NIKOLAITHE SCREEN GLOWED in the darkened room, casting pale blue light across my desk as I leaned back in my chair. My fingers drummed against the armrest in a slow, steady rhythm, but my eyes? My eyes never left him.Claude. Even on a screen, he held my attention like a curse I couldn’t shake. His hair was a wild mess, his chest bare as he shifted on the bed, caught in restless sleep. Five days. It had only been five days since I’d brought him here, but it felt like longer.The knock on my office door didn’t pull my gaze from the monitor. “Enter,” I said, my voice clipped.Andrei stepped inside, a bag in his hand, his expression neutral. “It’s done, Boss,” he said simply, swinging the bag lightly.I finally tore my eyes away, snapping the laptop shut with more force than necessary. “I’ll handle it.”Andrei didn’t flinch. He just handed the bag over, nodded, and stepped back. There were no questions, no hesitation. He knew better.I walked down the hall toward his room. My footsteps
CLAUDE HE’D FORGOTTEN TO take the ones around my hands off.And he didn’t believe me.Those two thoughts circled in my mind, over and over, as I paced the room. Minutes, hours—I wasn’t sure anymore. The untouched food on the nightstand had gone cold, the smell stale now, but I couldn’t bring myself to care. All I could think about was Nikolai and how much I needed him to believe me.I sank down on the edge of the bed, knees bouncing, my eyes trained on the door like I could will him to come through it. I couldn’t get Nikolai out of my head, couldn’t stop thinking about the way he’d looked at me.Like he was waiting for me to fuck up.Then I heard it. Footsteps.My pulse kicked up, the air catching in my lungs. But something about the sound was wrong. They weren’t his—too heavy, too uneven.The steps stopped just outside the door. My heart was a knot in my throat as the lock clicked, and when the door swung open, it wasn’t Nikolai standing there.It was him. The man who’d stopped them
NIKOLAIFOUR HOURS AGOI should’ve known it was a setup the second he said he wanted to meet alone.No security. No backup. Just the two of us in some rotting warehouse stinking of damp wood and stale blood. A test, that’s what it was. Anton Markovic wanted to see if I was stupid enough to come unprotected.I wasn’t.Now, standing in front of the seven duffel bags I was supposed to be getting—except there were only four—I felt my patience thinning.Anton smirked, like he thought I wouldn’t notice. Like I was some idiot who wouldn’t count."Gde ostalnye?" I asked, voice calm. Where are the rest?Anton tilted his head. Shrugged. “You get what you get.”I nodded slowly, rolling my shoulders back. He thought I would take the four bags and walk away. That I needed this deal more than he did. Maybe he even thought I was afraid of him.My fingers twitched."You think I’m a joke?""No, Nikolai," he said, but the smirk didn’t leave. "I think you are young. Maybe not ready for this game."I mov
CLAUDEI PUSHED THE shift back the second Nikolai went limp, his head tilting forward, dark hair sticking to his sweat-drenched skin. My chest tightened, panic gripping me so hard it made my vision blur for a second, my breath catching in my throat. My leg was already on the couch, one knee pressing into the cushion as I reached for him, my hands gripping his face, tilting it back, trying to get a better look at him.“N-Nikolai?” I stammered, my fingers tightening around his jaw, my thumbs brushing against the sharp angles of his cheekbones, clammy with sweat. His skin was too pale, his lips parted slightly like he was about to say something, but nothing came out.My hands were shaking, my heart slamming against my ribs as I gave him a small shake, then a harder one. “Nikolai, wake up,” I said, but his body remained limp, his breathing shallow.Panic turned to desperation, clawing at my throat, pressing down on my chest like a stone I couldn’t shake off.I turned, searching for someon
NIKOLAIPAIN. IT WAS the first thing I registered—a deep, biting ache that pulsed through my shoulder and stomach, like someone had ripped me open and stitched me back together with dull, rusted wire. My body felt stiff, my limbs weighed down, as if lead had been poured into my veins.I cracked my eyes open.The dim glow of the bedside lamp cast long shadows across the room, painting familiar shapes in gold and black. My bedroom. My space. The air was thick with the scent of antiseptic and blood—mine.I inhaled slowly, controlling my breath, even as irritation curled hot in my chest.I was alive.Barely.The door creaked open.My gaze snapped to the movement, sharp, alert, tracking Andrei as he stepped inside. His presence meant only one thing—I’d been out too long. My eyes flickered past him, settling on the IV drip at my bedside. A slow, cold anger seeped into my bones.My jaw clenched.“How long?” My voice came out rough.Andrei hesitated, but only for a second. “Three days.”Thre
CLAUDETHE CHAINS RATTLED as I jerked up, my heart slamming against my ribs so hard it hurt. My breath caught in my throat, my eyes locking on the figure standing in the doorway.Nikolai.His name slipped from my lips before I could stop it, shaky and desperate.He was standing, but barely. His shoulders slumped slightly, exhaustion clinging to him like a second skin. Bandages wrapped tight around his torso and shoulder, stark against the paleness of his skin, and a pair of sweatpants hung low on his hips. His hair was a mess, damp and tousled, and a faint sheen of sweat glistened along his brow. He looked like hell.But he was here.A sharp breath wrenched itself from my lungs, relief and something dangerously close to panic twisting inside me. I moved before I could think, stepping forward, but the moment I did, metal clanked loudly against the floor.I froze.Nikolai’s gaze flickered downward.For a second, he didn’t move. Didn’t speak.His eyes stayed on the silver shackles wrappe
