Chapter 57 Cheater

Cheater

Nikolai

We took a flight the same night and reached home at around six in the morning. I couldn't afford to stay away from the pack any longer. Also, there was a theory I wanted to test immediately.

"What are you doing here?" I asked Natalia when I saw her sitting in the living room with Andrei.

"He means good morning, it's so nice to see you again," Ava said and went and hugged her.

"Nice to see you both too." She hugged Ava back but her eyes were on me.

Something is wrong.

I'll talk to her later.

"How is Mikhail?" I asked.

Her face fell at that. "The poison is slowly reaching his heart."

That's not good at all.

"Ava, come with me," I told her and walked to Mikhail's infirmary.

He smelled like he was dead. But his heart was faintly beating. He was bare-chested so I could see that the poison was spreading through his veins. One particular darkened vein was very close to his heart.

Ava sat on the bed on another side of Mikhail's and looked at him with sadness in her eyes.

"I think you can cure him," I spoke quietly.

Her eyes bulged as she looked at me and shook her head. "I -I can't. I don't know-how. What if I mess up?"

"You won't. Because I will tell you to want to do." Grace had told me vaguely what needed to be done, and I'm going to try that.

I know that if any one of us messes up, Mikhail will die. But he was going to die anyway. I wasn't going to sit around and wait for that.

"Okay." She whispered. "But we will have to be very careful. He is in a lot of pain." Her eyes fell on him again. It was almost as if she could feel his pain.

"Close your eyes," I told her and her eyes slid shut.

"Focus on Mikhail. Imagine his immune system strengthening. So strong that it is fighting with the poison." I kept my eyes on Mikhail and the black veins for any sign of change.

"So strong that it is overpowering the poison and is killing the virus in it," I said.

I had also done a lot of reading about this while we were on our way back. But there were many different ways to do this. Most of them were theories and I picked two which I thought could work.

I saw the blood underneath his skin sizzle and the veins darkened more, making Mikhail go into a seizure.

"Stop," I said quickly.

This isn't working.

Fuck.

I waited for him to recover. It took him two long minutes to go still again.

"This didn't work. Let's try something else. Focus again." I told Ava. "Imagine the poison receding from his veins back towards the bite. Away from his heart. Slowly and gently. All of the poison is receding."

It's working!

Shit.

"Everything is gathering around the bite mark. His entire body is clean and free from the poison. His blood is pure. All of his veins now only carry pure blood. They function properly, just like they did before." Slowly, the veins that had darkened turned into his normal skin color.

All the black poison had gathered near the juncture of his neck and shoulder, where the vampire had bitten him.

I got off the bed and searched for a knife around the room. I found it in a drawer.

I made a small cut on top of the inflated blackened portion.

"Imagine all the poison flowing out of the cut. Nothing remains in his body." Slowly, the poison dribbled down from the cut and fell on the bed.

"What the—" Natalia and Andrei were standing at the door, seeing us with shock evident on their faces.

I motioned them to remain quiet. Ava needed to focus.

"All the poison is out. Nothing remains in his body." I said and the last drops of black poison fell.

"Now the bite and cut is healing. Nicely and gently. Without any pain or blemishes. Just like how it was before." I said and I saw the muscles in the wound join back and the skin grew back over his wound, not leaving any scars behind. It was like his skin was untouched.

I exhaled loudly.

Why is he not waking up?

"Imagine his heart beating normally and more oxygen flowing in his blood," I told Ava.

I heard his heartbeat get back to normal. But there were still no signs of movement.

"Why is he not waking up?" I asked.

Ava placed her hands on his chest. "He is tired, Master. His body needs rest. He will wake up when he is fully rested." Came her melodic voice.

Okay. We could wait.

But the good thing is that he was out of danger.

I am so fucking proud of Ava.

"Open your eyes, Moya Lyubov," I ordered softly and her eyes fluttered open. The first thing she saw was my face and she gave me a shy smile. "Thank you."

"No. Thank you." I smiled at her, making her blush.

A cough brought us out of our thoughts and I saw Andrei walk in.

"You can heal people now?" He looked pleasantly surprised as he asked Ava.

"Yes. I discovered it a couple of days ago." A bright smile lit her face.

I noticed that Natalia had left.

Leaving the pair to talk, I followed after her scent and found her sitting by the back window in the living room, looking at the morning sky.

I sat beside her.

This was the first time that she was so quiet. Without any snarky remarks or mindless chatter.

"What's wrong, Nat?" I asked her.

If Max has hurt her, I'm going to kill him.

A tear fell from her eye. In the twelve years that I've known her, I have never seen her cry.

Now that I looked at her, properly looked at her, she looked thin. More like frail. She hasn't been eating properly. I had talked to Andrei six days ago and he told me Natalia was here. Max is not the type to tolerate this kind of anorexic behavior. Which means she lost all this weight in six days.

That's not healthy at all. Especially when she had anorexia earlier. She could have lapsed again. Max knows her history. What the hell has he done?

"Tears don't suit you. Only annoying sarcasm does." I said playfully and bumped her shoulder with mine.

A laugh and a cry tangled together came out of her throat. She brushed her tears with the back of her hand. "Emotions are so annoying." She groaned.

"Sometimes." I shrugged. "What did he do?" I asked, coming to the point.

"We got into an argument. He got angry. Like angry. A-and then," a sob bubbled up her throat.

I scooted closer to her and placed my hand on her back, rubbing to soothe her. "What happened then?" I asked softly.

Her breath hitched. "He choked me." She whispered.

"What?" How the hell could Max do this? Max is not the one to hurt his mate like this.

