15
NIRVANA
“Hey. You need to sit down. You’ve been through hell in the last three hours. Take it slow. It’s not a sprint.” Kailin forced me down the chair and gave me a glass of water.
“I need to learn about you guys. Your strength. Your weakness. What made you vulnerable so I could avoid it.” I looked at Grandpa.
“It’s okay.” He nodded.
“So, the silver can really hurt you guys?”
Kailin had a funny look. “How did you know?”
I shrugged. “Well, I didn’t know what I saw in the vineyards, but at the same time, I was not drunk that night. So, I did some Googling. I didn’t find anything useful that you guys exist, but is it true?”
“So a part of you believes that supernatural beings like us exist, but you still deny what you saw.”
“I don’t wanna end up in the mental hospital because who would believe me if I told someone I saw a wolf turn into a human.” I drank the water. My hands were still shaky.
“I’m so sorry you have to go through that alone.” Kailin put a hand on my shoulder and smiled sympathetically.
“You’ll be fine, honey.”
“Easy for you to say, Grandpa. I’ve never known the deepest secrets of my family history. Maybe it’s a good thing, though.” I reached out for his hand. “I’m not mad. You’re the only family I have left, and you never give up on me. I owe you that much.”
“You don’t owe me anything, Vana. You’re my granddaughter, and I will do anything for you. I don’t want you to feel any less that you don’t have the gift your grandmother and your mother had.”
“Maybe it’s not meant for me. Maybe I don’t deserve it.”
“It’s your birthright, Nirvana. You can’t ignore the calling. It may be taken away from you, but I will find a way to give it back to you.”
“How, Zarah? Maybe I don’t want it. Maybe it’s better to be kept locked somewhere. Maybe it could do more harm than good.”
“Just bear with me. I’m working on it with Alexander. And you’re at the right age to learn and possess it. It’s what your parents would have wanted for you.”
“You don’t know that. That’s what killed them anyway. Maybe we should not open a Pandora’s box. Don’t you think?” I stared at them one by one, but they seemed to have their own decisions. “Oh, wow. I’m okay being me without turning into a dog in a full moon. Can I do magic tricks like you did?”
Kailin had that funny look again, trying to hold her laugh.
“What?”
“You’re more than just a werewolf,” Grandpa said.
“So I can fly then?”
“Your grandmother Ophelia and your mother could see a person’s future.”
I chuckled at the same time, in awe. “So they were like prophets?”
“They came from the long line of Sybil, from Ancient Greek.”
“Wasn’t Apollo, the god of archery, music, and dance, a seer of Zeus? So this mythology was actually not a myth.”
“Something like that,” Kailin replied.
“Okay.” I stood up. “I can’t handle this. My head is gonna explode. First, I don’t want to see someone’s future. I don’t want to turn into a wolf. If that guy in the room can’t and won’t accept me as his human mate, whatever the hell that does mean, then I’m sorry, but I can’t be that person. I’m good with who I am right now. This is just insane and too much for my brain to process.”
“Take your time. Learn what they are,” Zarah said calmly, but her voice said more than that. She wanted me to be that Sybil or seer or whatever it was.
But this was my life, my body, and my decision. And maybe I was really unprepared for this revelation. It was just too much.
“Maybe I can’t do it, or maybe I will just turn into dust instead of having a gift. I’m not fit for that. Anyway, I have to check on my-” I shrugged off. “Mate? Is that how you call it?” God, it sounded even strange coming from me.
Kailin laughed softly. “Yes. And you two will do a ceremony to complete the-”
“Kailin.” Zarah stopped her. “That knowledge is for another day.
I was in the hallway when I felt like whatever Kailin said was a big deal. “Complete the what?”
“You’ll find it out soon.” Kailin was smiling meaningfully as she dragged me towards my bedroom door. “Go check on Knight.”
“Whatever.” I got in my bedroom, and the alpha of wolves was still passed out in my bed. “You should get something to eat.”
“Okay. If you need anything, let me know.”
“Wait.” I held her wrist. “He’s not gonna shift into a wolf in my bed, right?”
“No. He’s in control. He would never hurt you.”
“Fine.” I grabbed the chair and sat next to Knight. Kailin left and closed the door, leaving me alone with a supernatural creature.
Knight was still asleep. He looked magnificent shirtless and got a view of his incredible physique. He obviously worked out religiously to get into this shape. Even with disheveled, messy hair falling onto his forehead, he was so handsome that he took my breath away. I wasn’t sure if this was the effect of our bond thing or if I was just too attracted to him.
He looked hard everywhere- skin looked soft, but that face was devastatingly adorably angelic. His shoulders were wide, his chest so broad as I watched it rise and fall, and I got to see those taut, sinewed muscles of his six-pack abs. I was surprised he didn’t have a single ink.
He let go of a single deep breath. “Why is your heart rate racing?” His voice was calm but groggy.
“Will you stop doing that?”
He cracked his beautiful green eyes open and turned his head at me. “You okay?”
“Honestly? No. I’m not okay. Are you?” I roared, still slightly pissed off at him.
He nodded a little. “Yes.”
“How are you feeling?”
He moved to sit down.
“Easy.” I was fast enough to hold him on his arm. “You may be a half-dog, but you passed out.”
“I’m fine. And I’m not a half-dog. I have an animal inside me and am completely in control.” He leaned against the headboard and looked at his body. “Why am I shirtless?”
“You were sweaty and messed up my bed sheets, so Kailin and I helped each other to take off your drenched shirt. Don’t worry, I did not take a peek down south.”
“I was just kidding.”Content from NôvelDr(a)ma.Org.
I grabbed the bottled water on the nightstand. “Drink.”
“Thanks.” He took it from and drank the water empty.
“What happened earlier?”
He put the bottle down and looked at me. He looked exhausted but still handsome. “You happened.”
“Me?” I pointed at myself, offended, nose flaring.
“Yeah. You. Some werewolves died and killed themselves because they couldn’t handle the pain of rejection. Our souls are linked together, and when one died, half of them died, too. It’s rare for werewolves to survive when their mates are gone.”
“Grandpa survives.”
“His mate is not a pure werewolf, and he’s stronger.”
“You’re an alpha. I suppose you’re stronger, too.”
“Yeah.”
“But I didn’t do anything. How could I hurt you so much?” I still denied that I was the reason for his intense pain. He deserved it, anyway-a little bit.
“You rejected me.”
“Did I? I don’t remember rejecting you.”
“Really? You’d rather live alone-”
“Oh.” I shut my mouth close.
“Your words are more powerful than anything because of what you are.”
“A human.”
“Not only human.”
“Whatever. How did it feel?”
His eyes narrowed slightly. “Are you planning anything vengeful?”
“I want to know if it will hurt me.” However, I felt what he felt this morning, which wasn’t pleasant.
“It felt like my bones were breaking. My blood was boiling. My internal organs were melting. My chest was crushing my heart. That’s what it felt like.”
I just stared at him in horror, unblinking. “Oh, my God.”
“Don’t worry. It wasn’t your fault. And I healed faster.”
“I could have killed you.”
“Just don’t do that again.”
“I’m still learning about this mate thing, Knight. I suggest you be kind to me, or the next time you mistreat me, you won’t going to like it.”
A small smile curved up his lips. “You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?”
“Probably a lot more than you think.”