The Lycan King (Book 1)
Chapter 31. A walk on the beach

Nikolai

Ava had invited the vampires to stay the night but they politely declined, informing her that theyhad rented a hotel in the nearby human town. I knew she was worried but I told her to let them be.More than being worried about them, I knew she was worried about the humans but all of themclearly had pets. When you were a high ranker, having pets was more like a status symbol morethan a necessity.

I took Ava down to the beach after that, we had lots to discuss.

"Take off your sandals.” I told her as I removed my own. She smiled widely as she quickly did as Isaid. I placed them on a rock before holding her hand and we took off for a walk.

"Lets talk about you first. I know we haven't done that much since you shifted.” I told her. "How doyou feel, Love?"

"I feel...alive.” She looked up at me.

It was true, her blood hummed louder, her eyes glowed with more happiness than I had ever seenand there was just something different about her. "I mean, I was living before. But now, it feels like Iwas merely surviving then. I am truly living now.” She said as she kicked a rock ahead. "At first, Iwouldn't even feel entitled to kick this rock, almost as if I'm doing something wrong by moving itfrom its place.” She whispered.

In moments like these, I realised how deep her submission ran. It had been ingrained in her for ten,long years. I made me furious that she had to go through it, but what made me more furious wasthe fact that my mate had been suffering through all of that silently, all alone and I had no clue."And now?" I asked.

"I feel like my old self, Nikolai. When I was still a kid and papa was still alive.” She swiped a palmacross her cheek. I tugged her in front of me and smiled at my beautiful girl. I cupped her cheekswith both my hands and wiped her tears with my thumbs. Her long, brown hair were flying all overthe place because of the wind and her warm brown eyes were glassy. She was still as beautiful asever.

"How were you when you were little?" I asked. I wanted to know more about her. All she had sharedwith me about her past was the dark part of it. I wanted to know how she was before that too."Papa used to call me firefly." She chuckled but there was nothing humorous about it. It was moreof a 'l can hardly believe it' laugh

"He said that I was like a firefly because I had fire within me and I was meant to fly. Back then, I usedto be confident and strong, I didn't take shit from anybody.” She bit her lip. "I had a best friend, weused to be the only girls who play with the boys. The other girls thought that the game we playedwould get them dirty because of the mud or something so they would stay away.” She smiled, herthoughts a million miles away. "And I used to get into a lot of fights." her eyes slid to me and thenwidened at my smirk. "I wasn't crazy!" She palmed her mouth.

"Never said you were." I laughed.

"I only fought because I thought there was injustice happening in the situation.” She reasoned, hereyes light with laughter. "So yeah, Papa thought that I needed to channel my anger so he startedtraining me. Thats why I became good at aiming and a little at fighting at such a young age.” Thatshe was. She had a knack for learning things quickly and since she had started training everyday,she had gotten much better.

"Your Papa was a wise man." I smiled and we continued walking.

"The wisest. I miss him everyday.” She whispered. I wanted to say something to make it better, butthere was nothing I could say to take away her pain. So I remained silent.

We had reached the edge of the beach so we took a u-turn after that. "He was a strong Alpha. Hewas fair but strict. No other packs tried to mess with him you know? That's why I wonder howEmmanuel managed to kill him." I told her. I had met him a couple of times during the annualmeetings and the ball I was supposed to attend with Adrik.

"You said something about the people would have told him if they knew, what was that about?” Sheasked me.

"The pack members are loyal to their Alpha Ava. That is unless they are forced otherwise or arebitter about something. No wolf would defy the Alpha anything if he is a happy with his life in thepack. From what I know about Alpha Javier, the people were happy in his rule. It would be difficultto manipulate wolves into accepting the death of their Alpha so easily. And even after that,convincing the entire pack that the Alpha died and he being the Beta lived isn't easy. A good betawould kill himself if that means the Alpha lives.” I told her.

"I didn't know." She seemed deep in thought.

"I know I shouldn't ask you this, but do you think your father had any pets?" I asked her. "Anyoneyou thought he was close to but that person wasn't a werewolf, did everything your father said andtook care of you in his absence?”

I could see she was thinking hard. "Mrs. Maria." She whispered. "She was the human who wasalways there, she was close to papa. She was the house cook and always took care of me, like mymother would have if she were there.” Her hands shook as she combed her fingers through her hair.It was a nervous habit of her's. I took her hands in mine and gripped it tightly.

