Nikola’s POV

The dusking sky illuminates my path, but it provides no favours in highlighting which way I should go as I bound through the maze’s wide lanes.

I pay it no mind. I think only of my prey.

Twigs snap beneath my feet, and loose branches strain aloud as I force them out of the way. I’m loud, and that’s fine with me.

I want him to know I’m coming.

I want him to know when I’m close so that his already inflated heart rate can only take itself higher.

The only problem is that if it makes him nervous, Hagen does not let it distract him. He keeps going, running faster and far quieter than I do, so that he remains not just one step ahead of me but several.

Teeth gritting together, I move faster, desperate to reclaim those brief glimpses of him I’d first caught when he’d forced me to start this chase. It’d been a tease of brown, a huff in the air that smelt like sex and sounded like pleasure, but I’d lost those too quickly.

Hagen had wrung out the advantage of taking me by surprise, and now I chased a ghost.

Shift — Neo growls while he tries to push forth. He’s vicious, sinking his claws into my mind. Track him properly.

I force him back with a warning grunt. In the state we were in, if I shifted now, Neo would take control with ease, and that I would not allow, not in this instance.

I was the only one allowed to make my insolent pup heel.

He’d run.
Hagen knew not to run, and yet he’d done it anyway.

It was not a rule but a demand I’d spoken aloud enough times for him to know to obey it. But he hadn’t. He’d incited this chase at the very worst time and made me his predator.

It was a role I took with begrudged glee.

When he bolted, every molecule in my body became charged with the single and undetterable urge to find him and claim him by any means. Hagen knew this. Hagen knew the way my body worked when it came to him, and he’d set off anyway.

Now, he was lost to me in a maze of my own making.

My growl rumbles through the maze as I bring myself to a delayed stop.

The path before me is a duplicate of all the rest, with the same wide lanes and trimmed hedges that rose three heads over mine. Two channels open before me, diverting in opposite directions.

I sniff gently and find each of them laced with Hagen’s scent.

I feel my eye twitch.

“Hagen!” I shout so loudly it seems to quiet everything else.

Hagen hears me— he must, but he does not respond or react. I listen closely, waiting for a shift in the wind, a rushed step or a flighty breath, but nothing comes. I can not even hear his racing heart.

He must’ve stopped running at some point, but I had not noticed.

I’d been too caught up in the chase.

Frustration makes my fingers twitch, but I curl them into fists at my sides before I release the magic gathering at my fingertips. It would be so easy to free it— to take hold of the magic thrumming in his veins and drag him to me, but Hagen had set a single rule for us.

No magic.

He wanted me to find him on my own.

Slower now, I walk into the left path for no other reason other than something pulls me in that direction. It’s not his scent— he’d already masked it somehow, because clearly, my pup was playing a far more sophisticated game than I’d anticipated.

What had started as a chase was now a hunt.

My insides clench as something cold and frantic races down my spine and overwhelms the annoyance I’d started with. It skitters through me and pulses like the vein in my neck, sparking with something electric that roused me as much as it discomforted me.

Only once before had I felt something remotely similar, and that had been when Hagen had coaxed me into the water for a swim only to let the currents take him away.

My pursuit of him then had been fleeting enough that the savage impulse to catch him had been brief.

This is not brief. This endures, and so, too, does my predatory hunger to find my pup.

I stalk through the maze with ears pricked at attention. I study every shadow and crevice in case they might be the ones that hide him from me, though I doubt it.

Hagen was too smart to crouch in the dark for long and far too cunning to stay in one place alone. He would hide, but he would also move as he did so.

My best chance was to catch him in the midst of a move, only I had no plans of waiting for my troublesome pup to slip up. Forcing a mistake was the only option.

“How many times have I told you not to run?” I ask softly, letting my words travel along the passing wind so that it reaches his ears. “How many times, Hagen?”

Silence.

I carry on.

Keeping to the curve of my path, I look between the hedges’ spaces, finding shuttered glimpses of the path beside mine. The shiny leaves of the shrubs here and beyond blended together so seamlessly it seems like one whole maraging, dark green blur at first glance, but there were spaces between them. Few in number, but there nevertheless, and large enough that if Hagen moved and I was near, I would spot him.

