Lana's POV

Lana left Leo's soldiers behind to fight without sparing another glance in their direction.

She followed Roman's scent out of the room and down a corridor.

Lana came in front of a closed door and Roman's blood's smell was coming from behind that door.

Her eyes were red from the thought of having her mate in pain. Lana had lost control so she didn't think to wait and barged into the room.

Her eyes quickly landed onto Roman's form.

She couldn't breathe.

He was hanging from silver chains that were attached to the roof and his body was covered in wounds. All Lana could see was red as she took her mate's condition in. Rage coursed through her veins.

She had caused this. He was tortured because of her.

Her eyes left Roman's body and they focused on a silver knife held to Roman's throat. A male vampire was holding the knife to Roman's throat.

Lana growled and took a step towards Roman but Marcus' voice rose from the side.

"I wouldn't do that." Marcus warned. Lana snapped her head in his direction and saw him close the door Lana had just came in and then move beside Roman.

"If you try to get any closer, Devon will slit your beloved's throat Lanakila." Marcus said.

Lana didn't at all liked to be threatened let alone with the life of her beloved.

Lana looked at Roman as he lifted his head and looked around. His eyes locked on hers and instead of the blue she was waiting, his eyes were an alluring golden.

"Lana?" Wolf said in disbelief. His voice hoarse and barely audible. Lana's heart cracked at hearing the fragile tone of his voice.

"I'm here cara mea." Lana said and her eyes turned from red to their normal green.

Devon brought the silver knife closer to Roman's neck on the flick of Marcus's finger. Wolf hissed as the blade dug into his skin and brought out blood running down his neck.

Lana looked at Marcus with death in her eyes and asked, "What do you want?"

Marcus's lips lifted in a smile. "Well, first of all I want you to kneel." He said.

Lana looked at him but didn't reply. Marcus knew Lana would never otherwise kneel before him. But this was different. He had Lana's mate and Marcus knew he could make her do anything.

So Lana kept looking directly into Marcus's eyes as she slowly got onto her knees. First one knee, then the other.

At seeing Lanakila there, kneeling before him, Marcus started laughing. He walked over to her.

"Ah my sweet Lanakila I have been tracking you down for some time now." Marcus crouched down beside her and touched her cheek gently, lovingly. "My belle, I have forgotten how beautiful you are."

Marcus swiped Lana's hair away from her neck and leaned in. He kissed her neck while Lana unemotionally looked straight ahead.

Marcus looked straight into Wolf's golden eyes as he kissed her cheek and then deeply smelled her hair.

"Do not fucking touch her!" Wolf roared at Marcus. His canines elongated and he looked like he could shift any second. But as Wolf tried to turn into his werewolf form, the silver chains that were around his wrists and ankles started burning him more prominently.

Marcus looked up from where he was kissing Lana's neck and gave a crooked smile at Wolf. "Tsk tsk tsk. I wouldn't do that if I were you little pup. The more you try to turn, the more you burn. But you are not of very use to your mate in your human form are you now?" Marcus gave a devilish smile. "Such a shame."

Wolf continued growling at Marcus and said, "I will rip your throat out you blood sucking bastard."

Marcus stood up from his crouched position and walked over to Wolf. Marcus took out a silver knife from behind his belt and started cutting the side of Roman's stomach in a long straight line.

Wolf screamed as the silver burned his body and he tried to get away. Lana's fists tightened and she had to do apply every self control she had learned over her long life to stop herself from moving towards them. She was being tortured by watching Roman and Wolf get hurt before her eyes.

"Release him right now." Lana said.

"And why would I do that?" Marcus asked while tilting his head. "You would kill me."

"Oh no." Lana said and as her face stretched in to a feral smile. "This isn't about whether I kill you or not. That is already set in stone."

"What you can decide is the time of your death. You release him right now, and I can give you a fast, merciful death. Or you can foolishly restrain a bit longer and your death could be a couple centuries away. I'm immortal. I have nothing but free time on my hands. I can lock you up in a dark corner and gladly spend the rest of my eternity, every minute and every second torturing you and making you wish you were dead."

"So decide... Do you want to die now or after a lifetime filled with agony?" Lana said in a deadly calm voice.

Marcus' face blanched a little at her threat but he quickly collected himself and said, "I have known you for over 800 years and wasn't aware that you had any weaknesses. I didn't realise I could get to you this profoundly. And I certainly did not know you could let your guard down Lanakila."

Marcus moved away from Roman and got close to Lana with the silver knife he had used on Roman in his hand.

He first hit Lana's cheek with the blunt end of the knife. Then he slowly cut across Lana's collarbone, drawing blood.

Then Marcus pulled the silver knife back and stabbed her in the shoulder.

"Nooo! Stop. Don't hurt my mate! Stop." Wolf shouted at Marcus.

Marcus started hitting Lana repeatedly, driven by Wolf's pleading and shouting, but she didn't even make a noise or react a little bit to the pain.