"Not all pets are used to have sex, Ava." I told her softly. I knew it was bothering her too much."Maybe she was just there to fill the void of your mother. You are a girl, your father couldn't teachyou everything a mother could. Was there any other pet that may be alive?" I asked. She clenchedher hands in mine and shook her head.

It would have been a good start but it clearly was a dead end.

"You know Alpha Javier was right, you are like a firefly.” I smiled down at her. She peered up at methrough her glassy eyes. She just shook her head. "Doesn't feel like it. That Avalyn is lost forever.""And yet, a better version is standing right in front of me.” I tugged her again and made her stand infront of me. This was a conversation during which I wanted her to look in my eyes, to see for herselfthat I was speaking the truth

"Surviving years of torture, being able to love a possessive ass like me, killing a full grown werewolfwhile you were a human, shifting into an Alpha wolf at the age of twenty three, reprimanding me fora dick move, facing Vasilik, killing him and them handling his subjects like a pro, I would say youhave quite the fire in you Love.” I smiled and caressed her soft cheek with my thumb.

She smiled back shyly. "I wouldn't say I reprimanded you."

"But you held your ground.” I gathered her in my arms and kissed her forehead. "That's more thanwhat I can say more most people. I'm sorry for being a dick, Love.”

"No, you were hurt and angry, I understand Nikky." She smiled.

"Still not good enough of a reason to treat you like that. And Nikky?" I raised my brows inamusement.

"It was fine. Yeah, you have so many nicknames for me, I wanted a few more.” Her eyes twinkled."All of me is only for you, sweet. You may call me whatever you wish." I smiled.

"Whatever?" She wiggled her brows mischievously. I pinched her butt. "I might just have to spankyou for being naughty then. You know what? Go ahead and give me another stupid nickname.” Igrinned.

Her blush rose further and her face turned a lovely shade of crimson. "And I might just love it." Shesaid and pressed her hips against my mine, grinding slowly. I groaned as I kept a firm grip on herhips and pulled her back. "As much as I would love to, we still have things to discuss,?Moya Lyubov."She nodded. "The kids." She said and then turned completely serious. "To be honest, I love themalready and I wouldn't mind if they come here with us."

"Neither do I. I just wanted your opinion first. There is just something about them that's familiar, Ihave this urge to protect them." I narrowed my eyes in distance. I didn't feel like that for anyoneelse other than Ava. "And when Vanessa came and hugged me, I was so shocked, I know she isscared of males and has issues with touching people. Which is also why it meant so much more.”"It's clear then, they stay with us.” Ava smiled, satisfied with the outcome.

"Now I want to ask about how during the initiation ceremony, you resisted Vladimir's illusion andyesterday, Vasilik's mind control.” I asked her seriously.

"I -1 didn't resist anything. In case of Vasilik, nothing happened to me at all.” She shrugged. "AndVladimir, I am not sure. I got an illusion. In fact I got it today before I woke up too. She told me towake up because my people have come for me."

"That wasn't an illusion Ava. Vladimir can see the illusion work in the people's minds. He couldn'tsee anything in your mind. I don't think you had an illusion at all. Your hair had turned all white.Whatever it was?? it was something else.”

She looked deep in thought. "It was like a dream. There was this lady in white dress and white hair??just like mine when they turn white." She said and took a lock between her fingers. When it stayedbrown, I took in between mine and we saw it turn white. "Just like this. Her eyes were such a lightshade of blue that they almost looked white. Her aura felt so peaceful and...pure that I calmed downtoo."

"Did she say anything?" I asked.

She nodded. "When I asked her who she is, she said she is me. And she told me this both the timesshe came in my dream-?'Save Nikolai, lead them all to victory, brighten the darkness, the time iscoming.”?l don't understand what any of that means." She said, looking at me with curious eyes."Maybe, we need a faerie more than I originally thought.” I murmured. All of this seemed cryptic. Afae would probably know what the dream was and what it means.

She didn't say anything to that and we continued our walk.

"Do you think I made the right decision by asking Vladimir to take the position as the king? What ifhe doesn't want it? Can we really manage to handle an entire kingdom?" She asked. "Especiallyalong with the pack?"

"You made the same decision I would have made Ava. It's about damn time Vladimir accepted thathe misses his kingdom. He is happy here but that's his home. But I'm okay with whatever hechooses. And we are Alphas Love, we were born to rule. And this pack doesn't work like a normalpack. I hardly have to handle anything.” I smiled.

