Chapter Eleven
Take it or Leave it
Hazel on the side------>
When I woke up in the morning, I was saddened to feel an empty space beside me and no warmth. I rolled over and sighed as I saw the bed empty. I was about to let the worst of my thoughts take over, until I heard the sound of a door open and close, and Lysander walking in and rubbing a towel against his hair. When he saw me, he smiled and walked over to sit beside me on the bed.
“Good morning. I was hoping I could get food before you woke up.” He said kissing me softly and I smiled. I could so get used to this.
“You’re fine. Why don’t I get dressed and then we get breakfast together?” I suggested, getting a nod of approval from my mate. I quickly got up, finding myself not the least bit self-conscious about my body’s state as I walked over to my clothes. Once I was dressed, I looked over and saw Lysander had just finished putting his hoodie back on and I frowned. He looked over at me and his face dropped.
“What? What is wrong?” I shook my head, quickly throwing a smile back on my face. He sounded so worried, and the reason I had frowned was not something he needed to worry about.
“Nothing! I just—I didn’t want you to cover up your tattoos.” I replied softly, and he looked shocked at my answer, but then smirked.
“Well, if we’re on the subject of not wanting, I could say quite a few thinks I didn’t want you to do.” I blushed and quickly turned my face from him. He made it so easy for me to get all flustered, and I wasn’t used to it. I had never been this intimate with someone before. Hell, I had never even had a relationship before this.
All of this was new to me, and so far, I was enjoying it.
“Lysander. As much as I want to repeat what we did last night and then some, I’m still really sore.” Then I witnessed for the first time, Lysander pouting. And if that didn’t make me want to push him down and take him again. Screw my aching ass, if he kept pouting like that. I bit down on my lip as I thought of all the things I could do. We could do.
“Stop doing that.” Lysander snapped, making the mood die and me to look at him confused once again. He did the same thing last night when I bit my lip.
“Do you not like it when I bite my lip?” I asked, curious as to why the action made him so angry.
“It’s not that I don’t like it. It just makes me want to do so many things to you, and I don’t want to hurt you more. Which is why we should leave now, so there’s a less likely chance that I could shove you back on that bed.” I smirked at him as he put his hands on my shoulders and walked us to, and out the door. I knew that was a lie, or close to it. Normally when wolves first mate, it’s like they’re stuck in the honeymoon phase. You want to be together, do everything together. Basically never leave each other’s sides, and you also want to have sex.
Every. Single. Second.
I could control myself, because that’s what we are raised to do. Lysander on the other hand, probably not. But I had faith in him. Faith that he would most likely pull me into an alleyway or empty room, and have his way with me.
And for some reason, I was okay with that.
I couldn’t keep the lovesick smile off my face as we entered the elevator and Lysander took my hand in his. I was so getting used to this. “So, where do you wish to eat?” He asked, smiling down at me. I opened my mouth to answer, but my phone started going off.
“What? I turned it off.” I questioned, pulling it out of my pocket to see it was indeed, till turned off. I looked at Lysander and he held his finger up. I watched him pull his phone out of his pocket and sure enough, it was his. He slid the bar to answer the call and put the phone to his ear.
“Ciao? Ah—yes, hold on.” I raised my eyebrow as he handed me the phone. “It is for you.” I hesitated in taking the phone and putting it to my ear.
“Hello?”
“Nikolai, I am two seconds from kicking your ass. Where the fuck are you?” I should have known it was Nate.
“I’m going to breakfast with Lysander, and speaking of him, how did you get his number?” I know for a fact I never gave him his number and my phone is off most of the time at the hotel, so he couldn’t have got it from there.
“You left your phone on a couple days ago.” Or so I thought. “And besides, why was your phone off? I have been calling you since last night,” We walked out of the elevator and my mind started conjuring up images of last night’s events, causing me to blush hard.
God, we needed to do it again.
I looked over at Lysander, who was staring at me intently. I smiled and mouthed for him to wait a second, and he smiled back, nodding his head.
