Safe at home
“I didn’t mean to send her away. I wished so much to have her back… I didn’t want her to ever leave me again.”
It’s been a long time that Lucas has ever been so straight with her… oh dear… Nani couldn’t help her mixed feelings of joy and pity. She didn’t even know what to respond to him.
Lucas continued, “when she told me she was pregnant, I wanted to… to grab her and hold her tight. I wanted to damn the consequences of the judgment I made regarding her banishment…. But then I remembered something… same thing that has haunted me for the past eleven years.”
Nani found the words then, “Lucas… you can’t do that to yourself. You can’t push all the love away to protect yourself from getting hurt…. You just can’t do that.”
He rose his voice, “it’s too similar, Nani! Just like the time Amelia told me she was pregnant… I was the happiest man in the world, but all that happiness died when I lost her and Bambi. I’ll never survive it if it happened to Ava and my child. When she spoke to me yesterday… it seemed as if history was about to repeat itself….”
Nani didn’t resist the urge to hug him from behind, he froze upon contact with her, but then calmed himself. As It’s been so long since his nanny embraced him.
“I know you didn’t want her to leave yesterday….” Nani said upon letting him go.
“It’s been torture Nani; it’s been a battle getting any sleep without her!”
“Well, I guess you’ll just have to live with that until you’re ready to bring her home.”
“An alpha should never have any fears, Nani. But then, I’m terrified if something like that should ever happen to her…”
“Sabrina is gone, Lucas. You might find that hard to believe, but she is. And as for your mate, this time, it’s different. You have so much more than you did before, you have your guardian, you have the dawners, and you’ve always had me.”
Of course, “thank you Nani, thank you for never leaving this broken wolf.”
“I never will dear… and I never will.”
Lucas thought to ask her something then, “It’s been long since I granted you a personal request. Tell me anything you want now, Nani… anything, and it will be done.”
Nani beamed, “oh Lucas…. There’s nothing I wish for right now than for you to bring Ava home.”
.
.
.
Silence. Nani gave him time, patiently waited as he pondered….
Then, “I will Nani, I promise you that I will, but please… let me ask you for some time. I promise that I will bring her back here myself when the time is right.”
“Of course, dear, take all the time you need. I know that you will.”
**********
Kiara stayed up late in her chambers waiting for her mate. Cian had left to take Ava to her new home today, but Kiara couldn’t sleep yet, at least not until she’d been assured that Ava was safe. She heard the door to the front of her chambers open long after she waited, Cian had returned.
She went out to meet him, how tired he looked, he’d been busy the whole day.
“How did it go?” She asked him as he entered.
He slumped on the couch; his whole muscles ached as he’d been driving for a very long time.
“I had to take her there on my own, I drove the truck back and forth, and still had to arrange things with alpha Daryl when we arrived.”
“Oh, Cian… why would you put yourself through so much trouble? Why didn’t you just get one of the drivers?”
“They’re being monitored, and now that our assignments with the Daivie pack is over, the drivers have no reason to be going there anymore. It’s not like before when I could just sneak her into one of the trucks heading there.”
“I’m so sorry, dear… but Ava… how is she?”
Cian nodded, “she’s fine. She’s now been given shelter in the Daivie pack.”
“Oh! Thank the goddess for that, at least now she won’t have problems with rainy weather there.”
“Yes, she won’t, and thankfully, Nani will let me rest now that she has a roof over her head.”
Kiara chuckled, “Nani has been so excited about Ava’s pregnancy, she wouldn’t stop talking about it today…”
He noticed the lines that formed on her face then as her words trailed off, taking her into his arms, he asked her, “why the sudden sadness, dear?”
Sighs, “I don’t know Cian… I just… the way I’m feeling… I don’t like it.”
“How are you feeling?”
“I… feel, a little envious of my friend… I never thought I’d feel this way, ever since I mated with you, but then… we’ve been trying for months…”
“Oh, Kiara….” He noticed a small tear dropping from her eye, he then brought his hand to wipe it off.
“I’m sorry… I don’t feel any hatred towards anyone… it’s just that… I wish so much to bear your children.”
Cian took her face and stared straight into her eyes, “Listen to me, Kiara. I didn’t get mated to you because of any children…”
Kiara misunderstood the statement, “so, you don’t want children?”
“Of course, I want children. I even want them more than you, but then if they don’t come on time, or even at all, that’s not going to make me love you any less dear.”
“Cian…”
“I love you, Kiara, and I think that should be what matters the most in our union. Our love should matter more than anything else.”
“I love you too, Cian.”
The two mates were about to share a romantic moment then, as their kiss was suddenly interrupted by a knock on the front door.
Who could it be? Kiara wondered, and why so late?
Cian got up from the couch and went to open it, he saw then that it was the alpha’s personal guard, Kain.
“Apologies for interrupting so late sire, but the alpha summons your presence immediately.”
This was strange. Lucas had never called him for anything at this time. What could be the matter? Maybe the guard would know.
“Why is he summoning me?” He asked him.
“I’m sorry, but I have no clue sire. All I have is the instruction to send for you.”
Cian nodded, “ok. I’ll be coming now. Let me inform my mate.”
**********
A few moments later, Cian stood in the outer chambers, waiting for alpha Lucas to come out from the balcony where he formerly stood. Lucas then asked him a question upon meeting him.
“Where did you go today?”
Uncertainty prickled Cian as to what was going on in alpha Lucas’s mind. For all the years he’s been here, he’s never bothered about his whereabouts, ever.
“I um… went to the camp grounds sire. I’ve been there all day.”
Lucas smirked. “That’s not what today’s reports say. You were nowhere to be seen in any of the camps.”
Gulps, “um… no… what I meant to say was that I was on my way there, until I had a flat tire… so by the time I had it fixed, it was too late… I had to return home.”
Lucas rose his brow, “you mean to tell me that you spent the whole day fixing a flat tire?”
Silence. Cian felt the need to shut up then. He didn’t want to make matters worse by telling more lies.
Upon getting no response from him, Lucas carried on to what was foremost in his mind.
“I could care less about how you spend you day Cian, just don’t think that lying to me will solve things.”
He bowed, “I apologize sire.”
Another unexpected question came then, “where is Ava?”
Cian gave a puzzled look. “I don’t know why you are asking me sire. Why would I know where she is…?”
Lucas slammed his fist on the nearby table so the noise reverberated the whole room, angrily growling, “don’t you dare give me that bullshit, Cian! You might think I don’t know what you and Nani have been up to but that’s where you’re wrong. I won’t ask you this again. Tell me the truth now before I force it out of you!”