Liyah's POV

Nikolai was avoiding me. He wasn't exactly the most discreet person, so it was quite easy to tell. I had been surprised when I arrived at the training ground this morning only to see Annalise instead of him. Later on I learned that he had asked her to take on today's session as he had some things to finish up. Training with Annalise was unexpected but quite fun and I would love to do it again, but my mind continued to drift to Nikolai. If he had other things to do, why didn't he just tell me? That's when I began to wonder if he was avoiding me. But I waved it off.

When it became clear that he was avoiding me was during the kitchen incident. I had come into the kitchen to prepare a concoction for one of the omegas who had gotten injured. He quickly left through the backdoor when I stepped in, acting like he had not seen me. I couldn't help but feel a little hurt after that.

As I strolled through the house, my mind wandered to the other night. The kiss. I felt a shiver run down my spine at the memory. It was weird but, I had wanted him to. The disappointment I felt when he pulled away washed over me once more. But the funny thing was, the fact that he had pulled away warmed my insides. I couldn't help but smile at the thought. I knew he didn't want to start anything of that sort. He was considering my feelings and trying not to do anything to remind me of the past. And that spoke volumes.

"Hey." A voice brought me out of my thoughts.

"Elyan?" I smiled as I looked up at his grinning face. "Hey." I didn't remember the last time I saw him.

"You look...nice," He complimented, looking me over. "I never apologized for..."

I laughed, shaking my head. "It's okay. You were acting on orders. I hold nothing against you."

He smiled brightly, and soon enough we were deep in conversation. He smiled when I told him I was taking self-defence classes.

"That's cool. If you want, I could help out once in a while, teach you a few things."

As I began to reject his offer, I saw Nikolai's figure standing at the rail of the staircase from the corner of my eyes. It was obvious that he was watching us. All of a sudden, I felt a little vindictive. I would give him something to watch.

Facing Elyan again, I placed a hand on his shoulder, making sure it lingered for a while. "Yes that would be nice," I replied, loud enough for Nikolai to hear. I knew I didn't need to try too hard. His senses were powerful enough to catch them even if I whispered.

Elyan looked surprised. "Oh, wow. Okay then, that would be nice. Would you like to, um, maybe have dinner sometime?" He asked, scratching the back of his head.

Oh no.

I didn't mean to give him the green light. What was I supposed to do now? My eyes caught Nikolai approaching us and I straightened up. "I'll think abou—"

"What are you doing?" I heard Nikolai's cold voice directed to Elyan. I hid my smile. Right on time.

Elyan looked up in shock, moving away and bowing quickly. "Alpha."

"Get back to work," He hissed, making Elyan bow and practically scurry away.

I faced him. "Hey, I was having a conversation."

In response, he grabbed my hand dragging me towards the common room and shutting the door when we got in.

I turned to him. "What was that?" I demanded. "First you avoid me all day, you don't even inform me that you won't be able to make it to our session today. You just hand it over to Annalise. Then you avoid me in the kitchen as well. Don't think I didn't see that as well. Now I'm trying to have a conversation and you..."

My eyes narrowed. "Are you perhaps, jealous?" I asked, repeating his words from the other night. When he didn't respond, I shook my head, turning away. "I have to—"

Before I could get the words out, he grabbed my arm, pulling me to him just like the other night. As I braced myself for another disappointment, he placed a warm hand on my neck, tilting my head, and crushing his lips hungrily on mine.

My surprise slowly melted into desire and I let out a soft moan when his lips trailed down my neck, then back to my lips. I felt my body heat up as our lips moved in rhythm.

My heart was thumping so hard I thought it would explode. But I didn't want him to stop.

Suddenly, he pulled away, surprise filling his eyes as though he had just remembered what he was doing. "I—I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to—"

He never got to complete the rest of the sentence because I pulled him forward by the collar and pressed my lips to his.

I wouldn't be able to handle another rejection.

He quickly recovered from the shock because soon he had turned me over, pushing me so my back was against the wall.

A different kind of sensation filled me when he flicked his fingers over my hardened nipples, nearly causing me to scream out in pleasure. Heat filling me, I raked my fingers through his hair. And it was even softer than I imagined it would be.

As he started to trail little kisses down my neck and to my chest, the door suddenly swung open.

We quickly jumped apart, trying and failing to smoothen ourselves out as we faced Margaret. My face was so hot that I imagined I might as well die from the embarrassment. It was obvious that she had seen us.

