Nikola’s P.O.V

I open my eyes before my alarm goes off, waking a few minutes earlier as usual.

It was a habit I liked, the way my body just knew when to wake itself. I found it interesting.

But I wasn’t one to linger, so I get myself out of bed and head straight for my adjoining bathroom to start my day.

Well, I try to, but my particularly needy roommate makes that a difficult task.

Blocking my path with as much of his 16 feet as he could, Knots rares his head up with a hiss.

“Morning,” I greet which gets me another hiss, “I’ll be back in a few hours.”

I knew logically that Knots wasn’t physically able of pouting, he was a reticulated python who should’ve been preparing for a strike, but I knew Knots. He was pouting.

“You can nestle me later,” I promise as I use my dark magic to move him so I could get into my bathroom.

I receive a parting hiss that just a small smile from me as I close the door behind me.

I didn’t make a habit of letting Knots sleep with me, he was a python after all, but Knots was a strangely affectionate snake who took advantage of any chance he got to wrap himself around me.

But that would just have to wait today, I had about an hour before I planned to arrive at the pack borders and I hated being late, evening if I was setting my own times.

My movements are routine. Everything the exact same as it was every morning, making it quick work to get ready in fifteen minutes without much thought.

At my bedroom door, I let my eyes linger on the calendar hanging there.

Three more days.

Only three more days.

My fingers twitch at my side while my heart picks up speed.

I try to contain myself, but my excitement gets the best of me and fractures. It escapes as a magical surge that makes the foundations of the house complain in creeks and groans as they struggle to keep it standing.

“Nikola!” Ma complains from downstairs.

I quickly pack it back away, the barely contained joy that was making it hard for me to think suddenly.

Only when my magic is settled and I’m sure that I have a handle on myself do I free my calendar’s designated sharpie and cross out today’s day before leaving.

“If you’re testing the stability of this house, I assure you, it’s even worse than you think,” My Ma says the moment I walk into the kitchen where she was pouring juice for herself.

Standing at the counter with her hair in neat braids adorned by rings, beads and rope, Ma’s a picture of all the witch stereotypes which she hates. It was just her hair though, she wore magically infused rings and necklaces, all acting as testaments of the power that laid within her.

Magical power that wraps around me in the only version of a hug my mother liked.

“Morning Ma,” I greet as I head over to give her a kiss to her temple that she fights me on. I ignore her and give her three more for spite.

“Morning,” she grumbles back as she shoves me away towards Dad who was plating our food from the stove.

I give my Dad a hug, knowing he appreciated more affection than both Ma and I combined.

That was how werewolves were though, they liked the touching and close proximity. Witches, on the other hand, despised it outside of a few special few. As both, it depended entirely on my mood what I wanted.

“What are we eating?” I ask as I peer over his shoulder for a look.

“Pancakes for us, a feast for you,” he replies which makes me disengage from him while I survey the fruit bowl, “you’re a growing warrior.”

I grimace slightly at that wording. “I’m not a warrior. I am a growing wolf with warrior blood – thank you for that by the way.”

My dad’s frame shakes with his laughter as he glances at me with a proud smile.

It didn’t take any sort of intelligence to know that my dad was a pack warrior, or had been, before me and Ma. He was built like it, it wasn’t just the bulging natural muscles that others tried their whole lives to replicate in a gym, but he was also tall, exceedingly so, and lithe as well, hinting at the natural agility of his wolf.

All things he’d given to me.

“Either way, it still means that you need to eat, lots more than most wolves,” Dad says while he piles my plate with more meat than I could think I could manage so early in the morning.

Speak for yourself – Neo interrupts as he all but salivates at the mountain – I will happily demolish this and more.

“You need more than sleep to function,” Ma adds through gritted teeth, the statement clearly hurting her to make. “Come on, help bring everything out.”

I don’t argue as I fill my arms with as much as I could carry before I use my magic to carry the rest behind us as we all head outside for our breakfast table at the back of the house.

