Desire for you - ALPHA ILAY

NAEL

It was interesting to have dinner with Delilah. I grew to like her more and more and I wondered how she did it with her feelings.

I remember all too well when my mate died. I had never experienced such pain and her sudden death really bothered me.

Delilah was a phenomenon as she sat here as if nothing had happened and ate lunch with me in peace. Her work was first class, no question about it. I had already complained to Chris that he had only told me about Delilah after she had disappeared.

Delilah was very charming, smart, pretty and all the other adjectives to describe something wonderful.

What if that was her strength? Calming her emotions and protecting herself as a result. Any other person would have been traumatised after being enslaved. I'm not saying she wasn't, but she didn't let on.

Delilah was a puzzle I wanted to solve - without Ilay getting in my way.

I ate the last spoonful of tiramisu and looked at Delilah.

"I've eaten too much," she said, running her hand over her stomach.

"Oh come on, you left half. I'm the one who ate too much, I'd probably have to be carried out of the restaurant," I said and couldn't help grinning.

"Maybe we'll have to watch our lines if we want to go jogging," Delilah smiled at me and ran her fingers through her long black hair.

"Luckily we don't have to do it all in one day." Her smile was dazzling, and the longer I sat at that table with her, the more I wanted to know from her.

"There's a beautiful place not far from here... I'd love to show it to you," I said to her and waited for her answer.

Finally she nodded: "I'd love to".

I paid, we got up and left the restaurant.

There was a little place in Lostland. No demon came there to take care of her, and yet it was magical.

"It's not far from here," I walked off with her and left the limo outside the restaurant. A cool breeze was blowing and most eyes were on us.

"It feels weird being watched like this," Delilah whispered to me as she walked alongside me.

"I'm so used to it that I don't even notice it anymore," I replied, smiling at her.

Delilah looked round and frowned "Those men?

"My men," I winked at her.

"Oh wow..." she said in amazement. I never went anywhere alone, my men always followed me, some demons from my team also followed us in invisible form.

My brothers and I were immortal and strong, but there were always things that could harm us. The angels' tears, for example, caused severe burns.

"We kept walking when the area became deserted again and my men stopped after a while and stopped following us.

It was a kind of mini-island, to which we crossed a small bridge.

The island was overgrown with wild roses and you could smell the scent from afar.

The view of the water was breathtaking and even the fish had a reddish glow, as if they had all swallowed a red light bulb.

"This place is beautiful," Delilah said, looking around.

I nodded with a smile and looked at her: "I often come here when I need my peace and quiet ... Sometimes it's not easy for me either," I sighed softly and sat down on the grass.

Delilah sat down next to me and looked into the distance "When has it ever been easy?" she mumbled to herself.

"One thing I don't understand, Nael... How can someone be so devastated and, conversely, so destructive and cruel?" Delilah asked me, looking me in the eye.

I saw the pain in her eyes. Her blue eyes looked pained and empty at the same time.

"Isn't it the pain that changes us, Delilah? Ilay has had to wait the longest of us for his mate. While I found my mate and lost her again, for him it was an eternal wait of over a thousand and three hundred years. When he finally found her, he had to share her and reject her in the end... That doesn't excuse what he did, but it explains it." I looked off into the distance again and sighed.

Delilah nodded slightly, "Is there no other way out for Ilay to get his mate back?" she asked me suddenly, making me pause.

I thought for a second and looked at her again, "Not according to my father..." I said, thinking about it seriously.

Delilah frowned "What if he did? What if... I'm not saying the king is lying... But what if he never said it for the sake of peace?" she whispered, biting her lower lip.

What could stop my father from helping Ilay achieve his happiness? So far, no one had questioned my father's words, not even Ilay. We trusted our father blindly.

"What if we could help him by finding a way?" she finally said, looking down at her hands.

"I don't know ... I'd have to find out." Who could tell me that?

The only warlock I knew who might know a way out was Ragnol, who was a vampire captive. The reason Ilay had to sacrifice a heart to see him and help Catherine...

