Zeus rushes down the corridor to his room. He lays me on the bed where I was surrounded by his scent. I take a deep breath filling my lungs with intoxicating smell. I exhaled and my body sags in relief. I just took deep breathes slowly. Zeus sat next to my lying form and I noticed he was gripping me hand tightly.

"Just breath slowly. I'll get you a water." He leaves for only a minute and came back, placing the glass of water on the bedside table.

He backs away from the bed and began to pace around the room. His bow tie and buttons were undone raggedly.

I slowly sat up and gulped, but winced from the swollen feeling. Zeus was growling and mumbling to himself. His eyes intensely focused.

He was nervous. He snarled as he takes his shirt off and returned to pacing, "I'm wanna kill'em. I want to fucking kill him with my bare hands."

I sat up and asked softly, "Was that the first you've seen him since your wife-"

"Yes," He growls, "He killed her. He fucking killed her. And now he's back to take you." Zeus stops pacing and sat down on a chair he rests his head in his hands. I gulped and looked down at my hands. He was worried. Worried about what could happen now that Nikolai has returned to only steal again from Zeus.

Zeus leans back in his chair and stairs at the floor with no emotion, except one. Hatred. He sighs and closes his eyes, "He took everything from me." Zeus sat there in silence. I didn't know what to say. I was living in my own fear too. If I didn't do what he says he will kill my family and then kill me. I felt this weight on my shoulders. I didn't know what to do.

"She was pregnant, you know." Zeus says in a low and dark voice. He looks at the wall, totally expressionless, "I came home and I saw Lillian dead on the kitchen floor. She was due any day. And I see...my child ripped out of her stomach lying next to her...lifeless body."

Oh my goodness. Lillian was pregnant when Nikolai killed her. His eyes shimmered slightly. Zeus was clenching his jaw as he was fighting back tears. He gulped and said, "The baby was a girl," He waited a couple more seconds before saying, "We were going to name her Everly. I killed a whole village that night. I lost it. I snapped. And I never came back the same."

He stood up and snarled, "I am going to make him suffer. He will not die for a long time. I will make him wish he never touched Lillian...or you, ever again." He sat there fuming while gripping the locket around his neck.

I didn't realise I was crying until I felt my tears fall unto my lap. I didn't exactly like the fact that he was going to build a life with this woman instead of waiting for his mate, but it was still terrible how it all ended. No one deserves that.

He has been through so much pain. So much suffering. And even though he was married before...I felt horrible for his wife. How horrible a death she had. Her child was ripped out of her stomach. I pressed my hand on my own belly and imagined my very own pup, I couldn't even imagine the thought of such a brutal death upon my child.

I wiped my eyes and looked up. Zeus was staring at my hand over my stomach. He stood there staring so intensely.

"Nikolai said that he has an army," I said softly, "He will kill my family if I don't do the ritual soon...and then he will come after me."

I was a little afraid when I saw Zeus. His facial expression can only be described as deadly, "Don't worry, Lily. He will not touch you let alone look at you before I rip his fucking head off his body." Zeus storms to the bathroom and slams it shut. I flinch from the loud sound.

I sat there. Still. I didn't move. My mind delved deep into my thoughts of Zeus. His actions, the way he spoke, the emotion behind it, it confused me. From the start he had made it clear to me what we were. But now I'm not so sure.

He began to tell me things. He began to show what was in the inside. My heart was beating, my skin tingled as if there was a disturbing electricity spiking in the air. I used to feel only hate for him. I compartmentalised my emotions. I set thick lines to shut off certain emotions. But as time went on...the lines blurred and I didn't know what I felt anymore.

I began to feel empathy for him. I felt his pain, his suffering and his disturbed heart. My chest burned from it. I felt everything and I was scared. I wanted to repaint the thick lines again...but I've run out, or maybe...maybe I didn't want to paint thick lines anymore. Maybe I wanted to paint something different. A different picture. A different feeling.

I took a deep breath and exhaled. My eyes drifted around the room. My eyes caught the sight of Zeus's jacket resting on the chair next to the lit fireplace. I went and picked it up. I brought it up to my nose and inhaled. I made sure to prevent my emotions from spiralling whenever he was near, whenever I sensed him. But the lines weren't there anymore, everything inside of me was going out my control. I felt something heavy in the pocket.

I glanced at the bathroom and still heard the shower going. I took what was inside the jacket and laid back on the chair.

It was the small leather book he would always. I gulped as I curiously opened it. My breath hitched. They were drawings. Really good drawings. There was one sketche of roses...forests...hands...eyes. Every page I turned, the sketches only got better. I turned the page again and my breath hitched...it was a drawing...of me. I was frozen with shock. I felt myself automatically sit down on the chair.

It was a drawing of me reading in the garden among the flowers. I turned the page, it was another drawing of me. I was standing on the balcony looking up at the moon. It was drawn from a downward angle. He would have been in the garden below. I kept turning pages and the rest were of me. I recognised that on each page, there were dates on them. I went to see how far the dates go back. At the last few pages I was stunned when I saw drawings of me in high school. Me holding a braille book when I was fifteen. I gasped at the last page. It dated fifteen years ago. It was me as a little girl wearing a fluffy gown, standing in the snow looking at a frozen river.

He was there. Zeus was always there, watching. And I didn't even know it.

