Chapter 11
Chapter Eleven
NOVA
I’m curled up on the couch in between Tyde’s thighs, my head cushioned on his chest. A part of me wants to call him my alpha, but after that brief moment in the nest he made me, I don’t think I should. While it’s clear he wants me, I’m not feeling very confident in anything.
“Take your time, Nova,” he murmurs, his fingers moving through my hair slowly.
They tangle in it and I wince when they get caught in a snarl.
“I have a hair brush somewhere. I bought it at the store when I was picking up things for you. After this, I want you to show me how to detangle your hair. While I washed it, my brushing game may not be up to snuff.”
My lips part in surprise as I twist around to gaze up at him.
“Thank you,” I say softly. I could tell him that I can do it myself, but I don’t want to break how special it is that he even offered. Settling back, I gaze down at the phone as if it’s going to bite me.
I don’t have my sister’s phone number, so I open up my contacts list to call Malcolm. I can imagine them huddled around her, making sure she’s okay. I highly doubt that they went into work, or they’re managing things from home at least.
Taking in a breath that comes in as a gasp instead, I press his name to connect the call. I don’t know if he’ll answer. There’s a million reasons why he may not, and I’ll have to accept it?—
“ Nova ?” a sultry female voice asks on the third ring. I never sound like this. Since Louise used to tell me that my voice sounded like a man, I’ve always been very sensitive about how I speak.
Add to that disuse from being alone all of the time, and my voice constantly cracks and sounds rough.
“Hi,” I say weakly, my mind racing a million miles a minute.
“ Where are you? Please tell me the guys are with you or so help me, I’ll murder them all,” she growls.
“I thought we agreed that killing was bad ,” Malcolm teases her. Except, I think he’s half serious.
“ Answer the question, Nova,” Hollis says.
“I’m here,” Tyde says, his hand banding around my waist to ground me. My legs move up to curl into myself under the blankets he covered me with, and I sigh.
“Caleb and Lars are gone,” I say, feeling tears wanting to well up. Swallowing hard, I tell myself to stop being silly. They obviously have work to handle. I’m fine. “I’m at Tyde’s house, but?—”
“Where did they go?” she asks, sounding confused. “ You went into heat, Nova. How long have you been out of it?”
“Just a couple of hours, if that,” Tyde replies. “They told me to take care of her and hightailed it out of here. Nova is perfectly fine with me. You couldn’t pull me away if you wanted to.”
There’s the tone. He’s been so sweet that it’s easy to forget how blunt he can be, but my lips twitch because I can feel how protective he feels through the bond. Tyde really doesn’t want me to leave.
“ You’re the asshole doctor,” Hollis grunts. “ There’s nothing wrong with being an ass as long as you’re good to my sister. Sometimes your inside voice gets the better of you, and I have an alpha with that exact malady.”
Remy snorts on the other end of the line, and it helps me center myself. There’s no reason for tears, this is just part of life.
“I’m awkward when I’m stressed,” Tyde admits. “Since that happens for about ninety percent of my interactions, I come off like an ass. Nova and I are working through it, but it’s easier now that we’re bonded.”
There’s a long pause before I hear cursing on the other end of the phone. Oops.
“ You barely know her,” Brice says. “ How the fuck did that happen?”
“It was a really bad heat,” I explain. “I had a seizure in my van before Lars pulled me out. I was trying to take care of it by myself, but that didn’t go very well. I overloaded my body.”
“She bit me for the record,” Tyde grunts. “My control is really good, but she needed a knot and a bite in order to come out of her heat. There’s no way I was going to let her die over my own morals.”
“ Why wouldn’t you give her your knots? You’re alphas, and she was in heat. This isn’t rocket science,” my sister snarls. My face heats at the fact that we’re talking about this during the first conversation that we’ve ever had. “ What’s the point of you being there at all if you’re holding back?”
“Consent,” Tyde bites out. “She was half out of her mind, dehydrated, and couldn’t give it. Caleb, Lars, and I agreed that she could have everything but anal or vaginal penetration.”
“Tyde,” I groan. I can feel his annoyance, but fuck me this is a lot of information for him to be giving out.
“ What the fuck does she need you for then?” Felix asks. “ Did you have any toys at least for her? Even artificial knots may have helped if you were with her.”
“My van is apparently littered with discarded toys,” I say with a wince. If we’re going to talk about this, I may as well participate. “I think my body may have been over poser dicks.”
