Wrath of the Wolf Queen [HOTWP #2]

Chapter Three: NIKOLAI

I walk through the town in borrowed commoner clothes, barely breathing, hardly thinking. Everything around me moves too fast, too loud, and I feel one bad noise away from snapping entirely. The fullness of the mate bond taunts me in my chest, pushing my lungs to the sides, making it hard to breathe. Making it hard to do anything but feel its presence, to acknowledge its wretched existence.

Snap! It's all I hear inside my mind. Snap! Snap! Snap! The moment the bond clicked into place, solidifying my fate. The moment I looked into those wretchedly stunning eyes, shifting between shades of red and purple as the bond took form. Making my worst nightmare a reality.

I cannot believe I have a mate. Worse yet, I cannot believe I am mated to the girl that I am meant to kill.

Fuck you, fate.

I turn down a familiar street and head towards one of the cobblestone houses. Usually, I would take my time to glance around, to make certain no one is watching, but I'm far too distracted for that. I ascend the steps, push open the door...

...and pause.

A woman stands in the entranceway, black eyes roiling with deadly fury. Crimson-red hair coming down to her waist in waves, glinting like fresh blood.

"Lady Melisynda," I say, bowing my head in a show of respect. The High Witch steps forward. She is my savior. My master. The one who gave me everything when I had nothing.

And the one who is about to give me one hell of a tongue-lashing now.

She takes one slow, deliberate step forward, and I feel myself tense out of instinct. I knew she'd come here. Even before I opened the door, I knew she'd be waiting behind it. The fact that her lair – our lair – lay within the mountain ranges of Dyrkmore did not matter. She'd seen what had happened with that crystal ball of hers, and so she'd come down all the way down to Gahndor territory to give me hell. To my current base, just a few miles out from the palace itself, nestled in one of the nearby towns.

Benign. Unassuming. I like to hide in plain sight and she knows it.

"That was a spectacular failure, Fragor," she says, folding her arms. Her eyes go over me, pausing on the various burns and flesh wounds littering my skin, and her nose scrunches. "I hope you have a good reason as to why the girl with a heart defect bested you." She raises a perfectly-manicured brow. "Was it that she was your mate? Did your heart go soft, my dear Stormhound?"

My neck burns with humiliation, but I keep my head bowed. "It appears that Agnarys girl is stronger than we anticipated," I bite out. "When the Athena woman brought her back to life, it seems it repaired any previous maladies in her body. Including her heart."

"Hmph," is my master's thoughtful reply. She brings up her black claw-like nails and examines them. "That still does not explain why you're covered in burns, and why you returned without her heart in your hand."