Hagen’s P.O.V

You know when it’s the middle of the night, you’re lying in bed, and you come up with all these ‘amazing’ ideas, and you tell yourself that in the morning, you’re going to do each of them and turn your life around— even though you already know that by the time you wake up, you’ll be too exhausted to do a damn thing?

Well, a few days ago, I had one of those so-called ‘amazing’ ideas and decided to see it through before I woke up the next day because… I guess I knew that if I waited until morning, I wouldn’t do it. And now, the guy I’d been running from my whole life was moving in with me.

Way to go Hagen.

No, honestly. Way to go — Zyair praises, practically performing a cheer routine for me in my head. I have never been more proud of you than I am today.

Thank you? — I reply, slightly offended. This was it for Zyair? Really?

Yes! It is! — he answers way too quickly. Any minute now, they’re going to be here and soon, our mate’s scent is going to be all over this place, and you did that! You, Hagen!

Zyair clearly saw that as a good thing, while I on the other hand, was still trying to figure out how I felt about my incoming future.

I knew that I liked Nikola’s earthy scent all over me, and I wasn’t dumb enough to think I wouldn’t absolutely love it in every corner of this place… but at the same time, having Nik so close… did things to me.

Like on Friday night. I’d gone over to insist that he let me feel our bond completely. I’d been determined to settle things right then and there, even if that meant being bound together from that very night. It’d taken being in his company for less than a minute before I’d backtracked and asked him to return with me to university instead.

As the sole subject of Nikola’s gaze, I quickly realised that I needed extra time to prepare myself to be around him all the time, because that night, being around him as little as I was, had already started to fuck with my head.

When we were younger, I felt nothing but anger, but now… now when those sharp grey eyes focused on me, I became a puddle of goo.

I guess it made sense though. After all the time we’d spent together, texting all day and going on ‘dates’, I’d gotten comfortable around him. It didn’t take long for my walls to turn to dust once we got close. But after what happened, with him keeping things from me, I’d thought that that would change things— or at least how comfortable I felt around him.

… Well, I’d been wrong about that. So very, very wrong. Because on Friday night, even as on edge as I’d been going there, somehow, I’d found myself biting back whimpers when he’d taken me firmly by my chin, his touch like heaven.

A shudder ripples through me as I recall the way the light blue and green tones in his grey eyes had blended, pleading to hold me captive for eternity.

It’d taken everything to pull away from his touch, but I’d had to— had to leave, especially after he’d whispered what I was choosing to call a full-blown threat.

Are you ready for what will happen when we’re living together?

I’d basically run home following that, and even after all this time, I was no better for it.

Nikola would be here any minute now, and I was absolutely shitting bricks.

Ew, don’t do that. We just finished cleaning!

Me. I just finished cleaning — I correct, because no matter how much I’d begged, Zyair hadn’t lifted a finger to help. The Pillow Princess.

Hand Maiden!

Huffing, I ignore Zyair and do another quick scan over my apartment. Fuck, this place was probably the cleanest it’d been since I’d moved in.

The kitchen was sparkling, the dishes were washed, dried and in their proper places, the floors were spotless and gleaming, and all my discarded clothes were either in the hamper or washing— it was like a showroom… a ‘Hagen Showroom’.

Haha. Snorting, I try to re-focus on making sure everything was perfect. It had to be, but knowing how Nikola was, I didn’t think it’d be up to his standards, even with a professional team. I just hoped it was enough to not make him re-think moving in with me, because then I really wouldn’t know what to do.

For me, this was it.

After Nikola had left me on my own on Christmas Eve, I’d stayed awake for a long time thinking about what would happen between us.

I knew that I didn’t want to give up on our bond– not yet. When I committed to something, I saw it through to the very end– it was why I hadn’t given up on university yet even though it was hopeless at this point.

I didn’t give up, and the same applied to our bond– I had to see it through, even if his fumble had hurt… a lot. But if I wasn’t going to reject him, then I couldn’t avoid him either, so what could I really do?

