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CHAPTER 17:
“I Vertigo, sired by Xenon, challenge thee little Micah, son of Alpha Collin!” I couldn’t help but roll my eyes at the buff guy who had stormed into the hospital and was panting in the hall as if those words were some weighty declaration. He seemed to be expecting something. Maybe some big reaction where I trembled in fear at a grown man almost three times my size.
“Can we do this in like ten minutes? I’m kind of busy.” I groaned, looking down at the list of patients Nadi had given me.
“Excuse me? This is a formal challenge!” The man barked at me. “I demand you face me now!”
“It’s just… you’re like the fifth guy this week.” I reasoned with him. “I have a life too, you know? I have things I need to do. You guys barge in here, sweaty and shaking every time for no apparent reason might I add. It’s kind of insulting too. When my Mate was going to be Alpha no one challenged him but now that it’s Micah again all you freaks come out of the woodwork yelling at me! I’m busy! Can’t you try to be considerate?”
The guy watched me rant, clearly confused by my reaction. He stared at me once I was finished, seemingly searching for the words. “But… I challenge you…”
“Ugh, fine! Nadi!” I called over my shoulder, waiting for her to poke her head out of a room to continue. “There’s another one here and he won’t wait!” She nodded in understanding and I sat my clipboard on the counter beside me, exasperated. “Alright, Vertigo was it? Let’s get this over with.”
—————–
I dug my fangs into the scruff of his neck, my human arms wrapping around his wolf form and digging my nails in to get him to stop trying to buck me off. After a few seconds, Vertigo submitted. I hopped off of him, not sparing him another glance.
That fight had lasted what, a minute? It felt short. By the looks of the crowd, no one seemed very surprised. It was how all fights had been going since my title was restored. Huge, bodybuilder looking guys came to assault me at all hours of the day and I put them all in their place fairly easily.
It was actually kind of boring. Because I looked small, everyone assumed they had a chance at beating me. They underestimated me. The blow to their ego when they lost after only a minute or two was kind of fun to watch, but even that got old sometimes.
“You look annoyed.” Nico pointed out as I stormed from the field, leaving the man to wallow in his own shame. “You didn’t even let this guy think he had a chance. You usually give them a couple seconds before destroying them like that.”
“They just don’t stop coming! How many asses do I have to beat before the other packs get a clue and stop sending their pathetic little bitches to fight me?” I was ranting again, but it felt deserved. “They show up at Noah’s door! They show up at the hospital! One even cornered me in a public restroom! I had my dick out, Nico!”
“The woes of the alpha elect. I missed your whining.” He teased me, tossing his arm over my shoulder. “However, we have something more important to talk about.”
“Do we?”
“Yes! Who could possibly be my mate.” Nico reminded me. “I’m still too young to feel any pull so… I’m taking suggestions.”
“Suggestions?” I frowned. “Nico, it really doesn’t work like that.”
“Did you even read the book?”
“I did, but it’s gibberish! None of it makes sense! Some of it blatantly contradicts itself! I just… I don’t know if taking this story as fact is the right thing to do.” I admitted. “Maybe you gave up too early on Nile. I didn’t feel much for Noah in the beginning, but with time-“
“I am not meant to be mates with Nile.” Nico reiterated. “Nile is meant to be with Veri.”
“If that were true, then why is his brother her mate? It’s not like they also drank from the stream.” I pointed out.
“Well, the stream tries to correct itself. It says so in the book.”
“It also says dipping hands into the stream can make wolves switch bodies, Nico. I don’t know about you, but my wolf is the same I always had.” I tried to make it make sense to him, but I already knew Nico would brush off my words. He was determined to live this delusion out. “I just think… Maybe we shouldn’t treat things written into the margins of this book as fact. Maybe, there’s a more reasonable explanation for this.”
“You don’t have to believe, micah. I believe.” Nico insisted. “You’ll see.”
“Nico-“
“Anyway, i’ll be moving into my glorious new house soon.” Nico smiled at that. “It’s not far from yours. We’ll practically be neighbors.”
“Von’s house, you mean.”
“Like his parents said, he isn’t using it.” Nico chuckled. “We should have your bachelor party there.”
“Bachelor party?”
“It’s an old human custom Noah was telling me about. They used to throw a grand party before their marriages, as one last night of debauchery before their lifelong commitment. Since your bonding ceremony is kind of like a marriage, I decided to throw you one.”
“Sounds awful.”
“You complain too much.”
“I have the right.” I looked around as we passed Noah’s home and continued to walk farther down the path. “Where are we going?”
“Don’t you want to see the house?”
“Isn’t it empty now?”
“Somewhat.” Nico pulled me closer. “Your mate graciously volunteered to fix up a few things for me. He’s moving over some stuff, building some stuff-“
“And who said it was okay for you to use my mate as free labor?”
