Chapter 43

“Wh-.... why didn’t you say something?” My voice cracked.

He shrugged his shoulders and tightened his grip on the steering wheel.

“Dad did some research on the White Wolf. He found that it had happened once before where a female was born with the spirit of a White Wolf. She, too, had shifted at an early age. According to the documents, her wolf didn’t sense her mate until her 16th birthday, when the wolf was fully matured. At the same time, the wolf released its first set of pheromones, signally her mate she was ready.”

“Both dads agreed that I should come to visit you for your birthday in the hopes that our wolves would be able to sense each other. I pretended not to remember your birthday and made my way to see you. I hadn’t seen you in a while, and I was so excited to give you your present. But then you called, and for the first time in 6 years, you asked me for something. As much as it hurt me, I knew you’d have a reason.”

Nicholas’s words broke my heart even more. Why was he so sweet?

“Nick... I’m so sorry. I’m so very sorry. I didn’t know. I wish you would have said something.”

Nicholas reached over with one hand and tangled his fingers with mine. To say that his touch felt electrifying was an understatement. The current running through me was so intense I felt like my entire body was on fire. Kona howled inside me, and I closed my eyes to control my heart rate. Nicholas didn’t need to know anything just yet. I needed to see Gideon first.

“Alex, it’s the past. We’ve moved on. If I hadn’t moved on, I wouldn’t be here today helping you. Let’s just move on and focus on finding out what connection we do have between us. Now stop crying, please. It breaks my heart seeing you cry” he squeezed my fingers, and I nodded.

I quickly wiped my face with my free hand and smiled at him.

“That’s better. Always smile like that. Since your such a good girl, I can give you your 16th birthday present now” He let go of my fingers and reached into his inner jacket pocket.

Nicholas had changed back into his suit before we left. I couldn’t imagine him going back into his territory looking shabby.

Nicholas’s hand emerged out of his jacket with a small square velvet box. He held it out for me to take. I gave him a tight smile and took the box from his hand. The box itself was so soft. I carefully opened the box, and on the cushion inside the box sat a pendant attached to a chain. The pendant was round and had a beautiful opal stone in the center. A web-like design surrounded the stone. It was stunning.

“It belonged to my mum. She was given that pendant for her 16th birthday. Just like her, Opal is your birthstone as well. So, I thought it was fitting. However, now given the circumstances you are in, I’ve had my mage put a little protect spell on it. He said once you wear it, it will prevent any kind of spell from working on you. It doesn’t matter how strong the spell or the mage casting it is.” He tangled his fingers into mine again, pulled the hand up to his lips, and kissed the back of it. I gasped at the contact and quickly bit my lip.

My heart picked up speed.

“Finally, a normal reaction. I was starting to wonder if I had lost my touch or if you’d become immune to my touches and teasing” Nicholas chuckled. He was obviously referring to my heart rate.

Whenever I would come to visit Angel Falls, Nicholas would also come down to see me. He would flirt and be cheeky. Like every normal girl, I would react by either going red or my heart rate increasing. But since Nicholas’s arrival this morning, I had been controlling my reaction. I didn’t want him to know that he was affecting more than normal.

I let go of his hand and put the necklace on. I looked at myself in the mirror and admired the stunning pendant.

“Your dad won’t mind that you’ve given this to me?”

Nicholas chuckled and reached over to grab my hand again.

“He wanted you to have it. He said mate or not, Alex should have this”

“That’s really sweet. Thank you. It’s absolutely stunning. You shouldn’t have” I couldn’t help but want to cry. Nicholas’s gesture had made me emotional.

“So do tell, how have you been otherwise? I hear you’ve become a popular manwhorè” I changed the topic.

“You’ve heard, huh? Damn girls and their big mouths” he rolled his eyes.

“Don’t you get tired of jumping from bed to bed? Like I’m sure you’ve contracted some sort of disease by now” I laughed.

“It’s not that bad! Females just make it sound like it is. It’s maybe one or two every other week. Besides, I wrap it up. I’m that not stupid.”

“Is that why you rescinded from Samantha back there? You’ve gone over your weekly limit?”

“No. I’m not here to have a good time. I’m here to help you.”

“Uh huh. Tell me the truth. What was it? She’s your age, she’s hot, and she was trying very hard” I turned towards him more.

I noticed him clench his jaws. Did I say something wrong?

“Until I find out what’s happening between us, I’m not going near another woman. Aries and I have decided that finding our mate is more important than sex. All this time, I kept thinking my attraction to you was nothing more than just my human side being attracted to a gorgeous girl. A girl I wanted my wolf side to like too. Since Aries couldn’t sense your wolf, I thought that okay, maybe you aren’t my mate, so I carried on being the jerk I’ve become. I thought that our friendship was enough for me. But when you asked for space, I knew I had screwed up somewhere. If I had the slightest idea, it was all manipulated by magic. I would have tried harder to find out our connection. I would have been a better guy. I would have made better choices and decisions.”

Nicholas kept looking straight. His fingers tightened around mine, and it felt like he was holding on to dear life.

Oh, Goddess, why was this so hard. I didn’t realize Nicholas was this soft for me. He had always been sweet and made it obvious he liked me, but to this extent? What if I wasn’t his mate, and this was all just a big misunderstanding? What would he do then? Go back to being my friend?

