The Lunar Destiny Series

Chapter 10

I was awakened by the sound of running water from the sink. I sat up in the bed and looked over to see Lio standing at the kitchen sink with a cup of water in his hand. He looked over at me and smiled; that smile a man gives a woman when he’s happy she’s the first one he sees in the morning.

“Good morning.” I said not sounding quite like myself.

“Actually, it would be ‘Good Afternoon’ sleepy head. It's fifteen minutes past noon.”

The embarrassment must have shown on my face because he laughed.

“It’s alright Astraia. I didn’t wake you up because I knew how tired you were. You don’t have to work today do you?”

I shook my head no.

“Good, you need a break. Would your boss agree to giving you a few days off?” He asked before taking a few sips of water.

I almost never took any days off; this would be the first time in a year actually.

“I’m sure he won’t mind. Why?” I said as I rubbed the little bits of eye crust from the corners of my eyes.

Lio set his now empty glass down on the counter and came over to the bed. He still hadn’t bothered putting any clothes on, but I was trying with an iron will not to be bothered by it.

“Because we need time away, remember? Why not start today?”

He said as he came to sit on the bed next to me. I almost moved back when he leaned in towards the left side of my neck. I started breathing a little slower when he pushed my hair back from my neck and began to softly nuzzle me. I felt his nose burrow into my hair just behind my ear and I listened to him inhale deeply. When he exhaled, his warm breath tickled my neck. I remembered Kyra greeting him in almost the exact same way. He then proceeded to gently nibble on the nape of my neck and I gasped. My body tightened in lower places with need and anticipation, it was more than I could bear.

Suddenly he stopped. I opened my eyes, slowly turning my head against his. Our foreheads and noses touched.

“…What was that for?” I asked, a little breathy.

“The greeting a wolf gives his lover or Teman Sejiwa.”

I opened my mouth to protest that ‘lover/Teman Sejiwa’ bit but he put his finger to my lips to stop me.

“I know you’re neither yet Astraia but I have a very good feeling about you. We’re making progress, please just go with it.” I sighed and slowly nodded, he took his finger away then.

“Is there anywhere special you want to go for our alone time?” He asked.

“My house, I miss it. Is that okay with you?”

Lio nodded yes and I smiled.

“I’m fine with that. I’ve already told the others that we might be taking off. They know what I expect of them while I’m gone. They’ll only call for emergencies.”

He’d been busy while I was comatose, I wasn’t sorry that I’d slept through that discussion. I’m sure Lisette was fuming about him being gone for days at a time with me, but I couldn’t care less. I was fed up with her attitude towards me at this point.

“Let me get dressed and we can go whenever you’re ready. What do you want for lunch?” He asked, rubbing my leg tentatively.

I shook my head no; I wanted to go home ASAP. I felt like this place was starting to close in on me.

“We can eat at my house; I’ll cook for you this time.” I said with a cheerful lilt to my voice. He smiled at me and nodded.

“Sounds good to me.”

Just as I thought the day would be off to a good start, Lisette came downstairs with a sense of urgency that let me know things were about to get ugly. The look in her eyes as she looked at the two of us sitting together was unnerving. She was wearing a lacey, spaghetti strap nightgown that was pastel blue. Her chocolate brown hair was pulled back into a hair clip but a strand of her pink highlighted hair hung down on the right side of her head. I could swear I saw a flicker of light in her green eyes.

“Just who the hell do you think you are huh!? Do you think I’m going to stand aside while you try to take my King!?” She yelled as she looked down at me.

Lisette was only a few feet away from the bed, so it wouldn’t take much for her to jump on me. Her fists were clenched and shaking, I didn’t know what was holding her back but she didn’t move towards me. My eyebrows furrowed at her. Before I could open my mouth to defend myself, Lio raised his arm in front of me and proceeded to get out of the bed. Even as Lio started to approach her, her hateful scowl stayed frozen on me.

I looked over at Lio to see his loving expression had faded into one of agitation.

“Lisette, you’re not only being disrespectful to my guest, but to me. Calm down.” He said each word slowly, almost as if he was trying to keep his own anger in check. She looked over at him in disbelief.

“Vasilios, what's gotten into you? She’s nothing but a lowly human! How can you ask me to show her any respect at all!? She’s not one of us!” She shouted that last bit at me.

I was now giving her a look just as distasteful. It was one thing to be jealous but talking down to me was another. I know I would be a fool to try to fight her; she’d kill me within seconds. But I’d be damned if I sat there in silence.

“Lowly? You’ve got a lot of f*****g nerve! I get that you’re jealous but that doesn’t give you the right to insult me. You don’t know s**t about me to stand there full of pride and look down on me!”

I watched her eyebrow raise and slightly twitch, I’d struck a nerve. It happened in a matter of seconds but Lisette tried to lunge at me. Lio had snatched her back by the arm just before she could do any real damage. I’d jumped back instinctively but I felt a stinging sensation on my shin. I looked down to see that she’d scratched me and drew blood. It wasn’t too deep but deep enough to make a decent bit of blood trickle from the wound. I looked up to see her breathing heavily, her nails had elongated. There was a low angry growl coming from Lio. His own claws had come out and was piercing her arm as he restrained her; but she was so angry the pain wasn’t registering.

“Lisette! Have you lost your mind!?”

