Chapter 128: Thank You, Alpha. Very Lovely

Nova blinked up at Alpha Thunderfang.

The bang on the door was loud. Under normal circumstances, Nova probably would have screamed or gasped from it because having a door kicked down was scary. But her threshold for startling had been recalibrated. A kicked door didn’t even register on a scale that now included spontaneous human combustion.

"Are you alright, Alpha?" she asked, regretting the question as soon as it was out because it was a stupid one. He had just watched his men die, his brother was in the hospital, and part of his home burned last night.

His jaw moved once but no words came out.

"I am sorry for the wolves who were taken from you tonight. I wish I could have done more." Her voice cracked. "And I am sorry that my presence here has caused you trouble."

He did not answer. But his eyes did a sweep of the room.

"I am not sure what happened in here. I came back and it was like this," she explained. "But I will make sure it is tidied."

His nostrils flared.

"Please excuse me, Alpha," she said softly.

She moved for the door to give him the room. Slave manners were bulletproof even when the rest was falling apart.

His arm hooked around her waist before she made it past him. He didn’t ask. Didn’t announce. Just intercepted her.

Nova blinked up at him. The proximity was sudden. The contact was unexpected.

He didn’t explain. He looked down at her shoulder. At the bandage she had been fighting with. It was a disgrace, hanging off her arm like a surrender flag.

He took it out of her hand. Unwound what she had done. Started over from scratch. Because whatever she had done was beyond correction. His hands were fast, wrapping the bandage. Three loops. A pin. Done.

"You stay in my chambers," he stated in a tone that left no room for negotiation.

Then he picked her up. Her mouth opened. Shut. She blinked up at him a bit surprised by the arrangement she had not been consulted on.

"With respect, Alpha, I want to see Derek. I will stay out of your way. I understand where your priorities are tonight," Nova tried.

He stopped walking and looked down at her.

Then Celeste’s voice hit the corridor from the stairwell.

"LANDON THUNDERFANG! YOUR LUNA WANTS TO HAVE A CONVERSATION WITH YOU."

The Alpha started walking again at Alpha speed. Past ten guards. Nova, still horizontal, experienced a velocity change that rearranged her internal organs.

"No one enters," he ordered in a low voice.

"Yes, Alpha."

Into his chambers. Double doors shut. Doors locked. Sure. Reasonable. Security precaution after an attack. Standard protocol.

Then a second lock. Then a third. Because apparently the door had three locks.

"LANDON, LET ME IN!" Celeste’s voice hit the hallway on the other side of his door.

Alpha Thunderfang stared at his door like it might betray him with Nova still in his arms.

He was either hiding from Celeste, which didn’t make sense, or he didn’t hear her. Nova wasn’t sure. Either way, she decided she was never going to mention this to anyone. His secret was safe with her.

He moved to a chair where new ice packs were. Fresh ones. And extra bandages, the kind around Nova’s shoulder.

He sat.

Nova realized she was in his lap.

The realization came late. In her defense, she had been preoccupied with the door-kicking, the carrying, the sprinting, the three locks, and the screaming Luna. The lap detail had gotten lost in the shuffle.

When she tried to get up, his arm tightened around her waist, locking her in place on his lap.

She tried to move. His arm said no. His arm was bigger than her argument, and the argument was over before it started.

"Be still," he grunted, taking an ice pack and putting it on Nova’s neck. Then he balanced another on her shoulder with the focus of a man defusing a bomb.

The ice pack slipped. He caught it. Repositioned it. She glanced up at him. He was staring at the ice packs like they were chess pieces and the game was critical.

"It’s alright, Alpha. I am happy to hold those myself."

He didn’t respond. He was too busy engineering an ice pack configuration on her shoulder.

It dawned on her that she was being iced against her will by an Alpha who struggled with words and hearing sometimes, wouldn’t look at her, wouldn’t talk to her, wouldn’t let her move, and probably didn’t realize she was literally on his lap. But he was trying to take care of his brother’s mate and she appreciated the effort.

He adjusted the shoulder ice pack a millimeter to the left. Then a millimeter back.

"It feels perfect, thank you. It’s very lovely," Nova praised gently, similar to how she would with a child’s drawing. The Alpha stopped fidgeting with the ice packs and grunted once, seemingly pleased with that.

"Alpha, why don’t you get some rest," she tried again after a minute went by.

He looked down at her.

"I’ll ice a bit longer before I go see Derek," she reassured him. "I promise to come back here or wherever you feel most comfortable with me being."

He didn’t comment but his grip tightened around her.

That answered that. This was the most bizarre hostage situation she’d participated in. Up there with being abducted the night before the Moonfire.

She exhaled and let her head rest against his chest. Her eyes closed on their own.

She was half asleep when the vibration started. She had forgotten that Alpha Thunderfang had done that when he had helped her in the arena. Derek’s wolf purred sometimes too. It probably ran in the family and was kind of adorable. She would never tell Derek that, but it was.

Her eyes opened to the early morning grey. She hadn’t meant to fall asleep. But here she was. She was still in the Alpha’s lap with his wolf purring and ice packs on her.

Getting off an Alpha’s lap without waking him required the precision of a heist and the patience of a saint. She had both. The chair creaked once. She froze. He shifted. The purring continued. She exhaled.

Free. Standing. He hadn’t moved. Mission accomplished.

Three locks. She had watched him do them. Reverse order.

First lock. She held the bolt as she turned it so metal never touched metal. Second lock. Complete. Third lock. Done.

Slave skills.

He didn’t stir. Good.

She slipped through the gap like smoke. The door closed behind her without a sound. Ten guards. New faces. Night shift had rotated out. These ones hadn’t seen her go in.

They looked at her, mouths open. She gave them nothing, already walking. The confusion was a gift. Confused men don’t ask questions fast enough.

Behind her, she heard one of them whisper something to another. She did not care.

Let them wonder. Her priority had one person on it, and that person was Derek Thunderfang.