Chapter 62 Closure

Closure

Nikolai

"So what have you decided?" Max asked me the second he entered my office.

I gritted my teeth. I hated his plan. I hated it with every fiber of my being. I have made promises to Ava. Promises that I will have to break to go through with the plan.

"You know it's the only way." He looked at me.

I know it. And it was the best way too. The rest were too dangerous. But this will hurt Ava differently, it will hurt her in ways he won't even be able to fathom. It can even break her. I'm not sure how strong she is. I know her wolf has given her immense strength. But she will have to push her wolf back in for this. She will have to look like an omega. Weak and helpless. Not the Alpha female she is slowly growing into. This can backtrack her growth as well.

"I won't do it," I told firmly, meeting his eyes head-on.

"Talia will be going through the same thing. Something much, much worse." He narrowed his eyes at me.

"I said no." My voice was quiet but angry. I didn't like it when people questioned my decisions. My pack knew it. No one question the Alpha.

But Max is not the part of my pack.

Regardless, he is my elder brother, for which, I respect him.

"Do not tell me to do something you would never do yourself, Alpha." He mocked.

"I am not the same little brother you left behind, Maximilian. I will not tolerate disrespect." I growled, giving him a fair warning.

I am not the same little brother who used to follow him around the pack and used to wish to be like him in everything. I am my person now. Strong and independent. I don't need him anymore.

"I left behind?" His voice rose. "Where were you when the entire fucking pack disrespected me? Because as far as I know, a little brother would have backed me up."

"What could have I done?" My hands slammed against the desk as I stood up from my seat in anger. "If I had backed you up, maybe you would have become the Alpha. But of whom? Wolves who didn't like you?" I growled.

I remember the day like it was yesterday.

More rogues had joined us so we decided to officially become a pack. And we needed an Alpha. A strong one at that because the other packs would surely not go easy on us.

The responsibility came from the Volkov family. Because it was my mom who took everyone in and helped them. And even after she was gone, it was because of her goodwill that people came to us for help.

The strongest stepped up to become the Alpha. It included me, Max, and a couple of others from the pack. It was a fight till death or submission.

Max and I remained till the last. We made a deal that whoever will lose shall show his neck and submit. Brothers will not kill brothers. That's not how mom raised us.

Max was older and stronger.

He won, I showed my neck.

But the pack opposed.

Max was a vampire. And while the Vampire- Werewolf Peace Treaty was signed, no one would tolerate a vampire leading a pack of wolves.

The pack openly showed their resentment towards Max.

I directly saw Max at Volkov Corps. after that. He had left after the fiasco. He had given in to his bloodlust and gone rogue.

He stood up too, banging his hands on the table, making it snap. "Why the fuck do you expect me to do this then? For a pack who doesn't like me?" He snarled, his eyes flashing red. "You know what? Fuck you, Nikolai!" He yelled. "You were always the spineless little bitch and you still are. I'm out of here."

Before he could storm off, I punched him in the face, making him stumble back.

"Yes. Beat up people when you know you are wrong, as always. Tell me. Why the fuck is Adrik still alive and living like a goddamn king and you lead a pack of rogues? Tell me why the fuck is Emilio still alive?" He snarled.

I punched him again. "Shut up," I growled, my anger spiking with every word that came out of his mouth.

He knows nothing!

I went to punch him again but he ducked and moved away from me. I turned around to punch him again.

"Anyone who would have touched my woman without her permission would be dead by now. Just like Lionel fucking Preston is." He spat the blood on the floor. "I crashed his fucking mansion and killed all the fucking hundred something vampires by myself. And that's only because he tried to kidnap my mate." He glared at me. "Emilio raped yours. For years."

I loud growl tore through my throat and I lunged at him in blind fury, making both of us go fall out of the window that was directly behind him.

We both landed in the front yard, with me on top of him.

I punched him. "You know nothing." I punched him again.

He caught my hand and pushed me off him, making me land a few feet away from him.

"Grow up and be a man, Nikolai." He snarled. "Get over your daddy issues."

I ran to him and lunged, shifting into my wolf mid-air but landing on the ground. Max was on my back, holding my neck in a chokehold.

I growled and bit his side, flinging him off me and a good few feet away. He scraped against the rough ground before he hit a tree.

He grunted in pain.

"What the hell is going—" Dimitri came running but paused when he saw us.

"Stay out of this Dimitri." Max wiped the blood that had dribbled out of his mouth with the back of his hand. "This is long overdue."

