Irina:I sat in my office, reading through the papers that I was going to eventually need to give to my boss to sign.He was annoyed, I was well aware of that, but there was no changing the reality of facts. I was tired and it was a leave that he was forced to give. It wasn’t one that he could choose not to.“He is waiting for you, Irina, if you keep delaying things he might…”“I know, Delilah,” I said, stopping her from finishing what she was going to tell me. I was already going on a thin line with the man, the last thing that I needed was to be reminded that I was going on a thin line.I walked out of my office and toward his, knocking on the door, keeping the best smile that I could muster. My eyes were exhausted regardless of the makeup, and though I knew that he didn’t want me to go, I knew that it was something that Kai had noticed. Him allowing me to go to work without creating a fuss was a miracle itself. But I could only guess that it was because he was aware of how tired I
Kai: “You expect me to believe that Cosimo is playing a game on us?” Alpha Sebastian asked, raising an amused eyebrow at me. The fact that we chose to go to a public place to speak to him was one idea that mom approved of. I knew that she still had a heavy feeling about us talking together, but I also knew that seeing as we had different options now, she was more than a little willing to comply with us. “You are going to believe it because you know that we wouldn’t be benefiting in killing my father-in-law. If I wanted the woman to be with me, I doubt that killing her father would be the right way to start.” I said, and he scoffed. “Say that I believe a word that you are saying. What is the guarantee that you are not going to do it again? If Cosimo was the one who did it, we would have known. The men would have seen him.” Sebastian said, and I took a deep breath. “And you are going to choose to believe that I, a man that doesn’t know him, did this?” I asked, playing my cards we
Irina:“Sit, Irina, there is much for the two of us to talk about.” Alpha Cosimo said, looking me dead in the eye. The man was calm, and though I knew not to trust his demeanor, him being here told me that he wasn’t just going to talk to me. The man knew me enough to know how to get inside my head, and he knew, very well, how to press on me when it came to getting what he wanted.I took a deep breath, knowing that IF I tried to run, he was most likely going to find me, and if that happened, then many innocent lives would be taken. It was not something that I wanted. I didn’t want to take the blame for the death of those who were innocent. I didn’t want their blood in my hand. I already had enough of that at this point. I took a seat in front of him, keeping my eyes on his. How he had gotten here was beyond me, but I knew not to question him. He had his own ways, and I knew that he would have most likely used them to his own advantage, clearly, against me.“I am surprised to see that
Kai: “I am amazed, honestly, by the guts that you are having right now.” Diego said, speaking to our ‘sister’. He sat by her side, calmer than I thought that he would be, while I stood in front of her, keeping a close eye. Her eyes met his, and they widened in surprise as she tensed. “What name should I call you this time? I heard that you had it changed. Anastasia, was it?” Diego asked, and she looked down at her feet. “I didn’t know that you were here.” She said, and he scoffed. “I thought that this was beyond your territory.” “Yes, hence why you came to the city of your older brother, my younger.” He said, nodding at me. She frowned as she looked up at me, and I smiled. “Kai, but I believe that you don’t really care about hearing of it. However, I am surprised by one small detail and it is the fact that Cosimo, despite leaving me when I was born, deeming me a bastard, that he named you after my mother’s name. Was it probably a nice reminder to him,” I said, looking at Diego.
