Handful work
Avalyn
Nik and I had breakfast together in his office but then I realized that he was working on something important so I left him to it and stopped distracting him. He had also told me that we would talk about this tonight and I was eager for that. Maybe I can talk and change his mind.
The entire house was empty, only the usual guards here and there were present. Maybe they all were out. Or maybe they were working. Who am I fooling? I know that they all are working. They are preparing for the war.
Having nothing to do, I decided to go out for a run. It had been a while since I had let my wolf out anyways. I walked to the backyard and shifted into my wolf.
My eyesight got sharper, my hearing got stronger, I could smell better and I felt a lot stronger. But my wolf felt a little weaker than before. I knew I wasn't the Alpha wolf-like I was when I first shifted.
As my powers were getting stronger, my wolf was getting weaker.
Deciding to mull over it later, I took off for a run. My eyes fell on a bunny and I licked my lips.
I wanted the chase. I wanted the hunt. And my wolf was ready for it.
I slowly crept up behind it, unnoticed and when I felt near enough, I pounced. But the little rabbit saw me and dashed it. I ran behind it, my feet thudding on the soft soil of the forest.
After half a minute, the rabbit disappeared in a burrow beneath a tree and I let out a low growl. I want to catch it.
Next time.
I trotted further ahead, trying to find something else to amuse myself but a wolf ran up to me and I stiffened. But I smelled that it was a pack member and I was in no danger here.
The wolf bowed his head in front of me. 'Good morning Luna.'
'Good morning.' I don't recognize him but he was a patrol wolf. The question is why is he in the middle of the pack, guarding some area instead of just the pack border like all the patrol wolves do?
'I'm sorry but no one is supposed to go beyond this line, as per Alpha's strict orders.' He told me.
I tilted my head. 'Why?' This is a part of the pack land and I've run in the area more than a hundred times. Most of the time, Nik was with me!
'I don't know, Luna. We do not question Alpha's orders, we just follow.' He kept his head lowered with respect.
'Right. Good job.' I nodded. 'Have a nice day.' I told him and turned back around, running the rest of the way to the house.
I hid behind the tree in the backyard and changed into my clothes before walking back inside. I caught someone entering the dining room and I followed, hoping to get some answers.
Nik was being too tight-lipped. That, and a part of him was still upset at me, I didn't want to pester him more.
It was Mikhail.
"Hey, Avalyn." He said, picking up a banana and leaning against the cabinet.
"Hey. Where were you? Where is everyone?" I asked directly, cutting to the chase. The house was way too bare in the morning to be normal.
"I was out for some work. And the rest are working too." He answered without any hesitation but then he frowned. "Aren't you supposed to be training right now?"
"What's the use? I'll be using my magic all the time anyway." I shrugged.
"It's better to be a warrior in a garden than a gardener in a war." There was something in his eye when he said that.
I bit my lip. "Speaking with experience?"
"Always." He gave me a small smile and bit into his banana.
"Were you the warrior or the gardener?"
His eyes snapped to mine and darkened as he got lost in his thoughts. "None. I was the spectator."
Huh?
He opened his mouth but closed it and pressed his lips tightly together before finally deciding to speak. "My parents were killed in an invasion. My father was the pack doctor and he didn't believe in violence so he refused to learn how to fight too. Got him killed in the end. Along with my mother."
A gasp left my mouth. I never knew...
"I'm so sorry."
"It's fine. It was a long time ago." He shrugged, brushing it away.
"You don't have to hide your pain for the sake of others, Mikhail. It's okay to say that... it's not okay." I know that now.
He seemed troubled now. Like he had never thought of even thinking that it can be 'not okay. It didn't shock me. The males of this house tended to squash down everything that they thought was a weakness. But being hurt is not a weakness. It's a sign that you have been strong for too long. It's a battle scar. And there is no need to hide it.
"How old were you?"
"Nine." He whispered. "My mother forced me to run away from the back door. She— they sacrificed their lives so I could escape." He sounded bitter about that.
"Your parents were very brave," I said softly. "Don't resent them for loving you more than their own lives. Any decent parent will put their child before themselves. So instead of... resenting them for their choice, respect them and their decisions. Honor their memories."
He remained quiet for a while, taking it all in.
"Thank you." His voice sounded thick. "You would make a good mother."
My heart cracked at that. I'll never be a mother, even if I birth the child, I'll never be able to be a mother. And I can never do that to Nik. I can't leave him alone, especially when it is his greatest fear.
