I let Nikolaos lead me to the bedroom where we’re to spend our last night together. He told me he was leaving to get Maxim back since he got proof Mikhail took him, but I didn’t expect it to be so soon.
I should have known, though.
“You’re angry,” he says as I stand with my back to him. I feel him walking closer to me, but he doesn’t try to touch me.
“No, not angry,” I sigh, wrapping my arms around my waist. “Just…scared.”
He moves closer to me and puts his hands on my hips before placing a kiss on the nape of my neck. “Nothing will happen to me, Mia-”
I spin around to face him. “You don’t know that! You have no idea how Mikhail…how dirty he plays when there’s something he wants!”
Nikolaos looks at me with a taut expression, then he raises a hand to cup my cheek. “Nothing will happen to me, I promise on my life. I have something to fight for now, something to come home to. Why would I throw it away?” he says, then his hand lowers and goes to the back of my neck.
“Please trust me when I say I won’t die, kardia mou.”
I slip my hands around his waist and stifle a sob. Nothing seems certain in my new life; there’s always a fight to keep something with me. It’s like I’ve been cursed with uncertain happiness, never knowing if it’ll stay or not.
“I trust you, but that doesn’t mean I won’t be scared for you, Nikolaos,” I say.
His heart is beating wildly in his chest, but I will not say anything to appease him. He knows how I feel about this, and even though I understand why he’s leaving, it doesn’t mean I have to like it.
“When are you leaving?” I ask the words I truly didn’t want to know the answer to because it would make it official. I know once I hear he’s leaving, I’ll be a bundle of nerves and anxiety until he returns.
“Tomorrow.”
I feel the blood rushing into my ears and move out of his embrace, taking a step back from him. My face heats up as I realize he’s played me for a fool this entire time.
“Tomorrow?!” I say, scoffing incredulously. “You planned to just drop me here and take off?”
/“Mira, calm down. He’s an Alpha and right now it's his duty to get his warriors and Beta back.”/ Star chastises me as I continue to give Nikolaos a death stare.
I understand. I understand all that! But it won’t stop me from overreacting since he hasn’t been honest with me from the start. He knew what he was going to do and kept it from me!
He crosses his arms and pinches the bridge of his nose. “We’ve spoken about this, Mia. You know why I have to be the one to get Maxim back. Why are you being so impossible right now?”
“Impossible?!” I exclaim with my hand firmly on my hip. “If you were honest with me about when you planned to leave, I wouldn’t be so ‘impossible’ now, would I?!”
Nikolaos looks at me with wide, confused eyes, then he moves towards me and takes my face in both his hands. “Please don’t fight with me, kardia mou; I don’t want this to be my last memory of you before I have to leave,” he says, placing a kiss on my forehead. “You can fight with me all you want when I come back to you, just give me tonight.”
A tear of frustration slips down my cheek and he swipes it away with the pad of his thumb. I’m angry, I want to fight with him but I am also frustrated and scared because I don’t know when I’ll see him again.
My face crumples up and I fall forward onto his chest; his one arm constricts around me while the other holds my head against him. His heart is beating as wildly as mine, with uncertainty, and fear of leaving things like this.
“I’m so sorry for not telling you about my plans, kouneláki,” he sighs, kissing the top of my head. “I just didn’t want you to worry, but please know I have every intention of returning, even if I have to claw back to you.”
“Nikolaos…” I sob as he holds me, memorizing the feel of his body, his scent, and the way he’s holding me. I need to burn this into my memory or else I’ll go crazy not being next to him.
Ever since we decided to give in to our feelings, my emotions have amplified. I want to be around him constantly, even if he’s simply doing his paperwork. Star says it’s because of Ares needing to feel his Pappa close to him, but I think it’s a combination of the love we feel for Nikolaos.
He picks me up and walks me to the bathroom. Without a word, he strips me naked while doing the same to himself. Then he regulates the water in the large shower and washes my body before washing himself.
The restrained growl in his chest makes my body shiver and my back arches from the bed. “Fuck, I want to take it slow and make it special since it’s our first time, but you’re driving me crazy, Mia,” he says in a strained voice, his mouth still on my nipple while his fingers slowly torture my clit.
“Please, Niko…” I beg, uncertain of what I am asking for exactly. But Nikolaos knows what I need and he positions himself in between my legs.
Pushing my legs further apart, he groans when he looks at my slick core, biting his bottom lip and grinning. “I’ve wanted this pussy since I first felt it squeeze my fingers,” he says, taking his cock in his hand and running the tip over my slick heat.
I gasp at the feel and thrust my hips up, but he holds me in place. “Greedy little rabbit,” he says, shaking his head. Then he leans over me, and through my lust, I see something else in his eyes.
“Nikolaos,” I say when I see the uncertainty clear as day and finally hear the way his heart is pounding. How could I have missed this?! Of course he’ll be a mess!
His lips are a tight line and even as his cock remains rock hard, the lust creeps out of his eyes.
“We don’t have to do this now, okay? As much as we both want this, I can see the pain in your eyes,” I say, but then he shakes his head.
“I want to do this; I’ve wanted this for as long as I can remember,” he says in a low voice. “But as I looked down and realized…just how close we were to actually-”
“Nikolaos,” I say again and sit up, moving my face closer to his. “I know this can’t be easy after what you were forced to do. We don’t have to go all the way; you have my heart, you can claim my body when you’re ready.”
He sits back on his haunches and looks up, breathing out a sigh…that’s when I notice the tear slipping down the side of his face.
“I’m fucked up, Mia. I can rip out someone’s heart easily, tear them in two as if they were made out of nothing,” he scoffs, shaking his head before he peers down at me. “But this…I can’t even make love to the one person who means the world to me without feeling their hands all over my body.”
My heart breaks for this Alpha everyone fears, the one who’s still a scared little boy deep down. The one tortured most of his childhood…the one who cannot stand the touch of another.
I have to do something; those women cannot be the reason we don’t claim each other tonight. I refuse to have them ruin his happiness further. Their hold on him gets severed right now.
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