My Little Assassin

Chapter Eight

I woke up in the middle of the night. The moon was shining down, and I walked over to the window. In the lawn below, two wolves ran around chasing each other. One black, and the other seemed to glow a creamy white. As the black one tackled the other, they shifted back and my face heated up at the sight of Jace and Laylee making out in the nude.

Moving back from the window, I turned towards the door and made my way over to it. I stepped out into the hall and started roaming in search for the kitchen. Going down two flights of stairs, I came to a door that was about where I remembered the kitchen to be. Opening it, I realized that I was at the back porch.

There was someone sitting on the swinging bench on one side. Even in the darkness, I could recognize the black hair and hunched shoulders. My feet made their way over to him and I sat on the other end of the bench. I knew that he knew I was right next to him, but he didn't react.

"I'm sorry."

My head snapped towards him and I raised my brows. "You didn't do anything."

"I made you remember something that clearly broke you," his voice wavered and he laughed humorlessly. "Even if it wasn't intentional, I hurt you."

I sighed and rested a hand on his shoulder. "You didn't know. I don't blame you, so you shouldn't blame yourself. "

He raised his head and met my gaze. My chest ached as I saw how broken he looked. "But I do. I blame myself every time I see you because I know you want nothing to do with me and I can't help but feel like I did something wrong."

I bit my lip and looked away, my hand falling from his shoulder. "You didn't do anything."

"Then why do you push me away?"

"I don't know how to be close to anyone. Every time that I see you, something inside me wants to just launch myself into your arms, but at the same time, I want to stay away so that I won't get hurt."

He gently turned my face back to him. "I would never hurt you."

"I know, but I've seen the extent mates would go to," I sighed and rested my head against the back of the bench turning my body to face his. "A co-worker of mine was out on a solo job and stumbled across a girl afterwards. Turns out that she was the Beta's daughter of the Delta Lace pack. She had been betrothed to the Alpha's son of the Moon Rose pack. They weren't too happy when she called it off because she found her mate. Evan, my friend, freaked out when he learned about what she was, and he ran off. He came home and stayed with me for two months, each day he grew worse until he couldn't even leave his bed.

"He told us all what had happened to him and with the help of ten others, we took him back. It was the only thing that would make him healthy again, and we could see that he missed her. Moon Rose found us first and attacked, wanting to kill him so the marriage would be back on. We managed to walk away, but it was just three of us and Evan left. The other six had been murdered. Upon reaching the Delta Lace pack, Evan was ripped away from us and wolves chased us off the property. The other three were caught and killed immediately, but I just barely managed to escape. Evan called me up later and told me that they had thought we'd kidnapped him and were given orders to kill should we be spotted again.

"I've never had a good experience with wolves or packs, so that's why I was less than thrilled when I found out about your pack and the fact that you were my mate. I'm sure you wouldn't hurt me, but I just can't trust that feeling until it's proven to me."

His hands were fisted in rage, but he took a deep breath before speaking. "I'm sorry that you went through that. Us wolves are extremely over-protective about our mates, and tend to jump to conclusions way too fast. If you give me a chance, I will do my best to prove to you that I will always be there for you."

I studied him and then slowly nodded. He grinned and the next thing I knew, I was wrapped in his arms and sitting in his lap. It felt really good, but my head was telling me that I needed to back away. When I started to move away, he whimpered.

"Please, just give me a few moments. I've been wanting to hold you since I met you, and my wolf is on edge after seeing you yesterday, just laying down and crying in the middle of the chaos that was your room."

My heart felt heavy and I sighed, relaxing into him. I wasn't going to admit it, but it felt really good to be near him. It felt right. It felt like home.

Tears started welling up again and as I cried, his arms tightened around me. I flung my arms around his neck and buried my face in his shoulder. Despite the breaking heart I had from the feeling I hadn't felt since my parents were alive, I could feel the pieces starting to fall back into place as I stayed near him. My hands gripped fistfuls of his shirt and I curled up against his chest.

"Why do I feel like this?" I whispered as my tears subsided.

"Because your soul recognizes mine as it's other half. I know that it sounds cheesy, but being near your mate makes all the negative feelings go away, or at least it lessens them."

I laughed. "That does sound cheesy."

His chest rumbled under my ear and his hands came up to pull me back, cupping my face as his thumbs brushed away the tears on my cheeks. "Feel better?"

"Yeah," I muttered as I gazed up at him. Everything was different now. I didn't ever want to leave him and I could feel that my trust in him was growing. Not anyone lets you cry all over them unless they feel something for you, whether that be romantic or platonic.

"Can I tell you a secret?" I asked him with a smirk.

"Sure."

"I still refer to you as Soggy Lampshade in my head."

His eyes went wide and then he pouted. I just laughed and then moved so that I was sitting next to him, our shoulders brushing. "I'd prefer if you called me by name instead of a piece of wet furniture."

I grinned. "I don't know. Nico doesn't have as good of a ring to it."

His eyes darkened when I said his name. "I like it better."

"I guess it's easier to say than Soggy Lampshade."

"That just sounds like a mouthful," he commented. 

"Is Nico short for something? Or is it just Nico?"

"It's Nicodemus, but that's also a mouthful," he laughed and then smiled softly down at me. "I can't believe that we still don't know your name."

"So I'm the mysterious human that can beat up weres? Cool!" I fist pumped the air and then turned to him. "It's Brin. Brin Ferli."

"That's a cool name, Brin."

Something inside of me twisted with happiness at the way my name sounded coming out of his mouth. "So is Nicodemus."

His eyes flashed black and we just stared at each other for a few moments before it was interrupted by a squeal of happiness. We turned to see Laylee standing at the bottom of the porch with Jace right behind her.

"Oh my Goddess! You two are so cute together! I really hope you kiss and make up soon. The faster you do that, the faster I get grandchildren! I miss having babies around."

Nico groaned and ran a hand down his face while I blushed and turned away from them all. Well now it's just awkward.