Chapter 4

Leo POV

 I am just sat in shock. I literally don’t know how to think or feel right now. After they took Nova from the pack house my father had wanted to talk further about what had happened but I couldn’t do it. I didn’t want to be near anyone or talk about anything. I just wanted to escape so I went to the woods and shifted and let my wolf, Lore, take over for a few hours so I didn’t have to think.

Eventually I had to take back control and reopen the mindlink. Heading back to the packhouse I shifted back and picked my discarded clothes back up. My father reached out first.

“Son, I know this was a shock but we did what was right” he said simply like it was an everyday thing

“I don’t think we did dad” I replied. Nothing about this felt right. It had felt wrong from the moment Nova’s family came in spouting the crap about Nova and then after I touched her everything felt worse. This unease gnawing at me was telling me we had all just made the biggest mistake of our lives.

I sat down by the lake for a bit to think. I had known Nova since she was three. She was the same age as me and as her father was the head warrior he trained us together, our father’s spent a lot of time together as well so we naturally became each other’s company. But when she turned 14 everything changed in a heartbeat.

As we grew older and closer I realised that at some point Nova had gone from my wild and joyous ‘tomboy sidekick’ to a pretty and more elegant version of herself and I started to think of her as maybe more than just my friend Nova.

At my 15^th birthday party she arrived in a pretty pale blue dress, her long naturally red hair in wave falling over her shoulders, her dark blue eyes were different and I realised she had mascara on. I didnt realise that I was staring at her all night until Ella came over to me.

“You like Nova” she stated staring at me angrily. I didn’t know why she was pissed about it but before I could stop myself I said “Yeah, I do”

With that Ella got even angrier “She’s not good enough for you” she spat “Only I am good enough for you” with that she stalked off. Ten minutes later I went to find Nova to see if she would dance with me but she had already left the party without saying goodbye.

The next day I waited out outside school for her to arrive determined to ask her to go on a date with me but she never came. She never came back to school and that’s when everyone talked about her having a breakdown and apparently attacking Ella.

Ella was in school the next week playing the victim but I never truly believed her. I told my father but he had no reason to believe any different and my mother said the same. I didn’t see Nova again until she came to work in the packhouse kitchen two years later and I almost had a heart attack when I saw her.

She was so terribly thin, she looked brittle and so pale she was almost translucent. Her hair was drier and looked like it was breaking off and she often moved like she was in pain. It physically hurt me to look at her. But when I was nearer to her, I also felt a sense of comfort as well. Something I had overlooked for a long time. A warmth I always felt around Nova and nowhere else.

I was gutted last night when she said she thought I only came to see her because I was ordered to. Did she think so little of me or herself that she’d think I’d only be near her because I was ordered to? My wolf had whined in my head at this. She seemed so small and hurt and looked like she was trying to curl up inside herself.

I didn’t believe anything her mother or sister had said. It just wasn’t the Nova I knew and it wasn’t rational. Especially as I knew, if Nova had ever indicated she wanted me in that way, I would be there in a heartbeat. It was the diary that made it so hard to refute though. I knew her writing.

Hours of studying together, passing notes in classes, leaving reminders in each other’s room when we were kids, meant I knew it better than anyone. It was pages of obsessive scrawling about how we were fated mates and we were destined to be together, and she would stop and nothing to make sure we marked and mated with each other. It was nauseating to read. My Nova just wasn’t this girl.

And when I put my hand on her arm and the tingling sensation began, I wanted to pick her up and run out of the room with her. I’d never felt anything like it before. It was like something electric, like a live wire between us and I wanted to feel more. I wanted to know if I kissed her would our lips feel like that?

Standing up, I went back inside to face my father, to tell him i think we have made a mistake and that maybe, given what happened when I touched Nova, we may need to consider if she was saying those things about us being fated. What if she was right?

I found my dad in his sitting room with a glass of whiskey staring out the window over the pack grounds.

 “Dad” I said approaching slowly and sitting in the armchair opposite him “Can I ask a question about the mate bond?”

“Of course son” he said never taking his eyes away from the window “What is it?”

“When a wolf is a 18 but their mate isn’t but is close to it, can they both start sensing the bond a bit?” I asked

“Yeah sometimes” he said “In cases when there are strong wolves such as yours ad potentially whoever the goddess picked for you, so if you found someone and you think that you felt a mate bond with them it could be possible. Was it a warrior in training?” he asked becoming more engaged in the conversation

“No” I said unable to look him in the eye. “It’s Nova”

“Ah.” He said “well. That’s… complicated.”

He went quiet for a while and then made a decision. One that we all came to regret. “In six weeks she is 18 and then we will know. If the bond is there we will release and pardon her and make her Luna and if not we banish or execute her.”