I could feel the contractions. I knew they wanted to come out now.
But it didn’t register.
In that moment, every cell of my body wanted to save Nikolai.
‘Save Nikolai.’ Her words kept repeating themselves in my head. Like a mantra.
“Nikolai.” I was running towards him again.
‘Put the fruit in your mouth.’ He ordered through the mind-link without looking at me.
The fruit that I was still holding was slightly crushed because I had been clenching my fists. Nevertheless, I put it in my mouth.
Max caught me before I could run past them.
“Release me.” I snarled.
“No.” Max replied.
‘Save Nikolai.’
“I need to save him.” I growled. “I need to stop him.”
“He’s just going to negotiate with him. He’ll be fine, Avalyn. You on the other hand are not.” He calmly replied.
“No! He’s not fine.” I cried. I couldn’t seem to stop crying. Something bad was going to happen. I could feel it. “Let me know. I need to save him.”
He didn’t know. He wouldn’t understand. He couldn’t understand what I was going through, what I was feeling.
“Nikolai has made a deal with Adrik. He told us about it after he came back. He’s just going to offer Adrik some money and a promise to leave him alone in exchange of Mikhail’s life and him leaving our entire family alone. It’s going to be okay, Avalyn.” Max said but it didn’t bring me the peace it should have brought me.
I struggled harder to free myself from his hold.
‘Save Nikolai.’
I felt like I was going crazy.
‘Calm down, Avalyn.’ Nik’s voice popped in my head stopped. ‘Stay where you are. Do not come near me.’ He ordered and I slumped in Max’s hold.
I could not believe he just did that. He knew I would do this. He knew I would try to intervene.
This is why he put the collar on me.
‘Put the fruit in your mouth and chew.’ Nik ordered and I put it in my mouth began chewing. ‘Make a small cut in the centre of your palm.’ I grabbed a dagger Max had hidden in one of his boots and sliced open my palm.
What the hell was he doing?
‘Repeat after me.’ He said, ‘quia vita tua.’ His hair immediately turned golden after he said that.
“Quia vita tua.” I couldn’t help but repeat. A drop of my gold coloured blood dripped down on the ground.
‘Meum est enim vita tua.’ He said.
“Meum est enim vita tua.” I repeated as I chewed on the fruit. Another drop fell down.
“Quia vita tua. Meum est enim vita tua.” Nikolai said. That’s when I noticed that his hands were fisted. But one of them was bleeding and dripping his blood on the ground too.
“Quia vita tua. Meum est enim vita tua.” I repeated, still chewing. The more I kept saying the words I didn’t know the meaning of, the more I kept bleeding.
“Quia vita tua. Meum est enim vita tua.” Nik said.
“Quia vita tua. Meum est enim vita tua.” I repeated. I felt a surge of power in my body and my bleeding increased.
“The fuck are y’all doing?” Max muttered.
“Quia vita tua. Meum est enim vita tua.” Nik’s voice rose and his body lit up with fire.
“Quia vita tua. Meum est enim vita tua.” I repeated and I could feel my powers increase and come to the surface.
I was hit with a contraction so painful that I almost fell to the ground but Max kept holding me up.
“One last time together, then swallow.” He said. I would power through this.
“Quia vita tua. Meum est enim vita tua.” Both out voices were loud as we chanted together and then I swallowed the fruit.
‘You’ll live now. Tell our kids I love them.’ Nik said through the mind-link.
The drops of blood that were on the ground rose up in the air and met Nikolai’s blood halfway. And then they began spinning in the air until the gold and red became one magical colour. And then they flew towards the sky, so high up that it wasn’t even visible anymore.
I heard a loud bang and my ears started ringing.
No…
“Oh, fuck.” Max’s hold loosened.
I looked back in front of me.
Oh my Goddess.
Adrik had a gun in his hand. It was aimed at Nikolai. My eyes widened and my heart stopped.
Please no…
I heard two more loud, unmistakable shots and then saw the back of Nikolai’s white shirt turn red. The world faded away. All I could see was Nikolai. He was all I wanted to see.
“I love you, Ava…” Nik’s feeble voice hit my ears and suddenly, Max’s hold tightened again.
“What the fuck did he do?” Max whispered in shock.
No…
No. No. No. No. No. No.
Nikolai…
‘I’m just looking out for us and trying to do what is best for our family.’
‘I love you. More than life itself.’
What did he do?
What the hell did he do?
“Let me go!” I screamed, thrashing in Max’s hold so that I could go heal Nikolai.
I felt our connection breath.
I felt his soul detangle itself from mine.
I felt his wolf die.
‘… I am a monster…’
‘… I never claimed to be a good man…’
Then why the fuck did he have to be the good guy and sacrifice himself now?
‘It should not be news to you that I would go to the extremes for you, Ava. I would die for you….’
It was so painful, the snap of the mate-bond was so painful that my knees gave away, my body went numb my vision blackened.
No.
No.
Please, no.
“Help!” Max’s voice seemed like it was so far away. “Her heartbeat’s dropping.”
Nikolai…
I doubled over in pain before I was gently lowered to the ground.
“Help!” Max screamed again, his voice filled with anxiety. “They’re coming out!”
I should have saved him.
He exchanged his life for mine.
I should have been the one who died.
He was supposed to live.
“… eathe Aval… babies ar… on’t survi…”
A soul-crushing pain enveloped me before I succumbed to darkness.
******
Quia vita tua. Meum est enim vita tua: My life for yours. Your life for mine.