Author's Note:

Thanks for the follows, faves, and reviews.


Chapter 2:

It was nearing dusk (and curfew) and June's sweeping the floor, finishing up for the evening whenever the doorbell chimed, indicating that somebody has walked in. Without even looking up to see who it was, she said, "Shop's closed, if you need anything you can reach Doula Ada at her apartment upstairs."

"I'm not here for Doula Ada, darling. I'm here for you." A baritone, June only just heard earlier in the day, told her as the sound of heavy bootsteps echoed against the hardwood floor June's sweeping up.

June lifted your head up, only to see Coryo. A warm, but small, smile crossed her lips as she took in his appearance. He was still in his light grey uniform, but was no longer wearing the helmet. Said helmet was hooked onto the rifle that was slung across his shoulder. June discovered that his buzzcut was blonde. A natural platinum blonde that border lined white.

His hair was so pure, like snow.

Like his name.

Was he too pure as snow?

No, Private Coriolanus Snow was as pure as snow once a dog lifts it's leg and pisses on it. He's yellow, dirty, defiled Snow. Not pure white snow.

But the raven-haired girl wll never find that out.

No, he'll always put on a manipulative face for her because she's the girl he's madly in love (more like obsessed) with.

"Why?" June simply asked, sweeping up her dirt pile into a dustpan.

"To walk you home since curfew's about to go into effect."

"Oh." June said, feeling silly for even asking, while dumping the contents of the dust pan into the trash. Of course he wanted to make sure she got home without breaking the weekday curfew. He was June's new friend; was looking out for her. "That's really sweet of you. Thanks."

"No need to thank me, June. After all, what are friends for?" Coryo told June with a closed lip smile. His words sounded so sincere to her.

But what June didn't know was that he viewed her as more than a friend. As his girlfriend, well actually his future wife, and just wanted to walk June home to show off that she's his girl. That June belongs to him.

And now that he knows June's boss, Doula Ada, lived in the apartment above the shop and answers her door at all hours in case someone needs aid, well… Looks like he's getting June fired after walking her home tonight.

"I'll only be a minute; then we can go." June told her peacekeeper friend while going to put the broom and dustpan away in the small storage closet.

"Do you live nearby?" She heard him ask while closing the closet after tucking away the broom.

"No." June shook her head, going over to the counter where her apothecary book was. Grabbing the old leather bound book and tucking it under her arm, June explained, "I live in the Seam, on the other side of the district."

"That's quite a walk, darling." Coryo pointed out what June knew first hand as she crossed the shop, heading over to him. "Maybe I should look out for you; walk you home every night I have patrol duty." The light blonde peacekeeper suggested, placing a hand on the small of her back once the brunette reached him. Ushering June out the door, he added in, "Just to make sure you're safe."

And by keeping June safe, what Coriolanus really meant was keeping June from interacting with anyone that wasn't him. Because he can't have her talking to another man. Especially that one who seemed so concerned about June this morning, the dirty blonde man.

Hell, if he could he'd lock June up to keep her away from men's roaming eyes. To keep her from talking to strange men. Just the thought of men approaching June makes him sick to his stomach with jealousy.

None of these pigs in this dirty coal district deserve to look at June. She doesn't belong to them. June belongs to him. She's his girl.

And since June's his, he's taking her back to the Capitol with him. In the Capitol, he'll be able to lock her up in a pretty golden gilded cage. A cage that wouldn't consist of metal bars, but of his family's Corso apartment.

Coryo knows June'll love the Snow penthouse; will make it into a true home again with her warmth and kindness. Warmth and kindness that reminds him of his mother. She was the light in the Snow family and when she died, along with Coriolanus' baby sister, nothing but darkness remained.

Perhaps once Coriolanus brings June home to the Capitol, she'll give him a baby girl to dote on? Yes, that's exactly what she'll do. June'll fill his penthouse with love and will provide him with a daughter to brighten his life. A daughter the two of then can name after his mother. To honor the woman that June reminds him of.

But the problem is, despite how nice (let's face it, the Snow's 12th floor Corso penthouse is falling apart; is such a dump that rats use it as a hotel) his family's penthouse is in the Capitol, its not June's home. No, her home's a wooden house (that could be called a glorified shack) that's couple of rows up from the Covey house at the edge of the Seam.

June's home is with her older brother, Rein, and his girlfriend, Ashlie. Rein works hard as a coalminer to put a roof over her head and food in her belly. And Ashlie works late every weekend serving rowdy dunks and peacekeepers at the Hobb's bar. Poor Ashlie's even put her dreams of having children of her own on hold to help June's brother take care of June; raise her.

They've done and sacrificed so much to take care of June. To raise her. And no matter what, home's always with them.

