Chapter 145 Crazy Ruse

Avalyn

My heart squeezed painfully and tears filled my eyes.

And then in a flash, Nikolai pushed her off him and she flew a feet away and fell on the ground.

She looked up at him with wide, teary eyes. "What? I -I don't understand!"

I was brought out of my shock. walked ahead and stood beside him. I intertwined my fingers through his and felt him hold my hand tighter.

Her eyes fell on our hands. And then Nik's mark on my neck.

Tears escaped her eyes.

"How could you?" She gasped, looking at Nikolai. "I'm Davina, Nik! Your childhood best friend, remember? We always hoped that we would be each other's mates! And now we actually are! You didn't wait for me!"

"He is not your mate!" It surprised me that I was the one who said that. And the anger in my voice shocked me further. "Nikolai is mine."

Her eyes turned black as her wolf was at the forefront. "No," she growled. "My wolf cannot be wrong. I feel it. I feel it in my bones. I know he feels it too!" She gave Nik a look before glaring daggers at me and then she challenged me with a growl before she stood up and ran at me.

Without moving anything but my wrist, I flicked her away.

She flew back and crashed against the ground with a grunt.

I stalked towards her before she could help herself up.

I looked down at her. "You need to learn your boundaries. You do not touch what isn't yours," I hissed. "You do not look at what isn't yours. Any further disrespect will not be tolerated."

"Who are you to order me around? You are not my Luna!" She growled, her eyes angry. "Your blood is beneath mine."

"Contrary to that, I am your Luna. And as for the power of my blood," I scoffed out a laugh, "you do not know what you are talking about."

"I know exactly what I'm talking about." She hissed. "What even are you? Vampire? Witch 2.0?" And then she brought her hand up, "wait. I don't care." Then she turned to look at Nikolai, "tell her Nik, I know you feel it too. You know I'm your true mate. I forgive you. Just reject her and we can be together again," she said pathetically. "You don't even bare her mark!"

I whipped around to glare at Nik.

I didn't know that I was supposed to mark him. He didn't tell me!

I felt his calm state. He was waiting to see what I would do.

In a flash, I was on him, my arms around his shoulder and legs wrapped around his waist before I extended my fangs and punctured the soft skin at the juncture of his neck and shoulder, marking him.

His hands immediately came up to cup my ass, holding me up. I bit in deeper and his hand tightened.

And then I felt him. His soul. His soul that was half mine. I felt our souls intertwine tighter. The intensity overwhelmed me. It took over my body and wrapped around my mind. All I could think about was him. This strong, powerful Alpha male was mine. All mine.

"Ava." A soft voice snapped me out of it and brought me back into the real world. Nik's voice.

I let him go before I slid down his form. I didn't heal the wound, I let the blood ooze out of it and roll down his chest and stain his clothes. I wanted everyone to see that I marked him, that he was mine. He is mine, and always will be.

I glared at Davina who was still on the floor, crying and sobbing as she looked at Nik with heartbreak.

I could feel the hostility of wolves who originally belonged to Mystic Lupus. They believed her. Of course they did. She was one of them, they trusted her.

I would pity her but I knew she was lying. She was questioning our bond. And no one can do that.

Nik's hand found mine as he stared straight at her. "You all are standing in front of a Faye royalty." He announced at I felt the shock of everyone around us. "Avalyn is the granddaughter of King Faelern and Queen Fiyona of the Faye Kingdom. She is the daughter of Alpha Javier and Luna Valerie of Montana, who are the rightful King and Queen of Voda Kingdom. We have nothing to prove to any of you but I will not tolerate false allegations against my mate—Avalyn Volkov." He focused the fury of his eyes on Davina. "Any form disrespect to your Luna is a punishable offence."

I felt a sense of respect in the air when Nik informed them about my lineage. But there was uncertainty as well.

It was understandable. They knew her and trusted her. And lineage does not equal to a good ruler. I also knew that just because we were successful in taking over their pack, we hadn't proved to them that we were good as Alpha and Luna. It just made us good conquers and not good rulers.

And at this point in my life, I didn't feel like going out of my way to prove my worth to anybody. If they liked me, good for them, if they didn't, then that was their problem.

"Nik..." Davina cried out.

"You may call him Alpha," I narrowed my eyes at her. Only I called him Nik. No one else.

Her eyes teared up further and she couldn't stop staring at Nik in helplessness and hope.

I looked at Nik who was also staring at her. A feeling of restlessness and jealousy filled my entire being. It was an ugly feeling...jealousy. I had never felt it before this intensely. I hated it. I hated every second of it.