“A lot has happened. Listen, I need to go, but I promise that I will be back in an hour or two. No later.” I didn’t wait for an answer before hanging up and handing the phone back to Lysander. “Gosh I’m so sorry. I didn’t think he would be noisy enough to look through my phone and get your number.” He just nodded his head and walked over to the front desk, paying the women for the room.
He sure did nod his head a lot.
“I take it he already knew I was your mate?” Lysander asked, taking my hand back in his as we walked out of the hotel. I suddenly felt the urge to pull my hand out of his, afraid we would gain unwanted attention. But when I saw that no one was paying any mind to us, my fear depleaded.
“Well, yeah. Nate is also a werewolf. We’re from the same pack.” I hadn’t told Lysander I was the Alpha, or soon to be Alpha. I don’t know why either. He obviously handled the other information well, so what’s so different about this?
“Lysander, there’s uh—one more detail I left out.” I said, my voice wavering as we walked to a small bistro, taking a seat at one of the many tables outside.
“Can you tell me after I order our food? I’m starving.” I nodded my head for him to go ahead and once he left, I started to wonder how he knew what I liked. Ah, well, we were mated now. And after you mate, you practically know everything about each other, except for the little things. I sighed and looked out to the busy street, realizing that I knew next to nothing about Lysander.
I knew he was with his cousin, and I remember how much hate he had when he spoke of his Aunt and Uncle back at the club. But what about his parents? His birthday? His favorite color? I knew none of these. Granted, he knew none of those for me either, but he had just learned the biggest thing there is to know about me.
And I don’t think knowing you have a douche bag of a cousin is equivalent to knowing your boyfriend was a werewolf and also your mate.
Wait, were we even together? In my culture, technically we were because we mated. The marks would be forming soon and it would just like another tattoo for Lysander. Speaking of tattoos, I watched my ate walk over to the table and take the seat across from me, setting down two classes of what looked like lemonade.
“No alcohol?” I joked and he smirked.
“Not today. I want to be sober more since I’ll always be with you.” My heart warmed at that and then I remembered the tattoo issue.
“Ah, so. There’s something I left out about the mating process. After we mate, there is normally a sign that appears on your skin, showing that you belong to that wolf. Like a warning if another wolf wants to attack or touch you. In our case, it looks like a tattoo that covers your whole arm and then half way across your back.”
“But I already have a full sleeve on both arms?” He said more like a question and I sighed.
“I hope you don’t love those tattoos a lot, because they will disappear as the new ones appear.” I saw his lip turn into a pout as he looked at his arms, surveying them before looking back at me. “For you, I can live.” I smiled and reached across the table, taking his hand in mine.
“Is that what you want to tell me?” I twitched a little as I remembered the main thing I had to talk to him about. I really needed to prioritize my thoughts.
“Um, no. What I wanted to tell you that I forgot to tell you yesterday is that not only am I a werewolf, but I’m also the future Alpha.” I watched his eyes slowly widen and my heart started beating faster.
“So that means your dad is—“
“The current Alpha, yes.” Here it comes. Here are the words I was dreading to hear.
“Well then I guess I need to work my ass off to impress him then.” I started to choke on air, letting out a huge cough as I tried to get my breath back. I looked at Lysander who was looking at me with a smirk. “Did you think I was going to hightail it out of here? Your lack of faith in me is hurtful.” He started pouting and I quickly shook my head.
“No, no. I just—I thought the fact of me being the next Alpha would make you upset seeing as well, I’m not much of the Alpha type.” I said gesturing to my body. We have to be honest here. I had a soccer player’s body, not a wrestlers. And when people think of an Alpha, they think power, authority…
And muscle.
Lots of muscle.
“Nikolai. I do not believe it matters if you look like an Alpha. What matters is if you think like one, and I for one believe you are perfect for the title.” I blushed at his words. Boy, if he knew how much I dreaded that label.
“So, you really want to meet my parents, huh?” I asked, trying to change the subject. I was still uncomfortable talking about my future duties, even if it was with my mate.
