Chapter 81

Kayla & Nicholas

Kayla

Isabella was the last person I expected to see standing at the gates of the Bluemoon estate, and she was also the last person I wanted to see standing there. I pulled my shoulders back as we approached, opening my mouth to tell her to get off my land before I had her forcibly removed.

But before either of us could speak, Isabella suddenly blurted out, “I have a proposition for you. One that could solve all of your problems.”

Nicholas and I hesitated, exchanging wary glances. I could see the distrust flickering in his eyes just as much as I could feel it in my heart; Isabella wasn’t here out of goodwill. She was trying to use that nasty little TV interview as some kind of bargaining chip.

“Just hear me out,” she said, as if reading our thoughts. “All I ask is for a few minutes of your time.”

I sighed, feeling my shoulders slump ever so slightly. With the recent media frenzy going on, I supposed it wouldn’t hurt just to hear what she had to offer. Not that I was ready to accept it.

But for the sake of appearances, I kept my tone as neutral as possible as I said, “What do you have to offer?”

Isabella’s eyes shone faintly, her lips twitching up into a half-smile. “I know my recent interview caused some… trouble,” she said, gesturing vaguely. “I do have quite a bit of sway in the public eye, if you can’t tell.”

“Trust us, we can tell just fine,” Nicholas said wryly.

Isabella flicked her gaze to him for a moment, and her disdain was palpable. But she kept her expression schooled as she looked back at me. “Therefore, all it will take is one public statement from me for your image to change for the better. I can take back what Liam and I said, say it was all just a misunderstanding. All of your troubles would be resolved.” She paused, her tongue darting out to wet her red lips. “Well. Most of them.”

I frowned. “And I’m assuming you want something in return.”

“You know me so well, dear,” Isabella cooed with a smirk. “Yes, I do want something. I want my house back. With everything in it.”

Nicholas and I both stiffened at the same time. Isabella wanted the Nightshade pack estate, along with all of the valuables inside.

Fat chance.

“No,” Nicholas said as calmly as ever. “You had your chance to live there in peace, Isabella, but you went out of your way to cause trouble. Why should I give it to you now?”

Isabella’s eyes narrowed. “Because I deserve it. That house belonged to your father. And I—”

“You are nothing but the whore he married after my mother’s death,” Nicholas cut her off. “You have no right to that house or anything in it; and you already stole a good portion of the valuables, which I could have you arrested for. Consider yourself lucky.”

With that, Nicholas turned on his heel, essentially ending the conversation. I had to admit, I agreed with him wholly; while perhaps we could have taken the bargain and moved here to Bluemoon territory, it wouldn’t have gone over well in the long run. I’d rather take the media stirring up gossip over that.

Isabella looked red in the face as I snapped my fingers, calling in a guard to escort her off the property. Neither Nicholas nor I said a word as she was taken away, but we didn’t need to; because, in typical fashion, Isabella made sure to fill the silence with her shrieks.

“You’re going to regret this!” she called over her shoulder. “Things are about to get so, so much worse for you!”

Nicholas and I just exchanged amused glances and shook our heads.

Later that day, Nicholas and I stopped at the hospital to visit my father. He told me he could wait outside, give me some privacy, but for some reason, I let him come in with me.

I told myself that I just wanted Nicholas to see my father for himself, so he could get a glimpse of his symptoms before we started delving into the cure for the coma. But really, I think I just wanted him by my side.

My father looked the same as before as I stepped into the hospital room—still, pale, and quiet save for the soft beeping of all the machines he was hooked up to. Even now, two years after he had gone into his coma, I hated seeing him like this. It broke my heart every single time.

But I kept my tears at bay as I took a seat next to his bed.

Because no matter how much I had grown to trust Nicholas over the past months, I still couldn’t bring myself to cry in front of him.

Not over this, at least.

…

Nicholas

I could tell that Kayla was hiding her tears. I couldn’t hear what she was saying from where I was standing outside the hospital room, watching through the window, but I could see the subtle twitch of her lips, the way her hands trembled as she laced her fingers with her father’s.

I clenched my jaw, looking away. Seeing her like this… it broke my heart just a little bit.

The only other time I had seen her look so small, so vulnerable, was the night she had been poisoned with that aphrodisiac at the party—when she had called out to her parents, apologizing for being wolfless.

Her face had that same expression now, as she bowed her head over her father’s unconscious form.

And seeing it brought up a lot of emotions that I wasn’t ready to face.

Kayla emerged from the hospital room not long after with a tense smile on her face. She said nothing as we made our way to the library to research her father’s symptoms, and still said nothing as we searched the stacks for any information we could get our hands on.

Noah had said that it may have been snake venom that put her father into a coma, not wolfsbane. So we distracted ourselves with searching for anything and everything on rare snake species and their antivenoms. We searched until our fingers were practically raw from flipping through pages, until the sun went down and the lights dimmed.

But all the while, my mind kept wandering—back to her, back to the sight of her solemn face as she clutched her father’s hand.

I kept glancing at her as we searched in silence. By now, her face was calm, fully focused on the task. But I could sense her discomfort through the mate bond we shared; I could feel her quickened pulse, I could see the way her fingers trembled a little as she ran them across the spines of the books lining the shelves.

More than anything, I wanted to go to her. I wanted to hold her in my arms again, just as I had when she had come to me during the guild’s test.

But I gave her some space. If not for myself, then for her.

Finally, I was pulled out of my thoughts when Kayla approached with a weathered, leather-bound book in her hands. “Look at this,” she said, holding up a page with an illustration of a black snake with gold flecks in its scales.

I leaned forward, scanning the page. Sure enough, all of the symptoms were the same as wolfsbane: a sudden fever, followed by a coma. But unlike wolfsbane, this coma couldn’t be remedied with normal methods.

“Do you think this is what Noah was poisoned with, too?” she asked.

I frowned. “I’m not sure,” I said. I flipped to the next page in the book and saw a section on the antidote, which was a rare but not entirely unattainable plant from subtropical climates.

Without a word, I slipped out my phone and sent a text to Marcus.

“What are you doing?” Kayla asked.

I slipped my phone back into my pocket. “I just told Marcus to get us some of those plants, at any cost.”

Kayla’s eyes widened. “You don’t have to go to so much trouble—”

“Yes. I do.” I stepped forward, and without even meaning to, I raised my hand and placed two fingers beneath her chin. Kayla’s breath caught almost inaudibly, her back pressing against the shelf behind her as I tilted her chin up to look up at me.

For a moment, neither of us said a word. Frankly, I wasn’t sure if I could bring myself to speak if I even had anything to say.

I just wanted to kiss her. In fact, I almost did; my head dipped of its own accord, ever so slightly, and my fingers moved to pinch her chin as if to pull her closer.

But at the last moment, I didn’t. I wasn’t sure why; I just knew that I shouldn’t. Now wasn’t the time.

Instead, I said softly, “I want to help you.”

And without another word, I pulled away.