The obvious decision was the one I made. Mate awareness existed between us for a reason, and until we stopped toying with the reality of our bond, we’d never really know what we could be or what we were supposed to be. So that meant: no more pretending our dates weren’t dates, and no more magic hiding shit between us.

At least, that’s what I’d told myself when I’d grabbed my coat and left my house at 1:30 in the morning. Now, the moment of truth was here and well, what sane person wouldn’t be nervous?

I’m not nervous. I’m excited! — Zyair sings like a fucking canary— This is going to be amazing. I can’t wait to see him after a shower– all those muscles, wet and on display! Or oooo! Watch him cook for us! Ugh! I hope he pins us down—

A solid knock against the door cuts off Zyair’s explicit fantasies and immediately sends my pulse skyrocketing to one hundred.

AHHH! HE’S HERE!

Fuck.

“Fuck,” I grumble as I hastily look around for the millionth time. Well, this was as good as it was going to get.

Rushing towards the door, I pat my hands against my pants and swipe my fingers through my hair in a useless attempt to— fuck, I don’t even know what. At the door, I take a sec to sniff my pits— not foul– that was good — and fix my hoodie before I take a deep breath and settle my hand over the shiny doorknob.

No reason to freak out, Hagen.

This is going to be fine. You’re going to be fineeee.

I swing the door open and almost piss myself.

“Oh fuck!” I shout, stumbling backwards as Knots’ large head lurches forward.

I see my life flash before my eyes— a montage of my favourite meals and my family. To think, this was how it was ending.

As if slamming on some internal breaks, Knots stops his attack, his head retreating while his thin tongue comes slithering out.

“Knots,” Nikola chides, prompting the python to press against his owner’s outstretched hand. “You know you can’t hug people unless they say it’s okay.”

Knots’ head droops slightly like a scolded puppy, something that would’ve pulled on my heartstrings if those heartstrings weren’t a jumbled mess and there weren’t metres of him on the ground because he was a fucking python!

Nikola rubs Knots consolingly before he lifts his gaze to me, “Sorry.”

“It’s fine,” I lie, eyes darting between the two. “I just didn’t realise you were bringing Knots.”

Tensing, both Nikola and Knots remain perfectly still before he asks, “Will that be a problem?”

Would living with a python be a problem? Probably. But I guess I couldn’t expect him to leave his pet alone for however long it took for this mate awareness to crack, and Knots had never done me any harm the few times I’d seen him, so…

I shake my head and put on my brave face, “It’s fine. Once he doesn’t try anymore surprise hugs.”

“He won’t,” Nikola says firmly, giving Knots a pointed look that makes him lower his head until he’s pouting in his own snake-y way. “Go feed.”

“Feed?” I barely utter the word before the suddenly-perky snake slithers his way to the floor and passes through the door without hesitation. “Welcome, I guess,” I mumble as I stumble back, allowing him to glide past before I glance back at Nikola, eyebrow raised.

“He’s made of dark magic. He’ll feed on any unwelcomed energies, such as spirits or curses,” Nikola says nonchalantly. When my eyebrows hike even higher, he shakes his head, “Only if there are any, which there aren’t.”

“Okay,” I reply very slowly. I believed him, but now I was thinking about energies and the python in my place.

I’d barely prepared myself for just Nikola on his own, and now there was Nikola, Knots and possible spirits in my apartment. This was going swimmingly already.

“I’ve made you uncomfortable,” Nikola states, his brows dipping closer as he studies me.

“No, no,” I dismiss quickly. “Knots just surprised me, and I didn’t know I was cursed—”

“You’re not,” Nikola states firmly, jaw tightening. “If anyone even attempted it, their existence would be made void.”

That shouldn’t have made my heart beat faster, and it sure as shit shouldn’t have turned my insides into a fluttering mess, but it did. It really, really did.

“I know– I was just joking, but thanks,” I reply awkwardly when Nikola only stares at me, as if he were waiting for confirmation that I believed him. We stand there for a little while longer, just staring at each other.

