Interstellar
16

“Time for bed!” Nova called out ot the toddlers, both of whom were currently hiding under the dining room table. She heard their giggles and looked everywhere but the table, their laughter each time she looked inside a cabinet or behind an appliance filling her with joy. “I guess I’ll just have to go to bed and read stories by myself if I can’t replace my babies. Is Aries over here?” she darted part the table, looking under a nearby chair. “Is Archer back there?” she lifted a blanket rack to peek behind it.

“We here!” Aries yelled, his voice still carrying a giggle. “Here, Novi, here!” He crawled out from under the table and raised his arms, wanting to be picked up. Nova scooped him up and kissed all over his face, exaggerating each smooching sound.

Archer was quick to crawl out after his brother, pulling on Nova’s leg to gain her attention. “Up! Want up!”

Nova situated Aries on her hip before bending to grab Archer, holding him to her chest as he wrapped his arms around her neck. She carried the boys to their room and set them on the end of the bed while she looked at a nearby bookshelf. “What stories do we want tonight?”

“Wolf story!” “Yeah, wolf story!” The boys were in agreement and Nova grabbed a worn copy of Aesop’s fables. She sat on the edge of the bed and flipped to The Wolf and the Crane, resting the book on her thighs as the boys cuddled up on either side of her.

Nova wound up reading five more stories before tucking the sleepy boys into bed. She softly, slowly, left the room and pulled the door shut. She hesitated outside their door, hearing a hushed discussion between Leon and his older sons.

“-trusting you both to step up. I’m not sure when your mother and I will be back, so take care of your siblings, help Cohen run drills, help Elise with patrols, do whatever needs to be done. Ask for help when you need it, offer when someone else is in need. Are we understood?”

Orion and Titan answered, “Yes, sir,” in unison.

“Good. Get some rest, boys.”

Nova passed the young men as they headed toward their own rooms, down the hall from their siblings. Nova still had not spent much time with Leon’s older kids. Orion, like his mother, had always been polite and welcoming. Titan, ont he other hand, was the only member of the pack who seemed displeased with her presence. He was a near carbon copy of his father, minus all the endearing qualities. Nova offered a small smile and a wave. Orion gave her a soft, “Good night, Nova,” while Titan glared down at her, huffing in annoyance. His gray eyes burned with something primal. It felt dangerous and sensual and it caused Nova’s knees to tremble, warmth spreading between her legs.

“Oh fuck,” she whispered. She caught a glimpse of Titan’s smirk as he turned away from her before slipping into his room, the door remaining wide open. Nova was still frozen from the intense and unexpected rush the young man had stirred within her. She watched him slip out of his sparring leathers and into a pair of pajama bottoms, slung tantalizing low on his hips, before he turned back to face her. He maintained piercing eye contact as he crawled into his bed, leaned back against the headboard, and beckoned her with a lazily outstretched hand.

Panic took over and Nova turned away, leaning back against the door to the toddler’s room as her vision tunneled and her mind raced wildly. She did not hear Titan calling to her. She did not see his smirk fall, replaced with a look of concern. She did not see him exit his room and lean against the wall beside her, But she did feel the sparks when his hand came to rest on her shoulder, an innocent touch that made her feel ungodly things. When his hand slid from her shoulder to her chin, gently pulling her face toward him, her world stopped spinning the moment their eyes met once more. Her panic faded after a momentary flash of memory, a dream she’d pushed away earlier in the day, the face of a cub with eyes of gold with striking gray rings.

“Titan,” her voice caught in her throat the moment she acknowledged, him a rush of conflicting emotions overwhelming her senses. She felt anger that her body had betrayed her, fear at Leon’s reaction to replaceing out about it, but all with an undercurrent of excitement. Leon’s voice echoed in her ears, I need you. Do you know the power you hold over me? Nova had never understood how he felt so strongly, how he was so sure that he was feeling more than lust. All it had taken a half-second glance from Titan to make her understand, to make her feel that instantaneous need for someone else, that feeling of being powerless to another person, a helplessness so strong her knees buckled.

All her senses settled when she heard him say, “We have a lot to catch up on, Nova.” His hand left her chin and wrapped around her fingers. She allowed herself to be guided to his bedroom. He sat her on the edge of his bed before crawling onto the mattress behind her, settling himself against the headboard once more. Titan watched her in comfortable silence, relishing the opportunity to take in her features without the scolding raps to the back of his head courtesy of his father and uncle.

Nova broke the silence without turning to face him. “What was that?”

“I think you know what it was.”

“Why didn’t you come to me sooner?”

“I think you know the answer to that one, too.”

Nova lowered her head. He was right, she knew the answers before she asked the questions. She just hoped she had been wrong. Another comfortable silence spread between them before she broke it again. “So where do we go from here?”

“That’s up to you. We can try to stay and make things work, or we can set out on our own.” She had yet to return his gaze, all this time she continued to look down into her lap. “Nova?”

“Yes?”

“Can you look at me for a sec?”

She paused, considering her response. “I don’t think so. We need to figure this out before that feeling comes back, and I think if I look at you, it will definitely come back.”

“Well, there’s still my last question. Where do we go from here?”

A silent sob wracked Nova’s chest. She folded up into herself, knees pulled to her chest, forehead resting against her arms. “I’m not ready to say goodbye yet. I know we can’t stay, but I’m not read to say goodbye.”

He wanted to tell her there wasn’t time, that she knew where his Dad had gone, that she knew what his parents were planning for this evening. He wanted to pull her into his arms and whisk her away, silently into the night and without any interruption from his family. He couldn’t control the question that came out instead. “Why did you accept my parents? Why agree to the ritual when you didn’t feel what we have?”

Her voice dripped with the tears streaming down her cheeks, “I didn’t. I told him I was self-sabotaging and Leon made an assumption, running off to talk to Stella before I even processed that he’d left. He was gone before I had the chance to tell him, and now it’s too late. I didn’t realize he was back until I put the boys to bed, and then, you know the rest. You were there.”

“Do you trust me, Nova?”

“I don’t even know you yet.”

“That isn’t what I asked. Please look at me.”

“I can’t, I’m not ready.”

“Nova,” his voice was firm, far too similar to his father, but it drew her attention. She glanced at him over her shoulder, the feelings she’d feared instantly welling up within her.

“I trust you.”

“Do you accept me?”

“Completely.”

She had spoken without hesitation, and Titan was behind her in a second, pulling her back flush against him. She relaxed into him, leaning her head back against his chest to gaze up at him. Her exposed neck was a temptation, the healing bite mark a bright scar that caused anger to bubble up within him. He pressed his lips against his father’s mark, marring her otherwise perfect skin, whispering against her, “Are you sure? No turning back.”

She gave him wider access to her neck without a second thought. There was no pain when he sank into her neck, only exquisite pleasure that drew a low moan from her lips. Nova felt an immediate response from the man behind her, his sweats stretching against her lower back. He groaned into her neck and sank his teeth deeper into her flesh, causing her to tremble within his grasp.