As they walked further and further away from the forest, she couldn't help but think about how it was almost like they were walking into a new chapter of their lives together.

For Kaya, she was walking straight into the belly of the whale, waiting for the opportune moment to strike like a hidden snake approaching a campfire of sleeping hunters.

They slowly made their way back out of the forest, hand in hand.

Kaya's heart was still beating fast. An uneven bump...bump...bump......bump..bump.

Sobs were still slipping through her lips as she slowly began to lower her heart. However, it was hard. Her parents were yammering behind her as a very naked Xander had his hand tightly clasped around hers.

She was severely uncomfortable. His touch felt like there were tiny spiders crawling from his fingertips onto her arms and spreading onto her body.

The constant yapping of her parents attempting to give her extremely unneeded advice wasn't helping much either.

Their voices were overpowering the loud sound of her heart. There was no calm. No peace in this fucking forest of hell.

When she died she would get sent back here again to this very moment.

After a couple minutes of walking through the forest, Xander realized how far away they were from home.

The forest was miles away from the center of Xander's house that was strategically placed in the center of his land.

To top it all off, the sun was beginning to set and the nights were getting colder.

"Um. Instead of walking, would you rather I shifted back into wolf form and umm...I could carry you home?"

How incredibly cliche.

Kaya forced her eyes wider and imagined them lighting up like a christmas tree. "Really? That would be so nice. Thank you so much!"

"No problem."

While this was so annoyingly stupid, some of the spiders retreated from her body. She would no longer have to deal with the awkwardness of speaking with...well...that.

She straddled the back of the grey wolf in front of her as she held onto his neck, essentially hugging him. Instead of spiders, there were now fleas crawling up her limbs.

In only a couple minutes, she was already back at the tall spires of his home.

Well at least she didn't have to deal with any awkward conversations.

As soon as they were at the doors, she got off his back and gave him the privacy to shift back and take the sweatpants an omega by the door had in hand, as if the omega was waiting their entire life for the opportunity to hand this glorified alpha a piece of clothing.

As soon as Xander put on his sweatpants, he rushed to her side and held onto her hand like a clingy dog.

All she wanted in this moment was to jerk her hand away from his and shake off the spiders that had managed to claw their way into her skin.

Like the gentleman he was, he dropped her off at her suite and kissed her good night.

As he closed the double doors, she sighed in release as she heard the last of his fading footsteps.

Peace at last.

The silence was heavenly. This was the first time in a really long time where she actually wanted quiet.

It would take a while for the voices to walk back here and Xander would definitely leave her alone for just one night.

She hopped into the shower, excited to wash the dirt and grime off her.

Dirt covered her tan skin and tinted her greasy hair.

It felt so nice to let the burning water lash at her back and drag the dirt away from her body, turning the onc pure water into murky brown as it twirled down the drain.

Her hair was a tangled mess of darkness that she began to harshly comb through with her rubbery fingers.

As the pure water washed away the itching spiders, she took this as an opportunity to reflect upon the character she had created and found that she needed to up her game on that whole innocent damsel-in-distress act. She needed to be weaker, get hurt easier. Feel more empathy.

He was already in love with her, but she knew he didn't trust her completely. She needed him to see her as an equal...As his queen.

She needed to spend more time with him.

Perhaps a redo on that date of theirs.

When she breathed in the suffocating steam, Kaya was a whole new person...with a whole new plan.

She was knocking on his door, a bouquet of white amaryllis flowers in hand.

He opened the door, a smile as wide as his eyes adorning his face like a shiny piece of jewelry.

"I'm sorry our date ended up getting so messed up." Her puppy-dog eyes and pouty lips had to soften his heart. If it didn't, she could always cry.

His eyes immediately softened, getting both wider and more heartbreaking, "Nooo...Don't be sorry. It was not your fault."

"But still," She stuck her bottom lip out a bit more, "If it wasn't for me, we would've had a better date, so I brought you some flowers."

She extended her hands that held the many white flowers, bringing her head down and her eyes looking up. "Let's have a redo."

"Okay," he said, gently taking the flowers, and placing the bouquet on the entry table behind him.

"Great." She smiled wide, lighting up her eyes. "Let's go." She grabbed his hand and dragged him with her, running down the dark hallways.

He chuckled as he let her drag him around a house he knew by heart. "Where are we going?"

"You'll see," she smiled slyly.

She lead him to the rounded balcony of the tallest spire in his castle, where blankets were already set up with an open picnic basket.

"Oh." He was surprised. That was good. It was the perfect romantic gesture to him.

"Let's enjoy this picnic together."

This time, however, the picnic was fancier, with two plates of steak and empty wine glasses and a bottle of red wine sitting in the picnic basket.

Kaya sat down, wrapping a blanket around herself, measly protection against the night breeze.

