Ileus: The Dark Prince

Olivia stared at him with wide eyes. Fear slowly twisted in her gut like a knife. She didn't move an inch, rather couldn't move an inch, pinned by his very hard body, surrounded by his heat and the lush scent. In that position she realized that the man was very tall, almost a foot taller than her. His aura was like that of a large predator, like that tiger that roamed in the wild, like a terrifying wolf who was craving to come out. There was authority bleeding out of him. 

She couldn't help but stare at this beautiful man, who she would never see again, who she would never ever meet again. Up so close, she could see those thick deep brown hair that curled at his nape. He had a square jaw that she could have nipped. And it was difficult for her to pull away her gaze from him as he kept it locked in his. 

Her attention was snagged when she heard footsteps on the outside, men calling and cheering each other in joke. After what seemed like an eternity, when the sound faded, he left her slowly and then stepped away. She seethed, "How dare you?" 

A smile tugged up his lips and instead of apologizing for his poor manners, he smirked as he turned and walked back. "How dare I save you?" he said. "So, who are you getting married to?" 

"That's not your concern," she snapped, rubbing her wrists that he had grasped behind her. She started walking. 

"Why don't you break free and run away?" he asked. "It seems that your father is growing really desperate to marry you by force." 

He turned abruptly and Olivia bumped into him. "Ouch!" she snapped. "Can't you even walk straight?" 

"Tell me, sunshine," he took his hand to hold a stand of her glossy hair. "Have you been trained how to fight?" 

Olivia's mouth fell to the floor. "Sunshine?" She couldn't believe that he gave her that nickname. Not that she had told him her real name. But then he was so arrogant that he thought she would welcome this audacity. 

He grinned at her as he worried a strand of her golden hair in between his finger and thumb, and the dimple in his left cheek appeared. "Hmm, hmm. You didn't answer my question." 

"Why did you call me sunshine?" she questioned him instead

"Is that even a question?" came his brazen reply, as if what he did was his propriety. 

"Yes!" 

He rolled his eyes and chuckled. "You are one very difficult woman, and certainly very foolish." 

She was about to retaliate when he tucked her hair behind her ear and then looked intensely in her eyes. Her breath caught and her heart stuttered. It pounded like a hammer against her chest. "Why are you quiet, sunshine?" he asked, leaning in. 

"I need to leave," she snapped at the way he called her sunshine. It unsettled her.

"If you leave now, you will definitely come across those brutes in the forest who are going to the Whiteclaw pack. How about you stay here and show me if you can fight?" Saying that he reached for his swords and removed the clasp that held them. He placed them on the side and then pulled his tunic out. Olivia's eyes widened as to what he was doing. She was transfixed in her place as she saw that broad chest, the muscles of which were rippling underneath. He had such broad shoulders and muscles honed like that of a warrior. Her eyes traveled to the hair under the navel. She dared not look below that. Her cheeks flushed and the burn crept down to her neck. She hoped that he hadn't seen it. 

"What is your name?" she asked. "And why are you going to the Whiteclaw pack?" 

But he chuckled and she found herself distracted by that chuckle. "That is none of your concern," he replied, handing her one his sword. 

"I don't want to fight with you," Olivia said. What if he lured her and killed her? Her brother was killed by one of the king's men and after him only she was the sole heir of her father. The trauma of her brother's death was still fresh even though he was killed three years back. It was said that the king's second in command had killed him brutally. After he died, her mother had got into severe depression. As for her father, he said that a part of his heart had died. They looked at Olivia with sad eyes and Olivia wondered if they thought that she should have been dead instead of him. 

"Trust me, I won't kill you," he purred as he unsheathed a sword. 

Fear spread in her mind like miasma. She stepped back. She was not foolish enough to think that he wouldn't kill her in a heartbeat if he came to know who she was. Olivia wouldn't have minded being killed, but she remembered her father's words before leaving the house. She had to save his honor and also the Whiteclaw pack. Suddenly the realization and weight of it crashed on her shoulders like a mountain. 

"Here, take the sword and fight with me. Show me your warrior training," he said, taking a step closer to her, his chest heaving heavily. "Because if you won't fight me, I will end up doing something indecent. And if you go outside, you will find the enemy everywhere. A woman at this time of the night needs protection," he growled as his muscles bulged. "So fight me till I bleed."

Olivia looked at him as an icy burst of disbelief surged through her body. Indecent? Gods. What was he thinking? She was unable to decide which was a greater threat—the man she was facing or the men who were outside. Logic. This was just one man. All she had to do was keep him engaged for a little while and then run away at the first opportunity. Olivia took the sword from his hand. "Then try me, wolf," she said as she took the sword to her eye level and ran a line against its edge with her fingers.

Kaizan gave her a feral smile.