Fighting Darius

I agree to meet up with Cece at a cafe near the campus at five.

I drop my phone on the mat and turn to look at the moody Prince. What has gotten into him lately?

He is now facing the punching bag as if it was his opponent.

Circling it and throwing punches without really touching it. He must’ve been in here for a while. He’s only wearing a pair of loose workout pants. His bare chest is rising and falling and is glistening wet with sweat. There’s sweat dripping from the tips of his tousled golden hair. He’s looking really focused.

“I told you Beany. Stop eye-raping me. I’m not just a gorgeous looking piece of ass, you know,” he says without taking his eyes off the punching bag. “I’m feeling very violated right now.”

Seriously??? I feel my mouth drops to the floor.

“Aaarrggghhhhh!!!!!!” I charge at him with a loud war cry. Him turning is the last thing I see before he grabs my wrist. A flurry of movement and whooshing of air in my ears, then I’m flat on my back. Good thing that the floor on this part of the gym is covered with the martial art mats. It still hurts, though.

Caspian straddles my chest while his hand holds my hands captive over my head.

“Really? I thought you’re my star student,” says Caspian, shaking his head, looking down at me as if I’m a

disappointment. “You don’t yell like a banshee before you attack anybody Beany,” he admonishes me.

“I wasn’t planning on attacking. I just wanted to kick you in the nuts,” I inform him. “What do you mean I’m your star student?

I’m the ONLY student you have. You’re crappy….” Oh, wait! I want to ask him a favor, aggravating him wouldn’t get me anywhere. I need to butter him up. “I mean you’re a great teacher…yeah.”

He lets go of my hands and stands up. He then offers me his hand to help me up without saying anything else.

Hmmm…something is really up with this Prince. Normally, he wouldn’t let me go without making crude comments or random crappy pickup lines he thought as funny.

Anyway, back to my plans, butter him up. Right.

“So….are you thirsty? Would you like something to drink?” I ask him. “Here, you can take mine. I haven’t drunk from it yet.”

He stops and looks at me warily. His eyes narrowing as he stares suspiciously at the water bottle I’m offering him.

“I have my own water bottle, thanks,” he says, still watching me suspiciously.

Oh, for goodness sake! Can’t I be nice without anybody looking at me like I was plotting their murder or having ulterior motives? Well, okay, so I do have an ulterior motive this time, but still…

“It’s not poisoned, you know,” I tell him exasperatedly.

“Yeah, I know, but I have my own water bottle,” he says. As if to prove his point, he picks up his water bottle, unscrewed the lid and starts drinking from it.

“Everything’s okay with you?” I ask him, uncapping my water bottle and start drinking from it.

“Yeah, great,” he says. Is it just me or does he sound very sarcastic?

“Is there anything I can do for you? Do you need—”

“Beany?”

“Yes?”

“The answer is no.”

“What do you mean no?” I scoff.

“The answer is no. No, you’re not going to Russia.”

“What??? How did you…I didn’t even…I wasn’t… What???” I stammer. “Why not???”

“It’s dangerous, Beany,” he sighs wearily. “Look, Darius cares about you very much. He’s willing to give up his life for you if he had to. You can grovel, throw tantrum, or pull tricks as much as you want, but I’m not about to let you get yourself killed.

“Oh, by the way, Constantine and Lazarus aren’t going to let you go either. I suggest you won’t try anything funny with them because you would be wasting your time. It’s not going to work.

There’s no way we’re going to let your annoying little ass get hurt or killed.”

That’s not the answer that I want. A common she-wolf like me really can’t get anywhere near the Banehallow Palace or a Royal Lycan Army top officer without the help of the lycan Prince like Caspian or any of my lycan friends. The secret of our government is very well protected. The security for the royalties and lycan head warriors are very tight. The king and the queen might know me, but their security people don’t. I’d be very lucky to touch the gate of the palace or catch a glimpse of Darius if I just showed up there. Asking for an audience with the king and queen by someone like me would be like asking for an audience with the queen of England by anyone on the street. The guards and the servants might die laughing if I just walk up and demand to be seen by the king.

“I don’t want him to give up his life for me,” I stick my chin up stubbornly. I try to think of anything to say to get him to change his mind but come up with nothing.

“You suck!” I declare finally.

“Oh, I do more than suck, baby,” replies Caspian with a wink.

“Arghhh!!!Stop!!! Why? Why do you have to say such a thing, you perv?” I tell him. “I do not need such visual in my head!”

Caspian laughs. His big muscular body shakes uncontrollably.

He tries to say something, but he’s wheezing too much to even make sense. Pervert! I leave the room before he gets the chance to say something as equally moronic again.

So, they won’t help me go to Russia. That pisses me off.

“We’re doing this for your own good!” he yells from inside the gym as I stomp out indignantly.

Ughh!!! Next stop, shower. I’m very sweaty and need to shower. Badly. My hair is wet and sticking to my neck and my cheeks. My body, especially my knuckles are sore.

