I came down the stairs after my shower, hair still dripping water onto my favorite Van Halen T-shirt. The house was surprisingly quiet, which gave it an eerie feeling like a haunted house in the horror movies Darren loved to watch so much. As I made my way down the long hallway a door to my left jolted open and I jumped back in surprise. My adrenaline already pumping, my body was still hyperaware after the zombie attack. 

Anna held me with her cold gaze, eyes trailing over me quickly. I stood up a little straighter, running my hand over my shirt--smoothing out the wrinkles. 

"Alexei is waiting for you in the dining room." Her voice was full of boredom as she relayed the message to me. 

I pressed my lips together in a tight line, "Well if he has been waiting this long, he can wait a little longer." I watched her lips twitch upward as she relaxed her stance a bit, leaning her shoulder into the doorframe as she crossed her arms over her chest. The position seemed out of place on her, she had to regal of a look and air about her for it not come across as forced. 

"You should be careful little witch..." I bit back the urge to correct, "While I quite enjoy your fighting spirit...it reminds me a lot of myself, to be honest. You may not want to poke the beast. It has far less patience and from the fact that you haven't been marked yet shows me that both Alexei and the beast are stretched very thin at the moment." She gave me a knowing look, eyes drifting to the soft spot of my neck. 

I reached up an scratched the spot lightly, my skin crawling at the images her words had conjured, "Shouldn't you care a little more that your guy is going around claiming I'm his mate? I mean you are his girlfriend or companion...or whatever you people call it." I couldn't say that I wasn't curious to understand the relationship between the two of them, but I tried to convince myself it came from a place of understanding their species of supernatural. 

Anna threw her head back with a laugh, even that looking queenly, "His girlfriend...hah..." I ground my teeth together at her mocking my question, my magic hissing through my veins at the flux of my emotions. 

She leveled me with a slightly mischievous gaze, "I would rather be given any other title, dead being among them before I let myself be considered so attached to Alexei Grimm. Don't worry little witch there is nothing between me and your mate, nothing but hot air." 

I furrowed my brow in confusion, "But he said...and your clothes were in his room." 

She let her arms fall to her sides, with a sigh, "I was his companion but thankfully for my sake...now that he has found you we have both been spared from that interaction. We are free from the necessary evil the bound us together...or we will be once his mark mars your perfect virgin flesh." Her eyes darken a bit as she gives me a toothy grin. My heart began to beat heavily in my chest. Fear was not an emotion that I felt often but right now I could almost say that is what I felt. 

"I don't understand the difference..." I mumbled as I took a step back, wanting more space between the two of us. I couldn't tell if she was serious about being happy I had come between them or if the dark look in her eyes was her contemplating how to murder me. 

She pushed off the door frame, holding her feral looking grin as she encroached on my space, "No you don't, that you've made abundantly clear." She reached out with a clawed hand, playing with the tips of my hair that rested just above my breast, "But you will, little witch." 

My magic was sizzling white hot in my veins as Anna held me captive in her icy gaze, "Alexei will never let you go, not now...not ever. Don't believe a word that comes out of that wolf's mouth. Whatever he has promised to you is simply him blowing smoke to appease your humanity. You lost yourself the moment you met him." 

She stepped back away from, leaving me breathing heavily. Her feral smile was gone, in it's place was something far more pitiful, "Now hurry along, Alexei does not like to be kept waiting. I know that from experience." She stepped back into her room, closing the door behind her. 

I turned on quick feet and moved toward the dining room, her words twisting around in my mind and tying my thoughts into knots. The dining room had been cleared of of everyone except for myself and Alexei, who sat at the far end of the long table. I wasn't fond of the idea of spending anymore time alone with him after our interlude in his office. Clearly there was something between us as he claimed and my body craved his touch no matter how sadistic it might be. 

I was pleased to see that he had set a place for me at the far end of the table, making sure the two of us were separated by the long span of dark finished oak. He gave me a look of amusement as I slowly made my way to the table, lifting a glass of what I assumed was wine to his lips. I took a seat in the chair noting a similar glass resting next to my plateful of food. 

"You smell much better without the lingering stink of rotting flesh." He commented as he took a sip from his glass. 

"You really know how to compliment a lady." I gave him a frown as I turned my eyes to the plate of food, steak and potatoes. I picked up my fork and poked at the meat, blood and juices leaking out. I felt my stomach clench at the sight, and my throat burned with a familiar acidic feeling. I dropped the fork and shoved the plate away from me, reaching out for the wine. 