"And then punched me before he choked me again and lifted me off the ground." She played with her fingers as she whispered. "I couldn't breathe. I thought he was going to kill me." Her jaw locked as she controlled her tears.

A growl tore through my throat as I jumped on my feet.

I'm going to kill that fuck face.

"No. Nikolai wait!" Nat grabbed my hand and pulled, stopping me.

"Are you defending him?" I snarled.

"Yes. Listen first!" She pleaded.

I pressed my lips together and sat back down next to her.

"I kicked him in the head which made him fall and release me. I was on the ground after that. But then Max yelled at me to leave. He looked like he was fighting with himself. He told me to come here. To come to you." She whispered. "I was so scared that I shifted to fur and ran all the way here."

"You ran here?" Was she crazy? It took three hours by car and she ran here?

"Yes." She said. "And while I'm mad at him. No, I'm furious with him. But I think he is in trouble." She said softly.

"What kind?" I have no idea what to do now.

"The kind that causes his bloodlust."

Fuck.

"But that is not a reason to hurt you." It angered me to even think that someone would hurt her. Nat is family. No one messes with my family and gets away with it.

Not even my brother.

"I know bu—" she doubled over as her hands pressed over her lower stomach.

Tears filled her eyes and her face crumpled in pain.

"What is it?" I asked immediately. What happened to her suddenly?

I looked down at her shorts and saw that she was bleeding.

Werewolves don't get periods. Women only bleed twice a year during their heat which they get once in six months. And that is six months after they finish their mating. And it had only been a week and a half since they met.

It's not heated. It has to be something else.

Nat grabbed my hand as she doubled over in pain again. "It hurts." She cried. "I-it hurts so bad."

Realization hit me with full force.

Max is having sex with someone else.

He was fucking someone else while Nat is here, crying over that bastard.

I got on my feet and picked her up, rushing upstairs to put her in her bed.

"Avalyn," I yelled, calling her from wherever she was.

I kicked open Nat's door and placed her on her bed.

Natalia curled up in the bed as she sobbed. The girl who hasn't cried since she was a child is sobbing her heart out because of her useless mate.

"What's happening?" She looked scared.

How do I tell her? She has the right to know the truth.

"What happened?" Ava rushed in through the door. Her eyes fell on Nat and they widened. She looked at me in question.

"I think Max is cheating on you,"  I said without beating around the bush.

A loud sob left her throat the moment those words left mine.

Ava rushed to her side and lied beside her, pulling her into her arms. Her hair turned silver which meant she was using her magic to help lessen Nat's pain. But there was no sign of decreased pain on Nat's face.

I tried to mind-link Max but it was shut tight. I took out my phone and called him. I walked out the door and shut it behind me when it rang.

He cut the call.

I called again. And he cut the call again.

I called the asshole again.

"What?" He snapped.

"What the fuck are you doing?" I growled. "Keep your dick in your pants and get your ass here right now."

"Who the fuck are you?" He snarled.

"Nikolai." I snapped. Did he not see my name on his phone screen?

"Fuck off." He said before I heard a loud crash and the line went dead.

I called him again but the line was dead. That motherfucker crushed his fucking phone.

I went into the room again and saw Natalia was still crying. Ava looked at me in question.

I shook my head. I think Max snapped. Again.

There is only one person that can help him right now.

I called Daniel. Max's best friend.

"Nikolai?" He seemed shocked to know that I was calling him.

"Yes. Where are you?" I asked him.

"I'm in the city. Why?" He asked.

"I think Max has snapped again. Do you know anything?" I asked him.

"I haven't been out of my house the entire week. I've been busy. I don't know. Let me check up on him and then I'll call you back." He said kindly.

"That would be great. Thanks." I said.

"Anytime." He said and then cut the call.

I went to Andrei after that and took a report of the entire week. Nothing much had happened except a fight between two teens but it was dealt with. Adrian was gaining weight which I was happy with. I also filled him in with everything that happened in Mozog.

"Nikolai!" Vanessa ran to me, hugging my leg. "I missed you."

I smiled softly and picked the little girl up. "Have you been a good girl for Andrei?"

"Yes." She bobbed her head up and down.

"That's good. And where is Adrian?" I asked her.

"Reading." She replied and then frowned. "Why is Aunt Nat crying?"

"She is sad," I told her.

"Make her happy then." She crossed her arms.

"I've called someone who will make her happy. She will be alright in no time. Don't worry about her." The last thing I needed was for her to think that her mate would hurt her.

"Yes. Thank you." She smiled widely.

"It's nap time, little bird," Andrei told her.

"I can't sleep. Can you please tell me a story?" She asked and extended her arms towards him.

"Alright." He smiled and took her from my hands and then nodded at me before he took her upstairs. I think they have bonded nicely over the past week.

My phone rang and I picked it up immediately. It was Daniel.

"You were right. He had snapped. But he is alright now and is on his way to your place." He told me.

"How did you do it?" I asked.

"Beat some sense into him." He said without missing a beat. He would have to be strong to beat up Max and still be alive.

"Also. Don't make him angry. He is...testy." Daniel said.

"How bad is it?" I asked him.

"I walked in on him sleeping with a dead naked girl on top of him. His house is littered with party cups, vomit and people passed out everywhere. It stinks of blood, sweat, and sex." He sounded disgusted. "And that's only today. I have yet to find out the trail of bodies he has left behind in the past week."

Fuck.

"Alright. If you come to know anything else, call me." I told him. "Also, have the house cleaned."

"Sure thing." He replied.

"Thanks, man," I replied and then cut the call.

This is bad. Like totally messed up bad.

The first thing about mates is that you do not cheat on them. Ever.

The main question looming over my head was, what made him snap?