Chapter 33 Nova #2
“Here.” Zeth motioned to Deslen, and they carefully lifted Nick, each taking a side. “I got the little fucker.” He looked at me, trying to ease my worry. “He’s not dying on our watch, Nov. We got you.”
I swallowed hard and nodded, the relief so fierce it almost hurt.
For the first time, I prayed. I didn't give a shit who listened to me, but if some higher power could help Nick pull through this, I would do anything they asked.
When it was all boiled down and this was what I was left with, I found the pain of potentially losing a mate was worse than being rejected by one.
Once we got Nick settled in my room, I refused to leave his side. I sat on the edge of the bed, elbows on my knees, eyes glued to the rise and fall of his chest, waiting for the antidote to do its job, waiting for anything that hinted he’d still be mine when he woke up.
My phone buzzed again.
Cal: Anything new?
Cal: Anything weird?
I’d told him that I had to administer the antidote to one of my men. He kept asking for an update every few minutes.
Groaning in frustration, I turned my phone to silent for the first time in five years and tossed it onto the far pillow. I didn’t have the energy to deal with Calix’s constant “updates” and “vital checks.” Not when my heart was suspended between beats, too terrified to hope.
Hours crawled by, and time laughed at me, enjoying its torment until the whole world stopped when Nick’s eyelids fluttered.
I leaned forward just as he blinked up at the ceiling, confused but alive. A breath left me, so long and heavy it dragged the fear out of my bones. His head turned at the sound, eyes landing on me before he spoke.
“Have I been out long?” he asked weakly, scanning the room for a clock that didn’t exist.
I shook my head. “Just a few hours. A… troubling few hours.”
He nodded, his gaze falling as though he couldn’t bear to meet mine. I watched him take a deep breath, shift in the bed. His hands clenched and unclenched, moving his lips like he wanted to say something but didn’t know how, and yet, even after everything, he was drawing me in.
“You heard me earlier, right?” he asked, his tone shy but steady. He was trying to play it off, but the words were too big to ignore.
“Yeah.” Staring at the sheets I was playing with between my fingers, I kept my voice casual, even though my heart thumped harder.
The silence that followed was thick and awkward, charged with something that made the air warm and the floor feel too thin beneath us.
His throat bobbed before he whispered, “A-am I too late?”
My brows knit. “Too late? For what?”
“To be… your mate.” He sucked in a sharp breath, wincing at his own words.
I froze. Not because I didn’t know the answer but because hearing him say it made something in my chest break open.
His cheeks flushed at the admission. “I mean—if you still want me. If… I still have a place by your side.”
When the silence stretched, he panicked.
“I—I mean, I get it if I did.” His jaw ground together. “If I could just stay somewhere nearby, I think—”
His face fell, and the insecurity I saw there punched me right in the ribs.
“No,” I said softly, wringing my hands together. “But I want you to think, really think, about it. I’m not accepting a mate who doesn’t choose me or someone who’s only here because his body told him to be.”
I hated saying it. Hated how my voice dipped. Hated how raw it felt… but I hated seeing him in this bed even more. Hated the feeling of losing him.
His next words hit like a wrecking ball.
“I quit the force.” The words were solid and sure. “I never told them a thing about you or your operation.” Words continued to tumble from his lips in a rush. “And I’ve… been watching you these past few days. Wanting… no, needing to help.”
I blinked. Hard. He quit? I’d read his file after I learned who he was.
He’d been on the force for five years, an exemplary cop, and he’d even got turned into a werewolf after saving a young kid from drifting too far into the wrong woods.
He was on track for a promotion. The perfect law-abiding cop.
He had everything going for him. And he left it.
He reached for my hands and gently, reverently, lifted them to his lips, pressing soft kisses to each fingertip. My breath hitched at the tenderness.
“I didn’t know how to handle my life turning upside down,” he murmured. “The grief. The confusion. Then you came in. You demanded I choose. You pushed me. You lit something inside me.”
His voice trembled. “You made me want to find myself again.” His fingers laced with mine, warm and hesitant.
“Say something,” he whispered, eyes refusing to lift, his shoulders trembling.
I didn’t say a damn word.
I climbed onto the bed, onto him, and crushed my mouth to his, answering in the only way my heart could speak. His lips parted on a shocked inhale, melting beneath mine like they’d been waiting for me since the day we met.
The bond between us ignited, lighting up so fiercely, so bright, I gasped into the kiss. Every muscle locked up as that golden thread slid into place. My heart giddy and ablaze, the feeling of completeness engulfed me.
His hands traveled up my arms, slow but desperate, as if savoring every inch of me before he took in a ragged breath. “Do you want to stop?” I could hear his hesitation, but hope threaded through every syllable.
Sliding my hand behind his head to weave my fingers through his raven locks, I tugged his head back until we were nose-to-nose.
“No,” I growled softly. “But I want you to know something.”
His breath stuttered, his eyes flicking between mine.
“My body has wanted this for a long time.”
