MY DARLING DAREDEVIL

Unstable

Aziza stood rooted at the same spot frozen in place at the end of the call. Her heart was racing inside her chest and her demons were chattering in excitement inside of her. Her stomach had tied into a knot and a beautiful feeling erupted from it, the very opposite of what she had been feeling all morning. How could he hate to see Aziza and still be willing to protect Ivy? It was very confusing and troublesome especially since she knew that she was one and the same. What would he think if he found out?

No, she shook her head and pushed that thought away from her. She liked this feeling, the beauty of his protectiveness and she would be able to be close to him now. Why would he find out that she is Aziza? She can keep the secret for a while longer. At least she would be able to live with herself, she won’t be able to live without him.

Just like the early morning rain, his words had washed away all the pain of the previous night. Everything that she said and everything he said had crumbled into dust and nothing but bliss elated from within her.

“Ivy….” Sloan’s voice snapped her back to reality and she turned to the woman, still in some kind of daze. No one realised the pain that she had been gathering up inside of her after the major events of her life happened the previous night. Daciana’s friendship which she had almost lost, Damon’s rejection and Russell's betrayal. They had all taken a major toil on her, it took a bit of her with them and when Damon had struck her with his sharp words. Life had literally left her and her demons had all died. It was not a rejection but it was close to being one. She had already grown used to being by his side, talking to him and watching him smile sweetly at her every turn. The bond between the both of them could definitely not let her stay so far from him. She had been rejecting the feeling and affection and had been pushing it aside for as long as possible but with the mate bond present, it was harder. It was the invincible rope that tied the both of them and pulled them back to each other no matter how far they were apart. She could surely suppress her feelings and pretend to not feel a thing for him, but could she truly stay away from him when the bond was involved. No more dinner with him, no more car rides, she could not even intrude when saving him anymore. All this, she had been doing for weeks already. How could she suddenly stop? How could she suddenly return to the shadows where she had been living in all this while?

The dejection, the rejection and his anger towards her had worn her out way more than any fight would and it had shown on her body almost immediately. That was why she looked pale and dying moments ago. But even after it seemed like her world was going to end without him. Whether she admitted it or not, her essence sprang back to life immediately after the call. She might be fooling him into thinking that she was a different person but it was way better than never being close to him.

“Ivy….” Sloan pulled her strongly by her arm and pulled her back to her dress table. Again, she was snapped out of her daze and was forced to face the mirror in her room while Sloan applied lotion on her hands to help her prepare since she was worse than a child who had a crush. One word from Damon and she was looking like she would die from it.

“Ahhhhh…. what are you doing?” Ivy came back to her senses and jerked away from Sloan when she tried to take off her robe.

“Damon is coming….do you really want to keep him waiting?” Sloan snapped and tried taking off her robe again but Ivy only moved aside with wide eyes.

“Are you mad?”

“I can take care of myself.” She retorted harshly.

“I know you can, dimwit…”

Ivy raised her brows up at her. Sloan didn’t curse that much before, definitely Maddie’s influence.

“Am I the only one or you seem to have different personalities?” Sloan faced palmed herself. Ivy glared at her and took the lotion from her hand, then she walked over to the bathroom with a huff. They were crazy, they were the only ones going crazy.

Sloan stared at her retreating form with an amused look. Then she scoffed and turned to Maddie who was sitting on the bed.

“I think she is crushing on your boss,”

“Yes, she is. But why is she protecting her nakedness like I would take her virginity away from her?”

Aziza’s ears turned red and so did her face at the words that were leaving the mouth of those women.

“Tsk…”

“I can hear you,” she yelled.

“We know…” they chorused in reply. Her eyes went wide and all she could think about were how crazy they were but almost immediately after, they chuckled at how funny the situation was. Was she really making friends?

A moment later, she stepped out of the bathroom while Maddie held out her undies so shamelessly for her. she groaned at the rude behaviour they were both showing and how they saw it as nothing. It was her privacy, why were they touching things no one else had ever touched, except for Russel of course who had seen so much more. She trusted him to such an extent and saw him as a man who would never hurt her no matter what the case was, she could go around the house naked even if he was there. How stupid she was to have trusted people so blindly.

“Do you want me to put it on you?” Maddie’s harsh and shrewd voice pulled her from one of her many thoughts. She flashed her a glare and snatched her under things from her hands, then she picked up the cloth that Sloan had picked up for her and walked over to the bathroom. She was still very much uncomfortable with the both girls and would never imagine changing in front of them, not ever, not with the scars she had. But they saw it differently and would make fun of her over her attitude.

With a quick move, she wore the dress that Sloan had picked up for her, one of the many things the woman bought newly and surprisingly, it was the perfect fit.

“Come out already.” Sloan yelled again, giving her no time to actually look at herself as she opened the bathroom door and pulled her out herself. Her mouth opened wide and fell when she saw that Ivy was already dressed up. The chance to make fun of her was ruined and she could only gape at her. Ivy, who had heard them mumbling of how they were going to storm in and drag her out naked smirked and walked past her to the mirror where she got ready for the day's work.

