Vladimira's P.O.V
My mother and I stare at one another for a moment with confusion in our eyes. I don't dare move towards her, but she slowly inches towards me.
I tighten my grip on Aaron as she comes closer. Her brown eyes bear into my blue eyes, and I'm shocked when I see love there.
She finally reaches me and carefully strokes my face. "You look so much like me," She whispers as tears sting her eyes.
I readjust my shirt, cautious of Aaron's warm body. "How...? You died," I choke out.
Greer blows out an unsteady breath. 'No wonder Father is uneasy. His mate is alive!'
Nikolai walks farther into the room. "Everything will be revealed soon enough." He steps closer towards me, his eyes flashing amber. "Aaron's going to have to come with me."
Before he can touch me, I'm jolting away from him. "You're not touching my son again! He's safer with me!" I growl at him.
His blue eyes examine me, and before I know it, he has a knife against my mother's pale throat. "Hand him over, Vladimira. If you don't, your mother's blood will be splattered over the both of you," He threatens cruelly with an evil glint in his eyes. "Do you really want to disappoint your father?" He taunts.
The question chills me to the bone, making me glance at my mother. She's shaking gently as tears stream down her face.
"Okay," I croak out. Pain stabs at my heart when I hand over Aaron, but it subdues slightly when I watch Nikolai release my mother.
He sends me a fake smile. "Not so hard, huh?" He glances at the ajar door. "Guards! Take the queen to our meeting place. Is my son already in the room?" He asks calmly.
A man, dressed from head to toe in black, walks into the room. I soon recognize him as the man that had drugged me. "Yes, sir." He takes me by my arms from behind and leads me out the room.
Instantly, Aaron's wails begin to echo out of the room, almost as if he's being stabbed. My hearts speeds up, and I try to break free. "My son needs me!" I yell in frustration.
The man simply pushes me forward. "Don't fight me. If you do, he will be crying for other reasons."
Fear seeps deeper into my body when an image of Aaron, bloody and dismembered, pops into my mind.
I fight to hold back a sob.
At the sight of a wooden door, the man pushes me forward again. He opens the door, and I resist the urge to let out a sob once again.
My father is tied to a chair with silver chains. He seems alert yet calm. That's still not a good combination.
From the looks of it, he could break the restraints, but I don't think Nikolai would be naïve enough to not use me or Aaron as bait.
His shoulders relax at the sight of me, and I can't help but imagine him with my mother, smiling and laughing.
The man puts his mouth next to my ear. "Tell your daddy about the secret, and Nikolai will slit her throat." His breath is hot on my neck, making me cringe.
My father chuckles. "Do you really want to know what I'll do to everyone in this building? Keep terrorizing my daughter and you'll be the first one to lose your head," He threatens simply. His blue eyes, which are tinted with red, zero in on the man behind me.
I hear him audibly gulp before quickly tying me to a chair besides my father. Once he's gone, I turn to look at the man who raised me.
"Do you have a plan?" I asks quietly.
He rolls his neck. "Let's see. Are you feeling up to fighting?" He waits for me to confirm before continuing. "If rescue doesn't come, we'll fight our way out," He answers.
I shake my head frantically. "What if they hurt Aaron because we rebel? What about..." your mate.
They have a lot to hold against us. Nikolai could attack and kill off more members of our pack. He could kill Aaron. He could kill my mother.
My goal is to leave with all my family members alive and intact. Plus, my father deserves to have his mate back in his arms... even if he did hurt me.
With my mother back, maybe he'll be a better father, maybe she'll bring a side out of him that nobody has seen in a long time.
"You'll know what to do when the time comes," My father answers simply while staring at the ground.
I open my mouth to challenge him, but the door to the room slowly creaks open to reveal Nikolai.
He smirks at me. "I have some terms and conditions," He begins swiftly. "Your mother would agree to them."
At that, my father looks up, murderous intent clear in his eyes. "You can't bend her to your will. I, however, can bend you to my will." He smirks at Nikolai.
Frighteningly, Nikolai's smirk turns into a sick smile. "Oh, you've changed a lot, Dmitri. I'm actually proud of you," He teases.
My father rolls his eyes, almost as if he expected his father to say something patronizing.
"What do you want?" I break the silence.
