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CHAPTER 6:
“How are you feeling?”
“Get out of my face.” I snarled, tossing the lamp from the bedside table at Noah’s head. “I hope you die.”
“You seem to be in a better mood.” He said sarcastically, entering the room anyway. “Glad your bones have healed up.”
“Eat shit and die!”
“You know what, i’m really getting sick of you! The terms were if you lost, you would be mine! No more fighting!” Noah snapped, coming to push me up against the bedroom wall. I let my claws lengthen, slashing at him when he got too close. He took a step back.
“You tried to kill my brother and then dragged me away while he was dying!” I screamed, wondering how he could possibly have seen this going any other way. Was i supposed to embrace him? Did he think his win would somehow erase all the bad blood between us?
“You had a lot of broken bones. You were running on adrenaline. I brought you home before you hurt yourself getting in the way of your brothers care.” He argued.
“I hate you!” I insisted, not caring about his reasoning in the least. “I’ll never not hate you!”
“So then I guess you don’t want to go see your brother?” My next insult was caught in my throat.
“Nico is okay?” I asked hesitantly. I had been locked in this room for days, getting my meals shoved in through a crack in the door. Funny how he won, but still wasn’t brave enough to open the door all the way. “I can see him?”
“Doctors patched him up and he’s gonna be fine.” Noah said. “I can take you.”
“How long did you know?”
“What?”
“How long did you know that he was okay?” I asked, almost already knowing the answer.
“A few days.” he informed me.
“I hate you.” I said again. “You left me in here thinking he could be dead for days! He woke up and I wasn’t there!”
“Well, he hasn’t woken up necessarily.” Noah added, making my heart drop.
“I need to go see him.”
“I can take you.”
“No.” I snapped. “You’re the reason he is in there.”
“He stepped in the circle! That was a challenge! And my wolf.. He just-“
“Don’t make excuses.” I cut him off before he could finish. “I want to go see my brother.”
“We can go tog-“
“No!” i stopped him again. “I will go see my brother on my own, or am I your prisoner here?”
“You’re my mate.”
“So i’m free to go then? I stepped around him, annoyed when he grabbed my arm. “I thought I wasn’t your prisoner?”
“Swear you’ll come back.” he responded, making me raise an eyebrow and turn back to him.
“What?”
“Swear you’ll come home… to here.”
I looked at him like he was speaking another language. He looked embarrassed, his cheeks kind of red. His haughty attitude seemed to be missing in actions because his shoulders were slumped. He looked so… unsure of himself. It was a good look on him. “Where else would I go?” I asked sarcastically, although a part of me wished I had somewhere else to run. My parents wouldn’t take me in and I had no other home to speak of.
“If you don’t come back, I’ll find you.” This comment sent a shiver down my spine. His uncertainty seemed to be replaced with a fierce determination that would have been hot had I not known exactly the kind of man he was. “If you run, i’ll chase you down.”
“I’m no coward.” I scoffed, finally shaking off his arm. “I would never desert my pack, especially not when it’s in the hands of someone like you!”
My insults seemed to slide off of him like water off a duck lately. He didn’t flinch or frown or curse. He just kept looking at me, trying to pierce me with his amber orbs. “Good. See you soon then.”
———————–
“Nico! Ama!” I cried once I entered Nico’s hospital room, throwing myself into my mother’s arms.
“Oh Micah, thank goddess you’re okay! Where have you been?” she cried back, pulling away to look me over. “It’s been days. I was so worried.”
“Oh you know, locked in a room by myself. Typical mate stuff.” I scoffed as her grip on my arms tightened. “He decided I was allowed to go outside today so… pretty stoked. Luna really knew what she was doing when she paired us up.”
“Oh Micah, I-“
“I don’t want to talk about it.” I shut her down before she could express pity, or worse, defend Noah’s actions. I turned toward Nico’s bed, his chest rising and falling in a steady rhythm. “He still hasn’t woken up?”
“The doctor said it was okay. He’s healing and staying asleep helps preserve his energy. He is healing like a human afterall.” She sighed. “We tried waking him up so he could shift. He would heal faster that way, but it was a lot of damage.”