She smirked in our direction. "Don't mind me. I'm just here to drop these off." When she dropped the tiny medicine bottles she held in a drawer, she turned back to the door. "Carry on," She said, laughing to herself as she exited, shutting the door quietly behind her.

"Uh, I have something I need to..."

"Same here," He coughed, rubbing the back of his neck.

I bumped into a chair on my way out.

Of course. Why did I think I could walk out with my dignity intact?

My face still burning, I fled.

###Chapter 63 - Owe you a song

Nikolai's POV

"Go, Liyah!"

I threw Drew a dirty look as he cheered her on, but he was too busy watching her shoot down the eight empty beer cans placed on the fence. She did it so quickly it had my jaw falling open in shock. I couldn't say I wasn't impressed. It was simply amazing to watch.

She smiled widely as she jogged over to where the three of us stood. Drew and Anna must have sworn to pick on me today, because as soon as she came, they continued to cheer, pouring praises on her head.

"That was amazing!"

"Oh my god! She did it faster than Nikolai! Come see," Annalise announced, raising the stopwatch for all of us to see.

My head whipped up. "That's not possible."

Liyah snickered. "Whatever helps you sleep."

Still in disbelief, I grabbed the stopwatch from Anna. "By 0.2 seconds?"

"Still, she beat you," Drew responded.

I narrowed my eyes at my supposed best friends. "If I didn't know better, I would think the both of you were trying to pick on me today. No one cheered me this much when I did mine."

"Nikolai, darling, you're old meat. Liyah is learning so fast, doing so well. There's no need to be jealous now," Anna smirked at me.

"Thanks the for the moral support. You're both assholes, by the way."

I tried to keep my eyes off Liyah as we all burst into laughter. How did she manage to look so effortlessly beautiful even when she was sweaty? I quickly turned away before they could catch me staring at her.

"So..." Drew started to say, looking from me to Liyah. "Annie and I were thinking about something. Liyah has been working so hard lately, her progress is amazing. And you've been working hard as well. So, Annie and I thought it'd be a nice idea to get away for the weekend. Just the four of us. We could go up to the old cabin outside town. What do you think?"

Liyah looked to me as if wanting my opinion on the suggestion. It was clear to see that she would appreciate the weekend off. And I couldn't deny her that, especially with those eyes seeing into my soul.

So I nodded.

But I couldn't help but look over suspiciously at Drew and Anna. I wasn't sure why I had a feeling that those two were up to something. A weekend getaway? It didn't sound like something they would come up with out of the blue. I'd know those two my whole life and if there was one thing they weren't, it was impulsive. They liked to take time to think things through, and whenever they made plans they took their time.

The suspicious smirk on their faces wasn't helping either, but I didn't say anything. After all, they were right. Liyah did deserve a break. She had earned it.

***

"Wait while I get my luggage. Drew and I will come in his car. Just give me a few seconds," Anna pleaded, racing back into the house.

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes as I nodded. Motioning for Drew to come closer, I said, "We'll start ahead, there's a long way to go. You guys hurry up."

He looked way too excited by this development but he tried too late to mask it. "Sure. We're right behind you." Staring suspiciously at his retreating figure, I started the ignition and drove out of the gates. I settled in when I saw Drew's car right behind us.

"What's the cabin like?" Liyah asked after I had driven for a while.

We hadn't been alone together like this since the kiss.

"It's nice. We have some cleaning up to do though," I laughed. "We used to go there all the time when we needed a break."

"Why'd you stop?"

"Well..."

The sound of my ringtone cut me off. The first thing I did when I saw the caller ID was look into the rearview mirror. And of course, Drew's car was nowhere to be seen. I picked up.

"Hey, you!" Anna's voice filled the car. My phone was connected to the car speaker so Liyah could hear as well. Liyah also looked back in surprise, frowning when she didn't see the car.

Of course.

"Uhh, we had to go get something we forgot at home. But don't worry about us. You guys go on. Maybe next time we'll make it. You guys have fun!" And without waiting for a response, she hung up.

I physically cringed at the terrible lie. Seriously? I thought they could do better. I knew those two were up to something. And it definitely made things awkward now it was obvious they had wanted Liyah and I to have the cabin all to ourselves.

I looked sideways to Liyah, who now sat facing the window, her ears reddening. So I did the most logical thing. I ignored the elephant in the room.

"Like I was saying, going up to the cabin didn't feel the same without... you know."

Liyah looked grateful for the change in subject. "Oh, I see. That changed a lot of things for you, didn't it?" She asked.

"Yeah," I admitted. "It changed everything."

