Chapter 96
AYLA
I was restless in the new place. Unexpectedly, the room Massimo gave me was not a storeroom but a big bedroom equipped with everything I could imagine.
But I still couldn’t sleep. My mind kept telling me that I should go out once I stopped hearing Massimo’s movements and scan the whole place to find out routes of escape and things that might help me in case Massimo tried anything. Call me paranoid for good reasons, but I couldn’t trust that man not to barge into my room in the middle of the night and take advantage of me again. Or worse, he could try to kill me and I was not ignoring that thought.
I was not idiot enough to sleep peacefully under the same roof as my father’s enemy and the man who blackmailed me.
However, a small voice in my head tried to stop me from roaming his home at night. I shouldn’t go out alone and remain locked inside my room, it said.
I have never actually listened to that voice though.
That’s why I found myself checking the windows and doors in the house, scanning the sharp objects, even the lamps. But it all stopped the moment I heard loud groans as if someone was in pain.
Call it my bad luck, but I recognized that voice instantly. It was Massimo. He was in pain. For some reason, that thought unsettled me instead of satisfying me.
And so, I followed the noise and ended up in his room. Surprisingly, he had not even locked his door and left it ajar. The lights in his room were all turned on, as he twisted in his bed.
This told me that he was not afraid of me creeping up on him and killing him. I was no threat to him, like he was to me.
That thought instantly left me when I observed him screaming in his sleep.
“M-Mom. Dad. You promised.” He kept repeating the same words.
Mom and Dad, you promised to stay with me. Always.
His words, the pain reflected on his contorted face, and his hands clinging to the sheets as he screamed for his parents made my chest ache.
It was unbelievable for me to see my father’s worst nightmare to be yearning for his parents in his sleep. It felt like he had suffered a deep scar on his soul, and it didn’t heal.
Like me.
I used to cry in my sleep too, asking my parents to come for me. In my nightmares, I always found myself in that dark place, alone and in pain.
At that moment, I felt Massimo’s unknown pain as my own and reached for him on instinct. My fear of touching a man disappeared once more, as I shook him and tried to get him out of that nightmare.
When it didn’t work, I sat there, holding his hand, and waiting for his pain to pass. Maybe, my touch could assure him that he was not alone in that place.
It worked. He woke up with a startled gasp before his arms closed around my body and pulled me flush against his bare chest.
My eyes widened, my heart hammered in my chest and my palms sweated as he crushed me in his embrace and rested his face in my neck, inhaling and exhaling ragged breaths.
My body trembled softly. I should pull away, I should push him-the thoughts were there. Instead of listening to those rational thoughts, I patted his back, hoping to offer some comfort.
For some moments, until his tense shoulders calmed down, I forgot who he was. He was not the man who hurt me or was after my father, or the man who vowed to make me suffer. He was just someone hurting like me and I comforted him like I wanted to be comforted in my darkest moments.
Now, look where it got me.
“Massimo!” I hiss, trying to free myself as he pushes me inside the shower room.
The big area appears small just because his towering figure is looming over me.
I shouldn’t, but I am noticing how his eyes darken, and his ruffled hair fall over his forehead, making him appear like an angry, wounded man.
‘Have you gone mad?” I whisper, stopping myself from glancing at his naked chest and those abs.
I felt them against my body just now, and I am still shaken up, unable to get these sparks out of my veins.
His jaw clenches, as he glares me down. “You took me too lightly, little Kitten p>
“No, I— “I pause as I watch him turning and walking towards the cabinet.
“You should have stayed inside your room, like I told you to.” He murmurs, his shoulders tensing again.
Alarms ring in my head, telling me that I should run and lock myself inside my room. He hadn’t looked this cold even when he first threatened me. “What makes you think I will listen to you?!” I scoff.
“You are in my house, under my fucking control!” He yells, returning at the speed of light.
I gasp as I find him skipping such a big distance in seconds. My eyes widen, first going to the cabinets and then landing on his darkened eyes. “Massimo, how did you p>
He steps closer, making me gasp and step into the wall behind me. He seizes my wrist forcefully and before I can notice it, locks something around it.
A sting starts in my skin, drawing my wide eyes to the slightly burning flesh under the handcuff around my wrist.
Instantly, I feel my head spinning and my lungs constricting. It’s silver-Goddess, it’s the f g silver. It’s brutal to werewolves, as it weakens their abilities and burns their skin. “Take it off, Massimo. “I say, but my voice sounds slow and muffled.
Massimo’s cold fingers brush against my cheek. I look up, meeting his narrowed, and hollow gaze.
“Stay here until I return from the pack patrol.” He whispers, his lips curling into a smirk.
He drags the handcuffs to my back and locks the other end on the railing in the shower room. My wrist burns every time the cuff tightens around it or touches my skin. “Take it off right fucking now or else p>
“What will you do, Kitty?” He takes another step closer, pressing me firmly into the wall.
Panic splurges forth, making me shake my head. “Get -Get away from me p>
“The only thing you could ever do was to tell your Daddy. And you burned that boat tonight. Now, you should know that you need to listen to me, or I will make you.” His eyes flash golden as he emphasizes each word.
Hurt flashes across my face. That’s right. A weakling like me could only tell her Dad what others were doing to her so he could protect me. But I didn’t. I didn’t tell him how those men traumatized me, or what Cassian did.
“Funny of you to assume that I would have told him anything, Massimo. I am enough for you. Open these handcuffs right now, or else, I will make sure you understand why you should never mess with me.” I steel my nerves and hiss, but my voice weakens as the effects of silver intensify.
“Stay here until I return, like I said. I know you won’t listen to me, so I am going to make sure that you can not do what you want either! You will learn the hard way, that you should never cross me again, Ayla Alvarez. Whatever I say, you must do it or I will make you!” He growls in my face before he turns away.
I open my mouth to tell him to f**k off when the water starts pouring over my head from the shower atop. “Massimo!” I yell.
He chuckles, and strolls out of the bathroom, leaving me handcuffed and locked inside. When I think it can’t get any worse, and that I will get away, the lights in the bathroom turn off, leaving me suspended in the dreaded darkness.
“Massimo!” I scream, my breaths becoming labored. “Massimo, come back p>
I can’t be in the darkness. I am so scared of it.