Cuddly bunny and fuzzy slippers!!! This is what I call a destruction. I think my mouth is opening and closing several times without any sound coming out as I gape at the sight before me. The only thing that is still intact in the whole room is the ceiling. Torn fabrics, splinters of broken wood and glass are everywhere. The windows are all smashed and broken. Gaping holes in the walls.
My mate is standing in the middle of it. His shirt is torn. His glistening chest rising and falling. He raises his black vacant eyes to stare at me as soon as I step in the room. I'm not afraid, but the hair at the back of my neck stands up from the chill of his stare and the anger that I can feel brewing inside of him.
At least he hasn't phase into a full lycan yet.
There's a big difference between phasing into our lycans intentionally and phasing when we lose the control to our lycans. When we deliberately change, we are one with our lycans. Our thinking will work together with our lycan instinct and our judgment will still largely govern our actions. If we lost control, the lycans take over completely, acting on instinct in retaliation to pain or anger.
"Costa...Constantine?" I whisper. I think he can hear me because he tilts his head to the side listening to my voice. I gingerly take a few steps towards him. Waves of red hot fury coming off him hitting me right where I am standing.
In less than a blink of an eye, he is standing right before me. His eyes, two black shiny soulless marbles stare into mine. So cold and so void of any other feelings, but rage.
He looks like my Constantine, but different. His beautiful face is etched with dark blue veins starting from his eye sockets, spreading all over his features down to his neck. A few lines even reach his broad chest. His white teeth are sharp and his canines are longer and more visible. I'm not even sure if he recognizes me, but I know with deep certainty that he could never hurt me.
His hands suddenly come up to grip my shoulders. His long sharp fingernails are digging into my flesh.
"Costa, please...?" I whimper and he flinches. His grip loosens up a little bit.
I bring my hands up to touch his cheek gently. I try to calm my own feelings and mind, hoping that he can feel it too.
He pulls back, while his hands are now very gentle on my arms, holding me like he's afraid he's going to break me. Pitch black eyes still regarding me coldly. It's like two persons fighting over control.
"Costa, I'm here. It's me. I'm here for you," I reach out for him again. His eyebrows furrow when I put my both hands on his cheeks.
His long sooty eyelashes fan across his cheeks as he closes his eyes as I gently stroke his face.
"Help me," he leans in closer and wraps his powerful arms around me. His voice is unnaturally deep and guttural. His lycan is still in control.
One hand moves up to grip the back of my head, while his face nuzzling my neck, feverishly breathing in my scent. "Help me before I hurt or kill..."
I can feel the pent up fury that's still raging inside of him, like a trapped wild beast fighting to get out.
"I'm here now. You have me..." I murmur hesitantly.
"She destroyed everything. Everything!" He snarls. "Those paintings of you..."
"Shhh...listen to me. You have me. You have all of me. We can make new paintings together. We have the rest of our lives to make new paintings together. I'll model for you anytime you want me to."
He closes his eyes as he listens to my voice. I lean my cheek against his. One of my hands plays with the silky dark curls at the nape of his neck, while another keep stroking the other side of his face.
"I love you and I'll stay with you forever. I'll follow you to the end of the world," I vow as I trace the dark blue veins along his cheek with my fingers. So wild, so strong, and so dangerous, my mate...yet so..mine.
"You promise?"
"Huh?"
"Promise me you'll stay with me forever."
"Yes, of course, for as long as you want me."
"Forever. I love you. I need you," he breathes against my cheek. "Nothing will take you away from me. I'll destroy her if she takes you away from me. I'll destroy anyone...."
"Shhh..." I grab his face with both hands and press my lips against his before he gives in to his anger again. He returns the kiss instantly, crushing my lips with his. His tongue finds its way into my mouth and his hands lift me up and move to wrap my legs around his waist.
I wind my arms around his neck, losing myself in his kiss and the taste of him. I barely register anything around us as he presses me against the wall. His kiss grows more urgent and demanding.
"Owww..." something is digging into my back.
"Oh, sweetheart, did I hurt you?" He instantly pulls back and set me back on my feet to see if I was hurt.
I giggle as I reach behind me and pull a piece of wood that was sticking out from the wall of what I think used to be a walk-in closet.
"No, I'm fine, but the room isn't," I grin as I toss the wood across the room.
He sighs and pushes his back against the wall beside me. I turn my head to look at him to find him already staring at me. His eyes are still all black, but the dark veins on his face are slowly fading.
We stand like that, with our backs against the wall, watching each other. I watch him until all the visible veins disappear. I watch his eyes slowly turning back to silver gray. Those beautiful eyes that always hold me entranced. He studies my features as if he's memorizing it. He lifts his hand and traces a finger slowly down my face.
"I know your every feature. I know your eyes, the tilt of your nose, the dips of your lips, the slope of your chin... I drew them and I painted them hundreds of times," he says.
"And you will do it again," I whisper, taking his hand in mine.
"When I saw those paintings all torn to pieces, I felt as if she destroyed you. A part of you that I get to hold on to all these years. I wanted to end her. I wanted to do to her what she did to you. I lost control. I'm sorry," he says regretfully.