I don’t know what to do! – I yelp atZyair.

Maybe try moving out of the way?!

Right. He couldn’t get in if I blocked the way. Come on, Hagen!

“I guess I should stop hogging the door,” I say with a sham of a chuckle as I step back. “Come in.”

Dropping his gaze, Nikola stares pointedly at the threshold between us. In an instant, his muscles locks up as tension invades every inch of him.

For a split second, I find myself lost in déjà vu as my mind takes me back to the night of our first date when I’d invited Nikola inside, and he’d wavered at the entrance, just like he was doing now, except this time, he held a duffle bag in each hand.

Whatever had kept him from coming in that night was keeping him out right now, but I couldn’t imagine what.

“Is something wrong?” I ask after a minute passes with him just standing there. “I cleaned. I even used bleach and stuff. I promise it’s clean inside.”

“No, it’s not that,” Nikola dismisses quickly, eyes darting to mine for a split second. “I just needed a moment.”

I frown.

He needed a moment? For what?

Maybe it was pretentious to assume, but I’d really thought that the moment I opened the door, Nikola would be rushing inside, putting his mark on everything he could, not stalling. But he was, and it made my insides twist anxiously.

Was it me? Something about my place? Something that was making him second guess this?

The thought makes my heart plummet, but before I can rally to courage to ask, Nikola steps forward, coming into my place and also, into my space.

I suck in a breath as I blink up at him before the edges of my world begin to blur as the alluring scent of leather surrounds me.

Fuck. It’d been too long– too fucking long.

Nikola’s scent was heavenly. It was strong and unyielding, like him, making everything else pale in comparison and I loved it. I loved it more than I should, more than I wanted to.

What I wouldn’t give to feel that scent in my bones, to have it render my racing mind to nothing but mush. Goddess, I needed it. I probably would’ve begged for it too, given a second more so close to him, but then… I spot the tilt at the corner of Nikola’s lips.

The world snaps back into focus so quickly I’m almost dizzy, but I push past it to plaster myself against the wall behind me, ignoring the smirk playing on Nikola’s face.

“In you go,” I say, pretending the embarrassment trying to eat me alive was just a very mean imaginary friend. “Go on, you’re letting all the cold air in.”

With a low chuckle, Nikola passes by me and heads down the short hallway. While he goes, I shut the door behind us and steal a moment to get my shit together.

Come on, Hagen! We’re better than this! We’re better than Zyair!

HEY!

Get your shit together! Right now!

Peptalk enabled, I head after Nikola, coming upon him just as he carefully sets his bags down and looks around the living room. Instead of his usual mask of indifference; instead, Nikola’s expression is illuminated by an endearing sense of interest and curiosity that makes me pause for a moment to witness it.

Like an infant in a new world, his eyes dart all around, scanning every inch of my apartment. He takes it all in greedily, and beneath his chest, I hear his heart hammer even faster than mine.

I guess I wasn’t the only one overwhelmed by all of this– that was at least nice to know.

“So, this is mi casa,” I say, spreading my arms as I step further in, “and now it is su casa, or nuestra casa… I think, or for you—” I scratch at the deepest crevices of my barely functioning brain. “Notre maison.”

Nikola’s eyes widen with obvious surprise, and pride instantly swells inside me.

I knew it was silly, but whenever I impressed him, I got this happy, glowy feeling in my chest, because there was just something really nice about impressing someone as smart as Nikola. It made me feel like, I don’t know, like maybe we did match up in more ways than just the bond.

I shake the silly thought away as I face him, unable to stop myself from tilting my head a little higher, “I know my shit. I keep trying to tell you.”

“Yes, you have,” Nikola agrees, his smile returning.

My heart kicks up a beat, and I quickly clear my throat, “Anyway, this is my place. There’s not much, but it does the job.”

“It’s spacious,” he comments with a thoughtful hum. “The ceilings are high as well; that is odd for human residences.”

