Ivan's Queen
Chapter 4 - Play Hard

The next morning, I join everyone at the dining table for breakfast and take a seat beside Mikhail. He nudges me with a wink, whispering that he’ll warm my coffee for me before proceeding to make flames appear in his hand. I stare at him open-mouthed with the mug halfway to my lips as he holds his palm open underneath it. I can feel the ceramic warming up, his light grey eyes shining with excitement.

“Mikhail!” Uncle Vulcan snaps, making him pout adorably before stopping.

“You’re the one who said I should keep practising, I was only following your – woah!” He catches the toast with a smug smirk before biting into it.

Apparently Mikhail is a vampire and possesses the ability to control fire. He lives with Ayla, Ivan’s twin, in the Vampire Kingdom as the realm is more suited to the species. Ayla is the only one missing from the Romanov clan. Aunt Aurora explains that she doesn’t get to come back as often because she’s leading the kingdom with her mate, Asher Antonov.

Mikhail’s twin, Misha, is a Lycan and stays here with her parents and Valentina. She’s the Beta Female to Valentina who now leads The Renascence Pack. Uncle Vulcan told me that Ivan leads the Lycan kingdom which makes a lot of sense now as to why he missed out on a lot of family holidays.

I look up to see him sitting opposite me, focused on his food. He nods at whatever Misha is saying as he takes a sip of his orange juice.

And suddenly, his eyes meet mine.

I blink before my eyes widen and I look down at my plate in embarrassment. I don’t look in his direction for the rest of the breakfast, conversing with Mikhail and Nathan instead. When we’ve finished, Misha invites us to a game of volleyball at the pack house and everyone agrees to go except the parents and Mikhail who can’t stand the sun.

We walk down to the pack house and see people setting up the net. I spot Valentina right away as she states loudly that she’s only going to play one round before she must get back to work. She narrows her eyes playfully at Misha when we reach her, muttering that she needs help with paperwork.

For a nineteen-year-old, Valentina Romanov is stunning. She has straight, long brown hair that reaches down to her back with light grey eyes and green flecks. It’s the most unusual feature about her. Other than that, she’s of slim build but toned with soft and delicate facial features. She looks like a little fairy who can also kick some ass.

“Amelia!” She squeals excitedly as she hugs me tightly.

“Can’t…breathe!” I gasp, making her let go of me.

I laugh when she apologizes with a sheepish smile on her lips. We talk a little more while the teams are being picked about how we’ve been and what we’ve been up to until Misha separates us. I’m on a team with Ivan and four other pack members while Nathan, Valentina and Misha are on the opposing team with three other members.

“Um…you’re human.” A redhead pipes up as soon as I cross over to the other side of the net.

“And Melissa?” Misha arches a brow, crossing her arms. “It’s volleyball. I would expect everyone not to kill each other.”

Melissa huffs before giving me the dirtiest look, her eyes following Ivan as he strides over to take his position near me. I feel angry when she looks at him, wanting her eyes off him this instant. But when nobody’s watching, she smirks evilly at me with a dark glint in her eyes. I frown, shrugging it off before taking my position. The game starts out normally but I quickly start to realize that Melissa clearly has it out for me. Instead of trying to score a point, she seems to want to land a hit on me.

It’s almost over when, as I feared, the volleyball is thrown with force and hits me in the abdomen just as I’m turning. The fierce impact makes me lose my breath and it’s enough to make me fall to the ground as I clutch the area that I know is going to bruise heavily soon.

“Amelia!” Nathan shouts, running over to me.

“I’m okay.” I wheeze, a shaky smile on my lips as I blink away tears. Who knew a volleyball would hurt this much? I wonder to myself. “Help me up, please?”

My abdomen screams in protest from the movement but I let him pull me up anyway, refusing to appear weak. Everyone makes their way to my brother and I, Ivan following quickly but showing no emotion.

“I’m so sorry, Amelia.” Melissa runs up to us, not even trying to hide her smirk. “I guess I don’t know my own strength. You shouldn’t play with us when you’re not as strong.”

“Yeah, my mistake.” I smile tightly, wishing I could claw her eyes out.

Everyone walks back to the net to resume playing while the Romanov siblings and Nathan are still by my side. Ivan stares at my slightly hunched figure with a clenched jaw, his eyes travelling back to Melissa in hatred. I’m almost shocked over the flicker of emotion I catch before it disappears.

