Moonlight Run

Thirty-One

Isa’s POV

My eyes met Nikolai’s on the mat as he crouched in front of me. 

“Don’t think I’ll go easy on you just because you’ve been gone,” he warned.

“You? Easy?” I raised my brow. “Never…”

When his body collided into mine, I threw my right shoulder into his chest, bringing the back of my elbow into his torso, hoping to land the hit hard. But he was quick to link his arm through the crook of my elbow, pinning my arm at the small of my back as he threw his weight behind me. 

I extended my left arm up behind me, claws out, hoping to catch hold of his neck. But he caught my other arm in his left hand, too, flattening me on the mat below his body with a deliberate grunt. “Never give your opponent your back,” he said into my ear. 

Nikolai released me from his hold and got to his feet. When I sat up on my knees again, he spoke once more, “Get on your hands and knees again.”

“What?” I asked, startled. I looked around the gym but everyone else was still busy with their grappling partner. “Nikolai, I—” 

He bent over, placing his hands on his knees as he brought his face towards mine.

“Isadora…” His tone was slightly minacious as he spoke again, “Get on your hands and knees, so I can show you how to maneuver your way out if someone takes your back.”

I exhaled hesitantly, staring up at him as I placed my palms on the mat before me. He nodded. 

“I’ve got a handful of escapes to show you,” he said, kneeling behind me and locking his arms around my waist. “For starters, always try to bring your arms up to your chest in an X if you think someone might be trying to put theirs around you, like I am now.” He released his hold around me. “Give it a try.” I sat back up on my knees and leaned forward, making the X across my chest. Then Nikolai put his arms around me over top of them, locking his hands together. 

“Alright, that’s good,” he said. “Now, even though you can see that I’ve got my hands pretty well locked together, I want you to try to break my hold by pushing your arms out from your body as hard as you can, okay?” I nodded. “Go.”

I pushed with the full force of my weight, but I was only met with resistance, and my back sunk deeper into Nikolai’s chest. “You almost had me,” he said, releasing the hold and sitting back onto his feet. “Now obviously, since I was prepared for it, it’s going to be a bit harder. But if you push like that against an opponent who’s not expecting it? They’ll end up on their ass behind you. And that’s when you get up and run, got it?”

“Run? Not turn around and fight?” I stood to my feet, crossing my arms in front of me.

“Not you, Isa… Not anymore.” He stood on his feet again and sighed as I met his words with a disappointed frown. “Everything I’m going to show you from now on will be focused more on defense. The fact is, you’re the smallest wolf here. You have a mean streak, sure. But when it comes down to it, any of these guys could overpower you even at your meanest. Being smaller than them means that your strength is your speed, Isa. Use that.”

He took a step towards me, putting a hand on the small of my back as he whispered in my ear. “Let’s be honest, if a fight comes to our door again, it’s probably coming for you.” I closed my eyes and exhaled, turning my head away from him. 

“Hey,” he ran his hand up the side of my arm. “I’m not trying to be cruel, Isa. I’m just trying to keep you safe.”

“I have to be able to fight, Nikolai. I can’t be made to stand on the sidelines like you did to me when you took the fight to Julius.”

He cringed. “That’s not fair. That was a rescue; and if anything, the fact you needed to be rescued precisely makes my point.”

I scoffed, stepping back from him. “Oh? Okay. Tell me how you really feel then.” I turned around, shaking my head, and picked up my backpack. 

“Isa!” He called after me. A few heads turned towards us now. “Isa, stop, please.”

I was almost to the gym doors when I felt it, “ISADORA, I SAID STOP.”

The entire training room went quiet, save for a few whispers from on-lookers, as I remained frozen in place. I could feel my hands trembling, and the tears building in the corner of my eyes.

He stepped in front of me, and I turned my head away from him. I’d never been so furious in my life as I could feel all eyes on the two of us. Nikolai put his thumb and index finger on my chin and turned it back to meet his foreboding expression. His eyes were the most icy shade of blue I’d seen yet. He didn’t release me from the compulsion or the hold as he shouted next.

