Alpha Brothers - The Cold Hearted Sister (book 5)

Chapter 13

Chapter 13
Nicholas
Something wasn't right. I felt it in my bones, smelt it in the air.
I played in my room, trying to stop my trucks from rolling away. One was missing, no doubt Hector had taken it. I didn't like it when he took my toys. It's not because they were mine, I was happy to share. But he pulled them apart and never brought them back.
"Nathair!"
I jumped at the sound of my Ma's scream. My whole body trembled at the sound.
Don't go out there, I told myself as I started to stand, don't go out there!
I ignored myself and reached up for my door nob.
"Tell me it's a lie!" I heard her yell from my parents bedroom across from mine.
"What do you want me to say?" Pa growled at her, "how could I not do it? How could you expect me to live with a bitch like her when I had met someone like you?"
"So you would kill someone just for your own selfish reasons? Not to mention Hector," she argued.
"What about him?"
There was a pause.
"Your jokin, right? Tell me your jokin'?" Ma asked, "His mother is dead because of you!"
"Nora, calm the hell down or I swear, I'll -."
"You'll what?" She snapped, "you'll kill me too."
There was another silence.
I saw her shadow and I was ready to run out and comfort her.
"You get back here!"
I flinched at my father's booming voice as I saw his hand snatch Ma's arm. Screams and the sound of fists hitting bones echoed through the hall, shuttering my heart.
Go out there, help her! I yelled at my frozen body.
But the cruel punishment my father could give out, flowed through my mind. If I went out there, he would do worse to me.
So I just sat there and listened to my mother's screams. And did nothing about it.
I shot up straight, my eyes completely opened. They burned in my skull as sweat dripped drown my cheeks. My breathing was out of control, wolf stirring. Something wasn't right.
"Nick?"
At the sound of Allie's tired groan, I turned so that I was sitting on the edge of the bed, away from her. She couldn't see me like this. We were finally getting into step with each other. If she saw me out of control, we would be out of step forever.
"Nick, what's goin' on?" She asked a little more awake than before.
My mother screams returned, making me flinch and twitch. God, I was going to be sick.
"Nick, come back to bed," she groaned, wanting to go to sleep herself.
No, if I go back to sleep, I'll hear them, I thought to myself, I'll hear her.
I focused on my mate's sounds. I listened to the material of my jumper that she was wearing moving against the fabric of the sheet. Her breathing had stopped as she slowly approached the untamed wolf.
"Nick, what's wrong? Talk to me," she asked, suddenly very close to me.
My whole body shook from fear. Fear from my father's ghost and surfaced memories as well as fear of hurting her.
As soon as I felt the soft skin of her hand on my bare shoulder, I panicked. Before I even realized, I had stormed out of the tent and into the near by trees. I found one and hugged it tight, piecing the bark with my black claws.
Breathe, Nicholas I told myself making my shaking worse.
My wolf stirred wanting to be released from its human cage. I ignored its wish and tried to remain myself. It was a loosing battle.
Arms wrapped around my waist making me jump. My whole body relaxed when I recognised the shape of my mate's body and smelt her sweet scent.
"Shh," she hushed, "your okay."
"No, I'm n-not," I muttered hearing the quiver in my voice as clear as day, "G-get out of here. Before I -."
"Shhh, just focus on my scent," she told me, clawing at my chest.
I did as she told me, breathing in her smell. My body numb, calming for the first time.
"Turn around," she told me.
I shook my head, hugging the tree tighter.
"You'll feel better, I promised," she vowed.
"No, I'll hurt you -."
"You won't," she announced, hugging me tighter, "I trust you."
I swallow at the sudden responsibility.
Don't screw this up, I growled to myself, don't you dare hurt her. 
Letting out a breath of air, I unlatched the tree and slowly turned around. Once we were face to face, I wrapped my arms around her neck and buried my face in her hair.
Oh God, her scent. I had never smelt anything so wonderful. It made my wolf settle and my shaking body was stilled by her own. The cold breeze that circled us felt like knifes cutting my skin, but I didn't care. Not when her breath was touching my neck, warming me.
Slowly, her head began to move till we were face to face. Each breath I took she breathed out as my hand caressed her soft, cold cheek. My mind went crazy with the idea that I was only inches from her lips. She wasn't screaming.
I frowned, confused. Why wasn't she backin' away? Why was she still here? If she thought I was like my family, why was she helpin' me?
"What are you doin'?" I asked her, my eyes lids barely opened.
"I'm keepin' you, you. I might not know the cruelties of this world but I can recognise when a wolf is about to loose control," she gave a little sad giggle as if remembering a memory.
I hugged her tighter, not wanting to let her go but not wanting her to stay either. The longer she stayed, the more chance I would do something that we would both regret.
"How did you know to do this?" I asked, brushing my cheek against hers.
"I saw Ma do it once and when ever Malcolm feels like he's loosin' control, he always calls out for Tarna. So I figured it was a mate thing."
I couldn't help but chuckle, "That's the first time you've admitted we're mates."
