16. Hooked

Draco's POV

‘Yelena did not abandon me.

She was sentenced to five years of solitary confinement.

She died!

She died in a custody duel with Evan!’

Those words keep echoing in my head as I push Hades, my wolf, to run faster and faster. I don't let him stop, even as day gives way to night, and night gives way to another day. On and on he runs. I urge him forward, pushing him beyond his limit. I can feel his exhaustion in the way my heart pounds against my ribs, as if it's about to burst through my chest.

I don't care. I want it to burst, if possible. For twenty-five years, I hated the name, Yelena Kuznetsov. I thought she didn't want me anymore. I thought she gave up on me. I thought she left me with Evan so she could get married and start a new family. I stopped thinking of her as my mother and allowed every memory we shared to be replaced by hatred.

I was wrong. She did not abandon me. She was imprisoned. For five years, she was locked away in a dank, empty castle because of me. While I was hating her, she was fighting Evan for my custody. She fought until she died. She died for my sake.

I should have known. She loved me, but I allowed myself to be led by the nose. I let myself be manipulated into hating the only person who cared for me most in this life. I deserve to suffer.

I keep pushing Hades until he reaches the edge of a cliff and stops with a growl, refusing to go any farther.

"Grrrrrrrrrr—aaah!"

His guttural, aggressive growl ends with my frustrated shout as his body automatically shifts back into my human form.

"Enough!" he growls inside me as I lie panting heavily on the cliff. "Stop allowing yourself to be controlled by your emotions! If you die, then Evan wins! Is that what you want?"

I ignore him. I know he's right. I'm simply too angry with myself to be reasonable. For the first five years of my life, Yelena loved me. She risked her life when she challenged her father, the Vampire King, to a duel because she didn't want them to take me away. How could I allow myself to be deceived into believing she abandoned me after that sacrifice? How could I have been so fucking foolish?

As I finally begin to calm down, I'm suddenly aware of the serious pain radiating through my entire body. I touch a particularly painful spot on my head and grimace when my fingers encounter a deep cut. I try to sit up and stifle a groan when it feels as though I've been stabbed all over my body.

I look at my throbbing shoulder and see a bloody gash. There's another particularly ugly one on my chest, extending all the way down toward my belly. On my side, thigh—all over my body are different sizes of gashes, cuts, scrapes, and puncture wounds.

"Sorry," I mutter when I finally realize what I've put him through.

"It's okay," he replies. "I understand. Finding out about your mother is a lot, and I know how hard you sometimes try to keep yourself from losing control. You're doing great. Don't blame yourself..."

"I deserve to suffer!" I interrupt him. "I hated her! I desecrated her memory while she loved me until the day she died! I should have–"

"You were five years old!" he cuts me off forcefully, as though trying to hammer the fact into my skull. "You couldn't have known, for fuck's sake! And it's not too late for you to make amends. What do you think would make her happier in the spirit world than you destroying Evan Black? We're already on the right track to achieve that. Don't allow guilt and self-blame to distract you from what's important."

I nod, then immediately groan when it feels as though my brain rattles inside my skull.

"You'll heal soon. Stop whining like a pussy, for fuck's sake!"

I try to laugh, but a groan escapes instead. It feels as though someone has taken a sledgehammer to my jaw.

"Fuck! Did you fucking fall from a mountain?" I growl.

"Yes. Into the ocean. How come you didn't know that?"

"Huh?"

My question wasn't meant to be taken literally. He must be joking, of course.

"I also almost got eaten by a fucking great white that thought I was easy food because I was in its fucking habitat," he continues. "I killed the fucker. You were too busy wallowing in self-pity to notice."

"Wait! You fell into the ocean?!"

I stare at the darkness around us in disbelief.

"Great white shark? What the fuck are you talking about? You aren't joking?"

The Serbian Empire is landlocked, with no direct ocean access. Just rivers. Where the hell did he find an ocean?

"Joke? Why would I joke about something like that?"

My eyes widen.

At some point, he must have taken over my consciousness by force. That's the only explanation for why I don't remember what happened.

"Where are we?" I ask again, trying to stand, but my legs refuse to support me, and I fall back onto my ass.

"I don't know. It's been three days since we left the castle. You were in charge most of the time. Running and flashing blindly with no direction. Now, thanks to you, we're lost and—"

"Fuck you!"

