His Cursed Mate

Chapter Four

**Trigger Warning: This chapter contains depictions of self-harm**

Ren's POV

I chased after her, pushing my body forward with all of the force I could muster. I had to reach her - I couldn't let her slip away from me. As she was running a few yards ahead of me, I began to notice that she appeared to be limping somewhat, her ankle rolling inward as if she had injured it. I needed to catch up to her to stop the pain she was feeling. Every time it seemed that I was getting within reach of her, she somehow managed to evade my grasp and force herself into running faster than I was.

I hated that she was running from me; all I wanted to do was stare at her beautiful face in the setting sun. I just wanted the chance to get to know her; to ease her pain and suffering. In an attempt to get her to stop her, I called out to her, willing my voice to resonate with her soul.

"Please, just stop! I'm not going to hurt you!"

It was the truth - the last thing I ever could have possibly wanted was to cause her any harm. She was my mate, and although she was still a stranger to me, there was no denying the growing attachment I felt to her. She belonged by my side, and I belonged by hers.

Her pace soon slowed, and I followed her lead, letting my legs come to a halt around ten feet behind her. She was obviously spooked, and I didn't want to risk scaring her off again by breathing down the back of her neck.

She turned around suddenly, a distorted expression crossing the features of her face as she refused to meet my eyes. That was when I noticed the small knife she had produced from the bag she was carrying. Much to my surprise, she had the tip of it directed at her inner wrist, barely poking it into her skin.

What is she doing?

"Stop chasing me... This isn't what you want. I'm not what you want, trust me."

Her words were cold and unwavering, lacking any sense of remorse as she continued to point the knife at her wrist..

She couldn't tell? In this moment, she was all that I wanted; all I had been waiting for. Ever since I was a child, I'd grown up longing to find my mate one day - the one person in the world who could truly understand me better than anyone else ever would. Not even the bond I shared with Milo could compare to the bond I would share with her.

I hesitantly took a few steps toward her, carefully raising my arms with the palms of my hands facing toward her. Maybe if I was able to show her that I wasn't a threat, she would put the knife away. She wouldn't actually hurt herself just to get away from me, would she?

"What are you doing? I don't want to hurt you, I already told you that. I just want to talk,
I promise. Please, put the knife down..." I spoke to her softly, taking another step toward
her.

Apparently, I had been wrong about her intentions, for as soon as I took that final step toward her, she backed away from me at once. The air suddenly smelled of iron and metal, completely obscuring the scent of the surrounding woods. My vision went red as I lowered my gaze to her wrist, noticing the steady trickling of blood that had begun to fall from her wrist, hitting the pavement in clusters.

It turned out that she really would injure herself if it meant she could get away from me. She had to know that it killed me to see her doing such things to herself. I clenched my jaw tightly, quelling the raging urge that I had to rip the knife free from her grasp then and there. It was far too risky though, given that the knife was now buried within her flesh. If I was off by even a few centimeters, it was highly likely that I would knick the major blood vessels that resided beneath her skin - that was, if she didn't do it to herself first.