“Yeah, I figured it wouldn’t make sense to have everyone breaking their necks whenever they came to see me.”

Werewolves generally stood higher than most humans, and though I didn’t fall into the category, my family sure as shit did, so I’d taken that into account when picking my place. I’d never guessed it would’ve worked out for Nikola as well, but I guess Goddess really did know what she was doing.

“But yeah, this is me,” I say, hands slapping against my thighs as I drop them.

Nodding quietly, Nikola stands ideally before me and I realise that he probably wouldn’t do much on his own. This was my place after all and he probably didn’t want to overstep, but I didn’t want him to be uncomfortable his whole stay, either.

“I can give you the tour,” I offer, when nothing else comes to me. “If you want.”

Head lifting, Nikola locks those grey eyes on me once more as his features relax, “I would love a tour, Hagen,” he replies so smoothly I almost trip over my feet on my next step.

This man – Zyair moans, and for once, I really can’t blame him.

“Alright, um– right. So, this is the living room which you can claim as your own while you’re here.”

Nikola passes his gaze over the couch, the wall of posters, the massive TV, and the ceiling-to-floor windows before he nods silently.

“This is the kitchen, obviously,” I mutter as I head into the attached space and open the fridge. “I made sure to have it stocked, so feel free to cook anytime and share if you have extras.”

That earns me a smile with the next nod.

Moving on swiftly, I head through the small archway to my bedroom, where I find half of Knots under my bed, and the rest of him slithering into the attached bathroom.

I pretend I don’t see the yards of scales for my own sanity as I turn to face Nikola.

“This is the last of it. The bedroom and bathroom,” I say, gesturing between the two. “I know you’ve got your magic, but I cleared two drawers in here and one in the bathroom for you to keep your stuff– if you want to. You don’t have to, but it’s just there… if you want to.”

“Thank you, Hagen,” Nikola replies, his expression nothing but sincere. “I appreciate it.”

“It’s fine,” I reply, foot kicking out awkwardly in front of me. “Any questions?”

“Just one.”

I narrow my eyes. Nikola was usually just as unbothered as he seemed on the surface, but there was a part of him that seemed to thrive on pushing my buttons exclusively. I could sense that side of him now, along with whatever pending fuckery he had brewing on the horizon.

“What?” I ask suspiciously as Knots’ head peaks out curiously from the bathroom, as though he wanted to know the question too.

“I may have missed it, but I didn’t spot any bedding on the couch or in the living room,” Nikola says calmly, his expression, and only that, the picture of innocence. “Would that be coming out later, or is there a purpose for the diving wall of pillows atop your bed?”

For the first time since I’d entered my room, I glance at the pillow wall I’d set up this morning and force my expression to remain blank when I face my knowing mate again.

Shit.

“We stay on our sides,” I say firmly, and Nikola’s usually quiet smirk quickly grows into a full-fledged smile ladled with amusement.

“Of course, I just thought—”

“Well, you thought wrong,” I cut in before he could bring up my declaration from the other night. “The couch is too small for you, and I’m not an asshole.”

Nikola nods, but I see the way his jaw clenches and his shoulders shake from the effort it takes to maintain his composure. Asshole.

“Okay, tour time is over!” I declare while I rush past him and out of the room so we can get to the sheet of paper I’d stuck up this morning. “Time to go over the rules.”

Following after me with Knots wriggling behind him, Nikola stops beside me in the space between the kitchen and the living room– a space that I was speedily realising was pretty tiny when the two of us were sandwiched within it.

Typical.

I try to be casual about it as I step a little closer to the wall in front of me, knowing damn well that Nikola touching me, even by accident, wouldn’t end well. When he doesn’t call me out for it, I clear my throat and slap a hand atop the paper.

“These are the rules for your stay at the Hagen Resort. You have to follow these while you’re staying here, or the deal is off.”

Nikola hums gently before he narrows his eyes and reads, “Rule number one– no trespassing the bed’s borders.” He looks at me, eyes alight with humour.

