Chapter 31

"No, this can't be happening," I said loudly before both of them could speak again. "You are not Exodus. Why are you even here?"

"Milena, I am Exodus," Darren replied. "I know that you're shocked right now—"

"Of course, I'm shocked!" I said, taking a step back from him in an effort to avoid his scent. "I don't want to see you!"

Marcus cleared his throat, and unlike me who took a step back from Darren, Marcus stepped forward, shielding me from the person standing right in front of us. "This is ridiculous. If I had known that it was you, I wouldn't have agreed on doing this. Now if you'll excuse us, we'll take our leave." Marcus took my hand and we were about to go when Darren told us something that made the two of us freeze on the spot.

"If you leave now, you'll never be able to take back the thing that you wanted to retrieve from that place."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"They're moving out in two days' time. The rogue bosses had decided to move their headquarters as a result of our last encounter. This means that if you do not take this chance to take back those rare eyes then you might not be able to find it anymore. They might sell it off or get rid of it totally."

Marcus and I exchanged looks. I could see in his eyes that he was now conflicted. I know how badly he wanted to retrieve Diana's eyes, but he was worried about me too. "Marcus, let's talk about this first," I finally told him before I turned back to Darren. "Can you give us a moment? I'd like to talk about this with my husband first."

Darren's face turned sour at what I said, but he agreed and walked away from us. We watched him walk to a nearby willow tree and I noticed that he was indeed wearing something that a mercenary would wear. He wore all black clothes that looked combat-ready. He was even wearing brass knuckles on his right hand. And then I also noticed some chains hanging from his waist to his pants, and my guess was that he was hiding some kind of weapon with chains inside his clothes.

"Alright, now he's out of earshot, let's talk about this," I told Marcus, who looked dazed for some reason. "Marcus? Are you listening to me?"

"Huh? Yeah. I'm sorry. I'm just—"

"You're mad," I scolded him. "You look angrier than me right now. Relax."

"Relax, Milena? You want me to relax? Darren is here and he's Exodus. How can I relax? I have to get you out of here before your wolf reacts to his scent."

"Don't worry about that," I replied, and then performed a spell in front of him. With complicated hand gestures and speaking an ancient phrase, I made a way to avoid the thing that I fear the most, and that is my wolf becoming uncontrollable in Darren's presence. In a snap, the space around my body created a haze the color of pale blue. I shuddered as the effect of the spell hit my body.

"What did you do?"

"I temporarily dulled my senses," I told Marcus and as I said that my vision became slightly blurry and even my hearing got affected. "This will reduce the risk of my wolf picking up Darren's scent."

Marcus looked extremely worried with what I did. "Milena! That might be dangerous!"

"Yeah, there might be side effects but at least my wolf will be under control. Anyway, let's talk about why we came here. Marcus, we have to take this chance. We have to get Diana's eyes back before they move it to another place."

Marcus hesitated. "I cannot put you in this situation, Milena. Even if it means I'll give up on retrieving Diana's eyes."

"No!" I said a little bit louder as my hearing started getting weak too. "You don't have to worry about me. I'll just ignore him, if that's what you're worried about."

"I'm not only worried, Milena," he said. His gaze was starting to get so intense that I had to look away from him for a couple of seconds. "I know it's lame to admit this, but I'm jealous. That's why I have decided not to team up with him."

"But think about Diana's eyes!" I insisted. "Marcus, it took years for Dionne to finally find it, and now we have a chance to take it back! Darren is right! If we don't move now we might not be able to find it again!"

"I don't care, Milena," said Marcus and I didn't know if I should be grateful to him for that or if I should get mad instead. "I'm sure Diana will understand my reason. Do you really think I'll let you be with that guy? You saw how he looked at you. He clearly wants you back."

"But I'm not coming back to him!"

"I know, but I can't trust that man! And you still have the mating bond with him! What if that changes everything?"

I sighed because I understood why Marcus was thinking like this, but he also needed to acknowledge that taking Diana's eyes back wasn't just about him. "Marcus, please listen to me. Dionne and Dex want to retrieve their sister's eyes too. They had spent the last five years of their lives searching for it and you were a witness to their dedication just to find Diana's eyes. Zenith is with us for that reason, remember? So how do you think Dionne will react if she finds out that you let this opportunity go?"

There was a long pause before Marcus finally responded to what I told him. "I'm frustrated, Milena. And conflicted. Of course, I want to take back Diana's eyes too. But I can't let my past affect my present. And you are my present, Milena. I don't want to make you feel that Diana's eyes matter more to me than you are. No sane man would do that to the woman he loves—"

His 'speech' was cut off by me suddenly kissing him, and I didn't even care that Darren might be watching us this very moment. All I wanted was to kiss this man right in front of me, because he was making me feel things by just saying those cheesy lines. I guess this is me admitting that I had fallen deeply in love with him. So after we kissed, we talked with Darren again, telling him to cancel the deal between us. I was won over by Marcus, and I couldn't possibly betray him after hearing those declarations of his love. He didn't want me to feel like I was just second best, so I wanted to do the same for him by rejecting Darren's offer to team up with him.

However, we might have underestimated Darren. I think he did something to us when we dropped our guard as we walked away. All I could remember was that I fell to the ground before I blacked out.

***

When I woke up, I was in a hotel room with him and I couldn't find Marcus. I was on the bed while he was sitting on a chair by the door. "What did you do to him?" I yelled, and I was about to storm out of the room when Darren suddenly hugged me from the back. I froze when I heard him crying.

"You can't leave, Milena..."

"No, I'm leaving, Darren. I'm already married to Marcus."

I saw him wipe his tears. "I'm sorry for everything, Milena. I dragged you into trouble again."

"Tell me where Marcus is!" I shouted at him, my body shaking with rage as I pushed him away from me. "How dare you do this to me! Tell me where Marcus is!"

"He's not here. But he'll find us if he's smart. I was able to leave him a note before we got captured."

"What are you talking about?"

Darren's face was grim when he answered back, "We're here at their base. Those rogue bosses' base. We got captured by them at the park, Milena."