“You were planning to mate her a few months ago, so what’s changed?” he asks me. “I know a warrior like you won’t like a weak and stupid little woman, but I can assure you, she’s very intelligent, my Polina,” Vitsin says proudly. “I’ve been grooming her to take over my business since she was very young. She knows everything there is to know about my
operation. I can trust her to be in charge of certain operations now, isn’t that right, angel?”
“Right, daddy.” She suddenly pushes away from the table and moves closer to me. Her eyes never leaving me, her hips swaying. She walks slowly around the back of my chair while she runs her fingers along my arm, my shoulder, and the back of my neck. Then she lowers her ass to sit sideways on my lap, crossing one leg up over the other so that the slit of her dress slides open all the way down.
“She’ll be in charge of a lot more one day and she’s completely loyal to me,’ he says to me before turning to her daughter. ‘Do you like what I just did to you, angel?”
“Very much. Thank you, daddy,” she says, smiling coyly at me.
Her fingers dance around the nape of my neck to play with my hair.
What am I? A new toy for his daughter? I almost laugh aloud at the thought and the absurdity of the situation.
“So, not only would you gain powerful allies and possible great power in the future, you’ll also be getting an amazingly clever, and exquisite mate. My daughter is beautiful, is she not?”
continues Vitsin.
True, Polina is beautiful…as many other lycan women out there but I don’t have the slightest interest in her. It might sound mushy as fuck but my heart and my soul are completely taken.
My Malyska is the only reason I’m here.
My plan to mate Polina a few months ago was a huge mistake.
The worst mistake in my life. How could I make Polina my mate when I couldn’t even stand to touch her?
The event of the night when I decided to mark her was a blur except for the first kiss I shared with Persephone and the look of despair in her eyes when she saw us in my room. I hurt my erasthai very badly and I will not make the same mistake again.
Right now I have to focus on getting my mate back. The result of losing her would be devastating and catastrophic. I have to push aside the thought of never having her back in my arms again or else I would lose control. My heart aches even more for my mate at this very moment.
“That’s an interesting proposition, Vitsin,” I comment. “What if I turn this offer of yours down?” I pull Polina’s hand out of my hair and places it on her lap her so that she’s no longer touching me.
“We’re prepared for the possibility that you’re going to say no.
That’s why this place is like a fortress. My men are everywhere.
There’s no way out of here with your spine still attached to your body unless you’re with us. We can’t just let you go free after knowing what you know.”
“Oh, please say yes, darling. I’ll be heartbroken if daddy has to kill you. Please, daddy has such big plans for us.” Polina takes my hand in hers, tangling her fingers with mine, then she places it flat on her exposed thigh. “I have big plans for us,” she adds seductively as she runs her finger up the back of my hand and my arm then back down again.
I fight the intense urge to rip my hands out of her grip and push her off me. I can’t stand her scent and her touch. That’s another thing that I now remember. I tried to imagine her as Persephone that night, but her scent was repulsive to my lycan.
Her touch only served to irritate me. Now it is more unbearable after knowing that she’s in a cohort with her father. She’s responsible for the death of my friends and their mates, and so many others. I have a wild, almost uncontrollable desire to snap both their necks and rip their spines off right now.
“Of course, I would be a fool to turn down such a generous offer,” I respond casually. I remove my hands from Polina’s and grip the armrest of the chair tightly. I flash her a smile to smooth any ruffled feathers from the gesture. She smiles back happily and I continue, “So, I gather you have the Princess now.”
“Not yet,” replies Vitsin with an unpleasant scowl. His face turns red and his lips twisted in anger. “She got away. That woman fought like a hellcat. Wait till I get my hands on her.”
I can’t help the surge of pride that filled my chest. My mate is a fighter. The pain I’ve been carrying in my chest ease somewhat knowing that Vitsin doesn’t have my mate. Getting his
repulsive hands on my beautiful mate is something that will never happen. I will make sure of that.
“I gather you don’t know where she is right now, Rykov? Is she not at the Palace?” he asks me.
“I didn’t see her at the Palace…but then again, the Palace is in chaos right now. She might be with her mate,” I reply.
The man in front of me smiles smugly. Clearly, he’s quite proud of what they accomplished at the Palace this evening.
“Well, she won’t get away from us forever. We’ll get her soon. I know you’re quite fond of her…judging by the way you were protecting her this evening. I want to know if that’s going to be a problem.” Vitsin produces a box of cigars and a bottle of Vodka from a drawer.
“I really hate her,” says Polina suddenly and vehemently. Her face contorts with hatred and jealousy yet her voice remains strangely soft. It’s disturbing. “If you want to be daddy’s heir, you have to prove yourself. You have to bring her to us. We’ll let our men have their fun with her before we end her,” she says, suddenly looking excited.
“Not just yet, Polina,” he frowns at her in disapproval. “We need to keep her alive for a while. I’ll let you finish her off after she’s no longer useful to us.”
My chest burns in anger and red hues cloud my eyes. My lycan wants to finish these two off right now. I lower my eyes and grit my teeth but keep my smile in place.
“I’m not fond of her, as you put it. It won’t be a problem at all bringing her in.” The lie rolls smoothly like acid on my tongue.
I look up as soon as I know that my eyes are back to normal.
Vitsin is pouring the Vodka into three glasses. He hands us a glass each to celebrate our new alliance.
