The Lycan Kingpin's Captive: A Baby For The Beast novel Chapter 27

The warm shower washes away the embarrassment of being rejected. One minute Alpha Nikolaos acts like he wants me, the next he looks at me as if I’m the most disgusting thing he’s ever seen.

It happened the second I touched his skin. In my stupid haze of pleasure, I forgot about the one thing he’s dead set against. How could I allow myself to do something like that? This man, he muddles up my head so I don’t think clearly when I’m around him.

But why is it only his bare chest? What happened to him?

/“He…has a past filled with pain. It would be a pity to see you add to it.”/

Is this what Maxim meant? Is this why he hates being touched and yet he can touch me? With a sigh and my mind made up, I get out of the shower, put on my PJs and go to his bedroom. This needs to stop now; either he tells me what he wants from me or I give this ring back.

I open my bedroom door and see Josef sitting in his usual spot, playing with his knife and not looking up at me. “Is the Alpha here?” I ask.

He looks up and nods. “He’s in his gym; he’s been there most of the afternoon and early evening.”

“Take me to him,” I say and walk out of my bedroom. “Or I’ll ask someone else if you’re still pissy with me.”

Ignoring Josef’s complaints, I walk down the hallway until he catches up to me. He’s about to say something until he sees the look on my face and shuts up. Nodding, he walks ahead and leads me further down the hall.

We come to a stop in front of twin oak doors, which he opens for me. “He’s in here,” Josef says and stands next to the door without looking at me.

“Thank you, Josef,” I say as I walk inside and he closes the door behind me.

I am nearly knocked over by Alpha Nikolaos' scent hanging heavy in the room. Leather and spice tinged with fury, I struggle to catch my breath the more I’m breathing it in. He’s been down here since he left the pool area, that’s basically what Josef said.

But why is he angry? Is his fury aimed at me for touching him?

I walk into the gym, spotting the heavy lifting equipment but not seeing him anywhere. Did he leave already? No, it can’t be, Josef would have mentioned it if he had.

“Alpha…” I trail off when I finally spot him deeper inside the gym. My mouth goes dry and my heart leaps into my throat at the sight of him.

He’s pulling himself up from an iron bar, grunting every time his body lifts. Sweat is dripping from his body, darkening the gray shorts he’s wearing. He’s barefoot, wearing no shirt yet looking as delicious as ever.

“I can smell your lust all the way up here,” he says and drops to the floor. “That’s a dangerous thing to be doing in front of an Alpha in the middle of his rut.”

I breathe in sharply, watching the muscles rippling in his back as he rolls his shoulders back and forth. When he turns around, my eyes widen even more at the coldness behind his crimson eyes - the previous warmth nowhere to be seen.

He steps towards me and I unconsciously take a step backward; this causes him to grin. “Scared of me now, are you?”

“N-no,” I shake my head, holding my hands together in front of my chest. “You don’t scare me.”

My voice wavers as the lie slips over my lips; I am not scared of the Alpha who was on his knees in front of me, calling me his Luna. I’m terrified of this man in front of me now - this man looks like he wants to rip me in two.

He advances on me, and everything in me tells me to run, but I stand my ground. A snarl escapes him when he sees that I’m not moving, then he chuckles and the sound sends a shiver up my spine.

“You don’t scare me, Nikolaos-”

“Addressing me so casually will get your throat ripped out; be careful how you speak to me,” he growls, gripping my throat. “Is that why you came here? You want to die?”

“Why are you like this?” I whimper. “Why tell me I’m yours only to go back to this…unfeeling monster?!”

He laughs. “This unfeeling monster is the real me, Mia; the other soft coward is gone. I should never have allowed myself to be consumed by you and what you make me feel.”

His eyes widen, and so does mine. “What do I make you feel, Nikolaos-”

“You will address me properly!” he roars, walking me back to the wall, and my head slams against it. “I am your Alpha!”

Shock courses through me and I yelp as the pain explodes behind my eyes and I feel my legs give way. Through the white fog behind my eyes, I see the shock on his face when I drop to the floor. “Mia-”

I slap his hand away as he reaches out for me, and I shake my head. “So much for your promise. You’re…no better than Mikhail…” Then I am dragged under, listening to the horror in his voice as I black out.

“Lilah has put you on bed rest, so you’re not going anywhere, Mia,” he says with a stern expression. “You’re welcome to stay here for a while. I’ll leave.”

He doesn’t wait for me to answer and turns to walk out, but as he reaches the door, I call out to him. “Alpha Nikolaos.”

Stopping as he reaches for the door, I hear his heartbeat picking up, but he doesn’t turn around to face me. “Yes, Mia?”

I get to my feet and swallow deeply. “I wanted to apologize for touching you this morning. Being that close to you…it made me forget about your hard limits and turned you into… the person I saw in the gym today.”

Alpha Nikolaos spins around, his crimson eyes wide with shock and anger. “You think it was your fault?” he asks in a low voice, stalking towards me.

But I don’t back away this time. “Wasn’t it? You turned cold and rejected me as soon as I touched you,” I say, shrugging. “If I didn’t, you wouldn’t have-”

He’s in front of me before I can breathe and takes my face in his hands; his crimson eyes shimmer back to their mossy green. Shaking his head, he looks at me in disbelief.

“Mia, nothing was your fault. I don’t know why you would blame yourself like that. This…the person you saw today…that was my fault, no one else's.” He says. “Never blame yourself like that. You’re not responsible for my triggers.”

I scoff sadly. “That’s just it, though; I don’t know what your triggers are, I only know when I set them off. You say I’m yours, you say I make you feel and my head is such a mess when you leave. So please, tell me what you want from me, Nikolaos.”

The pleading look in his eyes breaks my heart, and I don’t know what he’s thinking as he looks at me. What is he trying to say without using the words? What has hurt him so much that he’s taking it out on me?

He smiles sadly and strokes my cheek with the back of his thumbs. “I want you, but my demons will only serve to ruin you more, Mia, because that’s all I ever do. So for now, I will keep my distance and not confuse you any more than I already have.” He says, then he kisses my forehead and lets go of me.

I realize what he’s doing and snap out of my thoughts as he opens the door. “No…No, you can’t-!”

“It’s for the best,” he says and walks out, leaving me a shattered mess on his bedroom floor. Once again I’m the one who’s left in tatters. Once again he walks away from me as if I’m nothing.