Chapter 2
Cassie POVI ignored the feeling of being watched, knowing that it was too late to run now. There was no running away from someone like Vasilios. Even the first time had been a bitch of a task, and I'd had Eliana and Yvonne's help to do it. Now, I was as good as alone and there was no fucking way I'd manage it. “Whiskey, neat,” I heard his voice like silk, as he gave his order to Jessie. I watched out of the corner of my eye as he leant casually against the bar, his eyes glued on a pair of ladies who were dancing seductively against each other. “Yes, sir,” Jessie replied, and I swear she used her arms to push her gigantic breasts together, trying to entice him. Only the Vasilios I remembered was impossible to entice. He was practically a walking, talking statue, trained from the moment he turned eighteen to be the alpha he was born to be. Not that he was alpha yet - although, a lot can happen in three years, so perhaps he had in fact become alpha in the time I was away. No. Eliana or Yvonne would have told me. He grunted his thanks as he threw a hundred on the bar and walked away, leaving behind a nearly swooning Jessie. “Oh my,” she muttered under her breath, tapping me with the back of her hand. “I swear my panties just soaked through.” I suppressed a gag at the thought and thanked all the shooting stars out there that there were enough sweaty bodies to drown out the scent of her arousal. That would have been my tipping point. Out of the corner of my eye, I watched as Vasilios nodded to another man who then followed him out of the club and into the darkness. It was only then that I released the breath I had been holding.Maybe he didn't recognise me. I clung to that thought for the rest of the evening, slowly convincing myself that there is no way he would be able to recognise me now. I had changed too much since I arrived in New York. My golden tipped brunette hair had been dyed black, and I had acquired lean muscles from my pole dancing career that previous me would be envious of. I'd even changed the way I did my makeup to suit my new hair colour and persona. There was no way he recognised me. By the time I slipped my key into my apartment door, I was certain of that. My apartment was the only place I let the old me free, embracing my love for vibrant colours and classy touches. It was an expression of my true passion - interior design. Although it was just a studio apartment, where a french screen separated my bedroom from the open planned lounge/kitchen, it was the only place I felt like home in this shitty city. I dropped down on the weathered couch I'd covered with a turquoise throw to hide the torn upholstery, and pulled out my phone, checking the time. “9am in Italy, she will definitely be awake,” I whispered to myself before I dialled Eliana. “Where the hell have you been? I've been trying to reach you for hours! Do you know how worried I have been? You could have been lying dead in a ditch for all I knew!” Elle answered the phone with a class A mom-lecture. “I'm sorry, I'm sorry!” I replied, truly feeling rather guilty for not at least messaging her when I saw her missed calls. “I was so busy at work that I didn't get a chance to look at my phone.”Elle huffed on the other side of the phone but I could tell a lot of her anger had diffused. “Are you telling me that you didn't have a single moment to spare, while you were decorating some rich lady's house, to pick up your phone and call your best friend back?” Guilt. Again with the guilt. This time, because my best friend in the entire world still believed the lie I had told her - that I had taken the New York socialites by storm with my interior design skills.It had all started so innocently, with me trying to make her and Yvonne feel better with their part that they had played in my move. My first job had been as a waitress in a crummy diner on the wrong side of town. Eliana had remembered her own experience as a waitress and had caved, sending me more money than I could have ever earned in a month. It was a sweet gesture, but I couldn't let it be a repeat action, no matter how many technical holes Eliana had forced the money through before it got to me. It would have been picked up at some point by Elle's mate and husband, Luca - who just so happened to be Vasilios's best friend forever.In short, to stop her from feeling sorry for me, I lied and told her that I got an internship at a design company. It just snowballed from there. “I'm sorry, it was just a crazy day. But I'm calling you back now,” I said gently, hoping to placate her. I heard her sigh on the other end of the phone. “Fine, you're forgiven. But I was frantically calling you for a reason. Vasilios told Luca that he's going to America to find you and bring you back.”