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Nova's POV

"Just a few stops," he said. Yeah, four hours for a few stops seems a little excessive, I think to myself as we go back to the car for the eighth time that day. Colt looked utterly pleased. He had gotten almost all he had wanted to get done, done today.

I, on the other hand, felt like I was being dragged around at his will. While it wasn't the worst thing in the world, I really just wanted to be at home recovering on my own so that I could get back to work on Monday. Colt would have a conniption if he knew I planned to return to work so soon. 

While I did not intend to look bothered by the situation, I guess he could sense it because before driving off, just as he started the car, he looks over at me. "Sorry, kisa," he says huskily. "We can go to your house now if you want." 

"That would be gre- what? What the heck is a kisa?" 

He smiles and takes my hand as he backs out of the parking space, gently of course to not aggravate the burns. "I've been looking for a good nickname for you ever since I first sensed you. Upon watching you sleep last night, I settled on kisa." 

"....That doesn't help me. At all." I laugh.

He brings my hand to his lips with his eyes on the road. "Kisa, my love, means kitten in Russian."

Using my free hand, I make an "okay... and?" movement. 

"I have Russian roots," he shrugs. "I learned a bit from my grandparents growing up."

"Oh yeah? You'll have to show me some sometime." I tease and squeeze his hand. He kisses it once more and releases it, retiring the hand he was using to my thigh.

Was I blushing? Probably. 

"Notice how I organized my errands so that we would get closer to your house." He chuckles as we get on the road that eventually led to it. 

"What do you want me to do? Create an idol of you to worship?" I scoff and nudge his hand with my thigh.

"As nice as that would be, I'm already right here." He smirks.

I just roll my eyes and smile a bit. He knew I didn't mind his crap. 

Colt's POV

I hate how isolated Nova is out here. It's a good thing and a bad thing. She is hard to find, but hard to get to. My incessant need to be near her didn't help. 

Her demeanor changes when we pull up, I don't know how I didn't notice. She shifted from sweet and teasing to solemn in a split second. Before I can match her line of vision, she opens the door of the truck and steps out before I can even stop completely. 

"Nova!" I put the car in park and turn it off, rushing to her to grab her, "nobody taught you to not jump out of moving cars?" I sounded harsher than I anticipated. She could get seriously hurt pulling shit like that. 

She struggles and breaks free from my grasp, I get a glimpse of her eyes that were welled up with tears. 

I finally manage to look up at what she was looking at and understood immediately why she had flipped. 

Her house was a wreck.

Windows shattered, door slammed down, what I hoped was red paint everywhere. And that was only the outside. 

"Nova.. Nova, baby.. I wouldn't-" 

"You wouldn't what!" She snaps, her cheeks now wet with tears. "Look at what they did! Now if you'll excuse me, I am going to go assess the utter ruin that is.. no, WAS, my house."

She does just that. A protective instinct kicks in. They could still be in there waiting for her, and I would feel stupid to let her go in alone. I shift to fur to be able to protect her better and to see if it really was the dynamic duo who did this. 

Even though my attention was not wholly on her, I can sense her shaking. I can smell her anger, and under it all was fear, maybe some disappointment. The moment I walked in, even before I stepped into the damage, I smelled them. 

This was too far. 

After a scan of the house, determining it was empty except for her and I, I come back to where she was to find her on her knees collecting pieces of broken glass in her hands. 

Having been in her house before, I go to where she keeps cleaning supplies and grab a broom and dustpan in my jaw, dropping it in front of her, and nudging the glass out of her hands before she hurts herself. 

Burned clothes everywhere, furniture ripped to shreds, stains on the little carpet that existed in the house, and disgusting writing all over the walls that only a coat of paint could fix. The precious little she had was torn from her, yet again.

I tried to get into her head to console her, but there was a new wall up that I couldn't penetrate. Not again, Nova.. not again.

She suddenly jolts to life and scrambles to her feet, running to her bedroom, taking even me by surprise. I hasten after her to find her prying up a floorboard and releasing a sob, in what sounded like relief as she pulled a box from the floor. 

My curiosity is instantly peaked, and the wolf in me goes closer to her to look over her shoulder. 

She pulls the box closer to herself and turns away from me. I nudge her with my nose.

"No!" She cries and stands up, leaving the box on the floor, pacing with her hands pulling on her hair. "Why did I come here? Why did I have to fuck everything up? Why did I get Blake killed? Why can't I just have one thing not be torn apart?"

And then she turns to me, totally broken now. I've seen the look in her eyes before. I thought I had chased it away for good but it came back, and it was back with a vengeance. 

"Why did you save me? Why couldn't you have just let me die?" Her voice cracks and breaks. My heart breaks for her, while my spirit fills with anger and loathing for the people who did this. 

The worst part was that she genuinely wondered this. She honestly didn't know why I saved her, let alone why she was worth saving. 

When I couldn't take it anymore, when I couldn't go one more minute without holding her, I shift and take her in my arms. I expected a response of anger but got a hug instead and her perfect tears falling onto my chest.

After she relaxes a bit, at least enough to be able to understand me, I kiss the top of her head, taking in her scent and clear some hair from her face. "We need to go, kisa. It isn't safe here. They could come back."

"Let them.." She mumbles and pushes away from me again.

"What do you mean let them? You can't just give up!" 

"I'm not giving up, Colt!" She says sharply. "If I accept defeat and leave, that bitch wins. I need to stay here." She walks back to the dustpan and broom, and I walk back to where I lost my clothes. I'm only able to keep my boxers on when I shift. 

She was so unbelievably stubborn. I loved it. 

"Nova, as right as you might be, there is a better way. You don't know these people like I do." This was going to sound so selfish, but it really was the only way in my eyes. 

"I know them well enough to know that they'd do this," she shows me her hands. 

"Yes, but it is my opinion.. and this has nothing to do with the fact that you are my own personal drug, that you would be safer if you stay with me, that we are more of a threat when we are together, and that Thalia is too obsessed with me to do any damage to anything of mine."

After a pause, she speaks. "Whatever.." she grunts and continues sweeping. "I can't just leave. This is my home. This is the first thing that has ever been mine. Exclusively mine. You have no idea what that means to me, and further, you have no idea what it means to have somebody who hardly knows you come and destroy it."

I just look at her and advance slowly when she finishes talking and show her her own hands. "Yes, I do," I whisper and kiss them tenderly. I free one hand to caress her lower back laden with burn marks ever so gently. 

I don't even have to bring her toward me as I was intending to do, she closes the gap between us by herself until our lips meet. 

In that instant, I felt the wall in her head come tumbling down. I could read her again.

She pulls away, "but what about..?" and gestures to the mess around us. 

"I'll take care of it. Right now, I'm only concerned with your safety." It was true. "You'll be safe with me. I promise."

She nods and puts the broom down, going to pick up the box she had left on the floor and tries to find any clothes that were not ruined. She only manages to find a few garments. It would hold her over for a few days until we could go shopping.

With one final look at the place, she looks back to me and nods. I put my arm around her as we walk back to the truck and kiss her cheek. Feeling her lean into it made my heart jump. 

She sniffs and rubs her eyes as we drive off. It had been a long day for her. Her exhaustion began to get to me too. 

"Colt?" She says softly and reaches for my hand.

"Hmmmm?" I take a hand off the wheel and offer it to her. She takes it and presses her cheek into my palm with her hand on the other side. 

"Thank you." 

I smile and stroke her cheek with my thumb.

She places my hand on her thigh and says my name once more in the same manner as before. 

"Yes, kisa?" 

"I like you calling me kisa," she blushes.

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