We hadn’t lived together for a few months now but her presence, her bond, brought me peace. Just knowing she was alive and well brought me peace.
“Dimitri.” Nikolai came into my view. “It’s time to collect the ashes and pour them in the ocean.”
I looked around and saw that we were the only ones left here now. The rest had always left to complete the ritual of their dead ones.
So many lives had been lost. My sister had lost her life. Her entire family had lost their lives. And here I was, alive.
If I had died, it wouldn’t have mattered. I didn’t have a mate, or a daughter. Sofiya should’ve been alive instead of me. Pain shot through my heart like I had been stabbed there with a dagger the size of my fist.
My throat closed up as I glared at Nikolai. If she hadn’t come here, this wouldn’t have happened. The palace of Imporia was the safest and that’s where she should have lived. She should have lived with us, with her family where we could have protected her. Where nothing-no person, no fucking bomb could hurt her.
“It’s your fault.” I hissed. “My sister is dead because of you, you fucking asshole!” I punched him so fast that he didn’t see it coming.
He cupped his nose as he stumbled back.
“Dimitri, I know you’re upset, but it-”
I pulled my hand back to punch him again but he dodged and someone was holding me back.
“You should have never let her leave!” I screamed, fighting against the two people holding me so I could go beat Nikolai up. “You know she belonged at Imporia! With us! Her family. Her pack!”
My throat was raw as tears filled my eyes.
“It was her choice, I cannot dictate that.” He shook his head, looking up, fighting to control his own tears.
“Don’t fucking cry!” I yelled, grabbing Andrei and pushing him off me before I flipped Mikhail over my shoulder and ran after Nikolai. “It’s your fucking fault! And your fucking father’s.”
A tear slipped down his cheek and anger filled in his eyes.
And that’s when I knew that I would finally get what I had been craving for ever since I got the news. A good fight. And enough pain on the outside that it would dull the pain on the inside.
We ran towards each other but I was tackled down mid-way.
“Fuck!” I hissed when I hit the ground and saw Max looming over me with angry red eyes.
“You twinkle dick!” He slammed his fist on my nose and a loud crack echoed in the ground.
“The fuck!” My mind was disoriented for a second before I got hit the second time.
“Max stop!” I heard Natalia’s voice in the background but Max was too far gone as be began laying punch after punch.
And then suddenly, he was pushed off me. By Natalia. And then I saw Nikolai offering me a hand to help me stand up. I slapped it away and jumped to my feet before I attacked him again.
I didn’t want compassion. I wanted a fight.
My entire family was yelling at us to stop. But they knew better than to intervene. It wouldn’t end well for them.
“Back off.” Nikolai growled at them and then motioned me to come at him.
I did. He was blocking most of my punches. He was stronger than me but knowing someone for more than a decade came with perks. And one of them was knowing everything about them like the back of my hand, which included their fighting style.
I ended up getting a good few punches in.
And it felt good to hurt and to get hurt. One gave someone a small percent of the pain I was feeling and the other dulled the pain I felt inside.
“You backstabbing rapist!” Max came out of nowhere again and pulled me away from Nikolai.
And the word rapist rung in my ears deafeningly.
I looked into my brothers red eyes and saw hatred and anger. And I knew this was the answer to what I wanted. The outside pain will dull the pain I was feeling inside.
Now I just needed to kill the sliver of hesitation he was feeling and push him off the edge.
I slapped a creepy fucking grin on my face. “You know what? It felt fucking aweso-” he was on me before I finished my sentence. I didn’t even flinch.
I felt punch after punch and I took every single one of them. I didn’t even fight back or try to block him.
Punch.
I deserved it. Sofiya wanted to come back to Imporia.
Punch.
She had told me the last time we met. I should have brought her home.
Punch.
She’s dead because of me.
Punch.
Fuck. This one hurt. Blood pooled in my mouth and I cracked my eyes open to see Max. Blood had pooled in his eyes and the veins under them had appeared. His fangs were out. I’m sure they were aching to rip my head off my body.
I grinned and saw his anger spike tenfold. His vampire side was in control now and there was no holding it back now.
I saw him come closer, his mouth open to dig into my neck but he was pushed off of me by Nikolai.
I turned my head to the side. Everything looked like a blur. I squinted my eyes to see both of them rolling on the ground, fighting off each other.
My view was obstructed by some white-gold feathers. I turned my head again and saw they were attached to a woman. The sun shinned behind her head because of which I couldn’t see her face.
Her wings moved and formed a cocoon around us, hiding us from the view of everyone.
And then she moved closer to me before kneeled next to me, her face looming over mine. A sense of peace washed over me and all the pain slowly diminished.
Did I die? Am I in heaven? Did she do some sort of magic? Whatever it was, I didn’t want to move.
Maybe she was…”Goddess Luna?” I asked.
Pale blue eyes stared into mine and a motherly smile curved on her lips before she let out a low tinkling laughter.
I blinked a couple of times until my vision cleared up and I recognised her. “Avalyn.”