DAMINI

Mum’s palm landed on my cheek before I could blink. “I regret the day I gave up on aborting you!” she declared. “You’re the biggest mistake of my life, Damini!”

No words escaped my lips. No tears, no expression; I let her continue.

“If you think you can stop me from marrying Elias, then I would push you to suffer at your grandmother's." After this, she grabbed her bags. “Follow me, or stay here and wail your life away like you always do”

“But….” My voice cracked. “You promised dad you wouldn’t love another man. Have you forgotten about him so soon? It’s just six months since he died?”

Mum stopped for a second. Perhaps the humanity calling and I was almost getting my hopes up again but her devilish smile crashed it al in one go. “Fuck his dead dick! I’d rather die than live the rest of my life holding on to his shitty love” Then she barged away, brushing past me, almost sending me crashing to the floor.

My wolf whimpered in my head. But no. I wouldn’t fall or beg for her attention again. I wasn’t the Damini she used to know. “You don’t know who I am, Mum”

With that sad smirk, I picked my bag, the last photo frame that remained of dad, adjusted my Harry Potter doppelganger goggles and followed after her.

She wanted to marry Elias Marshmallow- My botany professor one night stand and mate...?

“I wish you a happy married life, Mum”

She rolled her eyes, and a little smile that I haven’t seen on her face for me lit up. “Now that’s my girl”

*

“Your room is opposite the guest room” Elias said, trying to avoid my gaze. “You can go in and settle down while I show your mother around”

I wanted to laugh so bad at his acting skills. Talking courteously like he never fucked me before?

“Darling, I want to see the swimming pool” Mum’s voice suddenly turned coy. “Leave Dami. She would find her way”

Elias wasn’t comfortable with that, I could see it in his eyes but faked a smile. “Yes sure…”

“Mum. You can explore the house yourself or later” I took his second hand before mum could pull him away. “I don’t want to get lost in this big mansion, let him come with me, hun?”

“Damini, are you…” Mum was about to explode, but looking at her new husband, she swallowed it. “Baby. The guestroom was just over there…”

“Mum you told me to adjust”

Her ego broke, but there’s nothing she could do. Gritting her teeth with anger, she let go of his hand. “Yes sure. Darling, I’m sorry to bother you, Damini could be a cry baby sometimes”

His smile this time was different. “She’s actually adorable. It’s fine”

“Enjoy the orientation alone mum. Daddy will help me arrange my things too”

“But you only wanted him to take you to your room….?” She could tear up at this moment.

I had opposed the idea of remarriage since she brought it up last week, even till this morning… But who knows her new husband was once mine?

I wrapped my fingers around Elias’s wrist and smiled sweetly at my mother. “Let’s go Daddy”

I’m done being a good girl for her. She doesn’t deserve it. She doesn’t deserve Elias either, and I don’t care what she feels any-more. I once did, but she took it for granted….

••••

“What the fuck, Miss Love?” Elias exploded as the door to my new room, closed after us. “Stepdaughter? You never told me you—”

“Shhhh” My finger landed on his lips. “I miss you, Eli”

Elias’s wolf flashed before his face, the body temperature calling for me, but the human in him avoided it, pushing me to the bed.

“Not until you tell me what the fuck is happening. Is that how you treat your mother?”

My chest tightened, but I bit my lip to taste the copper blood.

But attempted again. “Don’t you miss me? You promised to...” I reached out for his zipper.

Something under the jean stirred awake but Elias stepped back. “Miss Love talk to me, your mother is down there! You didn’t have a father?”

“She wasn’t my mother!” My voice came out stronger than I was expecting. “Yes I’m her daughter! But she wasn’t my mother, Professor Elias”

Elias ran his hand through his hair with frustration. “Will you please explain yourself?”

“My mother’s wolf was a stealer and to satisfy her wolf, she sleeps around.” The words tasting bitter as it rolled out of my tongue. “I wanted to make her stop, and be good for her by making sure I pass my exams and remain a top student, but all along, I was her mistake!”

“What are you trying to say?”

“My mum hates me, Elias” Tear tickled down, then I lowered my socks to show him the cane marks on my legs. “These are the tortures I endured as her daughter.”

Elias gasped with shock. “This is a fuckin child abuse!”

“I’m twenty two and have a weak wolf!” I met his eyes. “My father died six months ago.”

“Oh, I’m sorry about that… she didn’t tell me…”

I swallowed the lump in my throat sadly. “She must have hated dad a lot for being poor, I guess. That was why I opposed and didn’t know it was you”

Silence stretched between us, his gaze fixed on me.

“So that prom night...” he bent and reached for my jaw. “You seduced me because...”

