---- While the beast was busy venting out his anger on the poor tree, Alexia was not yet in her senses.

She had slipped into something she had been trying to fight for years Her lungs....

they were failing her.

Her heart betraying her.

She opens her lips, trying to take in oxygen but it was not enough Her mind was going hazy.

Eyes loosing focus.

She watches him, the man at war with himself and she couldn't help ask her own destroyer for aid.

Heelp Her rugged voice was a desperate plea and that's when Damien looks back to freeze.

His fists freeze mid air.

The realisation was quick in his eyes.

He had seen this before...

He had seen her struggling the same way.

And that's when his subconscious answered.

---- Panic attack.

She was having a panic attack.

---- Chapter 433 Damien's shoulders stiffened, the lingering adrenaline in his veins replaced by a suffocating stillness as his gaze settled on the figure crumpled near the tree Her knees were drawn tightly to her chest, trembling arms wrapped around them as though trying to hold herself together.

Her fingers clawed at her throat, desperate to free herself from the invisible chains suffocating her.

Her wide hazel eyes darted frantically, searching for a reprieve that wasnt there Her lips parted in broken, soundless gasps, and her breath came in quick, uneven stutters.

Something inside Damien stirred.

A memory surged forward, unbidden but unforgiving.

Those brown eyes, wide and terrified.

Her chest heaving.

Her body collapsing into his arms as unconsciousness claimed her.

Zariyan! he had screamed.

---- The echoes of the past snapped back into the present with a jarring clarity.

"Dammit," he hissed under his breath, his fist clenching at his side.

He wanted to leave her thereto let her suffocate on the panic clawing at her throat, to let her suffer as she had made him suffer with her cruel words.

She didnt know the scars she'd ripped open, the wounds she'd laid bare.

But he couldn't move.

Her trembling form rooted him in place, forcing his feet forward even as his mind screamed at him to stay away.

Look at me, he commanded sharply, crouching before her.noveldrama

No response.

Al...

whatever your name is! Look at me! Her head jerked toward his voice, hazel eyes locking with his for the briefest moment.

The terror reflected back at him hit him harder than he'd anticipated