“What?!” The word shot out of my mouth like a bullet. “You heard me,” Elle replied, and I could almost picture her hand resting on her hip in her go-to mommy lecture position. “Vasilios called Luca and said his men had discovered where you were and that he was going to fetch you. He said you were working in some club though, so I'm pretty sure you've still got some time but it won't be long before he's on your tail.” “He has some nerve. I ran away for a reason. It was bad enough that we were forced to marry each other even though he clearly didn't want to be with me. Sure, we're mates, but he made it pretty clear that he didn't want a hybrid for a mate and would have rejected me if his father and my father weren't forcing our union. And then, to make things worse, he disappears the moment the ceremony was over, leaving me to face the congratulations from the pack alone while he goes to his clubs, only to come back when the sun was rising, covered in lipstick.” Eliana knew the story, she had been there when I'd returned to university after the wedding, broken. My emotions had been in turmoil, feeling trapped in a marriage with a man who didn't even want to touch me, let alone love me. I was nothing more than a possession, a pretty little accessory for him to pack away when he didn't feel like playing with me. I felt like I had no choice but to run away, and get as far from Vasilios as I possibly could.Four years. I just needed four years of no contact with him for me to be able to appeal to the council to disolve our marriage. And his showing up in New York definitely put a spanner in those plans.“Shit! I can't believe he's found me!” I muttered into the phone as I threw my head back and closed my eyes, feeling a headache coming on. “You knew it would happen some day…” Elle's words died as I heard giggling in the background and a cute toddler voice squealed “papà!” meaning that her mate, Luca, had obviously just entered the room. “Anyway, Yvonne, I'll call you in the week. Luca promised he was going to take me to breakfast at the marina. Love you, and keep safe! And pick up your damned phone next time!” With those parting words, Eliana cut the call. It was a bloody miracle Luca didn't suspect how often we actually spoke. He would probably have a heart attack if he knew considering how he and Vasilios were best friends. I sighed and pressed my temples in a feeble attempt to chase away the headache. ~~~Hello dearest readers,I'm happy to announce that this story is now live on Goodnovel and can be found under my profile or via the following link:https://m.goodnovel.com/book_info/31000706488/Werewolf/My-Mafia-Mate-Escaping-the-Alpha?shareuser=58595792&ch=apps&channelCode=GNFX00004I hope that you enjoy this story as much as I have enjoyed writing it.Lots of loveKristiEliana POVI didn’t go looking for trouble - in truth, it found me well enough without my help. I was just doing my thing, trying to make ends meet, and then BAM! Trouble.I walked away from table number three, surreptitiously rubbing my backside as I tried to rub away the sting from Wilson's slap to my arse. I hated that he always sat at the tables assigned to me, his eyes creepily staring at my chest whenever he gave his order like he was able to see through my clothes. He was a decent tipper, but I would totally skip out on the tip if it meant I could go home not feeling violated. Slipping behind the counter, I refilled the coffee machine and switched it on, reaching for my phone as I waited for the coffee pot to refill. “Eliana! What did I say about no phones during work hours?" my boss barked at me, his red rimmed eyes and creased clothes showing he had probably spent last night with a bottle of vodka.I rolled my eyes internally, but didn’t dare let my irritation with him show
Eliana POVDays passed without any incident, and I almost forgot about the run-in with Wilson and “the guy”.Almost.Wilson hadn't been back, not that he was missed. In fact, all the younger waitresses celebrated his absence. I personally suspected he was hiding out waiting for his face to heal up before he'd return, and there was no way in hell I was going to tell anyone what I had seen. The way he looked at me still made me shiver with repulsion."No use thinking about that waste of flesh," Ayla grumbled, irritated that I was ruining our celebrating mood with thoughts of Wilson. She was right. It was my mom’s fortieth birthday and my twin brother, Elijah, and I had planned to go all out for the surprise party - streamers, balloons, a massive birthday sign and the most delicious cake from the bakery down the road."I'm sorry I can't help you set up for your mom's surprise party, but I promise I'll be there as soon as I can," Sarah sighed, unlocking her car. "I'm secretly hoping Dann
Eliana POVMy voice was unsteady, my eyes fixed on the whip which was coiled and secured to her belt. A slow smile spread across her lips and she bent down to take my face in her hands, looking deeply into my eyes. "The auction, of course. And you, my pretty little one, will fetch quite a nice price." Her cackling laugh echoed in the empty room, a sadistic gleam in her eyes. Fuck. I was in for it now.Swallowing the panic attack which threatened to return, I sniffed the bread and smelled something slightly off about it, throwing it into the corner of the room instead of eating it. It was clearly doped with something, and I didn't want to take a chance with it. I could deal with my rumbling stomach for now. About ten minutes later, the rogue with the face tattoo came in and snapped an iron collar around my neck, pulling me to stand by the short chain he held tightly in his fist. "You're just like the little human girls tonight. Wolfsbane has made sure of that, no wolf is goin
Eliana POVAfter 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 be
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