“Thanks for handling breakfast,” Ma whispers to Dad when he sits down beside her. She leans over for a kiss that he gives her with a wide smile.

I liked what my parents had.

I knew it didn’t start off the way it was, but I loved how easy they were together. They way they just blended together like two pieces to one body, it was nice. Their trust was infinite and despite how much Ma shit talked all the flaws of werewolves, I knew she loved everything there was to Dad.

I envied it, what they had.

“So,” Dad starts when we start eating, his grey eyes lingering on me for a moment, “what are you off to do today?”

“Patrol, manning the borders,” I reply before taking another mouthful of the juicy meats.

Ma rolls her eyes with her usual aspiration, “Leave that to me. Why don’t you go hang out with your friends?”

“I saw them last week,” I answer with a glance upwards, “this is to help out in the pack.”

Despite the way Ma wanted to fight it, I could see some of the pride glimmering behind her light brown eyes before she turned away with a hum.

I knew my Ma didn’t have anything against me helping out in the pack, in fact, she really loved it when I got involved, she was just afraid that I’d start and never stop. That I’d get tied up with pack business out of a sense of responsibility rather than a sense of want.

She’d said it time and time again that she only wanted me to live the life I wanted to, to do whatever made me happy, which I appreciated a lot.

In truth, I only started helping the pack out of boredom.

I finished my high school classes when I was fifteen and moved on to college courses soon after. Since I did it from home, I didn’t have many distractions and I’d always a fast worker, so soon enough, I found myself watching time move by with nothing to do.

So, I’d started tinkering around the packlands, fixing little things only magic could to pass the time until the 18th of November.

Now, it was finally almost here.

“I’m fine. I wouldn’t be doing it if I didn’t want to,” I assure my Ma who finally allows a nod and small smile.

Slamming a heavy hand down on my back, Dad grins widely at me while I choke the food he just slapped but up my throat, “You’re birthday’s coming up. We know you have… plans, but will you spare us an hour?”

I had more than just plans for Hagen Calderon.

I nod as I try to shrug away his brick of a hand, “I’ll come home in the morning.”

Dad seemed to falter a little at that but he’d always been more optimistic than I was capable of.

I was under any disillusions that Hagen and I would leave our date with all our problems resolved, go back to his place together, and live happily every after.

That only happened in fairytales, and I hated fairytales. They were lies wrapped around in barbwires disguised as romance.

Honestly, I wasn’t even sure what Hagen would be like on our date, but I wasn’t expecting it to be sunflowers and daisies.

I hadn’t seen Hagen in months, keeping away from him the way I promised myself I would when he turned 18.

I only checked up on him sometimes, to make sure he was doing well, but I was giving him space with the hope that on Tuesday he wouldn’t be so abrasive with me.

It’s going to be fantastic – Neo declares with all the confidence of an alpha – We’re going to make him feel so good, make him smile and laugh, and see how amazing we are!

I didn’t hope for that much, but it would be nice if that happened.

“Well, however it goes, we’ll be right here,” Ma replies with her brightest smile, “with your gifts and a hundred million ways to spoil you.”

Smiling wasn’t an option at that point, neither was holding back on a family hug that had Dad beaming and Ma screaming for mercy.

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After I settle myself on the top of the pack’s outer barrier, I plaster my hands flatly on the contained energy and call on my earth magic.

It surges to the surface of me, bursting out like a broken dam as it roams freely from my fingertips to the furthest corners of the dome-like shield in search of any weak points that would need further attention.

I doubted there would be many, I’d checked it only two weeks ago, but it never hurt to be too sure.

Magic was a complex thing.

It wasn’t just a combination of words that set something in stone forever, it was actually disturbingly easy to break through spells with the right conditions.

A broken or tampered spell didn’t always require other outside magic for things to change.

It could be something as small as a falling leaf brushing against just the right spot at just the right time, and everything could fall apart.