I watch Vitsin carefully. I believe he’s speaking the truth when he said that they don’t have my Malyshka. Now, where can that mate of mine be?
I casually touch the gold watch around my wrist, look at them and lift my lips up into a smirk. “She trusts me. That would make our job easier,” I tell them while I push a button on the side of my watch. “Now, tell me more about your plans for us and what else am I getting out of this.” That button sends a signal for Lazarus to send our men in. Now that I’m sure Persephone isn’t anywhere in this building, I’m free to destroy everyone and everything in it without hurting her. My fingers are itching to tear these two in front of me to pieces right now.
Penny’s POV
Once the adrenaline rush dies down, the pain starts to throb.
The scratches on my back have stopped bleeding but my
broken arm tries to heal at a weird angle. I can’t move it now. It is awkward and painful.
I tear down my barrier, trying to sense my mate’s feelings and check on my pack’s condition through our connection. I’m very worried about them and feel stupid for hiding away when they’re risking their lives fighting out there.
I realize that the enemy was targeting me as their assault on us was relentless. I wanted to keep my promise to my mate to never getting myself captured by the enemy and I knew I didn’t have the strength to save myself let alone fight in the condition I was in before. I think I’m ready to go back and fight now.
I roll out to the other side of the wall from underneath the bottom shelf of the pantry, pinning my now useless arm close to my body with another hand. Dark, dank, and cold. I’m not too sorry to leave the shelter of the tunnel.
There’s no more fire in the kitchen or out in the hallway. A worker walks past me, pushing a gurney with a pile of broken bloody limbs. I try not to gag at the strong stench of blood and open flesh.
A few men in the hallway halt what they’re doing to gape at me.
I know they are part of the royal guards by their uniforms. One of the men seems to recover quicker than the others and mutters something in Russian into his headpiece. The others hastily give me a quick bow then avert their eyes to gaze at the floor. Hmm…I wonder what’s so interesting about the floor.
Nope, I don’t see anything worth staring at down there. Guards are weird! Well, at least there are no more enemies attacking us left and right.
Not a minute later Eva comes running down the hall looking like she can hardly believe her eyes. She is still in her lavender evening gown which is now almost gray from the smoke and stained with blood splatters. She instantly pulls me into a hug then she seems to come to her senses and draws back. “Your Highness.” She gives me a bow before her eyes widen like saucers.
She looks around then she holds out a hand to one of the Royal guards behind me. He hands her his jacket which she promptly drapes around my shoulders.
“Where is Darius? Where is Genesis? Where is everybody?” I ask Eva as soon as we safely reach the drawing room in the East wing, our private part of the palace. I was expecting to see Darius and my pack mates here. “Is anybody hurt? Are they okay?” I couldn’t feel my mate’s feelings as he was blocking our
connection when I opened my senses a while ago. I didn’t feel any pain of broken ties or anything different either. If he or anybody in my pack was badly hurt or worse…I would have felt it. Wouldn’t I?
“I think they went to attack the enemy to get you back because they thought you were taken,” answers Eva.
“What???” No, no, no…this is not happening! “We have to do something! Eva, you have to take me there!” I grab Eva’s upper arm with my good hand.
“No, we can’t!” answers Eva. “I’m not quite sure where they went. Besides, I think Commander Rykov and Prince Caspian would kill me if I brought you to the enemy. Do you know that the enemy wants you?”
“Oh, my goddess Eva! Of course, I knew that!” This woman…I swear. “I don’t care! You have to help me. You have to get me to them.”
“I’m sorry, Penny, I can’t…it’ll be too dangerous for you. I have to keep you safe or Commander Rykov would kill me,” she says, looking quite anxious.
Oh, gosh! She’s scared of my mate that much? What did he do to her?
“Fine! I’ll go by myself!” I wail. I don’t know where to go or how to get there, but I’ll figure it out…somehow.
“Wait! You can’t do that!” says Eva, looking horrified. Her Russian accent is very thick when she’s upset. She sighs in
defeat then adds reluctantly, “Okay, I’ll take you…but you can’t go out like that.” She makes a gesture towards my body with her hand.
I look down and it all makes sense. My gown is in tatters. It’s showing more than it’s hiding. Gah! No wonder those Royal guards were staring at the floor.
“Look at your arm. It needs to be reset. You have to see a doctor,” she adds.
“I don’t have time to see a doctor,” I tell her.
“Then I have to reset it for you,” she replies. “It’s going to hurt…a lot, but you have to promise not to hit me.” She’s staring at me warily. For someone who’s not too observant, it’s surprising how well Eva knows me by now.
I’m not going to lie. It hurt like a mother f*ck*r. I swore like a sailor. Tears ran down my face as Eva cracked my bone into place. If she wasn’t helping me, I would’ve smacked her for hurting me like that. Fortunately, Eva seemed to know what she’s doing.
Now I’m pacing the floor of my dressing room, waiting for Eva to come back. I’ve changed into a pair of black yoga pants, a black knitted sweater, and a pair of knee-high combat boots. I pull a black beanie over my hair. My arm is still hurting right now, but at least the bone is resetting the right way.
A minute later, Eva comes back wearing her black Royal army uniform. Her hair is neatly french braided as usual when she’s on duty.
“Ready?” asks Eva.
“Yep!” I answer forcefully. “You know where we’re going?”
“I think so…” That doesn’t sound too convincing.
“Then let’s go!” I tell her. I’m going to get my mate and my pack back.
