╔════════════════════════════════════════════╗ ║ Chapter 46 – Old Ghosts, New Wars 🐺🔥 ║ ╚════════════════════════════════════════════╝
Longer chapter today over 2K
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Nova's POV
"KATE."
The name tasted like ash and blood.
Kate Argent smiled wider.
"Well," she purred, straightening slowly. "Still sharp. Even drugged."
Nova's wrists burned against the wolfsbane-coated chains as she pulled uselessly against them. Her muscles trembled. Her vision swam.
But her eyes never left Kate.
"I wish you stayed dead," Nova rasped.
Kate tilted her head, mock-offended. "That's not very welcoming, little pup."
Nova's lips peeled back from her teeth. "Don't call me that."
"Oh?" Kate's eyes glittered. "You used to be so much quieter. Softer." She leaned closer again, lowering her voice. "You Hale girls always did have bite."
Nova's stomach twisted—not with fear.
With hatred.
Images flashed behind her eyes.
The fire. The smell of smoke. Screams. Derek's broken expression.
Her family reduced to ash because of the woman standing in front of her.
"You burned my family," Nova growled weakly. "You seduced Derek to get information about us—about where we lived, who was home—and then you used it to set the fire. You played him just to slaughter us."
Kate didn't deny it.
Instead, she shrugged lightly. "Collateral damage."
Nova lunged forward as far as the chains allowed, fury shaking through her weakened body.
"I will kill you," she hissed. "Since Peter failed, I'll finish the job myself."
Kate laughed.
"You can barely sit up."
Upstairs, a faint floorboard creaked.
Allison.
Kate glanced toward the ceiling and smirked.
"Allison was stupid to lose you over Scott," Kate continued conversationally. "Really tragic. You were clearly the better choice."
Nova's jaw tightened.
"She cheated," Nova snapped. "She chose him."
"Allison's the one who called me," Kate replied coolly. "She wanted you for herself. Away from your Mikaelson."
That hit harder than the chains.
For a split second, the room tilted.
Allison had called her.
Not stumbled into this. Not been manipulated into it.
Chosen it.
Nova's throat tightened, something dangerously close to heartbreak cutting through the haze of poison.
"You're lying," she said, but there was no strength behind it.
Kate's smirk deepened.
"Am I?"
Nova's chest rose and fell rapidly. "She knows exactly what you are. She just chose to believe you changed."
Kate's smile widened slowly, indulgently.
"Oh, sweetheart," she murmured. "People love redemption stories. Especially girls like Allison. She wanted to believe I'd changed. She needed to believe monsters can be fixed."
Kate leaned closer, voice dropping to something intimate and poisonous.
"But this?" Her eyes gleamed. "This is her choice. She's doing this because she wants you back."
Nova's stomach dropped.
"She thinks if she gets you away from Hope—away from the babies, away from the Mikaelsons—you'll remember who you were with her."
Kate's lips curved with cruel satisfaction. "She called me because she couldn't compete with your new life. So she decided to remove it."
Something inside Nova cracked.
For a breath—just one—grief surged up through the poison haze. Memories of softer days. Late-night laughs. Fingers intertwined. Promises whispered in Beacon Hills woods.
Allison choosing her once.
Allison choosing this now.
The heartbreak flared hot—raw and brutal.
Then it burned away.
What replaced it was colder. Sharper.
Alpha.
Nova slowly lifted her chin despite the chains, despite the wolfsbane searing her skin. Her eyes, red and blazing, locked onto Kate with terrifying clarity.
"You think this makes me miss her?" Nova's voice was hoarse—but steady now. "You think betrayal makes me nostalgic?"
She leaned forward as far as the restraints allowed, lips curling.
"Allison didn't lose me to Scott," she continued quietly. "She lost me the moment she stopped choosing me."
A faint tremor ran through her—but it wasn't weakness anymore.
It was fury settling into bone.
"You want leverage?" Nova breathed. "You just handed me a reason."
Now her pulse pounded in her ears.
"What do you want?" she demanded.
Kate crouched again, just out of reach.
"You."
The word hung there.
Nova's stomach dropped.
"You've always been interesting," Kate continued. "Strong. Loyal. Alpha potential. And now?" Her eyes darkened. "Mate to a Mikaelson. Mother of hybrid twins."
Nova's eyes flashed red with fury despite the poison weakening her.
"You don't get to talk about my children."
Kate's smile sharpened.
"Ah. There it is."
Nova strained against the chains again, ignoring the way the wolfsbane burned into her skin.
"If you so much as look at them—"
"What?" Kate challenged softly.
Nova's voice dropped into something low and lethal.
"I will rip your throat out with my teeth."
Kate studied her for a long moment.
And then, quietly—
"There's the Hale I remember."
Kate's expression shifted—not amused now, not indulgent.
Predatory.
