AUTHOR'S POV, Diana's escape with the Lythari Elf
The sound dropped first. Then, the dark room from the basement changed into a blur, dissolving... slowly revealing a new place that smelt familiar. The moving motion from the aftershock of the escape came over her in big waves, making Diana lose her footing. She stayed on the cold floor until the ringing in her ears and spinning of her head subsided. Diana opened her eyes and realized the edges of the room changed into some place she remembered. "Why did you bring me here? "she gasped, her voice hoarse.
"I didn't!", Ofir sputtered with his orbs as round as his pale cheeks. "This is the only place your mind didn't resist", he said softly, burying his tiny body in the soft fabric of the couch. "The place you think where you can live...". Diana grunted at the dried blood in her neck, pulling as she moved. She rested her palms on the floor and pushed herself up. "First thing's first. Take this, Luna", Ofir handed her a tiny azure pea looking like a water droplet. "The bite of the vampire might pollute your blood. Eat this". Diana took the pea without hesitation. Swallowed it immediately without asking questions. What she knew, the elf looking out for her is the only thing she could trust now. A certain warmth travelled through her mouth down to her throat. Then it lingered in her stomach until it spread to her entire body. "You'll be safe now, Luna", he assured.
"Why are you kind to me?", she finally asked.
"You saved my life. From now on, my loyalty is yours", Ofir covers his arm scarred with burns under the sleeve of his silk shirt. His eyes flickered, gleaming while tilting his head in a half circle. "This place... is it the lycan's?".
Diana held her tongue. In Ofir's words, she returned to the edgy feeling of being in such a place. It is too silent. And the way the home is kept is so clean that it bothered her. Admittedly, it almost offended her how untouched everything was by the chaos she brought in her skin.
It's his home. Scott's.
"It's nice here. I wouldn't have to wonder why you find serenity here", Ofir looked around the house with his eyes, a home far too different from where he lives. Actually, the plants settled his feelings of disquietude.
Diana swallowed. Her gaze drifted at every corner that carried no one but Scott. The potted greenery. The pile of cigarette butts in the ash tray. The faint smell of his perfume. His lingering scent gives her a sense of security, but not the belongingness that she thought was destiny. It tightened her chest, painfully. Everything is perfectly in place. Untouched, as if he hasn't stayed too long at home. Every piece doesn't fall out of line. Perfectly arranged.
Unlike her.
Her finger brushed the top of the table. No dust. Of course, Scott wouldn't allow it. No matter how busy he is. To think, someone will be back soon, Diana ought to do what she came here for. Besides, she didn't want to see him after what she saw in the Valley of the Falls. Her jaw tightened. "I just need supplies", she said, more to herself than to the lythari. "Food. Water. Clothes. A car", she convinced herself.
Not for him, not for answers.
She took a step forward, then another. Her legs felt unsteady, not from the weakness alone, but from the dissonance. The clash between the chaos still clinging to her skin and the sterile calm of the place. Her lips pressed together. The longer she stays there, the more vivid how his mouth was on someone else's. Her breath hitched. The memory struck her that she couldn't move by the elevator anymore. "Doesn't matter. ", she muttered under her breath. "It doesn't matter".
Ofir watched Diana struggle with her thoughts. He opted to look around instead and gather everything Diana intended to take. "I'll get them, Luna", in a blink, he vanished with a glimmer.
A soft chime cut through the silence. Diana froze. Slowly, unwillingly, she lifted her eyes to the elevator as the doors slid open. It was too late to hide. And there he was. A stunned silence coursed between the two. Neither of them moved. Diana stood there, pale, trembling, wrapped in lace and silk with dried blood. Like a ghost that had forgotten to disappear.
Scott just stared, wide open to be sure he was not fooling himself, and too long until the elevator closes. Quickly, his hand held it open, and still he didn't take a step. He gaped at her, waiting for her to vanish into thin air so he won't hold onto another false hope.
She didn't, thankfully. She was still there staring back at him, quietly. Scott then stepped out slowly, and each footfall was more careful than the other... as if the dream he's seeing may betray him. "No..", he breathed, eyes never leaving her. Disbelief stormed in his chest, that if this is another cruel trick of distance and longing, he might not be able to keep it together anymore.