Hollis snorts and my lips tip up a little more at the sound.
I’m actually talking to my sister!
Tyde’s hand squeezes my thigh as he buries his nose in my throat and breathes in deeply. It’s as if he can’t get enough of my scent. Since I’m wrapped up in his sweatshirt and I’m never giving it up, I suppose I feel the same.
“ So where are my best friends?” Hollis asks, rounding back to one of her original questions. I thought she’d forget about it, but she’s tenacious.
“Work,” I rasp, my humor melting away. “Apparently they had to open up today.”
“ Bullshit,” she says. “ Are they really that fucking stupid? Lars and Caleb both have people who can do that. They ran away. Who is driving me downtown? I just want to talk to them.”
“I would ask you to keep your weapons at home, but you are a weapon, Hollis, ” Brice grunts.
“Speaking of which,” I say, “how are you doing?”
Maybe I can hold the peace if I keep her distracted.
“ I’m as well as can be expected,” she says, but someone grunts a curse in the background.
Actually, it’s more of a fake sneeze around the word “bullshit. “ I’m sorry, apparently I need to add that I’m taking pain medication even though I hate it so that you can come home if you want to.
I’m playing with the hypothesis that if I inherently feel less pain, so will you.
I can’t believe this link that we have is doing this. I’m so sorry.”
“It’s not your fault,” I say immediately, because it’s not. Now that she mentions it, I can hear the slight slur in her words. It’s almost barely noticeable. “You shouldn’t be drugging yourself on the off chance that I’ll go back to Minneapolis, Hollis. That’s terrible.”
“ You have clients here,” she admonishes.
“ Those are responsibilities that you’re going to need to go back to without being affected by my pain.
I think that you didn’t feel the ass beating Emilia’s goons gave me because I was on pain medication for a lot of it.
My body also healed me much faster than I should have.
Outside of the broken bones, I think the bruises will heal within the next week. I’ve always bounced back well.”
“With all due respect, I don’t think that you should be proud of healing from intense physical trauma so easily,” I grumble.
“I haven’t really looked at my messages yet, though I’ll need to do so soon.
I called you first. As for Caleb and Lars…
Hollis, I don’t think they want me. Maybe I should just give them an out… ”
“ You’d reject them?” she whispers. “ Guys, can I get a second, please?”
I listen as her pack leaves, and think about how much they adore her. They were so worried when she was kidnapped, uncaring about anyone she might have to hurt or murder as long as she came back to them.
I don’t know how they started, but I love where they are now.
“ I thought about rejecting Pack Ledger,” Hollis says softly. “ There’s that saying that those who can’t, teach. Well, I’m a professional matchmaker, Nova. I told myself that as long as you were gone, I’d never have a pack.”
“You cannot put your life on hold for me,” I gasp. “It doesn’t look like you are now, thank god. My point is that you didn’t know if I was alive or dead.”
“ Exactly. Survivor’s guilt sucks. Everyone else moved on, Nova.
We were two weeks old when you were taken, but I still had this huge hole in my heart,” she says.
“ Lars and Caleb never made me feel stupid for holding on. They kept me from falling apart numerous times, and they never judged me when they couldn’t.
I swear, little sister, they’re really good alphas.
I just need to kick their asses a little so they’ll remember that.
Besides, they lied to me about being your scent matches. That’s unacceptable.”
“They’re both so intense,” I grumble. “Caleb doesn’t sugar coat shit and is a fucking caveman. While Lars is quiet and broody, and when he finally says something, the words just hurt. Half the time, I don’t feel good enough for either of them, Hollis. They give me whiplash.”
“ What else?” she rasps, sounding as if she’s memorizing all of it. My heart clenches as I think about her calling me little sister, and Tyde purrs for me, his chest vibrating to soothe me. I notice Hollis didn’t ask him to leave and I smile at the thought.
“They tell me I’m too soft but know nothing about my life or why I surround myself with healing energy. I’m basically a hippie with better hygiene,” I mutter. “I believe in making the best of things, holding space for others, and being good to people.”
“You have a lot of mafia men wrapped around your finger,” Hollis teases.
“Men who care very little about the rest of the world, but just today I’ve had various texts asking if I’ve heard from you.
Adira called me to tell me about how you’ve managed to carve out a place for yourself in their hearts, and Linus called as well to tell me how calming you are in high emotion situations.
If you wanted to, Minneapolis would gladly call you one of its own. ”