Her eyes flickered.
Then burned.
Green.
Not human green. Not soft.
Werejaguar green.
The glow bled outward from her pupils, luminous and unnatural in the dim basement light.
"Oh," Kate breathed, almost delighted. "You're not the only predator in this room."
Nova's breathing was uneven now. The sedative still dragged at her thoughts, made everything feel slightly distant.
She tried again to reach Hope.
Nothing.
Just static.
Kate noticed.
"She can't hear you," she said lightly.
Nova's heart skipped.
Kate tapped the chains. "Wolfsbane cocktail. Very refined. Took some work."
Nova's eyes narrowed despite the haze in her vision. "You're not smart enough to pull this off alone," she rasped. "You must've had help."
Kate's smile turned sly. "The Mikaelsons have many enemies, darling. Powerful ones."
Nova's heart thudded. "Witches."
Kate's werejaguar-green eyes gleamed brighter, her smirk widening. "Now you're thinking like an alpha."
She tilted her head slightly, expression turning secretive.
"But you don't get to know which one," she added softly. "Some secrets are worth more when they're discovered the hard way."
"You're pathetic," Nova spat. "Kidnapping someone who just got out of the hospital."
Kate's expression flickered—just slightly.
"Oh, I know all about the hospital."
Nova froze.
Kate's eyes gleamed.
"Premature labor," she said softly. "So fragile. So close to losing everything."
Nova's entire body went rigid.
"If this is about hurting me—"
"It's about leverage," Kate corrected.
Nova's stomach dropped again.
Upstairs, footsteps.
Heavier this time. Slower.
Kate glanced toward the stairs again.
"Time to behave," she murmured.
Nova straightened as much as she could.
"I am going to survive this," she said hoarsely. "And when I do?"
Kate arched a brow.
"I'm bringing my mate," Nova finished.
A slow, dangerous smile spread across Kate's face.
"I'm counting on it."
Kate's smirk turned vicious.
"Until Allison comes back," she added softly, her voice dripping with dark amusement, "you're mine to deal with however I see fit."
Her werejaguar eyes gleamed with sadistic anticipation.
"We're going to have so much fun together... alone."
The basement door creaked open wider.
A second set of footsteps began descending.
Nova turned her head toward the sound.
Her pulse pounded.
The silhouette sharpened.
Allison stepped into the light.
Before she could speak, Nova let out a weak, humorless laugh.
"You think I'm yours to play with?" Nova rasped, eyes blazing despite the poison dulling her strength. "You're living on borrowed time, Kate. Every second I'm breathing is a countdown to your death."
Kate's lips twitched.
Nova leaned forward as much as the chains allowed, voice dropping to a vicious whisper.
"You burned my family. You destroyed my life. You involved my children." Her eyes flared red again. "You don't get to walk away from that. I don't care how many enemies the Mikaelsons have. I will carve my revenge out of your bones."
A beat of silence followed.
Then Allison spoke softly.
"Hi, baby."
For a second Nova just stared at her.
Shock flickered across her face—then disgust.
"Don't," Nova snapped weakly. Her voice shook from the poison, but the fury behind it was unmistakable. "You don't get to call me that anymore."
Allison's expression faltered for a split second before smoothing into something softer—almost pleading.
"Nova... I had to do this," Allison said gently, stepping closer. "You wouldn't listen to me otherwise. You wouldn't talk to me."
Nova barked out a bitter laugh.
"You kidnapped me," she rasped. "You had your psycho aunt chain me in a basement and poison me with wolfsbane."
Kate chuckled behind them.
"That was mostly me, actually."
Allison shot her an annoyed look before turning back to Nova.
"I'm trying to fix things," Allison insisted. "You and me—we were good together. We loved each other."
Nova's eyes burned red again.
"You cheated on me."
Allison flinched.
"With Scott," Nova continued, voice sharp as broken glass. "And now you think kidnapping me is how you win me back?"
Kate leaned casually against a nearby table, clearly enjoying the show.
"You have to admit," she said lazily, "this is way more romantic than Beacon Hills drama."
"Allison," Nova growled, ignoring her. "I have a mate. I have children. You don't get to rip me out of my life because you suddenly decided you want me again."
Allison's jaw tightened.
"I'm not ripping you away," she said stubbornly. "I'm reminding you who you used to be."
Kate snorted.
"Oh, please. You're trying to steal her back from the scary hybrid girlfriend."
Allison ignored the jab, stepping even closer to Nova.
"You loved me once," she said quietly.
Nova's voice dropped to something lethal.
"And now I love someone who would burn the world down before letting this happen to me."
Kate's grin widened at that.
"Oh, I cannot wait to meet the Mikaelson when she shows up."
Allison turned sharply toward her aunt.
"That's enough," she said, voice tight. "I want to talk to Nova alone."