"I don't blame you for losing it. That was an awful thing for her to do. All those amazing artworks, they can never be replaced," I reply. "But Costa, I don't want you to feel like you've lost any part of me because of that. I'm right here. I'm yours forever."
He pulls me close and we stand there in each other's arms. I try to share the feeling of calmness with him. We stand there until I feel the feeling of completeness engulfing me, and I know that feeling comes from him.
"I really appreciate you calming me. Only you can do that, sunshine. But uh...but really? Jeopardy music?"
What??? "What? You heard that???"
Yeah, so okay...I played Jeopardy music in my head when I try to calm myself down sometimes. He's not supposed to know that!!! He couldn't have heard that! He can't hear my thoughts as well, can he?
"Yeah, of course, I can hear it...since you hummed it like that."
I hummed it? Crazy bunnies! NO!!!
"It's not my favorite music, but it did help distracting me from my anger. It reminded me how lucky I am," his lips twitch as he says this. "That I have a very strange and uh...funny mate."
I wasn't trying to be funny! It was supposed to calm me. Sheeshh!!!
"Don't diss Jeopardy music! It's an awesome classic piece..." I defend my "happy" music. "And...Hey!!! I'm strange and funny???"
"Okay, sorry. Actually, you are unique...and uh...witty." I stare at him warily as I watch him biting his lower lip like he's trying hard not to laugh.
Then he just bursts out laughing. Unbelievable!!!
"I heard some laughing. Is it safe to come in now?" asks Caspian warily poking his head through the doorway.
"Go away," I snap at him.
Caspian takes that as an invitation to come in. He steps inside and gazes around the wreckage, looking oddly excited. "Nice," he observes with a grin. One of these days I really am going to drop something over his golden head.
"We'll get the cleaning and fixing crew in first thing tomorrow morning," offers Lazarus from behind him. Serena just raises an eyebrow in amusement as she surveys the destroyed bedroom.
"The last time we had a room looking like this was four years ago," remarks Lazarus.
"It wasn't this bad," points out Caspian quickly, suddenly looking glum.
"Not this bad," agrees Lazarus. "But you did a pretty good job with your bed chamber. They had to replace all the furniture."
"Caspian and his mother, Queen Sophia don't get along too well," Serena mock-whispers conspiratorially to me, even though everybody in the room can hear her.
"It's no big secret, unfortunately," sighs Constantine against the side of my forehead. His hand idly rubbing my shoulder.
"Hey, this is not about me,"protests Caspian. "Besides, it got us here. Constantine gets to meet Genesis."
I think there's more to the story, but I would rather get out of the destroyed bedroom. I think the others got the same idea as we make our way out of there, walking over broken furniture and pieces of drywall.
Caspian pours everybody a drink, while we take our seats in front of a big fireplace in the great room. Constantine pulls me up onto his lap. The roaring fire cast warm orange glow over everyone.
"We've got to find out where she's gone off to," says Constantine, grimly. We immediately know who he's talking about and the atmosphere in the room instantly becomes tense.
"Already on it," replies Lazarus. "Our men tracked her to the airport. She took a commercial airline flight out to Belarus this evening."
"She'll be back," announces Caspian, staring into his glass solemnly.
"Find her. Get our men to find her exact whereabout and keep us posted," says Constantine tugging me to him. "I don't want her anywhere near my mate."
I ended up spending the night at their place anyway. I texted my mom, telling her that everything's fine now and that I was spending the night there.
He held me close to him all night. It's like he needed to reassure himself that I was safe with him.
I wake up lying half on top of him with my cheek pressed against his solid chest. His arms wrapped around me and our limbs tangled together. I had the best night sleep I've had in a while despite everything that happened last night.
His bed is the most comfortable bed I've ever slept in. Well, I've been lying on top of him as well...so, he can be a very comfortable pillow substitute. I don't know if I should tell him that.
Anyway, what was I talking about? Oh yeah, his bed. It is the most comfortable bed ever. It's like sleeping on a soft warm cloud. Not that I know what sleeping on a cloud feels like, but if I were to imagine it, this is what it would have felt like.
"What are you smiling about?" His voice is deep, husky and sexy. Oh, who am I kidding? Everything about this lycan prince is sexy.
"I think I'm in love with your bed," I sigh.
I feel, rather than hear the deep rumble of laughter in his chest.
He suddenly flips us, so that I'm lying underneath him instead of on top of him.
"Sunshine, you're in love with my shower, now you're in love with my bed...and I'm pretty sure that you're in love with me."
"Pretty sure?" I gasp as he playfully nips my earlobe with his teeth.
"Ummm...yea, quite sure," he mumbles as he rains tiny kisses along my jaw down to the side of my neck. "There's only one logical thing you need to do..."
"What's that?" I gulp as tingles of heat and fireworks erupt all over my body.
"Move in with me."
"Is this h how you....plan to...convince me to...ummm...gosh..move in?" I manage to choke out as his mouth manages to find that spot behind my ear.
"Ummm...Is it working?"
Oh yes, it's working, but he doesn't need to know that yet. At least not until he feeds me breakfast.
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Just got back this evening. Long weekend traffic jam is crazy! Not much time between finishing this and updating. Hopefully not too much grammar mistakes.
Thank you so much for all your votes, comments, following and reading. I have the best readers in the world!
Much love,
Nicole❤