I reached down, my claws cutting at the seam of my pants. The sound of fabric tearing was loud in the quiet room. His pupils blew wide.
“I’m going to want it hard and rough,” I murmured, letting him hear the promise in it. “Do you understand?”
He kicked the blanket off, leaving him naked, his eyes locked on mine.
"Then do with me what you want." His palm slowly dragged against his length, working himself harder.
His nostrils flared with each inhale, chest rising and falling, gaze burning into me like he was carving this moment into memory.
I positioned myself above him, took the head of his cock, and dragged that velvety tip against my clit. My breath hitched. Lungs seized.
No more waiting.
I slammed down on his length. His fullness stretched through me, creating that perfect blend of a pleasurable ache. My hips rocked, and we both groaned. A deep rumble came from his chest, mine breaking from my throat.
His hands cupped my breasts, thumbs circling the stiff peaks before his mouth followed, tongue flicking, teeth grazing. I kept my rhythm steady, hips rolling in waves, until his fingers found my clit and rubbed tight circles. He thrust up hard, bucking beneath me.
My head fell back, spine arching as I let myself feel all of him. Gulping down his scent, I gripped his chest and rode his cock like it was both our last and first night.
His hands carved into my hips, grabbing onto me like he was never letting go. This raw, desperate thing between us had always simmered just beneath the surface. Now, it was ablaze, ready to consume us.
Heat coiled low in my belly, tightening, spinning faster. I needed more. Needed to shatter.
I shifted my leg up and around. His hands hovered, steadying but never stopping his thrusts.
I pivoted until my ass faced him, feet planted under his thighs.
I felt every muscle flex as he drove up into me.
One hand gripped my hip, fingers digging crescents into skin.
The other wrapped itself in my hair, tugging my head back as he pounded up like something had been unleashed.
"That's what you want, my mate? You want to be fucked dirty? You want to be so blissed out you can't walk?"
"Yes." The word came out breathless, broken by each snap of his hips. "More. Yes. All."
A growl tore from his throat, feral, possessive. In the blink of an eye, he picked me up and slammed me face-down into the bed. His palm cracked against my ass. The pain had my eyes crossing before he drove into me so hard white spots burst across my vision.
Thrust.
Thrust.
Thrust.
Relentless. Demanding. All-consuming. His hips slammed into me over and over. The slapping of our skin echoing against the walls. I kept wanting to hear the addictive sound louder, faster, harder.
His forehead pressed to the back of my neck, shaky lips trailing kisses across my shoulders as he fucked me exactly how I craved.
My toes curled against the sheets while that coil in my abdomen wound tighter, tighter. His teeth sank into my shoulder, and I broke. "Fuck! I'm coming, Nick!"
He kept thrusting through every aftershock, every tremor. Relentlessly. Then he turned me onto my back, dragged my body to the edge of the bed, and re-entered me slowly and deliberately. A hand drifted between my breasts, fingers trailing up the valley.
“I’ve wanted to do this for so long.” His voice dropped, rough and low. Fingers curved around my throat, not tight, just there, possessive. “It feels like I’ve wanted you my entire life and never realized it.” A thumb traced my pulse, making it leap. “I didn’t know then… but I do now.”
He bent down and sealed those words with a hot, wet kiss, something that consumed me entirely. His tongue swept into my mouth, and his thrusts grew erratic, more forceful.
His lips never left mine, but his body became rougher, more demanding. His grip was bruising, but I arched into it, wanting every mark as proof of this hunger.
"Take me," I whispered against his mouth. "Take it all."
A groan ripped from him. “Oh, fuck. Shit.” His forehead balanced on my collarbone, his voice breaking into a quiet, desperate confession. “I think… I think I’m addicted to you.”
He thrust into me harder, hitting that spot inside that made me see stars. “I can’t stop thinking about you. What you’re doing. Who you're with.” Finally, he whispered, “If you need me.”
His hips snapped as he croaked, “Fuck… I fucking love you.”
His golden eyes caught mine, shining brightly with his true confession. I basked in the attention for a moment before his face screwed up tight, and he groaned my name over and over. His warm cum shot up into me, and I clenched down hard on his cock, milking it for all I could get.
That golden thread pulled taut between us, humming with certainty, and something clicked into place. His desperation to make this work, to prove that he wanted this, flooded our connection. My lips curved up.
I wrapped my legs around him, trapping him to me. He grunted against my skin. Over his shoulder, three sets of eyes watched from the doorway. Heat darkened their gazes, second by second. Waiting.
Their thoughts rang as clearly as if they’d spoken. He had his moment. Now it's time for ours.
I nipped at his lobe, feeling him grow hard again inside me. I got close enough to whisper in his ear, "I hope you're ready for the full mate experience."
He pulled back to look at me, hesitation written on his face. The door smacked open with a thud, and his eyes went wide before he peeked over his shoulder.
Wholeness settled in my chest, and four bonds blazed bright in unison, pulsing their agreement.
"I hope you're ready for round two."