Chapter Forty-Nine
Chapter Forty-Nine
Isabelle groaned as her eyes fluttered open, the pounding in her head making it difficult to gather her thoughts. She just lay there, staring up at the ceiling, a frown marring her face as she realized that it looked unfamiliar. She closed her eyes and opened them again, hoping that it was a figment of her imagination. But alas, the unfamiliar ceiling was still there, staring down at her with an impunity that irritated her.
Her brows furrowed in confusion as she tried to remember the events of the previous day. She had gone to see her father, she had fallen into a trance, she had discovered that the man she thought to be her father wasn’t. The last thing she remembered was the accident and the car flying into a ditch.
Isabelle gasped loudly and sat up in the bed, a scream tearing from her throat as she turned to see the naked, hairy chest of a man lying next to her. She jumped out of the bed with sheets wrapped around her, ignoring the pounding in her head and the aches in her bones. All she knew was that she needed to be as far away as she possibly could.
She looked down at herself to see that her own clothes were gone, and instead she was dressed in a robe that was easily twice her size. Anger and fear warred inside her as she wondered if he had been the one to change her.
But that was a problem for a later time...
Her eyes widened further in shock as Lucien awoke and sat up on the bed, stretching his hands above his head like it was the most natural thing in the world.
Isabelle was thoroughly confused. Her eyes widened further as she tried to make sense of the morning.
“What the fuck are you doing here?!” She asked, her voice hoarse from the ear-piercing scream.
Lucien smiled at her. “Good morning, my love,” he greeted, ignoring her question.
Isabelle took a step back, her eyes wide in anger and panic. She didn’t understand what was going on, try as hard as she might to make sense of the situation.
“What are you doing here?!” she asked again.
Lucien cocked his head to the side and stared at her in amusement. “What do you mean? I live here!”
Isabelle broke out in a cold sweat as she continued to stare at her fated mate. She hadn’t seen him for so long that she was beginning to forget about him. Khalil had made it so that she almost forgot about the man whom the moon goddess had created for her.
But the more she continued to stare at him, the more she was convinced that the moon goddess must have made a mistake. Why would you send a lunatic into her life? Had she not already suffered enough? Why would she send to her a man who had kidnapped her and was smiling at her with pure happiness and glee? She broke her gaze because it made her uncomfortable to continue looking at the shirtless man.
“What am I doing here, Lucien?” she asked, her voice belying a calm that she definitely did not feel.
Lucien got out of the large bed and spread his arms out, a Cheshire grin on his face. “I brought you to my home!” he declared cheerfully, blissfully oblivious to the turmoil the poor lady was facing on the other side of the room.
“You kidnapped me...” Isabelle replied, her voice calm as she held on tight to the neck of her robe till her knuckles began to turn white.
Lucien waved a finger at her and shook his head at her words. “You’re wrong, my love...” he said. “I brought you back to where you belong.”
Isabelle shook her head vehemently. “No...” she whispered.
Lucien nodded. “Yes...You are home...” he said firmly. “This is where you belong, Isabelle.”
Isabelle shook her head vehemently, refusing to believe the reality she found herself in. “No…I want to go home…” she said.
The smile fell from Lucien’s face, quickly replaced by irritation. He hated that she refused to see the truth…to accept it. Why was it so hard for her to be happy with him? Why was she insistent on choosing that other man? Why couldn’t she understand that he was the one the moon goddess chose for her? Why could she not understand that she was right where she belonged?
“You are home,” he said as he took deep breaths.
“This isn’t where I belong…” Isabelle said, more to herself than to the irate man who stood next to the bed.
“I am your mate, Isabelle. This is where you belong…with me!”
Isabelle shook her head; every word that came out of his mouth only served to irritate her. His presence suffocated her, and she unconsciously found herself turning her head towards the open window.
“No,” she finally replied. “I don’t belong here. You stole me from my mate…”
That was the straw that broke the camel’s back. Lucien’s eyes twitched at her words. In that moment, he swore to himself that he would not stop until he had Khalil’s head for brainwashing his mate. He had waited years for her, prayed and travelled the world, and when the moon goddess had finally answered his prayers…and even gave him a very powerful woman, that bastard wanted to take her away from him.
No. He would have to pay the ultimate price for that.
“I am your mate!” He yelled. “Or did you forget that while you were with that bastard?!”
