18 - Chilling Out

Azoic, Rostov Oblast
North Russia - Russian Fed; Population: 82,356
Romanov's Estate House

Sativa
A wolf.

I pushed the sleeve of my white, V-Neck shirt aside to investigate the fatal mark Romanov imprinted on my shoulder. It was directly between my right shoulder blade and my neck. It was tingling, even when I wasn't touching it. I cocked my head to the side to get a clearer view of the ill mark.

Sighing, I tear my gaze away from the mirror. It had been almost two days since no one had heard of Romanov. I had prepared myself mentally and physically for death. Even if, Vladimir and Keegan have both never failed to be there and remind me that I wasn't going to die. I patted my hair down, turning on my heel as I follow Vladimir down the narrow hallways.

"When is Natalya supposed to be here?" I asked, fumbling with my fingers behind my erectly, apt back.

"In about an hour or so."

I nod, maintaining my excitement. Vladimir had gone to the ends to fulfill my wish of Natalya coming here for the reminder of the time before April first. The death sentence for the mark wasn't due in a month - so I had until April twenty-seventh to live. But, since the only full moon in that space will be on April first, I wasn't hopeful that Romanov would show up. I doubted he could fight off such a powerful, ancient Alpha like Klaus. It didn't just seem logically practical.

And, I was fine with that.

The only thing I might regret not living for, is to rip out the throats of the bastards that had the idle audacity to kill my parents.

Plus, after the month of the trial, I could be happy with him deeming me a Rogue. I would've have already been marked my Romanov - and that was enough to provide me with the basic skills and talents of surviving a Rogue - without having to mate with him, at all; thankfully.

Maya had left earlier this morning with the grounds of visiting family somewhere in the Eastern territory, apparently that was where her Pack was. I had promised her that my questions were unforgotten as she showered me with explicit curses. I would've reminded her who had the upper-hand then, but I was too preoccupied with my life.

"You are not going to die," I sighed at Vladimir's words.

Nathan wasn't going to be able to accompany Natalya since their Alpha was absent, and all the Warriors were needed. God, what I wouldn't do to go back to Nevada and see my parents. They were kept in a morgue, and I sometimes sat outside their freezer door and talked to them. I had never yet pulled the courage to see them directly. Sticking my hands into the pocket of my fading jeans, I follow Vladimir until we reach the cool yet warm oxymora of the Russian sun.

I cock a querying brow, "Just, why are we out here?"

"We are out here," he pulled on my arm as I planted my feet to the ground. "Because you need some sunshine to light those dark shadows that litter your young spirit."

I sigh, "Vladimir."

"Whatever excuse you may have, I don't want to hear it."

"I don't think this is wise," I chide, pushing my hair away from my face. All that I wanted to do was curl up in the library and read until I fall into my alluring sleep.

"Follow me."

I let out a breathe of frustration as I follow him.

My combat boots slugged against the melting snow as I walked on, the crunching sounds unnerving. I couldn't lie - the backyard of Romanov's large house was beautiful and peaceful, making me wonder where everyone seemed to idly be.

The warming sun casted a natural glow upon the backyard garden. It seemed untaken care of as several weeds sneaked up the walls.

Beds and rows of uneven flowers lined the pathway to a gate. I said nothing as Vladimir led me through the iron gates, revealing a large pool with stone placements. With the rocks, and massive stones carefully arranged, and the water gently flowing down them, you would immediately think it was a pond, but the fact that Keegan was in it, made me understand that it was not.

Four or five deck chairs lined the bay of the pool. I promptly wondered how Keegan could be swimming in such cold weather - but, I remembered that he was a male werewolf, temperature did nothing to bother them.

I crossed my hands around my chest and scowled at the Keegan as he splashed the cool water on me, earning a stern glare from his father and a customized one from me, "Keegan, I'm already cold as it is - don't make it so much more worse than it is."

"Aw," he pouted disturbingly. "It's really lonely in here, I would like it if you would take a dip."

I scoff, "Be realistic."

He frowns in confusion as he floats on a blue, inflatable decking chair, his sunglasses taking up half of his face. "Whatcha mean?"

"Romanov is off in some location that only God can admire, probably dying from the physical pain that Klaus is delivering. And, I'm about to die in two fucking days - so forgive me if I come out a little realistic," I heatedly push my locks away from my face as the father and son pair stare at me almost too incredulously.

Vladimir sighed and relaxed on a deck chair, whipping out a magazine that he held possession of, "She's right."

I cock a brow, "What?"