With a snarl, he charged towards me.

It's long overdue indeed. I'm going to show him I'm not the weak little boy he once knew.

The second he was a couple of feet away, I lunged at him, my mouth ready to get a hold of his throat.

He also jumped and my teeth snapped in the air. His hands landed on my shoulder as we fell on the ground with a thud and rolled on the ground, trying to gain an upper hand.

His hand grasped my neck and I swiped my paw on his face, drawing blood. His eyes turned red, his vampire at the forefront.

He kicked me off him, making me fly back but I twisted in the air and landed on my feet.

"What the fuck is going on?" Natalia came out running.

"Please stop!" Ava looked worried as she took in both of us.

I glanced at them before looking at Max again. He needs to know his place.

I growled loudly and then charged at him again. He might have won that fight. But it's been eight years since that day.

And I have grown tremendously since then.

He dodged my attack and then ran towards me.

I shifted back to my skin before he could touch me and ducked out of the way. I grabbed the back of his neck and slammed him to the ground.

He pulled at my hand, bringing me down with him but I punched him anyways. "I didn't attack Montana because there are innocents there." I punched him again. "It's called doing the right fucking thing." Punch. "Something you wouldn't understand." Punch.

He rolled us over and punched me hard, making me dizzy. "It's called being a pathetic little bitch." He landed another punch on my nose. I tried to block it but he held me down. "And if you want to do the right thing." He gritted, "then I will do the right thing by Talia." He landed another good punch. "I will not put her in danger for your revenge when you aren't ready to do the same." He landed yet another punch.

My head spun and I could feel the blood rising in my throat.

"That's called cowardice." He snarled before landing another hard punch on my jaw.

Fuck it hurt.

But I'm no coward.

Mustering all my strength, I caught his flying wrist before it could touch me once again and twisted it before pushing back and rolling us over again.

I landed a hard punch on his temple. "Cowardice is wasting your life away for six goddamn years because you couldn't deal with reality." I punched him again. "Cowardice is running away when I needed you." I punched him.

Mom had recently died no, she was taken away when the Alpha selections happened and Max ran away. I needed my older brother there. I needed my rock.

My whole world turned upside down when the two people closest to me were just no more.

"Then why didn't you come to find me?" He asked me.

My hand froze in the air at the vulnerable look in his eye.

"I came. I had found you once." I whispered before gritting my teeth at the memory.

"What?" He whispered, sounding shocked.

"You were high out of your mind. On goddess knows what. Drugs, sex, and blood mostly. Dimitri and I found you in this club in New Orleans. Eight months after you left. I told you to come back home with me. You said you didn't have a home. Or a family or brothers. You said they were dead to you," I told him, losing the fight in me and getting off him, "and that anybody mentioning them will get their hearts ripped out. And then you had us thrown out of the party."

He didn't look like he believed me.

"I don't remember." He looked away.

"I should have tried harder." I shrugged. I shouldn't have given up on him. "Before too. I should have done something. Or said something." I shouldn't have stood quietly and let everyone disrespect my brother.

"You should have." He said quietly. "But you are right. A vampire can never lead a pack of wolves." He agreed and then snorted, "I wouldn't have been a good one either."

Yes. Strength is not the only criteria to become an Alpha. There are many other things. And ethics and responsibility have never been his strong suit.

"Yeah." I snorted. "You are too reckless and get angry easily."

"And you always have a stick up your ass." He countered.

"I know." I half-smiled. It was true. I needed some things a certain way. I can never be as laid back as he is.

"You're still my little brother you know?" He said, a smile forming on his face.

"Yes. Even when I beat you up." I got to my feet and offered him a hand.

"Look at your face and then tell me who beat whom up." He took my hand and I pulled him up.

We both hugged each other, finally letting go of the past. There was a certain kind of peace in the air.

Something had shifted today. Something from higher up. I could feel it in my bones. This is just the beginning.

"Finally." Dimitri grinned and threw a pair of shorts towards me.

I had ripped my clothes when I shifted. Damn, I liked the t-shirt I had worn today. Sighing, I wore shorts. I'm just happy about the closure.

We both looked at the girls and smiled. Ava wiped a tear from the corner of her eye and smiled at me.

She swiped a hand in the air, her palm towards us, and her hair flashed silver before returning to brown again. All the pain vanished. I looked at Max and saw his face was bruised free too. Only the dried-up blood remained.

I stood in upfront of Ava and pecked her lips. It's about time I tell her what she has been asking for the last couple of days. "It's time, Love."