Eliana POV
After the auction, I'd been guided toward a black SUV with tinted windows and told to wait until my master joined me. Master! Someone fucking owned me now!It felt like forever before the door opened again and the guy who had bought me - my mate, my master - joined me, his face blank. He looked me up and down as the car began to move away from the haunted looking house before he nodded and looked away. I felt dirty, worthless, violated.All of a sudden the panic attack which had been teetering on the edge of my consciousness shattered over me and nausea washed over me. I covered my mouth as I gagged, trying to force whatever was in my stomach down so that I wouldn’t embarrass myself in front of him."Stop the car," he instructed the driver.I gratefully clambered out of the car and into the bushes on the side of the road, emptying the contents of my stomach into the foliage. Just what I wanted my mate to witness! He handed me a bottle of water and I rinsed my mouth out before we both climbed back into the car and resumed the journey to who the heck knew where."Thank you, " I whispered, my eyes glued to his expressionless face.He was gorgeous, more so than I'd ever remembered. He was dressed casually in a v- neck t-shirt and jeans so it made me assume that he hadn't anticipated attending the auction. I wondered why he was even there in the first place."What is your name?" The smooth timber of his voice jolted me from my thoughts and I found myself stammering."I, I,” I swallowed hard before I attempted to continue. “I'm Eliana Marino."He nodded and looked pleased - as if he had known my name all along but was needing the confirmation - staring out the window as the scenery flashed by. I looked down at my hands as they gripped each other tightly, my knuckles white."I'm going to say this once and once only," his voice was hard and cold, and I resisted the urge to shiver in response. "You're my property. I bought you because having my mate in the hands of one of my enemies would be dangerous for me. But, we will not be mated."His green eyes glinted momentarily and I could tell that there was some sort of internal struggle between him and his inner beast."I, Luca Castello, reject you, Eliana Marino as my mate and Luna."Luca.His name was Luca. He was an alpha and he'd just rejected me.I felt a sharp pain in my chest as the fragile thread which bound us together as mates snapped. It knocked my breath out of me and I leant against the cool glass window of the SUV panting.He, on the other hand, didn't seem the slightest bit affected. He looked bored if anything, and it made flickers of anger pulse through me."So, what now?" I asked once I'd composed myself, slightly embarrassed that I had cracked in front of him."Now, you get to work off what you owe me."A slight smirk tugged at the corner of his mouth as he spoke. It made me want to slap it from his face, instead I gripped my hands together even tighter. I had to play it smart and angering the bastard probably wasn't the best idea."If you're planning on making me your sex slave, you might as well take me back and get your refund now that you've rejected me. I'll fight you with all that I have," I said boldly, no longer caring if I angered him or not.He laughed."No, I have enough women coming willingly to my bed. I don't need another."Ouch."I need something else from you. Something only you can provide, you and your talented fingers."He lifted my hands from my lap, looking at them critically as he noticed my chipped nail polish and the scar on my right thumb from where I'd burned it on the stove when I was a kid."What do you need me to do?" I could hear the curiosity in my own voice and I wanted to kick myself for it."I understand you were meant to be enrolling in your final year at university to study computer programming, am I right?”I was taken aback for a second that he knew that about me, but then again he had clearly done his homework.“Yeah, but my scholarship was rejected so…”I couldn’t continue noting the slight smile on his lips. “You won’t be going back there anyway.”“What did you do?” I almost shouted before I shrunk back into the seat, his glare telling me I had crossed a line.“You forget, bambina, that I own you now. If you return to university it will be because I desire it, not because of your own wishes. You are mine to control until you’ve repaid your debt to me. My little puppet.”The SUV stopped outside a well known five-star hotel and the concierge stepped forward to open the back door, greeting Luca Castello as if he owned the place. He motioned for me to follow him as he made his way through the grand double doors into the lobby. Business men in suits and beautifully dressed ladies loitered around the lobby, reading newspapers and sipping tea. Their presence made me painfully aware of my own poor attire, the silk negligee far from being acceptable in a place like this. The women scowled at me and muttered amongst themselves while the men cast lustful looks my way. I hastened my step, keeping as close to Luca and his bodyguard as I possibly could and was grateful when the elevator doors closed behind us.The elevator opened onto the penthouse suite and immediately a woman dressed in a black minidress and three inch high heels made her way to greet Luca, her smile faltering when she spied me behind him.