Chapter 44

W

armth.

Silence.

That's what I woke up to midday. It was late in the afternoon when I finally snapped out of my sleep and found the bed empty, and me cornered to the edge of the bed, covered in layers of sheets that kept me warm.

I twisted around and it took me only a few minutes to get up and out of the door. I didn't want to clash with his mother again, but I had no other option. My stomach was growling in hunger and in need of water.

My hand went against my head and I rubbed it slowly while recalling Nicholas' confession from last night. It was truly a lot to take in. All this time, the rumors, the people, the whisperers were all wrong. Nicholas wasn't an inhumane leader who found pleasure in killing people and destroying packs, instead he was one who had been taking his revenge for years and years.

It made complete sense why he didn't want a family, why he didn't want to mark me and show the rest of the world that he had a mate. He didn't want his father to know that he had one and he didn't want to show his father that he marked one.

I reached downstairs in a span of few minutes. The kitchen was clear of his mother. In fact, there was no one here.

Opening and closing the fridge, I went through everything to make a breakfast for myself while looking behind to the door repeatedly. I didn't want his mother to come and form another scene, one that couldn't be handled as Nicholas wasn't here.

"You shouldn't have come down."

I jumped at the sound of Malik standing at the door way and nearly spilled half of the hot water over myself.

"You scared me." I whispered, keeping my voice low.

"I could've gotten you anything you needed upstairs. It's also what the Alpha suggest during the time his mother is living here." Malik walked in and said.

I agreed with him and set the sauce pan aside. "I didn't know where I could find you, or anyone." I sighed and took a deep breath to calm my racing nerves. My hand went against the counter and Rosalie's words echoed in my mind, especially about breaking the bond. "Do you think she has a problem with me, Malik?"

He laughed at my question and I believed it was the first time I had heard him laugh in front of me. "She has more than a problem with you."

"Is she like this with everyone, or just me?"

"Just you. Don't take it personally," He glanced over this shoulder, ensuring no one was there before locking the door of the kitchen. "She has always been like this about her son. She tried to force him to mark several women throughout the years, women of her choosing. He denied and made it clear to her he didn't want to mark anyone nor have a family."

The same words.

I nodded, understanding it all a little better. My hands folded across my chest and I turned my head around. "So, it's because I'm a runt, and from a destroyed pack that I can't be his mate?"

His smile sobered into a frown and his resting face filled with concern. "You're his mate?" He questioned.

Only then I realized I shouldn't have said what I said. This—the entire mating and marking ordeal was meant to stay private, among Nicholas and I. He, especially, didn't want anyone from his pack to know that he had a mate as that information was going to spread quick and reach to his father even quicker.

"Don't tell anyone." I quickly said, now worried my self.

"I wouldn't dare."

A knock landed on the door before we had the chance to continue with the conversation. Malik stepped aside and unlocked the door, letting whoever was outside. There was a woman, one of the maids and Rosalie standing in front of her.

Her face scrunched with displeasure as soon as she saw me. Like the great hatred she was holding against me was surfacing. Slowly, she turned her head to Malik and wrinkles formed on her forehead.

"What are you two doing here alone?" She demanded to know, her voice thick and loud.

Malik stepped forward and responded to her in a respectful, obedient manner, as he had always done. His shoulders went back and stiffened. "We were discussing about the evening trainings, Mrs. Archer. I should take my leave now as there's plenty of time before I've to take her to the training grounds."

"Go." Rosalie stepped aside from the door and the maid followed.

Malik left immediately, and she watched him carefully as if she was implicating on something. I turned to the stove and turned on the fire once more, to make the water boil. It was only going to take a minute and I could leave from here before she could even start.

The maid with Rosalie was shooed off as well, leaving the both of us alone, again. I hesitantly placed a cup over the water while feeling her eyes piercing through my back.

"I believe I've been a little tough with you since I've come, especially last night," She stepped further inside the kitchen and approached me. I didn't look back until I could feel her presence right behind me. There was nothing but evil in her eyes. "I apologize for last night. I wasn't aware of how much you mean to my son, but now I am, and I want to make sure that we are in the same page. I don't want there to be any misunderstandings between us."

I felt a chill run down my spine at her words. No one could shift that quick from their behaviour and feelings. But what if she was telling the truth?

"Nicholas is precious to me, he's my only child and I just wanted to make sure that someone wasn't taking advantage of him. It was a surprise to know that he had marked you when all my life I had waited for him to take a woman as his mate." She continued further.

My eyes narrowed, and I began believing her even when I shouldn't be.

"I'm not taking advantage of him. He bought me, and he kept me here, himself. I didn't force him to." I told her.

And it was true. Nicholas didn't let me leave even when he had so many chances to. He could've let me go easily. I was a woman, I couldn't have harmed him in any way or form if I would've left from here and he knew that well.

He knew the truth—that I was his mate and fate bought us together.

"I know now that you're not like the other girls he tends to bring here. You're different," She walked past me and closed the fire. The water was beginning to dry in the sauce pan as it had already came to a boil minutes ago. "And I suppose I was wrong last night. Forgive me if you can."

I stepped back, further back to the counter behind in fear of her throwing the boiling water at me. It was a thought that ran through my mind out of nowhere. But she didn't do it. She poured the water in the cup and then set the pan aside before turning to me.

"It's alright. I'm not angry, or anything. I understand." I nodded, my voice shaking a little.

"I would like to get you know more. Especially now that you've been marked by my son, making you a part of this family," She stepped aside, letting me have my coffee. "Which pack did you come from again?"

I dropped a few tablespoons of coffee into the water before mixing it, and making something quick. Her words rang in my head and I quickly recognized the conniving tone. Which meant, she wasn't as truthful as she sounded to be.

"The Winterooth Pack," I responded anyway. "It's destroyed now."

"Oh, that's must be terrible," Her hand went to her chest, and she shook her head, as if she already didn't know that. "Nicholas told me you were running from someone there and that's why you found your way here, to him, isn't that right?"

I nodded and took a sip of the coffee. I couldn't have this conversation anymore without some boost of energy. Werewolves had enough, they didn't need anything, not even foods, but I did.

I hadn't shifted.

"Yes. I was running from my brother and I accidentally reached here with a set of few wolves that were near my old pack house at that time. I collided with Nicholas only moments after reaching here." It was a memory fresh in my head.

A day I could never forget.

It was also the same day he tried to kill me.

The irony.

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