Darius’s POV
I put my glass down on the floor while Polina drained hers and places it on the table. Vitsin is looking more relaxed. This is his third glass of Vodka. I barely touch mine.
The more he drinks, the more freely he talks and the more belligerent he grows. Polina seems eager to please her father and it’s clear that they share the same opinion. She’s as sick as he is and seems to know just about everything there is to know about her father’s operation.
I would love to know which of the Royalty they’re working for. I would like an opportunity to get the information out of them.
Too bad I would have to kill them both soon.
I watch them interacting and form a plan in my head. I know Robert Vitsin wouldn’t easily reveal his allies despite his eagerness to double cross them. He must know by now how unscrupulous they are…after all, he’s one them.
I would have to take him out soon. Polina, on the other hand, is easier to crack.
“Who is it that you’re working with? I know he or she is somebody important or very close to the Royals,” I try again.
“Like I said before, it’s privileged information,” answers Vitsin.
“You won’t be privy to that information until you’ve proven yourself.” He tips his glass back, draining the clear liquid.
“Yes, darling. We’ll tell you everything once you make Daddy happy by delivering the Prince or the Princess’s head to us,”
adds Polina with a giggle. I suppress a wince when she presses down on my injured shoulder. The bullet that’s still buried in there is bothering me. She touches the side of my face and leans in for a kiss. I avert my face in time, her lips land on my cheek. I see her pouting from the corner of my eyes.
“Now, stop asking unless you want me to start questioning where your loyalty really lies,” snaps Vitsin. I can see that he’s starting to get suspicious. He should’ve gotten suspicious of me a long time ago. He should have never trusted me in the first place.
I casually wrap my arm around Polina’s shoulders and bring her body closer to mine. She offers no resistance as she leans back against my chest with a sigh. I run my fingers over her neck and she shivers with pleasure. “Maybe you should start
questioning my loyalty,” I inform Vitsin as I tighten my hold on her.
“What do you mean?” he asks me, suddenly looking weary.
I reach out and curl my hand around her head. A quick twist of my wrist and her body sagged against me, motionless. I’ve snapped and broke her neck.
Robert Vitsin springs up from his comfortable chair. His eyes turn inky black within a second. “You…traitor!” He hisses.
“Harsh,” I tell him as I push Polina’s limp unmoving body off me. She hits the floor with a thud. “I think I prefer the word
“clever opportunist”. I throw the words he uttered to me at the palace this evening back in his face. I unfold myself out of the chair to stand in front of him challengingly.
My loyalty to the person I love and the people I ally myself with is unquestionable. My devotion is definite.
“I told you there’s no way you’re stepping out of here still breathing. My men will kill you.” He bares his teeth, pulling his lips back into a nasty smile.
A shrill alarm sound came on a speaker. “Security Breach.
We’re under attack,” comes a voice from the same speaker.
“How bad?” he asks the voice on the speaker.
“Bad. Royal Army. Sneak attack. So many of them,” answers the voice. It’s true. I didn’t hold back this time. I wanted to destroy Robert Vitsin once and for all. After the attack on
Banehallow Castle and the disappearance of the Crown Princess, The Royal Army was very accommodating in
providing as many men as I requested. Not only that, we also have Prince Caspian’s personal security detail men who work under Lazarus with us.
His smile turns into a snarl. “You’re ruining it. You could have had everything. Now I have no choice but to blow this whole place up. I told you, you’re not getting out of this place alive,”
he says.
At this very moment, I decided to let my bond to my mate reach out to her. My heart aches for her. I let her know how much I love her and how happy I am that she is safe.
“I’m prepared for a situation such as this, that’s why this place is wired and programmed to blow up with my order. This office will blow up soon. With you gone and no paper trail left, there will be no evidence against me.”
I lift my gold wristwatch up to my mouth and snaps, “You heard that, Lazarus. Get yourself and our men out of here, fast!”
As soon as the words leave my mouth, the room implodes from the first explosion.
Penny’s POV
It wasn’t such a long drive to get here. Eva decided that it’s safer for us to park the car on one of the side roads and
approach the building from behind. Which was why we had to climb a little hill.
The dawn is breaking. Now we’re walking behind trees and bushes since we can’t hide behind the darkness of the night anymore. The rose pink hues are staining the purple sky. It has been a long night. All I want is my mate’s warm loving arms back around me and my pack’s presence. All of them. My heart has been hurting for a while now. It’s been getting worse with every passing minute. I need my mate. There is no way I can sit quietly in the safety of the palace when he’s in danger out there. My heart hurts even more just by the thought of not seeing him or my pack mates again. Where they’re going, I’m going with them. If they perished, I’m going to perish with them. It’s not a choice.
We’re looking down at a three-story single structure in the middle of nowhere. It’s a big old industrial looking building with a crumbling, rusty steel fence on one side. Not a single light can be seen through the windows of the building.
This doesn’t look at all like a place that I expected to see. I imagined a place crawling with soldiers and rebels with explosives going off everywhere. Not a quiet place like this. The place looks abandoned. The snow-covered trees surrounding the building makes it look almost peaceful.
“Are you sure this is the right place, Eva?” I scan our surrounding skeptically.
“Yes, Leo told me this is it,” she answers.
“It doesn’t look like the place. Who is this Leo? Do you know him well? Can we trust him?”
“Calm down, Penny. It’s the only lead that I have. Nobody else seems to know where they’ve gone to. Leo is one of
Commander Rykov’s trusted men. I’ve known him for years.
He’s what you call…my regular hook-up.”
Regular hook up? Only Eva can say regular hook up in such a matter of fact tone of voice.
