Control (Dark Romance)

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DOUBLE UPDATE!!!!!!!!! *CUES SIRENS AND FLASHING LIGHTS*

YOU'VE GOT TWO SPECIAL CHAPTERS OF CONTROL TODAY!! I HOPE YOU ENJOY THEM BOTH!!!!!!!

WOOOOO!!!!!

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Nikola's POV

I didn't understand why we were here, or at the very least, why I was here.

I didn't know Jayson. I had no connection to him, so, frankly, I did not care that it was his birthday. It was merely another day in the week, this one slightly more irrelevant and insignificant than the others, but ma said it was 'important' and that 'we had to be there to help with the surprise'. Except, now that we were here, she wasn't actually helping. She was sleeping... in a window nook... upstairs.

When we'd first arrived at the Heil-Calderon's family home, she'd played the part of a caring friend by blowing up a few balloons, but not even ten minutes later, I'd watched her slink away quite obviously. Five minutes after that, dad disappeared too, and when I went looking for them, I wasn't surprised to find them snoring in a messy entanglement of limbs.

I didn't blame them for escaping the ridiculous celebrations, but I was annoyed that they'd done so after forcing me to attend as well.

For a while, I'd toyed with the idea of waking them with an overhead rain cloud or a particularly ghoulish nightmare, but I concluded that it would only yield short-term pleasure. Once awake, they'd be sure to punish me, and it would not change the fact that I would still be stuck here until they decided it was time to go home.

Stifling a sigh, I refocus my attention on the perimeter of the house I was supposed to be barricading. Alpha Julian had asked me to ensure that no traces of the surprise could be detected from the outside so that when Jayson arrived, he wouldn't be able to spoil his own party.

It was an easy enough job, one that only required concealing everyone's scents and making sure the windows were unnoticeably opaque, but I'd maintained the pretence that it was challenging so I wouldn't be assigned something else.

My plan was to keep the act up until Jayson arrived, but that was before I heard him...

"Yes, Dad!" Hagen groans angrily from somewhere inside the large home. "I said I'll do it, but you told me to set the table first! I can't do two things at once!"

What follows is a short but terse argument between Hagen and his father before the front door swings open, and Hagen comes storming out with three full garbage bags in his arms.

"Take out the trash, Hagen. Set the table, Hagen. Paint the walls, Hagen," he grumbles to himself as he rushes down the stairs. "Go to space, Hagen. Create World Peace, Hagen. Discover a new species—"

Hagen's colourful rant catches on his tongue when he looks up and finally notices that he isn't the only person out here. He freezes, his pretty brown eyes widening at the sight of me before they narrow as his usual angry scowl saturates his features.

"Hagen," I greet, turning to face him with an outward calmness that was completely fraudulent.

Inside, my body was vibrating with pleasure at being so close to my linker, even if he was glaring fiery daggers at me. I'd gotten used to his glaring and hissing and didn't mind them that much anymore. Sometimes, I even found them to be cute.

"Nikola," Hagen bites back before he treads onwards towards the line of bins.

I watch him go and become a quiet spectator to Hagen's self-inflicted doom.

He starts by trying to open the garbage bins, despite his hands being full already. The obvious solution was to drop them first before opening the lid, but stubborn as ever, Hagen continues anyway. He struggles for a good minute and a half before finally giving up with an outraged roar. Cursing all the realms and their inhabitants, Hagen dumps the bags down and reluctantly tosses the lid up (as he should have done from the very start).