Nicholas â
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The Encounter
I let out a huff of annoyance as I head out my room, where in the worlds could this oke be? I make my way to the stairs, perhaps he got caught up in the kitchen, it's a very Nicholas thing to do.
"Nicholas?" I call out and guess what I'm met with? You guessed it folks, silence.
I literally just messaged him to double-check if he was still coming and he said he was here. So how'd he disappear so quickly?
As soon as I make it down the stairs, I immediately catch his scent. Although it is mixed in with Elisha's. I follow it wearily if it's mixed with hers there's a possibility I could be walking into something I would much rather not see.
The scents lead me to the TV room where my sister and her mate are playing tug o' war with their faces, lips and hands. I let out a deep sigh and bang the wall, getting their attention.
"I don't think I called you here for this Nic." I say blandly.
Really he could do this in his own time. Not my borrowed time.
"Sorry, Eli." Nicholas murmurs.
"I'm not so sure I want you in my room anymore." Elisha growls, "Calm yourself dammit. A) I'm your sister, B) he was my goddamn friend first. Shut up." I say, annoyed with her behaviour.
There's really no need for growling, I'm not stealing your mate and you know it and neither am I sitting on that couch after all of that.
Elisha has generally been so annoying since she found out, she literally makes it a point to keep him away from me. It's so irritating. I mean, he's with her 24/7 can she not wait a little while? Yeah, sure I have other friends but none of them know about Alexander. And I'm not about to tell them all about him. That's too dangerous. So, I need Nicholas purely for ranting-about-Alexander-Russo-purposes.
She sighs speaking lowly, "I'm sorry, Eli. My wolf just â" I cut her off.
I give a tight-lipped smile, "I really don't care. Nicholas can we leave now?"
"Ah, yeah." He kisses Elisha's temple and walks over to me.
"Oh goddess Nicholas, put your shirt back on. No one besides Elisha wants to see that." I playfully say, covering my eyes.
He walks up to me, still shirtless, and says, "I won't tell her but I know you like it." He wriggles his brows.
I shove him whilst letting out a chuckle, "You're an â hey!" I say, looking over at Elisha who has just thrown a throw pillow at me.
"Sorry, you moved him," She threw another that actually hit the intended target and she said, "I heard you, jerk!"
He winks at her, "I knew you would sugar plum."
"Ew." Elisha and I said simultaneously.
This made Nicholas laugh, looking between the two of us he wheezed, "That's the only time the two of you actually look alike. When you're making faces."
That earned him two pillows to the head.
Even though this turned out better than I assume it would have had I not come downstairs, it's incredibly unnerving what I would have come down to a few moments later.
I have been one who thinks mates are adorable. Someone tailor-made for you, that's amazing. Something that humans dream of and we actually get to live it. Before Alexander, it was something I was greatly in awe of and greatly looking forward to.
What I hadn't thought was all that great not what I was looking forward to is the mating process. Especially now that I know my other half is a cold-hearted killer, who also happens to be an Alpha.
The mating process is harder on an Alpha and his Luna. Because Alpha's feel everything a million times harder. Their urges are far greater than your average wolf, usually, meaning that the process would happen lightyears faster for the two.
The process usually goes; the pair meet one another and instantly fall in love, the pair mark one another and then the pair mate. This usually happens in the span of a week, week and a half max. A few hours for an ordinary Alpha and his Luna.
Now, what am I not looking forward to? The marking and mating.
Marking is when both parties bite their mates' neck, bounding them together. Forever. You can feel your partners every emotion, link them, read their mind. You are officially one entity. You then wear your mates' mark on your neck, for all wolves to see. Letting them know, you are unavailable.
Mating is when the pair engage in sexual intercourse. Once you have mated you have completed the process. Your scent mixes with your mates therefore changing, letting unmated wolves know you are one hundred percent unavailable.
The point of that elaborate layout was simply to say, I don't want to know when or where or even be present when my sister and best friend complete the bond.
And I think after that, it's for obvious reasons.
Once Nicholas finally puts his shirt back on and we make it to my room, I begin to tell him about Nathaniel. Once I've completed the full story Nicholas lets out a few chuckles at my expense and he earns another pillow to the head.
"I still want to go see him." I say.
Nic pretends to maul it over, "But you'd have to pass No Man's Land. And he said that's dangerous. I don't think you should, Eli."
I let out an incredibly dramatic sigh but say nothing.
He lets out a loud sigh before rolling his eyes, "You're not gonna listen to me, are you?"
"No." I chuckle.
He stares me down, "Be careful, please."
We walk downstairs and Elisha instantly meets us at the door, "Where are you going?"
"Out." I shrug.
She throws her hands in the air, "Elijah, c'mon I'm your twin sister."
"Fraternal twin. We didn't even share a sac, so I don't need to share everything with you." I counter.
Elisha said that to me first. We were just starting high school, grade eight. And she had been accepted into the popular group. I begged her to stay with me but she refused. Right in front of her new group of friends she threw that in my face.
I don't do use it out of spite, I just have grown accustomed to using it. It's actually a marvellous scapegoat.
