Unlike Axel Miller

In the restaurant.

Axel, Hannah and Penelope walked into the restaurant with Leonard walking behind them. They sighted a table with a pleasant view of the world outside the restaurant and sat there.

While waiting for their orders to arrive, Axel got a call and after seeing the name displayed on the screen, Axel signaled Hannah and they both stood up and left the restaurant.

Penelope didn't bother asking any questions as she was quite comfortable and pleased with her new playmate. As for Leonard, when Axel said he would be Penelope's playmate, it was another way of telling him that he was now her bodyguard.

Axel drove for half an hour before they arrived at their destination.

It was a deserted beach where an abandoned warehouse stood in all its eerie glory. The black roof of the warehouse seemed to disappear into the inky black night sky making it nearly invisible. Its door was covered with overgrown weeds. Clearly, no one had visited this place in a long time.

They got down from the car and Axel walked over to hold Hannah's hand. "Be careful, it's a rough road."

Hannah nodded once before looking around. No matter how long or how hard she thought, she could not figure out why they were here. When Axel called her out, she thought he wanted to tell or show her something but he drove here instead.

"Why are we here?"

"To meet the caretaker". Axel answered as he took his phone and dialed a number.

Hannah's eyebrows were narrowed to form a frown on her face. She thought Leonard was Penelope's caretaker, turns out Axel meant it when he said that Leonard was going to be Penelope's playmate. Now that she thought about it, Leonard seemed too young to take care of a child.

Before she could think further, Hannah was pulled into a tight hug by Axel. Her face was pressed against his chest forcing her to inhale his heavenly scent. She heard him curse and felt his body tense.

Hannah tried to free herself from him and she was successful. She looked up at his face and he looked back at her. He looked serious, really serious and maybe worried as he stared into the warehouse. Hannah wondered what it was that got him to react like this.

Suddenly, the hair in her skin rose and Hannah turned alert immediately. She spun around and without hesitating, she drew out her knife and threw it in the direction Axel was staring at. She was going to attack again but Axel held her wrist in a tight but gentle grip before pulling her back to him. He wrapped one hand around her waist protectively and breathed out, "Come out".

Hannah saw a black figure running out of the warehouse before coming to stand next to them. Instinctively, she wanted to attack again but Axel's hand around her stopped her.

The figure was covered in black from head to toe. Even the mask he was wearing was black and he seemed to be glaring at Hannah, at least that was what she thought.

The figure pulled off the mask and Hannah was surprised when she saw a delicate face and the long hair that flowed down her back.

So it was a she…

"You just had to attack didn't you?" The woman snapped angrily as she threw a sharp glare in Hannah's direction. Her fists were balled up and the rim of her eyes were red as she heaved. That was when Hannah noticed the blood that had soaked her black shirt around her shoulder, very close to her neck. If she had not dodged when she did, that woman would be dead by now.

Before Hannah could say a word, Axel already held the woman by the hand and dragged her away leaving a confused Hannah behind.

When he was sure that they were far away from Hannah and that the possibility of her hearing their conversation was very slim, Axel stopped and released the woman's wrist.

He stood facing the water for a while before turning around to face the woman. At that moment, his eyes were cold and unfeeling. He took a stance that would intimidate anyone who saw him and for a second, the woman shivered and gulped.

"What was that?" Axel demanded in a cold voice, clearly he was displeased.

If it were possible, Alena lowered her head further with her eyes glued to her feet. She was relieved that she did not attack first else she would have been suffering a lot by now. Seeing how Axel pulled the woman into a protective embrace, Alena needed no genius to tell her what that meant.

Axel's action was clearer than words to anyone who knew him. Shielding that woman like that meant that something terrible would have happened if she was attacked.

At least that was how she felt.

"I'm so sorry! I thought she was a threat". Alena explained quickly before Axel would completely lose it. She heard him sigh and after that, there was no other sound or movement from him for a whole minute. "You sent for me?"

Alena asked as she slowly raised her eyes to look at Axel's face. She didn't know what he was thinking as his face was as unreadable as always. Suddenly she smiled. If she had not known better, she would have thought a different person was standing in front of her.

Axel was never one to waste time when he had orders or tasks to dish out. He would always just say what he wanted and expect the others to obey, but seeing him like this meant that whatever he wanted her to do was not what she would do normally.

Her suspicions were proven correct when Axel asked, "Did you tell anyone about this?" Alena shook her head vigorously. Axel had strictly instructed her to keep their meeting a secret and even if he didn't, she would have kept shut about it. Who knew what jealous individual wanted to take this chance away from her.

Just like every other one of them, Alena wanted to get Axel to notice her. She had no feelings for him of any sort, she was just another one of his people, one of his tools that wished and was desperate to be utilized.

"Hey, big boss! Why are you so quiet?" Alena asked with a cheeky smile as she leaned back on a palm tree with dried branches. Her little movement caused the branches to shake and some part of the dried branches fell to the ground. Unlike everyone else, Alena was one of the special ones. She got to act like a friend when she was with him but only during the days when he was in a good mood. Axel could be an angel when he wanted but could turn into the devil if something flipped in his head.

Axel looked away and started into the vast ocean before sighing again. Just as Alena suspected, what he was doing was not normal. If someone told him a few years back that he would be calling in one of his best people to do something as simple as this, he would have simply laughed it off but here he was, doing just that. But as simple as this might be, it was also dangerous.

"Do you know her?" Axel asked as he tipped his chin in Hannah's direction. Alena looked at Hannah and her eyes narrowed for a second but she shook her head in response. She crossed her hands over her chest as she watched Axel who seemed to be lost for some reason.

Again, that was so unlike Axel Miller.

The man was always focused and he seemed to always have a grip on things but now that he was like this made Alena all the more confused.

In her opinion, the only thing that could make Axel like this was only if he was deeply troubled or worried about something. Not that she had ever seen him like this before, but she did not understand why Axel would be worried about that woman.

"Who is she?" Alena asked as she looked at Hannah again. Axel could already see the gears moving in her head and he was aware that, though Alena was not the brightest cookie in the box, she was quite intelligent in her way. She understands things differently than the others.

"She is very fast and is very good with knives, I mean, look! She almost killed me. Me!" Alena half yelled as she pointed to her injured shoulder. "So I guess she is an assassin? But why would you be with an assassin?" She mused.

It was no secret among them that Axel had an extreme dislike for people of that kind and it seemed weird that Axel would be protecting her.

Different thoughts were running through her head the longer she stared at Hannah but she could not come to a conclusion. But she was sure that for whatever reason she was called for, it would be related to this woman. Her tired brain would be smoking by now. After all, she had not gotten any rest since she came here.

This city was full of pests!