The magnificent Grand Hallway of the castle is now a battlefield bathed in blood. The smoke from the ballroom cannot be contained as six out of the fifteen entrances to the ballroom are now wide black gaping holes of hell. Black thick smoke is rolling out of them into the massive hallway, obscuring my vision.
After I freed myself from Robert Vitsin, another one of his men grabbed me and dragged me further away from Darius. There were so many of them focusing on us. I managed to get away from him too but I think he broke my arm and left deep claw marks down my back.
Now, blood is trickling down my heavy gown. My arm is bent gruesomely and pretty much useless. If any of them attack me now, I know my chances of fighting and getting away again is very slim even in my lycan form.
Suddenly, two strong hands land on my shoulders and I jump in fright. The feeling of terror, panic, and helplessness swamp over me. I hate to feel this way. I am not weak, damn it!
“Princess, Commander Rykov’s order. You have to come with me,” says a big man in front of me.
Yeah, right! Like I believe him. I don’t think so. “Over my dead body, you freak!” With that, I jump and kick him in the nuts. The man howls in pain and crumples in a fetal position on the floor. Nothing makes a grown man howl like a sissy faster than a swift kick in the balls. Then I run.
I hear footsteps following behind me. I don’t know if they’re after me or other people running for safety. I don’t care nor can I see where I’m going. My heart feels like it’s bursting out of my chest. Darius, I need you!
All of a sudden, I feel a crippling fear. The feeling is so strong that I stumble to my knees. Is it my mate? I blocked our connection to keep running blindly through the smoke-filled hallway.
Did my mate feel what I was feeling before? Did I distract him fighting our enemy with my fear?
Please be safe.
I push myself to run faster until I reach a steel door at the end of the corridor. I push it open and find myself standing in an empty kitchen. Smoke fills the air in here too as some parts of the
kitchen are on fire. Broken dishes are everywhere. Pots are still boiling and burning on the stove, food spilling on the table and the floor. Utter chaos.
Suddenly I know where I’m going. I run to the back and enter the pantry. I drop on my hand and knees as soon as I hear the door of the kitchen being opened. More footsteps walking around.
I crawl to the spice rack and quickly pour spices all over myself. Then I crawl underneath it, dragging my broken arm behind me until I find a small opening and slip inside as quietly as I can. I find myself in the narrow dark tunnel that I was in just this afternoon. I just hope that the spices, the smell of the burning building and food will be enough to mask my scent from those people who are looking for me.
My heart is still beating fast. I sit on the cold dirty floor and place my head against the wall, listening to the muffled voices of men talking. Then I hear their footsteps getting nearer until they’re in the pantry just on the other side of the wall.
Darius’s POV
This is an all-out attack on the Palace ground. Currently, I’m facing five men. Not an ideal situation, especially when I’m already injured. A bullet is lodged in my left shoulder. The muscle is already trying to heal itself and bonding around it. It’s painful and making it hard for me to move my arm properly.
Persephone! I’ve lost sight of her when I was fighting the two men who are now lying as a pile of broken limbs on the floor.
My eyes desperately scan my hazy surrounding. I spot Constantine fighting another massive fighter further down the hall, but no Persephone.
I curse myself for losing sight of her. I know my woman is a fighter but some of these men are easily twice her size and have been fighting for decades if not centuries.
I’ve blocked our bond all this time, especially throughout the ball so that nobody can sense my feelings for her and detect our mate bond to each other. I don’t think that matters anymore now.
So, I open my feelings to our bond and feel the myriad of her feelings: anger, anxiousness, worry… It can be a good thing since I know that she’s still alive.
An arm curled around my neck from behind, almost lifting me off my feet, crushing my windpipe. I sink my claws into the arm that’s choking me and the man roars as he swipes his
sharp claws over my unprotected left ribcage. Blood gushes out of the lacerations. Damn it! I lost my focus when I was trying to locate my mate. Another man approaches with deadly sharp claws and teeth drawn, already salivating at the thought of ripping me apart.
I sink my claws further into the arm and swing my legs up towards the man in front of me, aiming just above his stomach, delivering a swift kick to the liver. He crashes back and I use the momentum to kick the man behind me with the heels of my feet. That brings us both crashing down on the floor and I swiftly slide out of his hold.
