I’m used to this. I’m used to this. I’m used to this.No matter how many times the whip lands on my back, that little voice tells me I am not used to this. I will never get used to being strung up in silver chains and whipped within an inch of my life with my mother screaming about how useless I am.“All you had to do was DIE!” she screams, landing another lash. “Just lay down and die like a good little bitch, but no! You just had to fight back!”“It’s…what you trained me for…” comes out of my mouth before I can blink and this time a silver bar lands across my ribs, cracking them.I cry out at the viciousness of the blow and she laughs as if she finds some sick joy in this abuse. Then again, it’s definitely not an ‘if’ because she does find pleasure in inflicting pain. I think it’s the biggest reason my father is terrified of her.“How did you do it?” whip. “Tell me how you won against a beast like Creed Volkov!”But I can’t bring myself to say the words. I can’t tell her that my wolf
“Why am I here, Pappa?” I ask for the thousandth time as we walk through the forests of the Taiga. When I saw my father in the mansion after my fight with Cherie, he didn’t have much to say. Only that I need to follow him because it’s a matter of life and death and it includes my Lycan. He’s been cryptic about it ever since, and from the way he looks now, you would have sworn my father has gone off the rails.His hair is completely silver now, as well as his beard and his blue eyes which used to sparkle with purpose, are now dimmed with what I can only assume is madness. It seems like my father has completely lost it after my mother’s passing.Responding to my question with a grunt, he continues further and I can do nothing but sigh and follow him. “We’re almost there, then I will explain everything,” he says again.Gritting my teeth, I push forward because even if my father has lost his mind, I trust him with my heart. He felt comfortable enough to come to me and seek me out this ti
Rebecca dragged me towards the gym cafeteria and now I’m sitting in front of her not knowing what to believe.“Wait…so you’re a-” she nods because I can’t believe I was about to say the word. “And he held an auction that sold off your kind?”She nods with a pissed-off look on her face. “Last Spring. He didn’t care what he had done, either! No matter how many times I have tried to arrange a meeting with him, he blatantly ignores me!” Woah, okay I know the Volkov family is part of the Russian Mafia but I didn’t know they dealt in the slave trade. “Does Creed know about this? Is he aware that his cousin is selling off supernatural creatures?”She looks at me as if I’ve lost my mind. “You’re aware of Creed’s position in their pack, right? He’s the goshdarn Alpha, nothing happens without his say-so!” she exclaims, then lowers her voice and moves closer to me. “Sorry about that, just talking about it gets my back up.”I reach out and touch her arm while managing a sympathetic smile. “I’m s
“So, I wouldn’t have thought a fairy- whoops, a Seelie Princess would become an MMA fighter. What led you here?” I ask Rebecca while she spots me on the bench press. She shrugs. “It seemed like the logical choice since this is where Sage works from, but now it’s become more of an addiction,” she says with a grin. “You know what I mean.”I do. As much as I hate doing this for my mother, I love being in here training my body. Getting stronger physically seems to hide the fact that I am not strong emotionally. Wolf shifters are naturally strong, but I don’t want to rely on Zhen and what she can do for me. Doing it on my own feels better.Except for the other night…A shiver runs up my spine and Rebecca’s eyes widen when I nearly drop the bar on my chest, but she’s not the one who catches it.Bergamot and vanilla send my head in a tailspin and I don’t realize just who exactly is holding the bar until I look up…straight into a pair of amused blue eyes. My breath hitches in my throat when
Pretending Cherie doesn’t affect me is a lot more difficult than I thought it would be. For one, my eyes always seem to find her when we’re in the gym at the same time, and how could I not look at her? And it’s not even her obvious beauty that drew me in, it's her eyes; those eyes knock the air out of my lungs whenever she looks at me.I only marked her with my scent the other day to prove a point, and the way she nearly lashed out at me had my dick hardening. Then the Seelie girl pulled her away and I could literally see her growling at me. Gods, she’s even more gorgeous when she looks bloodthirsty; how is that even possible? It feels like I’m crushing on my own mate. What the fuck?I’m in the separate weight rooms housing the punching bags when I see her bounding towards me with wide eyes. Holding the bag after I had punched it, I raised a questioning eyebrow at her red face.“What is this?!” she asks, holding up a piece of paper. “Is this a pity pay-off?”I narrow my eyes at the p
I grin when I see her running towards me with red cheeks with her gym bag slung over one shoulder. She looks both ways before walking towards me, a look of pure anxiety etched on her face. “I was starting to think you wouldn’t come,” I say while fishing my car keys out of my pocket. “Thank you for deciding to trust me.”Her mouth opens slightly when I say this, then her lips form into a thin line when she nods. “We have to start somewhere, and if this…mate bond turns into something more then at least we know it wasn’t forced,” she says, looking everywhere but at me. I don’t have anything to add to that, so I simply sigh and gesture to the parking lot. She follows me as I walk towards my car, then I hear her suck in a breath when she sees the one I’m approaching.“No way,” she says, shaking her head. “Tell me that flashy thing isn’t yours.”I look at the sleek black and orange sports car and press the key fob to show her that it is mine while flashing her a grin. Her red cheeks turn
“No!”“Yesss….” I groan with my head hanging in my hands while Rebecca looks like she’s about to do a bunny binkie right in the middle of the gym cafeteria. I’ve spent the entire afternoon telling her what happened with Creed, and for some reason, she’s all here for it.I still don’t know what happened, or how I ended up in his lap and grinding into him. Just being close to him makes me lose all sense; I feel like I can trust him with all my secrets and that he won’t hurt me.This mate bond thing is something else.Rebecca sits down and heaves out a sigh. “To be honest, it sounds like he’s really into you, Cherie,” she says, leaning in closer. “Like, really into you. I mean, he could have just rejected you, you know? But instead, he wants to…get to know you? Normal cavemen Alphas would just take what’s supposedly theirs and lay claim or whatever.”She doesn’t have to spell it out because I know Creed isn’t exactly your average Alpha. But why does he want to get to know me? There’s not
I didn’t head back to The Slip after dropping Cherie off, instead, I went back to the estate in an attempt to clear my mind. As much as I loved having Cherie on my lap and nearly giving in to what we both wanted, it left me confused.Why do I want her as much as I need to breathe? Why do I crave her touch and scent? Why do I want to see her slowly submit to me and call me her Alpha? This is fucking with my head and I don’t know why.She didn’t catch my eye before and the way she makes me feel now that the Sighting has clicked has set off a range of emotions I didn’t know I was capable of feeling. I’ve fucked women before, been intimate with them but none of them felt like this.The fact that this is Fated and not natural…it bothers me.How do other wolves give in to their fate so easily? Is it the rush of the Bond, the desire to claim what’s theirs? How do they accept the person the Goddess chose for them without question?Gods, I have never wanted to speak to my father more than I do