I traced the angry red scratches across his face.I remembered the gashes they had been days ago. There was so much blood. Nico was normally a very light sleeper, but my fingers didn’t seem to phase him at all. “How long will he be like this?” I asked, looking at his bandaged shoulder which seemed to be back in the socket. The stark white bandage against his tan skin looked itchy and uncomfortable. Nico wasn’t the kind of guy that liked to wear any materials and I was sure if he were awake he’d be complaining to no end about the stupid, scratchy gauze.
“Maybe a few more days. They’re playing it day by day.” My mom told me as I sat softly on the edge of the bed, pushing his hair from his face. My little brother. How did this happen? As if reading my mind my mom spoke, “He said something, right before he ran out. He said…” She paused, making me turn to look her in the eyes. “He said he couldn’t let you do it. He whispered, ‘this can’t be for the good of the world, for Micah’. What was he talking about?”
“I was going to kill Noah.” I couldn’t lie. “I was going to rip his throat out.” My mom didn’t even flinch.
We sat in silence for minutes, more and more shame pooling in the pit of my stomach. I wanted her to yell at me. I wanted her to lecture me. I wanted to be punished. I deserved to be. After all, this would have never happened if I wasn’t so desperate for Nico to support me. I wanted to be blamed. I deserved blame. “I’m pretty hungry. Can you sit with him while I go home and make us something?”
“Yes, Ama.” I agreed as she stood up from her seat. She ruffled my hair gently as she passed me, pausing at the door to look in on us.
“You two, you are good brothers.” She declared. “The goddess truly got that one right.” She didn’t wait for me to respond. She turned on her heel and hummed to herself as she walked away. Once she was gone I brought my attention back to Nico.
Nico had been bigger than me almost my whole life. He was the little brother, but I was the truly little one. Still, he never treated me as inferior. He looked up to me, admired me, praised me every chance he got. When we sparred and I beat him, he would gush about having such a strong big brother. As kids he would tell everyone who listened how lucky he was to have me for a brother.
If kids weren’t nice to him, I was the first one he ran to. If he needed help, I was the one he believed had all the answers. All my life, I protected him. He had been my shadow , even now. He was my closest confidant. “Nico…” I whispered, pressing our foreheads together. “I’m so sorry this happened. I… i’m sorry. I should have protected you.”
He didn’t stir, not even when I climbed into the bed beside him, hugging him tightly. I praised the goddess he had lived. I couldn’t bear the thought of losing him.
“Micah! Micah are you alright?”
“Why? Why!” I was clawing at the tree in front of me, clawing until my finger nails bled. I had come into the woods alone that morning, tring to attack another picture of Noah, but being unable to stop the feelings of desire that welled in my stomach. “Why him? All my life… All I wanted…” i was gasping for breath, punching the tree now, trying to take out all my anger.
“I know, I know. Shh.” He had grabbed my shoulders, pulling me back against his chest. “Shhh, hey. I’m here. I’m here. Talk to me.”
“I wanted a mate so badly.” I sobbed, collapsing to my knees. Nico followed me, wrapping his arms around me to cradle my shaking body. “And now i’m alone. I’m alone in this world forever!”
“You’re not alone.”
“I am!”
“You’re not. I’m here. I’m always going to be here.” he was brushing my hair back, the motion soothing my shaking. “I’ll be here always. I’m here for you. I won’t ever let you be alone.”
Why had he run out? Why? He knew as well as I did that we had to kill Noah… so why? Why did he do something stupid?
I closed my eyes, nuzzling into his throat. For the first time in days, I felt peace. Nico would be okay and I was beside him. It was in my peace that exhaustion finally hit me. How long had it been since I slept for more than an hour? I couldn’t remember. I was still trying to figure it out when sleep overcame me.
—————————–
I wasn’t where I fell asleep, that’s for sure. My eyes were still closed and my head was nuzzled against someone’s throat, but this was definitely not Nico. The smell was fresh, clean, and kind of intoxicating. I felt the wind blow and I shivered, my sleep addled brain making me groan and wiggle closer to the mountain of warmth. My legs were dangling and I was being carried, I slowly realized, as my feet bobbed with each step.
I slowly became self aware, stiffening the exact moment I realized what was happening. “Put me down!” I hissed, my head snapping up. My eyes blinked rapidly, adjusting quickly to the darkness around.
