Chapter 466: A rabbit and a wolf

"I never knew you smoked," she said in a small voice, her fingers grabbing the side of her palazzo night pants, looking at this stranger in the form of her cousin, who had just killed.

"I picked up the habit recently. I learned it can be calming, especially when you have those crazy thoughts of wanting to strangle someone in your mind. Do you want to try?" He held it out for her between his fingers, and Zoe shook her head.

"I’m good..." She watched him shrug and bring the cigarette back to his lips to take a long drag and blow out more smoke as he crossed past the dead bodies to come toward her, but Zoe took a step back, and he paused.

"Are you afraid of me now, Zoe? You know I won’t hurt you if you don’t deserve it. We are family, and we stick together through thick and thin. Can you pretend you didn’t see me kill that bastard just now?" He asked, his voice coaxing, already determined that he would never use his powers on her to make her forget or to force her to love him like family.

If Nick was going to keep her here, he wanted his little cousin to like him on her own, just the way he was, and for her to still be his best friend, just like before. So he tried to appease her further with what he knew she liked.

"I have a blueprint of your fashion house, if you want. We can go take a walk, and you can pick a site. I’ll have it done before you know it. And the fabrics, I’ll make sure you get the best, including models and—"

"I want to go back home, Nick. I believe I am overstaying my welcome. My brother and Vee will be worried sick by now if they can’t reach me." Zoe said calmly, not wanting the panic inside her to show, nor her sudden terror of this new Nick standing before her.

Zoe hadn’t suspected anything of him so far, how could she? She had known him since childhood and had thought she knew what he could and couldn’t do, but seeing him kill, and the look in his eyes as he did it, was enough to confirm what she hadn’t wanted to believe since she started noticing people trembling before him.

"What home?" Nick asked, tilting his head sideways to look at her, as though he didn’t understand the words she’d just uttered. "Didn’t we agree this would be your new home?"

"We never agreed on any such thing," Zoe remarked.

"Then why do you think we’re discussing your fashion house? Oh, come on now, dear cousin, do I have to spell this out for you too? This is our new home now. Are you still interested in breakfast?" He questioned calmly as he smoked, watching her and sensing she didn’t agree with his view and his plans, and immediately he felt his blood begin to boil at that.

Not her too. What was wrong with people, that they couldn’t see him as the nice person he was trying so hard to be for them? What was so hard to accept about him that they ran from him? Hadn’t he done and given his cousin enough since she came here? Why did she suddenly look terrified of him?!

Nick wasn’t building this pack for himself alone, he was trying to save the people he cared about, to give them things Sebastian never had and to show them that he was more loveable. He’d recently learned that Vee would soon be a widow, because the elders had begun agreeing to kill his bastard cousin.

In truth, Nick hadn’t been able to keep up with the news in Silver, since he no longer had spies there, but he’d sent some men in disguise to gather information, and he’d learned everything that happened, including that fucking Sebastian had nearly gotten the love of his life executed!

Oh, Nick had wanted to storm in there and kill the bastard, but he’d been told the tables had turned, and they were now considering killing Sebastian instead, to replace him with the heir Viola would birth.

The bastard had put his seed in her before Nick ever could, and that news alone had pissed him off. And then his men had reported that they couldn’t get the equipment they needed from Silver, because that motherfucker Hugh was in prison, having been caught.

That was why he’d killed the two men Zoe had walked in on, and now he had to deal with appeasing her. He couldn’t afford to let his relationship with Zoe break down, not when he was so close to getting Vee here as well, and he needed Zoe on his side to be able to get Vee.

Pregnant or not, Nick intended to have her regardless. The least he could do was wait until the pup was born, then kill it and make it look like an accident, and then he would have his own pup in her instead. That plan gave him a strange sense of calm and happiness, and his mood brightened as he said to Zoe,

"I know you’re not used to seeing dead bodies, but these two deserved it. You never have issues with your brother killing, you overlook it, you can overlook this too." Saying that, he mind-linked his men to come take the bodies away and to arrange a big breakfast for the two of them.

Zoe forced a smile onto her face and said, "There’s no need for you to make arrangements, I believe I can walk back to Silver myself. By the way, Nick, you’re building quite the pack here." She chuckled softly, even though deep down she was calculating her escape route, and acting like she hadn’t seen anything seemed like the best course of action until she was safely away from him.

"I’ll see you again next time, now that I know my way here." Saying that, Zoe turned on her heels and hurried out of the room. And when she didn’t feel him following her, she let out a sigh of relief and broke into a run.

Zoe ran down the stairs, her heart pounding loudly in her ears, and she understood now that he had lured her here to this pack with lies. Sebastian must have banished him after noticing this side of him, and she realized with a sinking feeling that he must have done something to Vee that night too.

Oh, I have been so foolish, Zoe thought. But I will make it right. Only her throat was tight with a hurt she pushed down, grieving who Nick had turned out to be, her best friend, her cousin.

Zoe ran out of the territory and into the forest of tall trees, hoping to get far away, prepared to walk all the way back home if she had to.

However, just as she began to feel relief at escaping without trouble, men started emerging from every angle of the trees, holding guns on her and forcing her to stop.

"You still run like a rabbit, cousin. I wanted to see how far you could get, but goodness gracious, you are slow." Came Nick’s voice from behind her, and she turned to him as he added, "How fortunate I am that you don’t have your wolf to speed you out of here. I never thought I’d say this, but I’m glad your wolf is useless, just like your human body is weak."

Zoe’s fingers tightened around her pants again, his words hitting her harder for coming from his mouth, striking right at the insecurities she usually kept hidden.

"Let me go, Nick. I don’t want to stay here." She said, swallowing her hurt.

Nick’s smile fell. "And that’s where you’re wrong, Zoe. I want you to want to stay here. Now you’re forcing me to take this next step to make you stay. Take her back and lock her in the room." He ordered his men with a flick of his fingers.

Zoe began to back away, but she was caught in no time, and she tried to pull her hand free as she looked at Nick. "You can’t keep me here. I will get away the first chance I get, Nickolas. Sebastian will come for me too, just let me go."

"Sebastian? Yeah, right. Your brother is well on his way to death. Just let me take care of you, cousin."

Zoe couldn’t help but feel a fresh wave of fear at hearing the confirmation that her brother really was going to be executed.

"What have you become, Nick? What happened to you? This isn’t you!"

"All of you fucking hypocritical assholes happened to me!" he yelled through gritted teeth. "You pretend to care, but you never did. And over one little thing, you want to leave me just like that, just like that bitch Camilla!"

His eyes turned murderous with all the pent-up anger he had been carrying toward his family and relatives.

"Nick..." Zoe muttered in disbelief. Not once had she ever faked her affection for this cousin of hers.

"Now if you don’t want to annoy me further, don’t push my buttons. And don’t you dare think you can escape me." He turned to his men to announce, "If she tries to escape, you have my permission to shoot her, if that’s what it takes to stop her." He then turned back to look into her tear-filled gray eyes and said, "If you won’t stay with me willingly, I’d rather have you dead than let you go back there. Accept my kindness, or receive my wrath. Take your pick."