"Come on, Love, let’s go inside." Nikolai tugged at my hand and led me inside the pack house.

Every single person stared at us. In shock, fear, hesitation and disgust.

I knew that they thought I wasn't really Nik's mate. They thought we mated each other for mutual benefits— him for my heritage and power and me for his money and influence. Or maybe because they thought he impregnated me and he was doing 'the honourable thing' or worse, I made him get me pregnant somehow.

It couldn't be the furthest thing away from reality but both of us had a much more important things to do.

"Ah, come in, Killer." A old bald man wearing long beach shorts gave us a wide, maniacal grin. "I've been waiting for you since centuries now."

"Who is he?" I asked, a little creeped out.

"This is Raemus, Luna." Symon muttered, eyeing the old man weirdly.

The supposedly revered healer picked and examined a wolf figurine sitting on  shelf. "This is nice. I'm keeping it," he announced before stuffing it inside the pocket of his shorts.

"Raemus," Nik called for his attention.

"Tell me what you want at once, Killer!" He suddenly pointed at Nik with wide eyes. "Are you going to kill me too?"

"I'm not going to kill you. Or anyone." Nik looked annoyed. "We need your help."

"Ah. You need my help in killing someone?" Raemus looked thoughtful before he shook his head. "I'm afraid I cannot do that."

"I don't need your help in killing anybody!" Nik snapped.

Raemus gasped dramatically, "then what do you possibly need me for?"

Nik looked around and saw a few lingering people eavesdropping on the interaction. "Let's move to the office," Nik said, giving Ratmir and Symon a look. Knowing exactly what he meant, both the men ushered Raemus upstairs and we followed.

We entered an office room and Raemus calmed down before he turned to look at Nikolai. The craziness had disappeared from his eyes, leaving behind centuries of experience and wisdom. "I have been waiting for you to get here all your life, Nikolai."

"That was all a ruse." Nikolai stated.

"Of course it was." Raemus replied. "Senility is the only way to get away with flouting social norms and speaking against Adrik. Both of which I have the habit of engaging in often."

"Adrik is gone." Nikolai said.

"Never pegged you to be a fool." He said, focusing his eyes on my protruding belly. "When an Alpha dies, he is replaced with the next best person in the pack."

"You mean to say he had his followers here and since he is gone, they are led by someone else?" I asked.

"Smart girl." He murmured.

"We are doing the best we can to find those people," so Nikolai knew about this already. "And we will find them soon."

"We can only hope so." He replied before looking at me and extended his hand, "may I?"

I got a little nervous, my previous experience with healers wasn't the best—except Allie. But something about this man told me that he meant me no harm. I nodded and he placed his hand over my belly. His eyes widened before he looked at me and smiled, "you're a special one, aren't you?" And before I could say anything, his eyes grew tense. "They have the potential to kill you both."

"What is it with you can calling everyone killers?" I hissed. My kids aren't killing anybody! They're inside my stomach! They're not even out in the world yet and everyone has already pegged them to be some kind of murderers!

"Your mate is destined to kill his father. And I never said they will kill you two. Just that they have the potential to," he explained.

"I'm destined to kill Adrik?" Nikolai echoed.

"Why else do you think he was so obsessed with making you the perfect Alpha and son? So you always do the honourable thing—which means not to kill one's father, and to always follow his orders." He said and somehow, it made sense.

"How do you know that?" Symon asked.

"I have dreams." Raemus replied. "And sometimes, I can see people and just tell what's wrong with them—physically, mentally and in their souls. Anyways, ask what you wanted to know."

"About the babies," Nik swallowed. "Avalyn is a faye and a vampire. And she is reacting differently to the pregnancy. In addition to that, her maternal grandmother was given a curse that she will die giving birth to her child, which seems to have passed down the generations. We want to know if we should keep them or not."

Raemus simply smiled, as if he knew this all along. "One of them is a vampire and one is a werewolf. And both of them love the powers that flow through Avalyn's body every second. And they are absorbing those powers, which is causing them to grow faster than normal foetuses. That is not good. It is making you weak," he told me, "if they continue doing this, you'll be on the bed in a couple of weeks, bound to it until they come out. If they even do."

"If they even do?" Nik hissed.

"Power is addictive, Nikolai. In my experience, they won't stop till they have exhausted all her powers."

"Which will happen once she dies." Nikolai concluded and he nodded.

"My children will not kill me!" I snarled at both the men. "I am their mother!"

"Nature knows no mother, nurture does, Avalyn." He said omnisciently. "And as we all know, we are predators. The lust for power is in our blood."