“Everybody out, now. We’re done today.” 

Without so much as a word, each and every one of our training squad filed quickly out the gymnasium doors behind him. Only Pipa hesitated, stopping briefly at the door to flash me a worried look before Alvis urged her out the door.

As the metal door swung shut and the last of the footsteps disappeared, Nikolai stepped away and went back to the other side of the room, somewhere behind me. He still hadn’t released me from the compulsion and I felt glued to the ground.

I heard the familiar kind of heavy metal music that often came from the weightroom below begin to play over the gym’s speakers. I could hear him banging around behind me, but I didn’t know what he was doing. Finally, he reappeared in front of me, holding a metal folding chair in one hand, and a black and red cloth belt in his other hand.

He opened the folding chair, sliding it until it met the concrete wall a few feet in front of me. Then he dangled the belt in his hand. “Do you know what this is, Isadora?”

I sighed. “A martial arts belt?” I knew that on Tuesdays and Thursdays Nikolai and a few others hosted a martial arts class here in the gym. I didn’t know much about it, but I knew enough.

He nodded. “This is my jiu jitsu belt, Isadora. I have spent nearly twenty years earning this belt. And I have earned it because I happen to know what I’m doing. I lead this training class— which is like teaching f*****g kindergarten compared to what I teach in jiu jitsu — because I know what I’m doing. So when I’m giving you instructions in this class, regardless of our relationship, you could stand to show me just a bit more respect and trust that I know what the f**k I’m doing.”

The response came pouring out before I could stop myself, “If you’re so great, then why aren’t you holding a black belt?”

Nikolai set the belt on the chair and pulled me to his chest, and said through gritted teeth, “This belt is higher even than a black belt, Isadora.” I smirked back at him in reply, and he narrowed his eyes at me. “But you knew that, didn’t you?”

“Maybe.” I shrugged, watching him as he had stepped away from me again, taking the cloth belt back in his hands and disappearing from my view again. “But if swinging your d**k makes you feel better, Nikolai, then hey, knock yourself out. Because I don’t give a—”

I gasped as I felt the sudden sting against my backside. As the sting subsided, I opened my mouth, “Did you just—” A second sting followed and I let out a sound that was half whimper, half shriek. 

Nikolai came around into my view again, biting his lip, his ice-blue eyes fixated on me in a way I’d never seen before. My chest rose and fell as I worked to steady my breath, still shocked by what he had done. 

He tucked the belt into the hem of his athletic shorts and brought his face to my ear, his beard grazing against my cheek. “I want you on your hands and knees again, Isadora. But this time, you’re going to put your elbows up on the seat of that chair for me. Do you understand?”

I felt the compulsion fade away, and while I knew this next order was not a compulsion, I nevertheless understood that I should listen. Without saying a word, I went to the chair and dropped to my knees, rising up off of my feet, my back outstretched towards him, as I rested my elbows and upper body on the cold metal seat. 

“You might want to hold onto the back of the chair,” he advised. I inhaled deeply as I wrapped my fingers around each side of the metal supports, closing my eyes and bracing myself for the sting of the next blow. 

But it didn’t come.

Instead, I felt Nikolai’s fingers hook into either side of the waistband of my leggings and underwear together, and give a swift tug. I gasped as I heard the sound of ripping fabric, feeling what remained of the pieces fall around my knees on the mat below.

“Nikolai! This isn’t—”

Another sting, and my shriek echoed throughout the gym.

His palm found his way to where the belt had met my bare skin and he massaged the area tenderly, making shushing sounds as he did. His hand went to my other cheek now, and he gave a few light smacks before he pulled his hand away. Then the belt came down with a crack on that side, too.

