Moonlight Run

Thirty-Two

Isa’s POV

Pipa and I had just finished putting away the last of my groceries in the small apartment kitchen.

“You’re really going to stay here?” She asked with a sigh. I gave a short nod. “I wish you’d just move back into the pack house. God knows, I could use the help with Carina.”

I felt a pang of guilt come over me. “I haven’t even seen her since I came back.”

“She’s not taking it personally, if that’s what you’re worried about. She knows you’ve got a lot going on.”

I shook my head. “I should still be there for my little sister.”

“Hey,” Pipa reached over and squeezed my hand. “Be there for you right now, okay? Just get through this Analyst ordeal and let’s get Julius out of our hair… Hopefully, then we can all move on with our lives.”

I cringed, pulling out my phone. “The Analyst arrives from the council today.”

“I’m sure Phineas will link you if he wants you to meet with her before tomorrow.” Pipa held up the remove to my new tv in her hands. “Does this thing have netflix on it yet?”

I shook my head. “I couldn’t remember your login.”

She tutted at me as she made her way over to my green sofa and took a seat. I began to round up all the paper bags from our grocery trip and asked, “Alvis alright with you staying here tonight?”

“I told him we needed a girls night,” she said. “He’ll survive one night without getting laid.”

I froze in place as I stuffed the paper bags under the sink. “Wait, you guys have already…”

I heard Pipa laugh from the living room. “Girl, we didn’t even manage to leave Julius’ compound before we sealed that deal.”

“I guess I just thought you’d wait until you marked him, too?” I said as I went around the sofa to spread out on the chaise at the other end.

“Oh. We kind of took care of that last night, too.” She bit her lip, staring at the TV as the login screen faded away and the titles appeared.

My jaw dropped. “Pipa… What about the Singularity?”

Before we were mated, our heat cycles would come every three months over the full-moon. Once marked, however, we experienced a one-time heat cycle a few short days later, regardless of the moon’s phase. It was commonly referred to as the Singularity— and it was believed to have been an evolutionary measure that was meant to bring the newly marked couples together and further our next line quickly.

To avoid going through two separate heat cycles, many new couples would carefully plan to complete their marking a day or two before the she-wolf’s next scheduled heat cycle. When this happened, the heat cycle would just last an extra night. Pipa was due to go into heat in a few weeks when the next full-moon came, so I was blindsided by the fact that she would want to go through that twice.

She frowned at me. “So, what? Oh no, now I have to spend two separate nights getting railed until I can’t see straight. Sounds like torture.”

“You say that until you get pregnant.” I replied.

“That’s the promise of Nightfall,” she said with a laugh. “Isn’t it?”

I rolled my eyes as she quoted the scripture, biting my lip. She tossed a throw pillow at me. “What’s the matter, babe?”

I held my phone up to see the clock’s numbers. It was nearly 7:30. “Just nervous about tomorrow,” I said. “The Analyst… whatever this weird s**t is that’s in my blood…”

“Nikolai,” she said.

I scoffed. “f**k Nikolai.”

“No, I mean, he’s here,” Pipa said.

I looked up from my phone to the window across from us, which faced the front of the farmhouse porch. Nikolai went striding past in the direction of his separate entrance. My shoulders fell as he disappeared and I heard Pipa sigh.

“You sure you don’t want to move back to the packhouse?”

***

Nikolai’s POV

When I pulled up to the farmhouse I groaned. Pipa’s car was still there. I’d hoped she’d have left by now so that I could speak with Isadora alone. Now I supposed I would have to wait. I grabbed my duffle bag out of the car and crossed the porch to my door, stepping into the living room.

I tossed my duffle on the couch and I began to pick up the empty popcorn bag and the case of beer that had been left out last night, and I was fine enough until I got to the kitchen counter… where two empty coffee mugs sat beside my sink. Dammit.

As I washed them out I could hear laughter coming through the wall adjacent… where Isadora’s kitchen and living room met the divide in the home. Her laugh sounded particularly melodic tonight and I turned the water off at the sink to listen.

“No, no! Pipa, that’s too much!” She laughed.

“This is where the line is, Isa. That’s where you fill it!”

My eyes went wide as I heard her say, “I can’t swallow all of that!”

And then I exhaled as Pipa replied, “Quit being a little b***h and take the shot!”

So they were taking birthday shots, lovely.

I turned the water back on and continued washing the other dishes in my sink, trying to put the sounds from my mind. Once finished, an idea occurred to me.

I made my way over to my television, which I’d added a soundbar and surround system to upon installation. I turned on Spotify and hit shuffle as I turned the volume up a few notches. The music very quickly worked to drown out the noise from the other side of the wall, and I let it continue to play as I descended into the basement level.

When I reached my bedroom, I stopped short as I saw the black leather belt that still sat on the bed where I’d left it this morning. I shook my head as I picked it up and put it back in my closet, trying to put the fresh vision of Isadora’s bare bottom as it was bent over before me earlier today into the farthest depths of my mind. It wouldn’t do any good, and I could feel the growing uncomfortability between my legs as I exhaled.

