Chapter 4

Nyxaria

My mom had only hit me twice in my life.

Once, when I was five years old and beat the Alpha's son with a heavy stick.

And just now.

“Have you lost your damn mind?!” She shrieked in my face, while my brothers threw their entire weight into holding my father back.

My cheek burned, but a slap was nothing compared to what Kai was probably facing back in the holding cells. What had started off as a little trip had completely imploded. Now, both our families were in the city, and our Alpha was currently behind closed doors, talking to theirs.

I caught a familiar scent before I even saw him enter and I groaned internally while my wolf instantly paced the cage of my ribs, eager and restless at the proximity.

“May I have a word with you, please?” He asked, his voice cutting through the chaos.

The Moon Goddess could have at least given me a mate with a better sense of timing.

“Just go before I do something I regret,” my father spat, adjusting the collar of his leather tunic. I could tell they had all put on their best outfits to come here, but we still looked so out of place.

Even the cum-stained gown I wore yesterday suddenly felt better than the woolen kirtle my mom made me change into.

“Beta.”

I heard Kai’s father’s voice, and my head snapped toward him so fast. His wife was beside him, her eyes bloodshot and swollen from crying, while our head warrior marched toward my father.

But there was still no Kai.

”Where’s Kai—” I started to say, but my brother shoved me toward my mate.

”Just go with him, Nyx. You’ve done enough harm,” my older brother, Ares, said, shaking his head in pure disappointment.

And that somehow hurt more than the slap.

“Okay,” I whispered, digging my nails into my palms so I didn't cry.

“Keep her safe….Please. She’s a wild one” Cassian said to him and he nodded.

They wanted me out of the way so bad they didn’t even care that they were sending me off with a stranger from the city.

I walked ahead of my mate, heading toward an unknown destination while he followed silently behind me. The only tell that he was even there was his scent, intoxicating me with every single breath I took.

I walked for a while until we were in the midst of only trees. While I appreciated the silence, soon enough, I was starting to get annoyed with his loitering.

”You could at least say something!” I finally turned around to snap at him.

He smiled, and I instantly got irritated at how handsome he was. He had sandy brown hair, and his eyes were such a light hazel that they practically accentuated the rest of his perfect features.

“My mother always told me it’s safer to walk through a forest fire barefoot than to tell a furious woman to calm down,” he shrugged, his smile widening.

He was handsome and smart?

No. There had to be a catch. Men like him were usually a trap sent by the universe.

”Do you know what’s going to happen to my friend?” I finally asked the question weighing heavily on my mind, dropping onto a collapsed tree trunk.

He sighed, sitting down right next to me on the damp wood.

Suddenly, I was profoundly grateful that I’d accepted that shower from the kind she-wolf back in her quarters.

Mainly because I found my way there in the midst of the chaos. Not because the stranger I fucked in any way helped.

I had been ditched, but at least the orgasm was worth it.

“I don’t know what’s going to happen to your friend,” he said, leaning in just close enough for me to feel his warmth. “But I’ll do what I can to keep your mind off the worst of it.”

His accent was entirely different from the stranger's. It was smooth and fluid, but there was a crisp, sharp edge to the way he clipped his words.

My eyes dropped to his collarbone, catching the edge of a tattoo peeking out from his shirt. It was a mark that instantly explained the dominant aura radiating off him.

“You’re an Alpha,” I stated.

He nodded. “Heir. My father hasn’t stepped down yet from helping rule my mother’s pack.”

My brows knitted in confusion. A woman could rule a pack?

”In the city, the children take the most dominant bloodline," he explained, noticing my confusion "And in this case, it's my mother’s.”

My ears instantly perked up. “What other benefits do women here have?”

He threw his head back and laughed, and the sound made a strange warmth spread through my chest. “Women here get to vote, work, choose to have kids, and make their own money.”

Everything the Elders called a sin, the city called a right. It was basically my wildest, most blasphemous wet dream turned into reality.

“Wow,” I breathed out.

”I’m Zade Volkov. Heir to the Silverline pack. I'm twenty-two, Russian, but I grew up right here in the States.”

I couldn’t understand half the places he mentioned, but I refused to let my lack of knowledge embarrass me. ”I’m Nyx—”

A roaring sound like a cross between a furious engine and a lion cut me off. The ground literally vibrated beneath my boots and I immediately rushed to take cover behind a thick tree, while Zade stayed completely in place, totally unfazed.

”It’s okay, Nyx,” he laughed , shaking his head. “It’s just my brother and his Lamborghini .”

Lamborghini? Was that some kind of ancient city spell?

”You dropped this at training.”

The blood drained from my face so fast my vision swam. I knew that voice. I knew the exact tone of it, because less than twenty-four hours ago, that same deep voice had been growling filthy things into my ear.

Oh, Moon Goddess, no.

They were brothers? Was I finally paying for all my sins?

I popped my head out from behind the trunk, and truly, there he was. This time he was fully clothed, and resting right behind him was a metal shiny orange beast that sat on four thick wheels.

He didn’t spare me a glance, tossing what looked like a necklace to Zade.

They didn’t even look related. Their only similarity was the crushing weight of their presence. Otherwise, where Zade was warmth, this man was nothing but frozen winter.

“This is Nyx. Nyx, this is my brother—”

“Valen,” he cut him off, looking at me like my presence was a parasite irritating his skin, before he turned back to his brother.

Valen. Even his name sounded like a sharp blade dragging over stone.

He didn't acknowledge me further and I was grateful for it as I watched him slip into the belly of the weird metal monster, making it roar once more before speeding off into a cloud of dust.

I let out a breath I hadn't realized I was holding, my knees actually trembling.

“Excuse him. He’s an ass on his best days,” Zade said smoothly, entirely oblivious to the fact that I had just nearly fainted from terror. "We have different mothers, so we didn't exactly grow up together. He spent most of his life in Russia."

"Right," I choked out, trying to force my voice to sound normal. "An ass."

“Our father had Valen come back from Russia to...” He hesitated, his smile faltering. “To learn a few things.”

“And your mother’s mate?”

”Dead.”

I opened my mouth to ask about Kai again since Zade was quickly becoming a fountain of information but the words died in my throat as Cassian’s voice violently echoed in my head through the mindlink.

”Get back here, Nyx, and congratulate yourself while you’re at it,” his mental tone barked, dripping with bitter sarcasm.

“What’s happening?”

”You and Kai put our pack on the map. And now we’re getting invaded.”

And to start off my twenties, I heard actual panic from the calmest person I knew.