Chapter 25: Vulnerable
2596 Words
I held Anita’s hand, but as we left she started playing up and getting upset because she wanted to be carried or put in her special pushchair.
I felt ashamed as a mother to admit I got embarrassed pushing the pushchair because people would stare like I was some lazy mom with a bratty, lazy child, even though it was a special pushchair. It wasn’t just for sensory or routine reasons she liked the pushchair, she had hyper mobility too, so walking for long periods wasn’t always easy for her.
“Just bring the pushchair, what’s the problem?” Nick asked.
“People are the problem,” I mumbled.
“They can go f***k themselves, who cares what they think.”
I just looked at him, and he sighed, “where do you keep it?”
I pulled it out from under the stair cupboard and Anita climbed in happily. Nick took the pushchair from me and walked out, waiting for me to catch up. Elena held the buggy while Lucas held my hand, and we walked along to the restaurant as it wasn’t very far.
We were halfway there when a lady and her boyfriend stared at us with the pushchair. I tried to ignore the smirks they gave one another and the whispers.
Being werewolves, we could hear them saying horrible things about Anita, and I was surprised by Nicks anger, as if she were his own child. “What the f***k are you staring at and whispering about?” He asked coldly.
“Nothing,” the girl smirked.
Nick walked up to her and got in her face threateningly. “Then wipe that f.ucking smirk off your ugly c.unt face.”
Suddenly, she wasn’t so tough and her eyes watered. Her boyfriend squared up to Nick and snapped, “leave my f.ucking girlfriend alone.”
“No, I won’t until you both apologize.”
“For what? The fact you have a spoiled kid because you don’t know how to discipline?”
Nick stayed calm and as cold as ice when he snarled, “no, you f.ucking apologize for being vile c.unts and taking the p.iss out of a disabled child because you think you know everything.”
I saw their faces drop when they realized Anita wasn’t just some naughty child, but the boyfriend refused to back down. His girlfriend did the right thing though and said, “I’m sorry, I didn’t know.”
“Don’t f.ucking apologize when his being a rude d.ick,” the boyfriend snapped. Nick was clearly done with him because he told me to take the kids away and when they couldn’t see, Nick punched the guy in the face, making him crash to the floor and hold his now broken nose.
He walked back over to us calmly and said, “come on.”
In some ways, he was like Jax, protective and quick to become violent, but whereas Jax was hot-tempered and fiery, Nick was very cold and emotionless and calm, everything was cold and calculated.
We enjoyed our meal in peace and I relaxed even when some people looked over when Anita flapped her hands. I knew we were safe with Nick beside us.
I felt safe with my mates’ too, it was usually when I was alone I struggled with anxiety and fear, I hated confrontation because I was terrible at arguing, I’d always walk away thinking damn, I should have said that and suddenly all these amazing comebacks would fill my head, but by then it was too late. Fenris was the least likely to turn to violence, but he was incredibly good at arguing and always had them backing down and feeling stupid after, so it never got to the violence stage with him.
“How did you know about Anita?” I asked Nick over our food.
“She has autism, right?” He asked.
I nodded, and he said, “my mate was autistic, it was mild when we met, but she mentioned when she was younger doing similar things with the hands, and sometimes she still would at home with me.”
Elena asked, “you have a mate too!”
I looked at Nick worried he’d get mad talking about it, but he smiled at her and said, “I did, yes.”
“Did? You aren’t friends anymore?”
“We will always be friends, but she had to go to heaven.”
Elena was like me with her sensitive heart and a romantic like her daddy. She put her hand on Nicks and said, “it’s ok, you’ll see her again one day, and you can find another mate to love you until then.”
Her words made me almost cry, she’d never said something so sweet and grown up before.
He smiled at her while keeping his face unreadable and then, like our lovely children so often do, she turned it awkward by saying, “mommy could be your mate and love you, but you’d have to share her with our daddies because they are her mates too.”
I blushed so damn hard when Nicks eyes met mine. He looked back to Elena and said, “you wouldn’t want me intruding, I’ll eat all your sweets and treats, you wouldn’t want to share them.”
Elena giggled, but both her and Lucas said, “yes we would!” Lucas added, “because you’re cool!” And Elena added, “I’ll share my treats with you, they will make you feel better because your heart hurts.”
I had no idea she could be that deep and even Nick looked surprised at her words, he grew unreadable again and said, “my heart doesn’t hurt sweetie.”
“Yes it does!”
“Hmm, ok, maybe it does a little bit.”
His words hurt my heart, under all that cold cruelty was a man in pain and I wanted to hug it all better for him.
“What was your mate’s name?” Elena asked.
“Ok, enough questions, I’m sure Nick wants to eat,” I said.
He looked at me and said, “it’s alright,” looking back to Elena, he smiled and said, “her name was Ruby.”
The name was familiar, and then I remembered the name he had been moaning in the shower when touching himself. It was his true mate’s name.
“When did she die?” Lucas asked.
“Oh my God! Lucas! Don’t be so rude,” I scolded and gave Nick an apologetic look.
“It’s ok, Rose. She passed away with my daughter about five years ago.”
“You had a daughter!” Elena asked. He nodded, and she asked, “how old, was she little like me?”
“Yes, she was a little bit older, she was ten.”
I could see on her face she was going to ask how they died, and I quickly pulled out the dessert menu to distract them. I didn’t want to push Nick over the edge.
We took them to the park after and while they played, Nick pushed Anita on the swing as that’s the only thing she loved in the park. He was very hands-on and helpful for such a cold and brutal killer, I’d almost forgotten he was a wanted serial killer.
I went over to him and whispered, “shouldn’t you stay low? You’re a wanted criminal.”