“He offered.” Nico defended himself. “Actually, he insisted. Come on, since when do you have an issue sharing with me?”
Sharing. I never had a problem before, but an ice cream and a mate were two different things. Nico was acting odd. He never talked like this. Nico was soft, sweet, gentle… who was this person beside me? Why was he always smirking and plotting? “Noah is not yours to use.” I finally said. Nico only laughed.
“Come on, Micah, don’t be so serious. He’s having a hard time feeling like he has no purpose now that he lost the alpha title. He sticks to me like glue lately since we’re both currently avoiding people. Plus, He’s my brother too now. Don’t be jealous. I’m not into him like that.” Nico chuckled, stopping in front of the largest house on the street. The thing was a monster. It was three stories tall with elaborate details. There was no way this house was built in two years. Von must have spent his whole life working on this thing. “Look at your mate change that door! Try to remember that i’m still standing here. No having sex in my house.” Nico whispered it in my ear, the teasing words kind of weird coming from his mouth. They sounded… not right.
Still, what he said was true. Noah was finishing screwing in a new front door, the afternoon heat having prompted him to take his shirt off. He was wiping his forehead, the muscles in his arms glistening under a sheen of sweat. Even from this distance, he smelled so good. Noah noticed us after a moment, smiling and waving us over. He motioned to the new door, which Nico began to praise.
In a couple seconds, we were side by side and I was trying not to get lost in his scent. He wrapped his arms around me, pressing me to his chest in what felt like a friendly hug. Unfortunately, my body didn’t seem to recognize that. He released me pretty quickly, turning to Nico to explain something about a pool. I wasn’t really listening. I was looking up at Noah, watching the way his jaw moved as he spoke. I watched his tongue move from behind his lips, wondering what that tongue must feel like against my skin. Goddess, I bet it would feel good.
“Don’t you agree, micah?” Nico asked me, snapping me out of my own thoughts.
“Huh?”
“You weren’t listening.” Nico rolled his eyes. “What could you have possibly been thinking about that was so important you were ignoring us?”
“Shut up Nico.” I snapped, feeling a blush crawl up my face and into my cheeks.
“You’re touchy today.” Nico declared, turning his attention to Noah. “You should have seen the guy he fought today. Dude was a mountain. Micah left the guy in tears.”
I was trying to follow what they were saying. I really was, but there was a fire bubbling just under my skin. My flesh began to tingle, like a thousand live wires buzzing just below the surface. Someone said my name. Who was it? I was staring down at my shoes, trying to figure out what the hell was happening to my body. I wasn’t ready for the feeling that erupted across my skin when fingers grazed my cheek. The sensation was an explosion of pleasure unlike anything i’d ever felt before. I gasped, feeling my dick get instantly hard and ambrosia soak my bottoms.
“Micah?” Who was saying that? I couldn’t really hear it over the pounding of my heart in my ears. Should a heart really beat this fast?
“Micah, did you take your pill today?” That voice… that one was like honey. Sweet, thick, delicious… Noah. What had he asked me?
“He did. I saw him.” someone, maybe Nico, answered. “Did you take yours?”
“I did.” Noah spoke and the sound of his voice nearly made me moan. “Micah?”
My head snapped up, Noah’s face flooding my vision. Goddess, he was so handsome. He had the most gorgeous lips. I wanted to shove my cock between them. Noah was blinking at me in concern, his nostrils flaring as he inhaled my scent. He cursed, taking a shaky step away. “Wait-“
“Grab him.” Noah said quickly. Before I could pounce on him, Nico had his arms around my waist and was lifting my feet from the ground. His touch didn’t feel nearly as good.
“Go inside.” Nico ordered, turning us to face away. I felt a whine bubble up in my throat as Noah left my vision. A door closed a second later and with it, the air began to return to normal. I was trembling a bit, but coming back down to earth. Nico, smart as always, had begun to carry me away from the house. I took a shaky breath, pulling against Nico’s hold. “Micah, don’t.”
“I-i’m fine.” I stuttered. “Really, let me go.”
Nico hesitated, but noticing we were almost at Noah’s house seemed to decide we were far enough for comfort. Sighing, he released me and let me drop to my feet. “If you run back, i’ll tackle you.”
“Shut up.” I muttered, shoving him away in embarrassment. I trudged up the porch steps of Noah’s home, my face flaming. “This has been a mortifying afternoon. Please don’t talk to me anymore.”
“It’s fine, Micah.” Nico chuckled, making me feel even more embarrassed. “You’re mates. It’d be weird if you felt nothing.”
“Like you?” I snapped, opening the front door and attempting to outrun this conversation. Nico, oblivious to my pain, followed me inside.