“Shut up.”

“I don’t remember saying anything,” he retorts politely.

“Well, shut up anyway,” I grumble, but he only chuckles before examining the page for the next rule.

“Rule number two– no touching each other’s stuff.” Nikola huffs a little, “I do like this rule, but you will need to be more specific, Hagen. Everything in this apartment is yours.”

Okay fair.

“I just mean that we shouldn’t interfere or go through each other’s personal shit. I won’t touch the drawers with your stuff or flick through anything you may leave lying around, and you do the same for me.”

“You intend to leave things lying around?” Nikola asks, voice pitching slightly higher with what sounds like concern.

“No,” I reply quickly. “But things happen.”

Nikola makes a face– he clearly didn’t like the sound of that.

“We will have to go through exactly which items you consider personal, but we can do that whilst discerning the proper homes of your household items.”

I blink a few times as my brain physically struggles to compute the best way to say, ‘what the fuck are you talking about’. Maybe if I worded it better, I wouldn’t sound as dumb as I felt for not understanding a morsel of that second half.

“What?” Nikola questions, his head tilting just a little to one side, causing his loose curls to dip slightly in front of his face.

Usually, Nikola’s long hair was tied back or braided out of his face, but today it fell atop his shoulders in a mix of brown waves that made my fingers twitch– even more now that some swept across his features.

I stare at the lax strands, contemplating pushing them back before thinking better of it. I did not need to know if Nikola’s hair felt as nice as it looked. Nope, I’d leave that to Zyair.

Yes!

“Whilst discerning the proper homes of my household items,” I repeat, brows rising high in question.

Nikola’s quiet at first as he stares at me before his expression turns nearly sheepish, something I’d only seen once while we were bowling and he’d taunted me about his upcoming win. Only this time, the look in his eye is more nervous than cocky, and he’s getting all tense again.

“I— the way I am… I need to know where things belong, and once I do, I need them to stay there,” Nikola explains very carefully, each word a thoughtfully chosen one that he doesn’t utter without a moment’s consideration. “I know this is your home, so I only need to know where you prefer things to be, but once they are there, I need—” he takes a deep breath, “I need them to remain where they belong. Do you understand?”

I nod a little, and Nikola seems to relax some, but the slight nervousness within his gaze doesn’t fade away entirely.

The truth was, I did understand when he said it like that and it wasn’t anything particularly new because Nikola had always been like that.

You didn’t touch Nikola’s shit or move something in the Amorenia household unless you wanted all hell to break loose.

When we were younger– much younger— before his liking of me had gone from adorable to freaky— I’d always been the one to make sure no one in my family tinkered with the things in the Amorenia house when we visited them.

Nikola, as a toddler, would scream about it and unleash hellfire, but as he got older, he’d learned to stop showing his outward displays of displeasure. But I’d always spotted them, so I kept things as they were supposed to be— something I’d already planned to continue here when I’d gone to see him on New Year’s.

“I apologise if that’s a problem,” Nikola manages when the silence lingers. “I don’t mean to make your life more difficult—”

“You aren’t,” I promise before he can bring himself down any further. “Things stay where they’re supposed to be. Got it.”

Nikola’s eyes light up, and when he looks at me, it’s like I’m Goddess in the flesh.

“Thank you, Hagen,” he whispers, voice heavy with gratitude and longing.

The sound of it sends my soul tumbling as pleasure coils itself around my heart, claiming the very air from my lungs as its own.

“It’s fine,” I stammer before I pointedly return my focus to the paper. “Rule number three.”

“Rule number three–” Nikola reads from behind me, “… no scenting.”

I gulp.

I don’t have to look at him to sense his displeasure. I could feel it deep in my bones and within our bond.

Nikola didn’t like that rule. It made sense because, truth be told, neither did I.

“Why?” he asks, his tone void of any previous bliss.

Pressing closer to the wall, I risk a glance back at him, “You know why.”

