Sold To The Demon Alpha
Chapter 12

Roma’s POV

Why did I tell Aria about my father?

Remorse, the voice in my head whispered. You felt sorry for her. And guilty.

I had not felt so angry in such a long time. Not even when she snuck into the West wing and faced the beast in me had I been this upset.

But as I bought anything and everything in the drug store that could help with bruises, it was all I could do to keep from lashing out at something as I replayed that look of hopelessness that she had given me in that house.

It was the same look she had given me the night I had taken her from her father to pay his debt. But back then, even though she had been hurt by him, there was such fire in her eyes. Such defiance when she had looked at me and I had thought she was the most spirited human I had come across in a long time.

Today, however that fire was gone. Almost like it had been snuffed out and replaced by resignation as she opened her eyes to see me and not her father who had wanted to kick her again and continue to use her as his punching bag.

And instead of being angry, she had said it was not bad.

Did she have no regard for her life?

I couldn’t believe how she could still smile at the sketch pad that had almost allowed me to kill her in my wing and had made her come back home only to get slapped and beaten.

What was worse was how she did not even think of herself first and was worried about her father’s health, even though he was an abuser. It had made me want to shake her until she returned to her senses.

I was a hypocrite. Because not only had I not apologized to her for bruising, here I was getting worked up over another who had also hurt her.

Entering the car, I stopped short when I saw that she had fallen asleep, her hands still clutching the book to her chest. She looked so young, so innocent and it was all I could do to not growl at her red cheek.

Hesitating, I reached out to gently adjust her head so that her neck wouldn’t hurt and just stared at her. Light brown hair fell over her faces in waves and she had a bit of freckles dusting her nose and below her eyes. Her bottom l*p had a little bruise that told me she had bitten hard and it had bled.

Pretty.

No, pretty was too tame a word for Aria Ajello, I realized. She was beautiful.

Beautiful in a way that one admired a white dress. With a fear that one touch could tarnish the entire fabric.

And my hands were very far from being clean.

My mate. It was still impossible to wrap my head around how this fragile little thing could be my mate. It was like offering a lamb to a lion.

I didn’t know the plan of the goddess but I needed to strengthen my guard now more than ever or Aria Ajello would slip through aIl of my defenses and it would be too late for either of us.

I was a monster. And she was human. She wouldn’t even survive if I marked her.

Gently removing a strand of hair from her face, I took a deep breath and dialed Raphael, sure that I would probably regret what I was about to do but going ahead anyways.

“Send someone to Ajello’s house. Her father might need medical attention.”

Then again, maybe Aria had already gotten under my skin after all.

Aria’s POV

Stretching, I opened my eyes and saw that I was still in Roma’s car. Turning to the driver’s seat and finding it empty, I looked around and saw that we were in the woods. How long had I slept for?

Pushing my hair out of my face, I winced when my hand touched my cheek and remembered what had happened. Clutching the sketch pad to my chest, I took a deep breath, wincing when my ribs hurt from where my father had kicked me.

“Does your life mean little to you, Aria?” Roma had yelled.

Stepping out of the car, I looked at my reflection in the mirror. Perhaps he was right. Besides finishing music school, I hadn’t really thought my life would amount to anything.

And now that I didn’t even have that…

Shaking my head, I walked down the clearing and my mouth opened in awe as I finally came upon the lake hiding in the middle of the forest. Sitting on the wooden bridge that was built from the shore into the lake was Roma. It was unmistakably him. His dark hair cascaded down his neck and he sat as still as a statue, so unmoving you would think he was an object.

Walking slowly towards him, I winced as I lowered myself to sit beside him, my legs dancing just above the water.

He was staring at the lake with so much calm intent. I wanted to ask about the lake but didn’t want to destroy the peaceful silence that I had met.

“Go on, Ajello. I can see you itching to ask.” He said, still looking out at the lake and I smiled innocently, opening my sketch pad.

“What is this place?”

“It’s the Lake of Truth. No idea why it was named that but it’s just on the border that separates the town from the mountains. This forest is where the pack territory begins. So wolves rarely come here, except the pack guards to check for intruders.”

Drawing aggressively on my book as he spoke, I didn’t realize he had stopped speaking until I was done drawing the lake and when I looked up, he was staring at my drawing.

I closed it, my face turning red as I held the book to my chest.

“I have dreams. Nightmares. Drawing them out helps. Sometimes, I just draw whenever I see something beautiful. Like this place.”

“I understand the need to escape from your nightmares. When I was younger, I used to come here to hide. Later, I came here because it provided me solace.”

He reached out to tuck loose strands of my hair behind my ear and when I flinched as his hand grazed my cheek, his face hardened and he sighed.

“I apologize for hurting you when you came to the West wing. I cannot tell you why it happened but I need you to understand that your life is important. And no one has the right to hurt you just because they can. Do you understand me, Aria?”

I was shocked that he had called me by my first name when he almost never did but I nodded, feeling a weight leave my shoulders at his words and tears pool at my eyes.

“About your father, as much as I would have loved to bury him six feet under, I’m sure you would be pleased to know that he has been taken to the hospital.” My mouth fell open in shock and before I could reply, Roma stood and held out his hand.

“Come, you must put something on your wounds and see the healer.”

As we drove back to the pack, I couldn’t help but think that I had seen a side of Roma that I never expected. And it was a side that was dangerous to my naive heart.