“I warned you,” I continue through gritted teeth. “I do not like you out of my line of sight– I’ve told you this, but you don’t listen. You never listen.”

Nothing comes other than the creak of wind grazing through leaves and branches.

Moving slowly, I keep my eyes on the ground in search of prints within the damp earth, but disappointingly, I find none. Though, I suppose it is not truly disappointment that I feel when reluctant pride tilt my lips upwards and causes Neo to purr from within.

He’d already cut me at the ankles by taking magic off the board, and now, Hagen was claiming the pieces I could use. Sight, sight, scent and my auditory perception. All that was left was touch and taste, both of which were useless in the current circumstances.

My infuriating, perfect Hagen.

He was making this hard, making me earn it— earn him.

My cock bucks in my trousers as I tongue over my canines.

“What do you think I will do to you once I find you?” I muse, though my words find themselves lost to a growl as my arousal climbs. “I promise… I will not be kind, pup.”

A rustle makes me still. I tilt my head, listening.

…

…

…

I rush forward, weaving through the maze’s sharpened channels like I would through the woods.

Even now, I don’t mind my steps. I let them sound through the maze— let them taunt him.

I’m getting closer.
There’s nothing I can sense and no magic to help me, but I can feel him.

As a part of me, he holds a part of me inside of him. A burning piece of my soul that lives outside of my skin, and while the flames would never settle, they calmed when we were close.

The closer I got, the looser the tension within my chest became, and for the first time since he’d disappeared within, I could breathe easier.

It was only a little— the difference practically minuscule, but I felt it.

I carry on.

Will you be able to keep quiet? — I ask, shifting to our link. This takes him off guard. I feel it in the ripple of our bond and smell it as the next gust of wind brings the sour scent of his nerves with it.

My lips curve over my canines.

Or will you let them all hear you? Will you, Hagen… let them hear what I do to you when you spread your legs for me.

They would not, no matter how quiet or loud he made himself.

From the moment he’d coaxed me inside, I’d placed a barrier over the maze.

None would witness what was to occur in here. They would not hear, smell or stumble inside while I taught my pup the price of insolence.

I thought I would have imparted that lesson by now, and we’d already be making our return, but oh, how good Hagen was at this.

I never knew he held such a gift— to be so quiet and to blend seamlessly into unfamiliar surroundings, but I was pleasantly surprised to discover it.

If I was not sure that he was here with me, I might almost believe that he had slipped out at some point. But no. He was here. I could smell him now— could almost taste the scent of his arousal blooming past his veiled scent.

It’s a signal, like a flare held high, and immediately, centres my vision as if I race straight towards it.

A growl rumbles from my chest as I close in.

Closer now. I was so very close.

“Come out, pup,” I encourage through a snarl. If you do, I might use your mouth.

Hagen is no longer so quiet now. Whatever trick he’d made to mask the sound of his heart falters, letting me hear the flighty rhythm of his heart as it beats for me.

Blood rushes through my skull, wiping out all thoughts as my most primordial instincts rise to the surface.

The world becomes a greyed thing, illuminated only by the traces of him that flutter in between the spaces separating us.

It all looks the same, but he’s here, hiding between one of these openings.

My pup.

My prey.

My Hagen.

Pup — I purr in his mind. I’m close, aren’t I?

I slow carefully in the middle of my lane. There’s a dead end ahead, but I don’t focus on that. I focus on the sound of our heartbeats thumping in my ears. They’re joined and so loud that I know he’s only a few paces away, but in some hidden alcove.

Stalking deeper into his path, I instinctually adopt all of his tricks. I slow my breathing, clamp my arousal down until it’s almost nonexistent, and blend into the world of greens around me.

I disappear, becoming a phantom designed to haunt him.

It scares him. The sudden silence.

It makes his heartbeat skitter in my ears, and what music that is.

You smell so good when you’re scared— I confess. Or is that your excitement? They smell the same so I can not tell.

A hiccup. It comes in a gasp, and it’s only a few paces ahead of me.

