Chapter 23 23
Chapter 23 – Confusion
“When are you going to tell her?” Odessa asked me as we walked along the bank of a flowing creek.
“Tonight, at dinner,” I replied.
The conversation with Elder Kadmus gave me a lot to think about. Giota was my sister, she had practically adopted Thea. They needed me, the pack needed me. Odessa was meant to be my Luna, to help this pack thrive. We walked in silence for a while before she spoke again.
“The pack lands are so beautiful.”
“Thank you. So are the lands at Olympus Blood Moon.” I replied.
“It feels strange, walking through here and knowing my mother grew up here. To know my ancestors roamed through this territory.”
“I know the feeling, it’s the same for me every time I visit Zeus’ Howlers.” A soft smile formed on her face, and I couldn’t draw my eyes away from her. She wore a wine colored top that looked amazing against her skin tone and a long black skirt that flowed with the breeze. She’s the embodiment of a beautiful Greek Goddess. Beyond her beauty was a warm and kind heart, a little feisty maybe, but genuine.
“She’s amazing,” Haze reminded me.
“Is that a pomegranate tree?” She pointed to a tree full of deliciously ripe fruit and I nodded my head. “Why are there so many fruit and nut trees scattered randomly throughout the territory?”
“It’s an old pack tradition. Trees are planted every time a pack elder reaches one hundred years of age. The elder picks a tree of their choice,
sometimes it’s an oak, or cypress, or evergreen, and other times it’s a fruit or nut tree. The trees remain long after they have passed and continue to provide nourishment and oxygen.”
“That’s a great tradition,” she smiled. It was and one I’d be sure to continue. Memories as a pup came flooding back to me, climbing on trees and snacking on the various fruits and nuts.
“Can we pick some pomegranates?” She eyed the fruit.
“Anything mate wants,” Haze was eager to indulge her every desire.
We moved to the tree, and I lowered a branch with ripe dark red skins. She picked two, one in each hand, and looked around for something to put them in. Her eyes looked down, considering her long black skirt for a moment before she reached down and grabbed the hem. Determined to harvest more, she lifted the skirt halfway up exposing the lower half of her legs. I helped her pick a few more and she dropped them into the makeshift pouch of her skirt.
“That should be good. Thank you.” I released the branch and looked at her harvest, she had eight big pomegranates.
Odessa pulled the skirt a little higher in an attempt to keep all the pomegranates from falling. One rolled out from the side and dropped beside her foot. I knelt before her and reached for the fruit when my eyes locked on her exposed legs. With one hand around the fallen fruit, I reached the other around the back of her calf. I could feel the shiver of excitement under my touch.
Her olive soft flesh called to me, and before I knew it, I kissed the insides of her knees. A soft gasp left her beautiful lips and I kissed again. She clutched her skirt tighter to her body, exposing more of her thighs. I trailed my lips over her skin and kissed a little higher. She released a soft moan, stirring my need for her. My hand traveled up the back of her thigh, caressing her and sending jolts of electricity through both of us.
“Pull it up a little more,” I commanded, and she did.
“Good girl,” I hummed. I was kneeling at her feet, dying for a taste of her again. My eyes locked in on her lavender colored panties and I leaned forward to press a kiss over the top. She sucked in a sharp breath of air, and I continued to tease her, tracing my tongue over the wet spot that clung to her core.
She let out a shaky breath and parted her legs. Fuck yes! I was going to enjoy her sweet surrender. I hooked my finger through her panties and pulled them to the side, exposing her glistening lips. With her sweet scent seducing me, I dove in and licked her wet folds. I continued to lap at her gently, teasing, testing her reaction. I was rewarded with another sweet moan.
Odessa rocked her hips, desperate for more contact with my mouth, silently demanding more. I smirked and proceeded with more aggressive and satisfying licks, sucks, and nibbles. The more she tried to stifle her sounds the harder I sucked. I continued to delve my tongue into her opening and back up to her clit, tasting her.