This time I was very aware that the sound that came out of me was more of a moan than a scream, and I was momentarily mortified. I was relieved when I saw the belt land a few feet beside me, knowing he had tossed it. Nikolai then began to pull my workout tank over my head, but paused when he got the tank up around my forearms, and then he twisted the fabric in his hands, and lowered my arms behind my back again. I gasped when I realized they were pinned now, trapped in my own shirt.

“And this,” he said. “Is why we don’t wear loose fabric. It gives your opponent something to grab onto.” He chucked as he leaned across my back, saying quietly in my ear, “Which reminds me, I should probably teach you how to do a t-shirt choke… I guess that’s a lesson for another day.”

He stood up behind me and I yelped as his right hand came down on my bottom again. This time he followed with a series of small playful smacks after, or at least they felt playful compared to the earlier blows. And he groaned behind me. “God, I love the way your ass feels in my hands.”

For a few minutes more he continued this way; slapping hard, massaging or rubbing in between, maybe a few lighter taps again before another hard smack against my bare skin. I was shaking now, moaning and squealing as he switched it up on me.

Finally, he bent over me again, his breath hot on my ear again. “Have we learned our lesson yet, little wolf?”

“Yes,” was all I could breathe out. 

I felt his left hand release my arm, taking my tank top with it. But I couldn’t move from my place folded over the chair, terrified to see the damage he’d committed to my underwear and leggings when he’d removed them.I felt my face go red as I wondered what I would wear home. I pushed myself from the chair and sat back on my heels with a wince… realizing my behind still stung. 

I listened for Nikolai and I realized he’d gone down to the weight room on the lower level, as I heard him coming back up the stairs. He set a duffle bag down beside me and crouched next to it, unzipping it and removing a pair of sweat pants and a hooded sweater. When he offered the items to me, I looked down at my hands in my bare lap, afraid to meet his gaze.

“Isa,” he said softly, his tone returned to normal as he held the clothes out. He sighed when I wouldn’t look at him. “Let me help you up,” he offered, reaching out his hand. About thirty seconds passed before he realized I wasn’t going to take it and he grunted in frustration. “Okay, we don’t have time for this. So.”

In one fluid motion, he lifted me with ease over his shoulder. I screeched “You motherfucker!” and his opposite hand found its way onto my red bottom again. He ignored me after that, as I continued to hurl obscenities at him, stuffing the clothes back in the duffle bag, before he threw it over his other shoulder. It wasn’t until we were at the bottom of the stairwell that I noticed he had carried me down to the empty weight room. He kept going into the men’s locker room, where he dropped the duffle on a bench, and then continued carrying me… to the showers at the back. 

Nikolai held me firmly in place, but I continued to struggle against him anyway, not realizing he’d turned the water on until he finally removed me from his shoulder and set me down in the corner of the shower. As I stood to my feet in protest, lukewarm water began pelting me. He was aiming the handheld sprayer towards me, yelling, “Knock it off already!”

He turned the sprayer down towards my feet and I finally met his eyes. I was suddenly very aware that I had little more than a bra on and a pair of socks and sneakers, since my tank top had been removed, and what remained of my leggings and underwear still hung in shreds at my ankles.

And then he started laughing. “You look so mad right now.”

“Are you kidding?!” I fumed. “I am f*****g mad!”

“Why, sweetheart, because I spanked you?” He still laughed as he said the words and it only intensified my rage.

“You humiliated me! You compelled me in front of pretty much every single person that we know, and it was embarrassing. Then you double down by spanking me? And yes, sweetheart, I am mad that you spanked me—”

“Isa,” he said calmly.

“And not because you spanked me, I actually think I could be kind of into that —”

“Isa,” his tone was like a warning now.

“But no, Nikolai, you ruined it when you decided to spank me, not for fun, but like I was your f*****g child who had disobeyed you.”

“Isadora, that’s enough!” he said, spraying me again with the now warmer water.

I shrieked in place and he sighed, letting the handheld sprayer fall from his grip. He took a step towards me.

“Don’t f*****g touch me!” I said, my palms up defensively.

