Chapter 3

NIKOLAI

"Za zdarovye," Sasha and I toasted each other, and I took a gulp of the vodka. After piling our kill in a shed the pack had for exactly that, he invited me over to the beta wing of the packhouse to throw back a few.

"Not bad, eh?" he asked.

"Not bad," I replied.

He gave my shoulder a shake. "Hey, Volkov, loosen up. Life's getting better. We're free now."

I grunted.

Sasha was my good friend going back to when we were pups. People had always remarked we could pass for brothers. They clearly lacked keen eyes. Sure, we both sported thick blond hair and tall frames—although I had at least a good ten centimeters on him—our facial shapes were much different. His was more rotund, and his cheeks constantly reddened with emotion.

My features were far sharper, and hardened, and had become even more so in the past year. At times, I looked in the mirror, and I saw my late father staring back at me. His ghost haunted me from the beyond, shaping my features to mimic the forehead furrows, lifeless eyes, and permanent scowl I'd always associated with him.

I took another sip of the vodka.

"Have you checked out any of the girls around the pack yet?" Sasha asked. How could he could be so relaxed, talking about such meaningless things, especially not after he'd lost just about his entire family except his sister and niece? He'd had to carry the poor fatherless girl on his back for miles since she couldn't shift yet. I, myself, had carried an orphaned boy.

"There are more important things than girls," I replied.

"Like what? The pack was nearly wiped clean. If you ask me, reproduction should be at the top of our priority list. We should be paying our pack members to have sex."

I let out another grunt.

"Hey, come on, you have to have a sense of humor. Otherwise, life's just damn depressing."

"Life's damn depressing either way," I replied.

We silently sipped on our drinks and munched on chips Sasha had dug up from the packhouse cabinets. There was a time when this had been fun. When drinking meant joking and laughing and giving our friends shit. But now I only had one friend that hadn’t left for the other realm.

The alcohol numbed me a little but it wasn't enough to take it all away. But it was something. The two of us drank until there was only half a bottle left and I was feeling the effects—something that took a lot for an alpha. But I was pleased that when I got up, my head was a bit light, and my shoulders slumped a bit into a relaxed position.

"You need some pussy, big time." Sasha shook his head at me. "I'm telling you. It'll be like ten therapy sessions in one. Your balls must be so heavy. When was the last time you emptied them?"

"Stop being so vulgar," I responded. With that, I headed toward the alpha wing and proceeded upstairs to my bedroom.

The Tikaani family had been more than generous. The bedroom they provided was better than the one I'd had back in Ukraine at my own packhouse. And the fact that they were willing to host my entire pack without asking anything in return was flabbergasting. I vowed to repay them plus some one day, once I was able to get my own pack settled and functioning independently.

It was well past midnight and the halls were silent. I was about to turn right to head toward my room when my nose caught that scent.

Fuck, it was amazing. I breathed it all into my lungs, as if I were inhaling the best drug in the world. It instantly melded with my buzz, and soon my feet were carrying me in the direction it was coming from. Boginya, what I wouldn't do to bottle it up and snort it every day.

A door creaked open in the hallway and out stepped an angel. My eyes traced her from her bare toes, which were painted a tropical orange, up her baggy black sweatpants that hung low on her hips, and stomach that peeked out from a cropped, long-sleeve shirt, and was more toned and sculpted than possibly even some of my warriors'.

She wore a scarf—no, a blanket really, with how much it covered her chest in thick, concealing folds. While I was not usually one for excessively lewd thoughts, I suddenly could think of nothing else but tearing it from her neck, revealing everything she was hiding underneath. I could already imagine how her bare breasts would feel in my hands after I'd pushed her against the wall and shoved aside the superfluous fabric between us—

Boginya!

What the fuck was wrong with me? I didn't even know her name.

She stepped forward with her head down and long, dark waves shielding her face like a curtain. Then, slowly, she looked up. My eyes locked with the most remarkable amber gaze I'd ever seen in my life. The whole earth seemed to tilt beneath me, the world faded into nothing, and suddenly we were the only two people, everything else long forgotten.

"Paru." The word forced itself onto my lips. And I almost choked when I said it. Could she really be—?

"What?" She said in a deep, honeyed, throaty voice, furrowing her brows. Did she not feel it too? "Sorry, what did you just say?" When I didn't respond immediately, she continued speaking, "Why are you looking at me like that? Do I have something on my face?" She brought both manicured hands to her cheeks.

I shook my head, trying to clear my mind.

Unexpectedly, she smiled widely, revealing all of her perfectly straight, white teeth. The most perfect teeth I'd ever seen. They'd put any movie star to shame. "Oh! You must be Alpha Nikolai Volkov! Hi! I'm Terri, Terri Tikaani. I'm Alpha Tyce's sister and Julia’s my mom. She's already told me so much about you." She put her hand out.

"Don't you—?" I started, not sure exactly what to ask.

"Don't I what?" She tilted her head, observing me. I stared back into her inquisitive amber eyes, not able to tear myself away from them.

Was she fucking with me? I mean if we were… Shouldn't she feel it too?

And then a bleaker thought came to me. What if someone had bewitched me to believe she was my mate when she wasn't? Could and would someone do that? And why? It was the only explanation I could think of immediately unless she really was just fucking with me. But I also wondered why she'd do that. We'd never met each other previously, and most women were desperate to be with an alpha. So what would be her reasoning for pretending not to be mated to one?

"You seem sad. Are you okay?" Her expression suddenly changed. She looked up at me through her long, dark lashes, her eyebrows downturned in almost a look of pity.

"What?" I barked out.

"It's almost like I can feel it." She glanced down at her hands as if they held some answer to a question she had. "And you seem perplexed. I don't understand," she muttered.

"Good night," I grunted out and turned on my heel to head to my bedroom. I had to get away. The alcohol was clearly affecting me more than I thought it was.

"Good night!" she called out. "It was nice to meet you, Alpha Nikolai. See you around!" Boginya, she was peppy. And that's when I knew there was no way she could be my mate. She was exactly the type of girl that grated on my nerves. The kind with no worries, no responsibilities, and just walked around like life was just some big fucking party. A princessa. And she had to be a princess, having been raised in this oversized mansion with so much money she was probably used to always getting what she wanted.

I shut the door behind me, and let out a breath, relieved to be in the privacy of my bedroom. As I threw off my clothes and got ready for bed, thoughts swirled around my head—distractions. I couldn't seem to push her out of my mind. Boginya, she was so beautiful. Stunning. I couldn't recall ever seeing a more gorgeous woman in my life.

The resemblance to her alpha brother was undeniable—the same tan skin, dark hair, and striking amber eyes. Their facial features shared a similar structure, but where his had a rugged edge, hers were soft and cherubic. Her cheeks were full, dimpling when she smiled with those plush, pillowy lips.

And her scent.

Was that how she smelled naturally? Or had she been wearing an elusive perfume? I'd heard mates were supposed to smell particularly nice, but I still couldn't make sense of what had just transpired.

I tried to push it from my mind but found I simply couldn't. I tossed and turned, and soon found myself painfully stiff. Blyad, this is exactly what I didn't need right now! Especially with two alphas living in the same home that would have my neck if I even thought about touching her. Fuck my life.