Chapter 84

Kayla

The next morning dawned bright and clear; well, about as bright and clear as it could be with my wounded leg still throbbing with pain.

I found Nicholas, Henry, and Ava downstairs by the time I managed to drag myself out of bed and get dressed. They were seated around the kitchen table, Nicholas devouring a comically large stack of pancakes that I could just picture Ava forcing him to eat while Henry flipped through the newspaper.

Of course, the moment I entered the room, Ava began doting on me. A cup of coffee and a stack of pancakes was shoved in front of me before I could even say “Good morning,” and Ava was already inspecting my stitches.

I tried not to show the disappointment on my face as she said that it would still take some time to heal. Instead, I busied myself with shoveling pancakes into my mouth as fast as I could, because Nicholas and I needed to leave.

Our goodbyes that morning were a little more emotional than usual. Ava didn’t want to let go of me, and Henry, still seething over Mason, was in full Papa Bear mode and tried to convince me to extend my stay on more than one occasion.

“I just get worried,” he said for what felt like the millionth time. “After yesterday, I’d feel so much better if you were home. At least, until everything blows over.”

Nicholas and I exchanged glances, but I shook my head. “I’ll be fine, Henry. Promise.”

I couldn’t bring myself to tell him that I knew I would be fine because I had Nicholas by my side. If I did, then I knew I would never hear the end of it from Nicholas. He’d likely tease me about it all the way to my grave.

Finally, we were pulling out of the driveway, stacks of tupperware filled with Ava’s food rattling in the backseat.

“They’re nice,” Nicholas mused, his fingers drumming against the steering wheel. He shot me an amused glance out of the corner of his eye, and I hid a laugh behind a yawn.

However, our good spirits were quickly broken when we realized that the same car had been following us for some time now—a black sedan with tinted windows. Nicholas cursed, pulling off the highway and onto a side road without warning.

“Who is it?” I asked as Nicholas sped up, turning in my seat. The car matched our speed and got off the highway at the same time. They were following us.

“Likely paparazzi,” Nicholas groaned. “Hold on. I’ll try to lose them.”

Before I had a chance to protest, Nicholas began to maneuver through random back roads in an attempt to lose the car. All I could do was hold onto the car door handle as he sped through the winding roads, taking unexpected turns and even turning around completely at one point.

But eventually, we did lose the other car. And maybe a little bit of my sanity, too.

“Please don’t ever do that again,” I groaned as Nicholas pulled into the parking lot for a little country gas station. “I lost a lot of blood yesterday, and I’m gonna be sick.”

Nicholas, to no surprise, just grinned at me from the driver’s seat. “Hey, I lost them though, didn’t I?”

I couldn’t argue with that. We parked and headed inside to grab some snacks, splitting up in the aisles. Nicholas made his way over to the counter to get some coffee while I perused for something to settle my stomach.

That was when I heard it.

“Oh my gosh, Nicky, is that you?”

I stiffened at that all-too-familiar voice.

Rebecca.

Nicholas said something in response, to which I heard Rebecca giggle. Rolling my eyes, I set the pack of crackers I was looking at aside and quietly edged to the end of the aisle, peeking around the shelf.

Sure enough, there she was. Rebecca was leaning against the counter beside Nicholas, tossing her long hair over her shoulder and giggling like a lovesick schoolgirl while he was just trying to fill his coffee.

Normally, I wouldn’t care about her at this point. I knew that she was just a nuisance to Nicholas, and that this was just an unfortunate encounter.

But it was what she was saying that gave me pause.

“You should just get away from that cheater,” she was saying, making no attempt whatsoever to hide her obvious tactics now. “I saw the news. She’s just going to drag Nightshade down, just like she’s dragging down Bluemoon.”

Nicholas’s jaw ticked. “The news has it all twisted. She never cheated.”

“So she says.”

“So I say.” Nicholas sighed and went to move around her, but Rebecca stepped in his way.

“Be logical, here, Nicholas,” she insisted. “I mean, come on. She has a reputation. Don’t you know what you’re getting into…?”

At that moment, Nicholas’s eyes met mine over Rebecca’s shoulder. He looked exasperated, like he really just wanted to shove Rebecca out of the way and pay for his coffee. But of course he wouldn’t, because hitting a woman in public wouldn’t help either of our images right now.

With a soft sigh, I stepped out from behind the shelf, training my expression into a wide grin. “There you are, baby!” I cooed, sidling up to Nicholas and wrapping both arms around his waist. “I was looking for you.”

Rebecca’s lips parted, but I wasn’t done.

I leaned up on my tiptoes, shut my eyes, and kissed Nicholas.

On the mouth.

The kiss was brief, hardly more than a peck, but it sent a jolt through the mate bond that was hard to ignore—as if neither of us was expecting me to do that, and thus we lost temporary control of the bond.

When I pulled back, my lips were still buzzing with the contact.

Nicholas stared down at me for a moment, his amber eyes flickering with something I couldn’t quite name. All the while, I kept a smile on my face but deep down I was silently screaming.

But… it worked. Rebecca was already gone when I turned my head.

Nicholas and I exchanged one last loaded look before paying for our things and heading out to the car.

By the time we got home later, though, the amount of reporters outside the Nightshade estate had somehow risen to an impossible degree. Nicholas could barely drive through the throng, and a few of them practically jumped onto the hood of the car, shoving their microphones as close as they could get.

“They’re like gnats,” Nicholas growled under his breath as the Nightshade guards ushered us in through the gates.

I couldn’t argue with that.

When we got inside, Marcus explained what was going on; apparently, the car had located us earlier after all, and pictures of our gas station kiss had been posted online.

“Now, #lovetriangle is trending,” Marcus said, scrubbing his hand through his hair.

I huffed and set down my bag. At least the incident with Mason wasn’t making headlines, but this wasn’t a whole lot better.

“But that’s not all,” Marcus went on. He withdrew an envelope from his pocket and handed it to Nicholas. “I got in touch with my nurse friend at the hospital, and she snuck some extra blood samples from Noah. Take a look at this.”

With a furrowed brow, Nicholas pulled the results of the test from the envelope. His eyebrows shot up as he read what was on the page. “Silverbite?”

Marcus nodded, and I frowned, snatching the results from Nicholas. Sure enough, Noah’s blood had tested positive for Silverbite—a drug known for its stimulant properties. A little sniff of it could give a wolf an edge in a fight, or keep them up all night partying.

Too much of it, however… could cause prolonged unconsciousness.

“So that’s why he was agitated and foaming at the mouth,” I said slowly, glancing up at Nicholas. “He took a whole lot of Silverbite.”

“Or someone gave it to him,” Nicholas added, his eyes narrowing.

My breath caught. If Gray or someone else at the guild poisoned Noah with a stimulant, then that meant that our suspicions were correct. Perhaps he wasn’t poisoned with the same stuff my father was, but it didn’t matter.

Someone at the guild really, really didn’t want Nicholas and I to be together.

And my bets were on Mr. Gray.

“Marcus, get me a list of any suspected Silverbite dealers in the area,” Nicholas said firmly. “And—”

“Actually, I know of one.”

We all turned at the sound of Nora’s voice, far softer than I’d ever heard it. She was standing in the doorway, wringing her hands with a sheepish look on her face.