"What do we do?" Natalie asked in a small voice, almost whispering.
She was new to the mate bond thing, but she knew that she found him attractive, and she felt calm within his presence.
"We have to talk to them," Arya said thoughtfully.
Both girls ran after them, only to find them outside staring at Valac like they would murder him at any moment.
"Mom!" Natalie ran to her, tears streaming down her face.
"Don't!" She said to Natalie, who stopped short. "And you," Kimberly said, pointing at the demon, "my daughter is sixteen! She's still a child. I will not have her ruin her entire future because she thinks you're her mate."
Arya saw something flash in Valac's eyes. Anger? Possessiveness?
"I didn't realize she's under age in human years," Valac said.
So it was realization that flashed in his pitch black eyes.
"Even if she would have been over eighteen, I still wouldn't allow her to live with you!"
"But mom..." Kimberly gave Natalie the look, which made her flinch. She lowered her eyes.
"I want my daughter to get married in a church, wearing a white dress, in front of humans, taking oaths in the name of God. How many of these will she be able to do with you?"
The way Kimberly's voice became steady, almost like a silent strike of a snake, it made Valac think about his choices.
He had always heard that humans were weak creatures, not capable of standing in front of demons; but here was a human female not only standing up to him, but it felt like she was threatening his very existence.
"Marcus, pack everything. We're leaving now!" She said, still looking at Valac in his eyes.
"You can not do that. I can wait for her. Another two, four, six... however many years you want, but she's my mate," Valac said, half in anger, half begging.
Kimberly turned and left, without replying, draging Natalie behind her.
Arya felt anger raising inside Valac. She knew she had to do something before Valac decided to take action himself.
But what could she do to stop a demon. There wasn't any person strong enough to stop them, apart from The Almighty God himself.
"Prince Valac, please hear me out. Give me time. I'll do something, please!"
He looked at her, his eyes red. "I will burn everything to the ground if I don't get her."
Arya ran to her family. She had to talk to them. This was turning out to be harder than Arya thought.
"Well, we should go see how Arya's holding up!" Alfa said when his parents hadn't said anything in a while. He had felt her discomfort and fear and wanted to be by her side if things were going sideways.
He went out, leaving his parents in the room. He understood that they also were against his decision of inviting a random demon into their pack territory, as he had placed everyone in danger.
Alfa walked straight toward the room that he left Arya in and bumped into Pete.
"Mr Hunter!"
"We're leaving. Now!" Pete came straight to the point.
"I'm sorry, but you can not leave."
"Try to stop us then. I'd rather take my chances with a wolf than a demon." The fire in Pete's eyes was screaming threat.
Braxen wanted to respond so badly that Alfa felt his chest ache because he fought to control him.
Had this been anyone else, he'd have torn him to pieces, but this was his father in law/ uncle in law.
"Aunt Kim," Arya's voice sounded close and pained, as she must have felt Alfa's ache.
"No, Arya..."
"NO. You will listen to me!" Arya screamed.
All four humans stood there in stunned silence. That's when Alfa noticed her eyes. They were glowing.
"I will not have a demon destroy everything I love just because you wouldn't even try to understand anything." Arya was saying the words, and Bella was also present.
"He is a fucking demon! Do you even know what that means? To hell with your childish obsession with church weddings and white dresses... where will you get all that when Valac burns everything to the ground?"
They were still standing in stunned silence. None of them tried to interfere.
Arya had never screamed like this ever before, and Kimberly and Pete felt that her anger was raising, meaning her wolf was present and would be uncontrollable if she took control.
Arya also understood this, but she had no choice, as she couldn't risk Alfa losing everything.
"If he wants to, he can take Natalie by force, and we won't be able to do anything! Or he can take over Natalie's body, possess it, then where will you go for a church wedding?"
Something flickered in Kimberly's eyes. Tears started streaming down her face, and she fell to her knees.
"What should I do, then?" She cried.
"She's my only daughter! With you, it was different; I knew you would end up here, one way or another. But Natalie? I can't just give her to a demon. Of every supernatural creature alive, why a demon?" Kimberly sobbed like a child, all her pain poured out in tears.
"Aunt Kim," Arya sat beside her, "Valac is a demon, and demons love making deals. Maybe we could make a deal where he comes back after two hundred years to marry her... I mean, by then... you know," Arya said, almost in a whisper.
"I don't believe it.. " came a voice. "I thought you were on my side," saying that, Natalie ran off towards where her mate was standing.
Arya had completely forgotten that Natalie was right there with them.
She had got it all wrong, and now, Arya had to stop her from getting to Valac.
Arya ran behind her and caught her before she reached him. She held Natalie's mouth and whispered, "Two hundred years is two human years for demons. So calm down."
Arya slowly let go of Natalie, as both took a breath to relax themselves. Apparently, too slowly, because the next thing she knows, there's a scream, then Arya is dangling in mid-air, gasping for breath.
"No, let her go, Val. We were just playing," Natalie screamed.
Last thing Arya knows, a red-faced demon, with horns sticking out from the side of his head,eyes burning red as fire, with a tail sticking out its rear end, holding her throat with claws digging into her skin.
For the first time, Arya feared for her life. Arya thought she would die as she gasped for air.
Soon, everything went black, and she heard voices in the background, as darkness swallowed her.