“I didn’t know you were her husband until this morning”

“Then how do we do it? I can’t watch her maltreat you”

Something shook my heart as I flashed him my usual ‘I’m Okay’ smile. “I’m used to it. You can just ignore and….”

My breath caught in my throat as he bent his head and shut me up with a kiss. It deepened slightly, almost getting me wet but stopped mid-way.

“Miss Love….” His voice rough, like he was fighting something inside of him. “This can’t happen again”

All my hopes went crashing down. But I tried to process it by diverting the question, and indirectly giving him time to maybe say what I wanted to hear desperately. “Why do you get married to her? I mean why Mum of all people?”

“My Mother was her teacher and she paired us up. I agreed to the marriage to stop mum from arranging more women, and the last thing I’d want now is a stain to the name I was building all these while, and disappoint my mother”

I scoffed in confusion, finding it hard to assimilate his words. “So..What... What now happens between us?”

Another silence and I could notice his fist clenching. I almost reached out but he said the words before I’d even try touching him. “I hope this is our last intimacy, Miss Love. I’m your teacher, and now your stepfather, ”

The butterflies that sprouted from my belly died down instantly. Did he just call himself my stepfather?

Elias stepped back coldly but the fist still clenched. “I will never let her bully you again. I don’t care whatever life you two lead before this. Let’s keep a straight line and consider that night stand at school as a deadly mistake...”

My brain stuck dead for a split second until he was almost at the door.

Did he just…

“Wait!” My tongue acted before my brain.

He stopped, his hand already on the door handle and not turning around. I continued nevertheless since I’d started it… “Did you love my mum?”

DAMINI’S POV

Elias froze after this question like he was debating the best answer until I touched him and asked again. “Have you slept with her before?”

“Miss Love, I…” He tried to open the door then stopped and faced me, green eyes blazing like chemical reaction. “What happens if I do?”

“I need an answer” My heart thumping madly, praying it would be negative. “That night at school the mate bond appeared between us. You couldn’t deny the pull, you claimed me... What does it all mean to you?”

Silence again, tears burned my eyelids for the first time today.

God Please…

“Yes. I love her and I’d slept with her. Now, do away with any fantasy about me, I apologize for what had happened in the past”

He left the room, not addressing my question about the mate bond and the night we shared.

But my heart sank like the Titanic. He loved mum? Despite the mate bond?

My cruel mother was loved by the same man I wanted? “Why?”

My knees gave way, and I was on the floor before I could realize it. “Why!!!”

Why was it so painful to accept? We definitely saw each other before the mate bond and nothing happened until he touched me, so why?

Why do I feel like my heart was ripped away?

But then that word from our first night suddenly struck my brain—

“You’re the architect of your own life, Miss Love” he’d said in between our sin. “Don’t let anyone design it for you, not even your parents or me...”

A devilish idea gently leapt to my mind after this recollection.

He’d skipped all responses relating to our mate bond...

“Elias Marshmallow you’re a terrible actor” I laughed out at the final answer to my mind maths. “Watch me design the plan. You said I was an architect anyway”

Jumping to my feet, I wiped my face and pulled the door.

I’m done crying.

Elias came to my life at the lowest point, motivated me and groomed me...

I’m not letting him go easily, at least not to my mother.

•••√

Dinner was hell.

My butt burned on the chair like I was in a courtroom.

Mum was on a whole new level of something I don’t want to call madness.

Picking a chunk of meat, she faced him.

“Now say Aaaa”

Elias grudgingly took it with a smile, but still avoiding me.

Mum picked another piece, tried to feed him again but i wasn’t going to be foolish anymore.

“Mum!”

“Oh my, you scared me!” The meat dropped from her grips. “What did you need?”

Elias looked at me this time with confusion, and it was my turn to avoid him.

I picked the meat with my chopsticks. “He’s your husband you can do all these privately, let me feed him now hun?”

“What!?” They both chorused.

Mum was flustered. “D... Damini what are you talking about? He doesn’t want...”

I was already beside him before she’d land, offering it to him, my hand on his shoulder. “Daddy, have a bite”

“Em...” His body tensed up, but he sat strong. “I’ve had enough, thanks”

I scoffed. “Are you not accepting me as your daughter? You said you loved my mum”

Mum gasped, he also looked at me shockingly.

“He...He told you he loved me?” Mum was over the moon. “Elias never confessed...”

“Yes, I love your mum!” He affirmed, snatching the meat from my chopstick. Then faced mum. “I’m sorry. I didn’t confess to you earlier”

“Daddy...” I interrupted him again. “You never confessed your love to her? But you told me about the nice times you guys had together, her gentle caring, cuddles and everything”

Mum’s cheek was red, blushing over and over as she pulled his shirt. “You... You told her all that? I think we only hugged just once..”

Elias was in a tight spot, I could see through his hard gaze and frustrated grit at me.

