© 2014 SilverStream22. All Rights Reserved.

Chapter in Stark's P.O.V.

Image to the side is Kaleesi.

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1514 ~ Sicily

"Do you trust her?"

I kept silent, watching the ballroom being swept by the gowns and polished suits. 

Alric sighed heavily, dropping his head back as the two hussies beside his chair massaged his tense shoulders. "You will have to speak to her eventually."

I growled in disproval when I saw her; Kaleesi, Queen of Sicily. The vampire. The witch. The siren. A disgusting melting pot of the very things I've come to despise after all these years of knowing about this hidden world all in one.

After a moment, I decided to answer him. "No."

Sighing once more, he slammed his hand on my shoulder, squeezing tightly. I hardly flinched. "Loosen up, brother. Your expression itself is enought to scare the women here away."

I gestured to the twin prositutes hanging off his shoulders with toxicated giggles erupting past their ruby lips, stained from the excess amount of wine that was provided at this godforsaken gala. Alric scoffed, shrugging them off. "They don't count. I used my affinity."

"Because that's the only way you'd get a girl." The soft lilting and scolding voice of the only Lycan I knew to be as old as I was made my head turn.

My stone heart lifted at the sight of Lorena. Her freckled cheeks were prominent and pale, yet never ceased to look lively paired with her fiery waterfall hair that cascaded down her back in thick wavy curls. 

Alric grumbled under his breath over Lorena's words, sulking slightly in his seat.

"The guest of honor just arrived, you shouldn't have a pout on your face and a strict jaw." Her warm hands cupped my cheeks, tugging my head up roughly.

I scowled and pulled away from her, standing up abruptly. "I'm going out."

Alric was too busy entertaining Lorena for as long as her short attention span could last to notice me flee to the terrace. The sickening vanilla and lavendar scent of the vampire was forcing my sense of smell to be thrown off. I focused my attention to the dark waters that engulfed the mountainous rocks just beneath the cliffside where the castle hugged the overhang. I heard her voice again, calling to me with a dark honey voice- but  I knew better than to trust her once more.

Looking back down at the raging sea, I could see them- the mermaids clawing desperately at the sharp rocks, desperate to reach their sister and drag her to the bottom of the ocean because of her betrayal.

Oh, Kaleesi, what have you done? 

I regretted thinking about her name and mistakes because as soon as the thought flickered across my mind, I felt her hands slips around my waist and face press against my tensed shoulder.

I resisted the urge to shiver in disgust when she hummed softly, the beginning of her alluring and treacherous song. Pushing back, I stepped away from her claws.

"What do you want, Queen Kaleesi?" I uttered, keeping my tone down in hopes of not signalling her of my complete hatred for her and her kind. Alric had warned me to be just and polite towards her, or the consequences were to be disastrous.

A smile flickered across those plastic features, revealing a careless smile. "I merely wanted to accompany you. Quite a lovely night, isn't it? The moon is high, the stars are out."

"And your sisters' rage matches the moon's level." I whispered quietly.

Her eyes narrowed and her smile faltered. "My sisters? What are you talking about?"

I braced myself for the upoming hurricane of emotions. "I know, Kaleesi. I know about your unworthy betrayal towards your vengeful sisters, I know that those mermaids that you once called family are screeching for me to toss you back into their grasp so they can chain you in the crevices of the deepest trench with no hope of sunlight," I blurred forward, catching her off guard as I held her jaw tightly. "I know that you sold you body to the Vampire King so you could have the power to murder your father in cold blood to become what you are now- a sickening hybrid of a vampire and witch. So I give you my deepest apoligies if I led you on to believe that I wanted to be anywhere near a decietful whore such as yourself."

Alric's warning rang thourough my brain, a warning that I remembered too late, and warning that could've saved half of Sicily from their demise.

Do not anger that Kaleesi, I tell you. She's what they call a Siren, and to bring up a mistake belonging to a Siren is to hand forth your death certificate.

If the webbed green and blue lines on her cheek and the slither of her dark pink tongue wasn't enough to indicate her anger, then surely the grotesque and contorted features of a Siren's true face had appeared before me. A Siren's true face, hidden beneath the mask of utter beauty, brings forth utter terror.

And as I dashed past the screaming form and lunged for Alric and Lorena, dashing toward the ports before they could speak a word, I surely felt that rage- the kind of rage that would have a bloodlusted and prideful king fall to his knees and beg fore mercy, the kind of rage that made even I tremble the slightest. We moved quick, just before she had started her song and the melodies of the decieving Siren cause every male to rush towards their death.

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Katya's body pressed tightly against mine, her arms caging me to her as I struggled to find purchase in the bed without dropping her delicate form.

I had believed Alric to be the deepest sleeper, but Katya? She had taken the cake. Not only from the car ride did she sleep, but all the way until we had made it to the penthouse of my dear friend Iris. She was sleeping through Alric's screams from the other room as Iris brought him to the bed to heal his wounds.

Finally detangling her arms and legs from my body once her head hit the pillow, I moved to close the door silently. I took a quick shower to wash all the blood that had gotten on my shoulder after hauling Alric over my shoulder twice. For some reason it felt strangely wrong to hand Katya's sleeping form to Draver as I finished the last two flights of stairs- all because Castor didn't believe in elevators.

Stroking her hair softly, I brushed the stray locked behind her ear, smiling briefly; a rarity for me.

She had small ears.

Leaning back against the headboard on the other side of the bed, I watched her sleep in silence; the way her breathing patterns were. Inhale through the nose, exhale ever so slowly that her body curled slightly into a ball.

It was...adorable. 

I paused, never thinking that I would use such a feminine word.

"Meh," she mumbled, turning on her side to face me.

I chuckled, lifting the sheets before slipping in. As if sensing my body heat, she reached forward, tossing one leg over my hip while her head butted under my chin. She was more like a cat rather than a wolf.

"Goodnight, my light." I murmured roughly, too tired to speak Latin as I kissed her brow.

Her cool breath fanned on my neck in response.

Maybe I was wrong. Maybe the Moon Goddess was as cruel as to give me a mate. What could I do to keep her safe from the dangers that came from becoming my mate? From my enemies? From myself? I unconciously brought her closer to me, as if that would shield her away from the venomous dangers that she was being exposed to because of my abrupt stupidity- for falling so deep into those cinnamon eyes that flared gold when she felt an emotion passionately. 

Cursing under my breath for playing right into the hands of the Moon Goddess, I kissed her once again; this time on her forehead. If I couldn't protect her from the deadly situations that she might be forced into, then I would sure as hell make sure to shield her from any lurking nightmares.

Because, in the end, as much as I didn't want it to happen- praying for the rarity of having a mate when you were a Lycan not to happen to me- I understood why it had happened. Deep down, I knew the truth. That Katya was mine as much as I was her's.

It was just a matter of pushing forward to get myself to accept it.