Alexei frowned at me lowering his glass to the table, "Is the food not to your liking, Snowflake?" 

I took a big gulp from the glass, the fruity flavors rinsing away the urge to vomit. I took a deep breath as I lowered the glass, meeting his gaze, "I'm a vegetarian." 

He gave me a wide-eyed look as if he had never heard the word before, silence hanging between us. I watched as he glanced down at his own plate of food, tonguing his cheek for a moment in deep contemplation. He ran his tongue over his teeth as he lifted his dark gaze to me again, brows folding in towards each other, "Very interesting, Snowflake...always full of surprises." He mumbled to himself before he pushed his seat back from the table, rising to his full height. 

I watched him closely as he made his way to my side of the table, his long legs eating up the distant quickly. I scooted back in my chair when he reached out, the things that Anna had said to me screaming loudly that I was in a dangerous position, being at the devils mercy. Only he didn't try to touch me, he simply grabbed my plate of food and removed it from the table. He turned away from me without another word, carrying the dish back into the kitchen and setting it down on the counter. 

The consideration seemed out of place for him. I narrowed my eyes in suspicion as he headed to the fridge, and began pulling out containers of food. I pushed up from my chair, moving slowly towards him, "What are you doing?" 

"Trying to find something more appropriate for you to eat." He replied in a mellow tone. I wasn't sure what to make of his strange behavior, it had to be some kind of game--more smoke he was trying to blow in my direction to keep me from seeing the truth of his actions. 

"Don't worry about it. Let's just discuss what were going to do about the druid. I'd rather not spend anymore time with you than I need to." He stopped his movements lifting his eyes to meet mine. They looked darker than they had moments before. I licked at my lips nervously, his gaze following the motion closely. 

"You're hungry aren't you?" He growled the question. 

The air was beginning to crackle with the tension between us, "I am but--" 

"Then you will eat." He interrupted with a firm tone, returning to what he had been doing. His demanding tone did not sit well with me. 

I narrowed my eyes, "I would rather eat dirt than anything your hands have touched at this point. So your wasting energy and time. The terms we agreed upon was one hour...tick tock." 

He slammed his hands down on the counters as his lips curled up into a snarl, his sharpened canines displayed for me, "You're my mate, Poppy. You will eat what I make you, what I provide for you...from my hand or you can eat the dirt you seem to desire so much." I could tell from his tone and stance that he was deadly serious. 

I crossed my arms over my chest, "Is this how you treated Anna? Trying to cage and control her? No wonder she was so happy to be rid of you." His eyes sparked at my words. 

My lips twisted up into a cruel smile, "You didn't think that I had forgotten about her did you?" 

Alexei rolled his eyes, looking bored with the conversation, "How could anyone forget about the wench? She flaps those lips of her often enough." His tone was cold, he clearly had no warm feelings for her but I wasn't sure he had warm feelings for anyone but himself. 

"You really have no heart. You don't care about anyone but yourself, Alexei Grimm. Everything you do has an ulterior motive of what others can do or get you. I don't know how you imagine things going between the two of us  in your delusional world but listen carefully. There is never going to be anything between us, because I could never love a man like you." I say in an equally cold tone. 

I watched as his face flashed with emotion, before settling back into a blank stare, that made my chest clench tightly. Was it possible that I had struck a nerve? 

"I don't care about love, Snowflake. This isn't a fairytale. I'm the monster that takes the princess and devours her, not the man that slays the beast and saves her." I watched his muscles coiling, his face becoming more angular as the Lycan rose to the surface. 

I took a step back from him, dread building in my stomach. 

He tightened his hands into fists on the counter, hunching forward, "leave me." The words came out deep and guttural. My feet felt like they had been glued to the ground, my magic reaching out towards him. It coiled around him like dark inky tendrils. 

He snarled as it touched him, "Leave me!" He roared as he lifted his half shifted face to me. My magic recoiled, snapping back into me like a rubber band. I felt like I could move again, and I wasted no time turning on my heels and running away. I couldn't stay in this house another minute. 

I didn't care about any promises I'd made.

 I didn't care about my families wishes. 

I didn't care about any of it. 

Alexei had told me to leave and that's what I intended to do. 

I bolted out of the house and into the dark woods. 

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Song: Dark in my Imagination--of Verona

A/N: Oh I think she hurt Alexei's feelings...run little bird, run.