Alessandro:

“I am fine, baby, I just had a few things to work on and had to sleep in the hotel.” I said, assuring my girlfriend through the phone. The fact that she was the one who called and woke me up was something that took me by surprise, and I was thankful for the fact that the huntress didn’t wake up when the phone rang. Otherwise, I might have had to deal with more shit than I could handle from Daniella, my woman, and that wasn’t something that I wanted.

“You could have at least called me, Alessandro. I stayed up almost all night waiting for you.” She said, and I purred, knowing that she liked it when I did that.

“I know, baby girl, I was just a little too busy.” I said, and she hummed. “I’ll see you when I get home, yeah?”

“As if you have another choice.” She said, making me chuckle. I knew that I was going to need to take a shower before I saw her. The last thing that I needed was to have her catching a different female scent on me. It was a risk that I was not willing to take and I knew that I had to be cautious about how I was to be acting with her for a while. Knowing her, I knew that she most likely might end up sending someone behind me to check where I was going. And though I didn’t like it when she did it, I knew not to argue with her as I took care of things myself.

“I’ll see you in a bit, baby.”

“Bye,” she said, and I hung up. I walked toward my suite, and I couldn’t help but frown as I caught sight of Valerie walking out of the hotel. She had a jacket wrapped around her body, mine, and I shook my head at that fact. Well, I had to admit, she was wearing a short dress, and if she were to be taking any public transportation, it would be best for her to be wearing it.

I shook my head and turned to the elevator as I ignored the clench that I felt in my chest. The fact that a human, a wolf huntress blood, had such an effect on me when accepting the rejection was something that surprised me. Nevertheless, I was done with the curse that I was thrown into, and now all I had to do was focus on making my relationship with Daniella last.

She was my woman, a chosen woman for me, and that was going to be something that I was going to cherish. She was going to be a woman that I would be cherishing.

My phone rang, and I raised an eyebrow when I saw that it was my beta, Ezra, calling. “Tell me that no one is dead.”

“Not yet,” he said, and I chuckled. “You might want to come down to the club later. A few girls have caught a certain hunter within our walls.”

“Which one?” I asked, my eyes hardening as I clenched my fist. The last thing that I needed to hear was for it to be Valerie, and knowing that she was within our grounds, I didn’t want her getting caught in this.

“Vadim Morozov,” he said, making me frown. My mate’s fucking brother.

“Let him leave.” I said, and I could tell that Leonardo was frowning in confusion. I took a step back as I headed toward the club door. It was the backdoor of the hotel, but I had an entrance of my own, directly from inside the hotel. I hung up the phone as I approached them in the club to find the man tied on a chair.

His resemblance to his sister made my chest burn, but I knew better than to allow him to see or suspect anything.

Walls had ears, and the last thing that I wanted was for this to be spreading around.

“Boss…”

“These are safe grounds, Leonardo.” I said, stopping my beta before nodding at the men to unlock his cuffs. He raised an eyebrow at me, knowing that the last thing that I cared about was safe ground when it came to the hunters. The safe grounds were between us as wolves or members of the mafia alliances, the hunters were not part of that.

Vadim got up to face me and I growled in warning as I saw him pulling out his knife. The knife was similar to the one that Valerie had on her last night, and I couldn’t help but wonder whether or not the man actually knew that she was here.

“Where is she?” Ah, I asked a little too fast.

“She is?”

“You fucking know who I am referring to.” He said, and I crossed my arms over my chest as I bared my canines. The man frowned, and I growled in warning.

“Careful, these are still my grounds, and it is broad daylight. The two of us don’t need to get caught in an argument.” I said, and Leonardo raised an eyebrow. Normally, I would have had his head, but right now, after fucking his sister solid, I was more or less relaxed.

“Where is my sister?”

“Try calling her. You know, we have devices called phones now.” I said, taking a step back. “Your sister is not within my grounds; therefore, you have five minutes to get the fucking hell out of here. Otherwise, you are not going to like the consequences that you are going to have to deal with.”

“Is that a threat?”

“I think that you and I have fought enough to know that I don’t throw threats, Vadim.” I said, looking at the man over my shoulder. “What you’re looking for is not here. So, I do recommend that you go search for IT elsewhere. That is, unless you want to have a problem with me…”

Valerie:

“Where the hell were you last night?” Vadim asked, snapping at me and I raised an eyebrow. The fact that the man was in my apartment was confusing enough as it was, and to think that he was asking such a question was even weirder.

“I doubt that I need to answer to you at the age of twenty-six, do I?” I asked, crossing my arms over my chest. I was forcing myself to ignore the clench that I felt in my chest as anger boiled through every cell in my body, and though I didn’t even understand why I was feeling this way because of a wolf, I knew to keep it quiet.

“I waited for you almost all night only to find out that you went clubbing…”

“Again, I don’t need to answer to you, Vadim.” I said, reminding him of his limit. The man was my twin, and though we were both close, I hated when he tried shoving his nose in what didn’t concern him.

“I’m sorry,” he said, avoiding my eyes. “I was worried when I didn’t find you in the house and when I found out that you were clubbing at the wolf’s…”

“The two of us know very well that I chose to move out of the house because of this ‘wolf’ obsession.” I said, stopping him. “Therefore, unless it is another topic, please, we either close this one or you show yourself out the door.”

He frowned in confusion at my attitude before cupping my cheeks to make me look at him. Tears fell from my eyes before I could stop myself and he frowned before wrapping his arms around me, pulling me in for a hug. I fisted his shirt, knowing that he wouldn’t be asking any questions. At this point, I knew that he would just hug me to let me know that he was there for me.

But I knew that I had to compose myself fast; otherwise, he was going to start getting suspicious and if that happened and if questions were to be asked, I didn’t know how I was going to answer them.

