Anger of the Devil

18. Love and sorrow

The hallway was completely silent after Lena had left. Nadia could feel herself growing more and more anxious as she awaited Alex to do something, yet he just stood there while looking scarier than ever in his wolf form. 

    “Alex…”

The great, dark wolf turned and gave her a look that would frighten her if it wasn’t her brother looking at her. In fact, she was still a little frightened. 

    “Fine, but could you at least change back to your human form? I want to speak with you, and I don’t have your mind linking powers, remember? I just really need my big brother right now.”

Alex’ demeanor didn’t change, but he soon trotted away. However, not before he gave her a look that very clearly told her to stay right where she was. Nadia sighed deeply the moment he was out of sight. The whole ordeal was close to crashing down upon her, and she didn’t know how long it would be before she would start to sob like a toddler. She had effectively been the main reason that a cold hearted version of one of the strongest werewolves on the planet had escaped, and by doing so she had started a full on war between her father’s pack and Lena’s pack. And while people were concerned for her, everyone seemed to hate and blame Lena for her part of it, which made Nadia feel shameful. However, it had been hard for her to completely stand up for Lena. Nadia knew she herself had played a major part in their failed attempt to free Alpha Logan, but she couldn’t help feeling like she had been blindsided since Lena hadn’t told her of what had happened in California. Nathan… His name came to her mind as a single tear escaped. He was the biggest factor in her anxiety, and if he…

    “I’m actually surprised to see that you managed to stay in one spot. Those wolves that howled could be dangerous; isn’t that your thing now? Seeking danger.”

Alex was wearing some loose shorts as he walked down the hallway. His tone was cold and pointed as he looked at her with hard eyes and crossed arms. 

    “If you know that I seek out danger, then why don’t you believe that it was my idea to try to free Alpha Logan in the first place?”

    “Oh no, I believe that. There’s not a single doubt in my mind that you came up with this idea. But whereas you are new to this part of this world, Lena Ashwood isn’t. One, the woman has been fighting for her life before she was even born, and it increased tenfold when she was only thirteen and her parents were killed. Two, she’s a werewolf. I get that you have powers too, but you’ve known for a month or so. Where she has had years upon years to train, you’ve barely scratched the surface of what you can do. Three, she was never in danger of getting killed when it came to Logan Black. He may have been turned to this vicious version of himself, but he would still protect his mate, ‘cause the mate bond goes beyond human emotions. There were risks, Nadia, you both knew this, but she especially knew this, and those risks were not the same for you and her. However, you gave her the opportunity to free her mate, so she selfishly took advantage of that and pushed those risks away. You even said it yourself; she knew that something had happened in California, yet she didn’t tell us because she knew that you wouldn’t be able to help her. So yeah, you may have come up with this plan. She should have stopped it.”

Nadia couldn’t help but agree, but she still felt like it was wrong. 

    “I would have done the same, Alex. I would have done something reckless to protect the people that I love the same as she did. We believed that we could do this, it wasn’t a sacrifice.”

Alex huffed a sarcastic laugh as he looked away, shaking his head. 

    “You wouldn’t though. You are still protecting her, a woman you barely know, even though this woman threw someone you love to the wolves. Literally.”

Nadia opened her mouth to answer when she felt something stir in her stomach. She didn’t know what it was, but something was happening. She looked at Alex who suddenly looked alert. 

    “Get behind me. Someone is approaching us.”

Nadia did as she was told, yet something inside her wanted to go to this person. She heard the footsteps approach and suddenly stop. 

    “Nate?”

Her brother’s voice was unmistakably surprised, but it was the name he had said that grabbed Nadia’s attention. She fastly pushed Alex away, and her heart almost stopped as she looked at him. Nathan?

    “Nathan!”

She started to sprint towards him and soon crashed into him. His arms were fast to grab her and clutch her tight, and she could feel how he inhaled deeply with his nose in her hair. 

    “Goddess I’ve missed this.”

Nathan’s voice was low, but she could hear the honesty and longing in them. Nadia, somewhat reluctantly, pushed herself away from him so she could see his face. He looked handsome as ever, but he looked rough too. Nadia couldn’t help frowning as she took him in. 

    “What happened? You look…”

    “Sexy covered in dirt and bruises? Why thank you.”