Which is a big problem for June's new friend, Peacekeeper Coryo since he's determined to rip her away from the only home she's ever known to bring her back to the Capitol with him. He's not leaving June behind. In his mind, Coriolanus is getting the both of them out of 12- To never return.

And he'll lie, cheat, and kill to do it.

But that's something June doesn't need to worry about, cause he'll do all the worrying for her.


After some time of walking, the brick buildings and cobblestone streets of the Merchants Sector faded away, morphing into dirt roads and wooden houses. Houses that were different variations of shacks, in Coriolanus' opinion. The lack of street lamps was also prevalent in the Seam. Instead, houses would have oil lanterns lit and hanging on the wooden beams of front porches or by the front door to light the way for miners that worked the graveyard shift.

Coriolanus doesn't (repeat he does not) like the idea of June walking alone along the dark, muddy, scum infested streets of the Seam during dusk. In his opinion it's unsafe. Despite the fact that she's grown up in the Seam around the people he views as dangerous district scum, the area in the grunt's mind is dangerous.

Just the thought of some street rat dragging June in an alley behind some wooden buildings and having their way with her in the dark, as she innocently walks home from a hard day's work at the apothecary, makes him want to empty the contents of his stomach. Just the thought of some coal dust covered bastard pig trying to take advantage of June makes his blood boil. And it's all the more reason why he has to protect her from harm by walking June to and from places while he's on patrol in the district.

It's also another reason why he needs to bring her home with him to the Capitol.

"How much further is it, little dove?" Coriolanus asked, hoping that June's house was close because he didn't want to walk the entire mud filled Seam to reach it.

Maybe he could arrange for June to live in one of the apartments in the Merchant Sector, closer to the path that leads to the barracks? He could only send half of his pay home to Tigris and Grandma'am; keep the other half to pay his girl's rent and buy her groceries. Yea, he'd do that for June.

Because June's Private Coriolanus Snow's girl now and he has to keep her close; protect June from her neighbors, acquaintances, and the district scum.

"Not much." June told him, passing by the house that her friend Lil shared with her brother Spruce and her boyfriend, a miner named Arlo Chance.

Arlo worked with June's brother, Rein, in the mines. They weren't friends, but they were kosher with each other when they crossed paths.

June noticed how the lantern was lit on Lil and Spruce's porch, meaning that Arlo was working the graveyard shift at the mines tonight. She knew that when she got home that the only one there to greet her would be Ashlie since Rein always worked the same shift that Arlo did.

June didn't remember her brother remarking that he was working the night shift tonight. But maybe it slipped her mind, maybe he forgot to tell her?

What June didn't see while passing by Lil's house, with Coryo's hand firmly taking a possessive residence on the small of her back, was Spruce peeking out of the window, using the moth eaten drapes to shield most of his face, as he looked for his sister's boyfriend to come home after completing a risky mission for the rebel cause.

"That's my house right there." Jube pointed to a wooden shack with a porch. The roof had a few patches and the wooden porch had steps that looked half rotten.

The platinum blonde at the raven-haired girl's side wrinkled his nose in disgust. June's house was no better than a chicken coop, in his opinion. Oh, that just wouldn't do for his girl.

No.

His darling rose deserves the very best. And he plans on giving it to her.

Just like how his cold hearted father had given his warm hearted mother everything money could buy once he united them in love and marriage.

Pulling his attention off of the house, which had a dim light glowing out from underneath the front door, and turning to June, Coryo asked, "Do you live alone?"

He wanted her to say yes, so that he could come inside and properly give June the love that she deserved. Cover her body in open mouth kisses, touch her til she shakes with desire, and fuck her til she moans his name in pleasure.

By how sweet June seems, he just knows that she's a virgin. He wants to take her virginity, claim June as his while ruining her for any and all other men in this lifetime.

Coriolanus lost his virginity, as a bet, with a stranger while drunk in the alley behind a club when he was in the Academy. He didn't regret it. In fact, it gave him some much needed experience.

But June on the other hand…

Well, she'll be fucking only him. And he's going to make sure of that.

"No." June shook her head, causing her dark hair to tumble around her shoulders, only to explain her answer with, "I live with my older brother, Rein, and his girlfriend, Ashlie."

"Can I meet them?" June's new friend asked with a smile. A smile that was sickeningly sweet, too wide, and showed way too much of his pearly white teeth. Barred teeth, much like a wolf's.

June thought that he was genuinely interested in meeting her family because he wanted to make a good impression- being her new friend and all. But the cold, hard truth was that Private Snow wanted to meet June's family in order to size up the people he has to separate her from. Coriolanus doesn't give a shit about June's family. In his opinion they're district scum; don't deserve having an angel like her living amongst them.

No.

Only he deserves to have her living with him.

But…

One could say that he's an angel himself.

A fallen angel.

The fallen angel that was the most beautiful of them all.

Lucifer himself.

So if June's his angel then he's her devil.

