Konstantin: The Heartless Beta
22. Nikolai's Mate

Konstantin

Kai walks ahead of me, and we spot the curvy little blonde sitting at the bar. She tenses up beforeshe even turns around, and her heartbeat starts racing.

/“Calm down with your fucking Alpha vibe, will you?"/ I tell him over the link, and he raises hiseyebrow at me. /“We don't know who this girl is; let's hear her out.”/

He nods, we come to a stop in front of her, and I blink, wondering if we were seeing right. I knowI'm sounding like a complete asshole right now, but this woman is not Nikolai's type at all. She lookslike she belongs in a library; short and chubby with curly blonde hair tied up in a high bun and thickblack-rimmed glasses behind brown eyes.

In short, she’s completely plain and not the bombshells he usually used to bring to his penthouse.Kai doesn't seem to think what I'm thinking, though, and he approaches her. One look at Kai, and Ican literally see her heart drop into her knees

“You're Alpha Kai,” she says in a hitched voice and wide eyes.

My brother nods. “I am, and this is my brother-"

“Konstantin,” she says and looks at me. “I know; I've seen all of you, including Caterina, Ilya, Lily andArya.”

Kai and I look at one another when she says this, and I already feel the overprotectiveness comingfrom Kai when this girl mentions the name of his mate.

I slap his shoulder. “Okay, so do you mind starting from the top, hmm? Who are you, and how doyou know us?” I ask her.

/“Listen to her heartbeat to catch her out on a lie,"/ Kai says over the link.

/“That's gonna be a bit difficult since her heartbeat went erratic the minute she caught your scent.”/I answer. Kai knows the power he holds without even having to say a word, and this timid little thingis understandably terrified.

The girl sighs and starts playing with her fingers. “Please, don't think I'm weird for what I'm about tosay.”

I chuckle when she says this and cross my arms. “If you knew half of what we've been through lately,you wouldn't be saying that,” I say.

She nods. “I have an idea... but let me start with my name. I'm Nova, and I'm from Seattle. I alsohave never met Nikolai before.”

Okay, now this is fucked up, but I am willing to hear her out since it's anything goes right aboutnow.

“You only know your mate when you smell their scent and make eye contact with them. It's calledThe Mate Bond Sighting for a reason.” Kai says. I can tell he doesn't believe this girl, and I am notsure I do either.

A look of desperation crosses her face, and she swallows hard. It's going to take a lot more thanthat for us to believe whatever she's talking about.

“I know all of that. I might be a Rogue orphan, but I am aware of our lineage.” She says, then sighs.“About six months ago, I started having these dreams of a twenty-something man with short blondehair shaved on the sides, light blue eyes and tattoos all the way down his right arm to the tips of hisfingers.”

Nikolai; she’s describing Nikolai to the T.

“I saw his fears; I saw Caterina tying him up the night of the full moon, I knew his hopes and dreamsas well as his shortcomings.” She looks up at Kai. “And I know how much he looks up to you andhow awful he felt when Caterina went missing on his watch.”

Kai doesn't show it, but he's getting more frustrated by the second. This girl better hurry up beforehe loses his temper as he did with me in the office.

She blinks and narrows her eyes. “After a while, I started conversing with his wolf in my dreams, andthen those conversations started happening while I was awake. He told me how broken and inferiorNikolai feels compared to everyone in the pack, how the hole in his emptiness grew after Viktordied because now he had to become the Delta. He never felt like he could measure up to Viktor. Hestill doesn't.”

I can tell my brother is getting angrier at her every word. How could she possibly know all this if shehad never met our brother? How did she know about Viktor and Caterina? And who the fuck isArya?!

I pinch the bridge of my nose. “This doesn't make sense! How-"

"Did you have a dream about a woman with long, dark hair and golden eyes?” Kai suddenly asks,and I see Nova's eyes widen.

"How did you know that?" she exclaims, her eyes flitting from Kai to me.

