Chapter 50

N

icholas' scent.

It was all over me and that's what Gerald recognized, and that's how he trailed me to the house.

Gerald and his friends growled under the night sky and chased me for as long as they could. My breaths came out in short gasps as I ran. I kept running until I couldn't hear them anymore, until I had lost them.

All of them.

As I slowed down, I realized that I had left the bag behind and everything inside it, leaving me nothing to defend myself with.

I looked around, panting heavily as I caught my breath. The woods were dark and eerie, and I couldn't see more than a few feet in front of me. I had no idea where I was going, or where I even was. I couldn't stay out here all night. I was going to drop unconscious with the cold and with barely anything strength left inside of me.

A pain spread through my head and I stopped walking entirely, unable to take my self any further ahead.

A shadow appeared in the dark, out of nowhere. It wasn't my brother this time.

"A prize for the alpha," The man said, his voice cold and menacing as he stepped out of the shadows. He was a large man, with a scruffy beard and scars on his face. When my gaze lowered, I saw his claws that extended through his fingers. "He should have you."

I stepped back, a hundred thoughts running in my head. It appeared to be a rogue, they were usually feral, but they weren't as well-dressed as he was. He couldn't have been any of Gerald's friends as they were a lot more younger than the man that stood in front of me.

My hands were bare, I had nothing on me. "Who are you?" I asked, my tone filled with fear as if I hadn't already had enough today.

He stepped closer as I went backward. The quicker he got, the quicker I moved with the intention to run. But how could I run from this? As I was about to turn and bolt, the man suddenly lunged at me and grabbed onto my arm with his sharp claws. I cried out in pain as his grip tightened, digging into my skin.

Just then, I met with his eyes a few seconds before his head parted from his neck and dropped onto the ground. Behind him, I found Nicholas with blood in his hand.

My lips parted in surprise and he rushed towards me, pulling me into a tight embrace as I trembled in his arms. A sigh of relief escaped my lips as I tightened my arms around him, basking in his warmth and scent that soothed me from the fear and pain I had been through.

"Oh," I whispered, overwhelmed with emotions and unable to find the right words to express what I was feeling.

I buried my face in his chest and took a deep breaths as his fingers curled in my hair, holding me tightly. I could feel his heartbeat against my cheek, steady and strong. We stayed like that for what felt like an eternity. For hours and hours I had been running from my death, and finally, I had stopped.

It didn't feel like reality until Nicholas pulled away and looked at me with concern in his eyes. His hand went to my face, cupping my cheek as he asked, "Are you hurt?"

I shook my head. "No. Just take me away from here. Please." I pleaded, my voice breaking at this point.

I was at the brink of dropping unconscious and losing my mind at the same time. I didn't want to run anymore. I was tired and drained of strength completely.

Nicholas nodded, understanding the urgency in my voice. His hands slipped underneath me before he lifted me off the ground. I wrapped my arms around his neck and buried my head after catching a glimpse of the dead man in the woods. I couldn't understand who he was.

And for now, I didn't want to.

Malik stood near the body, examining it, but as Nicholas began moving, so did. I heard his footsteps behind him as I closed my eyes.

"It's from—"

"Not now, Malik," Nicholas whispered to him. "I'll deal with this later."

I didn't know when or how, but I drifted off to sleep in Nicholas' arm, finally feeling safe and protected for the first time in the past few hours I had spent alone and miserable in the woods.

When I woke up, I found myself lying across Nicholas' lap in the passenger seat of car, with a warm blanket wrapped around me. He reached over and brushed my hair out of my face as I opened my eyes.

"Better?"

I nodded, "A little," I sat up slowly, feeling a bit disoriented. My head was pounding, but the pain wasn't as sharp as before. "My brother—he was at the hospital, and he knew I was there, and that I've mated with you. I killed one of his friends—his friends, they were there too. He wanted to take me somewhere—"

Nicholas cut me off, and placed his hand over my neck. "It's okay. Just breathe. You don't have to tell me anything."