Drawing myself up against the maze’s edge, I blend into the offered shadows and carefully scan the spaces between the shrubs.

He was in the path next to mine.

Holding my breath, I bring myself to a complete stop and wait.

Thump! Thump! Thump!

Loud and fast, Hagen’s heart beats.

Thump! Thump! Thump!

My mouth waters, but I force myself to remain still.

He would take the chance, and run if I made him wait long enough. He would overthink it, and the moment he did, I’d catch him.

Thump!

Thump!

Thump!

My magic rattles inside of me, it vibrates inside my veins. It lashes out, desperate to put an end to this, but no.

Hagen made one rule. One rule, and I would respect it.

Neo growls with frustration as he tries again to push to the surface, but I ignore him as I do my magic.

I focus on him. On my pup.

Thump!

Thump!

Thump!

He would budge.

I only had to be patient.

Thump! Thump! Thu—

Grey sprouts between green leaves, bringing with it brown as it flashes in front of me.

He runs, but I run faster.

I turn and race down the path I’d come, while on the other side, Hagen does the same, hoping to make it to the end of his lane before I catch him but I don’t even give him the chance.

I crash against it, thrusting my hand through the hedge with so much force it shatters the branches that find themselves in my way. My hand breaks through the other side and closes tightly around Hagen’s throat. He gasps, but I silence the sound as I drag him forward and haul him into the hedge.

Wide, frantic brown irises find mine through the leaves, and I can barely breathe.

I step through the hedge, letting my magic pave the wave because I’ve caught him, which means this game is over.

I caught him. I caught my prey.

He was mine. Mine. Mine.

Hagen strains against me while his frenzied eyes dart between mine. From the tips of his toes, he claws at my hands with such desperation one might almost miss the erection straining in his trousers.

“I told you,” I growl as I heave him against me and breathe him in. “Never. Run. From. Me.”

I close a hand around his cock and squeeze until he yelps.

He smells terribly perfect. So sweet and hungry. Aroused and beyond scared.

It’s a heady, dangerous mix that destroys me.

I drag my nose against the length of his neck, “When will you learn?”

“When will you make me,” Hagen grits out before his foot finds my shin.

I buckle, enough that I lose my footing. It’s only for a moment, but it’s enough for him. His elbow digs into my ribs, forcing my fingers to loosen their hold on his neck.

I catch sight of his feral smile as he pushes me back with more strength than I know him to have and then, he bolts.

He runs, again, and I see red.

It all becomes very dark, and very simple.

I chase, before I have even considered the action. I follow the base instinct and end this game in seconds.

One moment, Hagen’s back is all I can see, and the next, I’m locking him down on the ground and sinking my canines into the mark at the side of his neck.

Hagen cries out. It’s a broken, shrill sound that dies on his tongue as my canines burrow deeper.

Mine. Mine. Mine.

Mine.

My mind falls, crashing into Hagen’s as our bond upturns itself. We’re one in ways no mates should be, but we’d been more than one, and we’re too deep to delve out.

I’m not in his body yet, but I’m in all the most intimate parts of him.

He whimpers, blessing me with the sweetest sounds of his surrender while his body writhes beneath mine. It’s warm and full of life as he squirms, rubbing himself against me, claiming my scent as he has my mind.

I tighten my bite and growl until he stops moving.

Hagen moans as he digs his fingers into the dirt as if searching for some hold of reality. I help him find it as I slip my fingers between his and clench his fingers.

I squeeze into them until he sobs.

Mine.

The word— the claim repeats itself unabashed in our bond. I can not stop it and don’t want to. I want him to feel it engraved within him like a brand, so it’s not one he can ever forget.

You’re mine.

The claim slips from my mind into his, and finally, my prey goes limp beneath me. He surrenders completely, mind and soul, and other than the twitch in his fingers, he does not move.

I breathe for the first time and find myself falling again.

He smells divine.

He smells like mine.

I want more.

My vision is hazy as I draw back, taking my canines from his neck and flooding my mouth with his blood. Instinctually, I know it’s something that I should not like, but I do now.

I love the metallic taste of his blood mixed with my essence.