“And this?” she asked, pointing to me with her beautifully manicured fingernails."Business, Nina. She's our new hacker." Luca said casually, his Italian accent suddenly more pronounced. "Enzo, deal with her." His gaze ran down the length of my body before his lips tightened in distaste. "And someone get her something appropriate to wear."Luca and the dark haired, olive skinned Nina went into a room together and shut the door firmly behind them. I let out the breath I didn't know I had been holding, my eyes fixed on the door as the sound of Nina shouting in an unfamiliar language reached my ears.“Ignore her, she’s just got her panties in a bunch that he left her here with me for the whole day,” a guy quite similar to Luca said with a grin on his face as he approached me. “I’m Enzo, Luca’s younger brother, Beta and second in charge. As you can probably tell,” his grin broadened and he winked at me, “I’m the sexy brother.”I couldn’t help it. I laughed.Enzo was so different from Luca, he chatted and flirted as he guided me to a table on the balcony of the suite which overlooked the city. The view was breathtaking, made even more so by the sun which was setting slowly over the horizon, bathing the scenery with a golden glow.“It’s gorgeous up here,” I heard myself whisper.Enzo just smiled at me, his eyes warm. He gestured toward a dining table piled high with papers, motioning for me to take a seat.“While I would love to watch the sunset with you, if we don’t get business sorted I will never hear the end of it from my big, bad brother.” Enzo slid a wad of the papers toward me.Luca POVThe more Nina continued her rampage, the more I felt like putting my hands on her shoulders and shaking her until she shut the hell up. She was making the headache which had plagued me from the moment I had joined Eliana in the SUV infinitely worse. “Enough, Nina. I understand your concerns, but this is a business deal, not romantically linked at all,” I told her firmly, slumping down on the plush sofa at the foot of the king sized bed. “But she is your mate, you cannot tell me you won’t get your heart involved and neglect all that we have worked toward,” she threw back as she headed to the sideboard and poured a splash of brandy into a glass with ice before she handed it to me. I gratefully took a sip, savouring the oak notes before I swallowed and pressed the cool glass to my forehead. “Nina, I rejected her for that very reason. If it weren't for the fact that I spent far too much money getting her out of the hands of my enemies - and that she has a skill which we are d
Eliana POV When Enzo suggested a night on the town, I turned him down, hoping to bury my sorrows in the chocolate stashed in the hotel minibar instead. I understood that he was trying to get my head off of my brother and the lies I was going to have to tell my mom, but I didn’t really feel like partying. I knew that Elijah was alive - call it intuition or “twin-telepathy”, I could feel it in my bones that he was somewhere out there, alive. It took all I had in me not to break out of the penthouse suite and hunt him down, but the doors to the elevator were guarded by werewolves who looked like they were related to the Hulk, and abseiling to the ground from the balcony was a definite “no” from me. Enzo kept nagging though, saying it would be good for me to get out. I eventually caved, knowing that Enzo’s team were searching for Eli and that they had the man-power and skill I could never match. I had to believe that it would be alright, I had to trust him - even though it was extremely
Eliana POVThe bartender clawed at Luca’s hands, trying to pry them from his throat without success. He even tried kicking Luca, but this just made the alpha angrier and I could see the fury of his inner wolf flash through his green eyes.Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a rather round man dressed in black with a gold chain strung around his neck hurry toward us, his face pale."Mr. Castello! Oh my! Could you please put my employee down so that we can talk about this?" The man practically quivered in his shoes.Luca turned to the owner of the strip club and looked down at him, not releasing the bartender as the man continued to dangle in the air. He was turning a horrible shade of purple, s