"Eli." Nicholas growled out. I know it's just his wolf feeling uneasy because of how I'm speaking to his mate.
Not wanting to be in that tension anymore I leave, tossing out a goodbye to the mates
As per usual, I strip off my clothes, tie them to my leg and shift. I take off towards the woods, at a slow pace. I'm not trying to break a sweat just yet.
As soon as I pass our borderline â I looked at a couple of maps, I actually now know where it is now â I take off in a sprint. I don't slow down, I just keep going. Pushing myself to go as fast as I can.
When I finally see Nate's territory I hear thundering behind me. Someone's following me and gaining. Shit.
Just as my front paws make it past where I now know where the border is because of the vast difference from No Man's Land and actual Pack territories. The wolf behind me grazes my hind leg. I tumble, into Nate's land. I slam into a tree because of the speed I was going at. A louder whimper escapes my lips as soon as I make contact with the bark and soon after, the ground.
'Eli! Eli! Are you okay?' We didn't share a sac, but we share pain.
That link will be severed once one of us completes the mating process, so we've been told.
'I'm fine.' I link back trying to mask the pain in my voice, that would've been as clear as day.
'I'm sorry, Elijah I didn't mean to hurt you.' The same voice that told me to stay away from Nate links.
I look up at the wolf that tripped me and I know, it's the one. It's the one that has been linking me. I stare at it for a while until I hear my name being called in the distance. I can hear the crunch of the fallen leaves and the swatting of branches.
"Elijah?" Nate appears, half naked. His six pack glistening with slight specks of sweat, the sun bouncing on his skin making it look golden. If I were in human form, I would be tempted to reach my hand out and touch his pecs.
He bends down to assess the damage when the wolf that tripped me snarls. Nate turns to look at it and he does a double take. Obviously confirming that he knows the wolf. They must have known each other for a while because I see regret shine through Nate's eyes before he hides it away.
"Isaiah." Nate says standing tall, almost threatening.
Isaiah looks at me, whimpers as a way to apologise. Looks at Nate snarls again and takes off, going back into the depths of that land.
I don't remove my gaze from where he stood, confusion swirling in my mind. His eyes forever etched into my memory because they are identical to my mother's.
* * *
"Why the hell are you running there again, Elijah? Are you trying to get yourself killed? Those Creatures aren't friendly. They'll kill you, simply for know me."
His annoyance with me was evident and I almost want to just close myself in a shell just like a clam.
"I don't think Isaiah, you called him, was trying to kill me. He linked me the other day." I say gently.
Nathaniel's face hardened, "He linked you? He got onto your Pack territory? He knows where you stay? Elijah, this can't be good."
"I know, I tried to look for him but â"
He didn't let me finish his face even worse than before, "You don't do that. You hide. He can't link you if he can't see you."
"Okay." I felt like a little kid being scolded for taking all the cookies out the jar.
"Elijah," He sighs, "They can harness your powers and use them as witch powers. They don't care about you so they'd suck all your werewolf genes â which are your powers â and you would die."
I didn't know what to say. That sounds crazy. Why would anyone do that?
"My mother, who is not Alex's mother, made them. She is a witch. She got with our father way before he found his mate and left my mother for her. They had been together for years before she fell pregnant with me and he found Alex's mom. She hated him so much for leaving her that she didn't tell him about me.
"I am the first Creature. Honestly, I'm like an abomination. She wanted to make an army of Creatures to overthrow my father. But I left her, I saw that I didn't need to be the monster she wanted me to be. So, I started my Pack. But all those Creatures out there? They aren't as kind as I am, Eli.
"It's not normal for a wolf to be a witch too but since I was made and born this way, I have no defects. They do, they can't use any magic without having anywhere to harness it from. So they could take you, put silver cuffs on you use you for your magic. Your magic is in your blood because it is your wolf gene. So if they take too much too fast, you will be all out of blood and dead."
My eyes were wide, "Essentially I'll look like Kol Mikaelson sucked all the blood out of me?"
"Who?" He looked confused, "Well, yeah, whatever. Is that all you got from that? Looking like an empty blood bag?"
I shook my head, "No, but it was the part that really struck me."
"Oh my goddess." He rolled his eyes and rubbed his temples, obviously missing the joke.
Can't believe he doesn't know Kol.
"Is she out to get you?" I asked after a bit.
He chuckled, "No. She's the only one that understands that killing my father and brothers isn't me."
"Brothers?"
I never knew there were more.
"Yeah. Alex has two other brothers."
"Oh my word." I instantly dreaded meeting any more Alexander's.
He laughs, "Yeah. No girls. Sorry."
"Guess I'll have no choice but to love Mrs. Russo." I joke.
He scratches his neck, "Yeah. If you get that far." He mutters lowly, turning his head towards the door as if expecting someone.
"What's that supposed to mean?" I didn't detect any distaste in his tone.
If anything, I picked up pity. I didn't understand why because I know Alexander's parents still live. Why would he pity me?
"That you will never meet my parents." Alexander snaps, making his entrance.