Well, I’m not giving up that easily. Time for a new plan. He mentioned that Constantine and Lazarus wouldn’t help me get to Russia. He didn’t say anything about Genesis or Serena.

The shower put me in a better mood. I put on a pair of denim shorts, a white crop top and a pair of white Vans. Time to go looking for Genesis.

I found Genesis in the painting studio. Painting a real painting!

Well, actually she’s lying upside down on a sofa, staring at her painting that’s sitting on the easel.

“What are you doing?” I ask her. Maybe it’s not a good idea to ask.

“Looking at my painting from a different angle,” she answers.

“Why didn’t you just turn the painting upside down instead?” I ask, tilting my head to see what she’s seeing.

I think it’s a painting of Serena, Caspian and me lying on the loungers, viewed from underneath the water of the swimming pool. Ripples of water, obscuring our faces. There are blurring palm trees and blue sky with soft pinkish cotton candy clouds in the background.

It’s kinda strange, yet beautiful like her other paintings.

“I can spot the flaw in perspective better this way,” she says.

O-kaaayy….I really shouldn’t have asked.

“Do you know what’s eating his royal highness Prince

Caspian?” I ask her as I plonk myself next to her on the sofa.

For a few seconds, she just stares at the painting with her eyes narrowed and eyebrows scrunched together.

“Seriously, what’s going on with him?” I ask her again. It feels kinda weird to be talking to a person who sitting upside down with her head dangling down the seat.

“Apart from dealing with his possessiveness over you leaving, he thinks he saw his erasthai,” she says.

“Really? How can he thinks he saw her? Either he did or he didn’t. Which one is it? What is she? A werewolf? A faery? A lycan?”

“Too fast. He thinks she’s a human, but he can’t be sure. She’s too fast.”

“Too fast?”

“Yeah, she ran away from him,” she answers.

“She ran away?” I think I’m resembling a parrot now, repeating Genesis’s every word.

“But..but…but girls never run away from Caspian.” They usually run TOWARDS the arrogant bratty Prince. What’s going on here? Oh, this should be good.

“Yeah, I know,” says Genesis knowingly, her grin widens. “I’m already loving her.”

“If she’s a human how can she outrun a lycan?”

Genesis attempts to shrug her shoulders, but she tumbles down the sofa headfirst. “Owww…I think I broke my butt.”

I roll my eyes and help her up. How many times could a person break her butt?

“Why didn’t he tell me?” I ask her.

She rubs her butt a few times before she sits next to me…the right way, like a normal person this time.

“I don’t know. Maybe he thinks that you’re dealing with too much already.”

“Dealing with too much??? Too much? I don’t know what the heck I’m dealing with, Genesis! Nobody tells me anything!”

“I know right?” she suddenly turns her whole body to face me.

“They wouldn’t tell me anything either! I hate it when Constantine keeps things from me. Doesn’t he trust me? ME!

His own mate.”

“I know what you mean,” I tell her. “Darius wouldn’t let me come with him to Russia. He wouldn’t tell me anything either.

It’s driving me crazy. He said it’s not safe for me. Don’t you think if it concerns me, I have the right to at least know about it?”

“I was so ticked off with Constantine yesterday, but it’s hard to stay mad at him,” confesses Genesis.

I wonder if it’s a good idea to ask her what Constantine did that makes it hard for her to stay mad at him.

“What do you think it is? Do you think it has something to do with what happened to you before? Do you think that somehow it’s connected with what happened to you?” I ask her instead.

“I don’t know, but I know that whatever it is, it’s big.”

“And dangerous,” I add. “Genesis…I need your help. I need to go to Russia. I need to be where he is.”

“Oh, no. No, no, no…you said it yourself that it’s dangerous.

You’re not going anywhere near where you can get killed, Penny,” says Genesis, looking alarmed. “Besides, Darius would be furious!”

“Who cares if he’s furious!”

“Well, I do! Darius is tough and scary…and fierce. He’s one of the best warriors! Doesn’t he scare you? I’ve seen him in action once. Believe me, you don’t want to get on his bad side.”

Scare me? He is tough, but I’ve seen the side of him that’s vulnerable and as soft as a teddy bear. He can’t even stand the sight of my tears!

“Pfftt…he’s not that scary. He’s really adorable.”

“Adorable???? Darius?” Genesis is gaping at me. “Seriously, did you just use the word adorable and Darius in the same

sentence?”

“Well…yeah. There are times when I’d like to kick his balls, but he’s really sweet…at times.”

“Sweet?” she is almost shrieking. “I guess it’s good that you think he’s sweet and adorable since he’s your erasthai,” she says after a while, still looking very skeptical.

“Well, he is!” I insist.

“Love makes you blind,” she sighs.

I huff indignantly. It’s not my fault that she can’t see how sweet, adorable and vulnerable he is.

“Well, are you helping me or not? You know I wouldn’t be able to get anywhere near him without your help.”