Most people didn’t know that, they just saw magic and thought it was some massive foreboding beast that only the strongest could defeat.

For me, magic was something else altogether.

Some thought being a witch was amazing, others saw it as a curse. I found it to be tedious.

But that was because magic to me, wasn’t just something that you could tap into when you wanted to. It was this raw pulsing energy that ran through your veins constantly, just begging to be let out.

To use it, you had to bend it to your will. Tame it, mould it with spells like melting raw sand and limestone to make glass.

Some witches, like my Ma, knew exactly how to do that and some witches like me, struggled with it every day.

It’s a gift and a pain, a hassle that is simultaneously one of the best things in my life.

Magic is quite simply complicated. But I seem to have a fixation for wild and beautiful things that refused to be tamed.

“Nikola!”

I peer up just in time to see Jacob racing towards me as if he wasn’t running up an invisible barrier.

Jacob’s smile is wide and innocent, as always, his arms aimed high to wave frantically at me in his pure glee.

“I can see you, Jacob,” I tell him in an attempt to make him stop waving, but he doesn’t let up.

Plopping himself down in front of me, Jacob only laughs as he tries to get comfortable on the barrier that wasn’t meant for seating, but I was sitting too so saying anything would be hypocritical.

“It took me forever to find you,” Jacob breathes out while he pushes his light brown curls back, “first I went to your house, but your parents said you left. So then I went to Alpha Damon, but he said hadn’t seen you and thennnn,” Jacob takes a deep breath of air in, “I realised that I should probably try to look for you with magic. So I did that and then I found you up here!”

I blink slowly at Jacob while he beams at me, even more breathless after his explanation than he was when he ran up here.

Jacob and I’s friendship was one of those weird things that shouldn’t work but did, like a misplaced mixture of sounds that somehow was pleasing.

He was always so full of energy and questions, even when he was a kid. He’d been so trusting and easy to please, and for some reason, younger me had gravitated towards that.

Neo liked to say that Jacob was the universe’s natural response to ‘all of me’, the perfect friend to balance out my stunted parts with his jubilant ones.

I didn’t think it was that complicated. Jacob was just nice, and I liked being around him.

“Why were you looking for me?” I ask while I pull my hands away from the barrier, knowing they’d require nothing more than strengthening.

“Do I need any excuse to look for you?” Jacob asks with a tilt of his head. When I only stare at him, he slumps and rolls his eyes dramatically, “Fine! Your birthday is in four days! Four days!”

“I’m aware,” I reply instead of the mess of emotions that were rolling through me.

“Come on, Nikki,” Jacob groans using the nickname I only allowed with him. “I know you’re excited as hell.”

Reaching over to shake my arms, Jacob keeps up his actions until he coaxes a chuckle from me as a smile spreads across my face.

“There it is!” He cheers happily, giving my cheek a poke that I slap away. “Come on, tell me all your plans. I know you’ve been slaving over your date with Hagen for months.”

“More like years,” I mutter as I lean back against my arms and look up at the sky.

I wasn’t sure if telling Jacob about my plans was the right move. I might get too excited and shatter the very barrier we sat on.

It was hard for me to do anything when I thought of Hagen, that’s why I tried not to.

I started that particular habit when Hagen turned 18.

I knew that after years of denying that we’d be together, knowing it for himself would be especially hard and even if that hurt, I didn’t want to make it worse for him.

I didn’t want to be in his face constantly, a reminder of his faith, only making it hard for him to accept it when I was only 13 at the time.

So I stayed away. Even when he moved across the country, basically running away from me, I’d stayed away and forced everything I felt for him down into a tiny box I could manage.

I didn’t approach the box, didn’t look at it, didn’t even think about it unless I had to as the years had gone by, knowing that if I did, I’d make things worse for us both.

But now, after all this time, I didn’t need to hold back anymore. I couldn’t.