But he couldn’t stand up to refuse he didn’t say that. “Really, Daddy?”

“I...” He gulped a mouthful of water before facing mum. “Yes I told her all that when she asked... I mean just to answer her, you know”

Elias’s green eye turned smoky with anger and frustration which was exactly what I wanted to see.

‘Get angry until you can deny me no more’ I went back to my seat, purposely shaking my heavy ass as I move.

•••••

I was ready to go to bed since I had early morning class tomorrow.

“Dami…” Mum called before I’d disappear to the stairs. “Could you please go with Elias to the supermarket? We need more groceries and many other….”

Elias jumped up with panic. “Why are you not coming with me?”

“Darling” Mum cooed, hugging his shocked frame. “I have an online dance class tonight, and if we didn’t get the groceries we might end up starving tomorrow, you don’t have food at home”

He was cornered. “But…. But I was living alone all these while!”

“We’re living together now. Take outs and restaurant made food is bad for my health, so please….”

He looked at me, hand shaking but I was happy already.

Jumping down with joy and haste, I grabbed his hand. “Don’t worry Mum. Daddy and I will go together, where’s the shopping list?”

In the next five minutes, we’re out of the house, silently driving toward the supermarket, the tension palpable.

All the ego I had earlier suddenly died down, his breathe and mine going in sync.

I didn’t know how to start the conversation. Mum’s shopping list getting wet with the heat oozing from my palm.

Looking outside, the half-moon was up, shining brightly and the 8 pm night air was relaxing since I wound the window down.

Unable to contain it anymore, I cleared my throat. “Did you….”

“I didn’t mean that” He suddenly cut into my words, slamming on the brake.

It took a second to recover from the shock. “What do you mean?”

“I mean….” Elias stopped, looked away from me. “I mean you can say whatever it is. This is very awkward”

A slow smile crept to my face, as if he knew I’d been waiting for him to say this.

“So you never confessed to mum or even kiss her before?”

“Miss Love, stop….”

I took his hand. “We’re not in school, stop calling me Miss Love. You can call me something more….”

Heat flushed to his face like a caged beast. Placing his hand on the steering, he tried to ignore the car but I stopped him. “Did you want to call me mummy?”

“Miss… I mean Damini, this is outrageous!” He finally broke loose to talk, the frustration evident. “Let’s respect each other now and stop this!”

I laughed. “Then reject the mate bond between us. We both know you’re lying, you need me. Your wolf is calling me, not my mother”

“I….”

“Mum was pretty!” I reminded him. “At just forty, you see how busty she looks and I know many men she’d slept with…”

His hand suddenly caught mine mid-action. The frustrated look slowly melted to something else…. “Are you threatening me right now?”

The ego died down again. But I had to continue. “I mean… despite all that, why haven’t you slept with her? But with me?”

“Because you’re not her” His wolf had taken over, I could tell by his voice, how gruffy it was. “You’re mine… But she wasn’t”

“Professor Elias…..”

“Eli”

“But, Professor…”

“Call me Eli, Love”

My heart snapped. Love was my surname but why does it sound like he was calling me his love rather than my surname…

“What are you doing right now?” I was beginning to get intimidated. “You said we shouldn’t…”

He’d reached out for my button, slowly rubbing on it, as a verification ritual to access my throbbing nipples.

I wanted to convince myself that this wasn’t Elias. It was his wolf in action but my body betrayed me.

“We both want this, Miss Love. But we’d both regret this”

Subconsciously, my lips slipped. “I don’t care”

Before I know it, we’re at the backseat, thankfully, it was a deserted corner of the street.

Hands in Hands, lips on lips, He devoured me and when they pyjamas button wouldn’t open, he ripped it off.

The backseat was tight, our legs are almost out, but we don’t care. His hand found my breasts, like he’d found a hidden treasure.

“Urgh!” That growl was expensive. Then his sexy hot voice in my ears, sending chills down my spine. “She’s pretty. But to me, you’re more prettier”

He bent his head, my hand running through his long hair, and gently let him savour the moment.

“Fawwk!” it escaped my lips. “More….please”

He didn’t stop, slowly sucking on it, gently, igniting something wetter and crazier… but the loud blast of our phones at the same time killed it all instantly.

“Urghh! Mum,” He snarled, wolf retreating. Both phones flashing exactly what we used to save her contact. ‘Cece’

“Why is the best fruit always forbidden, just Why!”

I chuckled at his classic language. “Forbidden? Who cares?”

ELIAS'S POV

Cece snored as I laid her down, Damini’s cedar scent still clawing my throat.