Can't have one without the other, after all.

Even tho darkness was taking over the sky, the way June worried her lip didn't go unnoticed by Coryo. Giving her a look full of tenderness (Was it real or was it fake? Who knows, who cares.) he softly asked, "What's wrong, June?"

Letting out a heavy sigh, she told him, "Coryo, they're leery of peacekeepers. Maybe we should wait a while before we do introductions, okay?"

The platinum blonde, Capitol born and bred, peacekeeper didn't like that answer. Didn't like it one bit. June wants to hide her relationship with him because she's afraid of her family's reaction.

Yea…

He can't have that. He needs everyone-

EVERYONE-

Including her scummy miner brother and his district whore to know that June's with him.

He's got nothing to hide. And Coryo's not going to let June hide him like some dirty little secret.

No, he's going to meet her family and let them know that June belongs to him.

But he'll pacify June; won't go pass the threshold tonight once he walks her to the door.

"Okay, but let's not wait too long. I don't want to be almost done with my 20 years of Peacekeeper service when we do the introductions." Coriolanus told June, his smile teasing, as he walked her to the door.

"It won't be that long." June assured her new friend.

"I know it won't be, darling." Coryo confidently told his darling. But what he didn't tell June was that within the week he plans on striding inside of hee house, staring down her family and telling them who she belongs to.

And Jube belongs to him, not them, now.


"Lil's lantern's on, I thought you'd be working the graveyard shift with Arlo." June told her brother upon seeing him sitting on a ratty armchair, smoking while watching Ashlie drain a pot full of boiling potatoes in the kitchen sink (which was more or less a glorified basin with metal rust spotted legs, whenever she walked thru the door.

June's older brother shook his head. "The fool took on an extra shift." Rein said around a lungful of smoke that he blew out of his mouth.

"Supper's already ready." Ashlie announced, placing the pot on the counter only to start mashing the potatoes with a wooden spoon that was splintered and had seen better days. "How was your day at the apothecary shop?" June's brother's girlfriend asked as June walked by the kitchen on her way to her bedroom, so that she could put her book away on the bedside table (like June does every night when she gets home).

"It was fine." June answered, entering the hall.

It was more then fine, since June made a new friend. But she wasn't ready to tell anyone about Coryo just yet.

Only if June knew how great of a friend Coryo really was. Would she still be mesmerized by his crystal blue eyes, platinum buzz cut, and strong jaw that makes him look more like a god then a man, if she knew how black his soul was? Would June want him around her if she knew how he was destroying her livelihood?


The wooden stairs lightly creaked underneath the weight of Coriolanus' boots as he made his way to Doula Ada's apartment above the apothecary shop. The street lamps made his shadow look long, dark, and lean. Like an ominous horror creature of sorts.

Except a horror creature would probably be more friendlier then Coriolanus Snow.

When he reached the door of the flat, he balled his hand into a fist and furiously banged on it. "Peacekeeper, open up!" Coriolanus loudly ordered, knowing that tossing his weight around (despite just being a grunt) would get him the results he wanted.

Everyone in the districts bow down to peacekeepers. Listen to them, even if they don't respect them.

Except for June His girl. June doesn't cower when she sees him in his full uniform. No, she locked eyes with him and gave him the warmest, kindest smile that made love bloom and blossom between the two of them immediately.

June's proud to be on his arm because she fell in love with him at first sight, just like he did with her. Cupid's arrow struck at the right moment, when June and Coriolanus laid eyes on each other and shared smiles. And nobody can tell him otherwise.

When the door opened, an older woman stood in the doorway. She didn't look him in the eye as she addressed him. "What's the matter, Sir? I've paid the rent for my shop and have a permit to allow me travel after curfew to tend to my patients."

Coriolanus pushed past Doula Ada, causing her to stumble- she would've fallen if she didn't grab the door to keep her upright, and darkly chuckled. "For owning the only apothecary in the district, your apartment's poorly furnished."

"Is there a reason you're here, Sir?" The doula asked, clutching her chest. It was painted all over her face that she was afraid.

Good, she should be afraid. Coriolanus could destroy her entire bloodline if he wanted with a snap of his finger and the simple word of rebel.

Ignoring the older woman, Coriolanus walked over to a small table that had a couple of pictures neatly arranged on it. The picture that caught his eye was one that had the dirty blonde man and flaxen haired girl he saw exit the shop earlier that day. So, they were the doula's family.

Good. Very good. That means they can be used for leverage to get what he wants.

Picking up the framed photograph, he looked at it for a second or so before flashing it at Doula Ada. "This your family?"

"Yes." Doula Ada nodded. "That's my daughter and her fiance. Why do you ask?"

Placing the picture back where he found it, Coriolanus turned to the woman and calmly, but coldly, ordered, "Fire June Halvir or else I'll make sure you see your family hang for treason."