TurbulenceMADALINABeing called a leech was a great insult. The single word kicked me out of the initial shock of meeting my... argh, I could even force myself to admit what he was to me. No, I wouldn't be connected to some mutt. Especially not to the one who threatened my family, holding my brother and mopping the dusty ground with his unconscious body. What did he say? That he wanted to end Alex's life?!Injured or not, I jumped at the mutt from behind, my fingers dipping into the muscles of his neck. My goal was to grip him by the neck and snap it. The fastest way to kill someone. But once again, I froze for a millisecond because...Losing concentration and the element of surprise, he gained an advantage and decided to fight back. Jerking his head back as hard as he could, he hit me straight in the face. Hot liquid dripped from my nostrils, its metallic taste reaching my upper lip. Did he just break my nose? As a vampire, I would heal faster than any living human, and some broken
LabelsAIDEN"Save her!" Remy yelled at me, his heart on the verge of collapsing. Not because of me struggling to swim in the turbulent waters. The prick did not give a shit about me. He was out of his mind. because Madalina was sucked by the river, her very blond hair no longer floating and shining next to me. Currents took her and for a minute or two I was relieved.A quick recap of our fight played in my mind. The psycho attacked me and then pushed me into the river. Luckily, my reflexes were still sharp despite the lack of air in my lungs. I grasped and dragged her with me, the initial thought of seeing her drowning tickling the hurt ego of a man who got beaten up by a woman. But then I realized she was a valuable asset. Her death would not bring anything to the lone wolves' community except more terror. The Crud clan would be furious and wished to avenge the death of their family member. So, I pulled her closer to me, my new mission to take her with me as a prisoner unless we neg
"You almost killed me." She huffed in annoyance and my temper sparked."Allow me to correct you. You almost killed us.""Allow me to correct you. You attacked me and my brother first." She retorted, referring to the incident when I threw a stone at her car. "Now take me back to the village, mutt."Clenching my fist so tight that the knuckles turned white, I had to concentrate not to rip her head off. And just like that, I regretted saving her life. I should have let her drown! Ungrateful vicious vampire.Remy raised his protests, disagreeing with any physical harm towards our mate. Our mate?! I didn't want her. He could keep her if he was that obscene in his thoughts, but I would not take part in such craziness."No." was my simple nonchalant answer while inside I was fuming."What do you mean by no? You have no authority here and even that little rebellion you and other mutts pulled today is going to be severely punished. Because we, the Cruds..." She started the whole genesis of how
Know your enemyMADALINA"Ruthless beasts, my ass." He glowered. "Especially since you do not hesitate to kidnap the weak ones and kill in cold blood."I furrowed my brows. Killing other werewolves - yes. To be honest, that wasn't uncommon at all in past decades. Taking into account today's incident, let's not forget the wolves had started it! But kidnapping? Who did I or anyone from my family kidnap and what for? The wolves which got killed today during the uprising weren't weak in particular. This Shadow guy must have been delusional, imagining things which were barely true. Unless he was talking about those two who I knocked down in the woods."If you're speaking about the mine worker and the she-wolf, they chose to chase me. Consider that self-defense." Why did I even try to make excuses? I shouldn't care about his opinions, right? Who was he anyway? Some, um, male... unfortunately, very good looking, with broad shoulders and...Uh, fuck those broad shoulders! And fuck that wet sh
The real meMADALINAI didn't have much time for a deep-dive analysis. The mind quickly summarized the facts and calculated options for successful survival. If that was an option in the first place.There was a feral rogue baring his teeth at my face. Driven by hunger, his mouth was already salivating. Starvation must have been a long-term state for him, judging solely from his visible ribcage.I was in my underwear. I was injured. My dagger was next to my clothes, which were, of course, on the opposite side of the firepit. The distance between the weapon and me was wider than the distance between me and the enemy.In addition, and to my horror, the so-called mate was nowhere to be seen. Was he still on the hunt? How long was I asleep? Either way, his whereabouts were irrelevant. Speculations were no longer in place because the outcome was crystal clear. I was majorly fucked. If I wanted to survive this, I needed to work fast. Showing the rogue my back could be fatal. He would jump at
The power of wordsAIDENWhen I first sensed her distress, I dropped the rabbit which I successfully hunted down. Tilting my head in the direction of the wind, I used my enhanced sense of smell to identify potential danger. The urge to run came as soon as I recognized it. Rogue. He must have been very close. And then the sudden stab of pain and fear assaulted me. She was harmed by him. Without thinking, I shifted back to Remy's form and ran as fast as I could.The rogue didn't see me coming because he was too obsessed by the half-naked vamp. Why did she have to show her skin to him? The skin, which was flawless to touch. Remy growled at me, reminding me this was not the right time to be jealous. Me and jealous? Because of her?! Pfft."Still in denial."He rolled his eyes at me, muttering.Madalina fought bravely. If she hadn't been injured before, she would surely have taken the rogue down. Her technique was impressive, yet it was not enough. Wrath flowed through me like lava when I sa
"I am speaking about those who your sick family kidnapped. Where are they, huh? Are they even alive or have you just sucked them dry? When it comes to your savage habits, you obviously do not care who or what to feed on.""I honestly don't understand what you're implying. Our methods with wolves may have been rough, but there were never minors involved." What a colossal bullshit, right? Alexei Crud was her twin brother. They were connected on a very deep level, and it was impossible for her not to be aware of his operations, for her not to be involved. Her lies only enraged me more.Losing my shit, I jumped at her. Gripping her by her shoulders, I slammed her body against the nearest tree, demanding the truth. Not expecting my harsh treatment, she yelped with her eyes widened. Or maybe it was once again the mate bond's tingles which paralyzed her temporarily. Perspiration beaded her brow when our faces were just inches away. It was so difficult to remain concentrated, to ignore the ph
RescueMADALINA"What am I doing?" I asked myself internally. An awkward silence crept between us as we were standing in the middle of nowhere, enraged and frustrated.Like autumn leaves under frost, I was slowly dying. I felt the chill in my blood, coldness bringing the synapses of my brain to a standstill. Part of it was an odd pain which floored me when my ears fully processed the infamous sentence. The sentence which would set us apart permanently. The hearing sense sent the signal to the brain, shocking it to a great extent. Perhaps I would be fine with the rejection, if only the brain wasn't simultaneously attacked by the needy heart.I thought I didn't care about him. Gosh, he was so annoying that I just wished to repeatedly kick his ass. Yet the pain and sorrow of being potentially rejected by him wasn't something I could endure, and it wasn't something I could just sleep through night after night without anesthesia of false hope. Dang it, I was so doomed.He murmured somethin