I lick my tongue over my canines as I take a proper look at my prize.

Hagen remains splayed beneath me, with his tight ass pressed against my cock, and his heaving chest searching desperately for air. He does not move, does not dare sit himself up. He keeps himself on his stomach, with his face to the ground.

He’s presenting.

I growl my approval as I sink low to lap at his neck. He whimpers but stretches his neck, offering himself to me without prompt.

“Ngh! Ugh… G-God,” Hagen pants in a slur as he thrusts back against my cock. He tugs a groan from my lips as his slitted eyes meet mine, “N-Nik, please.”

He’s so beautiful when he’s pliant, even more so now when he’s on his knees.

Neo rumbles his pleasure, wanting nothing more than to take our mate here and now, but that was what Hagen wanted and precisely what he didn’t deserve.

“P-Please,” he begs, as fresh tears swell in his eyes.

Clenching his fingers, I thrust against his ass to relieve the aching pressure between my legs. The friction is torturous perfection, and I find myself almost in rut as I pant above him.

Hagen moans, but remains pliant until I allow my magic to sleep between his legs. I caress his cock, taking a firm hold of it, along with his balls, so that a tendril of my magic is stroking him beneath his clothing.

“Ahh!” Hagen squeaks as he tries to squirm away.

The retreat only lasts a moment. All too soon, he’s thrusting his hips frantically into the touch and moaning my name. He’s so excited that he’s leaking all over himself, and yet his pulse is still skittering beneath his skin like a cornered hare’s.

“One thing I ask of you,” I grit while I thrust against him. “Don’t run, and you do it anyway.”

Hagen shudders beneath me, and though his arousal spikes, his lips tug up in a near-drunken smile.

“You…caught…ngh! Nik! Goddess!” He moans with a sigh. “You caught… me… I knew..ah! Ngh! I-I knew you would.”

Like there was any way I wouldn’t.

“This was not the time, Hagen,” I snarl.

Today was his birthday party. I’d done this all for him. I was trying to be focused on him, and yet, he’d pulled me into a maddened state.

Peeking over his shoulder, Hagen offers me his smile as his eyes twinkle with mischief, “I know.”

He was a deviant. My mate was a manipulative, insolent deviant made to torture me.

“I’m sorry,” he whispers, but I know its not true. He looks far too pleased for it to be true. “I’m really sorry, so can you…please… I need it.”

He says it with no care for who might hear him. He just wants me, and what a heady sensation that is. But no.

Hagen had to be taught a lesson.

I bring my lips to his ears, “You need it?”

“Yes!” Hagen breathes, nodding quickly.

“Tell me what you need.”

Hagen’s reddens so quickly I can feel the rush of his skin warming against mine, “I-I… I need your cock.”

Groaning, I breathe him in, relishing in the taste of his blatant and shameless desires.

“I know you do. I know,” I whisper, pressing a kiss upon his temple. “But I am not going to fuck you.”

Hagen stiffens. His heart stops as if it forgets how to operate.

I feel my lips pull into a smile.

“Wait, no!” Hagen starts with a fretful whimper. “Nik—”

“No,” I hiss as my canines scrape along his ears. He quiets immediately. “You ran. You ran, Hagen.”

“For fun!” He exclaims, back to squirming now. “It was just for fun.”

“Well, consider this my fun.”

With that, I unwind my fingers from his and ease off of him so that I’m away from his drugging scent. The space, though minuscule, allows me to breathe for the first time as my more sane thoughts return to the forefront.

“B-But-But—” he sputters as he turns to face me with complete horror.

“You will wait,” I instruct as I stand and pull him with me. I steady him in front of me before I brush the leaves from his hair. “Until we’re alone. Until this party is over. You will wait, Hagen.”

Hagen’s devastation does not need to be vocalised for me to hear it.

It ripples through our link like a chanting spell, one that begs for mercy and forgiveness but I would allot no such thing any time soon. He would suffer, and he would learn.

Ignoring his glare that comes accompanied by the most adorable frown, I take my time cleaning my pup up, ridding him of all the dirt he’d collected along the way. Despite his displeasure, Hagen stands still for the entire process.