“Exactly.”
I turned to him, narrowing my eyes. “Really? You feel absolutely nothing when you look at Nile? I trained for a year to beat my mate to death and I still thought he was hot.”
“I don’t find Nile that attractive.” Nico shrugged, making himself at home as he plopped down on the couch. “Honestly, when i saw him, I was a bit disappointed.”
“Really? Do you truly mean that?” I asked, honestly curious.
“Micah, I have no reason to hide anything from you.” Nico answered earnestly. “If I really loved Nile, there’s no way I’d let a little bitch like Veri get in the way anyway.”
“Little bitch? Nico, you’re acting so weird.” I finally admitted. “You’re saying and doing things so out of character.”
“I know.” Nico said, suddenly becoming serious again. “I feel different. It’s as if I woke up the day after the Perigee-Syzygy and all the naive notions I used to hold disappeared from my mind. Everything was clear… and the clarity was kind of sad, but it was the truth.”
“Don’t let this harden you. It’s okay to be soft. It’s okay-“
“Noah’s slept with other people, right?”
“Why would you say that?” I cried.
“You’re soft too, Micah.” Nico said carefully. “And, excuse me if i’m wrong, but it seems to only hurt you.”
“Stop talking like that.” I demanded. “I get that you’ve been through a shock. You’re hurt. I can relate more than you know, but… but this is not who you are.”
“It’s exactly who I am. It’s who you are too.” Nico argued, remaining perfectly calm while I shook in anger. “Think about it Micah. We plotted your own mate’s death and when that didn’t work, we plotted his downfall. I don’t see you losing sleep over taking Noah’s title and you shouldn’t. We’re toughness wrapped in protective layers of innocence and nervousness. We play nice. We play the part, but when we’re alone… aren’t we different? Aren’t we stronger? I just stopped pretending and I already feel better.”
“Do you really feel stronger? Because to me… you look heartbroken. So broken you’ve lost yourself and so you’re saying things you don’t mean.”
“No, Micah. That’s the thing. Now, I only say what I mean.” Nico stood up, finally showing signs of upset. “Which is why i’m going to tell you the truth of all of this. Ama and Apa’s stories were bullshit.”
“Nico!”
“True love? Saving yourself? The Goddess’s will? It’s all the stories they told us. Fairy Tales. Life is much more complex than anything they warned us of. They said we’d have mates who would be perfect in every way and magic would make it all work out. Wrong. They said to save ourselves for our mates because our mates would save themselves for us. Wrong again. Don’t you see?” Nico came up to me, ignoring that I took a step away from him. He stepped closer anyways, grabbing my hands in his. “Forget those stories, Micah. They’re fake. The sooner you realize that, the less painful all of this will be.”
“I’m not in pain N-“
“You’re standing in the home your mate built for you, red in the face with what i assume is ambrosia dripping from your ass. You can’t even kiss your mate because you’re so in your head about everything having to be perfect and magical. You’re so pent up you can’t even smell his sweat without cumming in your pants.”
“Fuck you!”
“Fuck your mate.” Nico kissed the top of my head, releasing me before I could push him away. “Who gives a shit about some gross old ceremony? Do you really want that to be how you lose your virginity? Ama and Apa won’t know if he doesn’t mark you. You live in this house, all alone. Take advantage of it.”
“Get out!”
“I don’t care if I struck a nerve. It’s the truth.” nico continued. “You’re torturing yourselves and for what? So creepy old men can watch you get railed to prove you can be alpha? What are you waiting for? Certainly not Noah. He’s plowed enough fields to know what he’s doing.”
“You’re such as ass!” I yelled. “You talk like you understand! You have no idea how I feel! You rejected your mate and have the audacity to think you can tell me what to do with mine? Screw you!”
“I’m not trying to hurt you, Micah. I love you. That’s why I had to say it.” Nico sounded sad, but I didn’t care. He’d gone too far with his words.
“You didn’t have to say anything! You’re just miserable and taking it out on me! You think you know everything, but you don’t! You have no idea what i’m going through! You don’t know how I feel about Noah being with other people! You don’t have any idea how insecure it makes me feel! I constantly feel like he doesn’t want me! I dreamed my whole life that my mate and I would be each other’s first everything and I was wrong! I hurt so badly I can’t even talk about it! And you, you of all people, are the only person who could even begin to understand what that feels like! But instead of being honest with me and feeling our feelings, you’ve constructed this whole alternate reality where your mate isn’t actually your mate because thats easier to accept than him loving someone else and having to smell the sex dripping off of him!”
“He isn’t my mate!”
“Then why did you cry when his wolf came to find you?”
Nico jumped back as if I had slapped him. “The truth is hard to hear sometimes. That’s why you’re fighting me.”