He bursts out laughing.

Shit. Three days!

"It's significantly warmer here..." I say, trying to figure out our location when he interrupts.

"It's also night. We're surrounded by water and mountains. Unless you want to start flashing around looking for signposts and mobile phones, I'd suggest we wait until daylight—"

"When I'll be naked for all and sundry to see!" I cut in, frustrated. "Perhaps you want me to go searching for signposts and mobile phones as a werewolf. When did you become this stupid?"

"Fuck! It was a suggestion. Don't bite my head off!" He chuckles, obviously enjoying himself. "It's not my problem anyway. You brought us here. Think about how you'll get us back home."

"Gosh, I hate you sometimes."

He laughs even harder.

My wolf is an asshole.

My legs feel as though I've literally put them through a wringer, but I manage to push myself off the ground and limp toward the edge of the cliff. He was right. The sea and mountains surround us. We're obviously in some kind of coastal region where steep mountains meet the sea.

'Shit!'

I must have been out of my mind to get us this far away from home. It will be easy enough to flash back home if I know where we are. I just need to identify the location. And if I'm right about there being people around here, the place will probably be crawling with hikers and beachgoers by daylight. Time is paramount.

I turn to see if there's a way down the mountain without flashing and freeze mid-stride when the air suddenly turns icy, thick with a beautiful, pristine scent of snow. A flake lands directly in the gash on my shoulder, spreading a cool, soothing relief that instantly quieted the raw burn. Another hits my nose.

Snow?!

My eyes narrow.

How can the temperature suddenly drop without warning?!

MATE!

Hades' growl hits me like a physical blow, sending a sharp shiver down my spine.

"Mate!"

The word slips past my lips before I can stop it.

For years, I swore I would never accept a mate. Now I feel that ironclad resolve beginning to crack. The raw animal instinct I've fought so hard to suppress surges forward, tearing at my control. Instead of leaving as I intended, my gaze sweeps across the mountain ridges.

"Just a glimpse," I mutter. "I just want to see what she looks like, then I'll leave. I want to..."

The words freeze on my tongue when she appears.

A white wolf.

Everything around me dissolves into a grey blur. There is only her, bounding up the mountain peak like an unleashed blizzard—wild, chaotic, and magnificent. Fucking hell, she's beautiful.

‘She's mine! Mate! All mine!’

Hades' roar inside my head snaps me back to reality.

Damn it!

I drag a hand down my face, as if I can physically wipe away the emotion clouding my mind.

‘No, Hades! We talked about this already! We can have any female we want. Any female but a mate! Remember? No mate!’

Although it sounds as though I'm arguing with Hades, the truth is that I'm reminding myself.

‘That feeling is a distraction. It makes you vulnerable. It is a burden. Emotions make you weak.’

'No!'

He cuts me off harshly. His giant wolf form paces along the edges of my mind. 'I want mate! I cannot—'

"Lay down. Now!"

I bellow the command, and he immediately obeys.

My wolf is cheeky, but he knows who the master is between us. He has never disagreed with me this strongly before. In fact, he readily agreed when I decided we would never be bound to one female. Now he's resisting. Does he think I'm losing control?

"Unless you want me to put you to sleep, you will stop growling and watch her quietly," I add icily.

Fuck! What did I just say?!

I shouldn't still be watching her.

I should flash out of here right now.

I will myself to flash but nothing happens. My body completely refuses to obey.

A bitter war rages inside me. My brain commands me to flee from the threat of a bond, but my body refuses to listen.

It feels like the curse of a dying man who finds water in a minefield after years of starvation. Reason tells him it's bait. But the thirst is so agonizing that he's willing to blow himself apart just for one taste.

I shut my eyes to try harder, forcing a breath through my teeth.

'Move, damn it! Move!'

Fucking hell.

This was supposed to be easy. I've masked my essence. I've trained my body hard. I've done basically everything and anything that's supposed to prevent me from falling under a female's influence.

It's been easy, until now.

Damn it all.

Since my legs give me no other choice, I open my eyes and surrender myself to the view. Maybe I'll be able to walk away after I've watched her long enough.

Fuck, she's fast.

I watch, mesmerized, as her wolf climbs even the steepest slope of the mountain. That takes strength and extraordinary stamina.