“Not. I’m sorry Penny,” she says. “I’d die if anything happens to you. Nope, you’re not going.”

“If it’s Constantine who’s out there, would you sit here quietly waiting even when you know he might not come back for you?”

I ask her. She opens her mouth to answer me, then pause to think and closed her mouth back again.

“Hah!!!” I say triumphantly. “Besides, you know very well that I would still go even without your help…though I might get

stranded somewhere and die of starvation and loneliness, or worse, get eaten by hungry hyenas in a foreign land— ”

“Oh, for the love of fuzzy slippers, Penny!!! Why’d you have to be so stubborn?” she wails. “I understand your point. Believe me, I do. If it’s Constantine, I wouldn’t be sitting here, doing nothing either, but I really can’t help you even if I want to.”

Cuddly bunnies and fuzzy slippers are equivalent to cursing and swearing in Genesis’s sweet little world. She uses it when she reaches the end of her tether.

“They might’ve alerted the airport security to make sure that you don’t fly out of the country. If you tried to leave, they’ll just handcuff you and drag you back home,” she says.

What??? They’re very serious about keeping me away from Russia…and from Darius.

“And you’re a werewolf for goodness sake. Why would you let hyenas eat you?” I hear her yell as I stomp away the second time today.

Darn it! There goes my plan A and plan B. I don’t have a plan C. Well, okay…so I don’t really have any plans. I made things up as I went and now I’m out of ideas.

I could try to sneak through the airport and fly to Russia, but I really don’t want to get eaten by the Hyenas. It could happen since I have no means of getting to Darius or the palace.

I make my way into Darius’s room. I’m glad I told the cleaning lady not to clean the room or change the bedsheet. The whole

room still smells of him. I curl up on the bed, soaking in his scent.

On an impulse, I bring out my phone, find his number and type, ” I miss you.” and hit send. I don’t know if he’d ever see that message. I was told that the line is not secure and he won’t be using it in Russia.

So my plans didn’t work out. Now what? This is crazy. Why can’t we be together now? Why do I have to wait? If I can’t go to him, maybe I can make him come to me? How?

I fall asleep in his bed, surrounded by his scent. I open my eyes, look at the time and jump. It’s less than ten minutes to five. I agreed to meet Cece at the cafe around five. Regular drive there takes twenty minutes.

I dive into the bathroom and brush my teeth. I pull my hair up into a messy bun while running down the stairs, then grab Caspian’s Porsche’s key fob, out the door, jump into the car and drive like a maniac.

The tires screech as I pull the car into a halt right in front of the building. A few people turn to look. I bet I look like a deranged maniac.

Cece is one of those people who is standing at the curb to stare at me when I jump out of the car.

“I thought you weren’t going to show,” she says. “I was about to leave.”

“Well, sorry I’m late,” I apologize. “But, I’m here now.”

“Let’s go to the park, there are too many people here,” she suggests. “It’s just a couple of blocks away from here.”

It’s an awkward walk to the park. I think she doesn’t know what to say and I don’t feel like making small talk.

She motions me to sit on a bench near a tree when we reach the park. I don’t plan to stay for long. I prefer to stand, so I lean against the tree and she takes the seat.

She’s wearing a long blue sundress today with white sandals.

She’s still wearing a lot of bangles and long necklaces. Her hair is in a ponytail.

She seems to be assessing my appearance just as I’m assessing hers. I should probably dressed better, but I didn’t have time.

Besides, I don’t think I really need to impress her.

“So, anyway…this is kinda awkward,” she says.

“Yeah.” No kidding.

“I didn’t invite you here to start a fight or anything, Penny. I just want to talk.”

Uhuh..I’m not a big fan of talking to some people’s ex-girlfriends.

“I had a talk with Matthew last night,” she says. “I know he still loves me.”

“And you’re telling me this because…?”

“I just want you to know about this. I don’t want you to get hurt.”

Oh, my goddess!!! I burst out laughing. I can’t help it. “How very kind of you,” I tell her.

Her face turns red. “I’m sorry you find this funny.”

“You should be,” I say. “You know what I really think, though, Cece? I think you’re feeling threatened by me.”

“I did not!” she huffs. “We’ve been together for a very long time, Matthew and I. He always comes running back to me.

Always.”

“You’ve been together for a long time, but yours isn’t the healthiest relationship I’ve seen. You’re always breaking up.

What if he doesn’t come running back to you this time, Cece?

What if he comes crawling to me instead?”

All of a sudden she bursts out crying. A strange breathy high pitched sound that reminds me of the sound of hyenas comes out of her mouth. Well, okay…so I’m not sure how hyenas sound like, but close enough. I glance around quickly to make sure that no one is looking.

Gah!!!! Is today my bad luck day or something? I should’ve consulted the stars before stepping out of the bedroom. Maybe I should’ve just stayed in bed all day today. Nothing is going my way today. Nothing!Content (C) Nôv/elDra/ma.Org.

Now I feel like sobbing alongside this strange woman.