“This isn’t fair,” he mumbles once he reaches the end of his brief silent treatment. I meet his sharp irises and feel my heart leap within my chest.

I swallow before asking, “How is it not?”

“Because!” Hagen protests as he reaches up to tug a leaf from my hair. I shudder, and his lips twitch. “That’s the only one,” he promises before promptly returning to pouting. “I know I ran, and you don’t like that much, but… didn’t you like it?”

He peeks up at me curiously, searching my gaze for an honest answer.

I think upon it, allowing myself to dissect the emotions and reactions he’d forcefully yanked out of me the moment he’d taken off now that I was a little more centred.

“I was anxious and angry,” I share as I settle a hand onto his hips. “I was frustrated and out of control, and those are things I do not usually enjoy.”

“But—” Hagen prompts, starting my following sentence for me.

“But… yes,” I admit as I bring my thumb to his lip. I brush the soft skin and hold his deep gaze, “Yes, I did enjoy it.”

Hagen beams, letting me feel the stretch of his lips. He’s happy in the moment he feels satisfaction, but then his cheeks heat, and he looks away. It seemed he would always be a little bashful in certain matters.

“I did too,” he admits quietly. “I mean, it really was just to fuck with you.” I scowl, and he snickers, “But! I mean, when we really got into it, and you were like… hunting me down…” His eyes grow dazed. “…I liked that.”

“And when I caught you?” I ask while my fingers slip down his neck.

I knew I had been rough, and Hagen loved it, but it was still important to check.

He shudders, stepping closer so he fills my space, “I really, really liked that.”

I hum, slotting this information into the growing list of things Hagen and I would have to explore.

There was no doubt in my mind that we would do this again, but the next time, we’d have to agree on certain terms and secure more privacy.

Perhaps I could hunt him down when we were in our pocket realm.

“What ‘you thinking about?” Hagen asks as he rests his cheeks against mine and nuzzles me.

I return the gesture, scenting him just enough to keep us on the edge, “How we might make this work in the future. I would like to hunt you without the constraint of time on my mind.”

“Oh fuck,” Hagen groans as he drops a hand to rub against his cock. “Stop, please. I know I started this, but I’m already fucked heading back out there like this. You don’t get to make it worse.”

“I will mask our scents, so do not worry about anyone smelling your arousal,” I promise. “Though, I do not know if that is even a worry of yours.”

Hagen draws back to glare at me past his flaring cheeks, “It is!” I hum, and his eyes bulge. “IT IS!”

“Alright,” I soothe as I blink past his shout. “They will not scent it, but I’m not doing anything to alleviate their suspicions.”

“Like you could,” Hagen sighs, already surrendering himself for what was to come. “I guess we should head back?”

“I suppose we should,” I agree, though I do not find myself compelled to move.

It had not been long since Hagen and I were alone, but it had been some time since we were along like this, in a manner that felt like we were the only two people in a single place, with no one close enough to disturb our bubble.

I selfishly want to hold onto it for a moment longer.

Hagen seems inclined to do the same because, without a word, he slips his arms around my waist and hugs me. I do not hesitate to do the same. I engulf him in my arms and hold him close while we stand in the middle of the maze.

I brush my fingers through his hair and smile as I feel our souls meld.

“You told your friends about us.”

Hagen hums as his entire body warms, as if titillated by the reminder, “Yeah, I did.”

“You spoke about marriage,” I rasp, almost choking on the word in my rising delight. “Marriage to me.”

Hagen chuckles as he peeks up at me, “Well, I wouldn’t be speaking about marriage with anyone else.”

“I did not know you were interested in such a thing,” I admit.

I had always sought to uncover the answer, but there had been no definitive one. Hagen seemed strangely indifferent about the subject.

He shrugs, “I never really cared, but I want you in every possible way, and I figured you’d want the same.”

“Yes. Yes, I do,” I reply quickly before he can doubt it.

Hagen laughs again as he offers me one of his most enchanting smiles, “Then, yeah. It’s bound to happen. I thought I should mention it.”

I nod, because I can not quite form words right now.

