"In the Silence of a New Home"

Selene wandered through the darkness of the forest, her steps slow and heavy, as if each one carried the weight of a cruel fate. For hours, loneliness and pain had been her only companions. Exhausted, her muscles burning with fatigue and her mind consumed by a storm of feelings she had never learned to control, she finally collapsed beneath the dense canopy of the trees.

As the world faded, the night thickened, and the stars bore silent witness to the fall of a warrior who, if only for a fleeting moment, seemed to have lost all her strength.

---

Four days passed beneath a veil of darkness and silence. During that time, Selene remained unconscious, trapped in a deep slumber that shielded her from the brutal reality of her inner conflicts. Her body, worn down by struggle and exhaustion, was found by Dante—who came upon her staggering near the edge of the forest on a gray, cold morning.

Dante, with his austere expression and eyes burning with possessiveness, did not hesitate. He lifted Selene with a disturbingly gentle touch, placed her on a black horse, and carried her silently to his estate—an isolated mansion cloaked in shadows and mystery, where he held absolute control.

There, Selene was placed in a discreet yet luxurious room, where dim light became the only witness to her vulnerability. Throughout the four days she remained unconscious, Dante tended to her with unsettling care: cleansing every wound, hiding each bruise, while the heavy silence of the house brimmed with tension and an unspoken concern he rarely allowed to surface.

When at last Selene's eyes opened, she found herself in a room draped in both intimacy and dominance. Dressed in a thin nightgown that barely concealed her bruised and aching skin, she stirred in the bed, reality crashing in like a tidal wave. Her first flicker of awareness was consumed by confusion—and fury.

Standing beside her, Dante's tall form was outlined against the faint light streaming through the window. His amber eyes, still smoldering, locked onto her with a mix of possession and silent worry.

— "Selene..."

His voice was low, the kind that made the air tremble.

Selene, feeling his presence so close, abruptly lifted her head, her eyes burning with rage and pain.

— "What did you do to me? How do I know I'm not your prey forever?"

Her voice wavered between desperation and wounded pride.

Dante stepped closer, never breaking his gaze. With measured, delicate movements, he brushed his fingers along her face, threading them through her disheveled hair, still laced with the dust of the forest.

— "You're safe now, Selene. I never meant to make you suffer more than you already have."

His tone was uncharacteristically soft, though it still carried that cold force that defined him.

Despite the gentleness of his touch, a shiver ran down her spine. She closed her eyes but didn't pull away. The gesture was ambiguous: fury still burned inside her, yet something buried deep beneath her pain seemed to stir at his contact.

After a long silence, Dante leaned in and pressed a gentle kiss to her lips—a kiss that was both a promise and a painful reminder that she belonged to a dark fate. The kiss sent a tremor through Selene, but she quickly shoved him away.

— "Don't be foolish, Selene. Don't run from this reality."

Dante's voice was steeped in a possessiveness that bordered on obsession.

— "You know how much this means. Running will only bring you deeper into pain."

Selene's eyes shimmered with restrained fury as she searched for words that could express her anguish without exposing the storm within her.

— "I... I just want to go home."

Her voice was low, barely audible, but carried the honesty of someone desperately seeking an escape.

Dante, his gaze tightening with both dominance and unwavering resolve, replied:

— "From now on, this is your home, Selene. This house, this world—it belongs to us."

She raised a hand, as if to push him away, but something in her eyes betrayed that the war within her was far from over.

— "You don't understand... I can't let myself be controlled. I won't accept this... this possession."

Silence returned, thick and oppressive. Dante lowered his head slightly, his lips curling into a smile that wavered between resignation and challenge.

— "Maybe you don't see it yet, but without me, everything would be chaos. Here, you'll learn that the fate we share cannot be broken."

His words echoed through the dim room. Selene, breathing heavily, tried to pull back, but his hand closed around her wrist—firm, but not cruel.

— "Don't be reckless again, Selene. If you try to run, I'll bring hell itself to your doorstep just to find you."

His touch was warm, insistent, as if he were trying to erase the distance she fought so hard to keep. She battled against the impulse to retreat, against the need to push him away—but also against the undeniable pull he had on her.

Amidst the silence and shadows, Selene whispered with venom, still refusing to admit what burned beneath her defiance:

— "I'm nothing to you... I'll never be yours."

Dante's eyes never left hers. His reply came firm, unyielding—but with a rare note of vulnerability:

— "You can deny what you feel, but I see it... in every glance, in every breath you hold back. This fate is ours, Selene—whether you accept it or not."

The atmosphere thickened, charged with fury, longing, and a passion neither of them could name. Selene trembled inside, torn between the freedom she yearned for and the inescapable bond Dante had wrapped around her like chains.

— "I want to go home," she repeated, her voice trembling with sorrow and rage.

— "Home is where I feel safe—not where I'm dragged by hands that don't respect me."

Dante's expression hardened, eyes narrowing with a mixture of scorn and possessive tenderness.

— "From this moment forward, this is your home. And if you insist on running, I will tear apart the world to bring you back."

For long moments, silence stretched between them—heavy with unspoken truths. Selene, heart aching, finally let out a quiet sigh. No words could untangle the knot of fate that bound them. She knew—even if she couldn't yet speak it—that she was a prisoner of something far more complex than mere captivity.

Dante stepped closer once more. This time, he didn't touch her—only let his gaze hold her captive.

— "I'm here. There's no escape. You are mine... even if you believe yourself to be something else."

Selene met his eyes, and for a heartbeat, the world disappeared. There was only her and Dante—two souls entangled in a cruel fate, where words were far too small to carry the weight of everything unspoken.

But as always, her silent screams were swallowed by the dark. Eyes glistening, she whispered:

— "I... I am nothing to you."

Dante leaned in and placed a soft kiss on her forehead—a gesture that carried both affection and a dark warning.

— "Here, you will have a new beginning, Selene. Don't try to run. The freedom you seek only exists the moment you accept what we are—together."

And in the silence that followed, Selene remained still—caught between the fire of rebellion and the truth she didn't want to face. That her fate... was already sealed.