Ryan stated, "is it because you're afraid of boys?"

Neela shrugged, "I don't know. Everything's just confusing, and now that I'm here, I don't know what to do."

Ryan brought his mate closer to his side and carefully put his arm around her shoulder, "look at me," he gently demanded. "All of this will get easier as long as you let us in."

Neela sighed and laid down, "I really don't wanna talk about this anymore."

"It's okay, it's all a confusing situation." Ryan grabbed three or four pillows that were scattered across Neela's room and placed them on her left side. "This'll be our border, I don't trust us sleeping skin-to-skin just yet."

Neela was almost asleep. She laid on her back and intertwined her fingers across her waist. Ryan still felt uneasy and nervous about everything he had seen in the dream, it was all so realistic. He laid on his right side, facing the pillow border. With a sigh, Ryan reached out his gloved hand and gently took ahold of Neela's wrist.

Neela tensed up but Ryan quickly calmed her thumping heart by rubbing his thumb across her knuckles, "the gloves are on, remember?" He whispered.

"Will this ever become normal?" Neela opened her eyes and just stared at the white ceiling above her. "Of course it will, we're gonna be just like father and mother." Ryan spoke in a hushed voice while still making the rubbing motion with his thumb, "I want us to talk more about this soon, please. We can even talk about it with father, if that's what you want."

Neela sigh and held Ryan's gloved hand, "I'm gonna try and trust you." She spoke truthfully and actually smiled for the first time since she started living with them. Even though he couldn't see her, Ryan's heart swelled with love and butterflies filled his stomach.

For once, instead of sharing pain, they're sharing happiness. "Thank you, angel," Ryan spoke with a smile on his face, "go to sleep now, it might be a little easier."