Stryker-I knew this guy was insane, but this was on a whole different level. This was my first official encounter with him, and he was laughing like this was just some sort of joke to him. Delivering one last blow to his face, I stepped back as he clutched his stomach and laughed.“I am going to pee my pants from all this laughing.” Dimitri said between laughs.Stepping back, I looked over at Nea, who had also stopped attacking. We were getting nowhere with him, and we both understood it. Looking around I saw things were getting messy with everyone.A few of the vampires that we had brought with us were now dead, while the others were barely hanging on. When Leo had alerted Zach that the air was clear, we ran as fast as we could to get here. The others were waking up the pack members, but we weren’t going to last much longer if they didn’t get everyone on their feet soon.As the thought occurred to me, the doors to the school burst open and my pack members scattered around to attack
Neaera-Stryker led me to his bedroom and all I could think about was tasting his blood. Since he mentioned it, I thought of nothing else as we walked to the house. I didn’t really need it, but I wanted it more than I wanted to breathe.“Before I give you any blood, you need to promise that no matter what is going on, you will not block me anymore. It was different when you couldn’t control it, but I don’t like the feeling of being disconnected from you.” Stryker said the moment we entered his room and he shut the door.It took a second for me to register what he was saying. My mind was so focused on the beat of his heart and the beating of the pulse just under the surface of his artery. When it clicked that he had spoken, I had to focus on him and not on my lust for his blood.I needed to learn to get control over this side of me, or I was going to become the very thing I hated. Snapping out of it, I looked him in the eyes while letting down my mental block. It was still strange that
Neaera-Over the next three days, I focused mostly on getting my head right. Since I didn’t need to feed so soon after taking what I did from Stryker, I used the time to gain better control over my ability. I was surprised by how far I have come.Natalia had stayed behind to help me, and I could even consider us friends now. She didn’t stay inside the pack territory because most of the pack members had an issue with it. Instead, she and a few of the vampires that wanted to stay behind to help took over the cabin that the hybrids had stayed in for a bit.With Natalia’s help though, I was now able to use my empathic ability without as much pain. Sometimes it was a little overwhelming and did leave me with a migraine, but nothing I couldn’t handle. Today she was going to help me overcome my sickness from drinking out of a blood bag.Stryker didn’t know that I was planning to do it, because I didn’t want him to talk me out of it. After nearly killing him from taking too much blood, I knew
Neaera-We managed to get away from the pack without anyone asking any questions. Zach and Stryker had a phone conference with the Alpha King, so we had time to get out. I simply told them that I was going to work with Natalia and Kalea.When I had mentioned to Kalea about Natalia taking me somewhere, even though I didn’t know where she jumped at the chance. I realized as we were on our way to where we were going, I haven’t gone out with Kalea for anything like this.In all reality, I have never experienced a girl’s night. The only times I have spent time together with someone was when I was with Stryker and his friends. I was both excited and scared. Mostly scared as I didn’t know what to expect.I have asked Natalia many times where we were going, but she just told me to keep my panties on and let her drive. We were all piled into a small car, that one of the vampires had brought. I hadn’t wanted to take my car because it would have been too obvious.I did feel a little bad that I l
Neaera-Scanning the bar once again, I felt a sense of peace wash over me at seeing how everyone was getting along. Smiling to myself, I relaxed a little, thinking there was hope for our kind after all. Natalia patted my back and winked at me as she ordered two shots of something I have never heard of. “This is exactly what you needed,” Natalia said as the two shot glass with a dark red liquid slid across the bar to us. “What is this?” I asked, Natalia because the bartender walked away. “Don’t worry about it, just drink.” She motioned for me to pick up the shot glass as she picked up hers. “Bottoms up.” She said as she drank the liquid in one drink. Looking at the shot glass, I wasn’t sure if I should do it or not. It had a very strong alcohol odor to it and something that smelled familiar, but I couldn’t place the smell. Shrugging my shoulders, I lifted the glass to my lips and took it all in one swig. The liquid burned going down, but it felt so good. It was like an instant w