Through the open bond, I feel my mate’s alarm and terror. It shouts to me like a piercing scream.
Calling for me. My mate needs me. Fear grips me like nothing before. My lycan is in a fury, clawing to take full control. I let out a growl. I need to find my mate. Now!
With a renewed vengeance, I grab his shoulder and the base of his skull and rip him apart.
I let my fury takes over. My red vision is turning darker as I tear through my enemies. My mate!
My mate needs me.
“Darius!” I almost rip the arm off before his words penetrate my red *haze. “…find Persephone,”
he says. Lazarus.
“I need my mate,” I hiss at him.
“Yes, we’re looking for her.” He grips my shoulders firmly when he is sure that I’m not going to try to shred him to pieces. “Penny needs you to be in control. We need to find her. You need to control your lycan. Control your lycan now!”
She is still alive. She is still alive. I need to find her.
“You need to calm down, Darius. Losing control isn’t going to help us find her,” says Constantine. His mate, Genesis is standing next to him with red swollen eyes. Serena doesn’t look any better.
I growl in frustration. Calm down? It’s almost 45 minutes since I last saw my mate. 20 minutes since the last of our enemy was killed. 5 minutes since they managed to contain the fire. The rest of the rebels ran off, not being able to sustain the fight for much longer. They lost too many of their men.
I will not survive without my mate. I need her like I need air to breathe. Without her, my chest is constricted in the worst pain possible. The longer my mate is missing, the worse it feels. My vision keeps turning red every few seconds. My rage and my lycan are fighting to take over. I can’t stand still. I almost killed the doctor who tried to take the bullet out of my shoulder. Now it’s still lodged in there.
She had closed off her feelings and blocked our bond not long after I sensed her fear. That makes it hard for me to pinpoint her whereabouts. We have the guards scouring the whole palace and the palace’s ground looking for her. We ourselves had been searching through the East wing.
We all turn to the doorway as we hear footsteps approaching. “I’m sorry sir, we’re still unable to locate her,” says Eva. I snarl and close my fingers tightly around the back of a chair to stop myself from swinging my fist at her. I feel bad when she flinches. I need to control myself.
She was assigned to head the search for my mate around the ballroom area. “We followed her faint scent into the kitchen. That’s where it ended. We couldn’t get anymore scent.”
That’s it. I’m done waiting around. “Keep searching,” I bark my order at her as I stalk my way to the door.
“Yes, sir,” she responds and bolts as if her ass was on fire.
“Darius, we need a plan before we go barging in,” says Lazarus, following me closely as I continue walking out the door. All my pack mates are trailing behind us.
I see his point. Entering the enemy’s lair without a plan is sheer insanity. He is thinking like a trained army. Something I’m not doing right now, but I need to move or else I’m going into a rage. Every second away from my mate, my control is slipping. They can see my eyes keep shifting colors, as are theirs once in a while. They’re trying very hard to keep in control. I take a deep breath, trying to control my raging feelings and reign in my lycan.
“If Robert Vitsin has her we have to move now. I know how Robert Vitsin operates,” I tell them.
I am not waiting for my mate’s body to be delivered in neat little boxes. This is my nightmare coming true in all my tortured nights. My lycan is clawing to be let out. The only thing that keeps me rational right now is that I can still feel her soul entwined with mine. She’s still with me. She is still alive. For now.
“We don’t know for sure if he has her,” says Lazarus.
“I’m not waiting around to find out,” I retort.
“How are we going to approach Vitsin? Are we just going to barge in and attack everything that moves while looking for her? We need to form a plan,” insists Lazarus.
“Vitsin approached me during the ball,” I announce as we dash down the hall of the East wing that has not been affected by the blast and the fighting. “He suggested a meeting, just between me and him. He hinted at an offer that would benefit us both.”
“That’s good. We can form a plan around that,” says Constantine.
“I don’t think they knew that Beany’s your mate. If they knew, she’d be dead by now,’ suggests Caspian. ‘They still think she’s the future queen. They want to use her as leverage to get what they want. They won’t kill her. She’s more useful to them alive rather than dead.” He’s right.