Fear crept and wrapped itself around Isabelle’s heart. He took several steps back until her back hit the wall. She wanted to get away from him, from his temper. There was something about him, something that was not there the first time they met. He seemed different, felt different...it felt dark...and she wanted to be as far away from it as possible.
Isabelle held her robe tighter as she tried to calm the pounding in her chest. “You need to let me go, Lucien...” she said softly. “I do not belong here. No matter what you say...”
Lucien chuckled; the sound of his amusement sent chills down Isabelle’s spine. She could not place her finger on it, but something wasn’t right.
“Now that I have you,” he said. “It would take the cold hands of death to pry you away from me, Isabelle.”
Isabelle gasped; the glint in his eyes told her that he meant every word of what he said. And that only served to scare her more. In that moment, she decided that she needed to remove herself from his house. She needed to leave. She needed to find a way to reach Khalil. He would come and get her. He would save her. She would find Sean.
She gasped loudly as she remembered the man who had driven her to her father’s pack. She turned to face Lucien, whose eyes were still trained on her, surveying her every move. Her eye narrowed into slits as she faced him.
“What did you do to him?” she asked, her voice filled with anger and venom.
Lucien cocked his head to the side and stared at her in confusion. “What did I do with who?”
“Sean!”
“Who’s Sean?”
“My driver! What did you do with him?! Where is he?!”
Lucien clicked his fingers and chuckled. “Ah, that one,” he said, his eyes twinkling in amusement. “He tried to play the hero when I wanted to get you...”
Isabelle’s blood ran cold in her veins at the implication of the madman’s words. “Did you kill him?” she asked, her eyes blurring with tears.
Lucien shrugged. “I don’t think I did. He was bleeding when I left him,” he answered. “Although...if he died, it would be nothing short of what he deserved for trying to keep you away from me.”
Isabelle choked on a sob as she fell to her knees. Tears flowed freely down her cheeks, guilt overtaking her anger. She began to regret ever going to see her father; she wished she had told Khalil where she had been going; she wished that the moon goddess had had better taste than to give her a psychotic man for a mate.
“What’s the problem, love?” Lucien asked, completely oblivious to her pain.
Isabelle looked up at him, her eyes filled with anger and hatred. “You rammed into us, didn’t you?”
Lucien laughed nervously and ran his hand through his hair. “Yes, sorry about that. It had to be done. There was no better way, unfortunately.”
She needed to leave. Expeditiously.
She rose to her feet, slowly, drying her cheeks with the sleeves of her robe as she rose. She resumed her search for her belongings and finally turned to Lucien when she didn’t see them.
“Where are my things?” she asked, her voice calm and steady in complete contrast to the emotions warring inside her.
Lucien smiled at her, mistaking her calm for acceptance. “Your clothes were bloodied, so my housekeeper is tending to them,” he replied and reached into the nightstand, retrieving her mother’s diary that her father had given to her. “I also found this on you.”
Isabelle gasped and rushed forward to grab it from his hands, wiping the surface as though to get the touch of him off her book.
“Where is my phone?” she asked.
The smile disappeared from his face. “What do you need it for?”
“I need it to call Khalil to get me out of here!”
Lucien’s anger boiled over. He crossed the room and grabbed Isabelle by her forearms, pulling her close to him until there was nothing but a hair’s breadth between them. Isabelle struggled to free herself from him as his fingers dug painfully into her arm.
“Do not ever mention the name of that bastard to me again,” he hissed as he held her close to him.
“Let go of me!”
“This is where you belong, Isabelle,” he continued. “With me! You belong with me!”
“No!”
In that moment, Isabelle knew that she would not be able to share another second with the madman holding her captive. She raised her leg and kneed him in the groin with all the power she could muster, sighing in relief as he released her and doubled over to the ground, his hands holding on to his family jewels.
Isabelle rushed towards the door, sighing in relief as it opened, and found her way around the house, panting heavily as she ran down the stairs, knocking down a few servants as she ran. She needed to get away from him as soon as possible. She needed to leave. It didn’t matter to her how long she had to run, or how far. All that mattered was that she needed to get away from the madman.
She sighed in relief as she finally found the front door, but just as her hand closed over the handle, a hand wrapped itself around her waist and pulled her back into a hard body. Her body froze as Lucien’s voice whispered in her ear.
“You are mine.”
The last thing she remembered was a pinch in her neck, and then her whole world went black.