Vladimira's P.O.V
Winters in Russia were beyond cold. The day of my coronation had to be the coldest day of the year.
My slim figure shivered despite the multiple layers of my dress and the royal cloak resting atop my shoulders. The sleeves of my dress don't help alleviate any of my shivering.
Beyond the large, wooden double doors I could hear the chatter of werewolves who are exited to see their king finally fill the empty space that's supposed to hold a queen.
"I'm nervous," I admit to Nadia. "What if I mess up my lines?" I ask fearfully.
Nadia laughs softly as she spreads out the bottom of my dress. Her short hair swishes in front of her face, but she doesn't seem to care. "You'll be fine, Your Majesty. The kingdom has loved you ever since your birth. Your father knows you can do this," She soothes me.
Taking in a deep breath, I close my eyes and remind myself that's she's right. When I open my eyes, Nadia's holding the chalice that will hold my father and I's blood.
"It's time, Princess Vladimira," One of the two guards informed me.
I nod before turning towards the two double doors. My heartbeat speeds up rapidly when the guards open the doors slowly to reveal a room full of people and my father standing in front of the two thrones.
A long red carpet is what lies between my father and I. All I have to do is walk without tripping.
Gripping the chalice, I straighten my back and begin to take long, slow strides towards my father. The guards that had opened the doors for me are now flanking me.
Not once during my walk do I take my eyes away from my father's. Love and pride shines in his bright, blue eyes.
He should be proud. I've trained for 40 years so I can be the queen of the werewolf kingdom. I've learned concepts that seem unimportant to being a queen. I've learned concepts that are important to being a queen.
At the end of today, there's going to be one concept that everyone understands: I've worked hard for this, and I deserve this.
The sound of a frustrated scream jolts me out of my mid-day doze. I look to my right to see my mother glaring at a soldier with her arms locked tightly around my father.
"I'm not leaving them! Wherever they go, I go," She yells at him angrily.
If it weren't for the murderous look in my father's eyes, I'm sure the guard would have laughed and continued on with his previous task, but the guard pulls a walkie-talkie out of his back pocket.
"Nikolai, she refuses to leave him," He says stiffly.
Confusion fills me when an animalistic sound comes through the walkie-talkie, and Nikolai's voice growls, "Can you follow orders? I said take them all to the same room. Do I need to hold your hand through this simple process?"
The guard swallows harshly. "No sir," He says before motioning to two other guards.
A man comes up behind me and cuts my restraints. I contemplate attacking him until I remember my baby. He's somewhere in this building being used against us.
Another man unlocks the chains around my father's legs just to use those same chains to rebound his arms behind his back.
"We're taking you to a room. Nikolai will let you stay together as long as you three don't cause any problems," The man says.
I resist the urge to hiss when one of the men put their hand on my shoulder and leads me out of the room. My parents are in front of me, their bodies pushed closely together.
They're inseparable, and that's how mates are supposed to be. Leaving one another feels like a piece of you is being ripped out.
How will the kingdom react when they see that my mother is back? How will she react when she realizes that she has missed over three hundred years of history? How will my father change?
All these questions have been floating around in my mind since my grandmother left earlier. She had said she was going to talk to Jared—more like give him a hint since she can't play too much into what happens on earth—so our pack can find us before tomorrow night. With that piece of information, I'm assuming that she's also going to tell them about their resurrected queen, Saffron Delyth.
The gruff voice of the guard beside me makes me wince. "Here we are. Don't cause any trouble."
Before I can yell at them to bring me my son, the door is closing behind me, and I'm left to take in the room that's surprisingly nice.
In the center of the room lies a small, circular table, and there's three trays of food on it. For the first time ever, there's food that is actually digestible. It makes my stomach rumble in hunger.
Three beds rest on three different walls of the room, but I have a feeling only two of the beds are going to be used. My parents wouldn't dare sleep in separate beds.
