Lady and the Wolf [Book One, Lady and the Wolf Series] -Published-

Chapter Twenty-Six: The Gift

It seemed Van wasn't the only one near breaking point as Aira snapped back, "But that's what you meant!"

With that, she took off back upstairs and the only other noise that could be heard was the loud slamming of her bedroom door. Emma visibly flinched from the boom, possibly not used to Aira displaying such behavior.

Drake sighed as he went to stand up from his seat but was left staring as Van stormed upstairs without a word. They all were left staring as the echo of a door slamming resounded back downstairs.

*******

As soon as she had reached her bedroom, she had started to grab any leftover clothing she had and threw them into her open bags. Aira had packed up most of her room previously for her move to Russia, but now, that seemed pointless. Van had made it clear he wanted her gone. If he wanted her to go, then she would go.

The slamming of her bedroom door made her jump as she kneeled on the floor over her luggage bag. Turning her head slowly, she visibly paled when she saw Van standing in the middle of her bedroom, eyes blazing and arms folded as he stared at her, possibly angered by what she was doing. Aira could safely say that that was the greatest emotion she had seen in his eyes ever.

It didn't take long before this one-sided staring contest turned into a battle of heated words. "If you needed help packing, you just had to ask," Van growled before he started to grab random pieces of clothing and items and shoving them into an open bag in the corner. Aira could faintly hear him cursing as he moved around, glaring at the air in front of his face.

Her lips tilted into a small smile as she tried to stifle the tiny giggle that was ready to escape but couldn't hold it in for long as she started to laugh. Her laughter was so heavy that tears started to build up before spilling over onto her reddened cheeks, and before she knew it, she was laughing and sobbing hysterically as she threw her torso to the floor and hid her face with her arms. For a brief moment, Aira actually considered that she might have just lost her marbles.

It wasn't until she felt the soft pressure on the back of her head that she looked up, hiccupping as she took in Van's candid expression. He had crouched down and placed his hand on the back of her head, as he had been doing the last few days when Aira completely broke down. This tiny action—something that should have made her uncomfortable — comforted her and brought her back to reality, no matter how tough the situation was.

"When I found you, I swore I'd wipe my hands of the problems that came with you," he mumbled, looking away when he realized what he had just said.

Taking his hand away and standing up, Van went to pace around the room as he picked up the clothing he had just been throwing around and placed them neatly back into the bag.

Aira gulped as she asked, "That man, he doesn't seem to like you or Drake very much. Why?"

Van's body stiffened as the walls he had let down seemed to reinforce tenfold. He turned slightly, his piercing eyes staring straight through her as he said, "You really want to know?"

Aira nodded from her place on the floor. She wanted to know more about Van.

His face visibly darkened as he looked away. "The human believes in a story that is only told to pups to scare them. They call the story The Legend of the Lady and the Wolf. The first shifters to come into this world were Lycanthropes — purebloods. Among them was a Lycanthrope named Konstantin, who was exiled from that world with six others."

"Why were they exiled?" she asked carefully.

Van continued to throw garments into the bag as he answered disdainfully, "Because they were different, stronger and smarter. They came here and were forced into purgatory, having to learn the ways of humans. They learned the hard way that humans also disliked anything that was different." His face was cold and guarded as he continued, becoming angry as he recounted the story he had been told since he was a pup. "One day, he was given a gift from a Wiccan, Isadora. The gift was a human girl. He had come to resent humans and kept her locked away, but when you don't know something in poison, you won't know whether to toss it away or not."

"He began to care for the girl, and Isadora became jealous, and in her jealousy, she decided the best way to overcome her emotions was to request her brothers to kill the girl. Konstantin, clouded in rage and anger, killed anything and everything in his path. He murdered countless humans and shifters."

Aira didn't know why Van was telling her this when he had never told her much of his history before. Perhaps, he was trying to scare her, give her a reason to want to leave this place and never look back.

Or maybe he was trying to show her that he was no hero.

"What happened to Konstantin?"

He looked surprised when he turned and saw that she was concentrating solely on him. He looked as if he didn't know whether she was insane or simply an idiot for wanting him to continue such a story, but his face let it show he was seriously trying to figure it out.

Perhaps, he was the mad one for continuing. "He was destroyed by the ones he had sworn to protect. Konstantin's punishment was to serve humans and shifters alike for the next millennia as their protector," Van chuckled as he turned back to the girl. "But, he's not doing a very good job of that."

Aira turned her gaze from Van as she got up off the floor. "That girl... I think she would have been very sad to know he had died because of her."

Van looked slightly stunned with what she had just said. However, he hid it well as he raised a curious brow and said, "Well, it's just a story, but people like your grandfather seem to take it seriously. Because of that incident, humans are well prepared if anything like that should happen again. Richard, being one of those humans, prepared for any such trouble. You asked why he doesn't like us, and that's why, malyutka."

Aira's face reddened like a beet as she heard Van use Russian. His voice seemed to deepen with that one word, and it sent a chill up her spine. His voice was much nicer when he said it, though...

"The world I come from is a dangerous place. Maybe I forgot that when I asked you to come with us," he sighed.

A soft tap at the door caught her attention as she looked out at her father, who held a rather annoyed expression on his face. It seemed he had recovered as he looked from Van back to Aira and grunted, "Van, stop telling her stories..."

Van's earlier angry expression had all but disappeared as he threw Drake a bored look. "Yes, stories."

Aira took a step forward as she grabbed hold of Van's sleeve and looked up at him. "I'd like to meet him... Richard, I mean," she said hesitantly.

Van looked down at her, and if just for a split second, Aira could have sworn she saw a tiny smirk cross his face before it all but disappeared.

*******

Aira kept close to her father and Van as they made their way down the stairs. The first person she noticed was her mother, Emma, as she sat awkwardly in the living room. The second person was the old man standing off to the side. It seemed this was the first time he was able to get a good look at her as he stared with wide eyes. Aira stepped forward with a little hesitance and said a little, "Hello..." Her smile was infectious as she continued, "I'm Aira."

Richard nodded slowly. "I know. I held you the day you were born."

Before Aira knew what was happening, Richard had dropped his cane and had taken her into a giant bear hug. Aira could feel the tense males behind her but ignored their presence as she awkwardly hugged this bear of a man back. It was then that she could have sworn she heard him quietly sob into her shoulder.

"I'm sorry," he whispered. Aira was shocked, wondering how long he had been holding his sadness in.

Aira closed her eyes as she patted his back gently. Lots of people had said they were sorry when she had eventually learned about her past. They had all been sorry for her, but this old, tired man had also lost people he loved. He was her grandfather whether she liked it or not.

Maybe that's why she could only respond with, "I'm sorry too."

Maybe this is what I need to do, she thought sadly. Maybe he needs me more than they do.

She knew what she had to do, even if it was facing a past she never wanted to find.