Chapter 35 Dagger

Dagger

Avalyn

"I see you've had a rough night." Sofiya grinned at me.

I flushed and tried to ignore my sore legs. After my punishment last night, Nikolai and I had sex many, many times. He said that we had to make up for the few days we didn't have sex. Needless to say, I was thoroughly fucked, spent, and blissfully happy. The dull ache which was progressively getting better was also something I didn't mind because I could still feel him inside me.

"How do you know?" I bit my lip.

"Your walk of shame says it all babe." She winked. "And there is this glow on your face that makes you look...alive."

It was true. I felt alive. The way he dominated me yesterday, the way he took control...he looked like my savior again. The way he was with me during the start. I loved it.

"I feel alive," I admitted.

Yesterday's punishment helped me clear my mind. I had to admit that I liked taking control of things now. I also knew it had a lot to do with me shifting into an Alpha wolf. But the human part of me felt like I could truly let go only when I submitted. Because that's the only time no one expects anything of me, I only have to do what I'm told. It helped put things into perspective.

I had been wrong in trying to stop Nikolai yesterday at the training ground. The pack runs on rules. And just because I had a soft heart doesn't mean that the crimes of others will be shown mercy. I needed to toughen up.

"Sofiya? How do you feel about moving to Mozog?" I asked her.

"I've been there before. It's beautiful Ava. And it's Vladimir's home. Which means it's my home too." She smiled.

There was a sadness in her tone that caught my attention. "But?" I prodded further.

"But I will miss all of you. I hardly know anyone there. You guys are my family. The only ones I've known." She whispered.

"And you are going to start a new family now." I eyed her flat stomach and thought of the little bean that would grow to be a beautiful baby. I was sure of it. Sofiya was drop-dead gorgeous and Vladimir was handsome in a dark prince sort of way. "She needs you both. Moog is her legacy too. And being a King is Vladimir's birthright."

"And that's why we are going to go there. I'm going to be happy there and fuck anyone who doesn't want a werewolf as their Queen. I am Vladimir's mate and there is nothing anyone can do about it." She said, her eyes narrowed in the distance as she said fiercely.

"Yes! That's the spirit is." I smiled.

She tackled me in a bear hug. "I'll miss you."

"I will miss you too," I whispered and hugged her tightly.

I heard someone cough from behind us and I back up and turned around to see Dimitri holding a leash in his hand which connected to the girl's collar that was at the training ground yesterday.

"Alpha had ordered me to bring her home. She is yours now." With a dip of his head, he handed me her leash and then walked out.

My hand trembled as I held on to the leash. There was a time when I was on the other end of it. I hated it. I wasn't sure what this girl was thinking but if the shuddering of her body said anything, she was scared as hell. She had worn a t-shirt that smelled like Dimitri's. Thank goddess she wasn't naked like she had been yesterday.

I felt a hand on my shoulder and I saw Sofiya was smiling at me and tipping her chin towards the girl. You can do it Avalyn, it said.

I nodded. Yes, I can do it.

I unhooked the leash from her collar first and tilted her head up which was lowered in submission. Her face was straight now but her eyes were still lowered.

"Look at me," I told her. Her eyes snapped to mine immediately. She was trained properly. I smiled at her softly. "What is your name?"

"April, Mistress." She whispered, looking scared.

"Hello April, I'm Luna Avalyn. You may call me Luna and this is Sofiya." I told her, not yet comfortable with being called Mistress. Her eyes widened at my words. I knew how guilty it felt to call anyone by their name in the starting.

"There are some expectations that you will need to fulfill." I started and then pressed the buzzer which was installed in every switchboard around the house. "You will work five days a week. It will be your job to keep the estate clean and cook food. Do you know how to do that?"

"Yes, Mi—Luna." She flinched.

"You will not be punished for such mistakes," I told her softly. "However, disregard for rules or incompletion of the tasks assigned to you will have consequences. We do not tolerate incompetence." I told her firmly.

Irina entered the kitchen and lowered her head. "Good morning Luna, Ms. Sofiya." She greeted.

"Also," Sofiya added. "There is a vampire in this household who will drink your blood from time to time." She said. "Your clothes will be delivered to your room by tomorrow. There are quite a few unmated werewolves whom you will...help out when they call for you." Sofiya said. My eyes slid to Irina, I didn't know about all this. But I kept my mouth shut.

"This is Irina. She will show you around the estate and explain what the job exactly entails." I told April.

"Irina, this is April. She is new here. I would like you to show her around and give her a week's training before she starts her actual job. Assign her a schedule too." I told Irina.

"Of course Luna. May we take our leave?" She asked.

"You may," I said. Irina took April's hand and took her towards the kitchen first.

Sofiya was grinning at me and I raised my brow at her in question. "You are natural, taking control suites you."

That's because you have never seen me submit to Master, I wanted to say. If I'm a natural at taking control then submitting is a part of my being.

"Thank you." I smiled back.

