The Mate of Two: The Ruby Wolf Series
Chapter 16

"Come on we don't have much time. We need to get to the dress store." Angie said as Damiens sisters, Aria and I all followed after her.

"Don't have much time? Its 9am.... The store just opened." Christine mumbled.

I laughed as we stopped in front of the shop. "As least you're not the ones who will be getting put into hundred's of different dresses."

They all looked at me as Angie headed into the store.

"What about us?" Jasil asked.

"Im replaceing the bridesmaid dresses before any dresses are chosen for me. I want to be able to replace dresses that match everyone's style."

"Okay. Well let's replace a dress."

We walked in and instantly a deep green dress caught my eye. It was a floor length, off the shoulder dress. The leafy vine design of the dress started from the waist and flowed down towards the bottom.

"That's the dress." I said pointing to it.

"That was fast." Britiny laughed. They each grabbed a dress that was or was around, their size.

Angie came hurrying up with a worker.

"Let's replace you some dresses to try." She grabbed my hand and pulled me to the wedding dresses. "We will pick the bridesmaid dresses later. Right now it's you."

"I already found the bridesmaid dresses. Aria is also my maid of honor." I said as I was drug across the store.

_____________________________________

Three hours later I had tried on 25 dresses and not one of them I liked.

"How about we all take a break and go get something to eat." Christine said from outside the fitting room.

"I second that." I said, stepping out.

"You haven't picked out your dress yet. Your wedding is in a month. We need the dress picked out and fitted." Angie said as she brought over another dress.

"We can always come back. They are open till 8pm. Its lunch time right now. We have enough time to take a couple hours off." Britiny said.

"Fine. We need to go get wedding decorations anyway." She said, finally caving.

After we left the store we went to get burgers.

"Hello." I answered.

"Where are you right now?" Damien's voice echoed through the phone.

"I'm at Leroy's Diner. We are having burgers. Why?"

He gave directions to someone before getting back on the phone with me. "Stay where you are."

"Why?"

"Just listen to me and stay there."

"We haven't even gotten our food yet, Why would we leave?"

"Just please stay there."

"Okay." I said as the line went dead.

That was weird.

"Christine is getting the drinks. Mom is waiting for the food. Aria went to the bathroom and Jasil went to the arcade in the back." Britiny said, sitting down next to me.

"Damien just called me. He sounded weird. He asked me where I was. Then told me to stay here and not move. But he wouldn't say why. I think he's heading over here maybe. "

"Weird." She said as her phone rang.

"Damien?" She looked at me as she answered.

"Dad, Caleb, Grayson and I have to go to North Carolina. We will be back in a late. So please take care of Ariel. Don't let anything happen to her." I heard him say over the phone.

"Then why did you call Ariel and tell her to stay here and not move? I thought you were coming to the diner."

"I never called Ariel."

Britiny and I shared a look. "We need to leave." She said as everyone else walked up.

"Damien, I think Ariel is in danger. Why do you have to go to North Carolina?"

"We got a call that the witches were creating trouble."

"Roses witches." Britiny stated.

"Shit."

"How far away are you?" She asked.

"Idaho. We stopped at the house here so that Caleb could change. He fell into a mud hole, he didn't see."

"You need to get back here now." She said as we watched three black SUVs pull up.

The ground began to tremble.

"Damien, Rose is here." Britiny said as she hung up.

"We need to get out of here." Angie said.

The other customers began to get under their tables. Thinking it was an earthquake.

When the ground stopped shaking we looked over to see one of the SUVs were gone.

"She's gone. Let's get out of here before something bad happens. Ariel can't control herself if someone gets hurt." Christine said.

We all headed for the door. But I couldn't leave. It was like I hit a wall.

"I can't leave." I said as the realization hit me. They locked me in.

They turned and looked at me. Before trying to enter the diner again.

"We can't get back in." Arias eyes widened.

"They need to leave. They need to leave. We can't, I can't. I...." I stammered off.

"Everyone needs to leave." Aria called.

A shot rang out as glass broke and screams filled the diner. Everyone stood and ran out except for the man who was shot and his friend.

"I need help. Someone help. Lady, come help me." His friend begged.

All I saw was red as I backed further and further away.

I can't kill him, I can't kill him. I kept repeating in my head.

"We can help him but you need to pull him to us." I heard Aria yell.

