Chapter 50: Another time.
June 23 2026, 6:04am.
The sun felt hot against Nyx’ara’s skin, pulling her out of her sleep-induced reverie.
She peeled her eyes open slowly and was for a moment, stunned into silence when she saw how bright it was outside. Her entire body felt like it was on fire and for some reason, the soil underneath her felt too soft... too furry.
Too real.
A loud gasp escaped her lips and just as that happened, the world beneath her tilted.
Like it actually moved.
Her eyes snapped open in shock and with a cry of surprise, she rushed to her feet, only to find a large midnight black beast curled up on the floor, acting as her bed which may have also warmed her body all through the night until this morning.
As she scrambled to her feet, a pair of large golden molten-magma-like eyes turned to her, its expression grave and cold. The creature watched her closely like she was a movie... and something in its eyes made her breath freeze.
Her voice was small, barely above a whisper as she slowly walked up to it with her hands held high as if to reassure it.
She murmured: "I-I mean n-no harm."
Like she could ever mean any harm.
As she approached it, she for the first time began to feel just how powerful it was. Its aura was magnificent, making her throat feel tight.
Her eyes squeezed shut when she got close to it and with her blood roaring in her ears, she stretched out her trembling hands and patted its large beasty head.
Once. Twice.
And because it didn’t react negatively to her touch, she made a grab for its large silk-like ears. "H-hey beasty," she muttered softly as the beast tilted its head to the side.
"I-I do n-not know w-who you a-are, but I-I’d like to-to thank y-you fo-for keeping me warm."
Again, it tilted its head to the side and watched her closely— so closely, it made her feel warm.
She slowly let her hands rake over the fine furs covering the length of its large head, lacing her fingers through the soft black cushion-y hair as she continued;
"M-my name i-is Nyx’ara by the way and it’s nice to-to meet y-you."
She was yapping. She knew; but she could not help it as this was the first time she would allow herself to talk freely in years. She didn’t care if it was an animal that she was talking to... as long as it had listening ears.
And this animal had large ears.
"W-what’s y-your name?" She asked and when no sound would come from it, she rolled her eyes, face-palmed herself, and sighed.
"St-stupid me! I-I forgot. Y-you are only an an-animal, or have cho-chosen to remain as one.. Anyways, I’ll call y-you beasty."
It gave a low rumble of approval. She smiled.
"I-I would have lo-loved to-to stay and talk to-to y-you for a bit, b-but I-i am married to-to the Alphas of St-Stormborn pack... and they’re no-not all roses and rainbows. Th-they will have m-my head if they wake up to-to find me gone... so... byee!" She rushed out and before the beast could react, she jumped to her feet and began to skitter away.
She had however covered only a small distance when she suddenly spun around, waved again... enthusiastically, and squealed; "I-I hope to-to see y-you another time!"
Of course!
And with that, she rushed off, skipping and giggling like a kid who had just witnessed her very first bizarre Jack Frost Christmas moment.
Rhys watched Nyx’ara skip away looking the happiest he’s ever seen her since the very first day they met. In fact, for some reason, some of her happy mood had rubbed off on him and he was also smiling to himself.
He only stopped to ponder over her very specific ’description’ of himself and his brothers and when he realised that she views them as monsters, his mood dipped and his smile wiped off.
He rose to his feet, shifted, and groaned in pain when his bones protested loudly from remaining in his beast form for so long.
"I cannot believe that I torturously let myself remain in my beast form for a woman who sees me as a monster!" He growled to himself as he walked away, not sparing another glance at the water he used to love so much.
"You’ll surely see more of me another time!"
—
Nyx’ara bounced happily to the house, smiling and giggling as she made her way toward the front door. Because she was skipping too quickly and was overly excited, she was unable to control her fall when she slammed hard into a person.
A cry of pain slipped past her lips as she stumbled backward only to roll her eyes when she saw that the person she had fallen right into was...
"What the fuck?!" Seraphina yelled in her face. "Can you watch your step for once?"
Her loud shrill voice made Nyx’ara’s head start to pound, and all of a sudden, all her good mood dissipated, leaving her falling right back to reality.
She shook her head hesitantly. "I-I am sorry."
Seeing as she had apologized and hoping that Seraphina would leave her be, she tried to sidestep the mini witch only to crash to the floor because Seraphina had chosen that moment to push her instead.
Her body slammed against the floor with a thud and a loud yelp slipped past her lips. In annoyance, she tilted her head up to glare right at Seraphina who was grinning in self-appreciation, and hissed;
"W-what was that for?"
"That is for pu-putting you-you in your place!" Seraphina hissed back, mocking her by faking a stutter.
The corners of Nyx’ara’s face burned bright with embarrassment. Her eyes filled with tears and murderous intent.
Usually, when things like this happened to her in the past, she would simply cry or she would walk away and bury herself in piles of books...
And do you want to know why she always did that?
It wasn’t because she was weak— well she was. But it was mostly because she had a reputation to protect.
But not anymore.
So ignoring the sizzling pain lancing through her midriff, she made a grab for Seraphina’s leg and pulled. Hard.
One minute, Seraphina was standing over Nyx’ara with a look of triumph on her face and the next... let’s just say that in the next minute, she was tumbling to the floor like Jack and Jill.
Her head hit the ground with a loud thud and as she landed, screaming in horror and embarrassment, anger surged through her veins.
For the first time in her life, she didn’t stop to think about her reputation or image. She didn’t stop to consider that she was way stronger than this piece of shit, Nyx’ara.
She pulled out her claws and attacked.