I heard movement and my head snaps up. Zeus was standing there, leaning against the bathroom door with nothing but some shorts, staring at me. He didn't come and try to snatch the book away, he didn't even seem mad that I was looking through it.

"You were always there," I said in a breathless shock.

"I stayed away from you for a few months, but it was hard," Zeus kicks off the wall and walks toward where I was until he stops in front of the fire, gazing upon it, "I was walking in the woods when I saw a little girl standing in her fluffy pink robe, gazing upon the snow," Zeus clenches his jaw and said, "Then you fell through the ice. I've never felt such panic in all my years. I pulled you out just as I sensed your Uncle Solomon approaching," His gaze falls upon me as he said, "From then on, I vowed that I would watch over you."

I leaned back in my chair, still in shock, "So you knew about Ryan?"

Zeus rolls his eyes, "Yes."

I couldn't believe ever since that day fifteen years ago, Zeus was there watching over me...almost like a guardian angel as cheesy as that sounds. I stood up from the chair and took a step back, "I thought you had left that night, leaving me to freeze."

He never broke eye contact as he approached. I felt myself become breathless as he stops right in front of me, almost touching. He looks down at me and I look up at his hulking height. His eyes were soft and he shook his head, "I never left, Lily. I was always there looking after you."

We stood there, staring into each other's eyes, this electricity sparking between us. I felt it charging every nerve, making my heart beat spike.

But I quickly took a step back as if I was about to get burnt by a fire. I blinked away the haze and I cleared my throat. He's not looking at me. He's only looking at what he wished he was looking at, "I'm not Lillian." I said to him.

Zeus stands there staring at me, snapping out of the moment. His face morphed into an expressionless one, and I immediately missed his soft eyes looking at me and said, "No, you're not."

He backs away and goes to the bed. I gulped and went to the shower. I had a quick shower, washing the events of tonight away. I changed into a singlet and shorts. I walked out and Zeus was lying down with his back to me. I sighed as I came and laid down under the covers. Zeus moves again, turning over to give me his back and I give him mine also.

I tried to relax, but I could stop the feeling of the prickling sensation between us. Why did I do that? Why did I back off? I didn't know why I did it because now, all I wanted right now was for him to hold me. Touch me.

I closed my eyes and I eventually drifted off to sleep. It wasn't a very deep sleep since I woke up from a small sound.

I look behind me. Zeus was gone. I frowned and laid my hand on his side of the bed. It was cold. I sat up and searched the room with my eyes. He was no where.

"I am sure I'm not the one you were wanting to see." A voice echoes. I screamed when I saw Nikolai standing at the open balcony smiling.

"Leave me alone! Zeus will come. He'll kill you." I yell at him.

He just darkly chuckles then turns facing away from me. He shook his head, "Oh little Lily. When will you ever learn...I always win." He turns around and I felt my breath leave my body as I saw him standing there, holding a baby covered in blood.

I screamed and looked down at myself. There was a bloody gaping hole in my stomach.

I gasped awake, a cold sweat glistening on my forehead. I thought my heart was going to burst out my chest. My eyes darted at the balcony and saw no one there, but that did not settle my fear.

I heard Zeus stir. I quickly laid back down with my back to him. My eyes were trained on the balcony as if I was waiting for that dream to come true. I felt fear filled tears silently fall down the side of my face. I bite down hard on my quivering lip.

"Lily?" I heard Zeus say in a low tone.

I gulped and tried to answer in a normal voice, "I'm fine. Just can't sleep."

There was silence for a moment when I felt his hand grasp my shoulder. He pulls me over, making me turn to face him.

"Why are you awa-" But he stopped mid sentence when he saw my eyes. His brows pulled deep together into a sharp frown, "Why're you crying?"

I gulped and shrugged as if it were nothing, "I just had a meaningless nightmare."

Zeus stares at me perceptively, "What was is about?"

"Just some guy climbing in through the balcony door."

Zeus's eyes flickered toward the balcony, without looking he said, "It was Nikolai, wasn't it." It wasn't a question. He already knew.

I laid there, not saying anything. But I was startled when Zeus abruptly stands from the bed, "Move." He said.

I sat up and frowned, "What?"

He indicated with his hand, "I said move,"He said again firmly. He starts walking around the bed to my side, "We're switching sides."

Wait what? I did as he said and moved to where Zeus was and he laid where I was, "I want to be the one facing the balcony." He told me.

I realised he wanted to switch so than he faces the balcony and not me. We both laid there in bed. The silence was loud in the room, but the fear I felt was louder. He was lying on his back looking up at the ceiling where I was turned away from him.

"I'm terrified. We're under the same sky as Nikolai. I feel like he's so close." I confessed to Zeus through a tight throat, trying to hold the tears back as I relive my nightmare in my head.

He didn't say anything at all, I wished he did. A part of me felt stupid for even confessing what I was feeling to none other than Zeus the Hellhound. But like they say 'actions speak louder than words.' My skin came alive when I felt his grasp on my waist, pulling me towards him.

We laid closer together, but still not touching. Zeus was staring at me and I was staring back, not knowing what we were doing. He placed his hand in mine and interlaced our fingers together. "I'll keep you safe, Flower." He whispers in a husky voice.

I inhaled his scent deeply, and it was like my nerves had softened into jelly. My anxiety was quiet. My body sagged as I came to realise that Zeus wouldn't let anything hurt me.