I thought that perhaps a shower would help. But when I opened the bathroom door and looked into the marble shower stall, I cringed, recalling the way she looked at me in anger and disappointment in the locker room showers today.

‘Great,’ I thought. ‘Now you have a hard on you can’t get rid of, and you f*****g hate yourself.’

***

Isa’s POV

“Ugh,” Pipa rolled her eyes as Nikolai’s music continued to blast from next door. “That numetal bullshit is obnoxious.”

I shrugged, taking a sip from the wine cooler I held in my hands. “It’s not the worst.”

Pipa went to the wall near the stairs and said, “Probably wouldn’t be so bad if it WASNT SO f*****g LOUD!” She slammed her fist loudly against the fresh wall and I gasped as her hand went through it.

“s**t, Pipa!” I covered my mouth in shock as Pipa pulled her fist back, laughing.

“It’s not funny. He’s going to kill me!” I set the bottle down on the kitchen island and crossed the room to examine the damage.

“At least it didn’t go through to the otherside of the wall?” She gritted her teeth with a shrug.

I sighed and turned towards the door. “I have to go tell him.”

Pipa grabbed my arm, yanking back me abruptly. “No, no you don’t. We can fix this.” She said, appraising the hole once more. “We’ll run to a hardware store tomorrow, or even on Wednesday if you’re busy with the Analyst stuff.”

I frowned at her skeptically.

“A little drywall putty and a spatula? We can do this.” She nodded reassuringly.

I shook my head back at her, returning to my malt liquor drink on the island. “Line me up another shot,” I said. “I’m gonna need something stronger than this crap.”

***

Nikolai’s POV

I stepped out of the shower and wrapped a towel around my waist before I made my way over to my closet, with plans to set out my suit and shirt for tomorrow. I found my suit and tie, but the white dress shirt I was looking for wasn’t there… Then I remembered I’d left it in a basket at Isadora’s… along with every pair of clean boxer briefs I had.

I let out a groan as I browsed my drawers for a pair of sweats I could throw on, settling on a pair of black drawstring joggers. I stopped at the basement cooler, remembering something I’d had stashed there several days before. I took the six pack into my hands and grabbed a tall boy of Sierra Nevada for myself.

As I was making my way up the basement stairs, I heard a large thud come from the living room. My music was still going loudly, so I knew whatever the girls were up to next door was getting a bit rowdy. I turned the music down with a frown and cracked open the beer, sure that I was going to need it to take the edge off before I went over there to get my laundry back. I crushed the empty can in my fist and tossed it on the coffee table before I stepped out of my front door.

***

Isa’s POV

Pipa and I were on our third round of shots when she said, “Hey, did you hear that? I think your landlord has finally turned his trash music down.”

We both laughed and she took her phone out. “It’s after nine already? Damn. Whatever, time to jam!”

She threw on a somewhat familiar pop song from the early 2000’s and took my hand, leading me to the space in front of the couch. We danced and sang along together for a couple minutes more before we were interrupted by a series of short loud knocks on my apartment door.

“Oh, Jesus.” She rolled her eyes. “You stay. I’ll tell him to leave.”

“Pipa, don’t!” I stepped towards her as she pulled the door open.

Nikolai stood in the doorway, wet hair pushed back from his face, water droplets glistening around his shoulders and neck… very shirtless. He looked less than pleased to see Pipa had answered the door.

Pipa took a nervous step back but recovered as she straightened up and crossed her arms. “What do you want?” She demanded.

He tried to look past her at me, but she side-stepped him. “I said, what do you want, Nikolai?”

“I need my laundry.” He replied simply.

Pipa turned to me and glared, “He has laundry here?”

“He doesn’t have machines hooked up at his place yet…” I said defensively, crossing my arms back at her.

She narrowed her eyes back on Nikolai. “You, stay. I’ll get your damn laundry.”

As Pipa disappeared back into the kitchen, I bit my lip, looking down at my feet. But I could feel his gaze on me now. I sighed as I tried to look everywhere else around the room, except at him, but there wasn’t much else to look at in the minimally furnished space.

“What the f**k?” He said, stepping to his right, looking past me.

Shit.

“What did you do to my wall?” He asked, coming over towards me. I stepped aside as he examined the large hole in the freshly painted drywall.

“We were just knocking…” I said with a cringe. He glared at me, his jaw agape. “The music was loud, okay?”

“Then come knock on my door, Jesus. Don’t take it out on the house.”

“It wasn’t her,” Pipa said, coming around the back of the couch with his laundry. “Just thought you should know in case you get any ideas about smacking her around for it.”

Nikolai let out a frustrated sigh, and leaned his hand against the wall, tapping his fingers. He gritted his teeth as he replied, “I would hardly call that smacking her, Pipa.”

“Sure.” She dropped the basket and motioned to the door. “You can go now.”

He shot another look at me, his eyes pleading. “Isa, I just wanted to apologize, please.”

I opened my mouth to speak, but Pipa spoke for me. “You should’ve thought about that before you tried to make an example out of her in front of half the pack.”