He smirked, “it’s fine, I’ve been going around undetected for years, I know what I’m doing. Even if they see me, they’ve yet to catch me.”
“Pfft, I caught you.”
“Yeah, well, I was distracted by our bond.”
“Lame excuse.”
“Not an excuse, it’s true, I caught your scent as I was about to jump the wall, and it almost made me lose control.”
“You seem to have it perfectly controlled, you’re like made of steel or something.”
“It startled me then because I wasn’t prepared, I didn’t know you were going to be there. After that, I somewhat adjusted to your scent, and it takes effort but I can control it.”
We went back to the pack house after, and I breathed a sigh of relief that I hadn’t gone into heat. Jax came over to us when we got in, and I remembered his little crush on Nick and blushed at the image of them kissing, I found the thought hot, two very dominant sexy males kissing.
They both looked at me, noticing I was acting bashful and weird and Jax asked, “what’s up with you?”
“Nothing!” I blushed harder and quickly walked away from them.
Jax took over with the kids, he had missed them and wanted to play with them, Pfft, I knew Jax well enough by now it wasn’t just that he missed them, it was because he genuinely had as much fun playing their silly games as they did. It was cute.
I sat down on the sofa because it was quiet, the pack members were probably out enjoying the sun as it was nice today. Nick joined me and I looked at him.
“What? I don’t know what else to do except follow you around like a f.ucking puppy. You guys won’t let me go.”
“My life is quite literally in your hands, so until we fix that I’d rather not risk going through that awful pain again and joining you in death.”
He was cold and unreadable, and he sat back against the sofa not saying anything else.
It was quiet for a long time before I asked, “how did they pass?”
He didn’t answer me at first, but finally, he said, “a group of skinwalkers killed them.”
I looked at him, and he said, “I told you they kill the victim they want to look like, the only small mercy was that they killed my daughter quickly, but they t.ortured Ruby, it was slow and violent. They tried skinning her alive, we got there when they were halfway through, there was no way she would survive, I couldn’t do it, so Joel had to shoot her in the head to stop her suffering. So now you know why I need to kill every one of those evil, vile creatures.”
I saw him clench his hand into a fist and I put mine on top, wanting to soothe him. What they went through was truly horrific, and it was a miracle Nick was still even functioning after witnessing such a thing. He looked cool and calm, but he gritted, “can you shift to your wolf?”
I knew he meant so I could help ease his suffering, I nodded and went to go shift. It still hurt like hell to change forms and I gritted my way through it. When I was done, I padded out to him, and he looked up at me. He lost the cold look for a second and a hint of a smile was on his lips. “Your wolf form is beautiful.”
I went over to him and nudged his hands that were resting over his legs. He moved them and I lay my head on his lap.
He was hesitant at first, but slowly he sat down on the floor and pulled me into his arms. I snuffled my nose against his neck and he held me tighter, breathing in my scent and stroking my fur.
I felt my fur grow wet and knew he was crying silently. A few minutes passed and my little omega perk kicked in. His tears stopped, and he slowly became calm and relaxed, no longer squeezing me quite so tightly.
Fenris came out of his office and walked over and saw us, he frowned In confusion, and then, feeling awkward, he turned around and left us alone.
I had never had Nick be so open or vulnerable with me before, certainly not when it came to us, he’d made it seem like he hated me and wanted nothing to do with me, so I was surprised when he pulled back from hugging me, and he looked me in the eyes.
“I think I know why you were made my second chance mate, when I’m near you like this the pain is almost gone, I can breathe when I’m near you and in your wolf form it’s even better, like I’m almost fully healed from my grief, you heal that broken part of me I think.”
I whined softly at him letting him know I was hearing him, and he said, “I know your mates’ will probably never want to share you with me, and I know we don’t exactly get along either, but I think I need you in my life Rose, I think I’ll always need you even if you can only offer me friendship.”
I licked his hand and went to go shift back so I could talk. When I was back, I said, “no matter what Nick, even if you hate me, I will always be your friend and be there for you, you don’t deserve to go through such pain and grief, I’ll give that comfort whenever you need it. You don’t have to stay with our pack, I know you don’t want that, so if you want to do your own thing and one day you feel like it’s too much, and you need support, just come knock on the door and I’ll help if I can.”
He looked emotional and choked on his words, “f***k, you are too good for me, I really don’t deserve you.”
“Pfft, don’t you hate me? I thought you said I’d never get your c***k or your seed?” I teased.
He laughed and surprising me again, pulled me in to his arms. “You won’t, and it won’t just be because I won’t let you, but also your mates,” he teased back.
I laughed, and he smiled, his gaze travelling over my face. He brushed a strand of my curly hair from my face, and leaning in, kissed me softly on the lips, a very chaste kiss that left me wanting more.
“Thank you for helping me,” he said and stepped back, letting me go. I almost whined, almost.
“That’s ok,” I blushed and looked to the floor.
He tilted my chin up to look me in the eyes and said, “I mean it, Rose, thank you for helping me, and thank you for being you.”
“Being me?” I laughed.
“Yes, you are so kind and patient, any other female would have b.itch slapped me and ran off a long time ago, maybe even stab me In the d.ick.”
I laughed, and growing more soft I said, “I’m glad I didn’t just assume the worst, I’ve learned a lot about you Nick, all that cold scary I will slit your throat vibe you have going on is hiding so much pain and actually quite a sweet and loving man with a big heart.”
“f***k off is it, don’t you dare tell anyone about this,” he grew cold and angry again, and I laughed, knowing now that some of it was just a mask.
“I won’t, your secret is safe with me.”
- Writer