I closed my eyes tightly and thought about the field where Damien and I danced in. It was one of my happy moments. Something that could help me stay grounded.

Slowly the screams faded and it became quiet. When I opened my eyes I was no longer in the diner. But in the field.

A stick breaking echoed around me before everything went black.

______________________________________

Damien's P.O.V

"Where is she!?" I yelled as I entered the house.

My Mother was sitting on the sofa crying. Jasil looked sick. Christine and Britiny looked over at me with sad eyes.

Aria was the only one who spoke to me as she clung to Jake. "We don't know. She was trapped in the diner. Someone from the SUVs shot one of the customers. While we were yelling for everyone to leave she disappeared. We don't know how or where she went."

I looked over at Britiny. "I told you to keep her safe. Why did you all leave before her. If at least one of you would have stayed......."

She stayed silent. They all stayed silent. "Does she at least have her phone?"

"She should. Her wallet and phone were on her." Aria said as I walked out, pulling my phone out of my pocket.

I went to call her, when my phone started ringing. Her picture popping up.

"Ar, where are you? Are you okay?" I said as soon as I answered.

Laughter filled the line. It wasn't hers.

"Rose! Where is she?" I demanded as I rushed to the basement.

"She's here. In a cozy little room. Waiting for her knight to come and rescue her."

"What do you want? Isn't it enough that you killed her?" I snapped as I hooked up my phone to the computers. I needed to replace her.

"But I didn't. She's back." Her voice was mocking as she spoke.

"She's stuck being the one thing that she hates. She never wanted to be a vampire."

She ignored my words completely. "You know its funny, she's your entire world and you can't do anything right now. Except wait. Wait to see what I do. Do I kill her? Do I let her go? Do I take away her memories? Do I let her kill someone? The possibilities are endless." She laughed.

"Rose, I'll give you anything. We will stop trying to replace you. We will let you live a normal life. But please, let her go. I am begging you."

"The all mighty Damien Knight, begging for his love." She laughed.

It was going too slow. I had to keep her talking. I needed to replace her. I needed to save her.

"God damn it! Let me have her! She's innocent in all this. She didn't ask to be mated to me. She didn't ask for this life." I snapped.

"Well we will see how much you care. I'll give you three days to try and replace her. After that I'll do what I want. You'll replace her corpse in the end." She hung up the phone as soon as the screen binged.

The cabin?

Why would she be at the cabin? Unless its a trick. She wouldn't be stupid enough to be on our property. This has to be a trick.

"Damien?" Caleb said behind me.

I turned and looked at him.

"That call was faked. We continued for a couple more states before we called Uncle and asked him what was going on. He had no idea what we were talking about. So we headed home. It was a goose chase."

"It was just a distraction. She was distracting us."

"Where is Ariel? Dad bought some stuff for her." Caleb asked.

"I take it you didn't talk to Christine or anyone else out there."

"I asked them where you were. They didn't know. So I looked on the cameras when you weren't in your room."

"Ariel is gone. Rose took her. She called me with Ariels phone, taunting me. I tracked her phone. It says that they were at the Cabin. The cabin we offered to Rose when she killed Ariel." I looked up at Caleb, meeting his gaze.

"Its a trick though. Rose wouldn't be stupid enough to be on our property. To be within miles of our house."

"But what if she is? What if its not that she is there out of stupidity, but out of strategy. Think about it, she is far enough away from us to where the ground won't tremble. So she could be there. The only way to replace out whether she is there or not is to go there. If the ground begins to tremble then we are in the right place."

"Then let's go." I said as I sped out of the room, Caleb right on my heels.

We slowly made our way up to the cabin. But there was nothing. Inside was empty.

"It really was a trick."

___________________________________

Ariel's P.O.V

"It really was a trick." Damien's voice echoed in the tiny room.

"Damien!" I yelled. "I'm right here. I'm right in front of you!"

But he couldn't hear me. No matter how much or how loud I screamed for him.

He turned and met my gaze. But he wasn't looking at me. He didn't know I was here.

He picked up a chair and through it across the room. "GOD DAMN IT!"

Laughter filled the room as Roses right hand man walked into the cabin.

"They can't see me until I let them. But they won't see you. As long as Damien enters this cabin you will be invisible, silent. Let's just hope his tantrum doesn't harm you." He said as he bent in front of me.

