Moonlight Kingdom

Chapter 4

"I'm sorry, what?" Ray asked after Dakota's words became coherent in her thoughts. Surely he did not say that he owned her as well?

"I own everything here," he repeated—leaving out the part that included her too. For some reason, Dakota was becoming the nervous one. Why would he be nervous? After all, he was the king of everything in his kingdom and the human city his kingdom mirrored. However, there was a sort of power about Ray that shone like the sun. She was bright, feminine, and gave off the aura of authority. Especially when she was pissed, and Ray was pissed.

"You just told me you owned me. What the fuck? I thought I could go home! What is this?!" Ray was almost screaming at the tall man as she cupped her hands around her face and began pacing the rooftop. The view was magnificent and beautiful with all of the neon lights surrounding and decorating the city, but she couldn't focus on such a colorful world in her colorless mind right now. All she could focus on was Dakota and his consistently strange string of words.

"You can go home. Ray, calm down. Please, Ray, calm down." He reached out his hand toward her, but her palm came down harshly across his hand.

"Don't fucking touch me!" King or no king, Ray wouldn't standing for this. She knew she should be more careful, for he did bring her through a mirror only with words. However, she couldn't imagine the idea of someone owning her. She wasn't anyone's property, she didn't belong to anyone. She especially didn't belong to any man apart from Jesus, and Dakota was nowhere near the true King.

"Ray," Dakota began as his jaw trembled. "Calm. Down." Ray wasn't the only one angry, for Dakota had never been slapped before. He especially had never been slapped by a human of all creatures, and he wasn't sure what to do. He would never hit a woman, but he was severely tempted.

"How can I remain calm? You think that I'm yours? What the hell!"

"Stop it!" He shouted. His voice was so unkind, so unlike anything she had heard come from his mouth so far, that she stopped to look up at him. She could see in the hazy neon light that he had veins protruding slightly from his neck, and his bare chest was heaving up and down in controlled breaths. She knew she had pissed him off, and her anger melted away to become fear once more. "I do own you now, Ray, but it's not what you think. I made a mistake by bringing you here. I should have never planted the invitation in Stacy's mailbox, I should have never coaxed you through the portal, I should have never told you I was the king—it was all a mistake."

"Then why did you do it?" She asked, for it was hard for Ray to remain quiet. Talking was her coping mechanism, and it was helping ever so slightly.

"I told you," he snapped as he turned away from her and faced his city. "I was afraid you knew who I was. Humans aren't supposed to know who I am—save a select few—and I panicked." He gazed down at the edge of the building wondering if he could ever converse with a human about this. After all, he had no human friends. He only knew the government of New York City, and they were far from friends.

"I still don't know who you are. If that makes you feel any better, let me just go home." Her voice was so desperate, so full of emotion that Dakota closed his eyes as he stood there.

He wanted nothing more than to let her go. After all, he could make her forget everything once she stepped back through the portal, and she would never know he existed unless she returned to Moonlight. However, she would never have to return. She would never have to return and remember. Dakota could do this, but he didn't want to. He didn't want to keep her against his word—for he did tell her she would be able to go back home—but he knew what happened in his streets at night. He knew the type of people that lived in his kingdom, and he knew that returning at this hour wasn't safe.