My Wild Beast-Chapter 168: She’s Back (2)

Breathing heavily, shock weighed Nova down as she stared past the guns pointed at her and to someone she believed had died.

"B-Bruce?! Nova choked, her eyes prickling with unshed tears.

Bruce was alive. Bruce was alive! Bruce... The relief she felt was fleeting as seeing Chad’s bodyguard also meant one thing. She was no longer in the World of Beasts, no longer with her Serakai. They were literally worlds apart.

"Yoa..." Nova whispered, her legs faltering. Her head dipped beneath the surface of the water. She felt utterly hopeless. Her heart squeezed so tightly she couldn’t breathe, even if she wasn’t in water.

"-ova!"

Nova barely registered the muffled sounds outside of the lake. What did it matter? Yoa, Atia and Aiyana... They were all gone. The Vampiras... the impossibility of survival... Tears blurred her vision as she began to sink further into the water, the heaviness of her limbs becoming all too real.

The golden bars of light filtering through the lake faded as darkness consumed her. She barely noticed the sound of someone plunging into the water or the hand that wrapped around her tiny wrist.

Everything became a blur of events after she was pulled out of Luna Lacus.

Bruce’s stocky form hovered over her, water droplets splattering her features as his lips moved, forming words she couldn’t hear. He shook Nova’s shoulders, but she couldn’t feel his touch. Everything suddenly felt cold, pointless, even as she was surrounded by the jungle, lying on her back on this paradise island.

What did it matter?

"Are you hurt?!" Bruce continued to ask her silly questions, now shouting loudly enough to push past the numbness spreading in her veins. She wanted to ease his concern, yet she couldn’t find the energy to do anything.

Her breaths grew louder, and the pounding beat of her heart was never-ending as her lids grew heavy.

When she next opened her eyes, she was being carried.

Yoa? Her heart fluttered, and she lifted her gaze. Any curl of her lips dropped as she met Bruce’s eyes.

His brows pinched together, and his grip tightened. She looked away, tears streaking down her dirtied cheeks, scarcely noting the trained men in combat outfits and guns surrounding them, the strange setup of floodlights and men in long white lab coats rushing by.

Nova turned her head away from it all, uncaring what happened to her now as she turned her head into the crook of Bruce’s arm and let darkness claim her again.

When light spilt across her shut eyes, Nova turned in the sheets, reaching out for her beast. Her hand fell on an empty pillow. Slowly, her lashes fluttered open, utterly disoriented as she noted the four-poster bed with sheer white sheets flowing down the sides and a mosquito net tied up above.

Nova stared at the mosquito net with a new wave of agony at the memory of Atia mocking her as an Electa.

"So... you’re just blessedly protected by Tayun, and don’t have to deal with these pests?!" Atia swatted another mosquito irritably. They were by the Soluma river, fishing, but the mosquitoes kept congregating around Atia.

Nova chuckled, noting how she seemed to have this invisible shield around her. The mosquitoes even bounced off it. She didn’t know why she was given this... power? But it really was a blessing. She was usually one to be bitten like crazy! Maybe Tayun knew this and offered her some help.

With a shrug, she focused, positioning the spear exactly how he’d taught her and shot the spear at a fish in triumph. With a grin, Nova lifted it with the fish flapping on the pike. "Don’t get jealous now."

Atia pouted. "Electa has some privileges, eh?"

Nova sighed as her vision blurred again, the mosquito net above her distorted in with the rest of the ceiling as reality sank back in. This wasn’t the Beast World.

They were probably all... Nova choked, her chest constricting. She clutched at her heart, unable to finish that thought.

"Nova, what is it?!"

Nova inhaled sharply. Disoriented, her nerves on edge. She jumped up, twisted and reached for her hatchet.

Bruce stared at the woman now crouched on the bed, looking almost feral, her eyes wide, wet tears still yet to dry on her cheeks as a fierceness had crept into those tropical blue eyes. She was alert, ready for some sort of danger. Reaching for a weapon?

He glanced at the small axe he’d placed on the bedside table and the blade he still couldn’t quite believe had been on Nova Winslow.

With long, naturally blonde-brown hair tangled and in a half-up style with plaits, her features smeared with sweat, mud and what looked like blood, in nothing but a two-piece outfit revealing her belly, the sides of her thighs exposed from the long skirt, Nova looked every bit like a tribal woman.

She must have been through so much. There were so many questions, but right now, he needed to calm her down. She was staring at him like he might attack her.

"Nova... It’s me." He raised his hands gently, like trying to calm a wild beast. "It’s Bruce. I won’t hurt you."

