Wrath's Genesis

Chapter Twenty

He was fast.

Faster than I anticipated him to be but I kept up. I pushed myself to go harder, faster, ignoring every other thing around me. He was the only person I could focus on. The only person who had the answers to my questions.

He knew where Noah was. He was the missing piece of the puzzle and I would channel all of my high school PE classes and occasional morning jogs to catch him.

The marble floor was cold against my bare feet that slapped harshly against it as I took off down the hotel hallways. Guests were stunned, watching us in absolute surprise.

Hotel staff tried to intervene, to stop him, but all were met with shoves and threats of violence as he zig-zagged his way through the scattered group of people.

“Emilia, goddammit! Stop!”

Soren seethed from somewhere behind me but I did not care. Could not care. My war with him would have to wait until I latched onto this one, important clue.

The side walk was cold beneath me as we burst through the doors and appeared at the entrance. The valets, who had been busy parking luxury cars, all turned to face the commotion that had now emerged into the side walk.

“Stop! I’m not trying to hurt you. I just want to talk!”

I shouted, swiftly approaching the man who seemed more than ready to jump into one of the recently vacated vehicles.

I can’t let him get into a car. He’s going to get away and we will never see him again.

The thought made my insides quake and my body push itself to levels I had not reached in a long time.

No sooner had he grabbed a key from a struggling valet than I had slid over the bonnet of his getaway car and side stepped the defeated valet who went crashing to the ground after a hard punch to the face.

We met head on, our gazes latching onto each other as we assessed the other’s next move. He was clearly ready to do anything he can to get away.

And I am going to do everything I can to thwart that plan...

“Leave me alone! Stop following me, goddammit!”

He shouted, anger lacing his voice as he took a threatening step towards me. I held my ground, refusing to give an inch as I also glared directly at him.

“Not until you tell me where the hell you took my best friend! You were the last person who saw him! Where is he?!”

I equally shouted back, frustration and anger filling me as all the pent up emotions that lurked within me, ever watchful, came to the fore. I now had someone to explode on other than my infuriating, emotionless husband.

“You’re playing with fire and you just thrust yourself into the middle of a battle. Now you will experience the consequence of not listening to me!”

The man seethed, looking nothing like the handsome man who had approached Noah.

My best friend had seemed enamoured, enough to leave me and dance with him whereas he always made sure to dance with other people in an area where he could still easily see Ash and I.

He was protective, loving and so precious to us. I won’t stop until he’s back home with us, right where he belongs...

I watched the man closely, my muscle memory coming to life instantly as I watched him clench his fists and throw a punch. It was a swift, right hook that would have disoriented me indeed had I not acted quick and ducked.

Stepping back, I prepared to retaliate when he was disoriented but I never got the chance. Instead, the fight within me was gone and replaced with fear as a familiar growl ripped through the air.

“How dare you try to attack my wife?!”

Soren seethed, barrelling and tackling my assailant down in a move that would have been NFL worthy indeed. The two crashed to the ground with my infuriated husband who didn’t give him the chance to recover.

No, he was landing punches and blows that were certainly enough to cause unspeakable damage.

It was a gruesome sight that paralysed me momentarily before memories of every single person who had either tried to hurt me or looked at me wrong came to fore.

He’s going to kill him with his bare hands...

The realisation was like a punch to the gut, my body catching up and instantly moving me towards the wild, unhinged man I had married.

“Soren! Stop! I’m here, I’m fine! Please don’t kill him. He’s the only lead we have!”

I didn’t realize I was sobbing until the wetness on my cheeks landed on the bare skin of my chest. I was scared, deep down. Petrified because I knew him. I knew what he was capable of.

And I wasn’t sure he would listen to me...

“For me, Soren...just this once, please...”

Although my words were not as loud, he heard me. And as quickly as he had been on the bloodied man on the floor, he was standing in front of me, his wild gaze assessing me from head to toe.

“f*****g hell, Emilia! You infuriate me so f*****g much. You’re stubborn as a mule, never listen and that smart f*****g mouth of yours!...I want to fill it with my c*ck every time you get smart with me. I want to f*ck that attitude right out of you so bad. I want to punish you, mould you into my good girl, following every single one of my orders. Begging me to praise you whenever you do something that pleases me...”

He seethed right in my face, his bloody hands wrapping so tight around my waist, it was painful. He eased up at my wince, though, choosing instead to lift me into his arms.

A small gasp escaped me, my body unprepared for the sudden action as I wrapped my legs around his waist for support. He was as unpredictable as always, more so now as he rested his forehead against my own.

“And yet seeing you cry is breaking me...I am undone when it comes to you. Laid to waste. Fuck...I’m sorry, malenkiy’zayka. Don’t cry. I promise he won’t die tonight. He will talk. I will make him tell us everything. Just, please don’t cry anymore.”

He whispered, promised against my lips as our eyes held onto each other. I knew he meant it. I could see it in his gaze that was no longer guarded but showcasing me everything I needed to believe him.

It was rare moment of absolute truth from him that took my breath away.

But nothing quite stole it like his kiss. One bloody hand wrapped around my ponytail, twice, to hold me in place while the other held my waist possessively, I was lost in him.

Lost in the intensity of his embrace and the passion in his kiss. Tongues tussled, bodies hot, we were in our own bubble. Oblivious of the groaning man beside us or the crowd that had gathered to watch the spectacle and was now being directed away from the scene by two of our guards.

I pressed my chest against his, squeezing my breasts onto him. He groaned, clearly loving the soft, warmth of my body on his own. I wrapped my hands around his neck, urging him on. Losing myself in our kiss.

Whiskey and Soren had never tasted so f*****g good.

