by G. Bailey
“They are always with you, Harper. We live in a world full of supernaturals and magic. There’s no way there isn’t a chance that they could be watching you from somewhere. Making sure you are safe,” he says softly, and then gets out the car before I can say a word. I don’t know if I believe the same things as him, that my parents might be watching me from somewhere, but a little part of me hopes. I spend the next few hours with Colton, and in some ways, nothing has changed. He still holds my hand and makes me laugh, but there’s something else now. It’s the way we look at each other, and the way he smiles at me sometimes. One thing I know for sure; I don’t want Colt out of my life.
“This isn’t fair. Just don’t walk away again,” I hear Snow plead as I stop mid-step on the second-floor stairs.
“I’m not walking away. I saw Arisa, gave her a kiss, and read her a story. What more do you want?” Erik replies bluntly. His tone is cold and I feel sorry for Snow.
“I don’t know. For you to be my mate and be around more?” she replies quietly, but there’s an edge to her words.
“I can’t,” he says, emotionless. I can’t believe he is like this with Snow; she is lovely and sweet, the very opposite of Erik’s cold nature.
“No, you can, but instead, you choose to go off hunting,” she snaps.
“It’s my job, Snow,” he replies.
“No, you hunt rogues to forget about what happened,” she says, and I hear Erik walking away, followed by the sounds of Snow sobbing. What the hell was that about? I wait until I hear Snow moving away before continuing down the stairs. I know she wouldn’t appreciate me trying to comfort her at the moment, but I begin to wonder if they are destined mates at all.
“You took your time,” Nikoli comments when I reach the back door, where he stands, smiling down at me. He slides his hand into mine and starts walking towards the forest.
“You seem happier today? Compared to how you were when Colt dropped me off,” I say, and he grumbles something under his breath before answering me.
“I realised that I don’t want to lose you. If that means putting up with the vampire for the time being, then fine. I can’t promise I won’t kill him if he touches you, but…”
“Nikoli, you can’t kill him. He is- “
“Your destined mate too, I know. I’m trying, okay? I spent two hundred years waiting for you, and when I finally find you, you have another destined mate. It’s a lot to deal with, Harper. My wolf doesn’t like the idea of sharing you.”
“I’m not asking you to share,” I mumble.
“Yes, you are, you just haven’t said it out loud yet. Sharing is normal for supernaturals, but not for a vampire and alpha wolf. I just don’t know how it's going work.” I don’t know what to say to him other than repeat what Colton said.
“We should take everything slow. We are immortal and have plenty of time.”
“I know, Harper,” he says and squeezes my hand as I look away from him.
“Can I ask something? I know it’s none of my business, so you don’t have to tell me,” I ask, and he nods.
“You can ask me anything. I won’t keep anything from you, Harper,” he replies, his words firm and almost demanding.
“So, Snow and Erik are mates, but they seem to hate each other. I don’t understand why that is?”
Nikoli sighs. “Yes, they are destined mates, and have been together since Erik and Gold first joined the pack over a hundred years ago. They were madly in love and happy. Well, for a long time they were.”
“What happened to them?”
“When Snow found out she was pregnant, they were over the moon with happiness. We didn’t think she could have children, as it had been so long, and some wolves never do. When Tam told them that they were having twins, they couldn’t have been happier,” he says, stepping over a log of wood and offers me his hand to help me.
“One day, seven weeks earlier than the twins were meant to be here, Snow fell in the woods and broke her leg. The break kickstarted her labour, and Erik was away hunting for that week. I was there the whole time when she gave birth. It was a long and painful labour, as human pain relief doesn’t work on wolves, and Tam couldn’t heal her quick enough. When it was all over, her son died, despite how much we tried to save him. Arisa just about survived but the little boy, he was too small, too weak. The labour was too long and too early,” Nikoli says sadly.
“Oh my God. Poor Snow and Erik,” I whisper, having no idea how horrible that must have been for them.
