9

NIRVANA

“Anyone there?” I bent over to see who was on the other side but saw no one. Until a giant brown wolf appeared that almost gave me a heart attack.

With my breathing stuck in my lungs, my heart pounded so hard, and my feet seemed rooted to the ground. 

My gaze was still glued to the wolf, and I had no idea there were wolves around here. 

And then the cracking sound of something broken pierced my ears— it sounded like bones crunching and excruciating. Goosebumps erupted all over my skin. 

Shocked, my eyes bulged out, but I couldn’t manage to blink or breathe until my lungs almost exploded and my chest began to heave. 

The wolf deformed before my very eyes. The bones cracked, and from the four-legged animal, it turned into a two-legged naked human in just mere seconds. 

It was not real. 

I was just dreaming, or the shadow was playing tricks with me. 

This was impossible.

“Oh, no, no.” Shivering, I stepped back with my shaky knees and immediately crashed into something huge, like a tree trunk, making me yelp in shock.

I jerked back, my heels tripping off, losing my balance. Before I could fall and land on my ass, big hands reached out, enveloping me like a warm blanket. 

“Easy.” The familiar, pleasing, deep ramble somehow eased me. “You shouldn’t be here alone.”

I looked up, stared with wide eyes over a profound sense of shock, and met his forest green gaze, his eyes electrifying under the moonlight, almost mythical. My chin trembled as I choked out a gulp of air into my lungs. I closed my mouth. 

“Breathe, Nirvana,” he said calmly, eyes raking through my face. “Or you’ll pass out.”

I swallowed hard and shook my head. 

“Hey.” His voice was laced with concern, enough to convince me he was sincere. He swiped hair on my face, tucking them behind my ear. “What happened?”

“L-let go of me,” I whispered in horror.

“You’re shaking. Let me take you back to the house.”

“Just let me go.” I gripped his arms with my trembling hands.

“You look like you’ve seen something around here. You’re in shock.”

“Get off of me, Knight. I mean it.” With all the weirdness and something supernatural, I saw tonight that terrified and shocked me, I took all my strength and pushed him on his chest.

“I just wanna help you.” He gaped in disbelief. His expression unfolded a sense of dread.

I scoffed. “You’re joking, right? Earlier tonight, you can’t wait to get rid of me. Why are you here all of a sudden? I don’t need your help.”

“Nirvana.” His voice seemed filled with misery, almost believable. 

“Like what you wished for, I’m leaving early in the morning. If I could find a flight tonight, I’m already out of your hair right now.” My knees wobbled as I walked away from him, but it wasn’t from an unexplainable thing I saw. It was from anger. 

“You’re leaving without telling Kailin.”

“This is what you want, right? You think I’m a bad influence and not rich enough to be your cousin’s best friend.” I stopped and faced him. “I couldn’t think of anything I did wrong. Kailin and I have been friends since college, but you clearly hate my presence in your miserable kingdom.”

Before I could walk far, Knight was on my heels, reaching out, grabbing my wrist, and whirling me around. He pulled me against him, took the back of my head with his hands, and growled— an animalistic growl with a heated look in his eyes. “You think this is easy for me.”

I wanted to laugh out loud, but I was more confused than I had the strength to comprehend what he said. Yet I was so mad right now I began to shake. 

“I, Knight Orion Blackwell,” he started chanting, which confused me even more. “Alpha of White Moon Pack, reject you, Nirvana—”

“I wanna chop your head off and use it as a soccer ball because right now I’m infuriated at you, you weirdo, arrogant, selfish son of a bitch!”