Stryker-When Kalea had first sent me a text about where they were located, I jumped in Nea’s car and sped down the road. The moment I received a video about what was going on though, I had been in a full rage. Now that I saw firsthand what was happening, I was doing everything I could to keep myself from killing every guy in the bar.“She said don’t.” I growled, sounding more like a wolf than a human.The werewolf that had a hold of Nea I knew personally. He had been the Beta of a small pack nearby. I have had to deal with him a few times in the past before his pack disbanded.I always thought he was a stand-up guy, but seeing the way he was grabbing my mate, I wanted to rip his head off. With him not letting her go, it only irritated me more. I had a large man holding me back, but if I wanted to, I could break free of him and kill the man.The only thing stopping me is that I respected that this bar had zero tolerance for fighting. I knew the bar owner and he was a close friend of m
Stryker-“Nea, come on, wake up.” I whispered, keeping my voice low even though I knew it was pointless.Struggling with the seatbelt, I became agitated. Gripping the clip tightly, I yanked as hard as I could. With a little more effort than normal, it broke away. Before I fell on my head, I raised my other arm to support my weight.Slowly readjusting my body, I sat upright on the roof. I first shook Natalia, hoping she would wake up. I couldn’t afford to get both out of the car and to safety, but I figured I would at least give Natalia a chance to save herself.When she didn’t respond, I moved so I could release the seatbelt on Nea. Catching her before she could fall, I slid her body out of the car, through her broken window. As I was crawling out, one of the feet I saw walking toward the car grabbed Nea by the arms and started dragging her away.“Release her!” I roared, quickly getting out of the car and on my feet.A rush of vertigo hit me, and I had to grab onto the car to keep fro
Stryker-“How did you know we were here?” I asked Kalea once she was standing over me.“Neaera linked with me, asking for help but she didn’t say anything else. I tracked her phone to this location.” Kalea answered as she bent over to look inside the car.“Members of a different pack took her. I wasn’t strong enough to stop them.” I grunted as I tried forcing myself to stand.As much as I tried, I couldn’t find the strength to stand. My legs buckled before I could put any weight on them. The guy from the bar came around the car just then and grabbed my arms. I didn’t care that he was with Kalea, but I was slightly curious.“From what I see, I am surprised you are even conscious.” Kalea said as she stood back up after helping Natalia from the car.The guy helped me to my feet, and I leaned against the car, taking my weight off my bad ankle. I was feeling stronger than I had been, but it was still a far cry from my normal self. I needed to heal quickly if I wanted any chance of saving N
Neaera-Once everyone left, it was just Stryker and me, alone. I could feel his eyes on me, but he didn’t utter a word. Avoiding eye contact, I moved past him to go upstairs. It felt good to be back home and what I really wanted to do was take a long hot shower.Entering the bedroom I shared with Stryker, I went directly into the bathroom. I was about to close the door, but Stryker flattened his hand against the door, stopping it from closing. I guess I had been so focused on avoiding him, that I failed to notice he was following me.“Don’t think you are getting off the hook that easy. Things have settled down with everyone and everything else, but you and I still have something to discuss.” His deep voice sounded far too serious for my liking, almost causing me to cower in fear.“I know what you are going to say, and I am sorry. I won’t ever do what I did again.”“Do you know though? I don’t think you do. If you did, you wouldn’t have done it in the first place.”“I do.” I whispered,
Neaera-Slowly I lowered Stryker to the ground, away from Dimitri’s corpse. Cradling him on my lap, I pressed my hand against the gaping hole in his chest. He was alive, but barely. With all the blood that was seeping out of his wound, I wasn’t sure for how long.I could hear his heartbeat getting slower with each beat. His werewolf healing wouldn’t be fast enough, and we were too far away from anyone to help. Tears welled up in my eyes. I was at a loss for what to do.“You can’t leave me.” I sobbed, not caring that I was full fledge crying right now. “I should have been faster.” I added with another sob.A smile spread over his face, and it looked serene. I wanted to yell at him for smiling, but I was only glad to be able to see his smile, even if it was going to be the last time. He opened his mouth to speak, but no sound came out.Leaning forward, I wondered if he had said something, but I hadn’t heard him. I swear if he says some snarky comment, I was going to yell at him. I felt
Neaera-Dimitri went back and forth, each one gaining the upper hand and then losing it. If this kept up, I wasn’t sure how I would manage to keep going. I was throwing everything I had into trying to take him down.There needed to be a change and it needed to happen soon. With no other choice, I focused on blocking and dodging his attacks, so I could reach out to Leo. He hasn’t mentioned any weakness Dimitri has yet, so I doubt I would be able to get any new information.“Leo, please tell me you have something that will help me win against Dimitri.” I connected with him.It was still weird that I could connect with him, even though we were no longer in the same pack. When I decided to the Luna ceremony in Alaska, there had been so much going on that I spaced about losing my connection to Leo. To my surprise, I was still able to connect with him.The Alpha King mentioned that it was possible that even if he hadn’t been a part of the ceremony, our bond was strong enough to carry over.