I stopped talking and took a deep breath to ease my bunched nerves. My head rested over his shoulder while I tried to compose myself for the rest of ride, till we were in his town, crossing the familiar roads that lead to his house.

"How did you find me?"

"I began tracing your scent from the hospital, but lost halfway. Malik told me where you were and I found you nearby."

"Who was that man?" I asked him, my lids still half closed.

Nicholas didn't respond. He leaned in and pressed a soft kiss to my forehead as the car came to a halt near the house.

As we got out of the car and started towards the house, I couldn't shake the feeling of unease that was still lingering in my mind. From one thought to another, my mind reverted to Nicholas' mother, who had a look of disapproval on her face as soon as I stepped into the living room.

She appeared a little surprised, which made sense since she had been the one who had lead my brother to me.

"Go up," Nicholas said softly, placing a hand on my back. "I need to talk to my mother."

I nodded before making my way up the stairs and into Nicholas' room. However, I couldn't stay there for long. The minute I began hearing faint murmurs, I rose up and stepped back outside to hear them. I sat down near the railings of the stairs and listened in on their conversation, trying to make sense of what was happening.

It had been hours since I ran from the hospital and came back here.

"Did you or did you not tell him about the hospital? That is all I want to know right now." I heard his voice, it was strained, as if he was trying to hold back his frustration.

"You're throwing everything for just a girl, Nicholas, just some stupid girl," His mother said, the hatred still in her tone. "I just don't understand why would you ever make a mistake of marking her. For god's sake, she's a runt."

"Did you tell her brother where she was?"

"I did. So what?" She snapped back at him. "It was good riddance. He wanted to find her and he had been trying to find her for weeks now. I simply told him where he could find her and that was all."

"That wasn't all," He growled, his voice growing louder second by second, "You'll never get to dictate my destiny. You may believe you're acting in my best interest, but you're sorely mistaken. Marking her wasn't a mistake, it wasn't a choice, it was fate."

"I'll never believe that it was fate. She lulled you in—"

"Why would she do that, mother?" He interrupted her, his voice seething with anger. "You're just looking for someone to blame for a situation you can't control. But this isn't a situation, it's my life and I chose to spend it with her. She's the very air I breathe and to even consider going back on my decision would to be deny a part of myself, the very nature of my animal."

"You're blinded by this so-called love, Nicholas. She's nothing but trouble and will only bring you pain. Look at yourself, you're losing yourself in her, and it's destroying you."

"I'm not losing myself. I'm finding a part of me that was missing. She completes me, as a soul mate. But that isn't something you are going to understand," I heard his footsteps thudding over the floor as he paced around. "Do you have any idea what you've done by telling her brother where she is? Or were you so completely consumed by your selfish desires that you couldn't see the fact that even sharing such information with someone that isn't from the pack is going to lead to a disaster?"

"I just wanted what was best for you, Nicholas. I thought if she was out of the picture, you would come back to your senses." Her voice became wavering, even a bit soft, almost unbelievable that it was the same woman.

There was a moment of silence before I heard Nicholas again. "I found her being chased by one of your husband's men." It was low, barely above a whisper, but it made the ground tremble.

"That can't be possible."

My brows furrowed as I tried to make sense of his words. Did he mean his father? The man, the older one that had grabbed me just after I fled from Gerald and his friends was someone working for Nicholas' father.

"It is, and now he knows about her. He knows that I've marked her as my mate, and that alone puts her in more danger than you can imagine," He paused for a moment. His words began settling in me and I began to realize. "But not only her, you have put me in danger as well. He won't hesitate to use it against me, to use her against me. You've jeopardized everything I hold dear, including my own pack."

"I—I didn't mean to, Nicholas."

"I want you to take the first flight out of here and leave. This isn't only for me, but also for you. Because if my father comes here, there's no telling what he might do."

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