Under The Crescent Veil

3. Introductions

No, no, no, no, this can't be true, was the thought that went over and over in Nyx's head. As she was escorted to Alpha Silas' house she was in a state of shock. She couldn't believe she was mated to the very thing that killed her parents.

This just couldn't be true, she kept thinking.

Nyx stood paralyzed, nailed to the ground in some guest bedroom they put her in. Time passed by as she watched the sun rise high in the sky and descend to the horizon.

This wasn't right, she kept on thinking. She should have been down there in a cell, being tortured or whatnot, maybe already killed. But she shouldn't be standing in the house of a monster. Let alone be mated to it, and an Alpha nonetheless.

Nyx was snapped out of her temporary existential crisis by the bedroom door opening. In the doorway stood none other than Alpha Silas. He looked uncertain and he felt uncertain. Apprehensively he stepped into the room. Silas looked left and right and it took him a while to make eye contact with his mate.

Clearing his throat, he started talking. "I am sure, this revelation came as a shock to you as well. It took me all day to wrap my head around it, that-that we are mates. I know the situation is far from ideal, but I am willing to make this work, and I hope you do too, at least someday." Silas could still detect the horror Nyx was feeling. He had hoped the mate bond would have started to form, at least the beginning threats as it did with him. Unfortunately, it hadn't.

A part of him couldn't blame Nyx, they were enemies. Not necessarily because she was human. It was because of her association with HPS and especially the reputation she had in his community. She was the Black Veil, the one who could kidnap werewolves without being detected by the superior hearing of the werewolves.

"I hope for now we can put our biases aside," he continued. "I want to forget for now that we are enemies and try to get to know one another like strangers would. I promise anything you say will remain private and I will not use it in any way. Maybe later we can discuss how we deal with our backgrounds or... or we don't need to because we already like each other," Silas chuckled lightly.

Nyx didn't. Her face may not said it, but her eyes were ice cold, filled with pure hatred.

Silas clapped his hands once. "Anyway, for now, you will have to stay in this room. I am sorry to say this, but I don't trust you enough yet to let you roam freely in my house or the pack lands. I will make sure all your needs will be taken care of. Speaking of which, dinner will be brought to you soon..."

Nyx remained silent.

When Silas realized he wouldn't get a response he finally said, "Okay then, enjoy your dinner. I will go back to work." And with that, he left the room. Nyx scoffed. She couldn't believe what he asked of her. That a mutt asked her to 'just' set her bias aside, to 'just' forget that her parents weren't killed by the hands of his kind.

She shook her head and sat down on the floor, facing the window, leaning against the bed. She had to admit, the room had a killer view. Much better than her grey box of a room with a tiny window, high against the ceiling back at the headquarters, where the only thing she could see was the sky.

Dinner was given to Nyx but she didn't touch it, afraid they had done something with the food. She wasn't necessarily afraid of poisoning or death, more afraid they would have put something in it to make her more compliant.

When it was fully dark out she finally decided on a shower. As quickly as her body allowed it she discarded her clothes, her ribs still very tender. Doctors had passed by this afternoon, but she refused them to take a look. Nyx knew how to take care of herself. A cold shower would help.

As she turned the faucet and cold water descended on her body she was surprised that the cold water had turned warm to hot. Taken aback she jumped forward, out of the water stream. At the headquarters, she barely had access to warm showers. It took her a couple of minutes to decide if she liked the warmer water, but once she felt how relaxed her aching muscles felt after the warmth she decided it was fine for now.

After her shower, she only put her undershirt and pants on of her uniform. Her jacket would be too warm and uncomfortable. She quickly crawled into the big bed as she could feel the exhaustion of the past few days in her body.

Sleep didn't come to Nyx that night. She kept on turning and turning. It took her two hours to figure out it was the mattress that bothered her. Annoyed Nyx stepped out of bed with the book that she took with her from one of the drawers in this room as a possible weapon, might someone try something. Not knowing where to sleep now as she was confined to her room, she chose to lie down on the floor.

Her body finally relaxed and she fell into a deep slumber.

***

The next day Nyx was woken up by a small shake of her shoulder. The moment she felt the vibrations she immediately swung the book around her in a precise way. Silas could barely take a step back in time. "Wow, easy there soldier," He said half-jokingly.

Nyx tried to stand up fast but was hindered by the shooting pain in her left side. She couldn't help but let out a small groan.

It was in this instance Silas had finally seen Nyx express an emotion, twice nonetheless. First with her fear when woken up, and second, her hurt. Even though they were relatively negative emotions, it was a nice change from her stoic face and eyes full of hatred. He desperately wanted to help his mate, but he knew it would take many days, weeks, or even months before she trusted him.

"I can send the doctors back here if you want, to help with the pain," Silas offered.

Nyx grimaced one last time as she adjusted her stance and shook her head. "I don't need your help," She said lowly.

Half surprised by her reply, Silas asked again, "Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"Well okay, let me know if you change your mind... I came here because I heard you hadn't eaten one meal yesterday and I wondered why."

Silas raised his eyebrows for a response but got none.

"Do you prefer to eat with me?" Silas asked hopeful.

"No."

"Well, if you change your mind, again, you know where to find me," And with that the Alpha left the room awkwardly.

Nyx felt relieved when he had left. Feeling like she could finally breathe again. Silas' presence was suffocating to her.

***

The following days Nyx kept on refusing to eat and to sleep on the bed, remaining on the floor with her book. Silas tried to persuade her to eat at least dinner together with him so she didn't need to stay inside her room, but once again Nyx refused.

Her distrust wasn't her biggest problem, it was Silas himself. Whenever he was near she could feel something inside of her that was unknown to her and therefore frightening her. It confused her profoundly.

It was the arrival of someone new who changed Nyx's routine of not eating, remaining silent, and sleeping only a couple of hours on the bedroom floor. It was Silas' sister, Nora.

Thank you for reading!