Scott stood before Diana with an ample gap between them. Close enough to see her cold eyes, the blood on her neck, the tremor in her lips, and the way she held herself together like something barely stitched. Then, there goes her scent that settles everything. It was enough to tell him it's all real, and all he needs to do is feel her in his hands.
Scott lifted his hand. He hesitated a little, but his mind desperately wanted to touch her. Feel her. Lock her in his arms, so no one would take her away from him ever again. After too many wars and desperate searches, he finds her in his home... alive. His burdens that have multiplied in a hundredfold after several sleepless nights, lonely days and burnt cigarettes were washed away like tears in the rain. It didn't matter how she got in, what mattered is she's here now. However, her eyes didn't seem to show the comparable yearning that burns in him. Like a door shut on his face. "You're here", he cupped her cheek , breathing easy from his parted lips. "How.. how are you here?", he brushed against the blood on her skin, and his expression darkened, confusion sharpening into something more dangerous. "What did they do to you?".
"It's fine", Diana flinched away from his touch, lowering her gaze.
"It's not fine", his words came immediately. "You're not fine.", touching the wounds again. He tightened his jaw knowing what it was. "That's a bite".
Diana wet her chapped lips, refusing to meet his eyes. She wanted the silence to answer for him but then her throat decided to work. "An original".
"From what?!", Scott snapped. It was just as what the room in the basement took evidence for.
Diana sighed sharply. "Don't act like you care"
"I do. I always do. We have to do something about that".
"It's been taken care of, besides, I'm not staying", she said quickly. "I saw you", Diana trembled. She held herself together as if she's going to crumble down. "I saw you with Christina", it was a kiss he didn't dodge. A sight that she couldn't forget. A perfect match that doesn't endanger both of their lives. "You two deserve each other, more than us".
Scott's jaw tightened. Not in guilt, but in restraint. He was amused, recognizing jealousy in her accusation that it became a melody in his ears. "You think I'd choose anyone over you?", he said. She inhaled to argue, yet Scott closed the distance and pressed his lips against hers. It wasn't gentle. It was weeks of silence, of searching, of losing his mind over and over again.
"Stop!", Diana's hand came up between them, pressing against his fiery lips, pushing him away. Not because she doesn't want him… but because she does. Her eyes squinted, cheeks turning scarlet, and breaths hot and heavy. "Please.. stop.. I'm with Roman now, you shouldn't do this..", she uttered a name as if it wasn't borrowed.
Scott smirked. He knows her scent, her heartbeat, and her truth. "Say his name again", he murmured words under her hand, stepping closer. Not angry, not even hurt. "And try to mean it this time".
Diana looked him in the eyes. Braving. She opened her mouth, but her voice betrayed her as she slowly removed her hand over his mouth . Scott didn't chase her lips again. Instead, his forehead rested on hers, breath uneven, like he was relearning how to exist in the same space as her. His hand found hers, not trapping or demanding. Just… holding. "You say another man's name, and yet you find your way to me…", he said quietly.
His warm hand caught her wrist, not rough but firm enough to anchor her to him. The other found her waist, pulling her into him with a force that was pouring with need. And then, his mouth was on hers. Gentle. Softer. It was everything they both hadn't said. Everything they both hadn't been able to reach.
Diana's defenses faltered. Tears came flowing out of overwhelming familiarity of him striking deep, unraveling her too quickly. Her hands crawled from his arms, then it wrapped around his neck like an instinct. His grip sharpened, lifting her up with her legs around his waist. "I looked for you", he murmured in her lips.
It was a quiet confession of truth that Diana had always known. Her eyes fluttered shut for half a second, and looked at him. "I know..", she whispered.
He exhaled, and something in him came apart in the seams. A flicker in his eyes, sharp and untamed, pulled him back to her mouth as he took Diana upstairs, then to his bedroom. They both landed on the cold bed, with no more gaps that separates them anymore. As he lay on top of her, he began tearing her thin sleepwear just as she took off his clothes.
Unmindful of the weariness from everything, Scott and Diana eased through their misunderstandings getting lost in each other's warm breaths. Scott's unanswered questions, and sought after explanations all dimmed at the sound of Diana's moans as he make her remember who she belonged to. He traced the lines of her shoulders, her arms, the curve of her waist as if refusing the risk of forgetting. He made sure he touches all of her, marking every part of her body to the point that the only scent coming from her is his. Sooner, he pushed himself into her wet folds, which was already dripping in pleasure.