Noah ignored me, still carrying me princess style and tightened his grip on me so I couldn’t try to wriggle away. I looked away from him, trying to get his scent out of my nose and brain. It felt like a headrush. I hated it. “You said you were coming back.” He finally mumbled. “I thought you were too manly to run?”
“I didn’t run.” I said with a yawn, still seemingly exhausted from days of no sleep. “I was with Nico. I fell asleep.”
“You didn’t call.”
“I didn’t have to.”
“Mates call.” He insisted and I groaned. Back to that dumb mate talk, I thought to myself.
“I don’t have your number anyway.” i reasoned, still intent on being right.
“Bullshit. We’ve known eachother since-“
“We didn’t exactly get along!” I stopped his words.
“I mean-“
“Noah.” I turned to look at him, wrapping my arms around his neck to lift myself so I could look into his eyes. “You were horrible to me our whole lives. Think about that.” My face was inches from him and I was proud of myself for not feeling the desire Noah was obviously experiencing. His eyes drifted toward my lips and I moved my face so he was looking me in the eyes again. “You and I were as estranged as two people could be.”
He was quiet for a moment. “So you couldn’t call.” he said quietly. I rolled my eyes and released him, looking back toward wherever he was taking me. “Things are different now?”
“Are they?” I laughed sarcastically.
“How could they not be?”
“You’re right.” I nodded as his home appeared in the horizon. “Before, you were just some jerk but how could I hold that against you? You wanted what I had. Now, you’re the man who almost killed my brother.”
“I’m your mate.”
“Do you even know what that word means? Honestly?”I scoffed. “Most likely not. It’s not like you’ve ever paid attention to any lesson in your life.” We reached the porch steps and he suddenly dropped me like a sack of potatoes. A weaker man would’ve fallen on their ass. I arched my back, kicking out my legs and practically somersaulting to my feet. I offered him a smug smile. “Thanks.”
“How do I not have any affect on you?” Noah asked honestly, motioning to himself. “How can you be displeased?”
The funny thing was, I wasn’t. At Least not physically. Hey, i’ll be the first one to admit that my mate was hot. He was hot before I even knew he was my mate. Everyone thought so. I wasn’t childish enough to act like he was ugly. The truth was he was a chiseled adonis and if we had never met before, i’m sure I would have salivated upon meeting him.
The problem was I did know Noah. I had known him since as early as I could remember. He was the kind of guy who would throw a tantrum and punch a whole in a wall when his team lost. He was quick to point out everyone else’s shortcomings and ready to fist fight anyone with balls enough to critique him. He was the kind of guy who never fought fair in his life. He was the kind of guy who could let his wolf kill his mates brother.
“When you say shit like that, you set me up to hurt your feelings.” I answered honestly. “If you think a six pack and a nice jawline is enough to make up for your failure to be a decent person, you’re dumber than I thought.”
“You really don’t feel it?”
“Feel what?” I groaned, over this conversation at this point. I turned my back on him, ready to storm into the house and lock myself in a room for a change, but before my hand could touch the screen door I was being turned. My back was slammed against the house behind me, the only thing stopping me from toppling over.
All I could smell was Noah. His breath was flooding my senses. My pulse quickened as he leaned his face down, his turn to look me in the eyes. His eyes were so pretty. I couldn’t help but marvel at him. Honestly, he was… perfect. He closed his eyes as I reached my hand up to his cheek, letting my fingertips trace his chiseled cheekbone. My finger trailed to his lips which were perfectly soft and plump and I allowed myself the luxury of imagining what it must feel like to kiss him, or even better-have them wrapped around my, “I feel this.” he opened his eyes, attempting to trap me in his gaze. His eyes revealed it all. The amber swirled dark with desire. He was taking in every inch of my face like he was waiting for the perfect moment to sink his teeth into me. He wanted me, badly.
“I don’t feel a thing.” I ducked under the arm he had beside my head, opening the screen door. “Sorry Noah, you’re just not my type.”
“And what is your type then?” There you go, I thought, setting yourself up to get your feelings hurt again.
“Something you could never be.” I turned to make eye contact with him as I said this. “Good.”
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