I feel as I had when I’d first heard him utter the words, as if someone had shone a light inside my heart so bright that it blots out everything I know.

My worries. My stresses. My desires and goals. Even words.

I am completely and utterly speechless. I am also indescribably happy.

“It was easy,” Hagen whispers as a hesitant smile jumps onto his lips. “I used to be so scared just imagining it. I couldn’t even picture telling them about us, about me, and then, it was just easy.”

“You spoke with confidence,” I tell him, in the case he is not aware. “You did not doubt yourself for even a moment. You were sure, and I… I do not know if it matters or is even relevant, but it made me very proud.”

Hagen’s smile wavers, falling so quickly that a panic surges inside of me, “You were proud of me?”

“It is not relevant,” I correct quickly. “I simply felt pride, seeing how far you’ve come. And I do not mean that in the sense of us as a pair, but with you solely.”

There’s a swell of something unfamiliar within our link as Hagen’s lips part and his eyes search mine.

I contemplate being quiet and quickly pursue it as well.

“I am nly happy for you, Hagen.”

I fail.

“That you are able to be who you are with those around you, even if you do not know yet ‘what’ you are.” Hagen slides his hands over my chest and dis his fingers in. I sigh. “I am not good at expressing myself without preparation. These sentiments were better stated in the letter.”

Hagen’s parted lips shift aimlessly for a time before he carefully asks, “There’s a letter?”

He barely speaks the question. It’s a flighty whisper that lingers between us.

I stifle the urge to shift.

“You write me letters,” I defend, though I suppose explain would be the better word. “I thought… for your birthday, along with the surprise, I might write you one.”

Hagen’s eyes glow, turning a golden hue sprinkled with purple. It’s a reminder that he’s mine, and it melts another piece of my already employed heart at his feet.

“You wrote a…” Hagen breathes before he steps forward again, but there’s no room so he ends up pressed tight against me. “Nikola.”

“What?” I reply, frowning. “Should I not have? I know it is your thing, and I adore them. I did not realise you were possessive of the sentiment.”

“I’m not,” Hagen dismisses with a shake of his head. His hair brushes against my skin, tickling me, and yet he is the one who laughs. “I’m not, but fuck… what am I going to do with you?”

I frown. Was that not obvious?

Nothing. It was my job to care for him, to do everything for him. He only had to be mine.

“I can’t read it now,” he says suddenly, appearing very serious. “If I do, we won’t see anyone else for the rest of the night, so save it. Give it to me at the end, okay?”

I nod, not quite understanding but it was his birthday so I would do as he pleased.

“And you ‘expressed’ yourself just fine, Nik,” he replies as he tilts his head to slide his smile across my lips. “It means a lot… that you’re happy for me—” he kisses me gently, “—and proud of me.”

Hagen’s eyes flit up, catching mine in the space that forms only us.

“I am very proud of you,” I vow sincerely.

Hagen bites into his lip as he vibrates against me with his excitement. Just this once, I let him have it.

“And while it has always been the case, I am very proud to be your mate.”

The purple in Hagen’s glowing eyes shimmer, illuminating by the tears that fill them. Hagen does let them slip free as he shuts his eyes and brings his lips to mine properly.

I take his face in my hands so that I can return the tender kiss with all of my love, though barely a tenth of it fits.

To think there was a time this was hard for us– when every touch and caress was a timid thing. To think there was a time I prayed for this, yearned for this, and now… it took no thought at all to kiss the man I love as he kissed me back.

“Let’s go,” Hagen groans when we part. He takes an immediate step back, and I follow him automatically, “We can’t stay here forever, though I really want to.”

“I don’t,” I reply. “Even with your wonderful company, spending the rest of our lives in a maze would be maddening.”

Hagen blows a breath past his lips before he throws his head back to laugh. It bellows out of him, loud and free, and does not show any signs of stopping as he leans into me. I frown as he pushes me to walk slightly to the left while we continue down our path.

It’s not the way we’ve come as I implore my magic to unravel this path to bring us to the entrance as quickly as possibly, though if Hagen notices, he does not show it. He laughs and laughs until he coughs.