My hands traveled up the back of her thighs, and I took my time cupping her ass. I caressed each cheek knowing I would soon get the chance to spank her ass red. Training her would be the triumph of my life. I moved both hands higher and hooked them around her hips, pulling her down to my mouth firmly. There was no escaping my hungry mouth as I held her tight and sucked harder.
Her legs started shaking and I knew she was close. Odessa was mine, all mine. I closed my lips around her clit and tipped her over the edge. She cried out in wild abandoned passion and rocked her hips as she throbbed on my tongue. The hem of her skirt dropped, cloaking me in darkness as the pomegranates rolled to the floor.
We entered the pack house, each cradling four pomegranates in our arms, both in a silent daze. Maria was preparing lunch in the kitchen and there was no sign of Giota. I wondered if she had any idea or ever suspected that my father was also hers? If her mother was human, I wondered what her wolf would look like?
“Maria, I’m expecting Giota and Thea to join us for dinner this evening.”
“Wonderful, I’m making lamb kleftiko tonight,” she smiled.
“Do you have a basket or bowl to place these in? We just picked them.” Odessa asked, holding up a deep red fruit.
“They look perfect. The large bowls are in the bottom cabinet.” “Ohhhh, pomegranates!” Ninos entered the kitchen and moved to the
bowl Odessa was placing them in to lift one as if inspecting it.
“Please help yourself,” Odessa offered. “We just picked them.”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa… did Hades give you the pomegranates?” Ninos grinned. “You know what this means, don’t you?”
“That Hades also likes them?” She answered.
“Hades…Persephone and pomegranates. She ate his fruit which condemned her to spend eternity with him as his Queen. Pomegranates are a symbol of indissoluble marriage.”
“The Greeks believe they’re a symbol of life and fertility,” she picked one up.
“Hades was the only God who was faithful to his wife,” Maria smiled.
“Persephone ate six, if you eat twelve we won’t have to send you back to Dimitri,” Ninos teased. At least, I think he was teasing.
Odessa looked at the fruit thoughtfully before she lifted her gaze to me. I could feel her emotions through the mate bond, hurt, confusion, and shame. She was having mixed emotions about what she’d allowed me to do and was unsure of our future. Turning away from me, she hurried out of the kitchen.
“Odessa?” I followed her.
“Take a pomegranate with you!” Ninos called out.
“Odessa!” I chased her up the stairs, but she seemed determined to get away from me and was annoyingly fast.
“She’s Alpha born,” Haze reminded me.
We reached the Alpha quarters and I cornered her in the hallway. She inhaled sharply as I backed her against the wall, my palms on both sides of her. She tried to slip out from under my arm…
“No,” I nearly growled. “You’re not running away from this.”
“You’re the one who ran away, remember,” she looked over my shoulder, but I could still see the hurt in her eyes.
“I have things I need to get in order, but it doesn’t mean I don’t want you.”
“Well, I’m not so sure I want you, Alpha!” She said with false bravado. “You really are a terrible liar,” I cupped her cheek, those beautiful
honey colored eyes searching for something in mine.
“It was a mistake…” her voice was just above a whisper. She was having a hard time thinking clearly when I was standing so close to her, touching her.
“We’re mates, nothing is a mistake.” My hand slid from her cheek to the back of her head. My lips crashed against hers and she gasped. I swallowed her gasp and continued to kiss her hard and strong, eager to taste her mouth. To have everything I could possibly take from her. My tongue danced with hers and I jerked her against me, against my erection. I wanted her to feel what she was doing to me.
“I’m not very patient,” I pressed her up against the wall, wrapping one of her legs around my waist. “But I will wait for you,” I circled my hips against her, drawing out another one of those soft moans that begged for me to take her to my bed.
“If you try to leave, you will earn a punishment. Understand? You are MINE!” I leaned down to kiss her again and heard the heavy footsteps of Kazimir coming up the stairs.
