BRIDE OF MY ENEMY

THE PRICE OF PACK INHERITANCE

Chapter 3 - The Price of Pack Inheritance.

Anya's pov

I ran out of my bedroom, still holding the flier in my hand. My blood was boiling and I could not have Luca ignore me any more. Well, he might play these games, but I was not going to keep quiet.

I had a glimpse of him as he went down the grand staircase, each step taken with a purpose, with calmness, with indifference. He was as cool as though the events of the night had not just occurred, as though his bullets had not killed my mate few hours before. I had a feeling of fear, anger, and disbelief in my stomach.

"Hey!" I screamed and shook the flier before him. "What the hell does this mean?"

He stopped half-way, and looked at me for a moment, and went on. No answer. No acknowledgment. My pulse quickened. "I asked you a question!" I screamed, and went down the stairs after him, my voice cracking in frustration.

"Answer me!"

At last he arrived at the bottom, and turned around and looked at me with that cold stare of his. “You would be killed the very first moment you are not with me,” he said carelessly, as though it were the most natural thing in the world.

I froze. My head was whirling, in an attempt to figure out. "Killed? What... what do you mean? Who would...? Why would anyone--?" My speech was interrupted, with fear on each syllable.

He gave a low chuckle, sarcastic and sharp. “I am not the only one that Viktor offended,” he said. “There are people who do not think about morals or consequences, unlike him. And there are people out there who will not hesitate to cleanse your fingers of its flesh should it mean they’re getting their own back on Viktor. Since he is no longer in the scene, and you are the only beneficiary of his property, you have become, as we say, a hot cake and everyone wants a slice…or the whole cake.”

I choked and my hands shook as I held the flier. “So... you will not kill me yet because... why? You want the money? Is that what you want to marry me? For the inheritance?"

Then he laughed, a quick sharp laugh which made me shiver. “Do not insult me,” he said, nearly amused. “I would spend twice the net worth of Viktor on a keychain and not feel a shift in one of my accounts. Money... is not why I want you."

I looked at him, and scrutinized him with a kind of bewilderment and incredulity. "Then... why?" I insisted, and my voice shook, yet it rose. "Why me? Why now?"

He came nearer, and the authority that rested in his presence oppressed me, and I could scarcely breathe. “I like you, because I like you, he said. "I want to marry you. And since you are now single..."

He left the words suspended there, almost intentionally. "I do not want to waste time. I would like to marry you, have you my mate and I will swear you, like I will not be like Viktor, I will be a good mate and I will worship you and I will protect you and I will not have you in the way of danger. I shall bow down upon the very soil you tread and worship the ground you walk on, but...first say yes and be my mate, Anya.”

My hands were clenched into fists as I listened to him speak.

“You are a sick man you know that!” I hissed.

"Will you marry me?" He inquired, whatever I had just said being disregarded.

The attitude of his made me tremble in my voice, and then broke into anger. "No! No, I will never marry you!" I screamed, and my whole body trembled with anger and fright. "I've been mated before! To a monster! Your predecessor--my last mate--he beat me, cheated me, mentally, physically... sexually! And he had sworn me everything that you just said! And now... now you want to marry me? After everything?"

I threw the flier down on a table beside me, and looked at him with blazing eyes and tears that I was not going to cry. "I will never... ever... marry you!" I screamed, every word was followed by anger and fear. So, turning on my heel, I rushed back to my room, my heart racing, my body tired and yet not able to relax.

As soon as I got inside, I sank on the bed and buried my face in my hands. It was the struggle of tears that I had struggled to keep back, but then my chest heaved and tears flowed down. I felt trapped, suffocated. It was not a series of horrors as my life had always been, but this was different. It was no longer about surviving in the dark world which Viktor had brought me to. That was surviving Luca, the man who killed my mate, brought me to his mansion, and now, apparently, wanted me to be his mate. This was the survival of the dumb choices of Viktor.

I did not know how to digest any of it. My mind tumbled about seeking answers. How do I escape? I thought. What shall I do to get out of this place and not die? All the possible exits seemed to be traps, any plan that I could think of led to blood. I was in chains, not in the stocks. Fear, and doubt, and an unknown man, had got me in a trap.

I drew my knees up to me and rocked a little, talking to myself, attempting to make it out. "What... what do I do?"

The question was hanging there in the air, not answered, and full of terror and powerlessness. I did not know the slightest thing. My life was torn to shreds and I was completely powerless, not only with Viktor, but with the man who came to replace him.

"What do I do?" I said it again, and the words sounded faintly in the silent, threatening mansion.