~SCARLETTI stood frozen as I felt my mother's icy cold grip against my arm. "You will do as you're told, Scarlett," she hissed as her usual light blue eyes turned a darker shade. "You'll wear this dress and marry Marco Bianchi tomorrow."My eyes widened with shock as her words echoed into my ears and I turned to my reflection. I stared at the white dress which I had thought I was trying on for my younger sister. Maya was the one who was supposed to marry Marco. She was his fiancee, his betrothed— promised to him right from birth. This was her life!So why was my mother forcing me to take it?"Mother, please. . . I can't marry Marco. I don't know anything about him and I'm not ready for marriage," I dared to mutter and her icy blue eyes turned colder. "You ungrateful child! After everything I have done for you. After bringing you into the world when I had the option of abortion!" She yelled. I released a shaky breath at her harsh words as I saw the venom in her eyes. If words coul
~SCARLETT"There she is!" One of the thugs announced and it was enough to break me out of the warm stranger's enchantment. I turned instantly to see that all four of them had caught up with me and they were each holding a weapon in hand; ranging from baseball bats to spiky rods. "I told you that you could not outrun us, didn't I?" The first man muttered and my heart sank. My body went colder than it already was and I was trembling all over. I was so close to peeing my pants when the warm stranger gently grabbed my wrist. "Are they troubling you?" He asked ever so calmly. He seemed totally unfazed by their presence and his odd calmness made a chill run down my spine. The leader of the thugs scoffed. "There's still enough time for you to walk away from this." "Did they hurt you?" The warm stranger asked me instead, blatantly ignoring them. I shook my head at him in response and he smiled. "Good, then I'm going to make sure it stays this way." I widened my eyes at him. "W— what ar
~VIKTORI've always been fighting my inner demons. They're always screaming in my head. There's constant chaos within me, no form of peace or silence— no matter how calm I might seem on the outside. Until she ran into my arms and her forest green eyes seemed to bring me the very peace that I have long craved for. For the first time in years, she brought silence and my world came to a standstill. I could swear that even my heart stopped and I knew from that moment on that I had to protect her. I had to keep her safe and most especially, I had to make her mine. . .‘Wake up, Viktor. . .’ The familiar voice of my wolf called and I jolted awake into a sitting position, only to find myself in an unfamiliar room."Where am I?" I demanded out loud as I looked around. ‘An hospital, perhaps,’ my wolf answered. I blinked multiple times. This was not right. The last thing I remembered was her eyes. I was in her arms. Where was she? "Scarlett?" I called as I remembered her name. My subcon
~SCARLETTI thought of Viktor the moment my eyes flew open the next morning. Did he make it safely to the hospital? Did they treat him well enough? Was he going to be fine?I felt guilty about the way that I left him yesterday. I didn't even get to thank him knowing that he only got hurt because of me in the first place. I sighed and sat up on my bed. The moment my eyes fell on the cursed white dress from yesterday, my heart sank. It had not being an horrible dream. I was truly going to marry Marco today!I shivered as I began to relive our encounter from yesterday. He was a sick pervert and misogynist. Marrying him was as well as signing my death warrant. Marco did not see a wife in me when he addressed me yesterday, he only saw a toy— a plaything which he could bend in whatever angle he wanted. "Surely dying is way better than marrying Marco," I cried as I got out of bed. I started pacing my room thinking of what to do. "Maybe run away?" I stopped in the middle of my room. "Wh
~SCARLETTI was panicking. I was beyond nervous. All my life, I had always been the obedient child, even if it was at my own peril and despite all that, it was not enough to earn me my mother's love. Yet even if it was not enough, I never rebelled but here I was, doing the one thing I never thought I had the guts to do. My hand reached Viktor's and he gripped me firmly. "You made the right decision," he whispered. "Scarlett! You can't do this! You have to marry Marco in my stead! It's your duty to protect me!" Maya shrilled hysterically.I was still trembling and beyond terrified so I refused to look at her or Mother. I just stared ahead at the man who seemed to be my savior out of the blue, in the one moment I needed him the most. And I was beginning to believe that all was well and I was going to be safe with Viktor when Marco suddenly yanked me away from Viktor and shot me his terrifying beady eyes. "I told you last night that you belong to me. Your body and soul is mine and
