Lyra was strolling with Bella near the stream when she heard a loud flapping sound of wings. As they looked up, they caught the glimpse of a giant grey-colored vulture approaching them. Bella held Lyra's hand and moved back on impulse.
Victor's eyes were filled with life as he found Lyra. He landed on the ground turning into his human form and approached her, he smiled and hugged her "I missed you, love, I think I can't live without you anymore"
Lyra was rooted to her spot still trying to process the situation. She didn't know whether to cry or laugh, they only met once and he declared that he can't live without her, she pushed him slightly to put some distance between them "What do you want from me?" this question was bugging her ever since he reacted weirdly in the cave.
Victor blinked at her blunt question and answered like it was the most normal thing ever "I want you to stay with me"
"Why?"
He furrowed his brows "I don't know the reason but I want to keep you near me, it almost suffocates me to think of a future without you"
Lyra raised her brows "You came to that conclusion by just staying with me for one day?"
Victor closed the distance between them and looked at her blue eyes "This may be nothing to you love, but the one day that I spent with you is the most precious one for me, Your genuine concern towards me filled my heart, I want to feel it more, that moment, I want more"
Lyra studied his gestures and noticed that he restrained himself from touching her after she pushed him, and his words were filled with despair and helplessness. She was not a psychology student but was quite good at reading people, and she understood that the man in front of her was someone who never experienced warmth and care, she was the first one to show some concern and he was scared of losing the only person to ever do that to him.
Seeing her not speak he frowned "Do you still not understand love? I like you"
'No you don't ' she thought inwardly but didn't say it loudly, he just liked her presence, he wanted someone to talk to and mistook it for liking her, Lyra didn't know how to make him realize the difference, and opened her mouth "How about this? Try to spend some more time with me, I'm not sure about your feelings of just one day"
Victor's gaze turned cold "You don't believe me? Then I will just take you with me," he said as he approached her.
Lyra retreated and sighed "Even if you keep me close to you by force it will just make me hate you, and I'm very confident in my mates, they will not allow someone to do the things that I don't like to me"
She tilted her head "Choose, you can see and talk to me here or lose the chance of ever seeing me"
Victor flinched by her words and replied hastily "I-i hate to see you with other males, I can't tolerate it"
She chuckled "They are my mates, and I like them, how can you expect me to leave them to be with you?"
"I'll kill them then" he spoke with a cold voice
Lyra frowned "You dare? Do you think I will live after their death? I will end my life the instant something happens to them because of me. Don't try me, I do the things that I say" she warned him
Victor clenched his teeth listening to her words, that snake had such a great female by his side, she was even willing to die for him, Weren't females selfish in nature? they didn't care about their mate's life as long as they had a chance to gain stronger males to replace them, he glanced at her and pursed his lips "Why are you like this? I'm sure that I'm stronger than your males, why don't you choose me instead of them?"
Lyra rolled her eyes "First of all my mates are also strong and I don't give away my heart just because someone is strong" She then pointed a finger at him "You, this is the last chance, you have to stay with me, In my house, tolerating my mates and figure out your feelings for me or go away"
He closed his eyes, he didn't like it, he didn't like her being close to others, but she threatened him to kill herself if something occurred to her mates, he lastly didn't like that he was listening to her nonsense without feeling annoyed, what was, even more, he wanted to hear more of her banter. She was so confident that he didn't like her, but how could he explain his true feelings for her? It was dark, he wanted to hug her, kiss her, and always keep her in his arms, he already realized that he loves her but he was too scared to reveal all of his emotions and just covered it up by saying that he just wanted her to stay with him or he was completely sure that she would have run away as far as she can, he smirked 'I'll let her keep thinking like that then'
He suppressed his smile and replied in a cold voice "Okay, I'll stay with you without causing any trouble"
Lyra grinned at him, she didn't want to bring unnecessary harm to the place she was currently living in, she knew the fact that he was very powerful and can kidnap her if he made up his mind, she was confident in Lucas but preferred his safety, Blake was currently not in the house and she didn't want to worry him, because her babies were more important to her. And this guy, she wanted to help him to get out of his loneliness, his eyes were melancholic and sad from the first time she met him, her heart ached for him and she wanted him to come out of that despair and look into the bright side. 'He would then automatically leave my side'
Lyra was assuming many things in her mind and didn't even realize that she was being tricked by Victor, she glanced at him "Follow me, I'll take you to my house"
Victor smirked 'How can she be so dumbly cute?' he thought inwardly and followed her.
As she entered the house, Lucas ran out to hug her but halted his steps when he saw someone else besides her. He frowned upon realizing that it was a beastman and turned towards her.
Lyra understood his gaze and explained "This is Victor, the one that I met in the forest"
Lucas widened his eyes and hurriedly grabbed Lyra and stood in front of her in defense "Why are you here!?" he then turned to Lyra "Why is he here Ly?"
Lyra patted his back "Let me at least explain, I brought him here"
"Why?" Lucas wore a sad puppy face, "Do you like him?"
Lyra flicked his forehead "No I don't, Victor said that he likes me and I don't believe that he can like me by just spending one day with me so I brought him here to help him realize that his feelings are not romantic type"
Lucas squinted his eyes "But I also fell in love with you the first time I saw you and that snake snatched you away the first time he saw you" he reasoned
"It is different" came the quick reply from her
Lucas held his forehead and stared at her tiredly "Ly..." he then glanced at Victor and noticed that the former was wearing a victorious smile. He then looked at his innocent, pretty Ly, 'She was conned wasn't she?' he thought inwardly
He sighed "Is he gonna stay in our house?"
She nodded her head "He can live here in the living room"
Lucas glared at Victor, but didn't try to attack him, he understood that the one he was facing was powerful enough to end him and take Ly with him by force, but he decided to stay tolerating the weak him. Lucas was not a lonely beastman anymore, his mate's safety came first before his ego and he didn't want to take risks before the return of Blake. Besides his Ly didn't like that beastman anyway, he would make him burn with jealousy every day.
Lucas covered his annoyed face and put on a smile "As you wish Ly"
Victor frowned at the sudden acceptance of Lucas and turned to him, Lucas on another hand smirked at him, and the next moment Lyra tiptoed and pecked his lips "Thank you so much for believing in me Lucas"
Lucas hugged her and buried her in his shoulders as he smiled at Victor "Offcourse I believe you Ly"
Victor's clenched his fists and his face turned dark, 'This wolf bastard'
Lucas raised his brows challenging 'What? Do you want to beat me? Can you do that in front of Ly'?
'Just wait until I find you alone' victor glared at him.
'I will be waiting' Lucas gave a last cheeky smile at him and took Lyra inside.