Neaera-“Why did you want me to meet you here?” I asked Dimitri, after a few seconds.I had no reason to respond to his last statement. I would much rather get down to the bottom of what had changed his mind about meeting with me to talk. I felt like he had alternative motives though, although, I did as well.“What? You don’t like this place? I thought it would add a bit of charm to our meeting.” He looked around with a look of nostalgia on his face.Narrowing my eyes at him, I tried to get a sense of what he was planning. He seemed far too calm and chill for someone who had made it clear that they wanted me to die. I wondered if Leo had gotten into his head at all.That was the only thing I could think of. Of all the hybrids Dimitri had in his possession, Leo was the best at mind games. I talked to Leo this morning, so I didn’t think I needed to worry about him. He hadn’t mentioned anything out of the ordinary.I was tempted to open my link to him, but to do that, I would need to let
Stryker-Now that everyone was gathered near the front entrance, the only one left was Neaera. Glancing at my watch, I frowned at the time. I thought she would have been the first one at the entrance, due to it taking a bit longer than normal to get everyone off.I attempted to link with her, but I felt her mental block in place. The only reason for her to do that is if she was trying to keep me or anyone from connecting with her. I knew instantly that she was either in danger or about to be.“Stubborn woman.” I growled, not realizing until it was too late that I had spoken out loud.“What is it?” Zach asked, who was standing next to me.“Nothing.” I said in a rush.Until I knew what was going on, I didn’t want to alarm anyone. If something was going on, it was probably better to keep it lowkey for now. Knowing her the way I did; she was probably doing this to protect everyone.That in itself was reason enough to not involve anyone. I just wish I knew where to start looking for her. S
Neaera-“What do you want?” I bit off with venom in my voice.“That is no way to talk to your father.” Dimitri laughed and the way he said father seemed as if he had a challenging time choking that word out.“You have never been that to me and you never will. I will ask again, what do you want?”“I just figured we could have a little chat.” Dimitri sighed.“What do we have to talk about? I have heard everything I needed to hear from you.” I tried to keep my voice low just in case someone was walking by. I didn’t want anyone to overhear who I was talking to.“I haven’t told you about your mother or how you were conceived.”That got my attention and as much as I wished I didn’t want to know, I did. Since knowing I was adopted and finding out I was a hybrid, as well as who my father was, I have wanted to know. I still hadn’t heard from Zach whether his test results returned, but I suspected I was his niece.With everything going on, I haven’t had a chance to learn anything about my mothe
Neaera-We spent another couple of days at the resort, enjoying our time while we could. Everything remained relatively calm. The Alpha King stayed just an extra day, but then he had to return to his duties. We didn’t have any more surprise attacks, which was a good thing.Things were starting to fall into place, which was great for everyone. Zach was becoming eager by the minute though. He mentioned how when everything was over, he planned to take a long vacation and spend some quality time with his mate.I didn’t blame him because he was overdue for it. I didn’t understand how he managed to stay away from his mate for so long. Since becoming Stryker’s mate, I couldn’t imagine spending so much time away from him.“Hey.” Speaking of Stryker, he popped his head around the corner, from the bathroom, where he was packing up our stuff while I packed our clothes.“You about done?” I asked, giving him a teasing smile.“I am, but I was going to see if you wanted to take a quick shower with m
Neaera-“What brings you here?” I asked the Alpha King the moment we were seated in the living area of the room that Stryker and I shared.“I had hoped to get here in time before anything happened, but I am sorry I hadn’t been fast enough. I am glad that you are okay though. When I found out that Benson escaped, I decided to follow him to Alaska and deal with him personally.” He was looking at me as he spoke until his attention moved to Stryker.“I am not surprised that you were able to take him out on your own. It just goes to show that some were born to be true Alpha.” The Alpha King added.“I can’t really take the credit. Nea had the situation handled before I got there, I just finished the job.” Stryker turned to smile at me as he reached over and grabbed my hand. “She is the true leader in all of this.”Shaking my head, I rolled my eyes at the pride in his voice. I could give a poor man food and he would think I solved world hunger. I did like how he admired me, but I was embarra
Neaera-It took two days to get everything ready for the ceremony. I was nervous, but I wasn’t at the same time. It was helpful that I had a large support system around me. To think that before everything changed five years ago, I only had my brother to depend on and a few others.Now, I have them and so much more. A part of me wished that Stryker’s parents could be here because I would have loved to show them the woman I have become. I knew they had loved me like their own daughter and for the first time since learning of their death, it hurt knowing that they weren’t here anymore.“Are you ready?” The Alpha King asked through the door.I was in the room I shared with Stryker, but he was already downstairs, making sure everything was ready. The Alpha King was stepping in to make the Luna Ceremony official since we were uniquely going about this. It made me think of a wedding ceremony, that I have seen in movies.I was wearing a white dress, minus the veil, with a tiara covered in dia