I scoffed. “The truth is you have no idea if the stream did anything at all. The writings in the book make no more sense to you than they do to me. You just don’t want to have to admit to yourself that Nile may actually be your mate because once you do that, you’ll have to hurt even worse than I hurt!”
For a while, no one said anything. We let my words settle between us, heavy blocks in the wall we were building to separate us. “Even if all of that is true, it doesn’t make what i said about you and Noah a lie.” Nico finally spoke, refusing to look me in the eye. “I’m still right, whether you want to believe me or not. The only difference between our truths is I can’t do anything about my situation. You can do something about yours.”
———————
Nico was wrong. He was just pouty about his own situation and trying to hurt me. I was sure of it… except… Nico had never been the type to drag others down. I was torn. On one hand, Nico was clearly struggling emotionally and acting out because of it, but on the other hand I knew he would never say something just to hurt me.
Still, he had hurt me anyway. Frustrated, I tossed in my bed. Sleep refused to come when it was all I wanted to do. Even after a nice shower and warm cup of tea, I was still miserable and on edge. I didn’t like fighting with Nico. Not only did it happen so rarely, but when it did guilt would eat at me until we made up. Usually, I could just walk to the other room and tell him I was sorry. Things were different now. Did that mean our relationship had to be different now too? Even as I thought it, I refused to let it happen. Nico, whatever he was going through, it would pass and we would be as close as ever. I had to believe that just as Nico seemed to have to believe in this stream. Were we both fooling ourselves?
My whole body tensed when the door downstairs opened and shut. Suddenly, Noah was all I could smell. As he came up the stairs, my body began to tremble again. “Micah?” he was at the door, but made no move to open it. “Are you alright?” I hummed an affirmative, unsure of my own voice. “Sorry i’m late. Nico came back to the house kind of upset and then some guy showed up and… it was a lot.” I could hear him speaking, the sound was like music to my ears, but I couldn’t quite comprehend it. It was as if he was speaking another language and all I could do was imagine the way his mouth moved as he pronounced each syllable. “Did you hear me?”
“Oh, um, yes.” I spoke, my words kind of shaky. I tried to hold my breath, hoping that might help.
“I called nadi. She said you might be responding to my increased hormones since I was doing manual labor and stuff. She said I should shower and maybe keep my distance tonight.” I felt as if I could hear him breathing, almost like he was right by my ear. “So… separate rooms will probably be good tonight. Also, she dropped a bag off. She said she meant to do it a while ago, but she got busy. I’ll leave it at your door. Um… alright. Goodnight then.”
“Goodnight.” I mumbled, unsure if he could even hear me.
“I love you, Micah.” he said it quickly before walking away from the door. With each step, a little more of my senses returned. Once I heard the shower running, I cracked the door, grabbing the rolled up brown paper bag in front of it. For a moment, I contemplated following the sound of running water. I could enter quietly, disrobe as he focused on the sound of the shower, and enter with very little fuss. However, what would happen next? Noah, who wouldn’t even kiss me on the lips, would hardly welcome me in his shower.
I gripped the bag tighter, locking my bedroom door behind me. With a frustrated sigh, I went back to my bed, ready to take any suggestion Nadi had to offer for this overwhelming horniness. I hadn’t been this bad even as a preteen and it was beginning to feel like sex consumed my every thought.
I opened the bag, ready to eat any magic supplement nadi prescribed, and dumped the contents out on the bed. A ball on a string, or maybe a chord, fell out and bounced on the bed, the battery pack connected to the other side weighing it down. I stared at this, unsure of what to make of such a device. However, I only puzzled this for a second as I looked to see what object had smacked into my knee.
This… I knew exactly what that was. I grasped it, lifting it up with a mix of shock and honest embarrassment. A dildo. A big pink dildo. Why would Nadi have given me something like this? I searched the bag, pulling out a taped card on the inside.
Micah,
I apologize for the delay. I planned to bring this over for you the day we spoke, but it honestly skipped my mind.
Regardless, as your heat symptoms intensifies, the suppressants will only serve to keep you from completely entering heat. The symptoms, which will become much more persistent, can be sated manually via anal masturbation until your bonding ceremony. If you have any questions, feel free to give me a call.
NADI
P.s. Don’t worry. I told Noah not to open the bag as some of the ‘chemicals’ can react to air
Shit. I stuffed the embarrassing objects back into the bag and tossed it at the wall, frustration finally overtaking me. Why was everything so difficult? My parents had painted beautiful pictures of my future for me, ensuring me that my life would be blessed by the goddess in every way. So what was this?
My life was not beautiful. I hardly felt blessed. In fact, I was starting to worry perhaps I really was cursed…
Nico couldn’t be right… could he?
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