Maddie had helped her with her hair and Sloan after she recovered applied a little makeup on her face since she was simply too pale. When they were done, she smiled at her reflection in the mirror and thought of Damon and what he was going to think. Sloan sure knew how to dress up. She had picked up the perfect black pants with a matching belt that hung tightly on her stomach. It was more like a design rather than a belt to hold her waist since the trouser was already tight enough. Then she wore a white long sleeve turtleneck shirt. She looked simple enough, yet elegant. Her hair was packed up into a ponytail, giving the view of her perfect face and beauty. She wore simple jewellery and a black heel.

Her smile faltered and she shook the thought of him away from her head. She had never cared about what she was dressed like or what she looked like in front of him and definitely would not start now because it no longer mattered. She reminded herself. It never mattered. She gave that opportunity years ago.

Just in time, a car’s honk shook the small apartment and Ivy jerked. Her heart skipped a mile when she perceived his strong presence, and it started beating loudly inside her chest. But before she thought of anything else, Maddie slammed a bag into her hand and Sloan was pulling her out.

Cars were lined up in front of their apartment and it had almost blocked off the small street where their apartment was found. Most of the guards were outside and looking very alert while some remained in the car. The presence of such hefty men in suits was awakening and it piqued the curiosity of people who were around. They started peeking through the door and others stood still just to watch what was happening while their cell phones were already out, making sure to capture whatever was about to happen the next moment.

Ivy stepped out of the house with Sloan in front of her. Her heart kept beating loudly inside her chest and the thought of being so close to Damon made her a nervous wreck. What if he recognized her? What if he hated her more for lying? What if he decided to not become the prince right after all this? Could she handle it?

Those thoughts were cut off from her mind when the door to a Mercedes was opened and she was pushed inside like a woman who had been arrested. His scent hit her, plunging deep into her lungs and heart like angry birds charging for their nest. Cold crawled up her spine with his strong presence and to prove that he was completely in a wicked state of mind, darkness ensued from his presence. The aura around him was suffocating and it neither eased the tension or panic she had felt earlier. It instead made it worse that she could not even bear to turn her head to look at him.

Damon had been in a very rare mood for hours and the wrong move could make him explode and ruin everything within his path. His rage was unfathomable and his hurt was unimaginable. Yet he found himself thinking about Aziza at every turn, it made him so angry, his demons were killing him and pushing at his subconsciousness. With each push they made, wanting to be released to express their hurt over their mate’s rejection or anger towards their mate, they stretched the wall of his mind and pushed against the drugs that were suppressing them. Their attempts only made his headache worse than it had ever been and he found himself reaching out for his pills again. It was already the fifth one for that morning. But nothing seemed to be working. He had not been able to sleep all night. Not with her rejection, not with the knowledge of not being human and definitely not with the fact that someone had died.

He picked the container and opened it up. Ivy whipped her head towards him when she saw the action taking place and wanted to reach out for his hand and throw the drugs away. They had found out that he was not human, why was he suppressing himself? But one look at him, plunged something sharp into her heart and she stopped herself. Damon’s hair looked like it had lost its brightness and his skin had lost its colour. His face was pulled into a tight frown that not only revealed his annoyance but his discomfort and pain. She knew that she had caused this, and needed no one to explain to her the toil she had put on him. They were mates after all and what she felt, he could feel as well. The guilt and pain of knowing that she who was bound to protect him and keep him safe, was also the same person who was hurting him gnawed at her. Painfully, she looked away and turned to the window where she could pretend to be able to breathe very well, or pretend to not feel his pain that was intertwined with hers. What could a single word do now? Her demons whimpered and tears burned the back of her eyes, tears she pushed back.

“Maybe she did ruin his peaceful life, again.”

At the other side of the car, Damon suppressed a groan when the headache only intensified and hit him even harder. He had taken the drugs so much, its potency was beginning to be questioned. The pain neither eased up nor did the urge to tear something apart die down. The urge was even stronger now and it gnawed at him. He wanted relief but all he got was nothing but pain. He balled his hand into a fist, unable to take it anymore and instantly punched hard against the window beside him.

The action shocked Ivy, she jerked and turned to him. But Damon cared less about the woman who was sitting beside him and he punched harder against the window that he had given a dent. Aziza’s face popped into his mind and so did her red hair. He got even more agitated and his demons roared and cried at the same time, making his emotions even more unstable than they were.

“Aziza…” he cried and kept punching his fist into the same dented window, finding a way to relieve his pain as much as possible.

“Damon….” A familiar voice cried out from behind him but he was too occupied with the torment he was inflicting on himself to care or hear her out when he never wanted to see her again. Ivy’s heart bled but before he could keep punching at the window, she blocked his fist with hers. It hit hard against the window and it shattered, leaving nothing but her bleeding knuckles and cuts that would heal up quickly.

Damon stopped his assault and immediately took her hand. Her knuckles were indeed bleeding and his demons seemed to be at peace at the smell of the blood on her knuckles.

“Are you mad?” He snapped at her, finally taking a look at her for the first time.