Chapter Two: Old Acquaintances

Anastasia’s POV

‘I'm tired of running away from bullets and crazed werewolves…just give me a break!’

There were two bullets in me…one in my thigh, the other in my shoulder and now our family doctor was pressing into my bleeding arm to finish the job.

“Hey! Could you at least be more gentle that hurts!”

I snapped, clenching my teeth as the doctor's hands pressed firmly against the wound on my arm.

The poor doctor flinched so hard he nearly dropped the bandages. I bit down a hiss as his fingers brushed the exposed wound. Then he looked at me with an annoyed expression.

“Miss Anastasia, I need you to hold still and stop yelling….”

“Hold still?!” I cut him off, my voice rising with each word. “I just got shot and you're digging your fingers into my arm like it's some loaf of bread!”

The doctor sighed, “I'll try to be gentle, but if you keep flinching like that it might hurt more.”

“Hey!” I called softly, although my voice rose, “Stop pulling the threads,” I hissed, “hurry up instead of being careful, if you're worried about staining the carpets with my blood, I already stained the one downstairs,” I made sure to keep my face as gentle as possible. “So please hurry up, before I punch my fist into your face.”

He mumbled something about patience and focus, but I'd lost both the moment I woke up here.

“If those bastards hadn't….”my words trailed off and my chest and jaw tightened at the thought. Heat swelled under my ribs as I exhaled through my nose. “If they had just stayed where they were and let me escape, none of this would have happened. I wouldn't be sitting here, being treated like an invalid.”

“Miss Anastasia, a gunshot wound should not be treated so lightly. Imagine you got here minutes later,” the doctor quipped, while working, I wanted to yell at him, but he was right.

He always was.

Although I didn't remember his name, his face was familiar enough. A fifty nine year old doctor, hired as my personal doctor.

Despite his age and gentle personality, he was a tough man, green eyes like pools of emeralds that had seen life from points even I cannot see. He had a tall frame and white hair that I always got jealous of. He was also really good looking for his age, and sometimes I wondered why he didn't react when I yelled at him.

As annoying as it was, I hated disrespecting someone like him, but I was so angry.

I tilted my head back, staring at the ceiling, because the truth was clawing its way at me, whether or not I wanted to face it. My mind kept pulling me back to last night, the night I would have lost my life, over some stupid job….. AGAIN.

It was supposed to be a very simple and straightforward job, especially since I barely escaped the auction house just the night before. I was ordered to find a top secret file in a mansion deep in the forest just outside our city, I didn't know who lived there or why the location was there.

Knowing the risks and everything I would receive as compensation, I had no choice. However, I didn't know the mansion owners would be some strange inhuman guys.

—

“Catch her before she crosses the border!”

The voices kept growing louder, even worse the moment I crossed the territory markings.

My head snapped back so hard I felt it in my neck, but I didn’t care.

I prayed silently as I backed away from the markings. I had hoped to see the gates of the mansion fading behind me, knowing full well its being so close to the city was impossible on its own.

Nevertheless, I had finished my job, grabbed what I was told to grab, and I just needed to cross the road and make it back.

However, my gaze instinctively shifted to the roofs of the towers.

As if it had been planned, timed perfectly with the moon hanging high in the vast, dark blue sky, lit with tiny dots that made one stop and just stare at the beauty, there they were.

Two figures stood right in front of the moon, perched on the roofs like vultures. One remained seated at the edge, his legs swaying, while the other stood tall behind him. There was something in its hands.

I slowed my steps, turned fully, and squinted to get a better look and….

“Seriously!”

I exclaimed in an oddly sarcastic way, a terrified grin spread across my face. I quickly shook my head and heaved a heavy sigh.

“These bastards are not seriously trying to use a sniper on me, right?”

Then, taking one last look at them, I saw those icy blue eyes glowing faintly despite the moon’s light behind them.

When their eyes locked on mine, my breath caught in my throat, and I could swear my heart skipped a beat.

The moment I turned and spotted the lights from the streetlights ahead, another shot was fired, and I felt my heart rate drop completely.

Pain shot through my arm and straight through my head, like fire. The gun in my hand nearly slipped from my grip, but I clenched my teeth and kept going.

Only for one of them to land in front of me. It wasn’t even like he landed, it almost seemed like he lowered himself.

“Tch.” I clenched my teeth and used my other hand to cover the bleeding spot.

“Get out of my way!”

“Why should I?” he said in a low tone that almost sounded like a growl. At the same time, the pressure just from him standing five feet away made my chest tighten. He tilted his head.

“...”

“I should punish you for trespassing, theft, and vandalism.”

‘Vandalism?!’ I yelled in surprise in my head and tightened my grip around the gun at my side. My gaze moved to the sniper behind him, then at my bleeding arm, and I bit my lip.

“Move. Now.”

“I ask again, why should I…” he trailed off at that moment and lowered his gaze to the gun pointed at him…and he exhaled dramatically, “I should have killed you when you stepped into my mansion .”

“I said move!”

“My curiosity should have ended when you stole the files.”

‘Is he really talking to himself with a gun pointed at him?’

‘Wait, why was I even hesitating?’

I placed my index finger on the trigger. It would be a crime to kill, but he wasn’t giving me much of a choice either.

And I was slowly losing strength with every drop of blood I lost. Not to mention, I was utterly disgusted at how wet and sticky I felt.

Without thinking twice, I mustered up the courage, quickly shifted the gun to his shoulder, and pulled the trigger twice before bolting past him, since he wasted time to respond.

I expected a groan, or at least a sound of pain from him, but instead…

“Hah…..this is going to be a problem… Anastasia.”

—

He was the second person who wasn't supposed to know my name. First White Lotus’s head and now him. The fact he knew my name was what terrified me more than anything. The organisation told me no one would know my real name, not even my co-workers.

Somehow they did and…..

“Anastasia!”

I got dragged out of my thoughts and back into the real world when I heard mom scream my name. I glanced at my arm, and saw that the wound was already treated and wrapped nicely, even though the pain was killing me.

The doctor was already leaving without a word, so I quickly sprang up to my feet and made my way to the living room downstairs.

As I approached the stairs, I heard a voice.

One too familiar to forget. Deep, smooth, always belonging to that body that carried a cocky, arrogant gait and smile.

Donovan Leonid

The sight of him stole the breath from my lungs only for rage to replace it. My hand twitched toward the pistol at my hip, but it wasn’t there.

“Hello, little fox,” he said softly once our eyes met and smiled. “You look….terrible.”