Fighting Darius

Warm pleasant tingles on my cheek make my eyelids flutter open. My mate is lying in bed with me, watching me with a strange look in his eyes. The back of his finger is softly skimming my jawline.

We came back to his room last night since my own bedroom was in such a chaos. We barely slept. He kept his promise to show me that I’m his, to do as he wants. Over and over and over again.

I’m still feeling sleepy. I can’t believe how awake and alert he’s looking already. How long has he been awake?

“Hey,” I say, smiling.

“Good morning,” he answers.

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“It’s a little after six.” He’s still looking thoughtful, his eyes never waver from my face. As a mate, I should be able to feel his feelings unless he’s blocking it. A lot of the time I can’t sense anything. The wall that he built around his feelings is impenetrable. It bothers me that he wouldn’t share his feelings.

It hurts a little. It feels like he’s shutting me out.

I stare at him for a while, trying to figure things out. I don’t know what he’s thinking.

“We have to go soon,” I state instead, trying not to pry. Our plane is planned to leave this morning. We should have left a week ago, but we put it off until the last minute. We figured the less time we spend there, the better.

He just nods but doesn’t say anything.

So, okay…I’m not good at not prying. “What are you thinking?”

I ask him. See? I can totally do subtle.

“Nothing,” he says broodily. His eyes are now following his finger that’s tracing lightly down my throat until it reaches the chain that holds the medallion. I’m sure he can feel my pulse jumps under his touch. His finger presses harder on the chain and follows it until it reaches the medallion that’s resting against my cleavage.

I can’t read him at all now. I hate this feeling. This feeling like our souls aren’t connected and we’re not even in Russia yet.

This feeling is pissing me off.

I push myself out of the bed roughly, and he quickly sits up.

The sheet pools around his waist. I move further away and his

hand shoots up to grab my wrist, trying to stop me from putting the distance between us. I pull my hand out of his grip and stand there defiantly in my naked glory, searching the floor for my dress. I can’t see it anywhere. I remember us peeling each other’s clothes wildly last night. I spot his shirt lying on the floor instead, so I put that on and start to button up, ignoring him.

“Persephone,” he says.

I feel him letting his guard down and sense his swirling of emotions. None of them are pleasant. My heart softens at the lost, haunted look in his eyes. This man needs me.

I walk back to the bed and crawl to his side. “Talk to me, Dar.

Don’t shut me out.”

He lays his head back on the pillow with a sigh. The back of one hand covers his eyes. He stays like that in silence for a while.

Only his breathing tells me that he’s not asleep.

“I don’t want to take you back to Banehallow Palace. I want you as far away from there as possible,” he finally says. He pulls his hand away and turns his head to look at me. “Once we’re there, I have to stay away from you and I hate that. I don’t want to stay away from you.”

Suddenly I realize something. I can destroy this man. I have the power crush him completely just he can do the same to me.

“There, are you happy now?” he asks me as if he regrets his confession. This time he shifts his whole body to face me. The muscles in his arms flex when he moves.

“Happy?” I ask him in puzzlement. I’m too distracted by his amazing naked body to fully comprehend his last question. My eyes drift from his arm to his wide shoulder, down to his impressive pecs, down to his flat abs and down…

“Malyshka, focus,” he says, tilting my face up with his fingers under my chin. I see a hint of a smile on his lips before I bring my eyes back up to look into his. “I’m supposed to be a tough warrior, yet I’m whining about having to stay away from my mate. Is that what you want to hear?”

“Yes!” I grin up into his eyes. “That’s exactly what I want to hear.”

“What are you doing to me, Malyshka?” he groans. His arm snakes around me to pull me down. I press my face into his shoulder and take a deep breath. His smell is so addictive.

“Dar?” I pull back a bit after a while.

“Dar, huh?” he asks me, one of his eyebrows lifts up. I reach out to trace his firm bottom lip with my index finger. His eyes light up in amusement.

“Yeah, short for Darius…short for darling,” I inform him casually. I feel his lip moves underneath my finger as it stretches into a wider smile while heat flares in his eyes.

“Dar…I like that,” he says it slowly as if testing the sound of it himself. “Though I like it better when you call me mi amor.” He reaches out and places a kiss on my fingertip.

Pffttt…call him mi amor now and we’ll never get out of this bed today.

“Dar,” I try again, not willing to be easily sidetracked this time.

“Why are you keeping your feelings from me? Are you trying to put up a barrier between us? Is that why?”

“No, Malyshka. I’m sorry, I never wanted to put up a barrier between us. It’s just one of a downside of being a warrior.”

