Dariusâs 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 itâs clear that they share the same opinion. Sheâs as sick as he is and seems to know just about everything there is to know about her fatherâs operation.
I would love to know which of the Royalty theyâre 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 wouldnât easily reveal his allies despite his eagerness to double cross them. He must know by now how unscrupulous they areâ¦after all, heâs one them.
I would have to take him out soon. Polina, on the other hand, is easier to crack.
âWho is it that youâre working with? I know he or she is somebody important or very close to the Royals,â I try again.
âLike I said before, itâs privileged information,â answers Vitsin.
âYou wonât be privy to that information until youâve proven yourself.â He tips his glass back, draining the clear liquid.
âYes, darling. Weâll tell you everything once you make Daddy happy by delivering the Prince or the Princessâs head to us,â
adds Polina with a giggle. I suppress a wince when she presses down on my injured shoulder. The bullet thatâs 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.
âNow, stop asking unless you want me to start questioning where your loyalty really lies,â snaps Vitsin. I can see that heâs starting to get suspicious. He shouldâve gotten suspicious of me a long time ago. He should have never trusted me in the first place.
I casually wrap my arm around Polinaâs 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. âMaybe you should start
questioning my loyalty,â I inform Vitsin as I tighten my hold on her.
âWhat do you mean?â 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. Iâve snapped and broke her neck.
Robert Vitsin springs up from his comfortable chair. His eyes turn inky black within a second. âYouâ¦traitor!â He hisses.
âHarsh,â I tell him as I push Polinaâs limp unmoving body off me. She hits the floor with a thud. âI think I prefer the word
âclever opportunistâ. 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.
âI told you thereâs no way youâre stepping out of here still breathing. My men will kill you.â He bares his teeth, pulling his lips back into a nasty smile.
A shrill alarm sound came on a speaker. âSecurity Breach.
Weâre under attack,â comes a voice from the same speaker.
âHow bad?â he asks the voice on the speaker.
âBad. Royal Army. Sneak attack. So many of them,â answers the voice. Itâs true. I didnât 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 Caspianâs personal security detail men who work under Lazarus with us.
His smile turns into a snarl. âYouâre ruining it. You could have had everything. Now I have no choice but to blow this whole place up. I told you, youâre not getting out of this place alive,â
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.
âIâm prepared for a situation such as this, thatâs 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.â
I lift my gold wristwatch up to my mouth and snaps, âYou heard that, Lazarus. Get yourself and our men out of here, fast!â
As soon as the words leave my mouth, the room implodes from the first explosion.
Pennyâs POV
It wasnât such a long drive to get here. Eva decided that itâs 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 weâre walking behind trees and bushes since we canât 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 mateâs warm loving arms back around me and my packâs presence. All of them. My heart has been hurting for a while now. Itâs 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 heâs in danger out there. My heart hurts even more just by the thought of not seeing him or my pack mates again. Where theyâre going, Iâm going with them. If they perished, Iâm going to perish with them. Itâs not a choice.
Weâre looking down at a three-story single structure in the middle of nowhere. Itâs 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 doesnât 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.
âAre you sure this is the right place, Eva?â I scan our surrounding skeptically.
âYes, Leo told me this is it,â she answers.
âIt doesnât look like the place. Who is this Leo? Do you know him well? Can we trust him?â
âCalm down, Penny. Itâs the only lead that I have. Nobody else seems to know where theyâve gone to. Leo is one of
Commander Rykovâs trusted men. Iâve known him for years.
Heâs what you callâ¦my regular hook-up.â
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. Weâre 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 canât smell anything out of the ordinary when I raise my nose to sniff out any significant scent around us. âAre you sure this is the place?â I ask her again. I know Iâm being annoying, if I were Eva, I wouldâve socked me by now.
She doesnât 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. Thereâs 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.
âThis is it! This is the place, Penny!â 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. âLet go, Eva,â I tell her.
âNo, youâre not going in there. Itâs dangerous! Commander Rykov wouldnât want you to go in there.â
âHeâs not my commander, let go, Eva!â
âNo.â Her jaw is set stubbornly. âHeâs your mate, but heâs MY
Commander and Iâm doing my job. I have to keep you safe.
Canât you see how dangerous it is?â
Thatâs 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.
âUmphhh!!â She jumps right on top of me. âEva! Damn it!!! If you donât let me go, Iâm going to hurt you,â I threaten her.
âEva, look!â 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. Serenaâs 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 manâs 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 isnât right. My mate. My lover. I canât feel him.
âNOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!â Something snaps inside of me and I
fall to my knees. Emptiness. No, no, noâ¦I canât breathe. My whole body is burning up. Iâm gasping and shaking. My lycan feels what I canât comprehend. Uncontrollable rage is taking over. I see red everywhere I look. Every sane thought fades away as darkness, bleakness, and fury take over.
Dariusâs POV
I mustâve blacked out from the force of the fall and the blast. I donât 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 canât move my arm. The same arm where the bullet is still buried in. My left leg isnât working either. I take a deep breathâ¦pain. I press on my ribcage then add broken ribs to the list. My body isnât working well but I have to move. The burning in my chest is intense.
Beside me, Polina is starting to move. âYou broke my neck,â
her voice breaks through the roaring in my ears.
âYes, I did,â I answer her while keep pushing myself up.
âWhere is my father?â she asks me. âYou killed him didnât you?â Her voice is strangely devoid of emotion.
âNo, I didnât. He blew everything up. He blew himself up.â I finally manage to sit up. Faintly, I hear a terrifying roar coming closer. Thatâs when I see her. My mate is in full fledge lycan, blinded by rage.
She looks glorious. I canât 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. Sheâs my match in every way.
âSheâs your mate!â says Polina accusingly. Her jealousy makes my skin crawl.
âYes, she is,â I reply, unable to take my eyes off my beautiful mate.
All of a sudden Polina jumps up. Sheâs 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. Iâm 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 Polinaâs 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. Iâm touched.
Thank you also for your support on my soon to be published Catching Genesis. Itâs the first book in this series and if you havenât 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