Chapter Three -
Payton woke up screaming, her eyes wide open and her body shaking. Moments later, she realized she woke up and shook the fogginess from her mind. Once she was free from the fogginess, she pulled the covers from herself and took deep breaths. She often woke up from these… nightmares but the truth was they were night terrors. She had started having them when she had discovered her father had disowned her but they had only appeared every once in a while. The real cause of these night terrors had happened when she was kidnapped a few years ago. No one knows what truly happened to her but Leo realized she had started having these night terrors more often, every week or so. He took her to a doctor but the medication she received did nothing to help her. Nothing but time would help her she knew.
Payton looked down at her lap and sighed when Neptune, her pet cat, came trotting up beside her. With a silky black coat and bright yellow green eyes, he had a growly nature. He rarely let people pet him. His only exception was Payton. He had a protective nature over the woman who had saved him. As he moved onto her lap, she scratched his ear and listened to him purr.
“I think we both deserve a midnight snack, aye Neptune?” Payton whispered as she stood up and they walked over to the doorway and out into the darkly lit hall. Her feet barely made any noise compared to the trotting of Neptune’s as they went down the wide staircase.
Entering the kitchen, the only source of light came from the opened door of the refrigerator. Surprised that someone was up, she silently stood there observing. Tony. Tony stood with his head inside the door. Payton walked over to the island and sat on the bar stool waiting quietly. Just as Tony closed the door, leaving them all hiding in the dark, Neptune hopped up onto the counter. The sound of his feet hitting the countertop caused Tony to spin around, the fridge door to shut behind him, and his voice whispering harshly into the darkness, “Who’s there?”
“Your worst nightmare,” she whispered in a menacing voice before letting out a soft laugh. Tony edged toward the lights only to realize who she was. Spinning around, he ended up jamming his toe into the counter.
“Shit. Damn. Hell,” he cursed.
“Language, Tony. It doesn’t suit you.” Payton remarked off-handedly. Her hand rubbing across Neptune's back in a slow, hazy manner.
“I’ve heard you speak worse,” he remarked. His eyes challenging hers in the soft light.
“Yes but it suits me. Remember? I’m not to become a mob boss? The don? I’m a lowly coward, working to save her own ass,” she replied with a wicked grin.
“Bull shit and we know it. You’re far from a coward,” he snapped heavily as he turned on one of the dimmer lights. His eyes came to the black figure sliding up across the counter and meowing at Payton. She smirked down at the feline as she continued to rub a hand down his spine.
“You are spoiled rotten,” she replied as she got up and walked over to the freezer, giving Tony a good view of what she was wearing. Her long legs were slightly tanned, from what he could tell, covered barely by a pair of shorts, stopping at mid thigh with a crest of the family on it. Covering her torso was a black tank top and the crest was on the bottom of that too. But he noticed the wetness around her neck and under her arms as she reached into the freezer. As she leaned down more, her shirt rode up on her back to reveal a tattoo. It had the word Alpha etched in her back but under lapping it was head of a howling wolf. The size of everything wasn’t as big as most would think. It was pretty small but he still managed to read the text from across the room.
“When did you get that tat?” He asked after she pulled out two tubs of ice cream. She spun around at him and glared.
“None of your business,” she snapped and went to the counter. Standing on her tippy toes, she reached up and pulled down two bowls. Putting one in front of each of the ice creams, she took one tiny spoon and dished up vanilla in one bowl. Pushing it over to the waiting cat, she began to dish herself some of the mint chocolate ice cream.