I wrinkle my nose, trying to step away, but our intertwined hands make that difficult.

“I really do love you,” he pants as he tugs me forth. “You’re the funniest person I know.”

I did not quite believe that, but I was not going to object when he’d just said he loved me.

This universe would turn to dust before I tired of hearing those words on his lips.

Before I can say as much, the maze shifts before us, freeing a path that deposits us right where we started, only the scene outside is far different.

No longer is everyone scattered in their respective social bubbles. Well, I suppose they are, but they are now clustered together, in a large circle that hosts several different conversations at the same time. In the centre of them, a fire roars high and in everyones’ hands sits a stick with marshmallows stacked on top.

Hagen and I approach carefully, eyeing the giggling, smiling groups as they somehow blend aimlessly together.

Peter sits beside Julian, quietly speaking with Willow while nervously eyeing Jasper from across the fire. I suppose the hand Julian keeps on his leg is the only thing that keeps him from freaking out.

Aiden sits on Julian’s left, talking loosely with Ma, who cackles loudly at something he says. It makes Dad laugh too as he rubs Ma’s shoulders, performing the evening massage Ma always said was in the terms of their mating.

A few paces from them, Will, Damon, Levi and Jayson all converse, while their kids play between them. Jayson shares his grapes with none of them, not even his own children.

On the other side, Jacob talks with Ruben, Jasper and Max, and they oddly look very comfortable already. Even as Jacob and Jasper lead the conversation in a neverending ramble. Beside them, Josey and her friends laugh after every word they speak, which does not make any sense until I see the cauldron at her feet.

Hagen stated that it was not often that Josey drank, but when she did, she held nothing back. It seemed he had not been exaggerating.

“AY! Look who it is!”

Aiden’s holler cuts through all conversations, taking with it any chance of seamlessly joining the fray.

Everyone stares at us, or rather smiles at us. Some are mocking, others amused, but all are knowing. They’d likely seen me dash after Hagen, and now they look a little too entertained.

I immediately enact my sound barrier around Hagen and myself to ward off the incoming noise. Hagen gently squeezes my hands, and together we prepare for the onslaught.

“Do you know how long I’ve been waiting to light my fireworks?!?” Aiden shouts instead, and though it is loud, it is not what I’d been expecting. More than that—

“I said no fireworks,” I frown as Hagen and I stop before the large group.

“So did the government, but that hasn’t stopped me yet,” he cackles as he jumps to his feet and dashes off. “Everyone get ready for the best firework display of your fucking lives!”

“Curse!” The kids all scream in unison, but Aiden’s already running off with a cackle.

He even jumps in the air and clicks his heels together on the way.

I part my lips, but Hagen cuts in, “It’s always better to just let him have it.”

I did not agree with that, seeing as I’d witnessed the crimes against humanity that Aiden performed in the name of entertainment, but I’d also witnessed the excitement it brought out of Hagen.

I bite my tongue and pray to Goddess that Hagen’s father does not blind the humans visiting the pack.

Leading us forward, Hagen walks us towards the two remaining lawn chairs that lay between the majority of his siblings and our parents’. He takes the path around them so that we didn’t have to weave through bodies and tilted cups.

I rub his wrist in thanks, and he sends me a wink over his shoulder.

It feels overwhelmingly wonderful to be with him like this, in front of everyone— both his friends and family. It was not something I had even longed for until I was first denied it, having to pretend to be something other than what I was to him.

What others thought was never something I would care about, but I did care about being with Hagen in every way I could.

I wanted them to see that we were in love, that we were meant to be together, and that despite all odds, we’d found a way to make it work. Equally, I wanted them to see that I was right. That I’d been right along to think that he was mine and there was never a reality where we’d end up any other way.

So as we walk hand in hand, I relish on the eyes that do track us, I relish in the confident thrum of Hagen’s heart, and the complete and utter understanding that he was mine.

I also cherish the declaration he’d made that still drifts in my mind, even now.

He’s never been just a friend. He’s always been way more.

Hagen stops at our chairs but does not sit first. He waits, watching me without an expression I can read.