He frowned, and crouched down beside me, taking my foot in his hand. I glared at him as he removed each of my shoes and socks, and then peeled away the remnants of my bottoms. His eyes bore into mine as he stood outside the shower, but then he turned and disappeared quietly. I realized after he’d left that I still had my bra on, so I removed that, too; tossing it through the gap between the ceiling and shower curtain. 

I put the handheld sprayer back in its place, and adjusted the water temperature to my liking and stood under the shower head, letting my forehead rest against the cool concrete wall while the hot water ran down my back. Several minutes passed before I heard Nikolai’s voice again. 

“Isa, I’m going to go now,” he said simply. 

“There’s a duffle bag here with a change of clothes for you. I’ve brought your bag down, too. And I’ve texted Pipa and let her know she can pick you up in about twenty minutes so you can get your grocery shopping done.” He paused. “I’ll have a key under one of the potted plants in front of your door when you get home, if you decide to sleep at the apartment tonight.”

I didn’t say anything, I was caught off guard by the coldness of his voice.

A moment of silence passed before I could work up the courage to speak and I shut the water off, sliding back the curtain, expecting to still see him there.

But Nikolai was gone.

***

Nikolai’s POV

I sat on Dimitri’s back porch that evening as the boys and I passed around a fifth of Jager. I was taking mine with RedBull, which was always a dangerous combination. 

It was Valric who mentioned her first, “Are you still gonna make sure you’re with her at midnight, man?”

I scoffed. “Why bother? It won’t matter now. I blew it today.”

He frowned. “C’mon man, it can’t be that bad.”

Phoebe came out the screen door, holding her cell phone in her hands.

“Hey babe,” Dimitri said. “Those perogies done yet?”

“No,” she snapped. “It’s gonna be a bit.” Her nostrils flared as she looked away from him to me, shaking her head. “And you? You don’t get any.”

The screen door slammed behind her and Valric turned to me with a bewildered expression on his face. But it was Dimitri who said what was on everyone else’s mind, “Dude, what the hell did you do?”

I sighed as my friends waited expectantly for a response.

"Well, fuck.”

***

“You’ve got to go fix this.” Valric said. “Like, now.”

I ran both hands down my face and groaned. “I don’t even know where to begin,” I admitted.

“Niko, you’ve got like 5 hours until midnight. So maybe begin with the words ‘I’m sorry’ or she’s liable to reject you.”

“Flowers?” Cyrano suggested. “Nothing says I love you like a thoughtful arrangement of dead pretty s**t, right?”

I cringed at his words, and Dimitri laughed. “Oh my god— You haven’t told her that you love her yet, have you?” I clenched my jaw in response. “Jesus, Nikolai. Don’t let her turn twenty-one tonight and have to forever wonder if your feelings for her exist only because she’s your mate.”

He frowned. “Take it from me. It’s really hard being in a relationship that’s based on hypotheticals like that.”

“How do you mean?” I asked.

“Man, Phoebe starts on this s**t like at least once a month, ‘You were with someone else when we met, and now I’ll always wonder if you could have loved her more’, or ‘You only love me because I’m your mate, I don’t even think you like me’ kind of comments. Save yourself that headache, brother. Go find Isa, and tell her how you feel, now, before she spends the rest of her life questioning it.”

I bit my lip, hesitating. “Yeah, but I started feeling this way weeks ago… What if it was just me picking up on our bond before she could?”

Valric chuckled. “Niko, I know you like playing Bob the Builder and all, but no man puts the kind of time and effort into anything like you have put over the last week into everything — unless he is either crazy, or in love.”

“He might still be crazy,” Dimitri said with a shrug. “But yeah, Val’s right. Pretty sure we can all see that you’re in love.”

“And that doesn’t bother you?” I raised a suspicious brow at him.

“We’ll beat his ass if it does,” Cyrano said. Dimitri shot a glare in his direction. “Kidding, mostly.”

Val looked back at me, nodding dramatically. “Okay, now this is where you get in your car and go get your girl.”