Predator

19.

To whom it may concern,

I am currently the guardian of all demons and even humans whom live in this realm that I'm currently in. I know everything about my people, though it may take time, I will always figure it out.

To the recipients of this letter, why have you decided to leave when your lord has asked for you? Were you all trying to hide something? That's what the royals and I all think. If Ryan Soptic is innocent, he wouldn't have fled the demon realm.

I am giving you all one last chance, Soptic family. Come back and be presented to me in the month or be captured with no trial.

Damien kept reading the letter he had received over and over again. He knew in that point in time, nothing would go well. They were being backed into a corner and Damien put them in that corner by making them take the move to Romania.

Everyone except Neela and Caleb were in the living room when Damien wanted to have the discussion, he didn't want to worry the two youngest of the family. Damien didn't want to sugarcoat anything anymore, he just needed everyone to come up with a plan that could help everyone involved. "Egin knows where we are," he stood before his boys and spoke in a calm voice, "he wants us back and presented in the month."

The whole rooms' atmosphere changed in the moment. All eyes were on Ryan. The boys all had the concept of what would have to happen for any of this to work out; this has happened with Rin before her passing.

Putting Neela in hiding. Away from the family. Cutting all contact with her. Staying away from Ryan.

"How?" Ryan asked with a blank stare while peering out the window to his right, his same-sided hand played with his bottom lip. "We can't just kick Neela out of our lives, then come back in a few years like everything is okay."

"Ryan, please. Neela is what needs to be shielded from all of this." Damien deeply sympathized for Ryan as he had to go through this as well. He felt the same type of anger and sickness that Ryan was feeling in that moment. "I'm not going to be the one to do it. I may have done many terrible things to Neela, but backstabbing her won't be one of those things I do."

~~

That day Neela had a sense of deja vu when she and Caleb came home from school. All of the boys were crying and refusing to look her way. Ryan even, once again, left to go hide away in their bedroom. This all felt like the day Damien told Neela about her dad's suicide.

"Neela, please," Damien spoke with his hand out, ready for his daughter to take hold of it. "I have to talk to you." Neela didn't like how Damien looked. His attire was almost always a neat, 3-piece suit. His hair would always be styled to the side with some hair gel that always made his hair appear to be wet. But not now. It looked like he had just got out of bed. His face was not washed. hair unkempt and not styled, and his only attire was a pair of pajama pants and a white v-neck.

Instead of taking Damien's hand, Neela stayed back, next to Caleb. "Now what happened?" Neela was already feeling sick to her stomach, she knew something bad was going to happen and that no one was prepared for it. So, what was it?

Damien put his hand down and rested both of his hands on his thighs while he leaned down to talk to Neela. "Do you want to go home?" Damien tried to speak in a happy voice but the tears that ran down his face were anything but happy. "What do you mean?" Neela was always told that home was with Ryan and his family, home was there, she didn't have a home with anybody else.

"We—I will handle all of the expenses," Damien stuttered before standing up and looking away from Neela. He couldn't stand seeing the shock and confusion in Neela's eyes. She was hurting, he could tell. "It's a confusing and hurtful thing for all of us but we need to protect you first."

"I-i still don't understand? Go home?"

"Back to the home you had before we brought you here," Landon's muffled voice reached Neela's ears from behind his hands. "Remember why we moved away? The man from the demon realm wanted us to be presented, remember him?" Sean talked down to Neela like she were a child and he went to wrap his arm around her shoulders, "we were found out and things could get messy if you come with us."

Damien spoke back up and stood directly in front of Neela, "this is the only way to keep you safe. This is the right thing to do."

"We all want you to spend one more night here and while you're sleeping," they really didn't. Knowing Ryan, he wanted her to leave that very moment. He wanted his last good memory of Neela to be her smiling and loving him like that morning. "you and I will be teleported back to Colorado. We both have to act like you've been found by me."

Neela's eyes begun to well up with tears. "W-w-What if I never see any of you again?"

"You can talk to Ryan and Ethan in your mind all the time," Damien grabbed a handful of Neela's hair and put the dark locks behind her shoulders, "me? You'll see me every time you need questioned but as a different person."

"Where will I live? What will I tell people?"

"I'm gonna take you to a place where you'll be very protected. And so you can keep living there, I want you to tell everyone the truth."

~~

Whenever Neela went up to bed, all Ryan could do was hold her in his arms and cry silently to himself. Neela barely slept while in his arms, but Ryan didn't notice.

"Ryan," Damien slowly entered the bedroom which made Neela clench the fabric of Ryan's shirt, which he noticed. "It's time, son." He shook his head and held his mate closer to his body, "wake up, angel, it's okay." Ryan coughed through his sobs.

"Please don't make me go, Damien." Neela begin sobbing as well, "I-I want Ryan."

"And you will have Ryan again very soon. We just have to do this quick thing and then you won't have to leave anymore," Damien said while attempting to coax Neela to his side, so Landon can teleport them. "We all want you to be protected, Neela. We can't protect you as best we want to right now, this is the only choice we have."

For once, Ryan was able to say that his anger didn't get the best of him. However, he still held onto Neela right up until they were teleported away. Ryan promised himself that he would not backstab Neela and he didn't, he fought until the very last second. And he was still going to fight. He was going to fight the charges that Egin has against him. He was going to fight to get Neela back. He was going to fight for his right to love Neela, to have the life they both deserve.