Chapter 44 Chapter 44 I’ll never let that happen

I’ll never let that happen

Avalyn

"Thank you for having us over." I smiled at Max and Nat. We had a quick breakfast after we woke up and now we were on our way to meet Mary.

"It was our pleasure." Max smiled back. "I also wanted to give you something." He told Nik.

He handed the envelope to him.

"What's this?" Nik asked, taking it from my hand.

"It's a gift from Viktoria. She said to give it to you when you meet your mate." Max replied, his tone gentle.

I sucked in a breath.

"Why did she give it to you? Why not me directly?" He asked, his voice thick.

"When I asked her to give it to you herself, she just made me promise that I'd give it to you. And that I'll always protect you." There was nothing but love in Max's eyes for Nik. I bit my lip. At least there was someone to truly take care of Nik after what happened to Viktoria.

"Thanks, brother." Nik hugged him.

Max hugged me afterward, surprising me."I'm technically your uncle."

I laughed. It was weird to even think about it. Adoptive, but uncle. I had already told Nat my goodbyes so I just waved at them before we left.

I looked at the trees passing by fast as we cruised through the roads. Mary is my grandmother. Not really but still. Grandmother. I have a family. A living family member. I chewed down on my lip. Will she like me? What if she doesn't like me?

I realized that she knew my mother the best. After papa, of course. But she knew my mother the second best. I could finally get to know more about her.

That worried me more. What if she hated me? I am the reason my mother is dead.

Nik grabbed my hand placed our joint hands on his lap as he drove with his other hand. "What's going through your mind, Love?"

"Meeting Mary," I whispered and squeezed his hand, craving comfort.

"She will love you. It's impossible not to fall in love with you, Ava." He glanced at me.

I hope so. I hope so.

Nik pulled up a small cottage-type house with a big garden. We got off the car and I stopped him before he could walk down the cobblestoned path bordered with bushes.

"Do you promise she will like me?" I asked him.

He trailed his hand through my hair and put a lock behind my ear before grabbing my hand tugging me to walk down to the door.

He pressed the doorbell and waited behind him.

The door opened in a minute. "Hello, I'm Ni—"

"Nikolai Volkov." An old gravelly voice finished. "I do not want to talk to you or help you in any form. You can leave." She went to shut the door in his face but Nik put his hand on it.

"We only want to talk," Nik said quietly.

"Please." I stepped out from behind him and took my place beside him.

The old lady's eyes widened before they watered. "Valerie." She whispered and pulled me into a bone-crushing hug.

I put my arms around her and hugged her back.

"I'm Avalyn," I said softly after she released me.

"I figured." She replied and looked at Nik before looking back at me.

"Please come in." She took my hand in hers and took me to her living room.

She made me sit beside her on a two-seat couch, making Nik take the couch opposite us.

That's when I got to look at her. She had shoulder-length blond hair that was more white than blond because of her old age. She had a relatively round face with brown eyes and thin lips lined with red lipstick.

She looked nothing like me or mom. Of course, she didn't, she wasn't my grandmother. Just adoptive. But she brought up my mother like her own. I firsthand know that relationships aren't just formed by blood. She is my grandmother and I'm her granddaughter. If she'd have me.

"You are mated to him?" Mary asked, giving Nik a snide look.

"Yes, I love him very much," I replied. She didn't like him?

"My poor girl." She said and hugged me again. I hugged her too and looked at Nik over her back, raising my eyebrows in question. Why didn't she like him?

"She is not poor in any sense. I keep her happy and pampered." Nik said drily. I could feel his annoyance through our bond.

Mary snorted, not deeming him enough for a reply.

She turned to me. "Tell me how have you been child? I -I thought you were dead." She had tears in her eyes again.

I bit my lip. Should I tell her? She had the right to know. "No. The rogues didn't attack our pack as was told. It was all Emmanuel's doing. Emilio and he kept me captive in our house as a slave for eight years. Nik saved me." I said as I looked at Nik.

My savior.

"Emmanuel?" Mary asked, her voice barely a whisper. She looked shaken.

"He gave me to his son, Emilio as a gift." I bit my lip. Her chin trembled and tears flowed down her cheeks.

I tightened my hold on her trembling hands. "I'm safe now. I'm happy now grandma. Can I call you grandma?" I asked softly.

"Oh, yes, of course, dearie." She wiped away her cheeks and looked at Nikolai in a new light. "Thank you." She spoke, her voice is shaky.

Nik only nodded. "There is something we need to ask." He spoke.

Mary looked at him and nodded. "Anything."

"Max said that Ava is a descendent of Fallen. And Fiona. And that she was cursed that she would die giving birth to her child. Is that true?" Nik's face was blank, his side of the bond closed shut. He was shutting himself out. He was hurting too.

"It is." Mary nodded, wiping more tears. "Fiona came to our dimension, asking Jerome and me for help." She looked at me. "We couldn't have kids. I think the moon goddess had greater plans for us. Fiona begged me to take care of her child after her death. She already knew that we wanted a child and weren't able to have one. And that we would love her child as our own. Maybe that's why she chose us." She said, her eyes far away.