Her eyes playfully taunted him into following her motions. They were pitch black in the absence of the sun...no romantic glint. The only signs of teasing were her eyebrows slightly raised and her mouth raised in a half smile.

Xander followed, the forest in his eyes beaming with the rest of his smile.

"You are so amazing," He said in awe as he wrapped a blanket around himself.

Kaya felt pride and excitement run from her brain to her body.

She could easily get her to trust him. The way into every man's heart was either sex or romance. Sure, some men were too macho and prideful and egotistic to admit it, but they all thirsted for that feeling of belonging to someone. Of finding someone that knew them inside and out.

For Xander, Kaya would be that person. Death was too merciful for a serial killer like him. She would take everything. His money. His home. His pack. His life.

Judging from the amount he was rambling and laughing and smiling, he was high on love. It was fucking torture having to deal with him.

When would this be over? All of this talking was driving her insane. The fake smiles she had to put on. The faux interest in some bullshit story he's telling, as if it was more interesting than the fact that he massacred a fucking hospital.

She'd only been here less than a week and she was already wondering if she should just get it over with and move on.

Her eyes caught a small glint of moonlight shining in the picnic basket.

It was a steel chef's knife peeking out from underneath the white napkins. The moonlight sheathed blade could slit that artery in his neck so fast. Especially if he had a bit more wine.

Kaya let out a laugh at a joke he said. Oh if only he knew how fake it was.

"Cheers to that," she told him, clinking her glass with his.

"Oooooh. Let's do shots" She sounded so excited, she knew Xander would cave to her.

"Okay." He said. "I'll definitely outdrink you though."He smiled from ear to ear.

"Don't be too sure about that."

She smiled playfully, matching him.

"I'll go down and get some vodka."

She walked down the spiraling stairs of the tower. She really regretted this picnic spot. Way too many stairs for her.

Kaya roamed around the house looking for a supply closet of sorts. Some area where people would keep a sedative. Maybe where they also keep weapons and gear?

Where could it possibly be? Where would you be able to stash a drug?

The bathroom?

No, that would be too obvious.

Perhaps the kitchen? But everyone has access. It wouldn't be there in fear of someone accidentally taking the wrong thing and getting sick.

Maybe the training center? There would be weaponry there and maybe they have the drugs with weapons?

But all of those drugs were for kidnapping and the like. They trained there. They used skill, not cowardly tactics.

But they would use drugs to torture people wouldn't they? Give them something that makes their brain betray them with images that aren't quite real and severe paranoia.

Kaya turned around and ran to the dungeon. She needed to fast. By now, Xander would probably be wondering where she went.

She ran. Faster than wind. Faster than the seconds that flew by her brain, constant numbers going through her brain as she counted how much time she would have left.

The creaky door opened with an overly loud groan of laziness. She raced past the few prisoners rotting in the rat-infested cells...She would help them later. Right now she needed to find a sedative.

She raced down the long hallway, a lonely wooden door with a round knob appearing in her vision, a light at the end of her tunnel.

She twisted the knob as she realized she was staring at thousands of torture devices. There were whips hanging on golden hooks. Long swords and knives of various shapes and sizes hanging against the inside of the closet. And as her eyes trailed a bit higher, she saw it.

Her eyes lit up.

At the very top of the shelf, was a blue bucket labeed "sedatives" in very messy handwriting. Don't give someone a permanent marker if they have shitty handwriting.

She reached up and grabbed the bucket reading the labels on the different round vials that resembled mini jars taped with fancy science names like olanzapine, and haloperidol. She had no idea what those were.

She searched through label after label, attempting to recognize anything that would perhaps fit her purpose. Eventually, her hands soon found a tiny bag containing round white pills. The tape on the bag told her it was rohypnol.

Rohypnol? That sounded so familiar.

Where did she hear it?

"We told you about this, remember?" Her father was in front of her, his knees folded as he balanced on the balls of his toes.

She shook her head.

"It's more commonly known as a roofie." Her father smiled up at her, like he was taking care of a scraped knee. "You remember what a roofie is, right Kaya?"

Oh right. Instantly she knew what she had to do. She took two pills out of the bag and put it in the pocket of the grey hoodie she was wearing.

Why would they even have this drug?

Was it possible that her mate did something to someone else?

There was no time to think. She needed to be in the kitchen now. She raced out the hallway and closed the heavy door in seconds.

In the kitchen, she grabbed a fancy bottle of vodka from the kitchen, and two shot cups.

She raced up the tower, her thighs burning with the pain of too much exercise.

When she got to the top of the tower, she was completely out of breath and her heart beat unevenly fast.

"I brought some vodka," She said, like an out of breath sorority girl holding the vodka up in one and the two shot glasses up in the other. 

---

In no way at all do I endorse using date-rape drugs. Those are just fucking messed up. Don't be like Kaya. 

Sexual Assault Hotline: 1-800-656-4673