“This is Raemus, Luna.” Symon muttered, eyeing the old man weirdly.
The supposedly revered healer picked and examined a wolf figurine sitting on shelf. “This is nice. I’m keeping it,” he announced before stuffing it inside the pocket of his shorts.
“Raemus,” Nik called for his attention.
“Tell me what you want at once, Killer!” He suddenly pointed at Nik with wide eyes. “Are you going to kill me too?”
“I’m not going to kill you. Or anyone.” Nik looked annoyed. “We need your help.”
“Ah. You need my help in killing someone?” Raemus looked thoughtful before he shook his head. “I’m afraid I cannot do that.”
“I don’t need your help in killing anybody!” Nik snapped.
Raemus gasped dramatically, “then what do you possibly need me for?”
Nik looked around and saw a few lingering people eavesdropping on the interaction. “Let’s move to the office,” Nik said, giving Ratmir and Symon a look. Knowing exactly what he meant, both the men ushered Raemus upstairs and we followed.
We entered an office room and Raemus calmed down before he turned to look at Nikolai. The craziness had disappeared from his eyes, leaving behind centuries of experience and wisdom. “I have been waiting for you to get here all your life, Nikolai.”
“That was all a ruse.” Nikolai stated.
“Of course it was.” Raemus replied. “Senility is the only way to get away with flouting social norms and speaking against Adrik. Both of which I have the habit of engaging in often.”
“Adrik is gone.” Nikolai said.
“Never pegged you to be a fool.” He said, focusing his eyes on my protruding belly. “When an Alpha dies, he is replaced with the next best person in the pack.”
“You mean to say he had his followers here and since he is gone, they are led by someone else?” I asked.
“Smart girl.” He murmured.
“We are doing the best we can to find those people,” so Nikolai knew about this already. “And we will find them soon.”
“We can only hope so.” He replied before looking at me and extended his hand, “may I?”
I got a little nervous, my previous experience with healers wasn’t the best-except Allie. But something about this man told me that he meant me no harm. I nodded and he placed his hand over my belly. His eyes widened before he looked at me and smiled, “you’re a special one, aren’t you?” And before I could say anything, his eyes grew tense. “They have the potential to kill you both.”
“What is it with you can calling everyone killers?” I hissed. My kids aren’t killing anybody! They’re inside my stomach! They’re not even out in the world yet and everyone has already pegged them to be some kind of murderers!
“Your mate is destined to kill his father. And I never said they will kill you two. Just that they have the potential to,” he explained.
“I’m destined to kill Adrik?” Nikolai echoed.
“Why else do you think he was so obsessed with making you the perfect Alpha and son? So you always do the honourable thing-which means not to kill one’s father, and to always follow his orders.” He said and somehow, it made sense.
“How do you know that?” Symon asked.
“I have dreams.” Raemus replied. “And sometimes, I can see people and just tell what’s wrong with them-physically, mentally and in their souls. Anyways, ask what you wanted to know.”
“About the babies,” Nik swallowed. “Avalyn is a faye and a vampire. And she is reacting differently to the pregnancy. In addition to that, her maternal grandmother was given a curse that she will die giving birth to her child, which seems to have passed down the generations. We want to know if we should keep them or not.”
Raemus simply smiled, as if he knew this all along. “One of them is a vampire and one is a werewolf. And both of them love the powers that flow through Avalyn’s body every second. And they are absorbing those powers, which is causing them to grow faster than normal foetuses. That is not good. It is making you weak,” he told me, “if they continue doing this, you’ll be on the bed in a couple of weeks, bound to it until they come out. If they even do.”
“If they even do?” Nik hissed.
“Power is addictive, Nikolai. In my experience, they won’t stop till they have exhausted all her powers.”
“Which will happen once she dies.” Nikolai concluded and he nodded.
“My children will not kill me!” I snarled at both the men. “I am their mother!”
“Nature knows no mother, nurture does, Avalyn.” He said omnisciently. “And as we all know, we are predators. The lust for power is in our blood.”
I looked at Nikolai. My heart hurt hearing the words. He looked back at me with a pained expression. “We know what we have to do.”
He meant that we need to kill our children. The same ones we made out of love.
“I -we can’t, Nik,” my throat closed up. “They’re half you and half me. Made out of love.”
“I cannot love someone who hurts you, Avalyn,” he came near me and wiped away a stray tear, “I cannot love the one who kills you.”
Maybe I don’t have to die! Maybe we can find a cure. A solution. And as a healer, Raemus has to know.
“Maybe there is a way!” I told Nik and looked at Raemus. “Is there a way? A cure, perhaps?”