My Alpha Biker Mate

CHAPTER 43

CHAPTER 43

NOVA'S POV

I can't even explain how I managed to fall asleep. But by the time I wake up, it's starting to get dark, and one of my fingers is resting against the ancient wall. It feels like I’m being cradled to sleep.

I manage to pull myself up, and my legs wobble slightly.

“Steady,” a voice says, and I nod.

Great.

I’m hearing voices as well. I sniffle immediately. This isn’t the life I want to live.

Either way, I close my eyes, trying to ignore the dull ache in my chest.

I’m just glad that even if I see Cassian at this point, he won’t be able to know anything. My feet are still fully in my shoes.

The birds chirp as I head out of the ancient room. I feel slightly lighter. Just as I get out of the forest, I see a figure standing there, with his hands folded across his chest.

Killian.

“What are you doing?” he asks, and I look away.

“It’s none of your business. I hope you haven’t been around Cassian.”

I walk past him, and he hurries to fall into step with me. “You know what?” he asks. “It’s cute how the both of you keep fighting for each other.”

I turn to look at him, squinting my eyes at him. “Isn’t that how it’s supposed to be?” I ask, and he looks away. “Too bad you don’t have it good.”

I try to increase my pace, but he has longer legs than Cassian.

At some point, I don’t even bother walking faster than I can. I slow my pace. I just want answers. I’m not going to run away from Killian.

And then, I feel him in my skin. It’s a feeling that’s hard to ignore.

My knees buckle, and Killian immediately wraps a hand around my waist. I move away from him.

“What are you doing?” I ask, and he smiles.

“Saving my sister-in-law. Is there anything bad in it?”

I shake my head, huffing as I keep walking. I can still feel his eyes on me.

He is looking at me from head to toe, like he is trying to study me. Enough for me to feel the heat on my skin.

“You don’t know who you are, do you?” he asks, and I feel myself pause in my tracks.

We are back to the pack now, and I can see the other pack members watching us.

They are either going to tell Cassian something, or they are just going to keep whispering. I genuinely don’t care.

I have had people whisper all my life. Whatever they are going to do isn’t going to bother me. It isn’t the first time people talk about me anyway.

It is nothing new.

“I know that I’m Nova,” I say. “That’s enough.”

Killian narrows his eyes at me, and for the first time, I see him look serious.

“You’re more than that,” he says, looking at me from head to toe again. “You can’t tell me you don’t know that.”

At that point, I want to pour out all my frustrations. I want to tell him everything about the way I meet Cassian. Thankfully, I am quick enough to bite my tongue. He doesn’t have to know everything.

But he is right. I don’t know exactly what I am. I only know about some kind of old prophecy. But that is all there is to it.

What more is there to find out? What more is being hidden? If I am not careful, I am never going to find out. And I want to find out so badly. Because I hate not knowing where I stand.

Killian seems to know this. And he is taking complete advantage of it. If I let myself think about it, there is no way I am not going back to my room with a headache.

Killian steps closer, and I don’t step away. “You know, I can help you find out.”

His tone is insinuating something else. The word “no” is stuck at the bottom of my throat.

But I can’t bring it out.

I feel the energy shift, and by the time I look away, Cassian is walking towards the both of us, with his hands at his sides. He looks between us, and his expression is unreadable.

He simply walks towards us, taking my hand in his, and pulling me away.

The moment he touches me, I feel the fury underneath his skin. The way his touch burns my skin. The way his heart is beating fast. The way his throat tightens.

I feel it all. And it is hard to ignore. It is hard to push off as nothing.

“Cassian,” I whisper, but he is still pulling me along, making sure to keep me close to him. His grip on my hand is tight, but not tight enough to hurt me.

I whisper his name again, and he still pulls me along. That is the moment when I yank my hand away, looking at him.

He pauses in his tracks, before slowly turning to look at me. I am breathing hard now, and he c***s an eyebrow.

“Really?” he asks, and I take a step back. In the past month that I have stayed with him, I am so sure that I have never seen him like this. And now that I am looking at him, I don’t even know what exactly I am looking at.

“I’m not something that you get to drag. I’m not your rag doll,” I snap, and I am sure as hell that it is something else speaking through me. But even my body language is giving me away.

It is there in the way my hands are balled into fists. The way I am more than willing to take a step away from him.

I can see the hurt flash for just a second on Cassian’s face, but he quickly recomposes himself, before c*****g his head to the side, just like his brother.

The both of them are alike in ways that they wouldn’t want to agree. But I can see it right through them. It is hard to ignore the fact. They are almost unbreakable.

There is this strained bond that I can see between the both of them. It is strained, but it is there.

He reaches out for me again, wrapping his hands around my wrists. But this time, he doesn’t do it to make me look stupid, or to prove that he can drag me around.

He pulls me towards him, pulling me so close that I can feel the breath and heat coming from him.

Something in me stirs as I get a whiff of his scent. In a good way. This definitely isn’t the time for that.

Cassian’s pupils dilate, like he can feel it as well, but the both of us aren’t willing to talk about it.

“Of course you’re not a rag doll. I wouldn’t even let you become that. You’re something I protect. And I don’t want to change that.”