He was talking to Max, talking about pack business and was still on his second stack of Nutella pancakes while Nat and I finished out breakfast.
“Let’s go out and talk,” I told Nat who nodded and we stood up.
“I’ll come too, I’m done,” Nik pushed his half-eaten plate aside.
“No you’re not done,” I knew he wasn’t done. He just didn’t want to leave me alone. “Finish your breakfast first. I’ll be fine. We’re just going to the living room for some girl talk.”
“No, I’m really do-” I gave him a look and he sighed. “Fine. But don’t go out for the walk. I’ll come with you.”
“Okay, Alpha.” I rolled my eyes with a smile and both of us walked out.
“What’s up?” I asked Natalia once we settled in the couch. It felt a little uncomfortable so I placed a pillow behind my back, groaning at the relief as I did.
“It was about Althea,” she said quietly.
“What happened?” I asked. I hadn’t talked to her in a while. I had tried to initiate conversation a few times a couple of weeks ago but she had shut it down by quickly excusing herself of talking rudely. I didn’t feel like insulting myself by trying to talk to her again and again so I decided to give her space and letting her come to me now.
“I think you should be on your guard when it comes to her. Don’t trust her and don’t be alone with her.” She rushed.
I frowned, a little peeved by her behaviour. We should try to make the girl comfortable, and welcomed and not treat her like she is an outsider. “What the hell is this about? I mean I know she doesn’t like us very much but it doesn’t mean we can’t trust her. She’s Dimitri’s mate after all.”
She looked around to see if anyone was around. “Leave us alone. And give a signal when anyone is coming,” she told the few slaves who were cleaning. All of them promptly bowed before leaving.
“I didn’t want to tell you everything but I think it’s best if you know. I’d rather you know what’s going on around you so you can take appropriate measures if any situation calls for it.” She let out a breath, as if she was readying herself to spill her guts. That scared me a little. Was it that bad?
“We sort of had a fight. Althea and I.” She whispered. “Let me start from the very beginning actually. I heard her saying rude stuff about Dimitri to her slave. I got pissed and lashed out.”
I don’t think I could ever think negatively about Nikolai, much less talk about it to someone. I didn’t know how someone could do that to their own mate. “Maybe something happened between them…” Dimitri was the best person ever but he had darkness inside him. Maybe he said something in anger? But I just couldn’t imagine Dimitri ever getting angry. Maybe she misunderstood his words or actions? “It’s their personal matter. You shouldn’t interfere.”
“Well this isn’t the first time we got into an argument.” She snorted. “And it certainly will not be the last if she continues act like such a bitch.”
“Natalia!” I admonished.
“Do you know what happened the first time?” She asked and I shook my head.
“Well she said that she knew about the bomb blasts and believed that the High Council did the right thing. She said ‘it was important to pull the weeds out from the garden for the flowers to survive’. Dimitri was nearby and heard it all. The poor guy ran off and Althea didn’t look like she cared. And then I went off on her. I told her about Sofiya and her family and that she was Dimitri’s sibling. Apparently Dimitri had told her about it all but she still sided with her father’s decision.” She released a breath, still pissed about it. “This happened before Nikolai told her off but still!”
“How can she still side with her father? How can she not care about her own mate? And how the hell do I not know about all of this?” I asked.
“Well with your uncertain pregnancy and everything, we didn’t want to risk anything, not before Nikolai came back at least.” She answered. “And I don’t know how she believes all of this. But then I went after Dimitri and talked to him, gave him some clues about what to do. At the time, I used to think that it was best not to insert myself in their problems. But Nikolai’s trick of telling her off worked. She kind of feels bad for what it did to our family and that there is a possibility that her father was wrong. And that we are her family now and she needs to accept it and deal with it.”
“But she still doesn’t talk to us?” It confused me.
“I thought so too, so I decided to be the bigger person and initiate a conversation. At first, she was talking normally so I let my guard down a little. She was asking simple questions about the pack, the people, how things work and how we handle things. And then she kept asking questions about Nikolai, just as the Alpha King, his style of handling things, ruling, dealing with people and that sort of thing. I answered them but she seemed almost… obsessed. It felt weird so I steered the topic towards you and told her about the stuff you’ve done as the Luna Queen-for the slaves, the people and your business and how Dimitri, being your beta helps you with stuff.”
“And then she asked about the relationship between you two so I told her about your sibling bond, the pranks, how you’ve saved his life once. She then asked me about the blood oath so I told her the whole detailed story. Maybe she got jealous so she started insinuating things between the both of you.”
She got riled up as she went further into the story, “I feared that she’ll fight with Dimitri so I tried to clear things up but she seemed obsessed with finding problems in things that didn’t have any. And she said that…” she abruptly stopped herself.
“What did she say, Nat?” I pressed.
“She basically said you were juggling the brothers. In different words.” Nat whispered, hurt clear in her words. “And she told me to be careful about you and Max.”
Those words felt like a punch to the gut, “no, Nat… I wouldn’t, I’m not… I’d neve-”
“I know,” she hugged me. “Please don’t insult yourself or our family bonding by justifying anything. She doesn’t know anything.”
I kissed her cheek.
“I don’t know why you’re telling me this,” I whispered.
“I don’t know why but she seems to have a special hatred for you or something.” She looked concerned, “Max must’ve already talked to Nikolai about this by now and I wanted to tell you this myself. But be careful, Avalyn. She is not to be trusted.”
“She’s harmless, Nat…” I trailed. “The palace’s powers are enough to save me.”
“She doesn’t have to physically harm you to hurt you.” She said gently, “I don’t have a good feeling about her. Just keep your guard up around her and take care, okay?”
I nodded, gulping.
Do we really have an enemy among us?