Nikola’s broad chest expands as he breathes deep, as if he were trying to cage my scent in his lungs right here, and Goddess, just that alone fried my brain a little. But he doesn’t press forward or try to touch me– thank Goddess. I’d probably crumble in a heartbeat if he did.

“You were willing to a few nights ago,” he points out, and I nod. “But not anymore?”

“We weren’t living together a few nights ago,” so I didn’t have to worry about not being able to stop.

Brows knitted tight, Nikola gives a stiff nod and I feel myself release a breath of relief.

“I will not break your rules, but this one does pain me,” Nikola confesses before he takes a step forward.

My mind blanks so quickly I almost choke.

“Oh?” I reply senselessly, but it’s more of a squeak as I slowly step back, trying to maintain distance, but that only introduces my back to the wall behind me. Caged between it and my mate, I search for an escape, but any possible route is lost as Nikola takes another small step forward, gobbling up the tiny space that remains between us.

“I loved scenting you, Hagen,” he whispers without hesitation or self-consciousness– only the confidence that ripples off of him in waves.

All but baring his neck, Zyair goes absolutely feral while I focus on keeping us breathing. It’s hard with Nikola so close, his warmth and scent as palpable as his magic that I feel gathering around me.

“I-I liked it too, but—” I swallow, my blood rushing south so fast I lose my train of thought.

Fuck! How the fuck did we get here!

What happened to keeping distance, Hagen?!

“We can’t,” I manage on a shaky exhale.

“We can’t?” Nikola repeats inquisitively as he settles his left hand beside my head. From the corner of my eye, I see the way his fingers spread apart and curl, almost digging into the wall. “Why?”

“Why?” I repeat, voice as distant as my scrambled thoughts.

“Why can’t we scent one another when we both enjoy it so much?” Nikola asks as he slowly leans in, effectively destroying my mission to maintain breathing as his warmth brushes against my skin. “Explain it to me, Hagen.”

My heart gallops, almost breaking past my ribs and jumping straight out of my chest as Nikola comes closer.

“Because—” I don’t manage another syllable as Nikola stares at me, peering closely as though he can see every little part of my naked soul.

“Because?” Nikola prompts, eyes darting to my lips before they drag back up. Jesus. Goosebumps race up my arms as I become too hot and cold all at once. He raises a brow, “Hagen?”

“Because we can’t,” I force out before I duck under his arm and scramble back, almost tripping over Knots’ nosey ass. I move into the living room, desperate to put even more space between us. “W-We just can’t.”

Instead of coming after me like I’d thought he might, Nikola props his shoulder against the wall and watches me back away from him. In the quiet that carries only my rushed breaths, he folds his arms over his chest, appearing deceptively calm, as if what had just happened there had just been my imagination, but I could feel that it wasn’t through our bond. And more importantly, I could see it.

It was in his eyes– in those neverending, intense eyes that were slowly becoming my undoing.

While the rest of him was contained and put together, those grey eyes tracked me like a predator permitting its prey temporary freedom until it saw the perfect moment to strike.

The thought sends a cold shiver down my spine.

“I understand,” he says finally, breaking the silence and the suffocating tension that had settled over the room. “I promised to wait until you were ready, and that still stands. No scenting.”

“Good,” Was it? “Thank you.”

As if he could hear the doubtful question, Nikola eyes me for a moment longer before finally looking away, letting the matter go. I’m grateful for it. I was still trying to catch my breath, and I couldn’t just pack things away like he could.

He can’t. Look closer – Zyair whispers like a devil on my shoulder. Look at the pulse in his neck, his clenched jaw, his fists…

Passing my gaze over Nikola, I slowly pick apart the tells I’d missed at first in the wild pulse under his skin and the clenched fists he tried to hide beneath his crossed arms. Nikola was just as unravelled as I was; he was just hiding it.

“Are those all your rules?” He asks suddenly, drawing my gaze up from his body.