~VIKTORI saw it coming. I anticipated this outcome and I pushed through to make it happen. I knew Marco Bianchi too well to predict his moves and make him play out my plan like a puppet. He was an impatient man who always liked to assert control over the weak— especially women. He was a sadist and it was a crime to have him breathe the same air as me. But for the sake of the truce and all the lives lost, I had to let him be.But not anymore. He had something precious of mine. He had the woman I had been looking for my entire life. He had my peace and I couldn't let him be. It was either she came with me willingly, or I kidnapped her. She never had a choice from the start but thankfully, she made it easy for me and all I had to do was play around with Marco's impatient personality. Dragging the Priest into this was all part of my plan to escape smoothly and I made sure that it all happened in my favor. I let myself be the victim and instructed all of my men not to pull out thei
~SCARLETTIt was all clear to me now. I had always been at a disadvantage from the start. She could never love me. She only gave birth to me to hate me— to punish me for the sins of my rapist father. I was dragged into this, forced to come into existence. I was never meant to exist in the first place.I was never supposed to come into being.And it hurt the most knowing that I was unwanted, unplanned. . . I was a mistake, an anomaly and it made my heart ache. I could not stop the tears from flowing down my cheeks, they just kept rolling down in heaps and I felt like I was so close to wailing. That was when Viktor suddenly crossed over to my side of the car, grabbed my cheeks gently with his good hand and made me look into his golden eyes. "So what if you weren't supposed to be born? Who cares? Screw them. It's their loss for not realising how amazing you are." I widened my eyes at him. "H— how can you say those things? You don't even know me."He smiled warmly. "Yet, I feel as if
~SCARLETTI saw horror as I stared down at the unmoving body of Viktor. "Viktor? Open your eyes, please. . ." I choked through the tears that had already begun to spill; despite him asking me not to cry. Luca instantly broke past the frozen entourage of men and looked down at Viktor. "Shit! You never listen to me, Boss!" Then he bent over and swooped Viktor onto his shoulder with all his might before beginning to run into the grand house."Clear the road! Jackson and Matt! Get the doctor ready immediately!" He yelled. And all hell broke loose. The men broke out of their trance and they started running around the place. Not knowing what to do and not wanting to be useless, I went after Luca and found myself fighting to catch my breath due to how fast he was going. It was strange but I decided not to think too much about it. Luca just wanted to save his boss. We went up large flights of stairs and eventually, Luca barged into a room. I followed and almost gasped out loud at how l
~VIKTORI leaned against the wall in my room as I watched Diane tend to Scarlett's injuries. "It has barely been a few hours since I treated you and you have already come home with more injuries," Diane said without looking up at me. Scarlett did not have any serious injuries. She just miraculously had minor cuts. The goddess was probably watching over her for me, now that I had found her. "My injuries will heal, you have nothing to worry about," I muttered before turning my attention back to Scarlett. She looked confused as she watched the exchange between Diane and I but she chose to keep whatever she thought to herself. "Make sure to get cleaned up once you are shown your room," Diane muttered as she rose to her feet, satisfied with her work. Scarlett only nodded obediently to her while Diane turned to me. "Your turn. I need to apply ointments on your burns." But I lifted my hand in the air to stop that. "Scarlett promised to do it. You may leave." Scarlett widened her eyes
~SCARLETTVoices echoed around me. The world looked blank or perhaps I was the one floating away. "Scarlett. . ." A familiar voice called. But it sounded so far away— so distant that I could not answer. "Scarlett, open your eyes," he begged. I recognised that voice. That was when I felt myself getting pulled out of the pit that I had fallen into in my subconscious. I opened my eyes and was met with glowing golden ones. "Viktor." He heaved a sigh of relief and I realised at that point that our car was upside down. "Oh my god!" I screamed. "It's okay, I got you. I'll get us out of here," he muttered as he broke my seatbelt away with one pull. I fell into his arms and he pushed the car door open. He crawled out before me and when he was sure the coast was clear, he pulled me out of the car too. My body ached as I struggled to get to my feet. "T— the driver!" I cried. I was about to go to the front seat when Viktor suddenly pulled me into his arms. "I can't let you see that.