Nikolai walks towards a table and picks up a knife. He flips it over in his hands a few times before putting it hilt first in his pocket. "Two things: I want to keep my pack, and I want to stay alive. Well, it actually doesn't matter if you agree with me. I have something you need, Dmitri," He negotiates.
Swallowing harshly, I start to shake my head. "You wouldn't kill—" I stop abruptly when he nods his head.
He'd kill my mother and risk being on the receiving end of my father's wrath.
"Winston, bring her out," Nikolai shouts without taking his eyes off me.
The door to the room opens once again, and a man with a buzz cut and a goatee enters. His arms are thick and veiny, his legs are bulging with muscles, and his face houses a scar running from the top of his lip to the corner of his eye. In short, he looks like he belongs to a gang.
In his arms is my mother, kicking and twisting desperately. Her cheeks are tinted red, almost the same color as her fiery hair.
My father takes in a surprised breath, his eyes widening to the point where I think they might fall out of his head. The slight tinge of red in his eyes completely takes over his irises. His chest begins to rise and fall rapidly, and, from the sounds of it, his heart is banging against his ribs in the same manner.
From the corner of my eye, I see him pull at his restraints, desperate to touch his mate that has been dead for over three hundred years.
When my mother looks up, their eyes meet, and both of them seem to stop breathing as love floods their eyes.
"Dmitri." A smile breaks out across her face.
The smile that comes from my father surprises me. "Saffron," He chokes out.
It's almost as if they're the only two people on Earth, and nobody should be intruding on this special moment.
Nikolai rolls his eyes, but my parents don't seem to care. They just continue to stare into each other's eyes, smiling and breathing harshly.
"If you don't agree to my terms-"
My father cuts Nikolai off with a nod of his head. "I agree to your damn terms. Just let my mate go," He growls.
The shock that appears on Nikolai's face almost makes me laugh.
Did he expect my father to negotiate after finding out he could get his mate back if he just agreed to those few terms?
Nikolai cocks his head. "That's it? No fighting at all?" He seems thoroughly disappointed.
My father shakes his head. "You want to live? Fine. You want to keep your pack? Fine. You'll be under heavy surveillance though," He says without looking at him.
With a sigh, Nikolai nods at Winston, who in return releases my mother.
I hold my breath as she stumbles forward and locks her arms around my father. A soft sob escapes her, but it's muffled since her face is buried in the crook of his neck.
Even with his arms tied behind his back and his eyes closed, he still finds a way to push their bodies as closely together as possible.
A rumbling resonates from his throat, shocking everybody except for my mother. She just pushes her body into his more and whispers something in his ear.
He opens his eyes, and stares into my mother's brown ones. Instead of flinching at the sight of his blood red irises, she smiles and leans in to kiss him.
I'm sure nobody in this room is sexually inexperienced, but watching my parents kiss passionately makes you want to look away. It's a moment nobody should intrude upon because they own it, even after three hundred years.
My mother pulls away and caresses my father's chin, which is covered in stubble, before reconnecting their lips.
I turn my head away when I see their tongues mingling with one another aggressively.
"Gross," I mutter under my breath.
The soft giggle that escapes my mother makes me hold me breath. It's a beautiful sound that seems like it belongs to an angel, but something tells me that's what my father views her as.
Nikolai shoos Winston away before leaning on the wall. "Your mother and I need to-"
"I'm right here, Nikolai. I've been forced to watch you play with my granddaughter because gods and goddess can't interfere much with events in this realm." The sound of my grandmother's cold voice makes everyone in the room freeze.
What the hell is going on today? First my mother comes back from the dead and then my grandmother ascends? How much crazier can this day get?
My grandmother looks at the smiling red-head on my father's lap. "Saffron, how are you?" Her voice and eyes soften until it seems as if she's talking to an injured animal who might bolt at any second.
"Good. A little uneasy, but I'm good," My mother answers honestly.
A smile decorates my grandmother's face but it drops when she turns to Nikolai. "You and I have a lot to talk about," She growls.
There's a fire in her eyes, and it's dying to devour somebody—preferably Nikolai.
"Indeed we do," He says to her before looking at my parents and me. "Why don't you guys get to know one another?"
My grandmother rolls her eyes and begins to walk towards a door that must lead to a separate room. Nikolai follows closely behind her.
