"The heart is the fountain of unspoken words."

°°°°

Isabella Carson

I can still feel the sting of his bite on my shoulder, by marking me he had made me a marked female lycan. There is no significance to the mark other than the fact that I was now his. Gingerly, I walked to the stream and was about to clean up a little. He stopped me with a monosyllabic command.

"I need to wash- "

"No. Keep it inside of you, Isabella." He ordered.

For the first time since my stay here with Malcolm, I felt a flicker of anger lick through my body like an angry wave. He was demanding and incorrigible. I know for a fact that he felt what I felt when he was on top of me. I can see it in his eyes. I gave him everything and yet he was still treating me like he didn't care what I thought.

He watched me, waiting for me to react. I blinked and looked away, unable to look at him. Throwing on the clothes quickly, I passed him without another glance. I heard him growl but it didn't stop me. I didn't want to be near him. In fact, I wanted to be anywhere but here with him. I don't like the way he was looking at me all the time.

Even if I allowed him to do all these things to me, I still had a great amount of pride left. I felt a warm, rough grip on my elbow that tugged me around to face him. He wore an emotionless expression as he spoke the next words.

"The mark on your shoulder means nothing. You are still nobody to me. Don't think that because you bear my mark that I still have feelings for you because I don't. This doesn't change anything." Each word he spoke was like a knife to the heart. I fought back tears because I wasn't going to let him see how weak I was. Averting my gaze, I looked at the scenery before me.

"Do you understand?" His voice dropped a dangerous note bringing my attention back to him.

"I understand. I am still your prisoner. The mark is meaningless." I replied in a monotonous tone.

His jaw worked back and forth and I turned my gaze back to the scenery unable to look at his thunderous blue eyes that flare up in anger. "I want to go back to the room now."

I shouldn't be so eager to go back but if it means I can get away from him and get a few moments to myself. I would do it and he knew it. His fingers biting into my skin as his grip tightened.

"No, you will remain by my side a little longer." He growled.

My eyes snapped to him and he met my eyes head on. Waiting if I will fight him again. My fingers dug into my palms as I fisted my hand at my side.

"Fine," I answered.

Subsequently, he let go of me. We continued up the hill and back to the courtyard. I was silent the whole way there. All I could think about was how can the male lycan who can ignite such an enticing fire inside of me make me feel cold and forgotten so quickly. I knew that he did it because he was angry but I didn't know how to tell him why I left.

When we entered the great hall, most of the lycans were sitting and eating lunch already. Their head lifted curiously as we walked passed. I am sure they could sniff Malcolm's scent on me. Even I couldn't stop the heat that flared in my cheeks.

Malcolm took hold of my arm again and directed me to a seat next to him. When I looked up I saw Damon sitting across from me. An older male lycan sat to Damon's left. A deep scowl on his face as he glared at me. Instantly, I felt uncomfortable around him. The old male Lycan's gaze was threatening and malicious.

The smell of freshly cooked beef stew and baked bread drifted into the air and I suddenly realized how hungry I was. Lycans were normally big eaters. With our stamina and metabolism, our body usually needs to refuel every few hours.

Damon ripped a piece of bread and handed it to me. I didn't miss the scowl that crossed Malcolm's features before he ripped the bread from Damon's grasp and ate it. In turn, he gave me a piece of his bread. Damon smirked but I took it silently.

"So he finally let you out?" Damon asked with a genuine smile.

I smiled back, "Yes, I needed it."

The old male lycan next to him scoffed while eating his food grumpily. I glanced at him briefly before returning my gaze back to Damon who merely shrugged.

"Don't pay any heed to Malcolm's uncle. Uncle Alastair has a stick up his arse most of the time." Damon said and I hid a smile.

Uncle Alastair dropped his spoon onto the table, "I will not tolerate disrespect, Damon."

"What are you going to do about it?" Damon arched an eyebrow at him.

Uncle Alastair's face turned red and blotchy. He was clearly angry. He looked at Malcolm.

"Aren't you going to say anything?" Uncle Alastair growled.

Malcolm ate a piece of beef before looking at his uncle unaffected by his mood change.

"Uncle, I can't punish every lycan you can't provide a simple response to," Malcolm answered.

"This is an outrage! How can you let him talk to me like this? I am just not a male lycan. I am your family!" He was causing a scene. Malcolm's eyes darkened and his Lycan peeked with golden eyes at Uncle Alastair.