~SCARLETTIf anything, the night was only getting weirder by the minute."Elders?" I asked.And Luca's expression flashed with shock before he masked it again. Then he looked up at Viktor."Do you think I should take Ms Vaughn home?"Viktor narrowed his eyes for a few seconds before shaking his head. "She'll stay with me."I blinked continuously at both their reactions before turning in the direction that Luca had pointed.That was when I saw cloaked men in dark clothes who had markings on their faces and looked as pale as ghosts.Was the Citadel some sort of occult group? Did occult groups truly exist? And if they did, what went down inside?I felt lost. What the heck was going on? Or were they just being dramatic with how they did things?About five of them stopped before us and they glared at Viktor for a while before settling their eyes on me and gasping."Alpha Viktor. . . You really do have guts," One of them said in a threatening tone."I am your Alpha after all. The position d
~VIKTORThe voice of the man I dreaded the most echoed in the depths of my subconscious. "You will never be good enough!" He roared. It was the voice of my father. The voice of the man I ended up killing. The one whose throne I stole. "You're worthless!" He went on. "I wonder how I managed to birth an incompetent son like you. You're not fit to be called my blood. You do not deserve that honor!"My heart sank and I clenched my teeth as his words disrupted my thoughts. His harsh venomous words had always had the power to wreck me and make me hate my own existence. No matter what I did, it could never be enough for him. Thus, I found myself constantly trying to prove myself to him even in his death. "You couldn't even handle a small problem like Bianchi! You're so worthless that you let him burn Our Citadel!" He roared. My entire body began to tremble and I struggled to break myself free from the mental cell that he had put me in. "Leave me alone! You're dead!" I snapped back at
~SCARLETTFor some reason, my heart was racing. I could not explain why. Perhaps it had something to do with the fact that I was running to a burning building, whatever it was. Or perhaps because Viktor was beside me. I could not tell. The car finally came alive and sped out of the large estate. Luca was driving and immediately we drove out, I noticed that some cars also followed us. It was almost as if Viktor's men were on standby, always waiting to see him leave before following him. I sighed and stole a glance at Viktor. I felt bad that his Citadel was on fire. He had barely recovered from the gunshot he got this morning and he was already running back out. I wondered how he was doing? He looked pale to me and I was sure that he was just pushing himself forward to be able to get by. I stole another look at him and his injury. I wished that my presence in his life did not have to cause him so much pain. First, he had a head injury. Next, he took a bullet because of me and now
~VIKTORI hated how embarrassed she looked. It made my wolf stir with anger. I did not like that someone was able to make her feel this way. I thought of punishing Luca for it. After all, he was the one who asked her to stay behind in the first place and take care of me. So he should have known to knock before barging in but he decided to be a barbarian. I could easily reach out across the room and rip his heart out right where he stood. . . But I still needed Luca and he's been the most loyal to me since I took the title of Alpha and Mafia Don. "This better be good, Luca because if it isn't, then no one can protect you from me," I stated as calmly as ever. Enough for Scarlett not to detect how serious I was and also enough for Luca to realise that his life was in danger if he made a wrong move. Luca turned pale immediately but stood his ground. "The Citadel is on fire." I instantly shot him a glare as my wolf came alive with anger. The Citadel was were all werewolves under my
~VIKTORI saw him tense up the moment he realised that I was awake. "Step away from her immediately," I stated as calmly as I could even if all I wanted was to spring over there and grab him on the neck for daring to get that close to Scarlett. He was stubborn for a few seconds but I knew that he would obey eventually. He was in no position to go against his Alpha's words. Cassius finally stepped away from her and turned to look at me. "Seems it's too much of a luxurious to think you're dead." I saw Scarlett furrow her brows at his words and I smiled. Good, he was digging his own grave already and there was no way that Scarlett could ever like him. "I'm a hard man to kill, Cassius. . ." He stole another glance at Scarlett before turning to me. "Who's your beautiful friend?" My smirk grew wider. He was trying to provoke me but he was nowhere close. "Like you said, she's my friend and there's no need for you to know her. Instead, you will respect and give her absolutely no reas
~SCARLETTI saw horror as I stared down at the unmoving body of Viktor. "Viktor? Open your eyes, please. . ." I choked through the tears that had already begun to spill; despite him asking me not to cry. Luca instantly broke past the frozen entourage of men and looked down at Viktor. "Shit! You never listen to me, Boss!" Then he bent over and swooped Viktor onto his shoulder with all his might before beginning to run into the grand house."Clear the road! Jackson and Matt! Get the doctor ready immediately!" He yelled. And all hell broke loose. The men broke out of their trance and they started running around the place. Not knowing what to do and not wanting to be useless, I went after Luca and found myself fighting to catch my breath due to how fast he was going. It was strange but I decided not to think too much about it. Luca just wanted to save his boss. We went up large flights of stairs and eventually, Luca barged into a room. I followed and almost gasped out loud at how l
~SCARLETTIt was all clear to me now. I had always been at a disadvantage from the start. She could never love me. She only gave birth to me to hate me— to punish me for the sins of my rapist father. I was dragged into this, forced to come into existence. I was never meant to exist in the first place.I was never supposed to come into being.And it hurt the most knowing that I was unwanted, unplanned. . . I was a mistake, an anomaly and it made my heart ache. I could not stop the tears from flowing down my cheeks, they just kept rolling down in heaps and I felt like I was so close to wailing. That was when Viktor suddenly crossed over to my side of the car, grabbed my cheeks gently with his good hand and made me look into his golden eyes. "So what if you weren't supposed to be born? Who cares? Screw them. It's their loss for not realising how amazing you are." I widened my eyes at him. "H— how can you say those things? You don't even know me."He smiled warmly. "Yet, I feel as if