I frown, but sit down, meaning to keep his hand as he takes his seat, but Hagen does not fill the waiting chair. He sinks down into the space between my legs and pushes me back so that he can lay himself over me.

I blink at him, too stunned for a moment to do a thing other than perform my duty as his bodypillow, but then reality catches up to me.

I wrap my arms around his middle, pulling him closer and Hagen melts against me as if most of his family and friends aren’t watching us.

“What?” He breathes into the silence. “We were in that maze alone, and this is what surprises you?”

The uproar I’d been prepared for earlier starts now.

“Good God!” William groans as he wrinkles his nose.

“The children, Hagen!” Damon shouts as he hastily tries to cover Taylor’s ears. She escapes him with a snicker. “Think of the children!”

Ruben slaps a hand against Jacob’s back, helping him work out the cough since he’d been sipping his milkshake when Hagen made his proclamation.

“I have never known a family to be this open,” Max whispers to Ruben. He says it quietly, but he has no idea everyone hears it anyway.

“Embarrassment used to mean something,” Levi whispers with a shudder. “People used to get embarrassed.”

“I don’t remember raising him like this,” Julian admits, he looks surprised as he blinks at his son. “I just don’t recall it.”

“Ours has always been blunt,” Ma replies, though she doesn’t look pleased to be speaking the truth. “And now, look what he’s done to Hagen.”

“Dramatic,” Hagen drawls while he tugs my arm forth so that it is stretched across his chest. “You’re all so damn dramatic. I’ve had to endure a lot worse with all of you, so can it. And here’s a warning— I have no shame when it comes to Nikola.”

Everyone groans, but Hagen only cackles.

“Warning?” Josey groans as she rubs her eyes. “That sounds like a threat to me.”

“Well, then,” Hagen shrugs, “consider it a threat.”

If they reply, I do not hear it. I hear nothing else as he tilts his head back to look at me and smiles.

Overhead, fireworks begin, and they are just as catastrophic as I knew they’d be. The humans seem alarmed, Ma is far too excited, and the others enjoy the regularly scheduled programme while I simply see Hagen.

He is all I see and all I know, and while I’m used to this point of view— of looking at him while he experiences some new memory— I am in no way used to him doing the same.

Hagen does not watch the skies, and he does not awe at the fireworks as he usually might. He does not seek out his friends, or a marshmallow to skewer. He only looks at me.

Throughout it all, his eyes remain on mine as mine have always been on his.

“You know,” he whispers within the safety of our bubble. “This is the best birthday I’ve ever had.”

“Really?” I ask. “You haven’t had the chance to enjoy most of the amenities. There’s a popcorn machine.”

Hagen snorts as he shakes his head and brings my hand to my lips, “I know, but it’s not about those things. It’s about this, about me and you. I haven’t had to explore it all because you’ve been here.”

My heart, once again, tries to off itself.

“Hagen,” I breathe, at a complete loss of words. He seems to be growing better and better at doing this to me.

He grins at me, “I just want to say thank you, Nik. For everything… for waiting for, for loving me… for…for being you. Thanks for being mine.”

My lips part, but words remain beyond my reprieve so I shut my mouth.

I force myself to nod, I blink away the moisture in my hands, and I press a kiss to his temple.

“Thank you for letting me,” I whisper against him.

Hagen breathes in and I do the same, and while the world spins, I only notice us.

There is only us.

———————

Sobbing in the fucking club at 2am with an imaginary b*ner

Tmi? Who cares lmrgwkrpo

Thougghts???????

Thoughts on this whirlwind of a chapteR????? On the hunt???

I was so scared and soooooo fucking turned on

Also, Nik and Hagen being cute af after as if they didn’t fully just have a primal play scene. The duality of these two 🤌🏿

I absolutely adore this chapter, I love how seamlessly they work together. How they just fucking know each other now, and ughhhhh. I love them.

I love love loveeee seeing how confident Hagen is!!! He said he gave no fucks and he really meant that shit!!!!!! I love him so much!

Hopefully, I can get a sneak peek for you guys out tomorrow – fingers crossed, and another chapter by Thursday!

What a crazy Control month!

Until next time,
Tippy