“She was heartbroken, and when we finally got a message to Erik, and he came back, he couldn’t cope with the fact he wasn’t there. Losing one of their children broke them, and despite having Arisa, Erik just wanted to hunt rogues, and started taking more and more jobs from the royal family. He hunts for our pack sometimes, but he mainly works with the prince of the wolves, hunting.”
“I understand why he feels guilty, but poor Arisa. She must not see her dad much,” I comment.
“He tries with her, but I believe she is a reminder of the baby they lost too,” he says, and I do understand that. It must be so hard.
“I hope that Snow and Erik can fix their relationship one day,” I say gently.
“I highly doubt they can. Sometimes some things are too broken to be fixed.”
“I don’t believe that. I believe that everything is part of your fate,” I tell him and step away, letting him watch as I throw my long shirt off and call my wolf. She responds instantly, taking over, and I blink my eyes open to see Nikoli looking down at me.
“Time to run, little wolf,” he says, as he starts pulling his clothes off. I turn towards the forest and do just that.
“What are you doing?” I hear Nikoli say behind me, making me jump and bang my head on the top of the cupboard I was looking through in the kitchen.
“Ouch!” I say, holding my head and leaning back from the counter before standing up to see Nikoli walking into the kitchen. I rub my head as he walks over, knowing my shifter healing will sort it out soon enough, but it still damn well hurts. Admittedly, I shouldn’t be so quickly scared.
“Shit, I didn’t mean to make you do that.” He comes over to stand right in front of me. “Are you okay?” he asks, looking at my head.
“Yes,” I chuckle, lowering my hand as he leans on the counter in front of me. I end up running my eyes over his white shirt, and very tight jeans. Those kinds of jeans shouldn’t be allowed to be made or bought by someone like Nikoli. They look way too good; good enough that I can’t keep my eyes off him. My wolf purrs in my mind, the same way she does when I’m around Colton too. She knows they are her destined mates, as well as mine.
“So…what were you looking for?” he asks with a slight laugh.
“The washing up liquid. It’s my core night, and I have to wash all this up. I can’t find it,” I say, and he laughs before walking over to the sink and lifting open the box on the window in front of it. He pulls out the washing liquid and smiles at me.
“Oh, right next to the sink. I should have guessed,” I laugh.
“I will help. You have a lot, by the looks of it,” he says, gesturing to the counters full of plates from the whole day. I didn’t realise it was my day because I couldn’t really understand the group chat message with the cracks on my phone. I didn’t know what they wanted me to do, so I found Gold and asked her. By that point, there was a lot to be done.
“You don’t have to,” I say, walking over and taking the washing up liquid off him.
“I want to. You wash, and I will dry,” he says as I turn the water on and add some liquid to the sink bowl. Nikoli gets a towel out of one of the drawers as I start washing the dishes.
“Do you like your room? is there anything you need?” he asks after a while.
“I love my room. I’ve never had a double bed before, and it’s so comfy.”
“I know you sleep well. You snore.”
“I do not,” I say, and flick some water at him. It drips down his shocked face,
and then he bursts into laughter with me.
“Did you just flick me with water?” he asks through laughs.
“Yep,” I say and do it again. He puts his plate down, puts his own hand into the water, and flicks it at me. We go back and forth until we are soaking wet and covered in bubbles, laughing our heads off. I end up running my eyes down his white shirt stuck to his chest, showing off his eight-pack and his hard chest. Nikoli could win any wet t-shirt contest, hands down.
“Okay…” I hear Snow say and we both stop, looking towards where she is standing at the door with a big smile.
“Oh, hey, Snow,” I say, wiping some bubbles out my eyes. Nikoli chuckles next to me and hands me his towel. He goes and gets himself another one as Snow heads to the fridge.
“Having fun with your chores?” Snow asks, as she gets a bottle of water from the fridge and closes the door.
“Nikoli was just helping me do the washing up, and then…”
“You both decided to have a bubble shower?” she asks with a laugh. I know my cheeks are going a little red.
