Artem

I was feeling a little out of it as I made my way back to my room. I needed a shower, bad, but all I could think about was my mate and the horrible people she had been surrounded by when she was so young. The things they had done to her, the things they planned to do to her, I would kill them all for it.

I hadn't even paid attention to what I was doing and before I even knew it I was standing there in my room with nothing but a towel wrapped around me and a blank look on my face as I stared at my closet.

When I finally came to my senses I hurriedly dried off the rest of the way and absently grabbed a pair of dark jeans and a dark blue button up shirt. I needed to get my head clear and go to see my Star, I wanted to know how she was doing. But I didn't want to seem like I didn't have a reason to be there.

Suddenly, I had a burst of inspiration. I could take her dinner, she was probably getting pretty hungry. But what should I make for her?

With that question rolling around in my head I walked down the stairs and toward the kitchen. However, before I could make it to that room in particular I was distracted by a scent coming from the dining room.

"Mmmm, that smells good." I followed my nose into the dining room and toward the delicious smell.

In the dining room was just about everyone in the house. And on the table was about a dozen large, yet thin, white boxes. Pizza.

"Who ordered all this?" I wondered as my mouth started to water.

"I did. I didn't think you would feel up to cooking." Chay answered immediately.

"Sometimes you're the best, Chay." I hugged her quickly from the side and moved to grab a box.

"Sometimes?" She seemed offended as she scoffed at me. "Only sometimes? Boy, you know I am the best sister in the world and you better acknowledge that fact." She was being playful, I knew it, but she wasn't wrong either.

"Fine, you're the best sister there ever has been or ever will be." I grinned at her, pretending to be exasperated with her.

"That's much better." She grinned at me. "Now take that pizza up to my future sister, and for Goddess's sake don't screw anything up."

"Like I would?" I laughed. She just glared at me, perhaps reminding me of the incident with the doom books in my office. Why did I have the desire to rub the side of my head just then? Specifically right at the spot where the book had hit me that day.

I left the dining room then, a little pep in my step as I walked. I was always happy when I was going to see Star. How could I not be, she was my mate after all.

I knocked on her door and waited for her to answer it, I was pleasantly surprised when she called out to me instead.

"Come in." I don't know if she knew it was me or not, but I was going to assume she did.

When I opened the door I saw that Star was kneeling in front of the couch, a wet washcloth in hand.

"Hey, Star, what're you doing?" It looked like she was cleaning something but I didn't know what it was, but she seemed to be distressed about something. I walked over to the table and put the box down before walking over to where she was.

"I'm trying to clean this off." There were tears in her eyes when she looked at me.

"Clean what off?" I was confused about what could have been wrong. That was when I stepped closer and saw that she was trying to clean blood off the back of the couch.

"Lisa's blood got on me when I stabbed her with my pen and then I sat on the couch with Chay. I am so sorry. I didn't mean to ruin it."

She looked like she was afraid. Like she thought I would be mad at her or something. I wanted nothing more than to make all of her worries go away.

"There is nothing to be sorry for. You didn't do anything wrong and it's just a couch."

"But it's ruined."

"So, don't worry about it. I will have it replaced. I can have it removed right now if you want." I was smiling softly at her to emphasize the fact that I was not mad at all. "We have a lot of other furniture in storage around here, so don't worry about any of that stuff."

"Isn't that wasteful?" She still looked upset.

"No, it's not. The blood on that couch, whether it is removed or not, would be a constant reminder for you, wouldn't it? I don't want you to feel uncomfortable in your own room. So I will take it out of here."

"I'm so sorry, Artem." She still looked sad and repentant so I walked to her side and knelt next to her.

"Don't be." I spoke softly as I took the cleaning cloth from her hands and set it aside. "Star." I said her name as I placed a hand on her cheek, forcing her to look at me. "There is nothing that you did wrong. Please, stop blaming yourself." Surprisingly, she smiled then as she subconsciously, or possibly consciously, pushed her cheek more firmly against my palm.

"You and Chay both tell me the same thing." She was looking at me so sweetly as she gazed up at me from between her long, dark eyelashes.

"Really, and what's that?" I asked her, slightly mesmerized.

"To stop blaming myself." She sounded so sweet, so innocent as she spoke, but she looked so beautiful and alluring. The contrast in the images I kept getting of her made me feel like I was in a whirlwind, whipping to and fro. But it wasn't an entirely unpleasant feeling.

"Well, you need to." I smiled at her, a look I know held love and heat in it. "Come on, I brought you some dinner." I took my hand away from her face and grabbed her hand instead. It felt like my palm was on fire from all the contact it had had with her, but I was happy about that too.

I pulled her to her feet and led her over to the table where she sat in a chair and looked at the box with confusion. Before I sat I shot a quick text to Chay and Kent, asking them to prepare another couch for her room and to come and get the one from in here.

Once I was seated next to her I opened the box and showed her what the meal was. It was just a plain pepperoni pizza, but her eyes went wide when she saw it.

"What is that?" She asked as she smelled the delicious aroma.

"This is dinner." I smiled at her.

"But what is it?"

"It's called pizza. It's made from dough, tomato sauce, cheese, pepperoni, and of course garlic." I smirked at her. "Not to mention it is completely greasy and unhealthy and so therefore so good."

"Unhealthy is good?" She quirked an eyebrow up and tilted her head, clearly confused.

"When it comes to pizza, definitely." I chuckled then, laughing at my own silliness. "Come on, have some."

I demonstrated what to do since I didn't exactly remember plates, at least I brought napkins. I picked up a large slice that was covered in gooey melted cheese and greasy pieces of pepperoni. I used both hands to hold it, one at the crust the other on the bottom to stop the cheese from all falling off as I curled the slice in my grip.

"Here just grab a piece and hold it like this." Then I took a big bite of the food. It tasted like artery clogging, heart stopping heaven.

"I'm used to eating all my food with my hands, but this looks messy." She looked apprehensive.

"Is there a problem?"

"I just don't want to be dirty anymore." There was an undertone in her voice that broke my heart.

"Don't worry, I brought napkins so you can wipe your hands, sorry I forgot the plates."

"It's OK, you brought dinner without having to do it in the first place." Finally, she looked genuinely happy.

"I want to take care of you, Star. Of course I will bring you dinner if I thought you weren't feeling up to going down for dinner.

"You're so sweet Artem." How can something as innocent as being called sweet make me so happy? But the way she said it, the way it made me feel, it was like something truly amazing.

With my heart racing and a grin on my face, I continued eating my dinner.

When Star took the first bite her eyes went wide again.

"Oh." She said through a mouth full of food.

"What?"

"It's so good." She looked relieved, like she hadn't believed it would taste good at all. "Really good." With that she took another big bite.

Star ended up eating three slices altogether, a satisfied look on her face when she was done.