“Go and play, I’ll just watch over Evie and Isaac.” I encourage Nathan who refuses to leave me.

“No! We need to get that checked, your skin bruises easily Amelia!” He growls, barely able to restrain his anger.

“I’m fine, calm down. I’ll check on it, okay?” I reply before turning and making my way towards the house once he nods in defeat. “Have fun!”

I check on my siblings to see that they are safe and playing with the other pack kids before walking inside the house as quickly as possible. My skin is pulsating with a searing hot pain still and as soon as I’m inside, I pull my shirt up slightly to see the entire left area of my abdomen a bright red. Groaning in pain when I touch it, I bite back a gasp when the area stings.

Because the impact was made by a werewolf, it hurts a lot more and it’s going to bruise quicker. Deciding to just go to my room, I lay down on the bed with a pained cry. I breathe deeply, staring up at the ceiling as my body calms down. I know I should get up and replace something to put on my skin but it hurts so much to even walk around.

I wanted to defend myself and show her that I’m not as weak as everyone thinks I am but I could barely stand straight back there. I won’t tolerate this, I did nothing to her! Hell, I arrived yesterday! Melissa is going to get what’s coming for her when I’m fully healed, I won’t let her off the hook this easily.

Just as I’m about to get up to treat my skin, my peace is disrupted when the door opens before slamming shut. I push up on my elbows to see Ivan standing there, a dark scowl on his face. I lay back down, groaning lowly when the movement makes my skin scream in protest.

“Ivan, not right now.” I whisper, placing an arm over my eyes.

He ignores me completely and instead, walks up to me and pulls my shirt up. I squeal in shock, shuffling away from him but he holds me in place. He glares at me when I squirm before lifting my shirt higher, his eyes darkening to black when he takes in my bright red skin.

“You silly girl.” He growls under his breath, making me look up at him in shock.

Once again, he ignores me and disappears into the bathroom, barking at me to stay still when he hears me move. I huff and lay back down, watching him make his way over to me with an ointment and ice packs. Without warning, he places the ice packs onto my skin which makes me shriek in surprise.

“A warning would have been nice!” I glare fiercely as my body gets used to the coldness.

“Then you would have refused and bolted.” He deadpans, making me frown at him.

“No, I wouldn’t have!”

He leans down suddenly, our lips mere inches away from each other. “You sprained your ankle the last summer I was in Berlin. When Aunt Luna tried to put an ice pack on it you started limping away because you don’t like how cold they are at the start.”

I’m not going to lie, I’m slightly shocked at how he still remembers that. Feeling my cheeks burn in embarrassment, I avert my gaze as I realize that my lie has been caught. His hands grasp my denim clad legs and pull them apart so that he can step in between. I’m sure my cheeks are a fire truck red as I try and focus my attention elsewhere.

“I haven’t forgotten our summers, Amelia.”

The way my name rolls deliciously off his tongue makes me shiver. I bite my lip, shrugging as he spreads the ointment onto my skin. While he rubs it into my skin, he tells me that it’s suitable for humans too and will stop the skin from bruising heavily. I barely hear him though, the butterflies in my tummy fluttering about crazily the more he touches my skin. I can feel the faintest of tingles dancing across my skin. It’s exactly like my mom described as one of the signs that somebody is your mate. But instead of them being this crazy explosion of tingles like she said they would be, the tingles I feel are really light.

“Y-You haven’t come o-over to Berlin for y-years.” I stammer, mentally groaning at how stupid I sound. I should have stayed silent, it would’ve saved me from a whole lot of embarrassment.

He doesn’t reply and instead frowns as he pulls down my shirt when he’s done. Judging by the look in his eyes, it’s almost like he remembered something that he didn’t want to. Picking up the ointment, he then walks back into the bathroom. I groan under my breath, squeezing my eyes shut as I hear water running. He soon returns and helps me to lay back against the pillows before draping the blanket over me.

“Keep icing it and use the ointment. It’ll heal quicker.” He says before turning to leave.

“You won’t stay?” I whisper almost hesitantly.

His emerald eyes replace mine and he shakes his head, making me nod as I try not to let my emotions slip through. “I need to deal with…someone.”

Immediately, I know that someone is Melissa. But before I can protest, he’s gone and the sound of the door closing echoes as a reminder.