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1106 Words
ROMY
I snapped my hand out of his hold. His grip hadn’t even been tight, but the thought of a man my father’s age…my new stepfather, touching me at all made my skin crawl. And he’d left his brand-new wife behind, on the dance floor, talking to his people like she’d been Luna her whole life.
“What is it, Alpha Nikolai? Did I do something wrong?” My tone was clipped, cold.
“You were about to walk out of your mother’s wedding party without so much as a sip of water,” he said. His voice was calm but heavy, his frozen expression tugging slightly as though he was trying to soften it. Trying and failing.
“And you’re too fixated on me, Alpha Nikolai. I’m not the one you’re marrying.” The sneer slipped out before I could stop it.
His brows lowered, that sharp cognac glint flashing in his eyes. A nerve twitched along his bearded jaw. And suddenly, I understood what omegas meant when they talked about being subdued by alpha dominance. The weight of it pressed against my chest, stealing my breath. A chill shot down my spine.
“Outside, now.”
He brushed past me then, not touching, but his presence alone nearly knocked me off my feet.
A dark smoke-like haze seeped from his body, his pheromones rolling thick in the air. I didn’t know if he meant to release them or if they bled out on their own, but they dragged every eye in the room toward us. Some shifted uncomfortably, noses wrinkling at the sheer strength of it.
Only alphas could see pheromones, and what I saw for the first time in my life actually left an impression.
Rubbing at my bare shoulder, I followed him quickly, ignoring the stares burning into me. Each one seemed to whisper the same question: What did you do to anger the Alpha?
He walked silently toward the garden just beyond the ceremonial hall, ignoring the guards who greeted him from their posts along the pathway. The moon hung high, its silver glow the only light in the beautiful yet unsettling garden. No guards lingered near the entrance, as if they knew to avoid it.
Under the moon, Nikolai looked like a god, his olive skin pale under the silver light, his black clothes making him look more like a mourner than a newlywed.
“Closer.”
I locked my teeth but stepped forward anyway, leaving space between us.
Nikolai exhaled, almost in defeat, and closed the distance himself.
After a moment of silence, he began,“I know you don’t like me, maybe even hate me, but in Moonclaw pack, showing resentment toward the Alpha so openly will only draw the wrong attention. Your mother wants you to feel safe here. Your behavior will make you a target.”
I shook my head and let out a dry laugh. “Don’t worry about me, Alpha Nikolai. I don’t need your protection. But I hear you. I’ll stop showing everyone that I hate you. Noted.”
“Romy.” He stepped in closer again, too close for comfort, but I refused to move back. “I’m not the enemy.” His hand lifted as if to touch me. My skin bristled, hair standing on end. He noticed because his hand fell to his side. “If you ever need anything, just let me know. I am—”
“You are not my father,” I cut him off, my voice sharp. “So please, Alpha Nikolai, stop trying to be. The only thing connecting us is my mother, and she seems to love you. Let’s not cross lines. I’ll contain my resentment toward you, and all I ask is that you stop trying.”
For the first time since meeting him, he smiled. His laugh came low and rich, almost… soothing, almost appealing to my ears. I shook that thought away fast. But then he did something that froze the air in my lungs.
He leaned down and pinched my cheek lightly, shaking it once. “You’re even more stubborn than he was.” Then he walked off, pausing at the entrance to glance back. “And no, Romy. Your mother isn’t the only thing connecting us. Try to eat something. You look pale.”
Ba-dump. My heart jolted back to life after skipping a beat. I dragged in a breath, realizing only then that I’d been holding it. What the hell was that?
And what did he mean by my mother wasn’t the only thing connecting us? I stood there for a while, trying to process, but no matter how hard I tried, it didn’t make sense. In the end, I went back to the party. My stomach grumbled, reminding me that I did, in fact, need to eat. Strangely, after that unsettling talk with Nikolai, I didn’t care anymore; I actually ate.
It felt as if Sergei had been waiting for the storm to pass, because the moment it did, he finally approached. He’d spent the entire night sneaking glances at me, and gradually, I let myself talk to him. Even when I caught Svetlana glaring at me from across the room, it didn’t ruin the night. For once, it didn’t feel so miserable.
The days that followed blurred together, mostly filled with paperwork and registration. Since school wasn’t in session, I had to continue from the grade I’d left before all the chaos began. For the first time in a long while, I even started to dream again.
But not even a month later, I finally understood what Nikolai meant when he said my mother wasn’t the only thing connecting us.
“I’m pregnant, Romy,” Mom said with a smile, her fingers tangled with mine.
My own smile faltered. “Pregnant by who?”
Her forehead creased deeply as she pulled her hand from mine. “Who do you think?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know. I didn’t get you pregnant.”
“Romy!” she snapped, glaring at me. “You don’t have to be rude just because you refuse to accept Nikolai as your stepfather. You’re getting a sibling. Isn’t that what you’ve always wanted?”
“By my father, not your ex that has been conveniently single and waiting for you to come back to him. God knows how long you’ve been in contact with him, for you to so easily start sleeping with him like you weren’t married two years ago—”
The sting came before I could finish. Her hand landed across my cheek with a sharp crack.
- Writer
