Clarrissa's POV

I don’t want to believe I’ve heard her correctly. How could she ask for the wedding to be next week? That was impossible! I could barely survive this engagement night; what would happen on his wedding day?

Anya knew what she was doing. At this point, she was intentionally trying to ruin my life. And she was doing a bloody good job at it. I had to stop her. I had to do everything in my power to prevent this from happening.

There was no doubt in my mind that she was rushing to marry Damon. She knew that I didn’t want it to happen. She knew that I was willing to do anything to stop it, and she wouldn’t make it easy for me. After today, she was more determined than ever for this wedding to happen. She knew that I was a bigger threat than she initially thought.

How could she not care about the engagement party? She was willing to skip it as long as it meant she could quickly marry Damon. This wasn’t about marrying him anymore.

This was personal. This meant I had even less time to convince Damon to fight for us instead of letting me go. I couldn’t play safe anymore; I had to take all the risks to make Damon mine.

Anya kept proving to me that she never loved Dante or Damon. She knew Dante could hear everything she was saying, yet she moved up the wedding while he listened.

I could sense his pain for the entire walk back to the house. He didn’t bother repeating a word after her announcement.

How could she so easily hurt him when all he’s ever done was protect her?

Dante has always been crazy about her, his eyes have always only been for her. Atticus was interested in Autumn even if he never knew it until after their marriage, and Damon, I knew where his heart really was. But Dante has always loved Anya and only her. She never deserved him, she never deserved any of them.

It bothered me that Damon didn’t try once to say no to her. He could have asked for the date to be a later one, but he just left her to do as she pleased, even after what had happened earlier.

He was determined to make me forget about him even though it was clear that his decision wouldn’t just hurt me but him as well.

“Where have you been?” Atticus demands when he sees the four of us walking through the gates.

“Please don’t tell me you were in that forest again, Clarissa.” He adds as he takes one look at me. “Have you learned nothing after what happened there in the past?”

I bite my lip as he glares at me. I did not want to disappoint anyone, and I didn’t want to cause any trouble for them; my emotions always made me act without thinking.

I was not proud of it. But I would not change it either. I did what I had to do. I wasn’t going to sit down and watch the person that I loved get engaged to an awful woman who did not love him.

“I have something important to discuss with everyone,” Damon says as he tries to distract Atticus and the others from scolding me.

I knew that he intended to protect me yet again. Protecting me was always the one thing that came first for Damon; it came naturally for him. That’s why I’m not that surprised by his actions anymore.

I wish he could see into my heart; I wish he could feel my emotions. Only then would he realize that he was making the wrong decision.

Most guests must have already left since the house was almost empty when I stepped inside. They must have already announced that the engagement party was canceled.

“We think that it’s possible we are being targeted by witches again,” Damon tells our family the second he had everyone in the family room.

“Why would you say that?” Atticus demands.

“When Clarissa was in the forest, she was trapped by fire; it was surrounding her.” He explains. “Fire doesn’t just form a perfect circle like that without some kind of interference.”

I’m happy that he’s doing all of the talking for me. I was still shocked after hearing about Anya’s decision to move up the wedding.

“You were surrounded by fire?” Autumn asks me in horror. “That’s awful. Who on earth will want to hurt you?”

“She may not be the target,” Griffin says. “The target could be one of us or all of us. She was just easy to get to since she was on her own in the middle of the forest while we were all preoccupied with the party. It was the perfect opportunity to strike, and I believe it was only just a warning. They want to scare us. Whoever it is, they want us to be aware of them; they want us to know they’re close. It must be a sick game to them.”

“But still,” Atticus cuts in. “It’s not like they would have known Clarissa wouldn’t have been at the engagement party.”

“It means that they have eyes on us.” Grandfather says. “They’ve been watching us, waiting for a chance to attack. They weren’t expecting Damon to leave the party to find her. We’re lucky that she is still alive. Clarissa, it would help if you were more careful from now on. We can’t lose you.”

Everyone gets quiet at his warning.

“I’ll take Clarissa to her room,” Damon says suddenly. He could probably sense that I was still losing my mind over his wedding announcement. “She needs to get some rest. She is still in shock from everything.”

Autumn hugs me, and so does everyone else after her.

Damon and I are silent as he walks me to my room. I don’t know what to say. I was not about to congratulate him. He knows that my mood will only worsen after what Anya said.

“I’m not going to let you marry her.” I blurt out as soon as I enter my room. He’s standing by the door, looking at me, just looking. Waiting.

“What did you say?” He finally asks after a few seconds pass.

“I said I’m not going to let you marry her,” I repeat for his sake.

I wanted to make my intentions clear. I wanted him to be prepared because I was not planning on letting him go.

Damon’s eyes widen in surprise at my words.

“Clarissa—”

“Why are you marrying someone that doesn’t truly love you?” I demand. “It was so easy for her to throw Dante out of her life; what makes you think she wouldn’t do the same to you?”

It bothered me that Damon was so quickly accepting all of this. He should be fighting back. He should be fighting for us!

He sighs and walks into the room. I watch as he gently shuts the door behind him before turning his attention back to me.

“This is something that has to be done.” He says gently. “I know it’s not something you’re happy about, but it is my decision.”

I narrow my eyes, “why are you doing this? I can tell that you’re not happy. I know you better than anyone else, Damon. You’re not happy. You’re miserable.”

“Clarissa, please, try to understand.” He pleads. “I can’t have you acting recklessly again. I can’t watch you hurt yourself because of the decisions that I’ve made. I’m doing all this to protect you, and you’re not helping me by walking straight into danger.”

My eyes widen. I was right all along. In his twisted way, Damon was protecting me. Did he think he was somehow shielding me from myself? Was he hoping I would give up on us after he married Anya?

“Damon, please don’t do this. You’re not protecting me by marrying her. You’re killing me instead!” I exclaim. “You’re taking all the joy out of my life by choosing to be with her. I can’t stand seeing you with her. Can’t you tell what it’s doing to me? Isn’t it obvious that I’m hurting?”

He walks over to me and grabs my shoulders. “This pain is nothing compared to the pain you will feel if anyone ever found out about us. Your life would be a mess. Everyone will judge you. Because I’m a Fawn by blood, they will not treat me as badly as they would you. Please try to understand!”

“I don’t care about any of that, Damon!” I shout. “I want to be with you. Only you. No one else. Why can’t you see how badly I want us to be more than what we are now? I don’t want to be your sister. I could never be your sister. It’s unfair. I’ve never wanted anything or anyone as much as I want you. How do you expect me to watch you marry Anya and not do anything about it?”

Damon's expression softens, but his resolve remains firm. “Clarissa, there are things you don’t understand. Things that I can’t explain to you right now. But please trust me when I say that this is for the best. I can’t change what’s already been set in motion.”

Tears well up in my eyes as I shake my head. “I can’t accept that, Damon. I won’t give up on us. Not now, not ever.”

He pulls me into a hug, holding me tightly against his chest. “I’m sorry, Clarissa. I wish things were different, but this is how it has to be.”

As he holds me, I can feel his heart beating against mine, but the rhythm feels off, as if it's aching just as much as mine. In that moment, I realize that despite his words, Damon's heart isn't fully committed to this decision. But for some reason, he feels compelled to follow through with it.

I bury my face in his chest, silently vowing to fight for us, no matter what obstacles lie ahead. Even if it means going against Damon himself, I refuse to let our love slip away without a fight.