I spit in his face, earning a ear ringing slap.

"You better behave or I'll beat you until you are begging me to stop."

"Fuck off. You think you're all high and mighty because of Rose. But all you are is a lacky that does her bidding."

He slapped me again, but this time he grabbed a fist full of my hair. Bringing my face flush with his.

"I can ruin you in more ways than one if you keep pushing me. You better keep your mouth shut or I'll sew it shut." He shoved me away and stood.

"You won't replace her." He said. Damien stopped moving at his words. His back to him. Caleb came back into the room and haulted at the sight of him.

"Rane. So good to see you again." Damien said, sarcasm dripping off his words.

Rane laughed, looking down at me.

"She has quite the mouth on her. Its gonna get her into trouble. But it is such a beautiful mouth."

I watched as Damien fought the urge to attack him. "Where is she?"

"She's closer than you think." He laughed.

I fought against my restraints. Trying to get loose.

"Stop tormenting him!" I yelled, tears coming to my eyes.

He smirked at me before pulling my ring out of his pocket. "Rose wants you to have this. It seems that you won't be able to have that wedding after all. Oh and here's her phone too." He set my phone and ring on the table and stepped back.

Damien slowly picked them up.

"Rose will be in touch through her phone. She will leave you little hints here and there." He said before turning and leaving.

I watched as Damien dropped to his knees in defeat.

"NO!" I yelled at him. "DAMN IT DAMIEN! LEAVE! LEAVE SO CALEB CAN SEE ME!!"

"She's not coming back." He said. "Rose finally won. She finally got what she wanted."

"Damien, don't say that. We will replace her. Don't give up now."

"Don't give up? I have no way of replaceing her. She is gone. Her ring. Her phone. She is never coming back. Even if she did, she wouldn't be Ariel. Not after what Rose will do to her." He stood. Dropping my phone and ring on the ground.

"NO!" I yelled. "NO!"

"Damien." Caleb called as we watched him walk out of the cabin.

He just gave up on me...... Hes not fighting.... He doesn't care anymore..

My heart felt like it was going to burst. At this point I didn't care if I was found or not.

"ASSHOLE!" I screamed in tears.

"Ariel!" Caleb said as he looked at me. I forgot that he was still in the cabin. Damien wasn't in the cabin anymore. I could be seen.

He hurried over to me and untied my hands and ankles.

"Let's go." He said standing back up.

"I can't leave this cabin." I said as I picked my phone and ring up. "I'm so fucking stupid." I said as I chucked the ring out of the cabin. "He can't see me. When he is in the cabin he can't see me. No one can."

"Why did you throw this at me?" Damien snapped as he stepped back in, holding the ring.

"Because you're an asshole. She's here. She can't leave this cabin, but she's here. When you leave I can see her. Talk to her. You made your choice in front of her. Now she made hers." Caleb said as he looked at me. Knowing I was there but not seeing me. "Some mate you are." He scoffed.

"Fuck you! You're just trying to get me to change my mind. Why would Rose leave her here? Why would she make it this easy?" He threw the ring at Caleb. It landed on the floor with a ping.

"I don't know. But I'm not the one who threw that ring. She was."

"I'm not changing my mind. It was right of me to end this now. Rejecting her is easier than I thought." Damien turned and walked away.

I stood there, not sure what to say to that. "Can he reject me?" I finally asked.

"You are a vampire now. So yes. Him rejecting you would work. If you were still human, he would have just treated you terribly till you rejected him."

"Even after mating? He can reject me even after mating?" My voice cracked as I spoke.

"Yes." Caleb looked at me, pity clear on his face.

"But he can't mean it right? He doesn't mean what he said?"

"I don't know. I can't say for sure. But this is the Damien that I remember from years ago. This Damien was cold and heartless. He didn't care about anyone or anything."

"So...." I couldn't finish my sentence. Pain filled my heart. I was angry. I was in pain and I was angry.

"So after all this....After everything that happened, He's just going to leave. After he turned me instead of letting me die? He ruined my life and he's just going to walk away?"

Caleb looked at me with pity. Which only made me angrier.

"If you don't want to get hurt. Leave." I ground out as I fought to keep control.

"Ariel."

"I can't hurt anyone. I'm locked up here. I can't even think of a different place and blink out of this room. I can't hurt anyone."

"I'll bring you blood." He said before leaving.

I lost control.