Naya’s POV
I sat unmoving in front of the overly decorated vanity mirror, allowing the young maidens who looked a little too eager to comb through my hair and pamper my face with things that made me uncomfortable.
They were slowly dolling me up and I was quickly beginning to fall in love with what they were doing to my face and body but I wasn’t in a good mood.
I couldn’t be… especially in a situation like this.
The only thing which had gotten me so worked up was the fact that I was being decorated for a ceremony that I wasn’t in support of.
I had always envisioned looking this great on my wedding with the love of my life and not with an unfeeling handsome young man who in a way reminded me of my father.
As soon as they were done with my make up and my hair, they happily helped me into the big white wedding dress that my father had gotten specially for this occasion and stepped away to allow me look into the mirror.
They expected me to gasp and croon about how I looked like some hormonal teenager would but I didn’t.
I couldn’t even bring myself to admire how beautiful I was because I didn’t feel it.
The sound of my phone ringing snapped me out of my train of thoughts and when I picked it up, I was shocked to see that it was my boss calling… again.
He had been calling me for days now and I have not been able to bring myself to pick his calls because I didn’t know what to tell him.
Was I supposed to quit my god paying job over the phone because my father asked me to get married to some stranger to uphold some crazy tradition?
I quickly long pressed my power button and sighed when the phone went off, but as soon as I did, I heard the door opening up and I quickly turned my head in its direction only to see my father walking in with a smile on his face.
I wanted to rub it off!
“You look beautiful.” He complimented me but I could only nod as I felt tongue tied.
I already knew I was beautiful and also didn’t need him telling me that. In fact I wasn’t ready for all of these at all. I didn’t want it.
“Zach would be so lucky to have a woman like you.” He smiled.
I saw the maids bow their heads and quickly scurried out of the room but none of us acknowledged them.
“But I am not so lucky to have a man like him as my husband and another man like you as my father.” I replied sassily.
I immediately saw a deep frown etch across his face but I didn’t care.
His expression looked stormy and even his jaw was set in such a tight line but that seemed to irk me even more because I was supposed to be the angry one here and not him.
I focused my attention to the subtle rise and fall of his nostrils as he panted in anger, willing myself to calm down because I could already feel myself heating up with anger.
“When did you become this rude?” He growled in my face. I could see how much he tried to restrain himself from hitting me and even though I didn’t want to be struck, I also wanted to frustrate him to the point where he unleashes the beastly part of him.
“Rude? Did you just say rude, dad?” I asked cockily, and when he wouldn’t say a word, I added;
“you and I know that I’m not in any way rude to you or anyone else… I just look and behave so much like you that you find it quite uncomfortable to have a second you walking around.”
I knew that my response triggered something in him, for almost immediately, he snapped, gripped my arm in a tight hold and began to squeeze tight until I was sure that I would get bruised from its impact.
I gasped in shock… dad had never laid his hands on me in my entire life!
“You do not get to talk to me like tha—” he started saying but stopped when someone knocked on the door.
“What is it?” He growled at the person.
“It’s Maxwell sir, I came to inform you that everyone is ready and awaits the bride.” Maxwell answered from the other side of the door.
He was my father’s butler, and sadly, was just as mean and ruthless as his employer.
Father immediately let go of his hold on me, rubbed gently on my now sore upper arm and smiled at me in a way that sent shivers down my spine.
“Take this.” He said, handing over a necklace to me that had a small heart shaped object as its pendant and I took it, skeptically.
“What’s this?” I asked.
“Isn’t it obvious!” He snapped, eying me with so much anger that it made me squirm.
“It’s a necklace… a very old one at that. It was given to me by my father, and his father gave it to him…I do not have any other child aside from you and so the reason I’m giving it to you.”
“I do not want it.” I deadpanned.
“Stupid child… you’re not throwing away your family’s heirloom because of your unreasonable pride!” He snapped.
“Inside that pendant, there’s an elixir that should protect you whenever you’re in danger. It’s very potent and shou—”
“What’s it for?” I questioned, cutting him off.
I didn’t know why I felt the way I did but I didn’t want the gift, in fact, I smelled foul play in this whole thing.