“I’m picking him up at 10,” I explain to Jacob after wrangling my thoughts back to the present, “if things go well, we’ll go straight to the spot.”

“The spot,” Jacob interjects in a teasing tone.

I shake my head as I give him a nudge with my magic, “Yes, the special spot. We’ll have dinner there, with all his favourites and then, I’ll take him home.”

Jacob frowns and wrinkles his nose, “That’s it?”

“Yes, that’s it,” I reply cooly, “anything more will scare him off, and I’ve waited far too long to mess this up now.”

“Okay, alright,” Jacob says as he waves me off, “you’re the Hagen expert.”

Damn right – Neo prompts, sitting up proudly in my head.

“At least go with some flowers or something,” Jacob prompts which makes my eyebrows pull together.

“Hagen would hate that. I’ll leave chocolates for him to find, after the date.”

Jacob frowns again with another tilt to his head but I don’t bother explaining it.

Hagen had a lot of tangled emotions when it came to me, one of the strongest being that he wasn’t fond of me being male. He saw himself as a ‘guys’ guy’ whatever that was, and he didn’t like the thought of people seeing him as ‘the girl’ in our relationship.

It was ridiculous that people would in the first place, or that he’d care if they would.

But that was Hagen.

So when it came to anything we did together, I had to be careful.

My thoughts drift over to the note I’d left him a few nights ago, imagining how he’d reacted to it.

Probably badly. Hagen didn’t like to be told what to do, even though he eventually listened every time someone did.

I’d tried not to be too demanding in the note, writing it over a good twelve times before I decided that the one I’d sent was right. I doubted Hagen felt the same way, but I guess only time would tell.

Once again, the magic under my veins grows frantic, desperate to escape in a raw display of my emotions.

I felt a large range of things when it came to Hagen Calderon; love, adoration, respect, fondness, lust, need, care and more. So much more that I didn’t think normal mates felt for each other.

The types of things that he’d always hated about me when I was younger.

“Jacob to Nikola. Hello!”

I blink several times as Jacob waves his hand in front of my eyes, an annoyed yet amused smile resting on his lips as he settles back on his heels.

“I know you’re obsessed with him, but how about you make some time for the rest of us?”

I don’t reply, knowing that my response to that would probably make him upset.

“Are you going to talk all day or help me strengthen the barrier?” I ask as I stand to my feet.

Jacob sprouts up beside me and nods excitedly as his eyes turn entirely black, “Whoever finishes first buys lunch.”

I stay still while Jacob disappears, rushing to win his challenge while I took my time going to the nearest weak point in the shields.

I didn’t like rushing things. Not just because I liked a job well done, but because it was a way to pass the time.

When I was stagnant, too stagnant, I thought of Hagen and then my brain and Neo tried to make me do something he’d hate me more for.

Do not put the blame on me – Neo snaps up seriously – this is a two man aircraft.

One that my co-pilot is trying to crash – I reply while I slide down to a dent in the barrier.

That is not true! Hagen craves it, he craves us – Neo promise while I just shrug – he is literally made for us.

I’m well aware of that, Neo.

The point was, keeping myself busy was the only way I could function outside of Hagen, at least until my birthday.

Then… I wasn’t sure what would happen when I finally opened that tiny box.

I just hoped I could handle it, that I could handle me.

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Nobody, and I mean nobody, can ever tell me that Nikola Amorenia isn’t a fucking snack.

Thoughts???????????????????

What did with think of Nikola’s POV?

His home life?

His thoughts and feelings to Hagen???

I know things may not align to what you might have in mind from the date chapter in my notebook or some Patreon extras, but please remember, that’s set a little later on in the book. So this is our starting point!

Beyond that, I really hope you guys liked the start to this as we begin this journey between Hagen and Nikola!!!

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Happy Holidays to my very special humans!!!!!!!! I love you all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Until next time,
Byeeeeeeeeeeeeee Humansssssssssssssssssssss