Owned by the monster

CHAPTER 1

Olivia had to be safe,

She just had to be!

There was no way he could bear not having her in his arms.

He just couldn't!

By the time they made it back to the castle, the fire was roaring and the humans were still cheering. He saw the demons working hard to put out the flames and he walked straight into the fire, knowing it would do no harm to him.

All around him, his home was falling apart, he walked past various demons working hard to save what was left. He hurried up the steps, opening room after room looking for Olivia. He grabbed the next demon who passed him on the stairs.

"Where is Olivia?" the young demon simply shook his head. Lucian let go of him like he had burned him, real panic began to set in as he hurried from room to room, screaming her name. He could hear other demons calling out for her.

"Olivia!"

"Olivia!" their voices resonated through the halls.

His bedroom was empty but he could still smell her. He went back multiple times to that room, searching, opening, and closing doors, wondering what he might have missed.

He walked into the bedroom one more time, the flames were quickly eating up the bedsheets but Olivia wasn't there. The curtains were already engulfed in flames and the dark poisonous smoke would have made it hard for any human to even survive the heat.

He barged into the toilet again, he knew the last of his control was slowly fading away. He punched the mirror before him, and the glass shattered all over. Nothing made sense, Nothing.

She was here one minute and he had helped lead the humans, away and the next thing he knew the castle was in flames and she was gone, nothing made sense.

"Nothing fucking makes sense!"

Something caught his eye from the floor filled with shattered glass.

Blood

He felt a searing pain, straight to his heart and it suddenly felt hard to breathe, he dropped to the floor slowly.

Olivia had been hurt. Someone had dared to touch his tārā

His mate; his human had been hurt and he had not been there to save her

He tried to use their mate bond to reach her but nothing, silence, like she had simply disappeared.

He feared the worst but he couldn't let himself think that, she had to be alright.

He rushed out again, looking for any trace of her.

He could still hear the demons calling out

"Olivia!"

********&&&&&&&&&

The night air was cool and they sat right in front of the castle, surrounded by the woods. Galen instructed the demons as they separated what they salvaged from the fire. The castle was ruined, that was for sure and they would rebuild in no time, but first, they needed to find the King's mate. It was ridiculous that she had been taken from right under their noses, something he would have sworn was impossible.

The demons had been divided across the nation with one simple instruction; "Bring back the King's mate"

Yet hours had gone by and there was still no news about her whereabouts; nothing about this made sense.

Lucian returned at sundown looking haggard and confused, Galen had never seen him this way. The king had been on the move with the rest of the demons assigned to look for Olivia, leading them as they looked for clues, anything to make this make sense.

"Any news?" Lucian asked, looking disoriented.

He easily towered over all the demons in the realm and now that height gave him a quick advantage to scan the working crowd for his human.

Galen shook his head sadly, hating to be the bearer of bad news. Lucian's normally fiery eyes, darkened with jarring intensity and even though Galen knew his cousin would do no harm to him, he took a cautious step back.

"When I find them... when I find whoever dared to touch what is mine!" he didn't finish the statement but the warning hung in the air, loud and threatening.

The demons kept working hard and Lucian realized it was time to stop with the kid gloves. He was trying to be gentle with his search and interrogations, because Olivia would want that, but if being gentle was what was keeping him from finding her, then he was done being gentle.

************&&&&&&&&&

For a minute all he saw was red, he could not hear the screams or the pleading, he did not see the blood or swollen eyes. He saw and felt nothing but blinding rage.

When he was done with this batch, he simply adjusted his already rolled-up sleeves and walked out.

He caught a glimpse of the result of his interrogation. This "suspect" was bruised and battered and even his super healing was not going to cure any of it soon.

"Clean this up" he ordered from the doorway, and the demons hurried to do as he said.

Galen who was leaning against a desk and observing him, gave him a concerned look. The massive demon followed after Lucian

"We're getting closer" Galen spoke from behind him and Lucian gave a reluctant nod.
"I have pommeled through multiple informants and tortured countless humans and we've only been able to get crumbs" Lucian responded, and he looked obviously disgusted.

"But at least we're getting something, we're getting closer" Galen was trying to cheer him up.

Lucian looked like a shadow of himself, he looked tired and his normally fiery eyes were just orbs of darkness, with dark veins stretching from his eyelids to the rest of his face, making him look more like the feared demon king he was.

Everyone steered clear of him.

This was the demon king they had known until Olivia had come and made him into a happy eager demon. They really needed to find this human before things went to hell, literally.

Without Olivia, Lucian was a brutal king. He would leave chaos in his wake.

"Speak to her father one more time, he knows more than what he's telling," he finally said when he got outside, he paused to look at the sky. His jaw was set.

"If I go, I'll rip him into shreds" A vein twitched in his jaw as he spoke

Galen nodded in understanding, he too had begun to suspect that Ferdinand knew more than he was conveying about his daughter's disappearance, but he did not want to say that to the already edgy Lucian, fearing that he would go after Olivia's father and do horrors to the human.

"On it," Galen said, turning towards the castle.

Lucian watched him go and he finally let the camouflage of strength fade away from his face.

He looked sad and broken. He walked slowly to his room, hanging his head in defeat. When he made it inside, he crashed onto a recliner, dragging a hand over his face and closing his eyes. He kept trying to reach her through their bond

"Come on, Baby" his voice was filled with desperation. He kept trying to find any link to her

There was just so much pain; his head, his heart, everything hurt. It was torture to imagine just what could be happening to her right now.

Every time that thought crossed his mind he panicked and his thoughts would race; punishing him with vivid images of the horrible things that could be done to her. He really hoped she was safe. He could not bear the thought of anyone hurting her, touching her, yelling at her... performing untold horrors to her.

A bitter laugh echoed in the room. What a fitting punishment for the demon king, the destroyer of humans; to be made so vulnerable because of a human.

He snapped out of it, his fears were renewing more rage in him. He hurried out of the room, past the stairway, out the grand hall, ignoring the large pack of demons that waited outside; watching with solemn expressions.

He walked past everything; he was going to find his mate!