Chapter 68: Pop Goes The Werewolf

"It’s alright, Beta Voltcrest."

Nova attempted to pull out of Derek’s grip, to comfort Maria and her six-foot-four Beta mate who was starting to cry too and looked very confused about it.

Derek’s arms immediately tightened around her. He blinked. Shook his head once. Twice. Then jumped like he just noticed he was holding her.

"What’s wrong, baby?"

His lips found the side of her head and stayed there. Then he stiffened and pulled away from her slowly. Nova followed his line of sight to Beta Voltcrest.

"I’ve seen enough. Nobody else is allowed to cry. I’m instituting a cap. Two criers per yacht. We’ve hit three. We are getting the cuffs off that are killing my mate and we are all pretending tonight was normal. Starting now."

Maria wiped her eyes, gave a nod and grabbed Beta Voltcrest’s hand, pulling him up the stairs. He followed with the expression of a man being towed out to sea by a current he couldn’t fight and didn’t fully understand. ℴ

Derek followed them, carrying Nova the entire way because her legs apparently didn’t work. Back on the couch. Blanket. His hands tucking it around her like if he did it tight enough she would stay.

She gave his arm a gentle squeeze. He looked down at her hand then up at her eyes and for a split second, she thought he was going to cry too.

She let go immediately.

He snatched her hand back and kissed it like she’d threatened to take it away permanently.

Astra, Maria, and Beta Voltcrest were all watching this like it was prime entertainment and Nova’s face caught fire.

Beta Voltcrest poured a drink at the bar. Drank it. Poured another. Then poured one for Maria and delivered it without commentary. Maria killed it in one gulp.

Alpha Thunderfang was at the window again. Arms crossed tighter than before. He hadn’t moved an inch since they’d come back.

She looked straight ahead. There was definitely a mindlink conversation going on. Nova had never been on a mindlink, but she knew what it looked like.

"Nova, for you," Maria said, handing her the cup of a glowing blue liquid.

Nova took it. Looked up at Maria. Flashed a grin.

Astra took it out of her hands before any further joy came. Nova’s smile fell. Astra started drinking it. No words were needed. Nova understood she threw up blood. But she looked at her drink longingly.

Maria shot Astra a glare of a thousand suns while Beta Voltcrest dragged a hand down his face staring into nothing.

All four of Nova’s cuffs vibrated at the same time.

Nova jumped and let out a yelp that she hated herself for doing.

All four. All four meant Alpha Starborne. That specific vibration pattern had only happened once in her life, today in the Thunderfang clubhouse, when she was sitting on a man’s lap getting her face iced. But she was Princess Starborne’s slave now. The transfer was official.

Did Celeste Starborne get her own damn remote? She knew the answer before the question finished forming. Of course she did.

Her blood ran cold.

Every head in the room turned to her. Derek was already closing the distance, marker abandoned.

"Why are they vibrating, Nova? I haven’t seen that."

He said it like he had been around cuffs and should know this, but there was no way for him to know this. Bless this man for trying so hard for her.

"All four is rare. It means Alpha. But in my case now, that’s our future Luna."

Derek looked at Alpha Thunderfang. "We have the remote, right, Landon?"

Alpha Thunderfang didn’t respond, still looking out the glass at the storm like the question had been addressed to someone in a different room.

CLICK. CLICK.

The clicking started. That sound. The sound a cuff makes before a corrective shock. The sound that meant if you are touching another person, let go now.

Maria’s head snapped towards Nova’s wrists. "What the hell is that?"

CLICK. CLICK. CLICK.

Every click made Nova want to jump out of her skin. Her body had been trained to associate that noise with pain the way a dog associates a whistle with dinner, except dinner was electricity and the whistle was a princess with a new toy.

"It’s normal for slaves," Nova said quickly, glancing up at Maria. She didn’t want her to stress. Maria’s lack of slave knowledge was one of the best things about her and Nova wanted to preserve it because Maria was innocent and innocence was not something you got back.

"Nova. Tell me right now."

"Click means shock," Nova sighed. "Mine stopped working today for some reason. That doesn’t happen and is an automatic death penalty to the slave wearing them, regardless of who tampered with them."

She trusted Maria. By extension, she trusted the Thunderfang Beta. She trusted Astra, even if the woman had downgraded her back to 7709. Alpha Thunderfang was the question mark. She didn’t understand why he wanted to buy her at all earlier. He was clearly a busy man who didn’t have time for a low-level slave. Hopefully that meant he wouldn’t report her to authorities.

CLICK.

Maria turned to Beta Voltcrest. "I’m not on your mindlink yet or I would take care of this. Can we send more omegas to Celeste’s quarters for Nova. Didn’t she have three?"

Astra spoke from the bar without looking up from the blue drink she stole from Nova.

"I sent people too. She has six now."

Silence followed that statement.

Derek picked the marker back up and turned to the wall.

"My brother and I can sense electrical currents," he began. "Silver is the most conductive metal that exists. Earlier I could feel the full circuit running through all four cuffs." He drew lines connecting four circles, a rough map. "They operate together. One continuous circuit."

He tapped the marker on the connection between two of the circles.

"Something in the cuff’s signal pathway is misaligned. Thankfully. Remote signal that is. Click: yes. Corrective pulse: no. Problem: that doesn’t help us here. Pop one cuff and the other three notice the circuit’s missing a limb. Different sensor. Chain reaction."

He drew a stick figure. At least that’s what Nova thought he was meaning to draw.

"This is not a solo Thunderfang sport. I need to pop the seam in a specific way or with even pressure on both sides or it torques inward and breaks her wrist. While I do that, I need another conductor."

He glanced at the back of Alpha Thunderfang’s head.

"Bottom line: the circuit needs to stay intact while I work. Congratulations, brother, you’re the wire. Once it’s off, I have three seconds to throw it out of the ejection hatch. It will go boom. Landon will hold the other three cuffs so they don’t notice the missing limb. Otherwise, they go boom too."

"How do you know all of this?" Astra asked, genuinely surprised.

"I’m sorry, rewind," Beta Voltcrest cut in before Derek could respond. "I blacked out for a second there. Did he say explode?"

"Yes," Astra replied. "He said it like a footnote. The cuff removed explodes and the other three follow if the Alpha lets go of them." She took a drink. "What could possibly go wrong?"

"Derek, buddy, lead with that next time." Beta Voltcrest was already pouring himself a third drink. "Maria, you should go downstairs. I am going to watch this."