#6

[NIKOLAI]

.

.

.

“Fast healing ability, the exact same location of the scar, and stitches that match mine exactly. Is it possible that you are… Mr. Shifter?”

I fell silent, doing my best to keep the corners of my lips from curling into a smile. She was still smart, still as observant as she had been back then.

Maria stood up. The one-foot height difference between us made her tilt her head back to look at me. I looked into those eyes again. Those soft gray-green eyes that had made me always want to protect her like the very first time we met.

Thirteen years ago. My first year at Kingsley Academy.

I thought I was going to have an ordinary day until I saw a girl carrying a baseball bat, chasing after several men. They ran away in fear, shouting that she was crazy.

“What are you looking at?”

Those were the first words she ever said to me.

But when I looked into those eyes, my heart felt like it was being squeezed. It stopped for a few seconds, and I saw a vision of the future with her.

Seeing her smile, run, laugh, her sharp features looking beautiful. As if I already knew she belonged to me.

Mate.

I slowly knelt in front of her without even realizing it, until she frowned.

“Weirdo,” she said before going back to chasing the group of men who had been bothering her.

Should I help her?

No. She could handle it herself.

I only watched her and helped her from the shadows. It continued like that until my second year, then my third year passed, and we graduated.

I should have talked to her properly, just once. But I held myself back. She was human, and I was a strange creature in her eyes.

I returned to my place, watching her from the shadows until I regretted it when she went abroad. I had to stay here, continue my education, and help my adoptive father manage his company. Not a single day passed when I forgot about you, Maria.

I howled at the moon, calling out your name.

Every time.

For the next ten years.

But then I stopped when you returned here and went through all those arranged dates.

Did any man manage to win your heart, Maria?

“Mr. Nikolai, you have received an invitation from Mr. Bowen. Your donation to his charity event last week made you a VIP guest. Mr. Bowen wants you to attend personally this week. He said he would give you a gift.”

The tip of my index finger tapped against my desk repeatedly. My eyes were focused on the city lights beyond the floor-to-ceiling windows.

At least work could distract me from you a little, Maria.

“Arena N009, right? Can I go down and meet the werewolves directly backstage?”

My secretary, Nolan, answered firmly.

“We’ve already confirmed and persuaded him, but he refused and told you to stay at the table and watch the show.”

I fell silent.

Even though Bowen only wanted me to watch, at least I would have access to Arena N009.

I had to make use of this opportunity.

“Tell him I’ll come.”

Nolan nodded.

“And make sure you bring a change of clothes for me.”

My decision was final.

I would save my people.

***

One week later.

Arena N009.

It was a magnificent venue. I watched from above, seated at the private table Bowen had prepared for me. Meanwhile, the fighting arena below was filthy with bloodstains.

It was exactly like a gladiator arena, except they called it The Combat Grounds, because the ones fighting there were fellow werewolves.

The winners were auctioned off or given as prizes to become servants for wealthy humans, while the losers were punished and forced to fight again until they won or died.

My jaw tightened.

To me, this was exploitation.

They put chokers around their necks as a symbol of submission and ownership, turning werewolves into nothing more than pets.

“Where are you going?” Nolan asked as I stood up.

“End this.”

“Don’t get caught.”

I watched Nolan speak through his earpiece.

“Mr. Nikolai is moving. Do it now.”

I took long strides. Nolan ordered our trusted hacker to crash the arena’s CCTV system so no one would know when I transformed into a wolf.

The lower area reeked. Security was tight enough. They had sticks capable of delivering electric shocks to the wolves wearing chokers around their necks.

I watched them, and when one of the men let his guard down, I leaped forward and slammed

him against the wall. I didn’t kill him, but it was enough to knock him unconscious.

The wolves began causing a commotion when I arrived and suddenly attacked a human.

‘Silence!’

Within seconds, all the wolves in the cages fell silent and lowered their heads.

Were they all listening to me?

Was the mind link really working?

How far could I reach them?

I looked at the wolves one by one.

None of them dared to speak. ‘I’m going to get you out of here. But follow my orders. On the count of three, bite the choker around the neck of the wolf nearest to you. All at once.’

‘What if it shocks us? I don’t want to die!’

I turned toward a gray wolf.

I remained silent, but it lowered its head.

‘Get ready. Three, two, one, now!’

The wolves immediately bit the chokers around their companions’ necks until the chokers broke.

I gave another command for them to kick the cage doors at the same time.

The system was still hacked, security had been reduced, and the wolves poured out of their

cages simultaneously.

I ran toward one door, according to my target.

With my large body, I managed to smash the door open. The wolves rushed through it, fleeing, while the guards began arriving.

‘Faster!’

A gunshot rang out, causing a chunk of the barred door to fall onto a small wolf.

Without thinking, I immediately ran inside and moved the door off the wolf.

‘Alpha…’

The voice was female.

A female werewolf? In a place like this?

‘Are you my mate?’

I stepped back.

‘No,’ I said firmly.

‘Now follow your pack. Go!’

Another gunshot rang out.

A group of people arrived carrying firearms and sharp weapons.

I wasn’t afraid. My wolf body was larger than theirs.

I leaped, clawed, and bit, doing enough to incapacitate them, but they injured me. It hurt.

My blood poured out heavily as I took blow after blow.

I thought the pack had gotten far enough away from the arena.

Now it was my turn to leave.

Gasping and in a hurry, I pushed through the heavy snowfall.

My blood left a trail behind me, but only one thing crossed my mind.

One place.

One person.

My legs kept running until I finally arrived there and collapsed. The glass door opened.

Finally, after ten years, I heard your voice again, Maria.

“Oh my fucking God, are you kidding me? Is that your family? Or are they patients too? Shit! I’m on the night shift alone!”

They were here.

The wolves I had saved.

I saw Maria hesitate before approaching me. The breeze carried her familiar scent to me once again.

Her scent was still the same, like morning dew and jasmine, successfully washing over this longing.

The last thing I did before losing consciousness was reach out to the pack through the mind link

'Get lost.'