Delilah made me look at everything from a different angle. What if Father really had lied and just didn't want this relationship?

Then Ilay would suffer for no reason... He would be deprived of his own happiness, which was meant for him.

Even after everything Ilay had done to her, her only thought was to help him.

I wondered what was behind it...

"Delilah?"

"Yes?"

"What else happened between you and Ilay? Does he seem to mean something to you?" I asked her honestly and had to swallow.

Delilah was silent for a moment and breathed in and out deeply.

She raised her eyebrows in surprise, my ear could hear her now quickening pulse.

"That night, just before it all happened in the courtroom ... I heard him crying. To be honest, I was scared and thought something bad had happened... I went into his room and found him crying on the floor with some letters and a picture. The picture was of his partner and a child... She had written him letters and he was broken... He cried all night with me and then fell asleep in my arms," Delilah told me and I listened, stunned.

"The next morning, I was actually off work and was pulled out of bed by May. I didn't understand what had got into Ilay, but he terrorised the whole house that morning and suddenly he was gone... Less than an hour later, I was summoned to court and had to shoot Zamiel..." she breathed the last sentence quietly and a tear rolled down her cheek.

What had Ilay been thinking? To pour his heart out to her and then let her kill her mate? That was absurd ... There had to be more to it than that. Did he want revenge for rejecting and enslaving her? Could that be the reason for his actions? No ... If he wanted revenge, he would have done it himself and not left it to Delilah.

I was speechless and cleared my throat to find my voice again.

"That's hard..." I whispered and gave her a sad look.

I rubbed my temples and sighed: "I really don't know what to say... I have no explanation for his behaviour, his motives..."

Delilah smiled weakly and reached for my hand, "You don't need to feel bad... We can't change it anyway, but I thank you for this great trip. It means a lot to me. It's been a long time since I've been away for pleasure."

"How can you be so relaxed about it all? This question has been running through my head ever since you moved in with me ... I can't explain your behaviour," I asked her directly, really wanting to know what was going on inside her.

She just shrugged her shoulders, "What could I change, Nael? Sink into self-pity and do nothing but make life difficult for others? You know I'm Mr Badass's daughter. Do you think he would tolerate something like that? Besides Ilay, he also forced me to shoot Zamiel... He also lectured me every day about how naive I am. Do you seriously think I can afford to continue playing the sad sack?" she smiled weakly and ran her fingers through her hair.

"I'm sorry, I sometimes block out the fact that you're Chris's daughter, even though you look a hell of a lot alike. You must have inherited your character from your mum," I couldn't help but smile too, because I hadn't thought of it like that.

I could imagine only too well how Chris dealt with his daughter... Sometimes he even gave me hell... That was the only advantage he had over me, because he was older than me.

"But basically you're right, there's no point in feeling sorry for yourself," she slowly withdrew her hand, which was still in mine, and plucked at her dress:

"How did you deal with your pain?"

"Well... I spent a month feeling sorry for myself, as you put it. Then I invested the time of grief in myself. I couldn't change the situation, she had to die. The only thing that helped me was that she had a peaceful death...". That had actually helped me keep my anger in check, because if she had died at someone else's hands, I would have lost it like Ilay.

Delilah nodded in understanding and picked up a wild rose.

"I always thought that when you find your mate, you're both on cloud nine and happy, but unfortunately I didn't have much of that," she plucked at the blossoms of the flower as I watched her.

"Maybe fate didn't want you to be together? Even if he was supposed to be your mate..."

"Delilah giggled softly and smiled at me: "Or my father's prayers were answered, he didn't like him."

"I don't even want to imagine your situation with Chris," I said with a laugh and stood up. I gave her my hand and pulled her up.

Time flew by and we walked back to the car. I held the door open for her and let her get in. I also sat in the driver's seat and finally drove off.

I first had to process what she had told me, because it was a lot of information at once and then there was the question: "What if Ilay was lied to?

I had to get to the bottom of it, maybe there was hope for my brother after all. At least then his problem would be solved and so would our problem.