“I think there has to be something else inside there. Other than Edemas’s blood,” Luis said.
“Maybe,” I said.
Dad held up his hands. “We need to take a step back here. We’re getting caught up with all the extraneous stuff, but we need to focus on Maddy. She still hasn’t shifted yet. We need her at full strength, whatever that is. She can’t do that without you,” he said, nodding toward me. “You’ve got to focus on her. We can plan afterward.”
As though fate heard my father’s words, I found Maddy in the kitchen a couple hours later. I’d come down from my room for a snack, and she was standing at the counter, making herself a sandwich. I froze and stared at her. It was the first time I’d seen her in almost a full day. My wolf whined at the sight of her. It was desperate to go to her, to hold her. I hesitated to act on those desires. I didn’t know how she’d react to me. The last words she’d spoken to me weren’t the loving kind. I didn’t blame her for that, but it terrified me that something between us had been broken.
Maddy noticed my presence and turned from the plate she was working. I stood in place, unsure what to do. She surprised me by dropping her butter knife and crossing the room. She swung her arms around me and pressed her face into my chest, hugging me tightly. I almost sobbed in relief and put my own arms around her, pulling her close. Nothing had ever felt so good as having her body pressed into mine.
“I’m sorry,” Maddy whispered.
“For what?”
“For what I said to you. I’m sorry. I was panicking and freaked out and scared. I didn’t mean to say what I said to you. You have kept your promises. I wasn’t thinking clearly. All I could do was picture my family and Abi in those pictures. I just want to save them, Nico.”
I gently pulled her away from me and looked into her eyes. “We’re going to figure this out.” I didn’t make another promise. No matter what she said, I knew I hadn’t done a very good job at making good on my promises. “I love you. Losing you is not an option. I’m not going to hand you over to them so they can do God knows what to you.”
“I think I have a plan to help.”
I raised an eyebrow. “You do? Let’s hear it.”
“I want you to claim me. I think I’ll be able to shift after you do. If the royals are afraid I can become some big powerful beast, then maybe I can. Once I’m a full shifter, I can train and get stronger. Put the fear of God into them. If I can control the power inside me, then maybe we can use it.”
I frowned and thought for a second before answering. “Maddy, I plan on claiming you. I want you forever, but becoming a shifter won’t make you all-powerful. The guys and I are scared that we won’t be enough as it is. One more shifter won’t make that much of a difference.”
Maddy pulled her lower lip into her mouth and nibbled at it. I could see she was trying to think of what to say. Then she looked me dead in the eye and said something I wasn’t prepared for. “I don’t think my wolf is normal. I think she’s…much more.”
“Huh?”
“You guys talk about feeling sensations and emotions from your wolves, but my connection isn’t anything like what you guys describe. Her voice is so strong, almost like it’s another person standing beside me, whispering in my ear. I noticed it the night of the full moon. She’s powerful, Nico. Very powerful. If we can finally break her free, she might be the secret weapon we need. It’s only a hunch, but I think I’m right.”
“Maddy, I don’t want to claim you on the basis of a hunch.”
“Are you serious?” Maddy asked.
“Uh…I…what?” I stumbled over my words, trying to come up with an answer. I wasn’t entirely sure what she meant by that. Serious about not claiming her, or that it was more than a hunch? I didn’t know what to say.
“I want you to claim me anyway, you big idiot. I already promised myself to you. I love you. That’s not going to change. I want you, and I want you completely and totally. If you still want to wait, then that’s up to you. I’ll wait, but just know that I’m ready to be yours. Completely yours.”
I thought my wolf was literally going to jump out of my chest. Hearing her lay it all out like that had sent him into a frenzy. It almost felt like he was going feral. The desperation I felt in him was like nothing I’d ever experienced before. It was all I could do to hold him off. I wanted to take her more than anything. I wanted to pick her up and slam her onto the kitchen island. Rip her clothes off and fuck her brains out, then sink my teeth into her, claim her, and make her mine forever.
I blinked the thoughts away, I still didn’t want this to be some spontaneous thing. I wanted it to be special. To mean something.
I cupped her cheek. “A few more days, I promise. Not much longer. We’ll talk about how to get you through your first shift. Soon.”
Maddy leaned forward and kissed me. “I can wait. If that’s what’s best.”
“We’re going to make it through this, Maddy.”
She nodded. “I know. Fate didn’t bring us this far for us to fail.”
MADDY
We’d been back home for a week, but a part of me still felt like I was stuck in Sweden, stuck in some purgatory where I had to relive everything. Kenneth’s death, the pictures of my parents, of Abi, the running and the fear. I didn’t know what the symptoms of PTSD were, but I had a sneaking suspicion that I was close to going down that route.
I’d been on edge since returning home. It was all I could do to keep from having a full-blown meltdown. It was so hard to have faith, to trust that the royals were being honest. That they wouldn’t hurt them yet. That they were still alive. That we’d get the chance to rescue them. I had no idea if my faith was misplaced or not, but it was the only shred of hope I had, so I clung to it with a mental death grip.
Nico and I had been spending a lot of time out in the forest behind his house. We’d walk through the trees, and he had me hold my hands out, touching the leaves and branches as we went. He told me connecting with nature would help me connect with my wolf. He was mentally preparing me for my first shift. The next full moon was the expiration date. Either Nico would claim me, or I’d go through another agonizing night as the moon tugged my body towards it.
Nico was still not ready to claim me. We hadn’t even had sex since we’d gotten home. Part of me wondered if the things I’d said to him the night we got back had ruined what we’d had between us. I’d apologized, but it hadn’t seemed to make a difference. He was still sleeping in his own room, leaving me in mine. I’d cried myself to sleep the night before, thinking I’d messed things up so bad that he would never want to be with me like that again. No claiming, no love-making, no nothing. He said he loved me, but I missed the closeness of our bodies. So, not only did I have guilt about my family getting kidnapped, but now I had guilt about what I’d said to the man I loved.
There was no way I could keep working at the bar. Not with Abi being held in some godforsaken basement or dungeon or something. I messaged the entire staff and said we were closing temporarily. Like before, I’d keep cutting them a check each week. They were understanding, but I knew some of them would start looking for another job. Why wouldn’t they? They could double their money by taking my check and working somewhere else. Then when it was time to finally reopen, most would never come back.
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