"Harder..", she breathed. Diana held Scott tightly and accepted all his hard thrusts. She twists every time his rough hands run around her skin, as if it was the first time they have been there. She let him, and she leaned on it. Her restraints break apart at Scott's overwhelming presence. She wanted to feel that the moment was real.
Scott grunted at how she tightened around him, but he never ceased to push harder at every thrust. He concealed her gasps with a deeper kiss. Slower and no less consuming. More like comforting her in the middle of their raunchy mayhem. The kiss returned, passionately. Unending. Completely forgetting the absence had erased nothing. Every touch, every flip, and every press of his body against hers grounded Diana. The relentless rhythm of their bodies was a complete certainty of their burning desires. Scott threaded into her steadily, pouring with care and claim until the surge of his storms had ended. Not gone, just quieter. Like waves pulling back after crashing too hard against the shore. "Again", he whispered.
For a fleeting moment, they forgot the curse, the danger circling them both, and the secrets Diana carried like armor. They remained silent on the bed. Tangled with each other's bodies. Bare. Exposed. Watching the world shift in the skylight. Her head rested against his chest, his arm draped her, fingers idly tracing patterns along her skin. Scott hadn't let go. Not even for a second. It was the most peaceful time they both have ever been for quite a while. However, something unnerving returned to Scott as he held her in his arms. A subtle feeling that she might disappear anytime.
The silence between them was no longer sharp - but it wasn't peaceful either. It was… waiting. She felt his hand stilled for a fraction of a second. He felt it when her breathing changed. The night went deeper, Scott eventually thought about breaking the silence himself. Talk about the puzzles that have been scattered clueless in his head. Ask Diana the many questions he has to resolve their conflicts , and fix the fractures that he has been trying to put the pieces back together without her.
The moon bath. Roman. Alva. The bite.
When he was ready, so was Diana. "She never loved me.", Diana suddenly broke the ice, caressing her thumb on his chest.
"What did Alva do to you?", he asked, shifting his gaze at her. His voice is quiet, deep.
Diana didn't answer right away. Her eyes glistened as she stared at the skylight, watching a cloud drift across the stars… dimming them one by one. "Her real name is Tamara. For two decades that we've been together in the same household playing the mother and daughter roles, she never loved me", Diana's tears brimmed, yet her voice didn't crack. "How can someone have a heart to live in deceit for so many years?", she asked. Scott sighed deeply, and thought hard on the words that would come out of his mouth. However, all he just did was tighten his arms around her, so that he could feel her beating heart. However, she pulled away. Diana sat up, pulled herself a blanket not out of modesty but distance. A small space. But he felt it immediately. Scott's arm fell back to the bed and the emptiness of her weight was louder than anything she said. "When I see her in the morning, she'd remind me to either break a leg or make her proud. And I always did.", she swallowed a lump, reminiscing on the tender past that she treasured genuinely. "Before the day's end, she'd drop by my room and tell me how disappointed I was for crying. For being too friendly and for being irrelevantly caring.", she sobbed, trying to keep the tears in. "I always consider her feelings. Keeping in mind about her preferences with the intention of making her proud, even if I never had an idea how", she hardened her jaw for a bit, then she covered her eyes with her palms trying to conceal it all. For a moment, she sat gathering the pieces. Scott pushed himself up to one elbow, eyes narrowing slightly in focus. A wolf attached to a Nagual is truly impeccable as he feels sorry for Diana.
"How could I be so stupid... that I never realized there's no sincerity and truthfulness in every word she says.. How could I not have doubts when there were so many clues..", she laughed dryly with her face turning all red from the overflowing tears.
It took Scott a while to catch a phrase. He sat up, right behind her, with her between his legs, leaning on her shoulder. "I never had a very good relationship with my father. I'd say we had the toughest and roughest father and son connection.", Diana pressed her wet cheek on my chest. "Tough love it is to the point he beats the shit out of me whenever he sees me. He even let me sleep out in the cold for weeks whenever he had bad days. There was even one time, he didn't leave me some food on the table, just because he was in the middle of his endeavors.", Scott scoffed and smirked at his memories. Regardless of all, he thought those hard times brought him to become Alpha today.
"But.. why?", Diana asked, shifting her head to the side near his face.
"I never knew. I was afraid to ask.".
"I mean.. why did you choose to stay in that toxic family relationship when it's hurting you?", Diana asked specifically.