Chapter 5 The warning

Nivilia Carson

Nivilia half-expected to be woken up by the torturous feel of her father or brother thrusting into her. 

The tight feeling in her chest loosened when she opened her eyes and found out that wasn’t the case. 

But she couldn’t even feel relieved because her body was raging hot like it did whenever they used the spell to track her down. This time, the heat was all over her, boiling against every part of her skin. 

Feeling tired despite sleeping for hours, she looked around for a temporary solution to this feeling. She then noticed that the bodyguard, who had stayed till she fell asleep, was no longer there. 

The clock above the TV read 2:50 pm.

The TV was showing a loop of past Moon Rock Wins. 

From the brief times she paid attention to hockey discussions in their family, the team had not been winning the past few games. 

‘Was that why he bet on winning the game?’

While she couldn’t make entire sense of Alpha Zay’s bet, she concluded that maybe he wasn’t out of his mind. 

Nivilia then sneered as she recalled the word she used to describe the monsters she lived with. 

Family.

How ironic.

Niv lowered her gaze to the jersey she was wearing. She pressed her nose to the long sleeve. 

It smelt of that shower gel.

She really did use too much of it. 

Hoping that Alpha Zay wouldn’t use that against her, she got up and headed in for another shower. 

After the shower, she grabbed a bottle of iced water and returned to the couch. 

She fixed her attention on the TV, her hands clasped around the bottle, her ears alert. 

Whether they were pretending to watch the game or searching for her, or both, her father and brother were definitely close by and searching for her earnestly. 

And she wasn’t willing to let her efforts so far go to waste. 

‘And we are back!’ A voice energetically sounded from the TV as the Moongladea crest and Moon Rock crest appeared on the screen. ‘The crowd are out here in their numbers, cheering for the best, the blueprint, the champions, the Moon Rock! Right here in the NHS, we’re hoping to witness a historic turn to the-’

With speed, Niv picked up the remote and muted the TV.

She had heard something like footsteps from outside. 

She heard it again after a second.

Quietly, she jumped to her feet and looked around for anything she could use to protect herself. 

All she found were hockey sticks. 

It felt wrong to consider using them since they were clearly precious to any hockey player, but saving herself was more important than that. 

So, she reached for a stick, held it out and waited with her heart refusing to stay still. 

Just as she suspected, the doorknob moved seconds later. 

Then, it rattled. 

The person on the other side was being suspiciously too quiet, this made Niv wonder if it would be wiser to rush into the bathroom and hide there. 

Before she could move an inch, the sound of a key entering the keyhole followed. 

The lock clicked thrice. 

For many seconds, silence ensued. 

Then, the door flew open. 

The tightening that formed in her heart refused to vanish when she saw who the intruder was. 

Even when the click-clack of this person’s heels confirmed that it wasn’t her pervert family, Nivilia tightly gripped the stick and gulped in fear. 

“Isn’t this a fascinating sight?” A sonorous voice emanated from this person who was dressed in a two-piece bedazzled outfit, oozing an exotic scent and walking with an enviable gait that made her silky bleached blonde hair bounce. 

Nivilia, already overwhelmed and overly conscious of how pathetic and lowly she was, lowered the stick and her gaze. 

“You must be Zay’s latest conquest,” the expensive she-wolf sneered, chuckling moments later. “Let’s see…” She inched closer, keenly observing every inch of Nivilia’s shorter figure. “You’re a far cry from his usual type. How do I put it?”

Something evil seemed to blaze in this she-wolf’s eyes as she smiled and whispered, “You’re simply… ugly.” She sighed. “Babe, be honest.”

This she-wolf took two steps closer, and Niv scuttled backwards until the wall stopped her. 

“You snuck in here, didn’t you?”

Niv clasped her hands tighter around the stick. “No, I-”

“Spraying some cheap perfume won’t catch his attention, babe,” she continued, his voice more lethal despite the tenderness in her tone. “But, if you think you can do it, why not? Try and see if he’ll take you to his bed.”

Nivilia gulped. 

She hated how intimidated she felt by this she-wolf, but she just couldn’t break free from that feeling. She couldn’t even maintain eye contact. 

“Babe.” The she-wolf stepped closer again, her slender, perfectly manicured fingers dancing towards the back of Niv’s neck. 

Niv gasped when she grabbed her there. 

“I’ll pretend I didn’t see anything today.” She leaned towards Niv’s ear. “But if, after tonight, I see you anywhere near him, I promise you that you won’t live to see the next morning sun.”

“It’s not…” Nivilia pushed past the tight feeling in her throat. “It’s not what you think.”

“Oh come on, babe, you don’t have to lie.”

That grip vanished and with a bright smile, the she-wolf folded her arms and began pacing like she was marking territory. 

“Every one in Moongladea can’t deny that Zay has that aura that pulls you even if you resist.”

“It really isn’t-”

“Don’t cry when he tosses you away, okay? It’s pathetic when she-wolves like you can’t just accept the fact that he’s using them for fun.”

“F-Fun?”

“Babe, please.”

The things this she-wolf just said forced Nivilia to recall Alpha Zay’s fake-girlfriend clause. Was Alpha Zay really doing this to use her for fun? 

But he said he had no business sharing his body with her.

Was that a lie?

If not, what was Alpha Zay really thinking?

The she-wolf stopped pacing. “You’re not coming up to the game?”

Nivilia shook her head. 

“Suit yourself.” A grin spread across her glossy lips after glancing at Niv from head to toe again. “It was nice meeting you.”

“Uhh… L-likewise.”

“Ha!” That one exclamation turned into laughter, which replayed in Niv’s mind long after the she-wolf had left. 

“Heavens.” Nivilia rushed to the sofa bed. She buried her face in one of the soft pillows. “What do I do? What do I freaking do?!”

‘I have a good feeling so far, citizens of Moongladea! The team’s in high spirits! The crowd is pumping!’

She lifted her head to the TV which she was certain she had muted. 

She had missed a lot thanks to that intrusion, and it took her a while to figure out that the Moon Rock Team was actually in the lead by four points. 

Heart beating again, this time with hope in her veins and her fingers pressing deep into the pillow on her lap, Niv began praying. 

Within that prayer, she surprised herself. 

As the blades of the players’ boots skidded over the ice, as the players swerved, bumped and passed that little black thing, she forgot her worries about what Alpha Zay’s fake-girlfriend warning could entail. 

All she did was pray that the team would win and that today would be her last day in Lower Moongladea.