Keegan glances at the two of us, before leaning back on his floater and giving us both wary looks, "Y'all mad."

"Isn't that what you wanted to hear all along?" He asked, his brow lifted in obvious amusement at his own tone.

I sigh frustratedly, "Yeah."

For a while, I am silent, doing nothing but pressing my back in an uncomfortable deck chair in an attempt to 'relax'. I breathe out an air of kept in frustration. I pull my long legs underneath my chin as I watch Keegan do laps around the pool. I tried to tear my eyes away, but I wasn't fast enough to shield my eyes from an image of Keegan in a pair of skivvies.

I briefly wondered what Romanov was doing, but I quickly discarded the thought. Lately, I had been a little too worried about the man and his wellbeing - two things that I swear never used to bother me before he had progressed to mark me.

And, effectively render me a victim to my lonely, and my inescapable death, I thought so bitterly.

Though, it scared me to the think that I wouldn't ever go back in time and change the fact that he marked me. It only gave me more time to gain my powers and avenge my parents' brutal murders.

And, that irritated me.

It was almost as if Vladimir had read the expression of worry and irritation as he gave me an annoyed glance.

"That's it," I cock a brow at him as he slaps his magazine down on the table and waltzes over to me, his normal attire of a red robe with his name inscribed on it flowing delicately behind him, "I've had it with your pessimism for a damn day."

I scowl as he nears me, an evil glint in his eye. I barely register his words before I am thrown over his shoulder. I widen my eyes, "What the hell?" I hiss, trying to release his grip from my waist. It was stone-like - it was physically impossible to peer against it.

I bite the inside the inside of my cheek to keep from screaming out as my body collides with the cold water.

The last thing that I hear is dual chuckles before my head submerges underneath the water. I gently flail my arms around - I have to admit, the temperature of it calmed my mentality down.

I smirk, deciding to have a little fun - after all, is that not what they asked of me?

I begin to gurgle, splashing endlessly around the water to create the image that I was drowning. I resurface slightly, only to manage a strangled, "Help," before I surface myself into the cold.

It is not long before I feel a pair of strong arms wrapped themselves around my waist and pulled me up, allowing me to catch a gulp of air as I continue my acts. I pull my eyes shut, pretending to moan in pain as the pair of arms carries me out of the water and lays me on the deck chair closer.

I let a shiver run through my body, but this time, it is a result of the cold weather.

"Is she OK, Dad?" I hear Keegan ask him worriedly.

"She's fine," Vladimir replied, sounding far off, as he was sitting in the position that he always was.

"No, she's unconscious."

"Then give her CPR, son."

"Good idea," Keegan gushed.

I snap my eyes open, only for them to meet Keegan's lips descending down on mine. I widen my eyes and I deftly slide off the deck chair, standing up straight as I right to keep my laughter in. I push my now wet, and limp hair away from my face as I let out an airy laugh, bending over as my first sound out laughter pours out for the first time in months. Momentarily, I forgot about my death sentence, and Romanov ill disappearance - for the first time in months I was happy.

"You bitch," Keegan gasped as he grasped the situation.

"Sorry," I grin, but not an ounce of regret in my veins.

"I nearly died," he frowned.

I let out my last air of a giggle, shrugging my shoulders as I met the eyes of Vladimir, in which he gave me a wink and I willed to return it quite promptly.

"You two are evil," Keegan glared at the two of us, his skivvies thankfully now covered with a thick towel.

Vladimir laughed.

I stick my hands in my pockets, I was dripping from head to toe as Keegan handed me another fluffy towel. I didn't waste time to wrap the cloth around my frame, our eyes turning to the entrance of the iron gates as the sound of one of guards clearing his throat.

"Sirs," he nodded to Keegan and Vladimir, as he nodded me with smile and a, "Luna."

I wanted to yell at and tell him that I was not his Luna.

But, I don't.

I nervously play with the loose thread from the towel as I nod back to him. The word that the Alphas from the Alpha Meeting had recognized me as their Luna Queen must've have travelled round the vicinity.

I cursed them mentally, although I knew it wasn't at all their fault in any way.

"Yes?" Vladimir returned the nod with a objected smile.

"Miss Natalya has arrived."

-

Azoic, Rostov Oblast
North Russia - Russian Fed; Population: 82,356
(E) Kyrgyz-Breton Forest

(E) East; (N) North
(S) South; (W) West

Romanov
I open my eyes.

The man standing before me with a lazy smirk allows me to growl lowly, peering at my surroundings before managing to sit up straight.

"Where am I?" I snarl, my gaze initiating the apt room.

