“You must untie me before he comes,” I said in a hoarse voice, my throat aching. All at once a light flickered on the side wall. “You are our hostage and in no position to make demands,” said the man with the gun. “Then all I can say is that you will not be spared. I tried to make you understand,” I murmured. On the inside, I was frightened like a lamb, but on the outside, I wanted to maintain my confidence. I wasn’t sure if Apollo would even be able to find me, but I took my chances anyway. Peeved at my words, while the one with the gun laughed nervously, the other one scowled. He spun and backhanded me. His heavy iron ring caught my cheek. The force was so large that it sent my chair down with my temple hitting the cold stone floor. Something warm trickled out as stars blasted in my vision. A few moments later, the other man straightened my chair. He took blood from my temple and wiped it on my shirt. He said, “Stop talking, otherwise you are going to be so bloody that no one w
“This is my daughter,” said Alpha Nash, as he introduced Joanna to me. Alpha Nash was a tall man, but a few inches shorter than me and father. His eyes were glinting as if there was some kind of a plan underneath, as if he was present here, but he was thinking something else. He had a sharp jaw with a square face. He shared the color and shape of his eyes with his daughter. In short, he looked impressive and wore clothes that screamed of money. “Hello,” I nodded at Joanna with zero interest. She blushed a little and I could feel her rising interest in me. Her soft sandalwood scent hit my nostrils and I overcame an urge to sneeze. “Hi!” she said, her voice animated with excitement as she shook her hands with me. Joanna was tall and a leggy blond. Her deep green gown was slit till her thigh on the left side. She had her hair open and with her light emerald eyes looked at me like I was the only man existing in her life. “Why don’t you kids catch up, while I speak with your father?” s
Anger must be evident on my face. I was heaving exhalations slowly, snarling at Luna Mira for hurting my mate. Artemis stood by my side like my soldier. I glared at my mother for a long time before settling Natasha on a leather couch near me. The rug we were standing on got stained by our blood. “Apollo…,” my mother breathed out as she rushed towards me as her face blanched. She looked at one of the servants and ordered him to get the family doctor. When I placed Natasha on the couch, she was semi-conscious. Her eyes were fluttering shut and open. Artemis took his jacket out and gave it to me. I covered her with it and in a soft voice whispered, “Stay with me, love.” Panic gripped me in a tight vise-like fist. Luna Mira came to stand next to me, her expressions pale. “What happened to the two of you?” she asked. Furious that she was acting ignorant, I spun towards her and growled, “Isn't it your doing?” I narrowed my eyes. “I didn’t know that my mother would be so vicious and th
I could no longer sit at Apollo’s home. I asked Artemis to take me back to my home. Apollo wanted to come after me, but I couldn’t even look at him. Artemis picked me up and got me home. Their family doctor came to see me at my place. An elderly man with silvery hair on the temple, he had kind light blue eyes. He cleared my wounds, applied bandages and then gave me medicine to eat. “She is under a lot of shock,” he said to Artemis, who was standing by me all the time. He had called Nicole who was sitting by side. “The injuries are not deep, but she would need time to recover.” “What about her fever?” Nicole asked, as she squeezed my hand. “It will come down soon. It’s mostly because of the shock,” the doctor informed. “But don’t forget to give her medicine on time. I have given her a sedative. So, let her sleep.” “Thank you,” Nicole said and the doctor nodded. He packed up his things and left. I think I slept for the entire night and the day without any intrusion of nightmar
Artemis took me to their hunting lodge—a place where Apollo had brought me after Nicole’s wedding. Memories of the day assailed me. High up on the peak, the log cabin stood shrouded in the rolling clouds. It was dark and the aspens around it gently susurrated. “No one is going to find you here,” he said as he stepped ahead of me with my bag on his shoulder. I dragged myself after him. “But I can't say that about Apollo?” he added. “Because of the mate bond?” “Yes. Because he will hunt you down even if you go to the end of earth.” He kept walking ahead of me. “I am sorry with the way it came out, Natasha, but Apollo has his reasons.” “What are you all hiding from me?” Artemis didn’t answer my question and I didn’t feel like asking for more. We reached the door of the lodge and he unlocked it. I entered it and a familiar smell of damp wood hit me. “This is a place my father built for himself and mom, but later we took over it,” Artemis chuckled. “I seldom party with my friend
I continued to pour the contents of the can in a wok and then added water. I heard fabric rustling against the wood of the chair. Without turning to look at him, I waited. I held the edges of the counter and leaned forward with a baited breath. The silence in the room was thick, interrupted by his heavy exhalations. He understood that he had to tell me everything if he wanted me back. He started, “Your father, Ivan, and mother were rogues who had formed a mafia. It was so strong a mafia that every pack was afraid of them. My father was a progressive man and it wasn’t until Ivan interfered in his projects that my father got angered. Whatever my father did was wrecked by Ivan. He wanted to build roads. They were destroyed by his pack, which consisted of only rogues. When my father couldn’t take it anymore, he called upon a meeting with all the Alphas. In that meeting it was decided that Ivan had to be taken out. Sitting from a remote place in Russia, he was carrying out his operation
Apollo POVNatasha looked so broken at the moment that I wanted to hold her and hold her tight. But I didn’t want to push myself on her and at the same time didn’t know how long I would stay in control. She was trying her best not to break under all the truth and it was killing me to see how she was putting up. She turned away from me and gasped. She was so brave. Always had been. My wolf wanted to protect his mate and was clamoring me from the inside. “My aunt always says that I look like my mom, especially my eyes. It’s as if you are looking at my mother,” she said as she held the ladle and started stirring the soup again. After a long silence she switched off the hot plate and turned to face me. Tears were running down her face. When her beautiful blue eyes met my gray ones, she said, “That was why you always looked away from me?” Oh, she had sensed it? Panic gripped my chest when the images of her mother’s torture flashed in my mind all over again. “When you saw me first, you
My breath hitched when Natasha turned her head to the side, allowing me to see the skin where I want to mark her. Every little strength left in me vanished. My mouth crushed on her fiercely as I groaned. I grazed her lips with my fangs and when I delved my tongue inside, she whimpered. I growled as my kiss deepened. When I pulled away, I was breathless just like her. We were both so desperate that it hurt. I guess we wanted to discover each other all over again through a new perspective. I wanted to show her that she was Natasha for me and that I didn’t see her mom when I saw her. She wanted to make up for all the lost times and I wanted to give it all to her. “There is no coming back from here, Natasha,” I said to her, my forehead resting on hers. “I will go wherever you take me, Apollo,” she replied in a soft voice as she cupped my face. My sweet little mate. I lowered my mouth once again to hers and kissed her. She moaned into mine. In between kisses, I said, “I am not going to