"Well, as much as I hate to admit it, we are."
Swallowing the insult, I focused on the good parts. She was willing to admit that we were mates.
"Are you ready to go back to bed?"
At her question, I pulled back and shook my head, my fear returning.
"No, if I go back to sleep, I-I'll hear them again," I said panicky
"It was just a dream, Nick. It can't hurt you," she reassured me.
I was about to argue with her when I stopped. How did she know? I didn't say anythin' about it bein' a dream.
"How did you know?" I asked her.
She shrugged, stepping out of my grip, "Graham use to get them all the time after Malcolm and Archie tried to drown him."
I frowned, "What?"
"It's a really long story," she said, waving me off.
I nodded, not brave enough to ask more questions.
"You go back to sleep," I told her, "there's no point both of us stayin' up."
She scoffed, "what makes you think I'm leavin' you alone?"
I frowned, more confused. Now she didn't want to leave me alone?
"but, why? I don't understand," I said, making her sigh.
"What type of person would I be if I left you when you needed me?"
Her question only made me more confused. Did she want me or not? I didn't understand.
She sighed and took my hand, leading me over to a small hump in the ground. She sat down and I followed her, curling my knees to my chest as she did the same.
"What are we doin'?" I asked as she titled her head up to the sky.
"Lookin' up at the stars," she said with a little huff.
I titled my head and gazed up at the night's sky. The stars were diamonds across a sea of black and dark purple. Everything became so small in comparison to them, knowing that they were another source of life in a different universe.
"That's Venus," Allie said, pointing to a bright golden star, "did you know that, there's a possible chance that there was life on Venus."
I frowned in disbelief, "really?"
"Huh-uh," she nodded, "Pa use to tell me a story about it. So, there lived a man, who had eight children. He loved all his children, the small ones, the large ones, all equally. His daughter, Venus was the most beautiful of his children and he cherished her the most. She was bright and lovely and her father's warmth meant that she could create new life. However, one day, the man realized that he was neglectin' his other children. So, his warmth grew to warm the others. His other daughter, Earth, became alive with her father's warmth and she became beautiful, almost as beautiful as her sister next to her. Venus became jealous of her sister's new beauty and became a burnin' ball of evil gases. Any beauty that Venus had died as she watched her sister take all her father's attention. And that's how Venus became a ball of burnin' gases."
I couldn't help but chuckle at her blunt ending. There was such a big build up for such a small ending.
"How did you know all that?" I asked her, curious.
"Pa and I use to look up at the stars all the time," she admitted, before giggling a little, "I don't think I've ever told anyone that. Not even my brothers."
"Well, I'm honoured," I told her, nudging her leg with my knee.
She giggled under her breath as silence consumed us again.
My head tilted back up to the sky, wishing for a different life. If I had just been a normal person, if I hadn't been Nathair Macangus' son or a part of the Macangus pack, my life would have been a lot simple. Allie's and mine's relationship, would have been a lot simple.
Still looking up at the stars, I asked, "do you ever wish for a different life?"
"Constantly," she said with a little scoff, "if I was normal, my problems would be, what college I would be applyin' to, which club I want to go to. I could choose any lad I wanted and not have the Gods frown on me for choosin' wrongly. And we would have a normal relationship, with normal problems. There would be no revenge plots and no wolves. No -."
"Mates," I buttered in before she would finish.
"I wasn't goin' to say that," she reassured me, though I didn't believe her.
"Weren't you?" I asked.
She giggled a little, embarrassed that I had caught her lie.
"It's not you, personally -."
"Just my name," I buttered in again.
"No, not even that. See, the problems with mates is that, there is no choice. I mean, Ma and Pa always said that we had one, that we can choose to disown our mates and be with someone else, but I don't think it's true. If Malcolm Patterson, The Lonely Brother, can get over his grief and hurt for the love of his mate, than what hope do the rest of us have."
"A lot, apparently," I blurted out before I could stop myself.
She turned her head to me and frowned, causing me to explain, "I'm not goin' to pretend that a future with you isn't what I want."
"Nick, I -."
"I understand," I stopped her, "there's a lot of bad blood between our families, there's no point denyin' that. It's too dangerous for you to join my pack and I will never be accepted into yours."
She nodded, agreeing with me.
"I will be true to you on my vow. I will return you to your family when it's safe. But before then, you have to listen to me."
She frowned, reading between the lines.
"This is still about this mornin'," she guessed.
I nodded, making her sigh to stop herself from going off the handle.
"What if I promise you, that I won't leave the tent without you by my side?" She asked, "will that stop you from talkin' to me like a child?"
I chuckled, shaking my hand, "if I know anythin' about you Pattersons is that you keep your word. Can you give me your word?"
She sighed, growing annoyed, "I give you my word. There, happy?"
I chuckled, finding her frustration entertaining, "aye, I am."
She giggled to, now embarrassed that I was laughing at her. I watched, as she bowed her head and colour came to her cheeks. She was blushing? She was actually blushing. Maybe there was a chance for a future with her after all.