‘That was exhilarating’ My wolf said in my head. ‘You didn’t hold me back, yet you told her you don’t want to do anything again’

Frustration gnawed at my ego. I ran my hand through my hair instinctively, then stepped to the balcony for fresh air. “I don’t know, Owen. I really don’t know. She’s slowly dominating my mind. I might mark her accidentally if care is not taken”

This was true. The day I came back from New York to settle down here, I’d glimpsed Damini in traffic, reading in the cab and for the moment she wound the window down to see what was happening, I was captured and mesmerized.

Then when I got a job at the college to teach what I study, it was shocking she was the top student and yet, always bullied and keeping her head down.

I’d saved her from such of those bullying by appearing to scare others away, watching her from afar as she read, but I never got the chance to talk to her privately.

I couldn’t tell anyone including my mother. If it gets out that I have any romantic interest towards my student as a teacher, then, I’d be done for.

Until prom night…. “Help me professor” her eyes cried out when they made her dance shamefully before the whole school.

That was when I lost my mind and my bearing.

Only if I hadn’t acted rashly, perhaps i would be over her now that she was my stepdaughter.

‘Enjoy the moment while it lasts’ My wolf advised. ‘Remember everyday for the thief, One day for the owner’

I said nothing, but my heart was in flames until mum’s call interrupted.

“Hi Mrs Marsh. Still awake?” I chuckled. Seeing her call was another calm aesthetic that always seemed to bring hope to my problems.

“How’s the wedding night going?”

I heaved a sigh. How do I even tell my own mother that I didn’t have a drop of feeling for the wife she chose for me but for her daughter.

“Eli?” Mum called again. “How is it going! You okay?”

“Humm… Yes mum. I’m fine. Did you take your medicine? Eaten? Showered?”

Mum’s laughter was everything to calm my soul.

Since dad’s death when I was twenty, and I had to leave her alone as the only child to study, she was very lonely that she would make sure to video call me every night.

She was part of the reason why I resigned at New York university to come back. Who knows she was pushing me into a marriage as soon as I came back.

“How is Cece? Are you two getting along?”

I looked at her, already turned the bed to her sleepwalking field.

“She’s fine. But Mum, you never told me her daughter was this old”

Mum cleared her throat. “Em… I think I have to hang up now and…”

“Mrs Marsh! Don’t run away, answer me”

She had this habit of excusing questions like this. Same as when she didn’t tell me about the ‘coincidence’ meeting with Cece at the mall, until I made her talk.

“It’s your fault” Mum blamed me at last, as expected. “Look at how old her daughter was at just forty! You’re thirty eight, and you still need me to find a wife for you”

“Mum, she’s older. You can’t compare us”

She didn’t answer, my mind racing madly again. What if mum knows. What if she…

“Why do you sound so hollow anything troubling you?”

Now it was my turn to space out.

‘Tell her now’ My wolf advised. ‘She might have a solution… She might call the marriage off’

“Eli?”

“Mum, I…”

“Yes dear, tell me?”

“I think…”

“Mum! Mum are you asleep?” Damini’s voice interrupted, my heart snapped. “Professor are you there?”

Why would she suddenly need her mother?

“Mum let’s talk later” I moved to the door. “I need to attend to something.”

Mum didn’t hang up. “Hey, before you leave… come back home when you’re free. The pack elders sent an emissary, and they…”

My hand froze on the doorknob upon hearing this.

Pack emissary since when?

“Why did they show up now? It’s been so many years and I’d almost forgotten we had a pack”

She sighed. “Eli, we can’t run forever. You belong to the Clawshade, and you should be there. In the future, your children and grandchildren would want to know your real origin. We can’t…”

“Goodnight, mum”

I opened the door as I put the phone down.

“Why did it take you so long” She hissed and barged inside angrily. “What if it’s an emergency”

I closed the door, followed after her to the balcony.

“What happened?”

She dropped her phone with annoyance. “My grandma was on the phone earlier. She must have heard about the marriage”

Another problem?

I reached out and took her shaky hands. “She’d eventually learn about it. Why are you shaking”

“Eli, my grandma is a seer!” She cried. “Dad said his family was exiled from the pack when grandma saw a vision that the alpha wouldn’t live to see his grandchildren. If she sees us, she’d know everything between us, and… even on call, she was able to guess I found my mate”

How should I react to this. So she wasn’t from this pack too?

“Where’s your father from?”

“I don’t know, I think its some… claw whatever, but it doesn’t matter. Let’s..”

“Clawshade?”

Damini’s eyes widened. “Exactly! How’d you…?”

My blood iced. She was from Clawshade pack too? The same pack I swore never to touch? Same pack that broke my mother?

‘Things are getting complicated, Eli’ My wolf whispered. ‘Tell her who you really are. Tell her you’re the heir apparent to the throne, the son whose father didn’t live to see grow” My heart crashed. No. Not again. No Clawshade in my life again…