I pulled away to look at him and he smiled in assurance. “How about we take a seat and watch a movie? Maybe I can get you some chocolate? Or better yet, call mum to come over…”

“Mum?” I asked, and he smiled. The fact that she was here was a surprise as it was, and I couldn’t help but shake my head in question. “How?”

“I don’t know how he did it, but he convinced her that coming over would be best. I wanted to come and get you yesterday, but you never showed up.” He said, and I smiled before wiping my tears. I went to take a step back but he grabbed the jacket that I was wearing. “But first, you are going to tell me where you got this jacket.”

“If I am going to be telling you about every man that I sleep with on a drunken night, I doubt that you, as my BROTHER, would be okay with it.”

“TMI.” He said, and I rolled my eyes. “At least tell me that you remember his name this time?”

“Don’t answer, number ten.” I said, and he laughed, shaking his head at me. It was a name that I knew that I would never forget, and the fact that he used me the way that he did was one thing that I was going to keep in mind; however, for now, I was going to shut the topic before more questions were asked. “I’ll go and get ready before the two of us head out. I also have a jacket to burn later.”

“Yikes, he was that bad?” He asked, and I raised an eyebrow. He raised his hands in mock surrender and I shook my head.

“I swear, sometimes you forget that you are my brother and not my girl-friend.”

“I can be both depending on the situation, but then again, you would rather speak to a girl than to your own sibling.” He said, mocking me and I laughed.

“Yes, just like you would rather not gloat about the next girl that you have sleeping in my guest room after you’ve both kept me awake throughout the entire night.” I said, and he smirked.

“Touché.” I walked to my bedroom without answering as I stripped off the jacket. My heart raced against my ribcage as I looked at it for a second too long, recalling his kisses, his eyes on mine, the gentle touch. I looked away as I tried recomposing myself, and taking a deep breath, I threw the jacket on top of my bed before entering the bathroom to shower.

My heart raced as the hot water cascaded around my body, and I couldn’t help but find myself thinking of his blue eyes. The way they met mine as we both danced. The man had approached me in the club, his eyes focused on mine, as if led by some trance, and his voice, which made my heart skip a beat as goosebumps rose over my skin despite the loud music made me gulp.

His words were simple, and his voice was barely loud enough for me to hear, but it was my body that heard it long before my ears did.

“Hello, mate…”

I shook my head, snapping myself out of my daze as I took a deep breath.

“Snap out of it, Valerie.” I whispered to myself. “Just fucking snap out of it…”

Alessandro:

“You have been spending more and more time outside, you do realize that?” Daniella asked, wrapping her arms around me from the back. She gently kissed my back, letting her lips linger there as I fixed my tie. “I don’t even remember the last time the two of us actually slept and woke up on the same bed without you being up before I was or in bed, if you ever do get in anymore, long after I slept.”

I stayed quiet as I kept my eyes on the mirror, but knowing Daniella, I knew that she would not drop the subject. If anything, she was going to do her best to get me to talk about what was bothering me, and that wasn’t something that I wanted. She wouldn’t like my answer, and I knew that I didn’t keep the topic to myself for months only to voice it out now.

I turned around to face her and she shook her head in question. “Did I do something to piss you off without knowing? If so, please do let me rectify, Alpha.”

I didn’t respond for a few seconds before cupping her cheeks and kissing her forehead. The issue was not her, and that was something that I knew very well.

It has been months since I have rejected my mate, and though I knew that normally, it shouldn’t affect me for more than a day or two, a heavy feeling settled in my chest and I couldn’t find myself finding a way to put a name to it.

“I’m just a little busy lately, Daniella, I don’t want you overthinking something that did not happen.” I said softly. She looked down at my chest before nodding.

“You called me by my name, and that is something that has been going on for months now.” She said, noting it out. I took a deep breath and smiled before connecting my lips with hers. She kissed me back, and wrapping her arms around me, I knew that she wanted to deepen the kiss; however, I pulled away before she could.

“I will see you later tonight,” I said, and she took a deep breath before taking a step back.

“I believe that later tonight would be long after dawn, wouldn’t it?” She asked, and I turned to the mirror. She let out a silent laugh before nodding. “I am going out for the day, I have a few things to tend to. If there is anything that you need…”

“Keep me posted on where you are going and you have my card if there is anything that you want to buy.” I said, stopping her. She stayed quiet for a few seconds before nodding. She walked toward me once again and gently kissed my cheek.

“If there is anything bothering you, what you are doing is not going to take us anywhere. Just talk to me and the two of us will solve it.” She said, and I looked away from her before nodding. “But considering the fact that you just stated that you would be seeing me later tonight, I will be waiting for you.”

“It would depend on whether or not I had work. If you find yourself growing tired, then you can just fall asleep; there is no need to…”

“We shift tonight, Alessandro, I doubt that you would be working when you are in wolf form.” She said, stopping me. I cursed under my breath, and she raised her eyebrow. I looked her in the eye as she walked toward me, gently running her finger over my chest, her breathing somewhat heavier than normal as she clearly feared how I would be reacting. Nevertheless her heartbeat was calm, but I could tell that she was trying to catch my attention somehow. “I think that it is time for our wolves to connect like they used to.”

I smiled and put my hand on hers, stopping her from making it go lower down my abdomen and she sighed and took a step back. I didn’t respond, and instead, I chose to walk out of the room, heading downstairs where I knew that Leonardo would be waiting.

His eyes met mine and he raised an eyebrow when he caught sight of my expression.

“Rough morning?” He asked, smirking when I didn’t respond. I rolled my eyes and nodded at the door.

“I just need to get the hell out of here. Only then would my morning be easier…”