I sighed and looked out the window. The sky was grey, and it matched the mood in the car right now. The GTR’s engine purred in the background, and I focused my attention on the scenery outside. Nicholas was still holding my hand tightly. He gently rubbed his thumb across the back of my hand, sending a wave of sparks through my arm.

“Alex....”

“Hmm,” I turned towards Nicholas.

“Why are you so desperate to see Gideon? I mean, I know he was your Sensei but is there something going on?”

“Kind of. So you know how you said your dad did some research on the White Wolf spirit? It’s sporadic for a White Wolf to be born with the spirit. It’s only happened once before, and it was a very long time ago. After that, the next time the White Wolf spirit was sent was during the war between the territories that Duke’s great grandfather initiated. That wasn’t very long ago. Usually, there are a few decades between the appearance of the White Wolf spirit. When I was born with the spirit, there was speculation of an uprising that the Moon Goddess already knew about. Talks were that she sent the White Wolf spirit to start preparing for the uprising as it was going to be a big deal.”

“Anyway, when I went to Tribeca, Sensei Gideon mentioned a legend when dad told him about the rumored uprising. He didn’t elaborate much on it, but he said a legend associated with the next time a female possessed the White Wolf spirit. Gideon is the only one that will know about it because he is a direct descendant and was blessed with the knowledge.”

I had kept a tiny part of that story to myself. I wasn’t too sure about it, and it was something I had only heard rumors about after my recent trip to HQ. I needed Gideon to clear up the entire story.

“Hmm, so you think this legend will help you stop the uprising?” He glanced at me.

“I don’t know if it will help me stop the uprising, but maybe help me defeat it.”

My phone started to ring, and I let go of Nicholas’s hand to pull it out of my pocket. Nicholas put his hand over my thigh and left it to rest there. This boy was trying to kill me.

I looked at my phone screen.

“What do you want, Clark?” I answered the call.

“Do you know how long you’ll be gone for?” His voice sounded super pissed.

“No, why what’s happened?” I pinched the bridge of my nose.

“Well, you’ve just driven into the sunset with another man. I’m just anxious, that’s all. Why couldn’t you at least take Matt with you?”

“Because he wasn’t needed. Clark,” I ground my teeth together.

“Can you at least video call me so I can see you?”

“I’ve only been gone, maybe 2 hours. Are you seriously that pathetic?” Nicholas squeezed my thigh and rubbed it a little, trying to calm me down. His actions were having more than just a calming effect on me.

“It’s not a crime to want to see your mate.” Clark barked.

“YOU ARE NOT MY FUCKING MATE! fuck sakes! Stop with this whole mate shit. I DO NOT care about you. Now please stop annoying me” I ended the call.

“Ugh!!” I screamed. I wanted to hit something so bad. I couldn’t destroy anything inside Matt’s car.

I was so mad right now. Clark had ruined my life and was still on a path to annoy me to death.

Nicholas slowed the car down and pulled over. We still had a couple of hours before we crossed the border.

“Hey, hey. Alex, it’s going to be okay. Calm down” Nicholas unbuckled himself and reached over to rub my shoulder.

I took a deep breath in, and Kona was going crazy inside me, and I knew exactly what she wanted. I tried to calm her down and pushed her back before she did something irrational. She was begging for just one whiff to help her stay sane.

One of the things Sensei Gideon had taught me during my training was how to block out someone’s scent. It was a trick for situations where I was near an enemy and wanted to stay calm instead of letting their scent aggravate me even more. I could also use this technic to hide my scent so that during an attack, we could confuse the enemy.

I had been using that trick to keep Nicholas’s scent away from me and mine away from him. I know it sounded harsh, but right now, I needed to keep the scents away. If his touch had such effects on me, I couldn’t imagine what his scent would do to me. I didn’t even want to imagine what Nicholas would do once he caught my scent. I was sure I wouldn’t be able to walk for days once he did.

I had another idea to keep both Kona and me calm. I just didn’t know if Nicholas would let me or be okay with it.

Before I could say anything to him, I heard my seatbelt click and was lifted off my seat. Nicholas pulled me onto his lap and hugged me tightly.

“I know it’s upsetting, but you’ll get through this. You are strong and fierce. If the Moon Goddess has picked you, there’s something extraordinary about you” he pressed his face into the crook of my neck, and I fought hard with Kona. She was going haywire, and all my training to keep her in check was failing.

I felt Nicholas take a deep breath in, sniffing me. I know what he was looking for every time he did that. But since he couldn’t find it, he used my usual scent to calm himself down. My body was rigid. I was clinching on to every muscle.

“Nick... I-.... you need to let go” I clenched my teeth, holding on to Kona as tightly as I could.

I wanted to push him away and create space between us, but I was fighting a perilous internal battle so hard, I didn’t have the energy to fight externally.

“Why?” His voice sounded sad.

I was so lucky to have a guy like him in my life, and here I was screwing it up just because I was trying to protect him and our friendship. He lifted his head to look at me and his sad eyes tipped me over the edge.

I grabbed his face and slammed my lips into his.

This wasn’t going to end well....