“Why do I need to be protected by something like an elixir if I’m only about to get married? Are his family members witches?”
“No, they’re something worse than that.” He replied.
My heart skipped a beat at his utterance and I had to steady myself to keep myself from sprawling to the floor from shock.
“I don’t know what you mean by that but I can’t do this, Father.” I whispered, shaking my head but he would have none of it.
He slowly shook his head, smiled and reassured me of how strong and resilient I was.
I knew that it was total bullshit… all that he said, and so I simply let it slide.
I told him that I would do it and secured the necklace around my neck. He smiled.
I smirked to myself as he walked away from me with a satisfied grin on his face, took off the necklace and poured its on the floor with an equally satisfied grin on my face.
Life was never this difficult, people made it…
***
I walked into the wedding hall filled with people I never knew with a smile on my face, even though all I wanted was to squeeze out the living daylight out of their necks.
Zach stood at the end of the hall, close to the traditional ruler and I couldn’t help but wonder why the wedding was being held this way instead of the conventional method.
His deep eyes pierced into mine and held as I walked towards him but I immediately shrugged it off because I was in no mood for a stare competition.
With a shaky voice, I agreed to most of the wedding rights but as soon as the religious leader asked Zach, the handsome devil, to kiss his bride, my breath immediately hitched.
He bent down slowly, his lips almost touching mine. I could feel my heart jump in excitement at the prospect of being kissed by someone this handsome but as soon as I tilted my head upwards to grant him access to my mouth, he pulled away, making the crowd erupt into a wild frenzy.
My heart sank.
He smirked though, quite unbothered by what he had just done while I stood still, with tears in my eyes, scolding myself for being gullible…
Naya’s POVAs soon as the ceremony was over, I quickly said my goodbyes to my father and a few other people I liked. I was ushered into a white sleek car which stood waiting in my father’s driveway by one of Zach’s soldiers.I saw my father and Zach quickly shake hands, say some inaudible nonsense to each other and parted ways as if a business had just been finalized.Maybe a business had really been finalized though… I was the business, I was the object being sold.The obvious dislike between my father and Zach was so eminent, it hung over us all like a cloak and immediately I began to wonder what my fate would be at his house.I suddenly wanted to escape, to run away to a place where no one knows me because I couldn’t stand this. I couldn't stand being married to a man who was just as cocky as my father… or even more.I couldn’t even imagine a life with a husband that I do not know, and do not even wish to know; and the thought made me want to cry, want to yell at my father for bein
Naya’s POVAs soon as I stepped out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around my head and another wrapped around my chest, I knew that there was something wrong.I squinted into the dark room frantically and began tapping on the wall for any signs of the light switch but I couldn’t find any.I could sense a presence in the room but due to how dark it was in here, I couldn’t say exactly where the person was or what they wanted to do to me.Thoughts of Zach and his father trying to take me out now that I was already in their den struck me but I quickly shrugged it off because Zach’s father was a man of honor and wouldn’t lure me here just to kill me.“But what about Zach?” I questioned myself and felt my breath hitch in my chest because I knew I didn’t trust Zach enough.Zach didn’t look or seem as honorable as his father and in fact, behaved exactly like a child that my own father had borne.He was just as dishonorable.“Who is there?!” I shouted into the darkness and was met with si
NAYA'S P.O.V.Letting out a deep breath as I heard his voice, though I felt Zach's gaze on me I didn't bother sparing him a glance. Goodness knows what the hell he is up to."Ok!" I yelled directly into Zach's ears, but made it look like it was completely unintentional. I walked past him and wanted to open the door, but then his voice stopped me."Are you really going to meet my father in a towel?" He asked with an arched brow. I looked down to see that I was actually still in the towel. I'd totally forgotten but I wasn’t about to give him the benefit so I just rolled my eyes."You're the cause of that." I fired back, and he looked at me with a deep frown on his face like he wanted to say something, but he chose to reserve his comment and just turned back to the papers he had torn into pieces.Completely ignoring him, I picked my bag and walked into the closet. At this point, I was really glad that it was a walk-in closet and not a wardrobe.Zach is so filled with pride and so much ar
