Chapter 69: One Cuff Over the Cuckoo’s Nest

There are two types of people in the world. People who hear "the cuffs will explode" and leave, and people who hear "the cuffs will explode" and pour a drink. The Thunderfang hover yacht was fully stocked with the second type.

Nova sat ramrod straight on the couch with her wrist and ankle cuffs stacked on the armrest like a gift basket for Alpha Thunderfang, who would rather be anywhere else.

The instructions were idiot-proof. Alpha Thunderfang holds three cuffs and makes a circuit with his body because Thunderfangs think that’s normal. Derek cracks the other cuff and throws it out the hatch before it explodes.

Simple enough.

"On three."

Derek took one wrist. Alpha Thunderfang placed his hands on her remaining three cuffs. Both of their suits lit up the second they made contact. It was very interesting up close and Nova would have appreciated it more if their skin hadn’t started to burn at the same moment.

"We’re fine, Nova. We heal faster than regular wolves," Derek said immediately.

Nobody breathed. Beta Voltcrest’s drink was suspended halfway to his mouth. Maria had refused to leave, and her fingers were now white-knuckling the bar. Astra looked mildly interested, which for her was the emotional equivalent of a standing ovation.

"One. Two."

Derek positioned both hands on the hinge of her left wrist cuff.

"Three."

He put pressure on the cuff. Nova shut her eyes.

CRACK.

The sound hit the room like a gunshot. Every window on the sky deck vibrated. Astra’s drink rippled. Beta Voltcrest’s soul left his body.

Maria screamed. That startled Nova and Beta Voltcrest who both immediately screamed, joining at the exact same pitch.

Derek jumped at the choir and fumbled the cuff.

It hit the deck and skidded across the polished floor like a bomb out for a casual stroll, then parked itself against the bar like it wanted a drink.

Astra looked down at it slowly.

Still screaming, Nova pulled out of Alpha Thunderfang’s hold. She didn’t remember standing up. She didn’t remember her Olympic-sprint across a skydeck. Her body had received the assignment ’remove bomb’ and executed it.

She snatched the cuff and fastballed it with her whole soul through the ejection hatch. By some miracle, her aim was perfect. It went through.

Nobody moved.

BOOM.

The storm clouds lit up bright orange for a second.

Nova didn’t get to appreciate her aim because Derek was already moving.

"SHIT, NOVA—"

She turned just in time to see him diving for her. She let out another scream. The scream was involuntary. An Alpha-sized man launching himself at you like a guided missile will do that regardless of whether the missile had kissed you earlier.

Maria immediately screamed too. Pavlovian. The six-foot-four Beta joined in again, hitting a note that belonged in a soprano’s repertoire.

Derek tackled her onto another couch nearby, his hands on her remaining three cuffs before her back hit the leather.

Circuit restored.

He was on top of her, hands locked on the cuffs, suit glowing from the current, face inches from hers.

She was panting. He was panting. The room was very quiet. From every possible angle, this looked like something that should not be happening in front of four witnesses.

Alpha Thunderfang was looking out the window, unbothered.

From behind the bar, Astra raised her glass of blue glowing liquid. "Bar’s fine."

Nova decided right then that if she survived the remaining three cuffs, she was going to have one of those blue drinks.

"Right." Derek exhaled without letting go of a single cuff. "Three left. The circuit broke and reset so our margin just got thinner. We need to move faster and Nova doesn’t leave the circuit." He looked at the Thunderfang Beta. "The cracking sound is going to happen three more times. It is going to be loud three more times."

Beta Voltcrest looked at Maria, then back at Derek and gave a nod that communicated he would keep his mate from screaming with zero awareness that he too had been part of the screaming.

"Landon, nothing. You’re doing great, buddy," Derek continued.

The participation trophy arrived and Alpha Thunderfang did not accept.

"I don’t need a pep talk from you," he snapped to the window.

"That wasn’t a pep talk. That was a performance review. You got a passing grade."

"How many more of these?"

Derek looked down at Nova’s cuffs, then back up at his brother who clearly knew how many.

"Three, Landon. You hold onto two of them, while I get the third."

"Make it faster."

"Sure. Thank you for the feedback. Very helpful."

Nova understood why Alpha Thunderfang had said that. It had hurt his hands.

She looked down at her free wrist. There was a white outline of where the cuff used to be. Her skin felt raw. The constant low burn on her skin that she had gotten used to was gone on that wrist. The only times cuffs come off for a slave is when they need to size up because they are growing and that is only for a few seconds. So this would be the longest she had been without one since before she could remember.

She looked up at Derek with gratitude that she couldn’t put into words and relief that his plan had worked.

"Thank you," she managed.

Derek’s face immediately changed to something in between sad and irritated. Nova wasn’t sure. All she knew was she was not going to let this man get upset.

"Can I have one of those glowing blue drinks when this is over?" she asked.

"No, you cannot. You were throwing up blood, Nova," Astra answered from the bar. "Now the room knows."

Derek stiffened above her. His expression soured even more. Apparently the blood part wasn’t common knowledge until right now. She had flushed it down the basin before he entered so that made sense.

"I think it would help my stomach," Nova insisted.

"You think wrong."

"I’ve been wrong before. This feels different."

"It’s not."

"I threw a bomb tonight. It’s medicinal for my mental health."

"I am the one who decides what is medicinal. I decided. It isn’t."

Nova looked at the glass in Astra’s hand and accepted the injustice with the grace of a woman who was going to revisit this conversation the moment her cuffs were off.

Derek’s face went on a journey during this interaction and landed back on a grin. Good.

Then all three of her cuffs started vibrating.

"How long do you think it will take the Starborne Princess to realize her button isn’t working?" Beta Voltcrest asked.

Alpha Thunderfang turned slowly from the window with a scowl on his face.

Beta Voltcrest raised both his hands in surrender. "Just a question, Alpha."