I keep my eye on him, silently waiting for him to continue.

“There are lycans out there with the ability to detect all other lycans’ feelings. They use it to find out where your true loyalty lies, to find your weakness and use it against you. We were trained to lock our feelings. It’s being hammered into us since we started training that it became our second nature. Still, you managed to get past my barrier sometimes,” he stops to give me a tender smile.

“Do me a favor, Malyshka. I want you to do the same when we get to Russia. Keep your feelings locked away. Do you think you can do that for me?”

“Anything for you, mi amor.”

His lips stretch into a wider smile, his eyes light up wickedly.

“Anything?”

“Anything…”

“In that case, do you think we have time for a quicky?” His lips start to attack my neck with soft kisses and nibbles that make

me giggle and squirm. His fuzzy morning stubble is tickling me.

“Come on, we need to get ready. We’re leaving soon,” I say between giggles, trying to push him away. Well, okay…half-heartedly trying to push him away.

“You’re right,” he says regretfully pulling back.

“I think it’s time for me to give this to you for safekeeping,” I tell him as I undo the clasp of the chain that holds the medallion. My heart feels heavy. I feel like I’m giving a piece of him away as I place it around his neck.

“It belongs to you, Malyshka. It always belongs to you,” he says before he reaches over to take something out of the drawer of his nightstand. He then places it on my lap. A red box with gold cursive lettering on it. A Cartier box.

“Will you do me a favor? Will you wear this for me?” he asks as he opens the box. Nestled inside is a white gold love bracelet with screw motifs and glittering diamonds. “It’s a symbol of my commitment to you…and also to assure myself that you’re mine even when I can’t announce to the world that you belong to me.”

I hold my hand up so that he can put in on me with the screwdriver that comes with it.

“It’s beautiful,” I tell him as I hold my wrist up. “A love shackle…I should’ve gotten you one.”

“If you want. I don’t mind…but without the diamonds, please?”

He grins as he kisses the inside of my wrist.

Twenty minutes later, I’m back in my room. It’s a relief to see that all my clothes and shoes are neatly put away. The floor of my bedroom and closet is clear again. My bed is neatly made.

My luggage is still on the floor, but it is now nicely zipped up. It is so full, though. I wonder if our housekeeper had to sit on top of it in order to zip it up.

Honestly, I would’ve brought my cow mug and even the kitchen sink with me if I could fit them in my bag.

I brush my teeth, take a quick shower and pull the outfit I already set aside to be worn for today. A smokey grey off shoulder knitted sweater, black leggings, and a pair of black uggs. I put my slightly damp hair up in a messy bun. I’d rather dress comfortably rather than fashionably for traveling.

I quickly stuffed in an extra top, underwear, a rust color knitted scarf, a lipgloss, a cell phone, sunglasses, and several other things that I might need into my traveling tote bag. This is my carry on. Lastly, I drape my dark grey Burberry fur trimmed duffel coat over the bag and sling it over my shoulder before I step out.

Darius is waiting for me just outside my door. He’s in a white t-shirt and blue jeans with a pair of brown leather brogue boots.

He’s clean shaven and his hair is nicely combed and still slightly damp from the shower. His eyes are bright icy blue as they stare at me and he smells like heaven. I’m swooning at the sight of him. He leans in to give me a brief sweet kiss on the

lips before he takes my hand in his and we make our way downstairs.

My pack members are unusually quiet this morning. Either the enormity of the danger we’re about to face in Russia is on their minds or it’s still too early in the morning for their brain to start functioning properly. I’m guessing the latter, especially for Caspian and Genesis.

Two black Bentley SUVs are already waiting outside to take us to the airport. Caspian, Lazarus, and Serena climb into the first SUV while Darius leads me to get into the second one with Genesis and Constantine. He stays outside of the vehicle to talk quietly to our two drivers. He looks like he’s in charge and those two look more like warriors than regular drivers.

Constantine wraps his arms around Genesis and she promptly falls asleep again. My friend is definitely not a morning person.

She is worse than I am.

“Those men aren’t regular drivers, are they?” I ask Constantine quietly.

“No. Those are his men,” answers Constantine. I don’t know what to feel about this. The reality of it all just about hitting me. From this point on, we’ll be surrounded by security. It’ll get worse when we reach Russia. There will be eyes watching our every movement. The casual easy going atmosphere we always enjoy while we’re in North America will be gone.