Irina:I stood in the bathroom, my heart racing against my chest, as I tried to clean the cut that was on my thigh.“Fucks sake,” I muttered, knowing that the man had stabbed my thigh on purpose. I didn’t even know how I was going to be telling Kai about what happened, and the vial itself being with me wasn’t something that I needed.My phone rang, and I frowned, shaking my head. Now was not the time to be getting phone calls. And I knew that the cut wasn’t going to stop its bleeding to begin with. I was just going to have to tie it and leave the office. It was the only way for me to take care of things.I put my phone on silent and walked out of the bathroom after patching the cut. The color on my face was draining, and I knew that I had to find myself a way to get to the hospital. Keeping this cut open was not the smartest thing, regardless of the fact that it would be healing faster than that of a human, its bleeding out was also going to be faster.“Where do you think you’re going
Kai:Irina walked toward the house, ignoring the pain that she was feeling as we walked inside the house.She was being sure to not even limp despite the pain that I knew that she was in. Her eyes met mom’s, and she nodded before I guided her toward the stairs. She walked up without saying a word, and I ran my finger over hers, helping her to the bedroom.“Now would be a good time to ask why you don’t have an elevator in this house?” Irina asked, and I chuckled, lifting her in my arms.“I chose not to have one, but it would only give me a more valid excuse to carry you in my arms. I hugged her to my chest, and she took a deep breath, not saying a word, laying her head on my chest. I took her to the bedroom and laid her on my bed, allowing her to rest. She hissed in pain and I watched as she wrapped a hand around her thigh, wanting to calm herself and ease the pain that she was in. “You need to rest, Irina.” I said, and she nodded.“I doubt that I have a chance at this point. I am ba
Cosimo: “What do you mean that she has gone missing? Where the fuck would she be going?” I snapped, shaking my head at the men who were assigned to keep my daughter safe. Their eyes refused to meet mine, and I knew that they understood that their lives would be the price of the game that they played. I wasn’t going to allow them to live if something happened to her, not when I fought everything to keep her safe and alive. “She was drinking her cup of coffee, boss. She disappeared afterwards. We don’t know what happened or how it happened, but she was nowhere to be found when we came back to see her.” One of the men said, avoiding my eyes, clearly scared of my reaction. I let out a low growl, they were human, but they knew me as the Alpha that I was. “Find her, and if ONE hair is harmed on her head, your life will be the price of it. And I give you my word, I am not going to be sure that it is done in the most painful way possible.” I said, and the men looked away from me before tak
Irina:“I believe that it is time for us to start preparing for celebrations within the packs.” Katerina said, making Kai frown in confusion. “Celebrations?” He asked. I put my fork and knife down as I looked at the woman, allowing myself to digest what the woman was saying. The lack of respect was evident in her behavior and tone, but I had to admit, I didn’t think that she would go as far as start a celebration when she knew that I was still mourning. “As you may know, we have a new Luna in the pack. The packs are going to have to know. Considering the fact that the two of you eloped in a hurry, we were never able to fully celebrate her presence. You know our ways and you know the ways of the wolves when a new pack Luna arrives to her Alpha.” Katerina said, looking at her son.My chest ached, and the idea of celebrating when I just lost my father less than a month ago when my mother was held captive Cosimo was not an ideal way to start things for me.“With all due respect to your
Kai: I had my arms wrapped around my mate, pulling her closer to me as I felt her tighten around me. I swelled inside her, throbbing with each thrust, knowing that I was nearing my edge. Her canines and mine were already bared, and our wolves were more than willing to mark one another. The café was empty, and the rooms that we had there were going to need us to both rearrange and fix them later. But then again, I figured that what better way to mark our new spot than with a marking for our love. It was something that even Irina understood. Something that the two of us loved. “Fuck…” Irina said, crying out when she felt me hitting her G-spot. Her eyes rolled to the back of her head, and I knew that if I didn’t mark her now, both of us were going to end up out of energy. But then again, I doubted that she would mind. It wasn’t until she woke up to find out that she was with a limp that we would be making the smaller difference. “You are so fucking tight.” I said, shuddering over her
Irina:“What do you want to do today?” Kai asked, breaking my train of thoughts.I looked at him and smiled, shaking my head in question. It has been two months since my mother left the pack, the woman that I called mother, that is. I didn’t know what I should address her as anymore. But I knew one thing, I was thankful that she went without more trouble. She has caused enough as it was anyway.“I have nothing in mind, but I can assume, since you asked, that you might have something that you want us to do?” I asked, and he smiled. He walked toward the edge of the bed where I was sitting, reading through a few emails.“What are you doing?” He asked, and I shrugged.“You have work that you assigned me to do, remember, boss?” I teased, and he smirked.“Well, having you as my assistant ended when we were in the office, that is, of course, if you don’t want me to take you here and now, on the desk.” He teased, biting my bottom lip as he leaned in to kiss me. I laughed and wrapped my arms a