“Hades, I found what we were looking for,” He paused, taking in our position. A knowing smile curled on his lips.
“Well? Kronos got your tongue?” I pulled back from Odessa.
“You need to come downstairs and see this. He had records on everything, even Stefanos.” Kazimir looked to Odessa and Odessa turned her questioning gaze to me.
“As you know, our fathers were running the mafia business. Everything from drugs to arms and prostitution. They had to have acquired sizable assets after ten years—”
“And you want the money! You want dirty drug money, money that was earned by the most despicable acts.”
“With both of them dead, no one is going to look for it. What good is it going to do just sitting in some bank account?”
“My brother won’t want it,” she insisted. “We’ll let your brother decide.”
“We’re still working on tracking it,” Kazimir added.
“Let’s go.” We followed Kazimir down the stairs. I tried to discreetly adjust myself, but my cock had other ideas in mind. A few more seconds and I would have carried Odessa to my room.
Ninos stepped out of the kitchen with a sandwich in his hand. “Is that a no to the pomegranate?” He grinned foolishly and followed us to the Alpha office.
“Which do you want to hear about first?” Kazimir asked as he moved to the conference table in the office.
“The pack finances, let’s start there.”
“Six restaurants, three bars, two hotels, and the water ferry business, less the operating expenses, insurance, staff, etcetera. You’re looking at four million a month with half coming from the water ferry business.”
“Four million!” Ninos coughed with a mouth full of sandwich.
“That’s more than enough to take care of a pack triple the size.” I suspected my father was doing something else with the money.
“His personal assets, including the night clubs, art gallery, cinema and café, yield roughly half a million a month, after operating expenses.”
“The Adonis is more than just a nightclub,” Ninos snickered.
“Where is he keeping all of it?” I wondered if he was just hoarding it.
“Alina is working on the bank tracing right now. Most of the pack money is in Greece, we’ve located about twenty million, but he was funneling money out.”
“And his personal assets?”
“Same thing, we found about two million in the bank and records that he was investing in gold,” Kazimir said.
“Gold?” Odessa asked. “As in the precious metal, gold bars, and such?”
“Yes. There are only three ways to store gold, at home, in a safe deposit box, or at a depository. Somehow I can’t imagine him storing anything in a depository,” Kazimir explained.
“We’re looking for records of a safe deposit box. The systems in Greece are fairly easy to get into,” Alina added.
“Are you hacking into banking systems?” Odessa asked.
“And if we start transferring my father’s assets to my name, the Russians should be able to find us fairly quickly.” Kazimir nodded, he was thinking the same.
“We need to find out who hired Yuri and neutralize them.” Kazimir was right.
“What Russians?” Odessa probed.
“Yuri won’t say anything, they’ll kill him,” Alina added.
“We’ll have to return to Moscow.” If Yuri received his assignment through email, we might be able to hack into his system.
“Who’s going to Russia?” Odessa pressed.
“Maybe I’ll find my mate in Russia this time!” Ninos said.
“We can have my brother’s men torture the truth out of Yuri!” Kazimir growled.
“Wait, who are you torturing?” Odessa asked.
“Your father is still Pahkan, you know all those men report to him, and he’s all but disowned you,” I reminded Kazimir. His relationship with his father was beyond repair.
“Pahkan? You’re a Russian mafia prince?” Odessa accused Kazimir. “It’s called the Bratva, and your father was the head of the Greek mafia.
I’m as much a prince as you are a princess,” Kazimir retorted. “Yes, and I’m the next Emperor of Greece!” Ninos laughed.
“Will you just be quiet and eat your sandwich!” Kazimir snapped.
“None of us will be safe until this problem has been resolved.” My eyes met Alina, she knew she was in the same boat as us.
“All of Yuri’s data is kept on a private server, you’ll have to physically access it,” Alina said.
“Do you know where it’s located?” I asked.
“WILL SOMEONE TELL ME WHAT’S GOING ON HERE?” My
mate shouted in frustration.