His uncle spewed a few muttered curse words before stomping off towards the stairs. Everyone pretended they didn't hear anything and continued eating. I looked back down at my plate and began eating again. It seemed to be a normal thing that happened every day at the dinner table but I couldn't shake the feeling that Malcolm's uncle was a bad lycan.

Halfway through dinner and I was stuff from all the delicious food on the table. Malcolm and Damon were conversing back and forth amongst themselves. I allowed my eyes to look around the room at the lycans that were still eating.

All of them were particularly tall and very well fit which is normal as they trained for the most part of the day. Doing drills and combats techniques. No wonder they get so hungry when they are sitting down to eat.

The male lycans in Malcolm's pack, I noticed was normally underdressed. They have their red and black color kilts on with a belt and no shirt. Allowing everybody a perfect view of their upper chest which is muscularly chiseled to almost perfection.

I felt a large hand rest on top of my left thigh. Startled, I turned to look and saw although Malcolm was still talking to Damon. He was also looking at me. His hand was firmly set on my thigh before he did a warning squeeze informing me to stop looking at his men.

Possessive much?

I threw him a glare before my eyes caught sight of a tall female lycan. Her hair was lustrous and black cascading down her back. The shirt she had on hugged her body so tightly that her huge breasts were nearly popping out of the collar. She was looking straight at me with a great amount of jealousy and vehemence.

It didn't take much to know why she was looking at me like that. The female lycan's eye kept flitting back and forth between Malcolm and me. I wondered how long did Malcolm have a relationship with this female and if it was a deep one. I couldn't help but feel a slight pang of jealousy and hurt but I can't blame him. Lycans must be sexually active to stay sane. Our libidos can't be pushed aside. Even I had to force myself to enjoy Gregory's touch.

Malcolm finished talking to Damon and turned towards me. I tore my gaze from the woman to meet his gaze. His hand slowly creeping up dangerously to my center. I squeezed my thighs together to stop his advances. His eyes darkened and I glared at him. My hand coming to rest on top of his hand. I removed his hand—correction—attempted to remove his hand.

Damon excused himself to go watch the male lycans fight. They were betting who would win and come out as champion. Soon, the hall was empty and there was only me and him. Even the female lycan who was looking at me earlier wasn't there.

"I'm tired. I'm heading upstairs to rest. You can go do what you need to do. I know the rules. Don't leave. Don't escape." I muttered as I stood up.

"You are in luck," He stood up along with me. He took one large step and wrapped an arm around my waist, pulling me close to his body. He leaned down and brushed his lips against my exposed mark. I shudder and my body tingled in response to his masculinity. My lycan knew who he was. Although, the mark held enough power for my lycan to know that this was the male lycan who had marked her as his.

I swallowed hard and pushed against his chest with the amount of will I had left, "Let me go."

"No." He simply countered.

"What do you want, Malcolm? Why can't you just leave me alone right now?" I growled angrily and pushed against his hard chest again. He tightened his arms around me, lifting me up into the air. My feet did not touch the ground. With me securely wrapped in his arms, he carried me up the stairs.

"You are in luck, Isabella, I am also tired and would like to rest." He said casually but it held a dangerous seductive undertone.

"You're lying. You never sleep during the day." I pointed out.

His eyes met mine as he opened his bedroom door and walked in. He closed it with his feet without missing a step.

A slow wicked smirk appeared on his face, "You're right. I'm not tired. I don't need rest. What I need is to teach you a lesson in looking at other males within the pack. Tha hu a 'mheinn, Isabella (You are mine)."

I scoffed, "Make up your mind, Malcolm. It's either you want me or don't want me. You said the mark bears no meaning, yet you repeatedly told me that I am yours. What is it that you want? What do you want from me?"

He surprised me by pinning me down onto the bed so fast, I only blinked once. My arms firmly trapped above my head and his soft perfectly full lips dangerously close to mine.

"I want everything of yours." He whispered huskily. His lycan looked at me. The golden irises illuminating to a dark fiery color.

I want to be unaffected by him but it was useless. Malcolm had me wrapped around his finger. I might not know if he still has feelings for me but I know he can't resist touching me as I can't resist touching him. My body will never be able to refuse Malcolm's touch. I yearned it and I needed it.