I looked at Nikolai. My heart hurt hearing the words. He looked back at me with a pained expression. "We know what we have to do."

He meant that we need to kill our children. The same ones we made out of love.

"I -we can't, Nik," my throat closed up. "They're half you and half me. Made out of love."

"I cannot love someone who hurts you, Avalyn," he came near me and wiped away a stray tear, "I cannot love the one who kills you."

Maybe I don't have to die! Maybe we can find a cure. A solution. And as a healer, Raemus has to know.

"Maybe there is a way!" I told Nik and looked at Raemus. "Is there a way? A cure, perhaps?"

He paced around the room thoughtfully. "Who gave the curse?"

"The older faye Queen, Fiyona's mother." Nikolai replied, hope in his voice.

Raemus paced faster.

"The cure of a curse given in the Faye dimension will not be in Jivan dimension. You must go there to search for one." Raemus replied.

"King Faelern might have the cure." Nikolai said. "He had come here when Avalyn turned into a faye. He must have felt her energy all the way to this dimension."

"He came here just by following her energy?" Raemus looked shocked.

"I don't see any other source. He came minutes after she turned into a faye." Nik replied.

"Then you are the only one who can locate the Faye Dimension." Raemus told me.

"Me?" But I didn't know the first thing about other dimensions. "I don't think I can do that."

"I don't think you have another choice, Avalyn." He replied. "You must. Or bare the pain of separating from your mate and children."

I sucked in a harsh breath at the thought. If I did actually die giving birth, I would want Nik to stay here at least till they are old enough to take care of themselves and capable enough to take over the throne. And Nik had yet to kill Adrik, which would be near impossible to do in a couple of months. Because if Raemus is right about Nikolai being destined to kill Adrik, it would be almost impossible for anyone else to do so. And if he was alive, the lives of everyone in Jivan would be at risk, including our children. I would have to be away from Nikolai for a couple of decades, at the least.

Could I do that?

Could we do that?

"No," Nik replied, knowing my train of thoughts. "If you die and leave me, I'm coming right after you."

I chewed on my lip. Nik was just saying that. Once he sees our children, his fatherly instincts will kick in and he will be unable to abandon them.

"We either find a cure or they die." Nikolai said. I looked up at him and saw hatred in his eyes. For himself. He would never agree to it but I knew that he already loved them. And he hated himself for even thinking about killing our children. But his love for me was greater than his hate for himself, and that was why he was ready to take this step.

"Let's find the cure then," I murmured.

"I had one more question," I said, my cheeks heating up. "We can't have sex. It hurts."

Raemus smiled sympathetically, "they're protecting your body and themselves from external forces. That's why I didn't do your full internal body check-up either. Using your powers, they have grown powerful too. I suggest it's best if you don't engage in coitus and listen to their signals. It will be best for your health."

"Thank you," Nikolai said. "And any suggestions on finding the Faye Dimension?"

"The best source of that knowledge shall be Headmaster Malone. He knows a lot about portals. He should be able to guide you on how to build a portal to another dimension as well."

"Thank you," Nik and I said together.

"Take it easy, kids." He gave us both pointed looks before he left.

"Let's go home, Love," Nik said, turning towards the door. "I'll call Malone there directly."

"Wait," I said before he opened the door. "Is she really your mate?"

His muscles tensed up and he turned to look at me. "I don't know," he murmured.

I felt all the air sucked out of me.

So he did feel something towards her. I knew that he was a bit of a ladies man before I came into his life. Maybe he didn't put in the effort to find a few woman to pleasure him every day but he had a few that were convenient for him. He most probably knew that I knew this. But it was all before me. And he never cared for him. Or felt anything towards them. Which was why it didn't bother me. And I was the last person to judge anyone for their past.

But this was different. Davina was different.

We were mates now. We hadn't finished mating but it didn't matter.  He was my soulmate. Mine and mine only.

"You're mine," I said, jealousy and possessiveness ringing clearly in my voice.

"I'll never do anything you won't like, Ava. All of me is only yours." His eyes softened as he came and cupped my cheeks before kissing me.

"If I die, will you mate with her?" I hated the thought. I wanted him to miss me just as much as I would. I wanted him to wait for us to reunite just as I would. And I never ever wanted our children to think of anyone else as their mother. I wanted to be the only one they called 'Mama'.

"Never," he vowed fervently. "You're my only one. For life and beyond it. No one can come between us, Avalyn. I won't let it happen."

"Good." I said and kissed him again. "Now let's go find the cure."