When Darius climbs in next to me a few minutes later, I slip my hand into his and lean closer to him. I think he can sense my anxiousness. He squeezes my hand reassuringly and kisses

the top of my head. A strong sense of calm and completeness slowly envelopes me like a warm familiar blanket and I sigh in contentment as I rest my head on his shoulder. All lycans have the ability to control other’s feelings, either to intimidate or to calm them down. He’s using his power to shroud me with comfort. The car moves and I say goodbye to our blue sky and beautiful home in California.

The private jet that we’re on today is different from the one we usually use. The flight crews are different too. I don’t know if this is related to our security and safety. The plane is still very nice, just not as fancy.

I sit with Genesis and Serena at the front since our men seem to be busy on their phones and laptops as soon as we safely take off.

An hour after we take off, Darius calls everybody to convene for a brief meeting.

Genesis, Serena and I sit next to each other on the sofa, Caspian drapes himself on a chair opposite of us like he has no care in the world, while Constantine sits on a chair next to him looking alert. Darius and Lazarus remain standing on the aisle between the seats.

“In our current situation, I think it’s very important to keep each other abreast at all time. I won’t sugar coat anything because I don’t think that would do us any favor,” starts Darius. “I have an update on Iron Bossman’s interrogation that you should know.

“We have bad news and good news,” he continues. “Bad news is, Iron Bossman does have a Russian connection. Good news is, he doesn’t know much about Persephone. He

underestimated her importance to the pack. He even called Persephone a “werewolf pet of the lycan pack”. Bossman was told to keep an eye on the pack, but he took it upon himself to order his men to kidnap and kill my mate as a warning and to intimidate the whole pack.” His jaw tensed up as he says this.

I’m very sure I know the fate of Iron Bossman after they finish interrogating him.

“That brings us to more bad news, unfortunately. Now we know that there’s a threat to the Prince as well as the whole pack,” he explains. “Right now we don’t know who hired him since his connection was brutally murdered just yesterday. I’m sure Bossman will be killed too as soon as we let him out.”

“If we ever let him out,” adds Caspian, exchanging a wicked but grim smile with Darius. Constantine and Lazarus nod in agreement.

Everybody goes very quiet after that exchange, absorbing this new information. After a while, Lazarus says, “These people are obviously very unscrupulous and cunning in covering their tracks. They have eyes and ears everywhere. Therefore we cannot slip up. We have to be on our toes.”

Darius tips his chin up in agreement. “Trust nobody outside the pack. Keep your feelings to yourselves, but keep an open communication between ourselves.”

“I propose we have brief meetings every evening in my

chamber. Keep each other up to date. Report anything amiss or

suspicious,” suggests Caspian before we adjourn. He’s looking bored now, but we all know that everything weights heavily on his mind.

After the meeting, Darius is on the phone and the laptop again.

So are Constantine and Lazarus. I wonder if they’re going to be this busy all the time when we get to the Palace. I guess he’s preparing his team for our arrival and ironing out security details.

I’m about to join Genesis and Serena at the front when I see Caspian staring morosely out the window. His hair that’s usually glossy and perfect, always nicely styled is now messy, so unlike the Prince Caspian that I know. Oh, he’s still dressed very stylishly, but his hair looks like he’s been running his fingers through it countless of times. I’m guessing he’s thinking about his erasthai, Quincy that he left behind.

Oh, boy…the prince is whipped, but right now I don’t have the heart to tease him about it.

“Hey,” I squeeze his shoulder. “I saw her a couple of days ago. I have a good feeling about her. I like her.”

“You do?” He raises his eyes to look at me briefly before he stares out the window again. “How can I bring her into this, Beany? I can’t bring her life into danger,” he says, looking like a petulant royal brat that he is. “I used to be so mad at Darius for keeping you at arm’s length, but now I understand where he’s coming from. I don’t know what I’d do if I lost her.”

I put my hands on his shoulders and dig my thumbs between his shoulder blades, trying to loosen the tight knots. “She

should be informed. She should not be kept in the dark,” I tell him. “Don’t cut her off or ignore her even if you think it’s for her own good. You’d hurt her more than anything. It’s her choice. Let it be her choice, Caspian.”

“Well, right now she wants nothing to do with me,” he pouts.

“Good things are hard to get,” I tell him.

“When did you get to be so wise?”

“Since forever,” I inform him while ruffling his hair even more before I saunter away to look for my mate who’s been on the phone for too long now.

“Hey, Beany!” he calls after me. I turn around to look at him and he says, “You’re not going to make it easy for me, are you?”

“You bet I’m not!” We both grin at each other. I know he loves me like a pesky little sister and I love him like an annoying big brother, but we’re both put on this earth to make each other’s life a little bit harder. You just can’t deny your true life’s calling.