He kissed my tears away, the saltiness leaking onto my own tongue that wrapped around his.

It was only when a throat was cleared close by that we broke away. That I realized what I had done and what everyone had just witnessed.

Holy fuck...I let myself go. I got lost in him and was literally about to let him do unspeakable things to my body.

My skin flushed, hot and embarrassed from what I had done but Soren was unperturbed. On the contrary, he seemed ready to ignore his guard who seemed to want to be anywhere but under Soren’s angry glare.

“You better have a good f*****g reason for interrupting us, or I just might have to rip your vocal chords out.”

Soren’s voice was calm despite the threat laced underneath that the guard and I knew to not be empty. He meant it.

And so I silently prayed for the man to whoever was listening.

“The hotel manager and staff are asking questions. Should we handle them like we usually do or should we take a different approach? Also, we have taken the man back to my room for questioning.”

I glanced to where he had been, now realising that the man was, indeed, gone.

Christ...just how out of it was I not to notice a whole man being dragged away?...

“I’ll handle the hotel staff. Treat our ‘guest’s’ wounds in the time being. He must not die. He has been proffered mercy by my wife and I intend to keep my promise to her.”

His gaze was on me, his expression guarded once more despite the vivid look he gave me. Too aware of both men staring at me, I prompted Soren to set me down to which he did without complaint before turning to the guard in question.

“Well, let’s go treat and question him then.”

I stated, my words met by a chuckle from my husband who simply shook his head at me.

“You are going to go to bed. I am going to handle the questioning. I will relay any new information that he gives us. You have my word.”

I was pissed off. He was keeping me out of the investigation after bringing me the entire way? After I identified the guy?!

“I don’t want your f*****g word! I want to be there, in the room! Now why can’t I?!”

“Well, I don’t want to speak for the guy but you literally chased him through the hotel lobby and got him captured. I doubt he wants to talk to you.”

Soren was smug, clearly enjoying himself a little too much and the sight made me want to rip his face off.

“And you’re any better??! You f*****g tackled him to the ground like you were in the damn super bowl and went to town on his face! If there is anyone he would want to see then it’s definitely you! The guy that beat the s**t out of him!”

I reasoned but my words were met with nothing but a simple shrug and wave of the hand.

“Go get some rest, moya zhenschina. You need it after the day you’ve had. I’ll see you a little later.”

I was blazing hot mad now and certainly angling to murder my infuriating husband. And so, without thinking twice, I grabbed the military knife holsters on the guard’s waist.

It was big, like the one he had used on me on our wedding night. The symbolism made me grin like a mad woman as I launched onto my unsuspecting husband before his bodyguard could react.

Soren’s instincts were, however, inhuman as he instantly dodged my advance and crouched low, preparing for the next.

He wasn’t angry. No, he was excited, going as far as to tell his guard to stand down as we circled each other.

“Have I really infuriated you so much, you want to kill me?”

He was smirking, clearly enjoying my assault even as I glared at him and worked out the best way to attack. I had handled knives before but the reality of this particular fight made me hesitate.

Remember your mission...End him and get your freedom...

It was a last ditched attempt at psyching myself up but it worked...well, up until it didn’t.

Soren lurched towards me first, trying to use my distracted state to steal the knife back but my mind was not clouded like he thought it was. And so I side stepped him before slashing at his arm to see if I could get something. The fabric of his turtleneck ripped at the assault but that was all there was to my attack.

He, on the other hand, managed to wrap one of his arms tightly around my neck, the other disarming me and throwing the knife a distance way from us.

“Two times you’ve tried to kill me. And two times you’ve failed. It seems your threats were more empty than I thought. I don’t mind, though. Because every single time you fail, you owe me something. A kind of payback to motivate you to work harder and smarter.”

I blanched, seizing the struggle I was putting up to escape his hold as I let his words sink in. He sounded too smug to be bluffing.

“What the hell are you talking about? I don’t owe you anything.”

I declared firmly, earning myself a chuckle in response as he leaned a little closer to my ear.

“Oh, but you do, malyshka. You let your emotions control you and you signed the contract without reading it. And now, you have not only sold your soul to me but have granted me full access to do whatever I want, whenever I want, to you.”

His grin was not sinister. No, he was enjoying himself. Enjoying my shock as I comprehended the incredible mistake I had made.

How could I not have read the damn contract, especially when dealing with the f*****g devil himself?

“I won’t give you what you want, Soren. I’ll die before I become yours in that way.”

I declared firmly, my words doing nothing to falter his smirk or expression. He was too much in bliss to care really and that made me all the more pissed the hell off.

“I really f*****g hate you.”

I declared, meaning it with every fibre of my being. He was not on the list of people I detested. No, Soren Alexander deserved his own damn list and it was filled with the dark desire to end his existence.

My husband was unperturbed, a smile on his lips that was more genuine than the smirk he’d had plastered on before. We watched each other, my glare to his amused gaze.

Before I could comprehend what he was doing, his hand had wrapped around my neck and pulled me gently right into his personal space. It seemed to be one of his favourite things to do, to control me and own me. It did things to me and that was no different this time as I steeled myself to keep my resolve.

Don’t get turned on, Emilia! Not for him. Not anymore.

But my body refused to function and I couldn’t blame it when his lips were so close to mine now, his stormy eyes holding me in place.

His breath brushed across my lips as he spoke to me, his words ruining me as my panties soaked in response.

“I look forward to bending you over and pounding that lie right out of you, malenkiy'zayka.”

And then he was gone.

He left me in a puddle of my own arousal with a fast beating heart and an urge to hurl myself in front of a moving car for being so damn weak when it comes to him...

***