“Um–” Rules? Yeah, I’d made rules. “Yeah, that’s it, but we can add more if we need to.”

Nodding, Nikola surveys the apartment again like an assessing teacher before he nods once more, this time to himself.

“If that is all, then I believe there is only one more matter to resolve.” When I frown at him, confused, he straightens and adds, “We’re together now, so I’ll remove the blockage.”

Oh yeah– the whole reason for him being here in the first place. How could I forget?.

“If that is still what you want?”

“It is,” I reply quickly, putting as much certainty as I can behind that. “Let’s do it now.”

Not needing to be asked twice, Nikola pushes himself off the wall and comes towards me.

I frown as I watch him advance. I didn’t think we needed to be this close for him to work his magic or unwork it? Whatever. I just didn’t think we had to be close again, but I was too busy trying to psych myself up to point that out.

I didn’t know what the bond was like without Nikola’s magic filtering it, so I had no fucking clue what would happen.

I knew enough about mate awareness to know it didn’t affect one’s feelings, at least no more than the bond did, so I wasn’t going to immediately fall in love with Nikola or anything, but still— fear of the unknown and all that.

“You’re scared,” Nikola muses as he stops a few paces from me, looking more curious than amused now.

“Not scared, just nervous,” I reply while I flex my fingers at my side. “I don’t know what it’s like without it, ya know.”

Nikola’s features pinch with guilt, drawing his gaze from mine, “Nothing will change. You will not feel any pain unless we part.”

“Okay, cool. We’re not parting anytime soon, so let’s do this,” I say as I tug on my metaphorical big boy pants and brave myself for the moment of truth. “I’m ready whenever you are.”

When Nik looks at me, it’s like he doesn’t recognise me for a moment, and I can’t blame him. A few years ago, I would’ve literally been running away from something like this, and now, I was basically offering myself up on a shiny platter.

I just hoped he wouldn’t make me regret it.

Eyes linked with mine, Nikola becomes perfectly still as his magic swirls around us, the chill of it as familiar as it was daunting. It brushes against me like a faint touch, crawling up my skin and lingering in places before it draws away and gathers just between us. The thing I could only feel before becomes visible whips of wind, tainted by a vivid purple that was a perfect resemblance to the purple glow of Nikola’s eyes.

The gathered magic reveals a giant padlock, locked and bound tight, and I know immediately exactly what it is.

Behind it, Nikola looks at me one last time, silently questioning. My last chance to back out of this.

I could take it– this offered out, and I knew Nikola wouldn’t think any less of me, but I didn’t want to. That was the easy way out, and I was tired of running away from this— from us.

We were mates and I, for one, wanted to see what Nik and I were like without his hand coddling our bond.

I nod, giving a muted signal, and the lock clicks free, the padlock opening.

This was it.

Nik and I– our relationship… it started now.

————————-

CLIFFHANGER!!!!! MWAHAHAHAHAHA

Thoughts??????????

Thoughts on Nik moving in?!? On Knots??!!? The little wall scene hehehe?!?!?

If you’re tired of the little teasing, welp, sucks to suck, this book is a slow burn. BUT I can say that now that they’re moving in, things are going to start getting interesting heheheheh

I am so so SOOOO excited to write the coming chapters, though I might save a few for the Christmas package, we’ll see. I’ve got one more week of university and then FREEDOM!!!!

Please do leave all thoughts in the comments, and vote if you enjoyed this extra!

Next up is going to be an extra/AM chapter.

Also, for those who might still be confused about the whole mate awareness thing:

It is simply an internal effect that forces two mates to be in the same space at all times until it fades away. If they separate with a physical barrier between them, they will feel immense pain until they’re together again.

So when Nikola drops his blockage on it, Hagen won’t feel anything new UNLESS there’s a barrier between them.

Nikola always feels more between them and is always desperate to be around Hagen because he has two bonds to contend with – the link of a warlock and the mate bond as a wolf.

Hope that all makes sense 🙂

Until next time,
Byeeeeeee Humanssssssss