Nova blinked slowly, still feeling threatened by the lack of a weapon in her grasp, yet the earnest expression on Bruce’s face relaxed her shoulders, if only a little. "Bruce..." She whispered, her voice croaky.

"Water?" Bruce asked softly, reaching slowly for the chilled bottle of water he must have brought in with him.

Nova stared at the bottle like it was something entirely new to her. With a nod, she accepted the bottle of water and pulled back quickly. It was like muscle memory. She twisted the top while looking around wide-eyed at the unnatural lighting, the patio doors revealing the sea beyond the room. The room was filled with luxuries, sofas, and a TV, but she barely paid attention to it. It was all pointless stuff she didn’t need, or ever needed.

Putting the bottle to her lips, she gulped down the refreshing water.

What was the point? Why did she act like that? Why was she drinking this water like she needed to survive? Did it matter now to continue living? Yohuali wasn’t here. He was most likely... She choked at the thought again and coughed on the water.

"Slowly!" Bruce scolded lightly, taking the bottle from her.

Nova wiped at her lips, then let her legs collapse beneath her and settled back against the wooden headboard. Her gaze flicked back to Bruce, who had been observing her and keeping his movements gentle. He was treating her like a scared child. Or possibly a nervous kitten.

"You’re alive..." Nova murmured, observing his tanned features. She might feel hollow and tense right now, but it didn’t stop her from wondering about the man who’d been there more than her ex.

Bruce clasped his hands together between his legs as he hunched over in his chair. "It was a close call..." He trailed off, then continued, explaining what happened once she fell into the lake.

Nova listened, impressed and not at all surprised that Chad’s father got involved. "And you’re still working for them after almost dying?" She asked at the end of his story, still somewhat dazed by waking up in this room after months of living... She forced her thoughts aside and looked back at Bruce, unable to face her own pain.

Bruce chuckled. "It’s nothing..." He trailed off, then his face sobered as he stared at her. "Actually... I couldn’t let go of what happened to you."

Nova looked down, her fingers twisting together in her lap as that sharp pain began in her chest. "Did you not think I died?" She asked, her voice barely audible as she tried to take control of her emotions.

"No... I... What happened should have been impossible..."

Slowly, her eyes lifted to Bruce’s. Out of everyone she’d met in this world, Bruce was by far the only earnest person she’d ever met, even if he did try to hide his little baking hobby.

"Yet, I saw the lake light up like a damned Christmas tree... and there was a strangeness in the atmosphere. The energy in the jungle had shifted, and the tribes... they were ecstatic. I didn’t need to know their language to know something huge had happened... Even while dying..."

She swallowed.

"Mr Vale covered up your disappearance quickly, but like me, Chad had been there. He poured money into hiring the best scientists he could find to test the lake. And they did find something."

Nova’s knuckles turned white from clenching so hard as she listened to him.

"Their instruments picked up a barrier, some kind of energy field no one could explain. Not magnetic, not electrical or geological..." Bruce cleared his throat as he realised he’d just dumped a load on her and she’d just woken up.

"Anyway, I couldn’t let go of the hope that you would return," he finished, then looked at the blood and the marks on her otherwise unblemished skin. "I want to ask so many questions... but I can tell this is a lot for you right now. I won’t push anything on you."

As rude as it may have been, Nova’s mind drew back as Bruce, a man who didn’t usually talk so much, and was similar to Yoa in that regard, was rambling on, fretting over her, seeming overly nervous like he might upset her. If she didn’t feel so... cold, she might have laughed.

"Would you like a bath?"

Nova looked back at him then and nodded, needing some time to process... well, everything.

Bruce stood swiftly. He was almost bouncing on his feet, eager to do something for her. "I will run it for you. Food is already being made, so it will be ready for you. Your clothes are in the wardrobe."

He turned away, going towards the door she presumed led to a bathroom.

"Clothes?" She asked in a daze, frowning as she slowly climbed out of the bed, halting as her legs trembled from fatigue and the adrenaline crash from the last 48 hours. She grabbed the bedpost before they gave way for her.

"Nova!" Bruce rushed back to her, gripping her by the waist and putting her back on the bed with ease, a sharp, scolding look locked on her. She felt like a petulant child in front of him, but she didn’t really mind.

With a sigh, the bodyguard said, "Chad didn’t remove them."

Nova’s eyes widened, and she looked around, realising this was the suite she and Chad shared when she first arrived on the island. "Oh." Was all she could say.

It felt strange to be in this room. The entire ordeal was really.

Happy that Nova would stay put in bed, Bruce left to run Nova’s bath and to make a phone call back home. There was one person who’d been waiting anxiously for news of her return, though Bruce knew, now more than ever, that the man had never deserved a girl like her.