I understand that not all members of the Royal army know about this mission. We’re worried about a double agent reporting our movements to the higher-up. Only the selected and trusted ones are in it. I guess most of the men who are involved are with Darius and the rest of my pack mates now.
The crisp winter air is nipping at my cheeks and my nose.
There is no wind. I can’t smell anything out of the ordinary when I raise my nose to sniff out any significant scent around us. “Are you sure this is the place?” I ask her again. I know I’m being annoying, if I were Eva, I would’ve socked me by now.
She doesn’t answer me this time. She pulls me closer to her side and points at one of the broken windows at the very top where I detect a slight movement.
We both simultaneously squat down on our hunches, watching the window closely. Sure enough, there are some movements behind the broken, yellowing glass. In fact, there are movements everywhere now. There’s a man dressed in a black royal army uniform crawling along the edge of the top of the
building. There are men scouring the walls of the building. My heart starts to beat faster.
“This is it! This is the place, Penny!” Eva whispers urgently.
Her hand is gripping my arm tightly.
Her hands are like iron bands around my arms as I start to crawl forward. “Let go, Eva,” I tell her.
“No, you’re not going in there. It’s dangerous! Commander Rykov wouldn’t want you to go in there.”
“He’s not my commander, let go, Eva!”
“No.” Her jaw is set stubbornly. “He’s your mate, but he’s MY
Commander and I’m doing my job. I have to keep you safe.
Can’t you see how dangerous it is?”
That’s exactly why I have to go in there. I manage to break free from her strong grip and sprint to the front of the building as fast as I can.
‘Umphhh!!’ She jumps right on top of me. “Eva! Damn it!!! If you don’t let me go, I’m going to hurt you,” I threaten her.
‘Eva, look!’ I tell her when I spot Genesis, Serena, and a couple of men crouching low to the ground near one of the side entrances of the building.
Our scuffle earlier must have caught their attention. I see Genesis staring at me with her mouth open. Serena’s brown eyes are wide with disbelief.
Eva let go of me and I try to crawl up to them, but a big bulky body pushes me down roughly to the crunchy snow covered ground. The man’s sharp claws are digging into my back. In a flash, he is being pushed off me and suddenly Eva is on top of him, dragging her sharp claws and sinking her teeth into him.
My body stiffens and I straighten up. I can feel my mate, like a gentle touch to my soul. Like a loving embrace through our bond.
Suddenly a loud explosion breaks the silence. We all look up to watch in horror as the top level of the building blows up. One explosion after another.
Something isn’t right. My mate. My lover. I can’t feel him.
“NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!” Something snaps inside of me and I
fall to my knees. Emptiness. No, no, no…I can’t breathe. My whole body is burning up. I’m gasping and shaking. My lycan feels what I can’t comprehend. Uncontrollable rage is taking over. I see red everywhere I look. Every sane thought fades away as darkness, bleakness, and fury take over.
Darius’s POV
I must’ve blacked out from the force of the fall and the blast. I don’t know how long I was out for, but my head and my whole body are hurting. I remember grabbing Polina by her foot and jumping out of the exploding building through a window of the three-story building.
For a while, my ears are ringing. I glance around to see Polina lying face down in the snow just a couple of feet away from where I am. I see men fighting and a few lying on the ground.
I open my senses to check on my pack mates. All I can feel is a red-hot burning rage in my chest. I push my body up but I flop back to the ground. I can’t move my arm. The same arm where the bullet is still buried in. My left leg isn’t working either. I take a deep breath…pain. I press on my ribcage then add broken ribs to the list. My body isn’t working well but I have to move. The burning in my chest is intense.
Beside me, Polina is starting to move. “You broke my neck,”
her voice breaks through the roaring in my ears.
“Yes, I did,” I answer her while keep pushing myself up.
“Where is my father?” she asks me. “You killed him didn’t you?” Her voice is strangely devoid of emotion.
“No, I didn’t. He blew everything up. He blew himself up.” I finally manage to sit up. Faintly, I hear a terrifying roar coming closer. That’s when I see her. My mate is in full fledge lycan, blinded by rage.
She looks glorious. I can’t tear my eyes away. To our enemies, she looks like a frightening nightmare. To me, she looks like the most beautiful avenging angel. Her dark hair trailing and whipping around behind her in wild abandon. Her dark eyes cold and sinister. Dark veins snaking down her otherwise flawless face. Sharp fangs and teeth gleaming, ripping our enemies to shred. Blood dripping from her chin. Pride and love fill my chest. She’s my match in every way.
“She’s your mate!” says Polina accusingly. Her jealousy makes my skin crawl.
“Yes, she is,” I reply, unable to take my eyes off my beautiful mate.
All of a sudden Polina jumps up. She’s torn and bloody but she seems oblivious to everything as she charges towards my raging mate.
Red clouds my vision. I jump up after her. My broken leg bows under my weight. Pain sears through it all the way up to my gut as it twists and buckles underneath me. That only makes me more furious. I let out a loud growl but I keep crawling forward. I’m ripping that woman apart now!
I know my mate heard my growl. She swivels her head my way, watching me with a strange look on her face. Her head tilted to the side. Then she turns her head towards Polina. She sniffs the air and her nostrils flare, her black cold eyes turn sinister.
Suddenly she is regarding Polina’s approach with malicious anticipation and glee. Her lips are pulled back to show her gleaming sharp teeth and canines.
*Quick notes to my readers: Thank you for your votes,
wonderful reviews and love. I’m touched.
Thank you also for your support on my soon to be published Catching Genesis. It’s the first book in this series and if you haven’t read it yet (and you want to), pls do so before I have to take some parts out (of Wattpad) before the 19th Feb.2018.
Much love- Nicole
