Take a Break || Maya and Nico
maya-st-romain:
“When have I ever gone easy on anyone?” She challenged, already falling into a fighting stance. It was both her best and worst quality. It made her an effective and strong leader, but there were those who responded better to softness, and she knew she’d never reach them. Luckily, that was a far less common trait in wolves, who typically respected power and control. If she went hard on them some of them grumped for a bit, but almost always respected her for it once they calmed down.
Really it was just one big mistake that haunted her. Or well. A bunch of little ones, but all on the same topic. But that was in the past. No point rehashing it now.
“Your wager is exactly right,” she said, rolling her shoulders. “That’s exactly what I need.” She couldn’t exactly do this sort of thing with the rest of the pack. Them knowing exactly what their alpha’s weaknesses were wasn’t advisable. If they were in peacetime, it wouldn’t be as big of a deal, but they weren’t at peace. The war had reached a détente, but no one was foolish enough to think that it was over. It never would be, not as long as they were a target.
It was hard, sometimes. That constant tension. Almost as hard as facing Nico here, knowing that as soon as they left this room, it would be back to their own sort of détente, where they barely acknowledged that they weren’t what they once were, and she pretended that she was fine with that. Because she had to be. What was the point of pining when it was her own dumb fault that things were how they were?
Within the safety of these walls, when it was just him and her, he felt more at peace. He didn’t hate her, not the way others thought he did. He was frustrated with some of her beliefs and the way she structured things, but he had never hated her, could never hate her. He respected her more than she knew. He doubted she’d believe him, if he told her, considering where they stood on different topics and his outright defiance on one in particular. But, the thing about respect that many seemed incapable of understanding was that you could disagree with someone and still respect them.
Nico’s feelings for Maya had been complicated before the war and before Phaedra, but they were made more complicated by the events of the last decade and a half. They hadn’t changed, not one bit, but they had become far more complicated than anything he ever expected. There were days when introspection was all he could do and sit in his house, wondering if he’d made the right choice to stick around. Perhaps he should have left rather than force his presence on the rest of the pack. He seemed to enrage Maya just by existing when they were like this.
A smirk spread across the older wolf’s mouth. One of the many things he adored about Maya was that she was a force to be reckoned with. He loved a strong woman, who went for what she wanted and to hell with what others around her said about it. It was one of the reasons his respect for her had never wavered. “Never, so why start now?” He wanted to see her fight, really fight. He wanted to see her be the alpha.
Nico took his stance in the middle of the room, his size taking up much more space than hers. His smirk morphed into a grin and he spoke again. “What do you say we stop talking and just get right to it? There’ll be time for chitchat after I wipe the floor with you.” The taunt held no heat, there was no threat. Nico was just looking to mess with her and have a little fun. This was where they were good.