"How dull." Marcus sighed. "She doesn't even react." Then Marcus turned towards Roman and started explaining to him. "You see Roman, your dear Lanakila has undergone processes like this so many times before, some from my hands, that she doesn't even flinch when pain is inflicted upon her. But you haven't seen my special set of skills. She came to rescue you because for her, it doesn't matter if she is the one getting tortured or killed, it matters if you are getting hurt."

Marcus took a step back and admired his handiwork. Lana had cuts and bruises and a stab wound that was bleeding on her shoulder.

"How beautiful. After waiting this long for you to slip up, I have to say it was a bit cliché to see a legend being brought down to her knees because of love. I always thought the concept was over exaggerated but I guess this proves me wrong." Marcus said.

Then he walked back to Lana and said to her, "This was everything I had been hoping for. Even better. Two lovers sacrificing each other for the other. But there is one more thing I want to do to complete the picture."

Marcus brandished a wooden stake from his belt and pulled his arm back. He aimed it for Lana's heart.

Wolf was struggling in his chains, thrashing around and roaring at Marcus.

And just as Marcus was bringing the stake down, the door to the room opened and in came Leo and his two vampire soldiers.

Both Marcus and Devon had turned their heads as they were distracted from the intruders. Lana used that to her advantage and with her vampire speed, grabbed the wooden stake from Marcus' hand, ran to Devon.

She was at his back in a flash and before he could notice, the wooden stake was through his heart. Devon's body thudded to the ground.

Lana looked over and saw that Leo and his two soldiers were holding Marcus down on his knees.

Lana quickly got in front of Wolf and pulled down the silver chains that he was suspended from. Silver didn't affect Lana and although she was weakened at the moment, she was able to snap open the chains.

Once Wolf's arms were free, Lana gently held him around the waist and lowered him to the ground. She made him sit down and then she opened the silver shackles around his ankles.

Lana gently held Wolf's cheek and looked into his gold eyes with love. "I have things to finish I will be with you shortly cara mea." Lana told Wolf and softly kissed his forehead.

Then she got up and walked over to Leo and his soldiers to stand in front of Marcus, who was being held down on his knees.

Lana punched him across his face and Marcus' head swung to the side. Then she punched him again and again and again.

When she stopped her assault for a second, Marcus started shaking and laughing.

He looked up, into Lana's face and said, "Do you think I'm the only one that wants to see your immortal heart stopped?"

Lana looked grim for a second but only said, "I have a lot of enemies."

He gave a wicked smile and said, "Indeed you do. And they would do anything to see an end to your thousands of years of reign."

Lana's brow slightly furrowed as she said, "I turned down the position so that those hungry for power vampires on the council could have their seat. I don't have a reign."

Marcus shook his head from side to side. "It's not about being on a throne or not my Lanakila. You should know that you don't need a throne to have a reign. As long as you live, your power will be a threat to those who seek control. They will be coming for you. Especially now that the word is out about your extraordinaire pairing with a werewolf." He looked over at Wolf with wicked eyes.

"There never has been a vampire and werewolf mating and the fear of the unknown will be the last nudge your enemies will need to rally against you." Marcus says.

Lana grabs the stake from Leo's belt and in a flash stabbed it into his chest. In his last moments Marcus whispered to Lana. "You will see."

Leo's soldiers let Marcus' body fall to the floor. Leo gave an order for the two soldiers to go and find the others.

Lana turned back to where Wolf was. He was trying to stand back up and was struggling. He had been hung by the chains for a long time and his wounds didn't help regain his strength either.

Lana was by his side in a flash, helping him up.

Wolf hugged Lana to himself.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry Wolf. I'm sorry my mate." Lana kept repeating.

Wolf pulled back and looked into Lana's eyes. "You came for me." He said with happiness in his eyes.

"Always." Lana said. "Always."

Wolf pulled her in for a kiss and their lips met in an urgency. All the relief at reuniting together, both of them being alive and the love they felt for each other was poured into the kiss.

When they pulled back, Lana directed Wolf towards the exit. When they finally left the warehouse, they entered the van.

Leo was on the passenger seat and one of the soldiers were driving the car. Lana and Wolf was on the back seat.

In the car behind them was the other four soldiers. There had been one casualties, one of Leo's men had fallen. Lana was pleased to see no one else had died.

Lana closed the black screen that separated between the front and back seats for some privacy and then turned to Wolf.

"Can I talk to Roman? I want to see that you are both okay." Lana said as she caressed Wolf's cheek gently.

Wolf looked down and away from Lana's eyes.

Lana's stomach twisted as she sensed something bad has happened to him.

"What is it?" Lana asked lifting Wolf's chin up with a finger.

"Roman... while Marcus was torturing us I had no choice but to take his place to protect him. He was in so much pain but now... he is in too deep. I can't bring him back."

**********

What do you think will happen?

What are your thoughts about the chapter?

I'm really happy that the two are back together again.

Take care my sweets 🍫🍰🍦🍭🍩🍪💙