Witch in wolf's clothing - Namaari

Chapter 42: Rat Problem

I sit on the couch, the end of the film playing on the screen. A cozy blanket is draped over me, Zyméo on one side, his hand under the blanket, holding mine. Tazzym is on the other side, his hand under the blanket as well, gently stroking my thigh.

Suddenly, we hear the front door open. We don’t really look up, assuming it’s probably Kaynim. Kaynim appears in the doorway of the living room, and I say huffily, "Alpha Kaynim, earlier than expected. I thought you'd only dare to come when I was already in bed."

Before any of the brothers can respond, Nikolaj steps out from behind Kaynim. He raises an eyebrow, looking between Kaynim and me. "Why wouldn’t Kaynim dare to come when you're here? Is there a problem?"

I feel Zyméo and Tazzym quickly pull their hands away from under the blanket. I already miss their touch but know this isn't the time to overwhelm Nikolaj with the whole mate situation. If he saw his best friends touching his little sister right now, he’d lose it.

Throwing the blanket off, I jump up and run over to my brother, hugging him tightly. "No problems, brother," I say, giving Kaynim a sidelong glance. "I have everything under control."

Kaynim huffs and walks over to sit next to his brothers on the couch, taking the spot I just vacated.

Breaking the hug, I look up at Nikolaj. "I'm so glad you're here, but I didn't expect you so soon."

Nikolaj replies, "Kaynim called this morning with information about the attacks from yesterday. I came as quickly as I could. I wanted to see how you're doing."

I laugh, pulling up my shirt a bit to show the nearly healed wound. "Just another scar to add to the collection, nothing serious."

Nikolaj grins and responds playfully, "Well, it’s good to see you’re still in one piece, little warrior. You always were the toughest of us."

I chuckle, feeling a warm sense of pride. "Thanks, big brother. I try."

"How's your mate and the pup in her belly?" I ask, genuinely curious.

Nikolaj beams with happiness. "She's doing great. Both of them are."

"That's wonderful," I reply, feeling happy for him. "I can't wait to meet the little one."

Nikolaj then moves to sit in a single armchair near the triplets. "Well, Namaari should probably head to bed soon. We can catch up and maybe have a drink. I want to thank you all for keeping my sister safe yesterday."

I stand there, stunned. "Brother, please, I don't need to go to bed yet. I'm not a child anymore. And besides, I saved them! I killed a dark witch and made sure Kaynim got treated in time, or he would've bled out."

Kaynim snaps back immediately, "I almost bled out because I saved your ass from a rogue attacking you."

We glare at each other, the tension palpable. Nikolaj laughs, breaking the moment. "Well, the dynamic here hasn't changed. Doesn't matter, I'm glad you helped each other. Sis, you should rest after such an attack. Besides, I want to train with you tomorrow morning. It's been a while, and I'll make sure you feel it."

I sigh, knowing he's right. "Okay, I look forward to it."

Walking over, I give Nikolaj a kiss on the cheek. "Goodnight, big brother." Then I turn to the triplets, feeling a bit awkward. "Goodnight, all of you."

Zyméo and Tazzym respond with an awkward "Goodnight," clearly wishing they could give me a kiss instead. Kaynim just says a dry "Goodnight, Princess."

Rolling my eyes, I head towards my room.

Tazzym’s POV

Nikolaj looks at us and says, "Now, in all seriousness, I’m glad you’re treating my sister with respect. I had my doubts after what happened a few years ago. I’m glad to have you back as friends and that we’re moving forward positively, but I’ll keep saying it: touch my sister once, and you’ll find yourselves buried meters underground." His eyes darken with the threat.

I mind-link Zyméo, "Does he mean with touching her, hurting her or...also how we’ve been touching her lately? Though, a little pain is sometimes nice, right?" I smirk, trying to lighten the tension.

Zyméo shoots back, "I wouldn’t joke about it if I were you. If Nikolaj knew what we’ve done with his sister, we wouldn’t just be buried a few meters underground; we’d be..." He doesn’t finish, but the implication is clear and serious.

Meanwhile, Kaynim speaks to Nikolaj, "We’re all much more responsible now with many duties. We take care of Princess Namaari as we should. You don’t need to worry."

Nikolaj responds, "I don’t worry anymore after seeing how you’ve handled things these past weeks. Besides, Namaari and I will stay for the meeting on Friday, but then we’ll return. The problems between the packs are getting better, but the rogue attacks are increasing. I can help with strategies over the next few days and finalize some plans on Friday. But after that, we need to defend our kingdom. Nester has a lot on his plate and needs my help, and I’d rather have Namaari with us, with her brothers to protect her. I know she can handle herself, but still..."

I mind-link my brothers, "s**t, Nikolaj can’t take our mate away. We need to tell him."

Kaynim mind-links back, telling me to calm down.

I respond sarcastically, "Easy for you to say. You haven’t formed a close bond with Namaari yet."

Kaynim responds with some frustration, "She’s still my mate too. I just want to focus on the bigger problems first. Maybe it’s good if Namaari leaves for a while so you two can finally think clearly."

Zyméo shoots back, "Without her presence, I can’t think clearly at all."

I add, "Zyméo means he’s f****d her and now he can’t go without her pussy."