She looked over at him.

“Have YOU? Do you know what you’re giving up if you choose her instead of one of us? What you’re risking!? Don’t make the same mistakes others have in the past.”

I frowned, wondering what she had meant by that. Why was she so against him having an interest in me besides her own personal reasons? My thoughts were interrupted when her eyes found me again.

“You’re lucky it was just a scratch, next time I’ll make sure your heart stops!”

I knew she meant what she said by the look in her eyes. If Lio hadn’t been here to stop her she’d have killed me without hesitation. The sounds of more footsteps came down the stairs, and I saw Naremi and Baltasar looking at the current scene with shocked eyes. They didn’t seem to want to approach the two of them and I didn’t blame them.

“We smelled blood, what the hell is going on?” Baltasar asked.

“Lisette has forgotten her place…”

Lio said this in a disturbingly dark tone that sounded nothing like him. He snatched his hand from Lisette’s arm and stared down at her. Lisette looked up at him, but at the same time she seemed unable to meet his eyes directly.

“Kneel.”

He put a heavy emphasis on the word which made Lisette look over in my direction, but not directly at me.

“Vasilios please, don’t shame me in this way.”

Her tone had changed to a very apologetic one. It was nothing like it was a moment ago.

“If you don’t do it willingly I will force you, though I’d rather not. It would be a lot less painful.”

Baltasar and Naremi looked at Lisette with pleading eyes but they still remained where they were.

“Come on Lisette, don't be prideful. He’s not asking, he's telling you.” Baltasar said.

“You can’t disobey him and you know it. Naremi said, sounding very sympathetic.

“I won’t apologize to her! I don’t care what happens to me!” Lisette suddenly shouted.

Naremi and Baltasar went up a few stairs, backing away. Lio’s eyes became illuminated and shined like brand new silver coins.

“Remember that I gave you a choice…”

The temperature in the room suddenly got hotter as if we were in a sauna. Lisette slowly looked up at Lio, but her body was shaking as if she was trying to resist his power. Small beads of sweat started to form on her forehead and I could see blood start to run from her nose. She fell to the floor on all fours in front of him, letting out a strained cry of agony. Whatever he was doing to her it was causing her an immense amount of pain.

“I beg your forgiveness my King…Please make it stop! Please! I’m sorry I hurt your human…”

Lisette cried over and over but it didn’t seem to appease Lio. She suddenly threw her head back and a scream tore from her mouth. Her eyes were fixed on him as if someone had pulled her head back and was holding it there.

“Her name, SAY IT!”

The growl in his voice had gotten more intense and he barely sounded human anymore. As I watched this I was mortified, I wasn’t mad at her anymore. I just wanted this to stop as much as she did.

“Lio, I think she’s sorry…” I said hesitantly.

If I could have crawled into a ball and disappeared in that moment I would have. Not moments ago she was trying to attack me and yet, watching Lio torture her was unbearable.

“I’m sorry I hurt Astraia! I’m sorry, my King!”

Lisette shouted through her pain.

Lio’s eyes slowly returned to normal and Lisette’s cries began to calm down. She lowered her head to the floor in front of him and stayed there trembling. Lio’s gaze fell to her trembling form, unremorseful.

“I hope you think before you act next time. Naremi, Baltasar, take her back upstairs. She’ll serve as a warning to the others who dare to question me…”

The two of them simply nodded and helped Lisette back upstairs. My brain wasn’t sure how to process what had just happened but I had a feeling it would only make things worse for me. Lio had wounded her pride on top of rejecting her. Since I was the cause, she would never forgive that. A heavy sigh came from him before he came back to the bed.

“I’m sorry you had to see such ugliness. Are you in any pain?” He said, looking down at my leg.

In the midst of all of the excitement I hadn’t given my leg any thought. The bleeding had slowed and started to dry but the sting was still there.

“I’d almost forgotten about it actually.”

I said reaching down towards it but as I did Lio pushed my hand away.

“I’ll take care of it. Come.” He said, giving me a come-hither motion with his middle and pointer fingers.

I turned to face him and scooted close enough to put my injured leg towards him. I watched him lay down on his stomach in front of me and hold onto my leg. I held onto the sheets, becoming nervous. I had no idea what he was about to do. He lowered his mouth to the wound and started to gently lick the split flesh. I winced each time he made contact with the cut.

“Ugh! Ouch! Lio what are you doing!?”

I asked, sounding slightly disgusted.

He stopped and looked up at me with impatient eyes.

“Look.”

I did as he asked and was amazed to see the wound starting to close up.

“What the…”

He ignored my shock and continued to lick the wound until it became a faint scar. Once he stopped he looked up at me as if waiting for something.

“Um, thank you. I didn’t know you could do that.”

He grinned then, showing his sharp canines.

“I’d rather be licking something else but…”

I rolled my eyes before he could finish his sentence and he started to laugh. “Alright chill out, or you’re going to make me change my mind about going away with you.”

Lio sat up as his laughter died down and groped my leg.

“I’m just teasing you to lighten the mood. Let’s get ready to go.” He said getting up from the bed.

I’d seen two different Lio’s within ten minutes. Part of me was telling me to run and don’t look back, but the other part wanted to give him a chance and then some. He was trouble; and not the good kind. Foolishly I wanted to dive in head first.