Kai:I watched as Irina walked out of her mother’s infirmary room, looking as if she had seen a ghost. And though I heard everything that went on inside, I knew better than to walk in. I knew to leave her to deal with things with the woman by herself. Had I interfered, she wouldn’t have been able to see her true face. A face that I saw long before she had seen it.Flashback:“She is not going to understand anything from her, Kai.” Mario said, looking at me. “While I know that you want her to try and listen, she is going to be more hurt than she has been. You are going to need to be there for her, and if they do talk, you are not going to interfere. If the answers that she gets do not satisfy her, I am going to speak to her.”“A little too late for that, Mario. The woman doesn’t even know you as her uncle. I doubt that she is going to accept a word from you…”“I am going to try to speak to her. If she is willing to listen, then I am more than open to telling her what happened. If not,
Irina:I walked inside my mother’s room, daring to face her after everything that happened.I had to admit, I was just as scared as Kai was, if not more frightened and worried. But I didn’t want him to see that. I didn’t want him to see me weak and I didn’t want him to think that I wasn’t going to be willing to do this. For him, for us, and for myself.I knew that this was something that I was going to have to do. Otherwise, I wasn’t going to be able to cope. I knew that about myself, and I knew that he saw it in my eyes.“You came.” Mom said, taking me off guard. The fact that she was speaking to me was something that I didn’t expect, but I knew not to expect any less. She has hurt me enough to be ignored. And I knew that many would have done so.“You still raised me as a daughter. One that you both abused, I understand that much, but I was still growing under your roof for a very long time. I might as well value that, right?”“Irina…”“I am not going to be long, but there are a few
Kai:“Are you sure that you are going to want to do this, Irina?” I asked, looking at my mate, remembering the pain that I saw in her eyes the other day.The fact that I knew that she wanted to speak to her mother wasn’t one that I was going to deny. But I was worried that IF she did, that she would be falling back into the cocoon that I barely managed to get her out of.“I know that you are worried, Kai. But I have no other choice right now. I am not going to run away from the woman. She still is the person who raised me, and considering the fact that I can’t get answers elsewhere, this is the one place that I have. Plus, it is not like I am a child.” She said, and I shook my head at her. I wrapped my arm around her shoulder, turning her to face me.“Irina, I don’t want you hurting. And you know that IF you try hiding it, I am going to feel your pain. This is going to make it a lot worse, because this time, I am going to have to look at the woman without breaking her face for breakin
Irina:“I want to be left alone, Kai.” I said, knowing that Kai was going to try and comfort me. While I was thankful for his attempt, it wasn’t what I needed right now.“I know, but I am not going to leave you to deal with your pain alone. Plus, it is not like you don’t know me as a husband to think that I would be willing…”“Me knowing you is not going to change the reality of me wanting to stay alone. I really need to be alone to allow myself to process what happened, and though it might not matter to you…”“Do you really believe that it doesn’t matter to me, Irina?” He asked, and I took a deep breath. I knew that it did, but right now, I also knew that I was bursting out over so many things. He wasn’t the one that I was angry with, and he knew that. But the idea of him not willing to leave me alone was one that I didn’t like. I didn’t want to be beside anyone. I just wanted to vent, but I wanted to do it by myself.“I don’t want you to see me in my worst state, Kai.” I said, and h
Irina:“Hey,” Anastasia said, putting a drink on the table in front of me.I looked at it for a moment then at her, and she smiled. “It is not poisoned, I promise.”“The fact that you would think that I would be concerned about it being poisoned amazes me. But then again, you lived your life dealing with Cosimo. I doubt that you would be living in any less worry or concern.” I said, and she smiled. I took a sip of the drink, wincing when I felt it burn my throat. It was vodka.“Are you okay?”“Would a person in my shoes be okay?” I asked, and she sighed. “I need to think straight, and no matter how much I want to, I really can’t find myself doing so. And to make matters worse, I know that nothing that they are going to tell me is going to make this any better. I am going to need to try and understand things my way, and it is going to be a lot harder as time goes.”“Well, if it makes you feel any better, I am exiled from both my brother and mother. Neither one of them is going to want
Kai:“Irina…?” I frowned, seeing that she wasn’t by my side.I got up from bed, and walked out of the room, frowning when I heard the fuss that was going on. The idea of her not being here was something that I didn’t like. I didn’t want her to be alone, especially when I knew that she was holding a lot more than she was supposed to inside her.“What is going on?” I frowned, seeing that mom was walking with her robe. She was wearing a white one, and the idea of seeing her awake at this time was one that I wasn’t used to.“Irina’s mom woke up.” Mom said, making my eyes widen in surprise. “Rustem saw her first, and Irina is there now.”Anastasia, who was here, looked at me. Her eyes met mine and I nodded at her, but the woman looked down at her feet. I knew that she was thrown in tough situation, but I wasn’t going to leave her alone. Not after everything that she went through.I put my hand on mom’s shoulder, gently squeezing it, before turning to the infirmary.I looked at Irina who wa
Irina:I woke up, careful not to wake Kai up, as I got out of the bed.The man had barely slept, and the last thing that I needed or wanted for him was to end up exhausting himself more than necessary. He needed the break, and I wasn’t going to deprive him from it.I walked out of the room, knowing that I wouldn’t be able to go back to sleep anytime soon, and to the dressing room to freshen up. Washing my face in the suite’s bathroom could end up waking him, and I wasn’t going to take that risk.My heart ached with each step that I took, and it wasn’t long before I found myself in the garden, walking around, knowing that I would be finding most of the pack members asleep. Some were walking around, others patrolling, but it was almost empty.We have been here a week, and I still couldn’t find myself accepting what happened. And with my mother still being asleep, I knew that I couldn’t help but find myself falling deeper into the cocoon that I was in. Kai was the one reason that I was a