“Something like that,” Nikoli says behind me, and I turn in time to see him pull his shirt off, revealing the chest underneath that I was just admiring. It’s not like I haven’t seen him naked. I have many times after a shift, but it never seems to get old with Nikoli. All it does is make me want to go running with him, time and time again.
“I’m going to get some dry clothes before we carry on with this. Maybe you should do the same,” Nikoli says, his eyes looking down at my own black tank top that is sticking to my body. At least it isn’t white. I watch as he walks out the room.
“I haven’t seen him this playful or having fun in so many years,” Snow says once Nikoli is out of sight.
“I like him like this, so relaxed,” I comment.
“It’s because you’re good for him,” she states and walks out the room. It makes me wonder if Nikoli is good for me because, when I’m around him, he feels like home. The same way it feels with Colton.
“So, you and Nikoli are getting close,” Gold says, nudging me with her shoulder.
I wouldn’t say close, just spending a lot of time together as he teaches me about my wolf. Nikoli has taken me out every night these last three days to shift and learn more. I’ve mainly spent days sleeping or eating in the kitchens alone because Nikoli gets busy sorting pack issues out. I haven’t even seen Gold, until she opened my bedroom door a moment ago and walked in. I turn my phone off, a little upset that there is only one text from my old friend Skye, who congratulated me on getting into another foster home. She didn’t sound suspicious at all, which is crap. She apparently didn’t care much about me. I did have a chat with Colt, who is missing me and can’t wait until Tuesday. It's strange being away from him this much, as we used to be together every day. I also listened to all his voice messages he left me, sounding so panicked when I went missing. They were hard to listen to because I could hear how worried he was.
“He is helping me learn how to be a wolf. Shifter control and all that,” I say, and she laughs.
“You have more control than any wolf I’ve ever seen, and I highly doubt you couldn’t control your wolf alone at this point,” she says.
I reach down, feeling my wolf in my mind, and I know Gold is right. My wolf trusts me, as much as I believe her.
“It’s girls’ night, and you’ve been hiding in here all the time, or with Nikoli. Come and meet some of your pack,” she says, nudging me, and I frown at her.
“I forgot about that,” I mutter, and she smiles.
“They aren’t too bad, but they are interested to know more about their new pack member who has stolen the alpha’s heart, and already has a vampire’s,” she says, as we stand up from the bed and walk towards the door.
“I haven’t stolen anything,” I say.
“You’re so completely in denial, it’s almost funny,” she chides, laughing harder.
“Can I ask you something?” I ask her.
“Anything,” she says, leaning against the wall by the door.
“Okay well, I’ve never been with a man, but I know how sex works. But is there anything I should know about wolves or vampires?” I say way too quickly, and she laughs when I finally stop speaking.
“Well, I’m assuming you guessed that to mate, you have to have sex?” she asks when she sees my blushing cheeks, and stops laughing. I can’t stop thinking about mating with Nikoli and Colton, but I need to careful.
“Well, the male must bite the female during the mating for it to work. It’s the same for vampires, but they have to exchange blood, I’ve heard. I would guess that you have to bite him hard enough to break the skin. But I’ve heard most of this comes from instinct,” she explains.
“What about birth control?” I ask, not wanting to admit how happy it makes my wolf and me at the idea of mating with Nikoli or Colt.
“Wolves have trouble conceiving, and we have certain times of the year where our hormones go out of whack, and we need sex. That’s the only time you can conceive. It’s basically unheard of to conceive any other time,” she says, and I nod, a little relieved.
“Do you have a mate?” I ask her. I also wonder what the females of the pack do when that time comes around, and you don’t have a mate. I doubt many of them would be happy having a child with someone who isn’t their mate.
“No. It’s not common to find your destined mate, and most never do. Look at Snow. Even if you find your destined mate or mates, it doesn’t mean you’re going to be happy with them,” she says, a hint of sadness in her words.
“How many mates could you have? I mean, I don’t think I could cope with more mates turning up,” I say with a chuckle, and she smiles.