“I think it’ll be appropriate seeing as we are mated.” Smart and good-looking? I must have someone pulling favors for me upstairs. Plus not to mention he was extremely polite. Yeah, I think my parents will adore him.
“But—I have a request.” I snapped out of my thoughts and looked at him, gesturing for him to ask. “Could we stop by my home first? I wish to give my friends a final goodbye and introduce them to the love of my life.” I groaned as my face heated up. I heard Lysander chuckle and kicked him under the table, glaring up at him.
“I’ll take that as a yes.” He chuckled and I sighed. I wasn’t alone here…
“I will go with you no doubt, but I have other people I will be returning to America with. But if they don’t want to go, than we can go just you and me.” He smiled sweetly at me, grabbing my hand in his and brushing his thumb across my knuckles. Our food arrived not long after, and we ate while making small talk.
I found out a couple of things I never expected about Lysander.
Like the fact that he used to have long, wavy hair. Or that the reason he was here in Greece was because he tried to sleep with his tutor and got caught. I wasn’t as shocked as I thought I would’ve been. Lysander was straight before he met me, and I assumed the same went for me.
I was never really attracted to anyone, but mainly because everyone in our pack acted like pompous asses whenever I was around. Why do people thing if you act like a dick to someone, that person is going to fall in over with you? Because all it did was make me want to punch them in the throat. I frowned as I realized I was going to have to leave, seeing as we finished and paid for our food. I didn’t want to leave Lysander. Every second away from him made me feel like a huge hole was ripping into my heart.
I assumed Lysander felt the same, because on the walk back to the hotel, his grip on my hand was tight. He stopped us when we got to the front entrance of the hotel and pulled me into his arms.
“I want to see you again tonight.” He whispered. I pulled back and looked at him, a small smile on my face.
“Give me a half hour and I’ll be all yours.” I told him and he leaned down, capturing my lips. I moaned as his tongue slipped in, brushing against mine. He pulled away after that and gave me a kiss on the forehead.
“I will call you.” He said before hugging me and then saying goodbye. I sighed as I walked into the front lobby and to the elevators. Would telling Nate be a good idea? I mean, he has been waiting for me to get with Lysander since we found out, but that was just it.
He wanted me to tell Lysander he was my mate.
No one mentioned us actually mating.
I was starting to wonder if anyone even wanted us to mate. I mean, no one said 'tell him he's your mate then go at it like bunnies.' Which we did anyway, but what if my dad wanted me to wait?
Maybe I should ask him before telling anyone, and with that being said, I should probably work on keeping this mating mark covered.
I walked into the hotel room, shutting the door quietly behind me. When I turned around, I was met with a knife pressed against my throat.
"What the fu--" I barley managed to say before Essie and Nate appeared.
"That's Nikolai Hazel, you're good." Nate said in a bored voice to the girl. She removed the knife and put it into a holster on her hip. I stared at Nate with wide eyes, waiting for him to explain.
"Where were you?" He snapped. Why was he so pissed? If anyone should be pissed, it was me! I just got a knife shoved to get my throat.
" I was with Lysander. Now care to explain who the hell this is?" I asked, jabbing my finger at the woman standing beside me. She was looking at her nails are bored expression until she heard me acknowledge her, and looked up at me.
" Nikolai meet the Bounty Hunter, Hazel. Hazel, meet the worst soon to be Alpha in history." I glared at him and he matched it before turning on his heel and walking away. I sighed and looked over at Hazel, surprised to see her already staring at me.
"You really are a bad leader." She sighed, going back to studying her nails like it was the best thing in the world.
"Excuse me? I don't need a random wolf telling me whether I'm a good leader or not." Seriously, who did she think she was?
She stopped looking at her nails and dropped her hands to her side. " The simple fact that a random wolf is telling you that should be a hint. " I stared after her, my mouth agape as she walked off in the direction Nate left.
Just get through this and then its all Lysander.
I sighed to myself before walking into the room to join everyone. I saw them all hunched over the laptop and cleared my throat, watching their heads pop up one by one.
