Part 1: Chapter 6

Nova

What the hell is wrong with me? It’s been close to a month, and Nikolai has disappeared yet again. I keep setting myself up for this, but whenever I try to reject him, the words die in my mouth. My heart aches whenever I think about it, so much so that I feel breathless at times.

I want Nikolai, and I want him to crave me as much as I do him, but I know he never will.

Tonight it’s busier than usual in the bar, but I know the reason why; the full moon is tomorrow, and the unmated males are nearing their rut. Not a good thing for an unmated female like me, especially since I can feel my heat approaching.

/“Nova,”/ Alpha Cain calls me through the mind link at about 8 PM. /“Close up early and go home; I don’t want Nikolai Volkov killing anyone else in my territory because you’re nearing your heat.”/

I blush beet red when he says this and relay the message to Estie and the new bar lady, Amy. To be honest, both of them look relieved when I tell them this and Estie calls for the last rounds.

“I’ll lock up since I stay around the corner, so you guys can go on home,” I tell them when the last few stragglers. It’s getting late, and even though they both have transport home, they’re still in danger of wolves in rut catching onto their scent.

“Thanks, Nova!”

“See you tomorrow night!”

I shake my head. “I’m asking Alpha Cain to close for the next week; we don’t want another incident like last month,” I say, recalling how the previous bar lady struggled to control the heat of her scent and had five wolves force themselves on her. There was nothing we could do since we were weak and had to listen to her screams until Alpha Cain showed up.

“We can make it a monthly thing from now on, to be honest; I don’t know why it isn’t a fucking thing,” I add and shake my head. 

Since Alpha Cain spoke to me last, I’ve grown a bit more of a backbone, and people seem to respect me more. I can’t believe how much I allowed myself to endure under Will while under the guise of not wanting to bother our Alpha, but I know better now.

Well, I think I do. I still haven’t had the strength to reject Nikolai. Ugh, just thinking about him gives me a headache.

“Let me know when you get home safely!” I call behind Estie and Amy as they walk out. I do my last little bit of cash ups and paperwork for the evening before I decide to leave. But as I place the last few receipts in the safe, I hear the door opening and sigh. Did I forget to lock the damn door?

“We’re closed!” I exclaim from behind the counter, a metallic scent in the air, but I still hear the shuffling footsteps towards the counter. I didn’t realise what that metallic smell was until I jumped up from the counter and looked straight into Nikolai’s bloodied face.

“I said-!” my words shrivel up in my mouth when I see the sight of him, and he drops to the floor with his eyes rolled back. “What the fuck!”

I run towards the door and lock it, as I should have fucking done before and amble to where Nikolai lay passed out and bloodied. What the hell happened to him? Why did he decide to come here of all places?

Putting the questions out of my head, I grab a first aid kit behind the counter, drag him out of sight and tend to his wounds. I cut off his bloodied shirt and mentally slap myself as I admire his magnificent body; now is the time to nurture, not eye-fuck, Nova. But damn… My mate is gorgeous.

Okay, focus!

I wince at the sight of the purple smoke coming out of his wounds and put on a respirator so as not to inhale the fumes. Someone stabbed him several times with a silver knife, and there were silver bullets laced with wolfsbane embedded in his arms and chest. It took me quite a while to remove the six bullets and burn out the wolfsbane with a blow torch, but he remained passed out through everything.

How the fuck.

Four hours later, and fucking exhausted, I grab Nikolai’s cell phone and decide to call Alpha Kai to inform him about his little brother’s disposition. It’s all good and well that I tended to him, but he’s not my responsibility. I walk to the other end of the bar and press the call button, knowing I’m probably waking him up, but he needs to know what happened.

“Nikolai, where the fuck did you disappear to?! And why the hell are you calling me instead of  using the link?!” He growls through the phone, terrifying me to my very core.

“Uhm… Alpha Kai, it’s-”

“Nova? Is that you?” he asks, perplexed as his voice softens. “Why do you have Nikolai’s phone? Did my little brother finally take my words to heart?” he asks with a chuckle.