Kaynim’s mouth falls open, and he glares at Zyméo. Zyméo smirks back at him.

Kaynim stands up and says, "On second thought, I’m going to bed. It’s been a busy day. We'll have a drink together tomorrow and catch up some more.”

Nikolaj also stands and says, "Okay, maybe we should all get some rest.”

Zyméo and I stand up too. Just then, we notice something moving down the hallway.

Kaynim says, "What the hell is that? I didn’t know we had a rat problem in our packhouse."

Nikolaj bursts into laughter and says, "That’s not a rat, that’s Zephyr, Namaari’s ferret."

Kaynim murmurs under his breath, almost inaudible, “Zephyr... her so-called boyfriend. Stupid me.”

I blink in surprise. "A ferret? I didn’t know she had a pet. It’s unusual for werewolves to have pets, let alone a ferret."

Nikolaj raises an eyebrow, "You didn’t know? Namaari’s had Zephyr for ages."

Zyméo crosses his arms and says, "I saw the ferret yesterday for the first time."

I mind-link Zyméo playfully, "And that’s not the only first you’ve had recently."

Zyméo rolls his eyes at me.

Nikolaj continues, "Well, let me warn you, Zephyr is not just any ferret. He’s a troublemaker and Namaari’s best friend."

Kaynim comments dryly, "Another troublemaker, just what we needed."

At that moment, we see Zephyr dart past the doorway again, dragging a bag of chips across the floor. Nikolaj laughs again and says, "And you better keep your snacks well hidden."

Nikolaj heads down the hall with me and my brothers following behind. We watch as Zephyr drags the bag of chips up the stairs. Nikolaj calls out, "You'd better not snack this late, Zephyr. Go get some sleep in Namaari's bedroom.” Zephyr chirps in response and continues with his task.

Zyméo asks, "Do you actually talk to that animal? It seems like he doesn't understand what you're saying, he just carries on."

Nikolaj responds, "Zephyr is much smarter than you think. He just has a mind of his own."

We reach the first floor, but Zephyr continues up another flight of stairs. Nikolaj asks, "Why is Zephyr heading to your floor? Namaari’s room is on this floor."

I exchange a quick, panicked look with my brothers.

I quickly think of an excuse and say, "We didn’t want Namaari sleeping alone on this floor. If something happened in the middle of the night, she’d have to come upstairs. So, we gave her the guest room on our floor."

We wait anxiously for Nikolaj's response. After a moment, he says calmly, "Okay, I’m really glad you’re taking good care of her. But I’ll ask her to move back to this floor tomorrow. I don’t want her bothering you guys too much."

Zyméo quickly adds, "Oh, but it's no trouble. You don’t need to make her move all her stuff again. Let’s just leave it as it is."

Nikolaj smiles and says, "Alright. Goodnight, bros. See you tomorrow."

We all say goodnight, and as we head upstairs, I whisper, "That was close."

Kaynim sighs and says, "This whole mate thing is giving me a headache."

I nudge him lightly on the shoulder. "Bro, you’ve just gone too long without s*x. Admit it, you’re craving Namaari, and that’s why you have a headache."

Zyméo chimes in, "Yeah, maybe you should try being nicer to her. You always go on the attack when she says something."

Kaynim snaps back, "So does she!"

Zyméo laughs, "Well, at least you two have something in common."

Kaynim grumbles in frustration. I pat him on the shoulder and say with a laugh, "Goodnight, big brother."

My brothers each go into their bedrooms, and just as I'm about to enter mine, I find myself continuing down the hall toward Namaari's room. The door is slightly ajar, probably from Zephyr slipping inside. As I get closer, I hear Namaari's voice. I step in quietly and see her sprawled out on her bed, her head hanging off the edge, wearing an oversized T-shirt as a makeshift nightgown. Zephyr is next to her, munching on chips.

Namaari turns her head slightly and asks innocently, "Hey Tazzym, is there something you need?"

I smile, kneel beside her, and kiss her. "Not anymore, I just wanted to give you a goodnight kiss."

She sits up on the bed and says, "I appreciate it, but with my brother here, you have to be careful. If you're here for too long, he'll smell your scent in my room in the morning. How am I supposed to explain that?"

I sit next to her, gently rubbing her back. "Baby, when are we going to tell your brother that we are mates? He mentioned you’re leaving on Friday. I really don’t want you to go."

She looks shocked and says she knows nothing about leaving. "I’m training with my brother tomorrow, and I’ll try to find a good moment to tell him. We can figure it out from there."

I nod, then say, "Well, beautiful, time to sleep." I tuck her in and then ask, "And what about your pet?" noticing Zephyr still perched at the end of the bed, devouring chips.

Namaari giggles. "Never come between Zeph and his snacks. He’ll settle in next to me later."

I stroke her cheek and say, "I love it when you laugh. And your ferret is a lucky bastard, getting to sleep with you all night." I grin.

She laughs even more and says, "Yep, Zeph will always be my number one. Learn to live with it."

I respond, "It hurts al little it’s not me, but I'm glad a ferret is your number one instead of some random guy. I can live with that. Anything that makes you happy, Namaari."

I kiss her forehead and say goodnight, then leave the room and head back to mine, hoping that tomorrow she can tell Nikolaj about us being mates so we don’t have to keep sneaking around.