Eliana POV “So? Was that so bad?” Enzo teased me as the small private jet eased into its allocated area on the tarmac, a mischievous grin on his face. I unclenched my fingers from where they gripped the armrest of my seat, blood rushing into the appendages. “I still don’t get why we couldn’t have taken a commercial flight. There’s a much less chance of us falling out of the sky in a Boeing 737 than in this tin can.” Enzo chuckled again as the captain of the plane and the female copilot, who was his wife, exited the cockpit to hear my slur against the small plane. The pilot didn’t seem overly impressed that I had compared his ‘baby’ to a tin can, but I was exhausted having not been able to sleep a wink during the almost ten hour flight to London so he was just going to have to excuse the fact that I was just a tad bit grumpy. Enzo, on the other hand, had slept practically the whole way! Memories of that night with Luca kept replaying over and over in my head - his soft lips consu
Eliana POVWith one last look at him, taking in the sadness in his eyes that I hadn’t noticed before that moment, I got out of the car and accepted my bag from the driver. I watched as the car drove off before I entered the apartment building.The foyer had a communal area set up, with an array of sofas and bean bags where the tenants could relax and use the free WiFi that was allocated to the area. It was decorated with potted plants, abstract art on the walls and a small water fountain in the centre of the room, making it seem like a high end establishment and less like the regular student accommodations. The room was empty except for three girls my age, lounging on the sofas and tapping lazily on their cellphones.In most places, there is some indication
Eliana POV “Shit! Sorry!” I burst out as her eyes met mine, heat flooding my face with embarrassment as I backed out of the room and started closing the door behind me. “Hang on a moment. Wait, you’re my new roomy, right?” the girl asked as she hopped off the counter and fixed her skirt. The guy stood up and leant back against the desk, arms crossed and glaring at me as if I had walked in on them on purpose. “I’m Cassandra - or Cassie as everyone calls me,” she smiled broadly, grabbing my hand and pulling me inside. “Sorry about that, I forgot you were meant to be arriving today else I would have put a sock on the doorknob. Oh dear, you’re wet!” “Eliana, and don’t worry. I didn’t see much,” I responded, feeling the blush return to my cheeks. “I had an accident with the fountain downstairs.” Cassie smiled warmly before she turned to the guy, fluttering her long eyelashes at him. “Mark, darling. I need to help get Eliana unpacked and we have to do some girlie bonding. I promis
Eliana POV “Oh! I’m so sorry! That was all my fault, I wasn’t looking where I was going and…” My eyes met his and I felt panic rise inside my throat. Darn, I had just walked into another werewolf a few short minutes after Luca had told me to get out of the area because it wasn’t safe - I had crossed into a territory I had no business being in according to werewolf law. “If you wanted my number you could have just asked,” the guy laughed, pulling the wet fabric of his once white shirt away from his muscular chest. “I probably would have given it to you.” I laughed in response as relief flooded me. At least I knew he wasn’t going to challenge me or call his pack for backup, or something along those lines. “Pshhht, the temptation of coffee was just too strong. It was a pity you were in the way,” I shot back with a smirk. “I do owe you a round at the laundromat though.” I looked at his coffee stained shirt and grimaced, it was probably completely ruined now. He pulled his shirt o
Eliana POV "Good morning all, Professor Harris is running a bit late due to a personal emergency, so he asked me to fill in for this introduction lecture," he looked so calm and collected as he stood addressing us all, as if he'd done this a thousand times. "Welcome to Economics and Management 302, where you will learn about… well, economics and management." He paused as there was some chuckling at his awful attempt at a joke. "My name is Nathan Campbell, and I'm Professor Harris' personal slave until my PHD is completed. So you may see me around now and then." I'm not entirely sure why, but I felt myself sink lower in my chair as he spoke. Maybe it was because I had secretly admired the washboard abs I knew were situated under that button down shirt, or maybe it was because I actually enjoyed my time with him as we waited for coffee and didn't want that image of him to be ruined. I can't be sure. I can honestly say that for the entire lecture, my brain was nonfunctional. While