Chapter 159: Chapter 159
Nicholas’s POV
I tore the university apart.
Literally.
My men locked down every single exit on that sprawling human campus. We blocked the wrought-iron gates with armored SUVs. We scoured the brick pathways. We stormed the science buildings, kicking open heavy wooden lecture hall doors right in the middle of classes. I didn’t care about the screaming human students. I didn’t care about the panicked professors threatening to call the police.
I was hunting.
But she wasn’t there.
By the time the sun finally dipped below the jagged city skyline, the trail had gone entirely cold. The faint, beautiful scent of rain and clean earth that had lingered near the campus quad was completely gone. It was swallowed up by the sickening, polluted stench of exhaust fumes, cheap coffee, and human perfume.
She had slipped right through my fingers.
And the boy from the photograph was gone, too.
My wolf was completely feral. He was a caged, starving beast, violently throwing his massive weight against my ribs. He demanded blood. He demanded violence. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw that pathetic human boy putting his hands on my mate. The jealousy was a living, breathing fire inside my chest, burning me alive from the inside out. I wanted to rip the city apart, brick by concrete brick, until I found them.
But the humans were useless. My million-dollar security team was useless.
I sat in the back of the armored SUV in absolute, suffocating silence. The drive back to the private estate was a blur of neon city lights and dark, empty highways.
I was exhausted. It was a deep, bone-crushing exhaustion that had absolutely nothing to do with physical fatigue. It was the agonizing ache of the broken mate bond. I had been so incredibly close. I had stood on the exact same pavement her worn sneakers had touched just hours before.
Now, I had absolutely nothing.
The black SUV finally passed through the heavy iron gates of my private estate.
I didn’t tell the driver to go to the main, modern residence. I couldn’t stand the bright lights and the sterile, corporate perfection of it tonight. I needed the dark. I needed isolation.
I told the driver to take me directly to the far edge of the sprawling property. To Rosewood Manor.
The manor was a massive, gothic stone fortress hidden deep in the overgrown pine woods. It was a dark, brooding reflection of the Greystone palace. It was the only place in this pathetic human city where I actually felt like I could breathe.
The heavy tires crunched softly against the gravel as the vehicle came to a halt at the bottom of the long, paved pathway.
"Wait here," I ordered the driver.
My voice was a rough, gravelly rasp. It sounded entirely dead.
I pushed the heavy car door open and stepped out into the biting autumn wind. The sky above the dense tree line was a bruised, dark purple. The estate was completely silent. I had ordered the entire executive security detail to the city earlier today to lock down the university campus. There were no bodyguards patrolling the woods. There were no staff members allowed near this side of the property.
The manor was completely pitch black.
I walked up the wide stone steps alone. My heavy leather shoes echoed loudly in the freezing, dead air.
I didn’t bother turning on the exterior security lights. The darkness didn’t bother me. I was a creature born from the shadows. I thrived in the pitch black.
I reached the massive, arched oak front doors.
They were already slightly ajar.
I stopped.
My hand hovered right over the heavy metal handle. My brows furrowed into a deep, dangerous scowl. I never left these doors open. I kept this place locked down like a fortress. The human staff knew that stepping foot near this building meant instant termination.
A sudden, violent chill swept through my veins.
I pushed the heavy oak door open. It let out a loud, agonizing groan that bounced off the high stone ceilings.
I stepped over the threshold into the pitch-black foyer.
The absolute second my foot hit the cold stone floor, the air shifted.
I froze.
My heart completely stopped beating. The air vanished from my lungs in a single, devastating rush.
I inhaled deeply.
The scent hit me with the brutal force of a speeding freight train.
It wasn’t a lingering, stale trace on a crowded campus quad. It wasn’t a faint memory carried on the wind. It was fresh. It was incredibly, unbelievably powerful. It was concentrated, thick, and intoxicating.
Rain. Clean earth. And the sweet, distinct, beautiful vanilla of my mate.
*Irina.*
The mate bond—the invisible, agonizing wire that had been painfully stretched across my chest for months—violently snapped taut. It burned like pure, white-hot fire in my veins. It practically vibrated, singing a loud, frantic song of absolute proximity.
My wolf snapped.
He didn’t just wake up. He exploded.
He threw his head back in the dark corners of my mind and let out a massive, earth-shattering howl. It was a sound of pure, unadulterated triumph. A sound of desperate, starving possession.
*MATE!* my wolf roared, clawing wildly at my insides. *SHE IS HERE! OUR MATE IS HERE!*
My pupils dilated instantly, completely swallowing the green irises until my eyes were terrifyingly pitch black. The suffocating, crushing weight of my alpha aura exploded into the dark foyer, rattling the antique glass in the windows.
She was here.
My wife was in my house.
My chest seized. I couldn’t move. The overwhelming, crushing reality of it paralyzed me for a fraction of a second. I looked into the shadows. My werewolf vision quickly adjusted to the pitch black. I saw the massive mahogany console table. I saw my classified manila folders thrown carelessly onto the polished wood. I saw a single, glossy piece of paper lying face-up on the cold stone floor.
She had been standing right here. Just seconds ago.
Then, I heard it.
*Scuff. Pat. Pat.*
It was a tiny, frantic sound. The unmistakable noise of rubber-soled sneakers scraping urgently against the paved pathway outside.
Footsteps.
Fast, running footsteps.
The sound sliced through the dark silence of the manor like a razor blade.
Someone was running away from the front doors. Someone was fleeing into the woods.
My paralysis shattered instantly. The predator took complete control over the man.
I spun around so fast my heavy coat whipped violently through the air. I lunged back out the massive oak doors, my heavy boots slamming aggressively against the stone threshold. I hit the top of the wide steps and stared out into the pitch-black night.
The dense pine forest was shrouded in heavy, impenetrable shadows.
But I wasn’t human. My vision pierced straight through the darkness.
I looked down the twisting, paved pathway.
About fifty yards away, I saw it.
A small, incredibly delicate silhouette.
She was running. She was sprinting frantically into the cold night, her blonde hair flying wildly behind her. She looked so tiny, so fragile, pushing her body with a blind, desperate panic.
My heart hammered violently against my ribs. It was a painful, frantic, terrifying rhythm.
She was running away from me. Again.
The sheer agony of it mixed with a blinding, uncontrollable surge of raw alpha aggression. I couldn’t let her disappear into the dark. I couldn’t let the shadows take her from me a second time. I had bled for months trying to find her. I had torn the world apart. I was not going to let her slip away.
I felt the roar building deep inside my chest. It tore up my throat, ripping past my vocal cords with the terrifying, explosive force of a bomb.
I stared at the tiny figure fleeing into the woods, and I let out a massive, unhinged roar that violently shook the trees.
"Who’s there?"