I wish she'd shift, though. I want to see the woman beneath the fur.

I expect her to slow as she approaches the cliff but she doesn't.

My pulse turns to ice as she charges straight toward the edge. Then, in a fraction of a second, she shifts. I catch a fleeting blur of white hair and naked skin before she hurls herself over the cliff.

My chest tightens so violently that I can't breathe. I lurch forward instinctively, as if I could somehow stop her. It's pointless. We're miles apart.

'Fucking hell! Did she come here to kill herself?!'

My flashing aura immediately flares. Just as my body heats up to flash-grab her in midair, a sound echoes across the mountains.

"Whooo-hooooo! Yeahhhh!"

My eyes widen as I freeze.

'No. That isn't the sound a terrified person would make.'

I rush to the edge and peer down. My jaw tightens in utter shock when I see her stretched out in a diving position, plunging headfirst toward the sea.

She's a lunatic.

The drop from that peak to the water below is lethal. No ordinary werewolf could survive that impact in human form.

A thrill of dark excitement surges through my veins, setting my skin on fire as I watch the daredevil dive. The overwhelming urge to flash down there, conquer that wild spirit, and possess it entirely consumes what little resistance I have left.

I watch as she slices skillfully through the inky water. Then she lights up, and my jaw drops.

'What the hell?'

The moment she submerges, she glows. Her skin radiates a beautiful, piercing light, illuminating the dark sea around her.

Normal werewolves don't glow underwater. So what the fuck is she? Do white werewolves possess special abilities like hybrids? Do they have hidden magical powers?

I rack my brain, trying to remember everything I've ever learned about her kind, but nothing comes to mind.

Her light dims, growing fainter against the waves as she dives deeper into the ocean. I find myself pacing the cliff's edge, my eyes locked on the dark water as seconds stretch into minutes and she still hasn't surfaced.

No werewolf alive can hold their breath this long. Even my hybrid lungs have limits. Who or what is she? White werewolves are rare. Where did she come from? What is she doing out here alone at this time of night?

She looks young. Couldn't be more than eighteen. Old enough to be considered an adult, but still young enough that her family should be keeping a close eye on her during her first mating season. Why is she unguarded?

A sudden flash of brightness yanks me out of my thoughts. My attention snaps back to the water, and a heavy sigh of relief escapes my chest when I see the fading glow surging upward.

'She's coming back!'

"This is awesome!"

She shouts, laughing the moment her head breaks the surface. Completely unaware that someone has nearly worn a path into the mountain waiting for her to resurface.

'You're losing your mind over a woman now?' A sane, lingering fragment of my mind screams a warning. 'A stranger who doesn't even know you exist. 'Move your fucking legs right now, before it's too late!'

'No. I know what I'm doing.' I brutally silence the voice, mesmerized by the ethereal creature laughing and playing in the surf below.

Suddenly, she propels herself entirely out of the water, soaring into the air with the effortless grace of a breaching whale before crashing back down with a massive splash.

'Goddess! Could she be a mermaid?

No. She's a werewolf. A werewolf in human form. Aren't mermaids half-fish, half-human?'

My mind spins in circles.

I watch in stunned silence as she literally talks to and chases a massive shark. Even the predator seems to respect her boundaries.

To say she's enjoying herself is an understatement. She's entirely at home in the sea.

"Hades, are you seeing this?" I ask, but he doesn't reply.

Come to think of it, he's been dead silent for a while now.

'Well, I did tell him to shut the fuck up, didn't I?'

"Fine. Be a jerk, then," I mutter.

A low, mocking laugh rumbles through our mental bond.

'I don't understand,' he taunts, his mental tone dripping with amusement. 'Why should I care? Why do you care? You said no mates, remember?'

'Yes. No mates,' I snap back, solidifying the walls around my heart. 'I haven't changed my mind. I know exactly what I'm doing.'

He scoffs.

'You know what you're doing, huh?'

'Yes, fool. I'm only curious about the creature their Moon Goddess is trying to saddle me with. That's all.'

He chuckles.

'Curiosity kills the cat, hybrid. If you're so determined to reject the bond, then you shouldn't care. You shouldn't even look in her direction. The more you watch, the harder it will be to tear yourself away. Walk away now, before you get hooked.'

I scoff.