"I remember the day she came to me. She was all skin and bones. And the day she died giving birth to Valerie. I had loved that child as my own since she was in Fiona's belly. And Fiona wanted her kid to retain her heritage but also wanted to hide her from Fallen. He was bitter towards his child ever since he knew she was pregnant because he knew it would kill Fiona. She told me to name the child Valerie Aine James. Valerie means strong. Aine was for her heritage and James was for Jerome and me, so that we could tell people that she was ours."

"Valerie was a lively kid and she was very powerful, just like her parents. There were times when she got angry and no one could control her. She used to lose control of them and had hurt a lot of people. It started getting difficult for us to control her too. People started noticing she was different. So I used a spell on her. It took half of her powers and converted them into a wolf. That way, she would be able to have better control over her powers and when her age came, she would shift and no one could say she wasn't our daughter. She got better at handling her powers and she stayed hidden from Fallen. It was two birds with one stone."

"She grew older and shifted into a beautiful white wolf. All of us were happy. The pack's speculation was gone too. But then she met her mate, Javier." There was a slight bitterness to her tone.

I frowned at that. Papa was the kindest and the best person I knew.

"Don't mind me, dear. We liked Javier, we did. But the pack was not very sure about having a vampire as their Alpha. But Javier proved all of them wrong and won everyone's hearts. It's just—we told him about the curse. But he still got Valerie pregnant. He should have been more careful. Valerie is dead because of his one mistake." Tears spilled down her cheeks. "Not that you are a mistake," she quickly added, "but my child could have been here." She cried harder.

"Papa loved her, you know?" Tears blurred my eyes. "And he missed her every day. He didn't talk about her a lot because it hurt him but he loved her. I know he did." I bit my lip.

I saw it in his eyes, the love for my mom, how he missed her. His eyes were sad, always sad. He smiled and pretended to be normal in front of everyone, in front of me but there was a lingering sadness in his eyes that never went away. He had pictures of her all around our home. He wanted me to grow up seeing her. Every day, on my birthday which was also her death anniversary, we would go to her grave and give her flowers. He used to bring Emmanuel and Emilio with us too. We thought that they were good people and papa thought Emmanuel was his best friend.

He used to send me back home with them and he used to sit at her grave for hours after that. He used to sit there and cry. I know because I snuck out of my home and saw him there like that, shouting at God Sol for taking his mate's way. I ran to him and hugged him. That was the first time I had seen him cry. Over anything. He used to stay back to properly mourn mamma. Because he wanted to stay strong in front of me. He wanted to stay strong for me.

"He didn't get her pregnant deliberately. It was a mistake." I cried. "I killed her."

"Valerie loved you, Avalyn. It wasn't your fault." She was crying too. "You didn't kill your mother dearie. Please never think that."

Suddenly, Nik had pulled me up, he sat on the couch and made me sit on his lap. His eyes bore into mine. "You didn't kill your mother, Avalyn." His thumb caressed my cheeks, wiping my tears. But she died because of me.

I took in a deep breath and looked at Grandma. "Papa didn't kill her either, then," I whispered.

"I'm sorry I'm just being a protective mother. Jerome and I couldn't help but feel that way." She looked down at her lap.

"It's alright." It was Nik who said that. It wasn't fine. Papa didn't kill mamma. "Is there any way we can break the curse?" He asked.

Mary shook her head. "When Valerie got pregnant, I tried every spell but nothing worked. It was put by a strong Fae. A witch's power is no match to their magic." She replied. "Are you pregnant?" She asked me, her eyes wide.

"No," Nik replied to me. "And she never will be." He replied firmly. I bit my lip. I wanted a mini version of Nik and me. But not like this. Not at the cost of making Nik go through what papa went through. I would rather die than cause him even an ounce of pain.

"Good," Mary said, regaining her strength. "Now, I want to know why are they both still alive?" She glared at Nik.

"They won't be for long." He replied.

"And how are you going to do it?" She asked him, sounding eager to know. She wanted revenge too.

"Those are internal matters of my pack. You will know after it's done." He replied vaguely.

She nodded in understanding. Internal matters of a pack were always to be kept secret from outsiders.

"Do you want to have breakfast?" She asked kindly.

"No thank you, we have to go," Nik said and we both stood up.

"Are you sure? I make the best coffee." She offered.

"Yes, we are sure, thanks, grandma." I nodded in agreement with Nik's words.

"Alright. Let me know if you need help with anything. I'll be very happy to help." She said.

"Thank you, grandma," I said and hugged her as she squeezed me to her. "I'm so glad you are alive dearie." She whispered in my ear.

"And I'm very glad I got to know about you." I smiled and released her.

"You have a home here anytime you want, okay? My doors are always open for you if anything happens." She said, giving Nik a suspicious look.

"Yes, thank you." I smiled.

"Anytime." She said with a smile and walked us out.

"How are you feeling, Ava?" Nik asked once we were back in the car.

"I'm happy I got to know more about my mom," I replied. "But I didn't like that she thought papa killed her," I confessed.

"I didn't either." He said. "But I understand where she is coming from. If I got you pregnant, I'll hate myself."

I'll never let that happen.