CLAUDE NO ONE STOPPED me when I left the room.No one questioned me when I wandered through the massive house, and no one tried to keep me from moving freely. If anything, they moved when they saw me, their dark eyes flicking away, their shoulders stiffening.Those men dressed in black, all carrying weapons.It only made one thing clearer—I had been wrong about Nikolai. Again.It had been three days.Three days of roaming through endless hallways, searching for him in every corner, following my nose, trying to scent him out. But it was impossible.He was hiding from me. Deliberately ignoring me.And for the past three days, I’d been fed like a starved man. The maid bringing in meals three times a day, plates stacked with enough food to feed four men, but I barely touched any of it.Not when my mind was consumed with him.The door creaked and my ears twitched at the sound, my body tensing, instinct bracing for an attack—until his scent hit me.I didn’t move. Didn’t turn. Didn’t want t
NIKOLAITHE SOUND OF birds chirping was what woke me up. Soft. Unassuming. Completely out of place in my fucking world.A low groan rumbled from my throat as I shifted, only to realize something heavy was pressed against me—someone. Their head rested in the crook of my neck, the weight familiar and welcoming.Claude.I exhaled through my nose, my eyes locking onto his face. Even now, even in sleep, he looked like something I shouldn’t fucking touch. Something sharp and fragile at the same time, something that could cut me open if I wasn’t careful.Not that it mattered. I wasn’t careful. Never had been.And no matter how many times I thought about it, no matter how I turned it over in my head, I still couldn’t wrap my mind around the fact that werewolves were real. That he was real. That every goddamn thing I had ever believed about this world had been a lie.It fucked with me. Made me question everything. Made me run from him when I should have just accepted what was in front of me.Hi
CLAUDE MY WHOLE BODY ached, and a grunt left my lips as I forced my eyes open. A shaky breath slipped out as I stared at the beige wall.I blinked. My vision blurred at the edges, my throat raw as I sucked in a slow breath, tasting clean air—warm, stale, nothing like the damp rot I’d been drowning in for… gods, how long?I turned my head slowly, but the space beside me was empty.Nikolai.He had—he’d—My heart slammed once, twice. I pushed myself up, muscles screaming, my body heavy and my arm ached. I looked down, saw the needle hooked into my vein. The sight made my stomach lurch. The sharp pull of skin. The cold press of metal. Hands that had grabbed, torn, held me down—A sharp breath burned its way through my lungs.I yanked the IV out. Blood welled at the puncture site, beading, slipping over my skin, but I barely felt it. It was nothing. Nothing compared to—I swallowed hard.The sheets smelled clean. Too clean. No sweat, no filth, no blood soaked into the fibers. My pack didn
NIKOLAI EVERYTHING FUCKING HURT.My stomach felt like it had been torn open—because it had—the bandages wrapped tight around my torso doing nothing to ease the burning throb beneath. My left wrist was useless, broken and swollen, fingers stiff and unmovable. Every breath dragged through my ribs like a knife.Pain didn’t matter. Not when Claude was lying there, still as fucking death.I hadn’t moved from this chair in hours. Maybe longer. Time had blurred into the steady drip of the IV flushing the drugs from his veins, the too-shallow rise and fall of his chest, the quiet, pained sounds that barely even reached my ears. Sounds that never should have left his fucking lips. Not Claude. Not mine.I wanted to touch him. To brush my fingers over his skin, to feel the warmth of him and remind myself he was still here. Still breathing. But he looked so fucking fragile. A man who could bring me to my knees, reduced to this. Bruises painted across his body, silver burns marking his wrists whe
NIKOLAITHE GUN WAS empty. I already fucking knew that. He knew that. But I still held it like it meant something. Like I could shove it down his throat and pull the trigger just to hear the useless, hollow click. Viktor stood there, fucking smirking, like he hadn’t earned the slowest death I could give him. I wanted to carve that smirk off his face. I wanted him on his knees, choking on his own fucking teeth. His nostrils flared. He was scenting me—like an animal, like he had any right. I dragged in a sharp, deep, breath trying to steady the anger clawing at my ribs. And then he grinned. “This must be him,” he said, voice low, amused. His eyes slid past me—to Claude. Hanging there. Bound in chains. “The man I could smell all over you.” A pause. Just a second. Just long enough for me to hear it—Claude’s breath catching. Viktor chuckled. “The one who’s been fucking you.” His head tilted, his smirk stretching. “I must’ve taught you well.” Taught. The word felt like b