Nathan winked as he gave her a look that was less serious and more sultry. Nadia could feel her heartbeat rise as she was pulled into his gaze. 

    “Ahem.”

The sound Alex behind her made her come back to reality. Nathan looked up as well and smiled as gently let go of Nadia, who immediately missed his warmth. 

    “It’s good to see you too, Alex.”

Without any hesitation, Nathan and Alex hugged. The hug was short, but the power behind it was undeniable. Nathan and Alex then stepped away from each other, and Nadia could see that Nathan looked towards her as if he wanted to get back to her, yet he stayed where he was standing which disappointed Nadia. Alex then spoke. 

    “What the hell happened, man? We didn’t hear from you and then we heard rumours that one of you died. And who are the people you came with, ‘cause we were sure that we were under attack.”

Nadia held her breath as the relief of seeing Nathan slowly turned to sadness. Logan had said that one of them had died, and though she was overjoyed that it wasn’t Nathan, she still felt bad. She looked at Nathan who also looked much sadder than he did before. 

    “A lot of people died. My father…”

He stopped and Nadia could see his Adam’s apple bop as he cleared his throat. Without thinking, she stepped closer and took his hand. The touch was almost electric, and Nadia could tell that it gave Nathan some much needed strength. 

    “Fenris has struck some sort of deal with the Red Cross Crows. They were there. Jake and I were imprisoned, but my dad helped us escape. He didn’t make it, nor did most of our pack fighters. We had almost given up hope when we reached a place filled with these weird stones that were somehow illuminated. Those stones stopped our enemy, and we were baffled. However, that was when we met Alpha Caleb…”

Nathan turned to look at Nadia as he smiled once more. 

    “Alpha Caleb has knowledge of magic. I think he can help you; help us.”

Nadia forced herself to give him a small smile, but she still had so many questions. However, one of those questions seemed more important than the others at that moment. 

    “I… I mean, that’s great and all, but Nathan… your dad… are you okay?”

The smile on his face  slowly disappeared. He squeezed her hand as he took a deep breath. 

    “No. But I’m better now.”

Nadia could feel her heart starting to pound again as his gaze held her in place. They stood like that for some time, before Alex once more spoke. 

    “Well, it sounds like we’re in the clear, so there’s no need for me to stay here and protect Nadia. I’ll go check on the situation. Nadia, maybe you could fill in Nathan with what has happened here while he was gone?”

The coldness in Alex’ voice was back and Nathan obviously heard that as he furrowed his eyebrows. Alex then left. Nadia stood very still as she waited for Nathan to respond, but he didn’t. However, when Alex was out of sight, she suddenly felt herself being pushed backwards until she was up against the wall with Nathan’s lips upon hers. The urgency in his kiss was so wild that she totally forgot what was happening. A soft moan escaped her mouth which in return made Nathan groan. The kiss kept on going for a while, and Nadia couldn’t stop herself from whining just a little bit when Nathan stopped. He let out a deep chuckle as he leaned his forehead against hers.

    “Sorry, I just really needed to do that. Let me hear, what have you been up to for the last couple of days.”

Days. It had only been days, yet so much had happened. Nadia didn’t even know where to start.

    “I still have some questions. Like, who is this Alpha Caleb and what has happened to the Grey Pines Pack?”

    “Alpha Caleb Valentine is the Alpha of one of the Florida packs. He made sure that all the children and non-fighting wolves from our pack were safe. So yeah, all of the most vulnerable members of our pack are okay, but we lost most of our fighters. Besides me and Jake, only forty something men escaped.”

Nadia pulled back in confusion. 

    “Wait, what? Is Jake alive?”

Nathan looked confused as he nodded. 

    “I mean, he could have died, but he’s tougher than he looks. Why?”

Nadia was dumbstruck as she tried to find the words. 

    “It’s just… We were told that one of you had been killed, as in either you or Jake.”

Nathan frowned as he stepped back slightly. 

    “What? Who told you that?”

Nadia started to think for herself as she tried to find reasoning for this. Why would someone make such a rumour? What would anyone gain from that? Unless… Nathan snapped a finger in front of Nadia’s face as she focused once more. 

    “Who said that, Nadia?”

Nadia swallowed as she realized that there was no more putting the truth off. 

    “Logan Black… right before Lena and I freed him.”