Kate arched a brow, amused.
"Oh? Lovers' quarrel?"
Allison's jaw clenched. "Just leave the room."
For a moment it looked like Kate might refuse.
Then the werejaguar smirk returned.
"Fine," she said lightly. "But try not to kill each other before the fun starts."
She pushed off the table and walked toward the stairs, boots echoing against the concrete.
But instead of leaving entirely, Kate paused halfway up, just out of sight—silent, listening.
Eavesdropping.
Because watching people destroy themselves was one of her favorite hobbies.
A second shadow lingered farther up the staircase.
Scott.
His hands were clenched into fists as he listened from the darkness, jaw tight with anger.
Allison had dumped him the moment she decided to chase Nova again.
And hearing her say Nova's name the way she used to...
It twisted something ugly inside his chest.
Down in the basement, Allison slowly stepped closer.
Nova glared up at her from the chair, wrists still burning against the wolfsbane chains.
"You've got five seconds," Nova rasped.
Allison's voice softened again.
"Nova... please. Just listen to me."
Something in Nova finally snapped.
A broken, hollow sound escaped her throat before the words came flooding out.
"Listen to you?" Nova laughed weakly, the sound raw and cracked. "You want me to listen to you?"
Her eyes burned red as tears mixed with fury.
"You know what I listened to the night I found you?" she continued hoarsely. "Your voice. His voice. Coming from the bedroom."
Allison froze.
Nova's hands trembled against the wolfsbane chains.
"I thought you were hurt," Nova said, voice shaking. "Scott had called earlier saying something happened and I ran across half of Beacon Hills because I thought something was wrong."
Her breath hitched.
"And then I opened the door."
Silence filled the basement.
"You were in my bed," Nova whispered. "With him."
Allison's face paled.
Nova's voice cracked as months of buried pain spilled out.
"I ignored Derek when he warned me about you," she said bitterly. "Ignored Cora when she told me you were still an Argent first. I defended you to my entire family."
Her head dropped for a moment before she forced herself to look back up.
"Do you know what it took for me to let someone in after everything my family went through?" Nova demanded. "After the fire? After losing everyone?"
Her chest rose and fell unevenly.
"You were the first person I trusted like that," she said quietly. "The first person I loved after the world burned down around me."
The chains rattled as her body shook with anger.
"And when I finally let someone into my heart," Nova finished, voice breaking, "you ripped it out and crushed it."
For a moment the room was completely silent except for Nova's ragged breathing.
Her expression hardened again, grief cooling into something colder.
"So don't stand there and pretend this is about love," she said bitterly. "You lost the right to that the second you chose him over me."
Allison's eyes filled with tears.
"I know," she whispered. "I know I did."
Nova blinked, clearly not expecting that answer.
"What happened with Scott... it was a mistake," Allison said quickly, desperation creeping into her voice. "A stupid, horrible mistake. He wasn't worth losing you over. I realized that the second you walked out."
Upstairs, Scott's head snapped up.
The words hit him like a physical blow.
He wasn't worth losing you over.
His jaw clenched so tightly it hurt.
Down in the basement, Nova stared at Allison in disbelief.
"You think saying that fixes anything?" she demanded hoarsely.
"All I'm saying is I chose wrong," Allison said. "And I'm trying to fix it now."
Nova barked out a harsh laugh.
"You're kidnapping me to fix things."
"All I wanted was a chance to talk to you!" Allison shot back. "You blocked me, Nova! You wouldn't even look at me!"
"Because you broke me!" Nova shouted.
The chains rattled as her body jerked forward.
Upstairs, Scott finally lost control.
"Are you serious right now?!" he shouted.
Heavy footsteps thundered down the stairs.
Allison spun around just as Scott stormed into the basement, fury written across his face.
"You kidnapped her for this?" he demanded, pointing at Nova. "To beg her to take you back?"
Allison's expression hardened instantly.
"Stay out of this, Scott."
"No," Scott snapped. "I'm not staying out of it when you're acting like I was some mistake!"
His eyes burned as he looked between them.
"Oh really? If I was such a mistake, Allison, then why did we keep seeing each other after Nova dumped you?" he shot back bitterly. "Why did we keep dating—openly this time?"
Allison's face went pale.
Scott's voice rose, anger spilling out now that it had started.
"And don't pretend that was the first time we got together," he continued, pointing toward Nova. "That might have been the first time she saw it, but it wasn't the first time we slept together."
Nova froze.
Scott laughed harshly, the sound ugly and wounded.
"You're standing here acting like I ruined everything," he said to Allison. "But you didn't even break up with me until recently. You only dumped me when you decided you wanted Nova back."
Nova watched the two of them with cold disbelief.
"This is unbelievable," she muttered.
Above them, hidden on the stairs, Kate smiled slowly.
The chaos was exactly what she wanted.
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