NIKOLAIHE WAS EASY to track.The chip was still in his ear.That meant he was still alive. That meant—I gripped my phone so tight my fingers ached, my jaw locking as I forced myself to breathe. It rang once. Twice. Then—“Nikolai.”I closed my eyes, exhaling sharply through my nose. “Enzo.”A pause. Then that goddamn smirk in his voice, like he didn’t realize I was this close to losing it. Or maybe he did and just didn’t give a fuck.“Didn’t expect you to call me this quickly.”I didn’t have time for this. Not when I finally knew where he was. Not when I didn’t know what they’d done to him. My Claude.My chest felt too tight. My pulse was a hammer against bone.“What kills a wolf?” My voice came out low, steady—too steady—but my fingers curled tighter around the phone, white-knuckled and my breath short.Enzo took a sharp breath. Then chuckled. “Why? You planning to get rid of me? Didn’t think you’d be so eager.”I bent down, yanked the zipper open on my bag, my hands moving fast, p
NIKOLAITHE DOOR SLAMMED open. I turned my head sharply, muscles tensing as a man walked in, and Christ—I didn’t need to be told he was Claude’s father. The resemblance was enough. The weight he carried in his steps was enough.Then the door opened again, and she—Ava—was rushed inside. Unconscious, clothes filthy, body limp in someone’s arms. I shot to my feet, my pulse hammering as I waited for the door to open once more. For him to walk through it.But he didn’t.“Where the fuck is he?” My voice was sharp, my steps quick as I closed the distance between me and Claude’s father. He stopped, his face twisted in something close to pain before he turned and took the stairs two at a time.A pit opened up in my stomach. Something was wrong. Something was very fucking wrong.I ran my hand through my hair and only when I dropped it did I realize—I was shaking.I turned and bolted out the door, my breath coming fast, my heart slamming against my ribs as I scanned the vast driveway. He wasn’t
!Content Warning!This chapter contains themes of sexual assault, non-consensual drugging, and past trauma. While the assault itself is not depicted on the page, the emotional and physical aftermath are explored in detail. This scene is intense, raw, and may be distressing for some readers.CLAUDEI JERKED—HARD. Hard enough that the skin of my wrists burned raw against the silver, but I didn’t care. I couldn’t care. The only thing that mattered was getting him off me. Getting away. But Viktor was right there.His breath fanned across my face, hot and cloying, the same way it always did, the way it had when I was nineteen and begging for it to stop. My stomach lurched, bile burning its way up my throat, but I swallowed it down. I couldn’t be weak. Not now.Viktor clicked his tongue, a sound of amusement, of mockery. “Look at you,” he murmured, his grip tightening on my chin as he tilted my head up. “All grown up. You’ve been getting fucked, haven’t you?”His words were a blade, cuttin
CLAUDEFUCK. MY HEAD HURTS. I tried to force my eyes open, but no matter how hard I blinked, everything stayed dark, and that’s when it hit me. I was blindfolded.No. No. No.How did this happen? How did I end up here?A snarl clawed up my throat as I jerked forward, but the pull of metal—biting, burning—stopped me cold. My arms were stretched above me, bound tightly with silver. I could smell it, taste its acrid sting in the back of my throat.No.I yanked harder, muscles straining, breath heaving. The scent of damp stone and rust filled my lungs. The sound of water dripping from somewhere above was too familiar. The chains rattling over my head, too familiar. And the sound of boots—heavy, slow on concrete—hitting the ground, too fucking familiar.No. No. No.My body jerked violently, panic clawing through me, my muscles screaming as I yanked against the chains. I couldn’t—I couldn’t be here again. This can’t be happening. Not again.I felt him stop in front of me, his breath warm a
NIKOLAI“WHO THE HELL are you?”I set the bottle down, shoving my hands into my pockets, letting the silence stretch between us. I tilted my head, letting my eyes stay on her, watching every flicker of emotion cross her face.I didn’t answer right away and she Just stood there, jaw clenched so tight I thought it might crack. Her eyes roamed over me—calculating—like she was trying to piece me into some world I didn’t belong in.I smirked.She could smell him on me. That much I knew. I could see it in the way her gaze flickered, the tightness in her jaw. Her mate. Her fucking husband. The thought almost made me laugh.“You’re human,” she finally said, her voice tight, clipped.“And you’re his wife.” I let the words hang in the air, watching her reaction like I was savoring a slow burn.A breath left her, but she didn’t speak. She just stood there, staring at me with those cold eyes, anger rolling off her in waves. Then, she took a step forward, her heels clicking on the floor, challengin
CLAUDE I RAN A palm over my face as I slammed the car door shut and made my way toward my father’s house.‘Get over here. Now.’ That’s all he had said. No explanation. No warning. Just an order thrown through the pack link while I was with him. Nikolai. My fingers drifted to the tiny bump behind my left ear. I’d never given it much thought before. Never cared enough to. But now, as I walked, my touch stayed.The maids bowed as I passed, but their eyes stayed locked on me, their whispers curling through the air and into my ears. My scent was thick, there—like an omega bred past the heat season, claimed beyond reason. I reeked of him. Of what he had done to me. Hell, I was still leaking him.I turned left, inhaled sharply, and shoved the door open—then froze.It wasn’t just my father in the room.Alpha Monroe stood beside him.Fuck.I swallowed, shutting the door behind me, my gaze flicking from my father—his glare so sharp it could slice—to Monroe, who was staring at me like I was so