“Pipa…” I cringed.

“No!” She said, looking back at him. “He needs to hear this.”

Pipa stepped towards Nikolai, her finger extended towards him accusingly. “You’re so stuck on making sure that everyone knows that no one — not even your mate, heaven forbid — gets to question you… Did you ever stop to think about the fact that if you’re right about her, then you’ve just disrespected your future Luna in front of half of her people, too.”

She dropped her finger now, inches from his face. “How are they supposed to respect her when you don’t?”

I sighed, knowing I didn’t have the energy to argue with her tonight… especially since there was a lot of truth to what she had said. Nikolai shook his head and walked past her, to where she had dropped the laundry basket, taking it in his arms and heading back towards the door.

“Hold on,” I said.

I went over to the bar stool at the kitchen island and took the duffle he had left me with a change of clothes from the back of the chair. I walked over to where he stood at the door. He had the laundry basket on his hip as he reached out his hand to take the duffle.

As I stood close to him now, I was overcome by the woodsy scent that I had picked up on him a few times before. My heart began to race, and I shoved the duffle at him, his hands brushing mine as he took it. I gasped when our hands touched, a cool sensation spread between us, and I took a step backwards.

“Isa?” Pipa asked with concern.

I glanced back at her before returning to look at Nikolai again. He had clenched his jaw tightly and took a step back from me towards the door, eyeing me unsurely.

“Did you feel that?” I asked him.

He nodded slowly, and I took a step towards him, extending my hand towards his upper arm. He watched cautiously as my fingertips swept over his biceps, and we both inhaled in surprise as the icy-cool feeling returned. This time when our eyes met, the familiar bright blue color had returned to his irises.

As I held his gaze, I felt an unexplainable wave of euphoria wash over me. When he gave a slight grin back, I knew he felt it, too.

Pipa gasped off to the side of us, and Nikolai dropped the laundry basket and duffle bag on the floor. He gave a short glance to Pipa as he said to her, “You need to leave.”

If she offered any protest, I couldn’t hear. Every other sound apart from Nikolai’s heartbeat, and his chest rising and falling with each breath, had faded into the background now. From my peripherals, I saw Pipa swipe her keys off of my ottoman, not even grabbing her overnight bag as she slid past the two of us and out the door.

Nikolai reached up and took my hand that was still resting on his arm, turning it curiously in his as the cool vibe continued to dance between our touch. The small smile in the corner of his lips grew as Pipa’s car pulled out of the driveway. Then he led me out of my apartment door by the hand, letting the screen door slam shut behind us.

***

Nikolai’s POV

I led Isadora off the porch and past the red metal garage behind the farmhouse.

“Where are we going?” she asked as I hurried to the treeline. “My legs are shorter than yours, you know.”

I stopped a few feet inside of the trees, letting her hand fall from my grip as I turned to face her, backing away.

“Nikolai, what are we doing out here?” she asked.

“I have something I want to show you,” I said, putting my thumbs under my waistline and stepping out of the sweatpants.

“Oh!” She quickly shielded her eyes and looked away. “Oh god, well, um… I’m glad you wanted to show me that… I think?”

I chuckled as I stepped towards her, pulling the fabric of her shirt in my hands. She looked up at me nervously, her lips trembling, and I sighed.

“Hey,” I let my left hand meet her cheek, the icy sparks reigniting as I lifted her face to mine. “You know I would never mean to hurt you, right?”

She pursed her lips, looking away from me. “Isa…” I said, sighing. “Earlier today, that was…” I bit my lip. “I was just trying—”

“To swing your d**k around?” Isa looked back at me, an eyebrow raised as her eyes quickly looked down before looking back up at me again.

I chuckled. “Yeah… I guess so.”

She put her hand over mine, the fabric of her shirt still clutched in my fist. “And what was the point of that?” she asked, as her finger tips sent sparks flying across the back of my hand.

I growled. “I guess I’d hoped that you’d think it was kind of… hot.”

“Mmhmm.” She nodded, smacking her lips. “You thought embarrassing me was hot?”

“You know that’s not the part I’m referring to.”

Isadora stepped away from me now, farther into the woods, letting my hand go. My head fell to the side with a sigh. “Isa…”

But then she gripped her shirt and pulled it over her head in one fluid motion, revealing a red bra underneath. I bit my lip and took a step towards her, but she held up her hand.

I inhaled deeply, watching her as she stepped out of her flip flops, and unbuttoned and unzipped the top of her denim shorts. She turned around, her back to me as she slid them down her legs, bending over to her ankles as she did. As I appraised her heart-shaped ass in a pair of matching red underwear, I felt the hardness in my groin grow as suddenly as my desperate want for her.

Not want— I realized, feeling the strange wave of vertigo again — need.

Before she could tease anymore, I made my move. I scooped Isadora up into my arms, carrying her deeper into the trees.

“Where are we going?” she asked as her hand stroked the back of my neck, sending the cool chills down my spine.

“It’s a surprise,” I said. “Close your eyes.”