Chapter Fifty-Three

Damian

I watch as Celina addresses the press while I wait for my flight at the airport. I have my back against the wall while I sit in the corner by my gate. I have my feet propped on top of my duffle bag to give the appearance I’m relaxed, and will less likely be bothered by some random stranger. To conceal myself from any wolves or lycans in this goddess-forsaken airport, I have my hood drawn and I’m blocking my scent. Sephtis is sleeping in an effort to recover some of our depleted strength and to subdue our aura.

Celina’s dressed in a way that drives me insane with provocative thoughts. She always looks stunning, but the color of her dress draws attention to her uniquely colored eyes; one of my favorite features on my future mate.

She’s amazing, and truly poised with elegance when addressing them. She never fully answers their questions but doesn’t ignore them either. She knows the exact amount to give them to keep them satisfied, but enough to drive me insane. Not once does she fully acknowledge me in her answers, and it’s infuriating.

Did I not give her enough? I just saved her father’s home from a hostile takeover from my bumbling uncle. Celina’s not even acknowledging that. What do I have to do to win her affections? What do I have to do? Do I need to deliver his head to her? I mean, it’s doable, but I have to find the little coward first. It took me weeks just to find this hideout. I still think I can do it. As a coronation present.

I watch her, over and over again, listening to her speak and observing her. None of the questions seem to phase her. Especially the ones about me. She remains poised and rather seems annoyed at the mention of my name. Nothing I do is good enough for this woman. I can’t seem to get any form of praise from her no matter what I do. I’ve demonstrated my strength continuously. I’ve shown her my undying loyalty. I’ve given her everything she desires, and I’ve kept her safe. Yet she never chooses me. Just because I wasn’t specifically designed to be her mate by the Moon Goddess. Still, there is no doubt that she is mine, and I am hers. Even our beasts match. It’s a dead giveaway. Why can’t she see it?

Again, it’s probably that stupid mate of hers. She thinks he’s so wonderful. Doesn’t she realize how weak he is? How useless he is? He couldn’t even protect her when it counted. No, she had to rescue him and herself. If that little blabbermouth hadn’t given in to Celina, she would have been the one to kill him. Not the one who is supposed to protect her. Chris is not good enough for her, and I’m going to make her see it; even if I have to force her to realize this.

Growing bored, and eager to be near my dearest Celina, I glance at the flight board. Two more hours until departure. Then a few more hours later I can be near my dearest Celina. There is no possibility of me being close to the palace since she’s discovered all of my moles. However, just being an hour from her will be enough for me. Her coronation is going to be my only chance to be near her, and I’m sure as hell not going to miss it. If she’s going to rule as queen, it’s going to be as my mate.

Celina’s broadcast is cut short by an incoming call from a blocked number. I roll my eyes; unamused by his pathetic attempts to hide from me. I answer the phone and speak in an annoyed voice; “Uncle, you do know you’re just delaying the inevitable.”

“You moronic ghoul,” Randaul snarls at me. “Do you know what you’ve just done to my plans? You’ve set them back by months. Months you idiot!”

I chuckle darkly. “I’m not the one that called Celina on me.”

“I called her because you need to be dealt with,” Randaul growls. “You’re completely unhinged. You’ve basically wiped out the entire army you’ve built. The girl who you should have claimed and marked by now is leading our fucking kingdom. My kingdom Damian. Mine! We had a deal, and you’ve pissed all over that. Now you’ve gone ahead and fucked over my own plans. Mine you pathetic weasle. It took me decades to gain access to those tunnels. You’ve killed all my contacts in that cursed place. You’re going to pay for this.”

“Ooh, I’m so scared,” I tell him while I laugh; enjoying his rage. “What are you going to do? Send Celina after me again?”

“No. I’m going to kill her. You better hope you get to her before I do nephew. Your little obsession’s days are numbered.”

The line goes dead while anger rises through me. A low dark chuckle comes out of me while I picture every way I can to murder Randaul. If he wants to play this game, I’ll be more than glad to play it. Especially if the prize is Celina. Either Randaul gets her life, or I do.

For the rest of the time and on my flight, I watch my phone; reading about the sightings of Celina, and watching silly TV shows, and war movies. There is a lot of strategy to be learned in history, and not one hundred percent accurate depictions of those events at least make it entertaining to learn about. If I hadn’t had my old hideout blown up, I could probably have used Celina’s old strategy books. It wasn’t easy getting those without anyone noticing. It took a lot of bribing and stealth. Basically, I paid a servant of the palace heavily for everything she owned, and I’d have a team sneak it off the grounds before I’d move it to my home. Too bad that little servant is now dead. He died in the attack I launched to kill Chris.