Kai sighs and looks at me. “It seems Tiarin forgot to tell us she paid a visit to more than one of ourmates.” He says.

“Tiarin? The Goddess?” Nova asks, and Kai nods. “This... these dreams are a gift from The Goddess?"Kai grits his teeth before answering her. “Yes, they are. Now, do you mind telling us why you're here,Nova?” He asks, not telling her anything else for obvious reasons.

She swallows hard and frowns. “Nikolai's wolf stopped visiting me a month after he appeared; rightbefore that, I felt an immense pressure on my chest, like a cinder block had been dumped on me. Itsubsided within the hour, but Nikolai's wolf never returned. I tried to remember everything he toldme and recalled New York and the name Fang. That's how I found you.”

A pain in her chest; that's the feeling when a pack member dies. I can still remember how it feltwhen Vikor died; it's a dull ache that definitely does not subside within the hour.

/“She must mean when Xamnir killed us,”/ I tell Kai over the link.

Kai only nods, then narrows his eyes. “You felt a pain, and it subsided? Do you still feel the MateBond right now? Do you still feel Nikolai?” He asks.

Nova nods. “Yes, but when I try to call to his wolf, all I see is a green fog. Is Nikolai okay? Is he hurt?”As soon as she says this, it clicks into place for us. A green fog; a fucking green fog. That's Stefan'scalling card and exactly what I saw when Lily's wolf came and spoke to me.

"Kai-"

“I know,” he answers, “and you're certain you haven't felt a pain like that again?”

“Positive,” she says, “His wolf is still there just... lost? I can't explain it without sounding crazy.”

I laugh and shake my head. “The only thing that sounds crazy right about now is the fact that you'retelling us our dead brother is still alive,” I say.

Her eyes widen in shock, and her eyes weave from me to Kai, then back to me. “W-What? No, thatcan't be right! I still feel him!” She says, then places a hand on her chest. “I feel him right here; he'slost, so terribly lost and scared!”

Now it's my turn to be shocked to shit because this girl who hasn't even met Nikolai yet is nowsobbing her heart out. Kai looks at me with a scowl, and I shrug. “What?”

He sighs and places a hand on her shoulder. “Nova, look at me,” he says, and she peers up into hiseyes. “Nikolai died a few months ago; I cleaned and wrapped his body myself before the funeralpyre. What you're saying... it makes no sense.”

“There must be a mistake-"

“I can promise you there's no mistake; Nikolai is dead,” Kai says with finality and looks at me as if totell me to shut up about the subject too.

Nova shakes her head and sniffs. “Then what is this green fog I keep seeing when I call to his wolf?”She asks, sounding more desperate now than she did when she started talking earlier.

"Forget about it, Nova and go back home. Forget about Nikolai and us; forget about everything.”Kai says, then turns on his heel to walk out.

“No!” she growls, and I watch her brown eyes turn bright blue, the eyes of a Rogue. “l won't! I can't!He's my mate; I can't just abandon him like this when I know he's in trouble!”

I don't know why, but her words cause my heart to waver and Kai to stop in his tracks. I can tell he'snot angry from his scent, just... grief-stricken. Our little brother meant a lot to him, but if what Novasays is true and Nikolai is still alive and being held somewhere, then-

"Who the fuck have I been mourning all this time?” Kai roars, clenching his fists.

Oh, no.

“Fuck!” I exclaim and run over to my brother, placing my hands on his shoulders and facing him. Hiseyes are crimson and threatening to split again. “Breathe, brother.”

Kai looks up at me with such a crestfallen expression that tears start welling in my eyes as well.“Who... who the fuck have I been mourning, Kon?”

I shake my head and throw my arms around him, well, as far as I can get since he's so fucking huge.“We'll replace him, and I bet I know who has him.”

Again Stefan Russo is at the root of everything fucking out for us. Kai doesn't say it, but I know he’sthinking exactly the same thing I am: who the fuck did we burn on that funeral pyre?

Not just that, but is there still a traitor in the pack?