Chapter 48: Chapter 49

My mate is furious. Dangerous violent energy radiates off of him. His anger is red hot in my chest and it burns and fuels my

own rage. His deadly cold soulless eyes are focused on the gunman whose barrel of the gun is aimed at my head.

I sense that both gunmen are werewolves. At this point though, I don’t care if they’re werewolves, lycans or unicorns, I’m craving their blood more and more as my lycan Juno surfaces. I just want to destroy the threat to my mate.

My own red gaze follows the first werewolf whose gun is trained on my mate’s head. NOBODY holds a gun to my mate and gets away with it. Nobody!

I want to rip his head off. I want to reach in and grab his still-beating heart in my hand and crush it.

An angry snarl escapes my mouth and the werewolf gunman strikes the barrel of the gun against the side of my head. It doesn’t hurt me much but that seems to snap whatever control my mate has. He bares his teeth and sharp canines with a hiss.

In a blur of a movement, he’s standing behind the gunman.

One arm is around the man’s neck while another hand is taking control of the gun. The gun that was pointing at my head is now pointing at the other gunman.

My mate just stands there for a beat before he pulls the trigger.

I have a feeling that he’s not hesitating, merely giving the men the privilege of knowing what’s coming to them.

A sickening cracking noise followed the sound of the gunshot even before the first gunman’s body hit the ground. Darius twists the second man’s head right after he pulls the trigger.

I look down at the two bodies lying on the floor, unmoving.

One man has bullet holes in his head while the other man with his head turned at a weird angle.

My red tinted haze recedes. I feel my own lycan, Juno rejoicing.

It’s retreating, giving me back the control with almost an unrestrained bubbling evil glee.

I stare back up at my mate in awe. He was so fast. His movement was graceful and precise. His eyes are still black with the veins snaking out from his eye sockets. I can sense his struggle to control his lycan. I step towards him and he tugs me into him. He buries his face in my hair and his nose brushes over my neck while he takes a deep breath. I sigh and press my face into the crook of his neck. His heady scent is calming my lycan even more.

“Malyshka,” he breathes against my skin. “You’re okay.”

“I’m okay,” I assure him.

He twined the locks of my hair that has come undone through his fingers while he nuzzles my ear. “Listen to me, Любимая

(lyubimaya: sweetheart), that was only the first stage of the attack. Explosions and werewolf rebels with guns. It was a distraction to weaken us. The second round of the attack is coming. My bet is, it will be lycan rebels. Hand combats with the royal army to grab what they came here for…” he leaves the sentence hanging. He doesn’t need to finish it. I know what or who they’re after. The moment King Alexandros announced that he’s crowning Caspian and me as King and Queen tonight, we knew they were coming for me or Caspian.

“Do they know that I’m your mate? Are they coming for me as your mate or as the future queen?” I’m curious to know.

“I don’t know and I don’t care, but they can’t have you,” he answers gruffly. “Malyshka,” he whispers. “Stay close to me.

Whatever you do, don’t let them take you away from me.” He draws back to look into my eyes. “Promise me.” His own eyes are now back to icy blue but they are cold and ruthless. I sense his steely determination and resolve. He’d do anything to keep me alive.

I cup his cheeks with both hands and rub my thumb across his skin. “I’ll do whatever I can not to be taken by them if you promise to stay alive.

“If you dare to get yourself killed, I will personally kill you myself…again. I swear.” Wait, that doesn’t sound right. I brow furrows as I start to think things through. “I mean, don’t you dare die on me. If you die, you know I’m gonna have to go after whoever killed you. Then I’ll die because they have to kill me because I won’t stop…and you don’t want that….”

He places a finger on my lips, effectively stopping my endless illogical blabbering. “Malyshka,” he says, pressing his forehead against mine. Why can’t I talk properly when I’m pissed off or when I’m nervous or scared?

He pulls back to stare down at me. His clear blue eyes are studying my face as if he’s memorizing it. He traces his finger gently over my lower lip. The thought of never seeing him again has me gasping for breath. My heart clenches painfully in my chest.

“Don’t you dare die on me…because I wouldn’t survive without you,” I tell him as soon as he removes his finger. “I love you,” I blurt out.

He stares at me as if transfixed. Something stirs in his eyes and suddenly his mouth swoops down to capture mine. Warm lips moving against mine urgently, demandingly, and reverently.

“You are my life,” he says against my lips. It sounds like a confession and a vow.

“Come, this place is burning, let’s get out of here,” he urges me as he grasps my hand. He turns and I see his back clearly for the first time since the attack. Blood stains the back of his suit from a gunshot wound on his shoulder, cuts from splinters of glass and mirrors everywhere, even on his neck…it must be painful but he doesn’t even wince or complain once. Those sharp glass and mirrors still embedded in his skin should be taken out for him to heal properly.