NAYA'S P.O.V.I felt the familiar sting of tears as Zade pulled the last piece of glass from my arm. I was too shocked to say anything sassy to him, he was also helping me so that was a point in for him. I guess maybe he wasn't that bad. I tried to suck in a breath through my nose, but my lungs felt constricted. It all happened so fast, one moment I was sitting, the next something was breaking and tearing my skin. I didn't know who he was or what he wanted, but there was a man. I could barely see his face because he had a cloth covering his face like an assassin."What the hell made you think you could freaking break a window for no reason?!" Zade snapped as I stayed silent."Zade you need to calm down and let..." he cut the elderly doctor off, and moved from me like I burned him. Can’t say I was disappointed."Calm down? She hasn't even been here for less than a few hours, and she's already causing a lot of trouble. Damn it! I should have done it when I had the chance to!" His voice
Naya's POVI wanted to back away from whoever was in front of me, but I couldn't, even though I badly wanted to.I really wanted to, I promise.A few seconds passed, and the lips on mine started moving. The lips were soft, a bit bigger than mine and...thicker.God, I could literally feel my insides quivering.The person in the dark moved closer to me, and Zach's scent blocked my nose.Subconsciously, I opened my lips to ask him to leave me alone, but the moment my lips parted away, his tongue gained entry into my mouth like it's been waiting for that.A small moan escaped from my mouth, and I didn't know when my hands flew to his warm neck.I was a bit worried that I'd make a mistake because of the fact that I'm not really good at kissing, but the constant moaning from him was making me feel confident.My lips started moving in sync with his, and it felt like the whole world came to a halt.I could feel my heart stopping, but I didn't want to stop. At all.My grip on his neck tightene
Zach's POV"Don't. Zach, even if you're the last man on earth and I needed to be saved, I'd rather die than let you touch me." Naya's words continued ringing in my head, as I quietly got off her.Normally, something like that wouldn't have hurt me at all, but I didn't know why that particular sentence of hers was hurting me so much.I didn't show the hurt that I was feeling on my face, I only let out a small sigh before leaving her alone with her thoughts in my room.The next few months in my life are going to be the longest months of my life, I can already feel it.When I left the room, I started walking slowly to the dinner room. I wasn't interested in having dinner at all, because I knew that things were going to be awkward between Naya and I.She is one of the weirdest women I have ever met. It's weird.I started walking really fast, and I was in the dining room in no time.My father was already seated there, and with the way he was scanning everywhere with his eyes, I didn't thin
Naya's POVGod, my heart was beating really fast. I couldn't even raise my head to look at my brothers. I was sure that they were going to be so angry at me, at what I did.I should've really told them that I was married to Zach. When they asked me why I was in his house, I told them that I was there for a business and not to get married to the son of the family."Naya?" Ryker called, snapping me out of my thoughts. I took a deep breath in, before raising my head to meet his accusing eyes.He looked so betrayed and...angry? I wasn't sure. All I knew was that he didn't look happy, at all.I uncomfortably cleared my throat and I turned my head to look at Raiden. He didn't even try to hide the fact that he was angry, I could see it on his face. It was red and a bit sweaty. I could see that he was trying to hold his anger in, but it wasn't working."I'm sorry, I have to go," I said, and pushed my chair backwards. If I continued staying in that dining room, then I was sure that I would def
Zach's POVFather really shouldn't have asked that question, not because of Naya, but because of me!I was sure that he definitely knew that I had no plans whatsoever with Naya, and I wasn't planning to have one, but even with that, he still went on to ask the irrelevant question.The moment the words left his mouth, I noticed that the aura in the room changed, and the atmosphere became...thicker. It was so weird and awkward, and I wondered what was wrong.I moved my eyes towards Naya, and I could see how scared she looked. Her brothers too looked angry. I guessed it could have been that she didn't tell them about her marriage, or something deeper than that.I knew that it was a family problem, when she excused herself from the table. I wanted to follow her, but when I saw that her brothers followed her almost immediately, I just knew that it was something serious.