"Is that any way to thank the man that saved your life?" I frown at his words, glaring at my frame. I wasn't naked anymore, for I had on an unfamiliar pair of jeans and a scratchy shirt.

"Did you dress me?" I raise a brow at the questionable stranger that nodded in an intimate manner above me.

"It was either that, or I become gay - which one?"

I grit my teeth as I study the male. A tall man, although he looked nothing close to my height. Sandy blonde hair and hazy, teal eyes that seemed to be staring at nothing in particular. They were on me, but I knew that they were seeing nothing.

"You are blind," I state harshly. "Then why bother with my nudity - how the hell did you even find me?"

"Frankly," he chuckled, sitting on the edge of the small bed lay in the middle of the otherwise empty room. "It is uncomfortable knowing that you are naked - blind or not. Secondly, I didn't find you, my Wolf did." I gave him a suspicious glance as he finished telling.

I discard the shirt and toss it unto the floor. I didn't care for the rough material of it.

I run a frustrated hand through my hair as I recall my earlier events. The bastardized idiot, Klaus had found it amusing to send me off a cliff for the fun of it. I am immortal, so I do not die.

But, I do feel pain.

I stretch my back, the broken bones seemed to have already healed just fine as I swing my legs over the bed and stand to my full height, "Where am I?" I repeat my earlier question to the man with an ill edge.

"Kyrgyz-Breton Forest," he smiled grimly, he too rising from his position on the bed.

I wince, I knew there was a hilt Pack here - Maya's Pack.

"Hey, aren't you supposed to be the Alpha King?" He asks, looking a bit curious.

"Yes, why?"

"You seem awfully confused to be an Alpha King," he states, his grey orbs veering.

I cock a brow, "What?"

"Well, from where my Wolf found you, it looks as if you'd jumped a cliff - you were naked and in blood."

"You're blind," I blunt.

"I can see in my Wolf form."

"So?" I bite out harshly, earning a flinch from him.

He shrugged, "I dunno."

I stalk to what seems to be the door, pushing it open and stepping out into the forest, "What day is it here?"

"March twenty-seventh."

I nod stiffly, I still had a day before my father would arrive after the curse hails to be removed. I wouldn't bore myself with Sativa by coming earlier than I have to - I will delight in giving them all a scare, let the girl believe that she'll see death.

"Hey, I don't get a thank you?" The voice of the blind man calls out as I walk further away, ignoring his wishes for 'good luck' as I go. I don't believe in luck.

Thankfully, Reman had managed to allow control for a while as I gather my thoughts. This forest wasn't to far away from the garage that I store some of my motorcycles, I could manage to arrive there in due time.

I make sure to veer off the path nearest to Maya's Pack, the last that I needed right now was to be reminded of the debt I owe them, and the promises of my dead father.

In time, the highway is in front of me. I walk past the cars and cross the road, barely minding the curses and honks that I get as I do.

To imagine the thoughts of a human - a man shirtless walking in the middle of the road covered in dry blood. I am with nothing but a pair of denims in the cold, Russian weather, my eyes an electric blue that rarely held humans in place when seen on idly, rare occasions.

It almost made me laugh.

Almost.

I push open the door to the bar, my thirty minute sprint to this spot barely fazing as I itched for a cigarette and a drink. It was hot, and the air was stuffy as human and Paranormal bodies alike danced against each other, the blaring of the music did little to admonish my spirits.

I could feel the eyes on me.

For those who knew who I was, it was frantic whisper to wonder what I was doing here. And, for the confused humans, it was trying the piece together the epitome of perfection that stood before them. I strode to the counter, slipping on one of the polished seats before tapping on the table to get the bartender's apt attention.

"Yes, Hunky?"

She spoke perfect English.

I raise a brow at the bartender. A short female with light purple hair and a pair of leather pants with a wife-beater spread her blood-red lips at me. I smelt the air softly; it was human.

"I need a cigarette," I muse plainly, letting her know that I was in no mood to be entertained for this evening.

"Coming right up," she walked away, adding an extra swing to her hips. I watch, hoping to be entranced enough with her frame, to at least take my mind of my current issuing.

But, I wasn't - my mind entranced with other silts.

Sativa.

I fist my hand frustratedly, my mate definitely had more of an effect on me than I was afraid to admit.

"Here," the woman slipped a pack of cigarettes over the table with the lighter, making sure to brush my hand as she did. It didn't have the sparks that I was expecting her to possess of.

Then again, she is not my mate, I thought bitterly.

-

© V.L Khan