“You ..” Karen gasped, her eyes wide and misting up with tears. “You were with him, that night.”
Nicolas looked shocked for all of two seconds. Then his face became a mask of emotionlessness.
“Get back to it.” He snapped. “I have no idea what you’re talking about. ”
Kai noticed the change in mood. He grabbed Karen’s head and turned her to face him. “What are you doing?” He asked, his eyes narrowed. “You aren’t done yet.”
Tears filled Karen’s eyes, making her vision of Kai blurry. She bit her lip, trying hard to control her tears.
“My master…. I … I just remembered something and I….”
“I don’t know you.” Nicolas snapped. “Get back to work so I can be done with this.”
Kai let go of Karen’s head. He wore his clothes back, is gaze sharp and focused on Nicolas.
“He forced you, didn’t he?” Karen cried softly. “That’s… that’s why you hate me so much.”
“That’s enough out of you!” Nicolas shouted at her. “You have no damned idea, do you?! You think that….” He paused and let out a shout of frustration.
“Nicolas.” Kai said sternly. “What is going on?”
Karen cried softly. “I’m so sorry! I swear, I had no idea…. I didn’t remember, not at all. I would have…”
“Well you can’t.” Nicolas snapped. “Nothing you do can ever help. So just stop sobbing like a miserable brat and accept it!”
***Flashback***
Eleven years ago
Karen had just finished her duties for the day, after being told to clean the entire east wing of the pack house. She had finished on time and wanted to let her father know, perhaps he would let her off for the rest of the day.
She hummed a tune as she skipped her way to her father’s room, in her hand a flower that she had picked for him. She turned down a corner, her eyes lighting up as she saw his room up ahead.
As she got closer, she began to hear weird sounds coming from his room. It sounded like someone was being beat, and they were crying.
‘You’re taking me so well, are you sure it’s your first time?’ she heard the voice of her father say, followed by more crying that wasn’t coming from him.
Confused, Karen took quiet steps up to the door and pressed her ear against it. The sounds were loud, and she could hear her father’s voice laughing and groaning. On the process of trying to hear more, the door opened and Karen fell into the house.
She got up, rubbing her hip bone in pain. She raised her head and looked up. She saw her father in bed shirtless. Back then she thought it was nothing. He looked at her, his eyes narrowed in anger. She noticed he was sweaty as well.
‘What is it?’ He barked at her.
Karen flinched. ‘I wanted to tell you that I—‘ She trailed off as she saw the head that peaked put of the covers and the lovely face that followed it.
It was a boy, he looked a bit older than her. His eyes were green and huge, full of tears. His face was beautiful, more than any boy she had ever seen. But his face was tear stained and his cheeks very red. His eyes were pleading, asking for something Karen couldn’t understand back then.
Please, his red lips formed the word. Please please please please please
Karen couldn’t understand what he was asking for.
‘What are you looking at? Brat.’ Her father snapped and pushed the boy’s head back under the covers. The boy cried out softly, his hand extended towards Karen.
‘Daddy why do you have a person in your–‘
‘Get out.’ Her father snapped and pointed to the door. ‘And go to your room. Stay there for the rest of the day.’
‘But I got you a flower…’
‘I said get out!’ he roared.
Karen nodded and turned. She turned again, seeing the boy hidden under the covers. She found it weird. But she thought that perhaps the boy had something wrong.
Karen looked at the flower in her hand and dropped it on the floor outside her father’s room. That way when he came out, he would see it.
She couldn’t get the image of the boy’s face out of her head. However hard she tried.
***Flashback end***
Karen was positive it was Nicolas. She knew something was wrong from the very moment she met him.
Nicolas glared at her, his green eyes darkened with anger. His jaw twitched with clenched muscles. Karen noted that His face had lost most of that boyish innocence she saw eleven years ago, but part of it was still there.
“What the actual hell is going on here?” Kai asked, his eyes on Karen.
Karen wiped some of her tears and turned to him. “My master, I remember where I had first seen Nicolas.”
“You don’t know me.” Nicolas snapped. “And I don’t know you.”
Kai raised a hand and silenced him. “Go on,” He urged Karen.
“My father…” She said and started sobbing. “My father was with him, in bed. I… I stumbled upon them and I…. I’m so sorry. I didn’t know….”
Kai sighed and rubbed his temples. Hearing Karen talk about her father was making his heart ache. He looked at Nicolas, he saw the anger brewing inside his beta. Karen was still on her feet, her body pivoted towards Nicolas’ as she begged for his forgiveness
“What can your apologies do?” Nicolas hissed. “Save them for someone who actually cares.”