"Do you know what we should do? We should have a girl's day out, just like the last one. I want to spend some quality time with my sister before I leave on Sunday." She said, her eyes wide with excitement but still tinged with sadness.

"I would love it. I'll meet you in the main foyer in ten minutes alright?" I said, feeling just as excited.

"Yes." She said and we both rushed upstairs. But instead of going to my bedroom, I went to Nikolai's office.

I knocked on the door and opened it when he said 'come in'. His smoldering grey eyes stared at me as I walked in and stood beside his seat.

My face heats up at his gaze. I still wasn't over how perfect last night was. "C-can I go for a girl's day with Sofiya?" My voice was breathy for some reason.

A smirk formed on his lips. "And why would I let you do that?" I know he was only toying with me. Nik never said no about these things.

I faltered. He could very easily say no. But I could persuade him somehow. I bit my lip, beginning to extend my hand as I placed a lock of his hair in its position. It turned golden and I smiled. I trailed my finger down his face and along his jawline. "Because you love me?" I whispered.

"Yes." He whispered back, his eyes on my cleavage that was popping out of my dress in this position.

"Thanks for the permission," I said and ran out of the door, not before flashing him a mischievous smile. His eyes were shocked but an amused smile played on his face. I chuckled under my breath as I went to our bedroom and changed into better clothes and applied some makeup. After I am as ready, I went down to the main foyer and saw Sofiya talking with Andrei and two other men standing with them.

"Thank you for waiting for me," I said as I descended the stairs.