“There isn’t a limit on how many males can be destined for one woman. There is a woman called Daisy in the pack, who has four mates. They all live here and are happy together,” she says gently.
“Wow. I can just about deal with one alpha, and one vampire, let alone anymore,” I say, causing her to chuckle.
“You’ll meet Daisy and her mates at Sunday dinner, and their son,” she tells me.
“Who goes to that?” I ask, dreading her answer.
“The whole pack. It’s the only time we all get together, other than meetings, which are rare.”
“Have you ever dated anyone long-term?” I ask her, and she shakes her head.
“Some humans here and there but they grow old, and I can’t tell them what I am. Eventually, it becomes easier to stay away from humans, as they die so easily and live so little,” she says.
It makes me sad, in a way, that everyone I had in my old life, other than Colt, will eventually die, and I will still be here.
“What about dating wolves?” I ask her.
“And risk that they find their destined mate, then leave? No, I couldn’t do that, and most wolves can’t.”
“Ah, I see,” I say, and she nods sadly. It’s not a great situation to be in for anyone, and it sounds lonely. So, part of me is glad that I met Nikoli when I did. I follow her out the room, and she gives me a small smile as we reach the bottom of the stairs. We walk down the corridor and back to the room where I first met the women, and Gold opens the door. I follow her in, and Snow walks over.
“I’m so happy my grumpy brother finally found his mate,” she says and hugs me. I don’t move as she attempts to squeeze me to death.
“We haven’t mated or got together,” I tell her, and she chuckles as she pulls away.
“Nikoli hasn’t dated in years; he likely needs to work on his pickup skills. From what I saw in the kitchen, it won’t be long,” she says with a big grin, and I shake my head.
“Everyone, this is Harper. Nikoli’s destined mate and our soon-to-be alpha female. I hope that you all will welcome her, and give the respect she deserves,” Gold shouts into the room, and it goes quiet as all the women turn to look at me. A little girl, who looks about five, walks over and puts her hand out. She has curly black hair, a
pale complexion, and bright green eyes, and is wearing cute fox pyjamas.
“I’m Arisa, and you’re going to be my new auntie. We can have sleepovers and play dolls, and when you have your own baby, I will be its friend,” she says, and I shake her hand, not knowing what else to do.
“Auntie?” I ask quietly, looking down at the little girl who is the image of Snow, but with Erik and Gold’s eyes. I guess this must be Snow and Erik’s child.
“Yeah, we totally creeped you out now, but honestly, we are all just happy. This is my daughter,” Snow says, and Arisa gives me an innocent smile as she pulls her hand away.
“What? Did I say something? I want her to have a baby, so I have someone to play with,” Arisa says with a pout, and Snow laughs.
“Usually when you meet someone, you don’t tell them to have a baby, Arisa. It’s considered rude,” Snow tells Arisa, who apparently thinks about it for a while.
“I don’t get it. You tell me to always tell the truth, and I did,” she says, and crosses her arms in annoyance. It's really hard not to laugh at her serious face; she is just too cute to pull it off.
“Come and sit down. We’re about to put Wonder Woman on. The new one,” Snow tells me, changing the subject. I ignore the looks of most the women in here as I follow Snow over to an empty sofa. Gold chooses to sit on the rug with another woman, and Snow plops down next to me. Arisa comes over and sits on the edge of the couch.
“No, it’s bedtime for you,” Snow tells her, and she gives her another cute pout. I would have trouble saying no to that, but Snow doesn’t.
“I mean it. I told you that you could meet Harper, but that’s it. Your dad is waiting to put you to bed,” she says. Arisa frowns, but gives her mum a hug before running out of the room.
“She is so sweet,” a blonde-haired woman seated on another sofa says, and I nod.
“She is,” another woman, with bright red curly hair, agrees from across the room. A very awkward silence fills the room as they all watch me for some kind of reaction. I look at Gold, who gives me a cheeky smile, but doesn’t say anything.