Persephone followed the two men that were escorting her through the halls as two of the guards followed closely behind her.
The men stopped at a large oak door, then knocked. A deep, husky voice “enter” from behind it.
Persephone felt a chill race down her back. She shook it off before following the men into the office.
There was a rather large man sitting behind the desk, his arms thick with muscle, his shirt tight against his chest. He leaned back in his chair once Persephone and her guards entered the room, and the door was closed behind them.
“Persephone, it’s been some time since last we met,” he told her.
Persephone lifted her chin and squared her shoulders. “Yes, Samuel, it has been a very long time.”
Eighteen years, six months, and five days to be exact. But who was could notedly not her?
“Why have you summoned me here?” she asked him.
Samuel continued to just sit and stare at the witch that was standing in front of him. His wolf, Valka’s, whined, but he quieted him quickly. He looked around the room at the other people that were in there. “Leave us, all of you,” he commanded.
Persephone’s guards looked to her for an answer, and she quietly nodded for them to leave. Once the door was closed behind her again, she walked forward and took a seat in front of the desk. Another chill rushed through her, but she didn’t allow herself to give in to it.
Samuel smiled as he watched her.
“I thought we agreed to keep this discreet and only engage through the proper channels,” she told him.
“I grow tired of waiting for an answer from your people. I decided to head straight to the source,” he growled.
Persephone sucked in a breath and closed her eyes. She hated that she was feeling like this. It made her look weak. “What would you like to know?” She opened her eyes and met his glare with one of her own.
“Where are we with the little witch?”
“She doesn’t know the information that we need.”
“And what is it exactly, that you are looking for? From what I remember, we were simply gaining knowledge of her weaknesses so that we could kill her. It’s what we felt was best to keep the factions separate.” Samuel knew that he was getting under Persephone’s skin, and he was enjoying every minute of it.
“I am well aware why you want to kill her. Yearly made your intentions known of how you think things should be done.”
“You don’t agree?” he snarled.
“I never said that.”
Samuel stood up from his chair, causing Persephone to get up quickly as well and keep her guard up. He continued to move closer to Persephone as she backed away.
“Samuel stay back. I’m warning you.”
Her warning didn’t stop him; he continued to move to her until she was pushed up against the door.
“Don’t,” she whispered.
Samuel was close to her, too close. Her scent had been driving him insane since he smelled her at his door. He placed his hand on the door behind her and leaned in close, wrapping his other hand around her neck.
“As I recall, you were all too happy to reject me when I admitted to you that you were my mate,” he growled in her ear.
Persephone gulped as she felt the pressure of his fingers against her skin. Never had she loved something so much and yet hated it at the same time. She was conflicted.
“It was you who rejected me first, as I recall,” she clarified.
Why? Why did he have to summon her here? Why did she not refuse? She had been able to keep her feelings locked up for over eighteen years. Of all the covens he could have asked to help him, why did he ask for hers?”
Samuel chuckled. “It doesn’t matter who said it first. It was mutual. We both knew that our families would have killed us if we choose to be together.”
She closed her eyes as she fought the tears and nodded. He was right. Neither side would have let them live or they would have been shunned by both families.
Samuel lowered his head and pressed it against Persephone’s for a moment. Valka’s was loving every minute of it.
Persephone raised her hands to his chest and pushed against him. It was like pushing against a wall. How she used to love being held against that chest. “Stop it, you wouldn’t want to make your Luna jealous by having another female’s scent on you.”
“She died, years ago,” he said with a sigh.
She looked at him for a moment, his dark chocolate eyes sinking into hers and melting the wall that she had put up to keep him out. “I’m sorry for your loss,” she whispered.
He pushed away from her and turned his back. “What about you? Did you ever settle down?”
Her eyes narrowed as her defensive wall thickened once again. “Only a drunken night to help me forget about you, and I got a handsome son from it, so it was worth it.”
He turned to look at her, his eyes filled with anger.
She looked back at him with the same anger and heat.
This was a mistake. She should’ve never come here. This opened a wound in her that she thought was forgotten years ago, but if she were honest, it was never truly forgotten or healed. She simply kept putting pieces of tape on it to keep it from reopening.
“I will let you know when we have found her weakness to killing her,” she said as she turned to leave.
“I hope you’re happy,” Samuel snarled as he walked back around his desk and sat back down behind it.
She closed her eyes for a moment as she gathered her nerve and turned just enough to look back. “No more than you are, with the choices you made.”
She walked out, slamming the door shut behind her.
Persephone let out a quick sigh, then lifted her chest and pulled her shoulders back, holding her head high. She walked defiantly down the hall and toward the front to leave this place behind her.
*****
There was a stir in the distance as Via furrowed her brows and started to stir. There was yelling and screaming; the fight was getting closer and closer to her.
What was happening?
A loud howl echoed through the halls.
Her heart stilled for a moment. Could it be?
When Vita looked up she saw a dark figure at the doorway.
He walked into the room, breathing heavily and covered in blood.
Vita’s heart raced as he got closer. “Deak,” she breathed out.
As he got closer he whispered, “My Vita.”
Fighting for my Mate
Mated to my Bully (Book 1)