Natalia
Scholae Pythinissam
“The second I get out of here, I’m going to fucking kill you, Dumbledore 2. 0.” I screamed, holding on to the bars of the cell the two bitches had put us into. On the orders of Dumbledore.
“Headmaster Malone…” Anna was torn apart when she learned that the headmaster of Pithonissam was the one who has behind the kidnappings of his students. “How could you? You were the one who protected us!” She screamed from the cell opposite us.
“It’s been fifteen minutes since he is gone,” Dimitri groaned, “he can’t hear you, so shut the fuck up.”
“Yeah, that’s your grand plan?” I hissed, “to shut up and belly up when they come to finish their job and kill us?”
His eyes flashed dangerously. “You very well know that we can’t get out of here. He’s not dumb to put us in cells we can break out of. The bars of our cells won’t bend or break by applying force and Anna won’t be able to use her powers in the cell that she has been put into.” He said, suddenly becoming the voice of reason. “Instead of wasting energy, we should rest and strategise on how to attack when they come back.”
“I fucking hate it when you’re right.” I growled, stomped to the corner and sat down.
“You’ve been more of a bitch to me lately now that I think about it.” He frowned. “Did I do something or is Max not enough for you anymore and you’re passive aggressively asking me for a threeso-”
“Finish that sentence and see what I do,” I growled in annoyance. And the asshole replied with laughter.
We remained silent for a while but I thought about what he said. My anger towards him wasn’t fair. It wasn’t his fault. I sighed. “Fine. I’m not mad at you. Well I am. But… it’s just…” I groaned in annoyance and clutched my head. “It’s Nikolai. Nothing I do is enough. I’m always doing something wrong or I can always do something better. Nothing is ever good or even enough for him. And everything you do is perfect. And I try so hard, so fucking hard and it just… fades in comparison to his favourite Beta.” I didn’t want to sound bitter. But I was.
“I feel that Nikolai wanted you as his Beta and not me. He just picked me so I wouldn’t feel bad or think that he’s unfair. He doesn’t really want me. And now that he has me, he’s giving me a tough time so I give up and he can make you his Beta again. Or maybe he is punishing me for taking your place and messing up his old system or something.” I ranted quickly but then regretted it. I knew that him and Nikolai were extremely close. And they talked to each other about everything. He would tell him about this too and then Nikolai will hate me even more. He’ll think I’m ungrateful-if he doesn’t already think that.
Dimitri let out a low chuckle. I was expecting him to say something ‘funny’ but he didn’t.
“First, you are stupid if you think that he picked you as his Beta to protect your feelings or so that you wouldn’t think he’s unfair.” He chuckled again. “He doesn’t care what you think of him. He doesn’t care what anyone thinks of him, Natalia. Except only Avalyn.”
“If he didn’t want you, he wouldn’t have chosen you, no matter what. It’s pretty straight forward with him. He means what he says and he does everything he says. Especially when it comes to pack business.” It made sense now that he was saying it. Nikolai has never lied. He’s always done what he wanted and said it openly, without caring what others think.
“Give him and yourself time to get used to each other’s working styles. And yes, both of you have worked with each other for years but it has never been so closely.” I have mostly only done missions out of the pack. “My work isn’t perfect. It’s his version of perfect because I know exactly what he wants. We’ve been literally joint by the hip since I was eight years old and he was ten-that’s almost seventeen years now. I know how and what he thinks. I know what he wants.”
“Why don’t you become his Beta then?” I scowled.
“Because you have the potential to become a better Beta than I ever was.”
“I’ll punch you if you’re joking.”
“I’m not,” he half smiled. “I didn’t challenge him. Growing up so closely together, our thinking processes are very similar. We didn’t challenge each other. I see that after working with Avalyn. Every day is different. We never know what the other is thinking and when something new comes up, we come up with so many different ideas because our thinking style is so different. She challenges me to become a better version of myself. I do the same to her too. So you see, you don’t need to become like me to be Nikolai’s Beta, you need to become a better version of yourself.” He made sense but his answers angered me. It made me feel like I wasn’t trying enough.
“You don’t think I have tried?” I screamed. I could feel my body heating up.
“Be honest. Have you really? If you had really tried, would there have been so many mistakes?” My eyes lowered. I was so fixated on finding reasons and answers to questions that weren’t even true that I never really was able to give my hundred percent. Just because before even doing something, I believed that I won’t do it right.
“You’re right.” I sighed. I was getting worked up over nothing. I need to get my head straight.
“Let me give you a few tips and tricks. He’s mostly right. You never really need to question what he’s doing because his motives are pretty clear. If you don’t get it, do the job first and then ask later, he’ll always answer. That’s one thing about him, he needs things to be done the moment he says it. Questioning him right then and there and wasting more time pisses him off. But if you think it’s really not right, speak up. He won’t like it but he’ll listen.”
“You have the entire pack under your command, you don’t need to do everything on your own, so delegate work or else you’ll be working crazy hours and you will definitely go crazy. And the work won’t be done on time anyways. So get others to do your work. But always check once it’s done and see if it’s up to the mark.”
“And the biggest tip of all- use Avalyn. Don’t do it always or he’ll know,” he winked. “Every decision he makes is with her in his mind. But there are times when he can be rash. Avalyn is the voice of reason in his head, she cools him down, she grounds him. She makes him more… humane. Just put the thought of her in his mind and you’ll be able to make him rethink everything. It will always work, but if in any case it doesn’t, talk directly to Avalyn. Slide it in a conversation with her and she’ll take care of it. She’s the only person he truly listens to and does as she says. Most of the times.” This was gold. All the information he was giving me was going to come very handy.
“The only thing he doesn’t really listen to her about is her stuff,” he half-smiled. Yeah, Nikolai was a little too obsessed with her. Maybe being an Alpha and having enhanced skills enhanced his feelings too. “Her safety is something he doesn’t even trust her with… and he’ll be more crazy now that….” he gulped. Now that she’s been kidnapped. I prayed to goddess she was okay now. I nodded in understanding.
“Do you think they’re okay?”