"Glad of you to join us. Take a seat so we can fill you in." Nate said with a fake smile. I flipped him the bird and he stuck his tongue out as I took a seat in the chair.
"We found Victor, and let me just say it wasn't easy. See, Hazel here showed up around one in the morning declaring she was taking you back kicking and screaming. I filled her in on what your dad and all of us discussed, but she still wanted you." I looked over at Hazel as she mouthed 'Not anymore.'
Bitch.
"Anyway, Essie didn't know anything so she walked in telling me some more info on Victor and when Hazel heard the words shapeshifter, she dropped you like a hot potato and decided to help us."
"I ran into Victor and his goons on my way here. With how they treated me, a woman, I'll gladly take them down." Hazel snorted. I didn't miss the look of admire Nate gave her though.
That was strange.
But it wasn't like this whole situation wasn't to begin with. I mean, who would've thought that me going to Greece would involve a bounty hunter, shape shifter boss and his exiled wife, and a sexy mate?
Definitely not me.
"Okay, so do we have a plan?" I asked as I realized no one was talking anymore.
"Oh yeah," Nate jumped in. Yeah, there was defiantly something off about him. "So apparently, Victor is claiming he only wants Essie back to apologize. Now, we weren't planning on doing this but--"
"You're going to us Essie as bait." I finished for him and he frowned.
"I offered." Essie interjected. I looked at her and cocked my head and she sighed. "Victor has these annual balls for the shapeshifter community. They happen around this time if year and I would know because I was always locked in the room below the ballroom. So I heard everything." I saw hurt flash on her face for a second before it was back to being emotionless.
"So, the plan is that we go to Victors mansion where the party is. Essie will make a grand entrance while Hazel, you and me wait for her signal to turn the lights off. Then we'll swoop in, kill Victor and when the lights come on, Essie will be holding him in her arms so she doesn't get blamed and inherits what is rightfully hers, while we wait at a safe distance for her call to say its safe." Nate finished by nodding his head, as if to say he was satisfied.
But I had one question. "Where is his mansion?"
"Oh, I forgot that. It's in Italy, so if you haven't gotten Lysander by now, you might want to do that soon. Cause we're leaving tomorrow." I choked on air and started coughing up a storm.
Tomorrow!? I could understand a week or two days, but seriously?
"Uh, well...he knows about us." I said softly and Nate smiled at me.
"And he didn't run off?" I shook my head and he laughed. "That's great! Do you think he would be willing to leave so soon?"
I shrugged my shoulders. "I'd have to talk to him, but since we're going to Italy, I don't see how it could be a problem."
It actually worked out perfectly. We had already talked about making a pit-stop in Italy, so it fits in just right.
"Well that's about all the news, so if you want you can go call him up to talk about it." I nodded at him and got up. I felt eyes on me as I pulled out my phone and glanced over to see Hazel looking at me.
I really don't like her.
I disregarded the thoughts if her and pulled up Lysanders number as I walked into the other room.
I have really great news :) Can I see you now? I smiled as I sent the text. I felt like a love sick schoolgirl....and I loved it! I giggled as my phone vibrated and I read the message.
Come by the house. I'm alone and I can't wait to hear all about it.
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Lysander POV
I struggled against the rope they had used to tie me up as the man sent the message to Nikolai. He turned to look at me, a smirk on his lips as he threw my phone at me.
"This is too easy." He laughed and I sneered at him. How could I let this happen? I should've known the minute Giovanni messaged me something was off. See, he claimed that I left a note with money telling him to take a vacation and leave me the house, and when he called to thank me and told me that, I was already unlocking the door.
As soon as he went to explain, I was hit in the face and being tied up before I could even regain my composure. And right when I thought it couldn't get any worse, Nikolai texted me, and now he was on his way to a trap.
"Who the hell are you?" I snapped up at the man and he slowly turned his head to me, a big toothy grin in his face.
"Why, my name's Victor. Victor Salvatore."
BUM BUM BBBUUUUMMMMMM.