I blush at these words, uncertain of what they could mean and yet knowing. “N-no… Uhm… he stumbled into my bar terribly injured.” I say quietly, my heart dropping at the roar on the other side of the phone.

“What happened? Is he okay?” Alpha Kai asks, and I can hear the shuffling of clothes.

“He is now, but he’s still passed out. I’ve removed all the silver bullets and burned out the wolfsbane from his system, so he should be okay. Are you able to collect him? I’m at Alpha Cain’s bar in Hell’s Kitchen.” I say with a thundering heart as if I’ve done something wrong.

I hear him sigh on the other end of the line. “I’ll be there soon. And Nova?” he says, his tone softening.

“Yes, Alpha Kai?” I ask, my heart beating so fast that I’m not sure how I’m not passed out yet.

“Thank you for taking care of him,” he then kills the call, leaving me a terrified, confused mess. Damn, how do members of his pack get over the sheer intimidation that is Alpha Kai? I can’t even handle a damn phone call!

Breathing out a sigh, I turn around and walk back to where Nikolai is lying on the floor, but when I get there, the only thing I can see is a puddle of blood.

What the fuck?

“Nikolai?” I call out, looking all over the bar for him but seeing nothing, and I can’t even smell his scent. “Fuck,” I mutter under my breath and run to the door to check if it’s still locked. Why would he leave if he’s injured? When I was tortured with silver, I could barely move for hours, even when Will forced me to get up and go to work.

I turn the doorknob and sigh when I find that it’s still locked; so where is that little shit?

“Nikolai-” I stop calling when bloodied arms cage me in and press me against the door. I look up into the glass, and I see Nikolai’s face behind me, his silver eyes boring into mine. 

“What are you doing?” I ask tentatively, my heart thundering in my chest at this close proximity against his naked upper body. Fuck, why did he have to visit me when my heat is so close?!

He breathes out, rests his chin on my shoulder and inhales deeply. “Mate…” he murmurs, his lips pulling up in a smile as he passes out again. However, I spin around and catch him this time before he hits the floor. I can’t help but smile because he called me his mate, but my heart breaks anew at the fact that he still won’t do anything about it.

I walk his dead weight over to behind the bar counter, out of breath and gingerly lay him down on the tiled floor. How the fuck can I carry nearly two hundred pounds of ripped muscle and not die? Christ.

Sliding down to the floor myself, I look over at Nikolai passing out yet again and breathe out a sigh. I can’t keep doing this; I can’t keep waiting for something that will never happen. I think four years is enough time for me to realise that I’ll be nothing but a Rogue unwanted by her mate.

I pull up my knees to my chest and lay my head down on them as warm tears slip down my cheeks. I’m so deeply in love with him but tired of this, and if Nikolai doesn’t do something about it, I will have to. It’s for the best; this rejection will do us both good.

“I, Nova Lorelei,” I start in a muffled tone, “Reject you-”

Before I can complete the Rejection Vow, my back gets slammed against the tiled floor, and a hand clamps over my mouth. When I open my eyes again, my heart drops - Nikolai’s blue eyes are boring into mine, and he looks livid.

“Don’t you fucking dare,” he says, his eyes shimmering to silver, and he starts to scent me heavily. 

Having him pressed up against me like this while I’m so close to my heat makes my head swim and my eyes roll back. “Nikolai,” I moan out his name, knowing that right now, the hard thing pressing in between my legs is not simply his belt buckle. I can’t help it… I release my scent and breathe out.

He moves his hips against me, his chest rumbling with a growl, and he inhales deeply again, releasing his hand from my mouth. My stomach is tied up in a confused knot, not knowing what is going through his mind, and it doesn’t help that he’s pinning me with that silver gaze. I bite my bottom lip, but it seems to be his undoing. 

What he does next makes it clear that he has no intention of ever letting me get away from him.