The Devil's Cursed Witch

His little mate's frightened reaction caused Draven to let out an unamused smirk on his handsome face.

"Didn't you say you are ready to consummate our bond?"

Under that intimidating gaze that stared at her as if he was peering into her true thoughts, Ember could not say a word, and instead, she gripped the top fabric of her dress closer to her chest as if to cover herself better along with her increasing anxiety.

Though his scent was affecting her senses, that anxiety she was feeling was keeping her sane.

"You don't want to?" Draven asked, not willing to back down.

This day would be a lesson for her to be careful about the things she says and start to understand reality--that what she concluded was wrong. While biting was included, it was not the only thing she needed to do.

"I-I want to...but...I am a little scared," she voiced out her situation.

"At least you know to be scared," he said, his tone a little sarcastic. "I thought you lacked basic survival instincts, coming at me so fearlessly because of my scent."

Ember felt like she was being wrongly accused as she never tried to go at him--well, at least not intentionally. It was his intoxicating scent that would mess up her mind every time he was close, and there was no one else to blame for it except Draven himself. "Your scent is so good that I don't even understand my reactions."

"Now you blame it on my scent instead of trying your best to resist it and working on adapting to your new reality? Even if you didn't mean to do things, does that exempt you from the consequences of your own actions?"

He spoke like a strict person who would not take any excuses from her.

"No, no! I mean, it's not...I don't mean to--" she tried to deny. With each passing moment, he looked scarier to her.

"If you want to consummate the bond with me then you have to follow what I say without failure or mistake," he said in a commanding tone. Draven knew they don't have much time left before the full moon, and this could be a good opportunity to deal with the naivety of his mate.

'Does he want to take my clothes off right now?' she wondered when she heard what he said and heard him insist.

"Well, will you or will you not?"

'I have to be a good mate...A good wife..' she repeated in her mind, consoling herself it was fine.

Ember let out a shaky breath before nodding and straightening her body in front of him. Ever so slowly, she removed her hands from her chest as if to silently say she was letting her defence go.

"I will..." she answered him with her gaze lowered, not knowing how to feel about her daring action when she was dying with anxiety inside.

"First," Draven started, "you need to learn how to keep your mind sane--"

Ember opened her mouth as if to say something, but Draven continued, not letting her speak.

"--even if you feel affected by my scent. You are capable of taking control over your actions, so be responsible for them. Resist and do not let the influence of the bond make you do things you wouldn't do. Understood?"

Each of his words gave pressure on her as if trying to force his demands inside her mind.

Since she already decided to agree, she nodded once more with her head lowered, deciding to remember and follow what he had asked her to do.

Resist? Yes, she should do that. He tried her best to resist the temptation of his scent even when he was so close to her. She believed that she should also do the same to him.

"Second..." he said next, only to pause when he realized what he was about to say. It was something he could not explain to her in words. His mate was someone prone to misunderstanding due to her naivety. Action would be more effective on her.

Draven looked her in the eyes. "I will do something to you now and then ask you a question after. Once you go back to your room, I want you to think about it and find out the answer to the question that I will ask you."

Ember nodded once again, feeling her breath getting heavier and her entire body heating up with the closeness they had at the moment. This man, her mate, was a scary person. It wasn't that he's scary in a bad way--Draven was just someone who felt too out of reach not only to her but to most people.

A man of few words, who wouldn't easily show his emotions on his face. The most powerful person in the Kingdom of Agartha who's respected by many. Few understood him, and he wasn't one to explain his actions as well.

Draven was at the peak, while Ember was just a small existence, a nobody from a distant place, before she became his mate.

Yet she could not stop feeling strange whenever she was with him, and this 'something' was different from feeling scared. She admitted that at first, she feared him, but the more they interacted, that fear gradually changed to another complicated emotion she couldn't name. This strange feeling confused her all the time as she could not find out what it was.

Draven continued to look at his mate's anxious self. He could see she was already trying to follow his instructions of resisting his scent. Now, he had to deal with someone else who was troubling him more than this little mate of his.

'Don't show up. It's not the time yet. If you want her to be our mate in the most complete sense, then let me deal with her first. If you won't listen, we will only harm her and...' He internally sighed. 'If you don't want to lose our mate, then just let me handle it. You, be patient. Whatever you feel, don't show up. This time, if you intervene in my decision, I will make sure to send her far away from us where both of us won't be able to see her,' Draven warned.

As if his words worked on the one he was warning, he felt the growing turmoil inside him turn calm. He let out a relieved sigh, grateful that his words worked to threaten the Dragon inside him.

"Look at me," Draven instructed.

Ember looked at him. From her drugged-looking eyes, he could see how hard she was trying to resist and felt proud of her for being able to do so as it was not easy. He was the older and stronger one between them, yet even for him, overcoming his natural urges was not easy for him so he could imagine her situation.

Confident it should be safe for both of them, Draven moved his hand to her back and pulled her close to him, getting rid of that tiny space left between their bodies.

Ember looked at her mate in shock. She gulped, chanting over and over in her head that she should 'resist the influence of his scent' as he ordered. She found him removing the glove from his hand by pulling it with his teeth, and this time, she found his action irresistibly attractive, making her heart skip a beat. She could not pull away her gaze that was fixed on his enticing mouth.

He could see she was being seduced by even this simple action of his. 'Is this not the way he always removed his glove?' With their position, this was the easiest way to get rid of that article of clothing since his other hand was holding onto her.

When his other hand still settled at the small of her back, feeling that delicate curve, Draven used his now bare hand to hold her chin and tilt her head, making her look at his eyes.

He would rather his little mate stare at his eyes rather than his lips. If not, he felt that he'd be tempted to do something that would betray the order of things he planned for her.

Startled, Ember's gaze moved from those enticing lips to look into the pair of intense-looking red eyes.

His bare hand gently caressed her cheek as he continued to gaze at her, aware that she was barely breathing from the tension he could feel from her body.

"Breathe," he whispered in a low, husky voice. "You did well resisting my scent..."

Ember's body shivered as if she felt his manly voice caress over her skin.

"...but you don't need to resist now," Draven continued, his intense gaze still holding onto her dazed eyes. "We will try something harder now.  I want you to focus on what we will be doing...I want you to remember what you feel and I want you to think what more you want to feel..." he said in a low and raspy voice, which showed that despite his threat to his Dragon, he too was struggling to keep his true urges at bay. With his little mate eager to 'consummate' their bond, he would be lying if he said he wasn't greatly affected.

Draven could no longer wait to have her. The only thing stopping him was his desire to have her wholly accept him of her own volition, not just ignorantly giving in due to the effects of the bond.