As much as not working all the time was a relief, I missed being in a real pack.

"And with the war we know is coming, it is good to have alliances, good thing you didn't say youdidn't want to become the Queen. I wouldn't have allowed that either.” I added on a serious note."Thats what I was thinking too. And if Vladimir denies the position, Rhazien would be the bestcandidate to be our representative.” She told me.

"Good choice." I said. "You are new to this but you are already good at it Ava. Trust your instincts,you will never go wrong with it." She blushed at that.

"Right now, my instincts tell me to go get the kids." She smiled up.

"You're right, lets go." I told her and we continued our walk till we reached where we had taken offour footwear. We wore our own shoes before we made our walk to the parking lot.

"Are you sure it's safe for them to come here when we know a war is coming?" She suddenly askedme.

"I'm not sure.” I replied honestly. "But my gut tells me that this is where they belong.”

She nodded, not needing further explanations. We got into the SUV and I started driving in thedirection of the pack house.

"How and where do you replace a fae?" She asked suddenly.

"Its not easy to replace a faerie but once you replace them, you just know." I shrugged. "They have adistinct aura and we won't be able to smell them unless they want us to. Which is the reason whyit's hard. And as for where do we replace them, after the crazy prophesy, most fae have fled to anotherdimension or have been captured by Kingdoms or packs.” It was going to be a bitch to replace one.Maybe I could use the help of one of the many vampires at our disposal now.

"Was the prophesy so bad that even after five hundred years, if affects the lives of all the faeries?"She asked. I could see the empathy in her eyes.

"I don't know what the prophesy is Ava. No one speaks about it. Those who know, don't want morepeople to know and the only ones who truly know are the faeries. It is said that about five centuriesago, a very strong faerie had prophesied it."

"The faeries have magical powers so how are vampires and werewolves able to contain them?" Mycurious little mate asked after some time.

"Different faeries gain their powers from different elements, either?? earth, water, fire, air of brain.So keeping them away from their source of power would weaken them. The Taaffeite stone to themis like what silver is to us. Its a violet coloured gem stone which is one of the rarest stones in theworld, you'd know it when you see it. So using it somehow to drain them would be easy. Also theyhave powers but they aren't strong enough to fight. They are basically humans but with a longerlife." I finished just as I pulled up at the pack house. It kind of reminded me of my old house backhome, yet it wasn't even half the size of it.

I took a hold of Ava's hand as we walked inside. The wolfs lowered their heads in respect as wewalked in. The kids were not in the living room so we walked up the stairs to their bedroom. I wasinformed that they insisted on sharing one room itself.

I knocked on the door before pushing it open. Vanessa was drawing something on a piece of paperwhile Adrian was reading a book. He snapped it shut when he heard the door open. Both the kidsjumps on their feet and stood up, giving us a shy smile of their own.

"How are you both this evening?" Ava asked with a smile.

"We are doing well, Luna. Thank you for asking. How are you and Alpha doing?" Adrian, the matureone asked.

"We are doing great, kid. Now how about you loose the titles and call us Avalyn and Nikolaiinstead? What do you think about that?" I asked with a smile.

Both of them looked appalled and shook their heads frantically. "We could never disrespect you likethat.” He replied,

"You are not disrespecting us if we ask you to call us that ourselves. I suppose titles are going to beboring and superficial once we live in the same house.” I smirked down at both of them.

Their eyes widened and lips parted, in synchronisation. "Weally? We can live with you?" It wasVanessa who asked the question this time.

"Yes." Ava answered. They grinned and came running to us, hugging both of us. Ava giggled as weboth hugged the kids back.

"Are you both done packing?" Ava asked while I ventured further into the room and picked up thebook Adrian was reading. It was on the history of all the supernatural beings on earth and theirkingdoms. 1 was proud to know that the little boy was reading this book, not many adults couldcomprehend it.

"You understand this?" I turned around to look at Adrian and showed him the book.

"Yes, Alp?? Nikolai." He said shyly. "It's very interesting and I figured that I should know more aboutthe world I live in." He admitted. I could see the potential this kid had and I knew he would be astrong and intelligent wolf one day.

"Thats true. I assume you have taken this book from the library here?” He nodded at my question. "Iwill let the librarian know. You can take it along and ask for any book you want, we will have itdelivered at the estate.” I told him and picked up the two little bags the kids had. They needed toget more things.

"Thank you." Adrian whispered with a heavy voice. I just smiled at him.