Arabella’s POV
The sound of the gunshot reverberated in the air.
I fell to my knees, Alpha Luciano following me, his hands intertwined with mine. The gun fell out of my grasp.
The moment I had taken the shot, I’d known he would take the gun from my hands in seconds so I pulled the trigger.
Blood coated my hands and I strangely wanted to laugh. Alpha Luciano looked at me like I’d lost my marbles. I guess I had laughed out loud. Finally, it would all end.
My vision swam and my body slumped almost hitting the ground but Alpha Luciano caught me, his hands were gentle or maybe the blood loss from a bullet in my thigh was already getting to me. It was a silver bullet after all.
I wanted to take the gun and finish the job but my hands shook and my limbs felt like wet noodles. If I could not kill him, I would rather die than follow him back.
“Crazy girl. I won’t let you die so easily.” His hand went to my wound and I thought he wanted to put pressure on it to reduce the bleeding.
Only, he dipped his hand into the bullet wound making me cry out in pain.
Locking gazes with me, he licked my blood off his index finger. “You are mine, Arabella. Mine. In every way possible. You can’t die without my permission.”
As my world went dark around the edges and images went fuzzy and indistinct, I couldn’t help but think that maybe he was onto something about me being crazy but he was even crazier than I was.
********
Alpha Luciano’s POV
I lifted Arabella up bridal style while yelling at the men to bring the car around.
She had passed out already despite my many threats for her to stay conscious.
It would take a while for the men to get the car. We’d parked far off so she wouldn’t suspect a thing.
I carried her to a spot and dropped her. I lifted the maid skirt she was wearing and saw the wound. The bullet was lodged deeply and the wound was spurting blood to the surface.
I took off my shirt and tore it into strips using it to wrap up the wound to place pressure on it. Wolf or not if she kept bleeding like this, I would lose her before we reached the pack house.
I tied the wound up tightly hoping it would be enough. It had to be.
I felt like slapping her awake but instead, I carried her in my arms placing pressure on her wound as we drove towards the pack house praying she would not die.
I didn’t know what it would do to my wolf and I was not willing to find out.
The doctors were already waiting when we reached the pack house.
I was impatient, desperate and uncomfortable. I felt like removing the damn bullet myself.
“She must survive, do you hear me?! If she dies, so do you.”
I sat outside the operation room, I paced, sat then paced some more.
The smile on her face when she realized she had shot herself eerily reminded me of an evening many years ago. Of the expression on my mother’s face as she ended her life.
Even if they saved her today, she would only continue to try to end her life. One day, she would succeed.
I had broken Arabella Bianchi.
Why wasn’t it as satisfying as it should have been?
Was this how hollow I would feel after killing Vitalio?
No, it would be different. I was only feeling this way because of the mate bond.
The door opened. I rushed to meet the doctor.
“How is she?”
“She won’t be able to walk for about a week even with her advanced healing, the bullet was lodged so deeply and close to–” The man in the glasses and weird lab coat was explaining when I cut him short.
“Doc, shut up and tell me if she’s alright or not.”
“She is fine. Just unconscious at the moment.”
He replied looking a bit chagrined.
I released a sigh of relief.
******
Arabella’s POV
I came to slowly. I saw people.
I closed my eyes, and when I opened them I saw Margaret at my bedside. She looked like she had been crying. She didn’t even notice my eyes were open.
“I’m so sorry, Arabella. I’m so sorry.”
I went under.
This time when I opened my eyes again, my mind and vision were clearer. And everywhere was white.
Okay not everywhere. The walls were white. The
bed sheets were a light blue and Alpha Luciano’s eyes were an electric blue.
I shut my eyes and opened them again. He was still there. Fuck.
“Welcome back, Arabella.”
“Have you been staring at me since I fell unconscious? Cause that’s weird even for you.” I said jokingly even though I was not feeling very playful. I wanted to cry, scream, wail but I would not give Alpha Luciano the pleasure of seeing me break.
“Arabella.”
I turned my stiff neck to look at him.
“What happened today will never happen again.”
I continued to stare at him.
“Do you know you almost died? Do you hate me so much that you would rather kill yourself than stay shackled to me?”
He seemed to get even more pissed by my blank stare.
“When I speak to you, I expect a response, Arabella.”
“What do you want from me, sir? Do you want me to lie to you, sir? Do you want me to tell you that I do not feel pain when my mate beats me, rapes me, humiliates me and treats me like I am worthless? Or would you rather I told you that I do not hate you with every fibre of my being for sparing me that first day?”
I glared at him with all the hate and resentment I could muster up.
“Rape? I have never raped you, Arabella. You have always been wet and ready for me.” He leaned in erasing the space between us. His hand went around my neck. He did not grip my neck, he just kept his hand there.
“I’ve barely touched you but you are responding already. Your heart rate just increased and your pupils are dilating.” Feeling his cool minty breath on my skin made me feel uncomfortably warm.
“When I do this,” His lips came down on my neck and I shuddered. He pulled back slightly and his eyes looked more silver than blue at that moment. “I can scent your arousal. Tell me, Arabella. Do you really feel I take you against your will or are you just scared to admit to yourself that you want me?”
My breath caught but I didn’t flinch away from his direct gaze. “We both know that it is the mate bond. I am not attracted to you in any way. I won’t ever be. You are a wicked, manipulative, sadistic man. I don’t know why the moon goddess paired us together and frankly I no longer care. I refuse to keep submitting to you.”
“So you would prefer to kill yourself instead?”
“If that is the only way I can escape you… yes.”
He pulled back and air flowed back into my lungs.
The truth was I didn’t know if it was the mate bond or the natural attraction between both of us. He was my first in almost every way. I didn’t have anything to compare this to so I knew it had to be because of the bond between us.
“I can not allow you to do that. You will not try to kill or harm yourself. You will not try to escape because if you do I will punish you severely. Today, I will let you off easy but I will not be this lenient again.”
Alpha Luciano stood up to leave.
“I refuse.”
He paused.
“I will not follow your orders. What will you do? Kill me? Hurt me? Beat me?”
He turned to look at me surprised. This was the first time I was outright combative with him. Alpha Luciano must have thought because I was going along with everything that I couldn’t possibly defy him. Ha.
I had followed his directives only because I thought I still had a chance of escaping him. Now, that hope was shattered and gone. I knew for a fact now that unless something extraordinary happened, I would be stuck here. He would be watching me more intently now than ever before.
There was no need to pretend, cower or hide who I was.
“Except you accede to my demands.” I added.
He narrowed his eyes suspiciously at me. “And that would be?”
“I want to be able to choose when you are allowed to touch me. Let me rephrase that. You will not touch me without my permission. If you don’t agree, then I will do whatever I please.”