She nodded in understanding. "What else did you quit?" She asked all of a sudden.

"Hmm," I tried to remember. "So you might not believe this, but I used to play the piano. And quite well, I must add." Her eyes widened as she suddenly began to giggle.

"Really?"

"Yep," I confirmed. "There's one at the cabin, even," I laughed, the memories of playing songs and loving the way my fingers moved over the keys came to mind and I suddenly felt a rush of nostalgia.

"I think you should start playing again." She nodded when I frowned. "I know there are painful memories associated with all the things you loved. But it doesn't have to be that way."

She reached out to squeeze my thigh when my grip on the steering wheel tightened. How had she even noticed?

"Maybe...if you start doing all those things again, you'll learn to see those things as good memories, and stop trying so hard to push them away or erase them. It's okay to have them. But one day they'll come to mind and you wouldn't feel so sad. I know you're struggling to heal, and I see all that you do. But you don't have to lose yourself in the middle of all of that as well."

I marveled at how she always knew the right things to say. And somehow it managed to make me feel better. So I smiled back at her.

"I owe you a song then."

###Chapter 64 - Mated

Liyah's POV

I couldn't control my laughter as I watched Nikolai blink in pain as the spaghetti sauce got into his eye. He had been slurping each strand of pasta all through the meal. He should have known that it would eventually get into his eyes.

"Help me," He pleaded, groaning in pain as he rushed to the tap and began to splash cold water into his eyes.

After I had had enough fun watching him struggle, I stood. Walking to the kitchen cabinet, I took out the salt container, putting some in my hand and walking over to him. "Water won't help. Lick this."

He eyed me with his good eye looking down at the salt in my hand suspiciously. "How's that supposed to help?"

Rolling my eyes, I went on my tiptoes and tilted my palm to let the salt fill his mouth. His grimaced from the taste and I chuckled. He was like a different person, weird and goofy. I found it extremely adorable and I began to suspect that behind his tough exterior he might really just be a teddy bear.

"Wow, it really works," He said, blinking his eye open. "Where did you learn that?" I couldn't remember so I shrugged. I think I might've read it somewhere in a book. But I wasn't sure.

As I dumped the plates we had just used in the sink, I whipped around suddenly remembering something. "You owe me a song. I'd like it now, thank you."

"Right now?" He asked, scratching the back of his neck.

I glared at him. "You're not about to back away now."

Laughing, he sighed. "Fine." I watched in anticipation as he walked to the other end of the room and took the large piece of cloth off the piano. When we arrived here earlier the cabin had already been cleaned. A blush creeped up my face as I remembered that Annalise and Drew had really planned all of this through. The cabin was literally spotless. It was one of those places that was medium sized and comfy, yet luxurious all the same.

"You do know I haven't played in years right? So excuse me if I'm a little rusty."

I nodded absentmindedly, too busy noticing how cute he looked sitting in the bench that was too small for him. My mouth fell open when he began to play. My lips widened into a smile as I watched his fingers flow through the keys as he played a piece I wasn't familiar with.

"Wow," I breathed. "You're really good."

"Would you like to try?"

"M-me?" I blushed. I wasn't really familiar with the piano. "I used to play a little when I was younger. I think I can only play one song."

"Come on..." He prodded, beckoning me to the bench. I stared down at the keys trying to remember how I was supposed to play. Still unsure, I tried and surprisingly I was right. As I continued to play, he joined in.

We both began to laugh when we finished and no matter how hard I tried I could seem to wipe the smile off my face. I didn't remember the last time I was this happy.

He was staring at me when I looked back in his direction for some reason my heartbeat quickened. I didn't know how to act whenever he placed those piercing silver eyes on me.

He was the most gorgeous man I had ever laid my eyes on. And the effect he had on me was evident in the way my knees suddenly weakened each time he looked at me like that. After the kiss the other time, I hadn't been able to get it off my mind. Sometimes when he came very close during training, I would completely forget to concentrate on what was at hand and begin to stare at his lips.

And now I couldn't stop staring. The laughter in his eyes from earlier was now clouded by desire and as he reached out to take my hand in his, I felt goosebumps of anticipation spread all over me.

"Liyah..." He breathed.

The way he said my name had me reeling. He placed a hand on the small of my back, pulling me closer to him until our lips were inches apart.

"Yes.." I whimpered, just before he covered my lips with his in a slow kiss, tenderly as first but as the kiss intensified, he pressed harder, making me moan in the back of my throat. The taste of his hot kisses trailing from my bottom lip to my neck and down to my chest ran me wild with pleasure.