"It's about damn time." Andrei grinned at me. I rolled my eyes at him and we all made our way to the first stop of the day, the parlor. Which would be followed by a long and tiring trip to the mall.

~~~

"I swear to goddess I'm never coming to another one of your girl's days," Andrei grumbled.

"But you look pretty." Sofiya grinned at him. We had somehow forced Andrei to get a hair spa, hair cut, a full body massage and we had shopped for him too.

"Shut up." He rolled his eyes and walked away. We both giggled at him and climbed up the stairs.

"We are having a sleepover by the way," Sofiya informed me.

"I need to go see Nikolai first," I told her and began climbing the steps to go to the third floor but Sofiya pulled me down.

"I already informed him and he was okay with it. And he isn't at home tonight, Vlad and Nikolai had gone out for some work. They won't be home tonight they won't be home till tomorrow night." She said and pulled me towards her room.

I narrowed my eyes at her suspicious behavior but complied anyway.

We were passing the kids' room so I pulled her in there first.

"Hey, kids." I beamed. Adrian was reading a book and Vanessa looked bored out of her mind.

"Hey." They both said together.

"How was your school?" I asked and sat beside Adrian.

"The teachers are great, we learned so many cool things." He replied and I smiled at that.

"We made new friends," Vanessa said shyly. Of course, she did, she was a beautiful girl, inside and out and I knew kids would gravitate towards them.

"That's nice," Sofiya said. "We are having a sleepover, do you both want to join us?" She asked.

Vanessa looked up at her with excitement and then at her brother who looked reluctant.

"It's okay if Adrian wants to read his book, we will have just as much fun." I smiled at her.

"Yeah, it will be a night and we will do your hair and paint your nails, you'll have fun." Sofiya looked excited to have someone else try everything on.

"Okay." She said and smiled at Adrian who nodded.

Sofiya took her hand in her own and we walked out after saying goodnight to Adrian. She led us to her room and then she jumped on her bed. "So is this your first night out?" She asked Vanessa.

"Yes." She replied and was looked unsure of what to do.

"This is going to be the best night of your life," Sofiya claimed and then walked into her closet and threw a pair of pajamas at me, and changed into one herself. I quickly changed into her clothes.

"Okay, so the plan is that we pamper ourselves first and then harass the boys later." She grinned.

"The pregnancy has got you going wild." I chuckled.

"I've always been wild." She winked and grabbed Vanessa's hand and pulled her inside her closet. "Pick your poison hun." She said and motioned towards her shelves and shelves of nail polish. Vanessa was looking up at them in awe. She pointed at a dark purple shade.

"Awesome choice for awesome girl," Sofiya said and picked the nail polish and then we sat on her bed. Sofiya was painting Vanessa's nails who looked mesmerized by it.

"Do you know where the men are?" I asked Sofiya, referring to Nikolai and Vladimir.

"To the packhouse." She replied without giving away anything else. I sighed, she was being weird right now. Maybe it was the hormones.

"Thank you Sofiya!" Vanessa grinned as Sof was done painting her nails.

"Come here, I'll do your hair." I smiled at her.

"Yes!" She grinned at me and sat in front of me, showing me her back.

I sat upright and weaved my fingers through her hair. She had soft hair. I began making a fish braid while Sofiya kept rambling about different things and I chimed in when I wanted to say something.

After two hours, Sofiya decided it was time to start the pranks.

We made a pit stop in Vanessa's room and took some markers before walking into the kitchen and taking out the whipped cream. My body flushed as last night's events rushed in my mind but thankfully no one noticed. And this was a new can of whipped cream anyway.

We went to Dimitri's bedroom and put our plan into action. Dimitri was sleeping in his boxers and his blanket thrown on the floor.

Vanessa was about to giggle but I covered her mouth and put my finger on my lips, motioning her to be quiet. She vigorously nodded, managing to keep her giggles in.

We started drawing random things on his body while he slept like a sloth. Even I had a hard time holding my laughter in.

After we were done, Sofiya sprayed the whipped cream on both his hands which were, fortunately, facing upwards. She lightly tapped her brother's face. He twitched but he didn't move. After two more tries, he slapped his hand on his face, trying to get rid of the annoyance, and effectively slapped whipped cream on his face.

"What the fuck." He grumbled and rubbed his face with both his hands, getting more cream on.

We burst out laughing and that's when we saw us hiding at the side of his bed. He jumped out of his bed and glared at all three of us. "Demons! All three of you." He pointed at us. "I'm going to get back at you all." He mumbled when he realized we weren't scared of him at all and our laughter wasn't going to stop.

He grumbled and walked in his washroom letting out another 'what the fuck'. He saw our masterpieces I guess.

"Hey, no swearing!" I chuckled.

Dimitri rolled his eyes and walked out, ink smeared on his face.

"Whom are you pranking next? I want in." He said.

We walked into Andrei's room next. That's when they told me that pranks were very common in the house when they were kids.

They had a good childhood.

We drew all over Andrei's body and instead of the whipped cream, Dimitri decided to push it up a notch and threw an entire bucket full of water on Andrei who woke up shrieked like a girl as he jumped out of bed. By shrieking, I mean screaming '-fuck'.

He glared at all of us and we burst out laughing again.

"Don't look at me that way brother, they did it to me too, I'm just passing on the kindness.' Dimitri laughed when Andrei came to punch him.

Vanessa was laughing way too hard so Andrei picked her up and threw her over his shoulder and tickled her belly, causing her to squeal loudly, laughing.

Suddenly the door flew open and on the other side was Adrian, panting hard, a dagger in his hand. His eyes were wide and jet black, just like Nikolai's got when he was angry, as he looked around the room.

His eyes turned to their normal color when he saw Vanessa was alright.

Andrei slowly put Vanessa back on her feet and she ran to her brother and hugged him. They were mind-linking and whatever she said caused Adrian to drop the dagger from his hand.

I slowly walked towards him and put my hand over his head. "Are you alright kid?" I asked.

"Yeah." He breathed. "I-I just thought...Nessa..." He shook his head.

"She is alright, she is safe. We were just having fun." I told him.

"Sorry." He mumbled and picked up the dagger.

I looked at the dagger in his hand and it looked familiar somehow.

"Can I see it?" I extended my hands.

I could see the dilemma in his eyes of whether to give or not to give. He finally handed it over to me.

It had a grey stone at the head of the handle, it was no ordinary dagger. It had some designs...I wasn't sure what it meant but it was not some invaluable thing. Whatever it was, it was important.

"Where did you find this?" I asked. I hadn't seen this anywhere in the estate. Where did he even find it?

"It's mine." He said softly.

I looked down at it again. This was no ordinary weapon, I had a gut feeling about it.

"Come here, you need to see this." I mind-linked Dimitri.

"What is it?" Dimitri asked with an easy smile and walked up beside me, taking the dagger from my hand and then immediately dropping it.

"What the hell?" He frowned. I frowned up at him, why did he drop it?

Adrian picked up the dagger and placed it back in its scabbard. He looked up wearily at all of us took a step back involuntarily.

"Hey, don't be scared of us, Adrian. We won't hurt you. You know you are safe here." I said softly yet firmly.

He hesitantly nodded.

"Can I ask you who gave it to you?" I asked.

"It was my father's." He said and clenched his fist that was holding the dagger.

"Alright. It's too late, I think you should go to sleep." I told him and extended my hand towards Vanessa who came forward and held it.

I led them both to their bedroom and I tucked Adrian in the bed and Vanessa settled in on the new bed bunk that she had asked for. I tucked her in too.

"Good night." I smiled and switched off the lights and closed their door.

Everyone had gathered outside and I held a finger to my lips, motioning them to be quiet. The kids had heightened senses.

I led them upstairs to my bedroom and closed the door after everyone was in.

"I couldn't even touch the dagger, it burnt my skin," Dimitri said and looked down at his hands.

"I could touch it easily." I frowned. "We need to tell Nikolai. Something isn't right."

"After he returns," Andrei said.

"Yes. And I don't think the kids are dangerous." Sofiya added. "He was only trying to protect his sister."

"But we can't deny the fact that they have potential. They are strong, especially for their age. We can't trust them." Dimitri said.

"They are good kids," Sofiya said, irritated.

"Yes, they are good kids. But we do not know anything about them." I looked at the siblings who were butting heads. "We wait for Nikolai and then decide what to do," I told firmly.

"Yes, Luna." They replied in unison.