Hooked?

The word hangs in the air as I watch her emerge from the surf, gloriously naked.

She is a devastatingly unique beauty. Her silver-white hair and pale skin look entirely ethereal beneath the moonlight. Otherworldly, radiating that strange, captivating bioluminescence.

No male can look away from that. Let alone one bound against his will by an essence so heady and alluring that it should be considered a crime against sanity.

But does that mean I'm already hooked?

I recall the suffocating panic that gripped me just moments ago when she dove too deep. I also remember the mindless impulse to flash down and save her because I thought she was killing herself, and a bitter, humorless laugh escapes my throat.

It certainly looks as though I'm getting hooked. But no. Never. I admit I let my guard down for a moment. The news about Yelena made me vulnerable, but never again.

Emotions—especially the ones that leave you helpless and vulnerable are a death sentence to logical choices. They earn you a first-class ticket to the underworld.

They got Yelena killed.

She wouldn't have had me if she wasn't stupidly, blindly infatuated with Evan. And let’s be realistic. Wouldn’t she still be alive if she hadn’t come back to save little me? Never again.

"Come on. Let's find our way back home," I tell Hades.

As I shift back to my wolf, one of his massive paws clips a loose stone, sending it tumbling down the mountain.

'Damn it!'

I retreat into the shadows as the rock falls into the water with a splash. It's a small rock and a tiny splash, but her head snaps up instantly. I can tell from the way her smile disappears that she knows she's no longer alone.

My essence is masked, so I'm not worried about being discovered. I'm intrigued. I want her to see Hades before I walk away. I want to see her reaction when our eyes meet. I want to know whether she'll feel the same magnetic pull toward Hades that I felt toward her wolf.

I know my wish has been granted when her expression sharpens, and her eyes lock directly onto my position. Hades' crimson eyes must have given us away.

I step out of the shadows, my wolf eyes boring into hers.

What I see in her eyes isn't attraction. She's terrified. To be fair, I've never met a werewolf capable of holding Hades' gaze without averting their eyes and bowing in submission.

But despite the fear rolling off her in waves, she stands her ground proudly. She's got guts, I'll give her that.

She takes a cautious step backward, making me bare my fangs in a silent grin.

'Not so fast, Pahuljice. What's the rush?'

Her expression suddenly changes from fear to anger, as if she can somehow hear me.

"You want this?" she sneers mockingly, gesturing toward her naked body.

My smile turns sour.

A naive girl would have scrambled to hide herself from a stranger.

She doesn't.

Doesn't her lack of shame mean she's experienced with men? She knows what men want. Although I don't want a mate, the thought of her belonging to another male ignites a blinding rage in my chest.

I want to kill her.

'No! Claim!' Hades growls fiercely, fighting my dark thoughts, but I suppress him. I'm the boss. I decide who lives or dies.

"Catch me if you can, sicko!" she shouts before diving back into the sea.

'Awoooooo!'

A dark howl tears from my throat toward the sky.

I shift back to my human form, and laugh as I watch her disappear beneath the waves. Her little act of defiance makes the urge to dominate her burn hotter.

'You dared to challenge me, little girl. Catch you if I can? You like a chase? I bet you also like it rough.'

'Hunt! Claim!'

Hades growls again, frantically clawing at my mind, begging to be released. I ignore him.

I am obviously no match for her in the water, but on land? I have never met a werewolf faster than Hades. Unless she plans to live underwater forever and never set foot on land again, I'll catch her.

"I think I've found a use for this one, Hades," I murmur darkly. "What do you think about keeping her as a pet?"

'Hunt her, then!' he growls impatiently.

I chuckle coldly, turning away from the open ocean to look at the mountain peak she jumped from.

"She's confident because she knows we can't track her through the water. But she had to walk up there to jump. She forgot about the trail she left behind."

'Yeah. I bet she didn't think of that,' Hades mutters darkly.

My wolf's eyes scan the mountain terrain until they zoom in on a jagged ledge. I immediately flash to the spot.

"Fuck yes!"

I snarl as I pick up a snow-white piece of fur caught on the jagged wall.

I bring it to my nose and her essence floods my sense in a wave of sharp sensual delight. A devastating craving that leaves me violently hungry for more.

"Now hunt."

I growl and swiftly shift into Hades' massive form.