Right now though, I know his priority is to get us somewhere safe. Already, half of the huge ballroom is destroyed by the explosions. The bright brilliant lights from the chandeliers are long gone. Heat radiates from the blazing fire that’s licking the wall and the roof of the ballroom.

Through the thickening, billowing smoke, I see some of the palace’s guards pulling the bodies of the unconscious lycans out of the burning room.

Darius pulls me down low to the ground as the smoke thickens.

It’s hard for me to figure out which way is out, but he seems to know where we’re going. The smell of smoke is suffocating and overwhelming. I cling to him and press my nose into his chest.

Fortunately, we don’t have to go too far to reach the heavy ornate doors of the ballroom. If I’m not mistaken, the ballroom has fifteen exit doors. It seems like this one is closed to contain the fire. Darius pulls the big doors open easily. As soon as we exit the ballroom, I drag in a lungful of much needed fresh air.

My mate brings me closer to his body and his grip tightens almost painfully around me. His body is rigid. That’s when I notice that we are standing in the grand hallway of the castle and that there are fighters from both sides fighting around us.

Not only that, but we are surrounded by five big lycans and they do not look very friendly. Why are these lycans have to be so big? I feel like a midget among them and I’m 5′9′.

“Hello, Commander Rykov,” says a familiar voice. I would know that voice anywhere now. I’m very bad with names, but I’d remember his name forever. Robert Vitsin steps forward from behind one of the men with a big charming smile on his face.

“Vitsin,” returns Darius through gritted teeth. “I knew a traitor like you is behind all this.”

The man’s smile turns into an ugly sneer. “A traitor to you, a clever opportunist to others…what’s the difference? Tomato, to-mah-to, isn’t that what they say?” he says. ‘You should’ve mated my daughter. You know, it would be beneficial for both of us if we work together. There’s no need for this to turn uglier, Rykov. Now, just hand us the Princess and we’ll all leave.”

“No,” growls my mate. His anger is spiking.

Robert Vitsin watches us speculatively. His eyes narrow at the protective and possessive way Darius is holding me.

“If I didn’t know any better, I’d have thought that she belongs to you rather than to the Prince,” he states mockingly. “Or perhaps the rumor is true…that a high ranking warrior of the Royal army, a trusted close friend of the Prince covets his mate, the future queen.” His eyes move slyly between the two of us.

“She’s coming with us one way or another,” continues Vitsin, looking miffed when his taunt is met with silence by my mate.

He angles his head as a signal to his men. They all step forward. Two of the men are already starting to phase into their lycan form, ready to attack.

“She’s not going anywhere with you. Touch her and you’re dead,” hisses my mate fiercely. Intense, menacing anger emanates from him in strong currents and waves that Vitsin’s men slightly but noticeably hesitate before taking another step closer.

Darius pulls me behind him and I squeeze his hand before letting go. I stand with my back to him.

I watch the men around us warily. One of them is slowly approaching me. He’s dressed impeccably, better than the other four. Actually, he doesn’t look much different from any of those wealthy lycan elites. I bend down while keeping my eyes on the man, slowly slipping off my high heels while he watches.

A lecherous smile is slowly spreading across his face. If he thinks I’m going to be an easy target, he’s dead wrong. I’m ready to fight but right now I’m cursing the dress that I’m wearing.

I’m not stupid, I know these men are stronger than I am.

However, I have speed and quick thinking on my side…I think.

I hear the roar and the fighting behind me and I know that my mate is fighting off the other lycans. My vision is starting to turn red at the thought of someone trying to hurt my mate. I want to turn around and help him but the pervy lecherous man is getting too close.

He makes a grab for me and I swiftly duck to evade his grasp.

He tries to reach for me again when a hand reaches back to seize him by his neck. My mate is fighting two other lycans while holding the lecherous perv’s neck in a death grip.

I whip my head around when two big hands clasp my shoulders painfully. I find myself staring into cold calculating eyes of Robert Vitsin. A cruel menacing smile is etching on his lips.

“I told you we’d meet again, Princess.” His dark sinister smile widens and his grips on my shoulders tighten.

“Yesss…so you did,” I tell him, flashing him a grin. My voice is a low hiss. My lips are stretching over my sharp teeth and canines. There’s a quick look of surprise on his face before I jab my fingers into his eyes with as much force as I can. Robert Vitsin screams. He clutches and covers his eyes with one hand, yelling profanities in Russian. His grip on me is still very strong. He’s still not letting me go. That’s when I kneed him in the nuts.

* A quick note to my amazing readers: Thank you so

much for your wonderful reviews, votes, love, and

support. I’m trying to update more often so that I can start posting Caspian’s story soon. Much love – Nicole