"Thank you." I forced myself to smile. He doesn't know, I reminded myself. He means well.
He gave me a warm smile.
"Do you know where Max and Natalia are?" I asked. I need to apologize to them and I couldn't get a hold of them. Their mind link was shut tight too.
"Yes. But they aren't supposed to be disturbed." He said without revealing anything.
"I won't disturb them. I just need to apologize to them. I will only take a couple of minutes." I said, hoping he will give me their locations.
"I think you should talk to Nikolai about it first." He looked uncomfortable.
"Um...okay." I nodded. "And I've just come back from a run. I'll train in the evening." I really will. He was right.
"Sounds good." He smiled and then bowed his head before he left.
I called Sofiya after that. I had called her earlier a couple of times but she said she was busy.
"Hello?" She picked up.
"Hey. How are you?" I smiled.
"I'm good. And you?" She asked.
"I'm doing good. How is your baby? And Vladimir?" Sofiya's daughter will be the closest thing I'll have to a daughter too. And I already love the little bean. Even though she is still in her tummy.
"Vlad and I are good. The baby is healthy and my stomach has grown so big already." Her voice was softer now. "The doctor said that I'll be able to feel her move in a couple of weeks."
I grinned. "I wish I could have been there with you."
"Yeah." She sighed. "Listen, Avalyn, I need to go now. I have some work but we will catch up later okay?"
"Okay." I bit my lip, "talk to you later."
"Bye." She cut the call. I sighed. It had been the same since she left. Formal and concise.
Andrei came in later, shirtless and dripping with sweat. He had been training the entire pack.
"Can I get you something to eat?" I asked.
"It's almost time for lunch." He half-smiled through his pants, "but yeah, thanks."
So like that, we fell into our usual routine of me making him omelets and a glass of banana and strawberry milkshake and him sitting at the counter, recounting the events of the training.
"....and now Adrian is slowly matching Finn's strength." He grinned.
"That is so amazing. Where's the little guy?" I asked as I served him his fourth omelet.
"School." He said with a full mouth and I crinkled my nose, making him laugh.
"What are you doing after this?" I asked him.
"I was going to help Mikhail with something. Why? Do you want to go somewhere?" He asked after he finished his bite.
"Not really. But I wanted to start training again." I told him.
"That's my girl." He grinned.
"No, that's my girl." Nikolai entered and my smile widened.
"Do you want something to eat too?" I asked and served Andrei another omelet.
"No. I need your help with a couple of things." He told me.
"Can you give me two minutes? I'll make a couple of more omelets for Andrei?"
"You should go. I'll get Irina." Andrei smiled, waving us away.
"Okay. Thanks." I smiled and followed Nik to his office.
"What do you need me to do?" I asked as he settled in his chair.
"I've been dealing with the strategies of the," he cleared his throat, "war coming up. And I can't focus on the pack work as much as I would like to. I need you to help me with some paperwork. After that, you have to go to the packhouse do a couple of things I tell you to do." He told me seriously and handed me a file.
"All the papers in this file are important but I need you to arrange them according to their urgency. And finish off the tasks of the most urgent matters- the ones that cannot wait right away. Let me know after you are done with it," he told me and sat on his chair, opening yet another book from his pile of books and started reading.
"Okay," I replied and sat in the chair across from him and started going through the file. In about two hours, I had arranged the file and made a dozen phone calls, making some of the other arrangements for the necessities of the pack. That was when I realized just how much we depended on Greenwich town.
All of these things had to be brought in in three days for us to be fully prepared for the war. After a couple of more calls, I was done.
"I'm done, Nikolai." I let out a relieved breath.
"Good." He looked up from his book and gave me a tired smile. "Come here baby, give me a kiss."
"Take a break." I smiled as I padded to him and grabbed his face, giving him a chaste kiss.
"I can't." He murmured against my lips and grabbed my hips, giving me a good squeeze.
"I can think of a way to convince you otherwise." It had been a couple of days since we had made love. A couple of days too much. I trailed a finger over his crotch.
A soft groan left his mouth.
"You're becoming a handful now, Lyubov." He caught my hand and kissed my neck. I smiled angelically at him. "I hate doing this but this work is time-sensitive, Ava. I need to finish this as soon as possible. We will make love tonight. Promise. Wear something sexy." He looked at me with a mix of undisguised lust and promise in his eyes.
"Okay." I smiled at him, "I'll let you work for now. Just tell me what do you need me to do next."