Page 20 of Love & Violence

“Nickolai, bring my whore of a daughter,” my father says and stands. “And a few of you others, drag him back to the house. You know where to put him.”

Nickolai, my brother’s best friend, yanks me to my feet. I scream again when two large men step forward and roughly lift my mate.

“Don’t you hurt him!” I yell.

They ignore me and walk in front of us, dragging Draven by his arms. Nickolai and another member of security start pushing me along.

“Why are you doing this?” I cry to Nickolai. “My brother will not like this.”

Nickolai chuckles. “Oh, you’d be surprised. He’s not happy with you whoring yourself out to a West either.”

“I’m not whoring myself to anyone, and you know it!” I seethe. “I don’t pick my mate. The universe does. He’ll be the only one I can love.”

“Well, you better get used to being single because you won’t ever see him again.”

Just the thought makes me bellow out my fury. That can’t be true. I won’t let it be. He’s the other half of my soul, and I’ll die if I can’t have him.

“You seem to forget who I am,” I said.

Nickolai glances at me. “What do you mean?”

“I am an Esposito.”

“Yeah, so?”

“And now I am the mate to a West. I vow right now that I will get him back and kill whoever I must to do it. If I can’t, I’ll be no more.”

Nickolai squeezes my arm and stops me. “What the fuck are you talking about?”

“I will live or die with my mate.”

“Stop saying that shit.”

“Never. Wait until you find your mate. Only then will you understand.”

I ignore him the rest of the way home. He finally gives up trying to speak to me and concentrates on moving me along.

I try to yank my arm out of his grip. “I can fucking walk on my own.”

Nicholai looks at me in shock. He has probably never heard me curse or talk so passionately. Now, they all will see a different side of me. They have no idea what I can do. I’d kill my father if it meant being with my mate.

I stop suddenly, making both men pause as a question comes to mind. “Wait, how did you find us?” I ask him.

Nickolai looks away.

My stomach twists at the look on his face. I try to kick him. “Fucking tell me.”

“Jesus, Aryanna,” he says as he tries to block my kicks.

I waited a moment for him to answer me but soon started to fight again.

“Okay, fuck.” He holds his hands up in surrender.

I watch him look ahead, and I assume he wants my father to be far enough away.

“Your father had a tracker put on you when you were a baby.”

I feel the world around me fade and fight it. I can’t be weak. My mate is counting on me. My father doing something like that is beyond anything I thought he could have done. My anger at him bleeds into pure searing hate, changing how I will look at him for the rest of my life.

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