Kai was suddenly reminded of what kind of hellish things they had both went through. Sometimes Nicolas had it worse, nicknamed ‘Pretty boy’ by Zeke.
A shudder went down Kai’s spine. He stared at Karen, and he found it hard to believe that Zeke was her father.
“You were asking for help and I… I didn’t know…” Karen sobbed.
“Please shut up.” Nicolas replied. “Or disappear, I don’t know.”
“Nick,” Kai called sternly. Nick looked at him and rolled his eyes.
“Don’t Nick me!” He shouted he pointed at Karen, disgust on his face. “Just look at her! All she does is cry and snivel! It’s disgusting. What do you want me to do huh? Smile and say that everything is okay?! Everything is not okay, Kai. And you damn well know it.”
He wasn’t always like this, Kai thought to himself. Once upon a time Nicolas was the kindest person he ever knew. Everybody wanted to be his friend. Everybody loved him.
Some of them loved him in ways they shouldn’t have. Some like Zeke Winterblood.
“Nick, I need you to control yourself.” Kai said calmly.
“I’m out of here.” Nicolas announced and turned to leave.
“I’m sorry!” Karen cried out. “Please! Nicolas I’m really sorry ”
He ignored her. He walked out of the suite and closed the door behind him silently.
Nicolas felt a dozen emotions swelling in his chest. He didn’t know how to react to Karen recognizing him.
He had known. From the day that Kai brought her to the pack, he knew. Nicolas instantly knew where he had seen that face. He instantly knew the memories attached to that face.
He inhaled deeply and exhaled slowly, trying to calm himself down. He felt a twinge of guilt for taking out his anger like that on Karen. She had done nothing wrong to him, not at all.
He glanced back at the suite and wondered what was going on in there. Deciding he didn’t care, he turned and continued walking.
Nicolas grabbed his chest, pain pricking his heart.
Karen couldn’t have been that man’s daughter. There was no way that monster could produce such a child.
Memories flooded Nicolas’ brain. The kind of torture he and Kai had gone through as prisoners. Sometimes giving himself up so Kai could be spared. Accepting the disgusting nickname Zeke gave him.
Sometimes his plan would backfire and he and Kai would suffer together.
And then came Karen. After the day she spotted him with her father, he saw her more often. Sometimes she would come searching for him, with some food she smuggled out of the kitchen.
One time he got to see Zeke beat his own daughter till the verge of death for it.
Nicolas shook his head and cleared his thoughts. It was years ago, he had gotten over it. The pain was in the past but not the hatred that burned for Zeke.
Hatred he had transfered onto Karen.
“Nicolas?”
He raised his head and saw Verena. She stood in the doorway to her room, her eyes narrowed in confusion.
Nicolas blinked. He looked around him, and shock was written on his face.
“Is anything the problem?” Verena asked. “You wanted to see me?”
He cursed himself silently. In his angry daze he had wandered to Verena’s room.
He offered her a smile and shook his head. “I’m sorry, I wasn’t looking where I was going.”
She nodded. Her eyes observed him. “You look tensed. Did something happen with Alpha?”
Nicolas sighed. “I… I think I annoyed him.”
Verena sighed. “Well that’s one privilege you have that I don’t.”
Nicolas nodded. “Yeah.”
Verena was aware of their past, in detail. Nicolas could tell she had a lot of questions to ask but was respectfully keeping quiet.
“Oh and, don’t try to see him tonight.” Nicolas said.
“Why?”
“He’s in a very bad mood.”
Verena raised a brow. Nicolas nodded. They both knew the only thing that could put Kai in a very bad mood.
“I see.” Verena said.
“Good night, Verena.”
“You too.” She said with a wave.
Nicolas walked away. A few steps away he turned and glanced at her door. She had gone inside.
He thought about Karen and thought that he should apologize to her. But then he remembered why she was here. He remembered what he had gone through, what Kai had gone through. And he vowed to never apologize.
She and her father could go burn in hell.
“What wrong?” Nicolas asked, “Princess?”
“Why did you stop?” Kai asked
Karen stared at Nicolas. It finally hit her where she had seen his face. All the weeks of trying to point out why he seems so familiar to her.
Her blood ran cold. She could hear her father saying ‘you’re taking me so well, are you sure it’s your first time?’
She could hear the boy’s soft cries as he tried to refute, tried to say that it was his first time.
It all made sense now.
She had first seen Nicolas in her father’s bed.