Poor poor Chris. He’s fallen in love with his doom, and yet he’s still clinging to her. Can’t he see that everyone who tries to get near her meets such a horrible fate? I mean, yes I’m the one that’s delivering that fate, but it should be enough to deter him. Especially after everything I’ve put him through. Maybe the third time will be the charm to kill him.

Okay, so now I have to not only kill Chris, but Randaul too, and claim Celina before she can die by her matebond being severed. That’s a bit of a tall order, but for my prize, it’s nothing I can’t handle. I’ll have to make Chris’s death quick, but not too quick so I have time to kill Randaul. He’ll have to be near Celina and there can’t be too many people near her that can slow me down. Still, this is nothing Sephtis and I can’t handle. Celina may be the Queen of the Beasts, but I am her King; even if she won’t acknowledge it quite yet.

The plane finally lands, and I wait until I’m the last to leave. It’s easy enough to cover my scent in this utterly crowded airport. Sephtis is still asleep, which works in my favor since he’s extremely claustrophobic. I can sense other lycans here, so it’s best to keep him quiet. Can’t blow my cover before I have a chance to even rent my suit.

When I get outside, I get into a stretched Hummer limo that is waiting for me. He’s a human driver, and he’s paid to stay silent. I text him where I want to go, and he just nods in acknowledgment before putting up the partition. Once the car starts moving, I begin to relax. I sit up and unzip my jacket. Carefully, I remove my shirt; wincing a little due to the tender flesh on my breast.

I glance down to see the angry red scar from a recent knife wound. This was delivered to me by Celina, and had I not been shifted, she would have killed me. However, since I was shifted, she missed my heart by an inch. My neck wound has healed already. My body expended most of its energy healing that lethal blow. I can’t wait for my energy to be fully back so this nasty chest wound can heal. It can never be said that she never put up a fight, that’s for sure. It’s funny how one woman has almost killed me several times when no others have. Yet, she still questions why I want her as my mate.

After cleaning the wound with some supplies in my duffle bag, I put on a fresh shirt. It’s hard to believe she’s made such a lasting impression such as this in human form; unable to even shift. She truly is my other half.

Okay, enough about Celina. I pull out a tablet from my duffle bag and start going through my list of contacts. Sadly, I have to remove over half because they’re dead. She really is on a roll, isn’t she? Good thing she hasn’t gone to each pack individually or that could mean trouble for me.

One by one, I go through my contacts, notifying them of my plans and ordering them to prepare for two sets of attacks. One from the palace guards, the other from my neurotic uncle. Prepping for that, I pull up an app and calculate the split. There is no way I can focus on just one group. Celina, with any luck, won’t be able to shift by then so I don’t need to worry about Mara. From what I understand, Chris is out of the running as well. If anything, it’ll be my other annoying half-brother I’ll have to deal with. That, and that stupid lycan head guard. Honestly, he deserves that trollop. The moment he found out Celina was Chris’s mate he backed off her. He didn’t do that when she was dating Declan. He’s a coward for giving in to that golden child prince.

Leroy is easy enough to handle. It’s my half-brother that’s going to be tough. He plays the laid-back loyal brother really well, but he’s absolutely lethal in battle. He killed the majority of my men when I went after Celina in her apartment. He’s also calculated. It wasn’t me who killed the medical staff I had trying to kill Chris, it was him. While Celina slept, he’d watch over her and Christopher. The bastard poisoned them to make sure no marks were left; making it appear that I was the one to kill them. Yes, he’s the one that I’m going to have to worry about.

What’s infuriating is that Celina trusts him completely. How come everyone else in my family wins over her affection, but I can’t? Ruben is annoyingly loyal to her; just like he is with Chris. He never was with Danny. Danny could never get Ruben to go against Chris’s decision to live in London, or even go against him in a simple game of cards. Ruben refuses to be a pawn in anyone’s world. To Ruben, this is his world.

He loves and respects Celina and Chris, and that’s why he’s willing to go to the lengths he has to protect them. He’s never felt that way toward Danny. He always felt Danny was spoiled and controlling. It’s true, and that’s why it was so easy to sway Danny to my side of things. Ruben, however, wouldn’t even humor Danny to go on a little trip with him. The trip that Danny was going to use to introduce me to him. The trip that I was going to make Ruben submit to me. If he had, I’d be with Celina by now. Yes, Ruben has to die, and it’ll have to be quick.