“We’re coming with you to your meeting, but stay hidden until you need us,” says Constantine.
“Caspian, you’re going to have to sit this one out.”
“The hell I am,” Caspian snaps out angrily. “I’m not hiding away in the safety of the palace, playing Monopoly with the guards while my pack mates are risking their lives. Besides, Beany needs me.”
“Penny needs all of us but our enemy wants you too. This is like delivering you right into their hands,” argues Constantine.
Personally, I don’t care to argue with the Prince. I don’t see him staying back while Persephone is in danger. Prince Caspian does what Prince Caspian wants. I just want my mate back safely in my arms.
I really need to be in total control now. I need to stay in focus for my mate. I have to close our connection to prevent anybody from sensing our mate bond. Closing our bond at this moment is very painful for me to do but Caspian is right. If they knew Persephone is my mate, chances are they would kill her very quickly. If they still think that she’s the future queen, she’s more valuable to them alive rather than dead.
“I will meet with him to find out what his offer is. Constantine, you contact our agents and informants inside their network. Find out if any of them know her whereabouts. Lazarus, gather our men. Surround the place. Wait for my signal to infiltrate his fort. This will end tonight.”
I’m being escorted by two men through a bleak, plain, and cold grey brick corridor.
I contacted Robert Vitsin earlier and he gave me the address to this old warehouse. I already know that this building is one of a few owned by him to run his operations.
The men lead me right to the end of the corridor where a heavy wooden door prevents us from going any further. One of the men knocks briefly before he turns the knob to open the door.
This is clearly an office, but it is opulently decorated, a stark contrast to the drab austere hallway and the rest of the building. A big mahogany table sits in the center of the room. Robert Vitsin is sitting comfortably on the big red plush leather chair behind it. Standing behind him in a revealing red silk dress is his daughter, Polina.
Why is he bringing his daughter into this?
“Commander Rykov. We meet again,” he says with a sly smile. “Please, have a seat.” He motions towards one of the three deep chairs in front of me.
“You came after all. I thought you weren’t interested in what I have to offer by the way you fought with my men at the castle this evening,” he adds.
“Of course, I have to put up a good fight. I’m one of the best fighters, I couldn’t let your man take me down,” I tell him.
“I can understand and I respect that.” He nods in approval.
“I am, however, curious to know about your offer.’ I lean back in my chair comfortably as if I’m at ease even though inside I’m coiled tight like a spring.
“You are?” He raises an eyebrow, regarding me carefully.
“Yes, with the right offer, I might be…swayed.” I give him a little smile.
“My offer is very generous,” he says. “I would like us to work together, Rykov. I heard a lot of good things about you. I want you to be my eyes and ears in the Royal army and the palace. A trusted top fighter like you will be invaluable to my organization.”
“Who else is involved?” I ask him. ‘I would like to know who I’m going to be dealing with if I were to take your offer.’
“All in due time, Commander. That information is dangerous. However, that’s not very important right now. If we do it right, we won’t be working with anybody at all,” he answers smugly. “That brings us to what I’m offering you.’
Oh, so he’s planning on double-crossing whoever he’s working for. I wish I knew which one of the royalties he’s working for and plan to screw over. There’s no honor among thieves.
“I’m offering you immense power. Polina,” he gestures to his daughter who has been watching me with big adoring eyes and a slightly coy but smug smile on her face.
She leaves her father’s side and rounds the table to stand directly in front of me. She parks her ass on the table and raises one foot over the other. The slit of her red silk dress slides open, revealing the bare skin of her long leg all the way up to her hip.
“Mate with my daughter, be part of our family and you’ll know everything. Mate with my daughter, my sole heir and be my successor. You’ll rule the world of lycans and werewolves as king and queen one day.
“I have a bad temper. I often take out my anger on my mate and my daughter. I know my reputation as a bad mate and a bad father preceded me, but what people don’t know is that I’m very generous with them. I like to indulge my mate and my daughter. I give my mate and my daughter whatever their little hearts desire,” he says. “Right now, you are what my daughter wants and that’s
