Chapter Nineteen

Andro’s POV

"Annika," I called out as she walked past me, tears rolling down her pretty face. What the hell could be wrong?

I had come out from the garden to feed Raven when I saw her marching off.

"Annika!" I ran after her hoping she'd stop once she heard her name but that didn't stop her. She was marching off as if she was mad about something.

I threw myself in front of her, trying to stop her. She stopped in her tracks, looked up, and when she saw me, she tried moving away. I changed to the direction she was trying to walk and blocked her path.

"What's wrong Annika?" I asked her, holding her face in my palm.

"Nothing is wrong. Nothing else could be wrong other than you being a jerk, an asshole, and a loser," she spat.

"What's going on? What did I do?" I asked. I know I've messed up by keeping my distance from her these past few days. It was all for her safety. A lot has happened since Igor's sons' death and going to Annika during the day will cause those people to go after her.

I can't afford to lose her. Not ever.

"Like you don't know what you did," she hissed.

"Okay! I think I have a clue. Is this because I've been absent? If it is, then give me a chance to explain."

"It doesn't matter, does it? I mean nothing to you."

She began walking away.

I pulled her back, straight into my hands.

"Don't you dare say such a thing ever again, Annika? You mean the world to me, and your safety is my topmost priority."

"I'll never be enough for you. That's what you go after other women."

"What women, Annika? I haven't been with anyone for centuries and you expect me to mess it up when I found you." I ran my hand through my hair and pulled at it.

"At least, can we go inside and talk about whatever this misunderstanding is?" I pleaded.

"Back inside, where another woman is waiting for you? I saw her walk out of your study room, with her lipstick smeared and everything. Only God knows what happened in there."

I pinched the bridge of my nose.

"I don't understand Annika, what woman are you talking about? My study room, woman, seriously," I asked as confusion clouded my senses.

"Now you're trying to make it appear as if I'm mad or I saw a ghost."

"You're not mad, malyshl, but I'm sure you might have seen a ghost," I joked, trying to lighten the mood.

"Let me go home, Andro," she tried walking away, but I held her forearms and placed my forehead on hers.

"What is going on Annika? I don't understand anything that you'd said. Let's go back inside so you can show me the woman you saw, please," I pleaded.

"No."

"Annika, if you feel a bit of love for me, if I make your heart flutter and you feel the sparks that I feel whenever I touch you, please, give me a chance to fix this, I'm begging you," I whispered but loud enough for her to hear.

"I don't want to make a fool out of myself."

"You won't, lyubov. I've seen your progress and your strength these past days Annika, you have a fire within. You're magical and you will never do that to yourself, trust me," I assured her.

Slowly she nodded and I pulled her body flush against mine, holding her tightly. I released her after a few minutes and turned to lead us towards the house.

I could see Adonis and Bella waiting at the entrance of the door and at that moment, I knew I owe Adonis a shitload of explanation for keeping Annika from him.

He had told me when he found his Emerthus, and he would've expected me to do the same. I wanted to inform him as soon as they landed but I had to wait. He has his own rough patches to fix with Bella and silently, I'm rooting for their relationship to be eternal.

Annika suddenly looked into my eyes as she stared at Bella standing beside Adonis, their hands locked.

"That was the woman you saw, am I right?" She slowly nodded, probably feeling embarrassed about the whole issue.

I chuckled as relief washed over me.

"Come on, let me introduce you to them," I pushed but she began shaking her head furiously.

"I don't want to go. What if she hates me?" she cried out.

"Did you say anything bad to her?"

"No, but I said a lot of bad things to you and I'm sure they heard," she lamented.

"It's fine, malyshl. I'm sure they understand. You're bound to be jealous when you see someone outside my study room, okay?"

I was finally able to convince her to meet with Adonis and Bella.

I smiled as we approached the couple. Adonis smirked; it was obvious that he knew what was going on though Bella seemed a little confused.

"Is everything okay, Andro?" Bella asked as soon as we were right in front of them.

"Of course, everything is fine. I want you guys to meet Annika; she's my Emerthus."

"Ooh," Bella grinned.

"This is Adonis; he's like a brother to me, and that's Bella, his Emerthus, and yes, they're like us," I explained when I saw the questioning look on her face.

"You didn't tell me you found her," Adonis declared.

"I was trying not to fuck things up."

"Okay, we'll talk about this later as it seems you have to get busy. Let's go in, Bella." Adonis grabbed Bella's arm and they walked into the house, hand in hand.

"Is everything okay?" Annika asked.

"He's angry but he'll soon get over it. Come on."

I interlaced our fingers and walked her towards the room. The first thing I did was get rid of my shirt and underwear before climbing into bed with her.

"Have you been feeding well?" I asked her, inspecting her lips and I saw that they were perfectly healed.

"Where have you been?" she asked. "I was dead worried about you. I came here last Thursday, and I didn't meet anyone. I thought something bad happened to you; it's unfair, Andro."

The tears came running down her face uncontrollably.

I quickly gathered her into my arm, making her sit on my lap. I wished I could explain everything to her word for word but where was I supposed to start.

"Something happened last Tuesday, and Stefan ended up getting hurt. I was in a really vulnerable situation, and I knew getting you involved will hurt you and that will kill me," I summarized hoping she'll understand.

"Let me in, Andro," she begged, her lips hovering on mine.

"I want to, but I don't know if you'll understand."

I kissed her gently.

"I'll try."

I breathed out loudly. "Uhm, the Nikolaev family, I mean my family, is like a mafia family. I became the boss after the death of my former boss. Here's the gist, Annika. There are two other mafia bosses, Igor and Dimitri, in this city, and everyone is trying to take over, rule, and become the only boss so they can have total control of every business chain. Recently, a gold mine was discovered downtown and that had caused hostility between the three of us. I try to stay calm and not get involved with the two of them too much, but I keep getting stranded in the whole situation."

Annika moved her hips on my lap, trying to get her balance. She was doing it so innocently that she didn't realize it was waking up a sleeping boy.

"Stop moving, Annika, if you don't want me to bend you over and plunge into you right now," I whispered into her ear, and she blushed.

"Sorry."

I continued, "Last Tuesday, Igor lost two of his sons and I was invited to the funeral service. I actually didn't want to go but I thought I should, as an act of respect. One thing led to another, and Igor started this twisted game between me and Dimitri. He was trying to pin someone for the death of his sons. If I go into too many details, I could hurt you."

She nodded in understanding. "Did Stefan get hurt while at the funeral?"

"Yeah, he got stabbed and beaten up before I could get to him. We had to bring him back here, get a doctor to treat him and by Thursday we had to rush him back to the hospital when he was seriously bleeding," I explained, hoping it was enough.

"That explains why I didn't meet anyone here on Thursday."

"I actually dismissed everyone already. They're not to leave the safety of their homes because I can't protect them all. Even though I'm so happy that you're here with me right now, I still wish you'd stayed back home. It's not safe for you here," I told her.

"You gave me life, Andro, a second chance to set things straight and I won't waste it by being cooped up inside the house, getting scared and expecting shit to happen. I'm here now Andro, with you and fuck, that's the way it'll be forever."

My heart swelled with pride. I could totally see the stars dancing in my eyes as I stared at her.

"How did I get so lucky?" I whispered as I kissed her shoulder. My little action made her move and her little act made me move as well.

I molded our lips together in synchronization, trying to make things right, by making her mine.