After the door shuts, my mother turns and looks me in the eyes. "Vladimira, I love you. Even if you don't know me, I love you," She states confidently.
Pure awe and adoration appear on my father's face. He once again pulls against his restraints, desperate to touch his mate. His red eyes narrow in frustration.
It's my turn to watch in awe as he uses all his strength to slowly bend the silver chains restraining his arms behind his back.
'You gain amazing power whenever your mate is there encouraging you,' Greer whispers softly, almost as if she's swooning over how my mother has my father wrapped around her small, pale finger.
My mother cringes at the smell of burnt flesh. She looks back at her mate and gasps. "Dmitri, what are you doing?" She asks in shock.
Her brown eyes are staring into his with worry clear in them. She's also rubbing her wrists as if they're bruised.
A thought dawns on me at that moment.
She can feel his pain. Emotionally and physically.
I almost forgot that mates have that ability, but it must be ten times stronger for the royal couple.
"I'm getting these damn chains off my wrists, Saffron. Nothing's going to stop me," He growls with determination.
She clenches her teeth. "Maybe I can help." The look in her eyes makes my father pause briefly.
He shakes his head and continues to pull against the chains. Amazingly, they bend until he's able to pull his hands out through the small space he created.
Another rumble comes from his throat when he brings his large hands to my mother's dainty waist. "How?"
She shakes her head, signaling for him to be quiet and kiss her.
Their lips connect, and I'm forced to look away. A soft moan leaves my mother's mouth, causing me to gag silently.
"I need you." Xavier's deep, desperate voice comes out in a low whisper. The air in the room changes almost immediately after he says that.
He's in control. How will he react?
My mother releases a laugh. "Not here, not now, Xavier." She reconnects their lips.
Another moan leaves her mouth along with a deep growl from Xavier. He whispers something that I'm not able to decipher.
This is so awkward...
Before my mother can reply—and before they can make me cringe anymore than I already have—Nikolai walks back out into the main room with my grandmother hot on his heels. Her glare is burning through the back of his head.
He forces a smile, but it's obvious that whatever they talked about left a damper on his already dark mood.
My father looks up at his mother when she moves towards him swiftly to drag her hand through his disheveled hair. "Dmitri, there's something else you need to know," She tells him with a frown on her youthful face. "Nikolai and Saffron are linked."
The look that passes between father and son can only be described as pure loathing for one another. Angry, red eyes staring into judgmental, amber eyes.
My mother shifts on my father's lap before laying a chaste kiss on his jaw. "Calm down, Baby," I hear her whisper in his ear.
I'm shocked when I see him close his eyes and bury his face in her neck. He breathes in slowly to calm himself. When he opens his eyes, I'm met with with a beautiful blue that's like the sparkling water of a serene ocean.
"You can't kill me without killing your mate. I planned this out," Nikolai explains. "You and your mother thought you could rid yourselves of me, but that's not how it's going to work."
My father clenches his jaw. "No problem. When we get out of here, I'll make sure to reserve a nice spot for you in the dungeon," He replies sarcastically.
I try to focus on the conversation, but I'm still shocked about how much power Saffron Hope Delyth has over Dmitri Volchinov. She told him to calm down and he did so without a single word of protest.
"You do know there's consequences to kidnapping the royal family, right?" I ask incredulously.
Nikolai shrugs as if he has done worse. "Punish me if you must, but you can't kill me because poor Saffron will drop dead too." He releases a cold laugh that sends shivers down my spine. "Your beta is close to finding you, Dmitri. He's dedicated," He finishes
My father raises his eyebrow. "Are you keeping tabs on my pack?" He asks.
Nikolai nods. "Yes, I am. Your whole pack is in distress, and Jared is intent on finding you guys before the end of the week." He shrugs. "I say they'll be here by... tomorrow night?"
How's Titus holding up? Is he on the verge of losing his mind because Aaron and I are gone? Will he work with Jared to find us?
All I know is that they need to hurry and find us. Being stuck here with psychopathic Nikolai makes me worried for the safety of my child, my parents, and my grandmother. So far, he has hurt every single one of them one way or another.
I will find a way to rid ourselves of him if he becomes too much of a problem. I draw the line when you start messing with my family.