Two windows are on the back wall but they're bolted and caged from the outside. There's a book shelf, and to the right of the book shelf is a bathroom.The floor of the room is white marble—oddly, it's cleaned to perfection.
Why would Nikolai allow us to stay together, have nutritional food, and have a nice room?
Unless he's trying to get on our good sides. He probably thinks that by doing this, we'll allow him back into the family.
Highly unlikely.
My mother stares at the food before looking away. Her arms are still locked around my father tightly, and worry is clear in her eyes. "I'm not that hungry," She mutters.
The look that my father gives her shows how overprotective he's going to be. He won't let her out of his sight, and he sure as hell isn't going to let her starve. If anything, he'll use his magic to protect her.
My mother sees his expression and frowns. "I came back from the dead, Dmitri! My stomach is... uneasy," She says with sass.
I hold my breath as she stares at him defiantly.
Stop back talking to The Alpha King, Mother! You'll piss off Xavier, and I don't want you to experience his wrath!
The breath I'm holding leaves me when my father smiles down at her, his eyes bright with happiness.
"At least try to eat, Saff," He urges lovingly as he pulls her closer to him.
What?
She just talked back to The Alpha King, and she didn't get snapped at? She just stared at him defiantly, and she didn't get a death threat? She got a smile?
Is this what the mate bond does? Does it really make you fall so deeply in love that you suddenly grow another personality? Does it really make you want to die a thousand deaths for that one person?
Judging from the look in my father's eyes, I say the answer is yes to every single one of those questions.
Yet, I can't be upset that my father is getting something that I deserve after all the bullshit he has put me through. There's more pros than cons.
For one, my mother will soothe my father and Xavier. They won't be as rowdy, and they'll most definitely be more pleasant. Also, I'll get to see my father smile because it's not something that I see often. Most importantly, I finally have a mother.
What will it be like? Will we shop together? Talk about our problems together? Cry together? Smile together?
It's all so exciting! I've been granted a new chapter in my life, and I'm not going to let anyone ruin it.
••
My mother smiles. "He has a total soft spot for flowers." Her eyes connect with my father's despite the statement being directed at me.
He stares back at her with a frown on his face, but I can see that, within his eyes, he couldn't be happier.
I can't the help the laugh that escapes me. "What?"
My parents are laying on a bed together. Their limbs are tangled together, but they don't seem to mind how close they are. For the past hour, they've been caressing and cuddling with each other, their laughter ringing out in the room occasionally.
I've been laying on another bed, listening to their laughter.
"Xavier," My mother clarifies, "he has a total soft spot for flowers." Her laughter rings out again, leaving a joyful air in the room.
Once again, I'm left shocked because Saffron Delyth just made a jab at Xavier's masculinity, and she got a smile.
The deep voice that belongs to Xavier answers her. "If that's what you want to believe, Moya Golubushka." He laughs gracefully.
'Did Xavier just laugh non-sadistically?' Greer asks in mock shock.
I fake gasp. 'We just keep getting more and more surprises, huh?' I ask jokingly.
Greer laughs softly in response.
My mother suddenly stops laughing and turns to me, her brown eyes serious. "Vladimira, you have a son," She says, shocked.
Another laugh escapes me. "Yes, I do. His name is Aaron, and he's barely a month old," I reveal.
Her eyes light up with love and excitement. "I'm a grandma!" She rhapsodizes.
My father and I both laugh.
She's going to be an amazing grandmother, and I already know she's going to be an amazing mother. I don't care if I'm past the age of needing parental guidance. The number one thing I wanted in life was a mother, and now I have one.
Cautiously, I clasp my hands together. "How'd you come back?" I ask.
The frown that decorates my mother's face tells me that it was a tedious process. She might have nightmares about this place, about Nikolai.
"Nikolai used magic," She begins, "and when I came to, I was confused, in pain, nauseous, and dirty. For a considerable amount of days, I was throwing-up blood and dirt. It wasn't pretty.
"I'm still confused because so much has changed and nobody has explained it to me." My mother frowns.
I sit up slowly and move to the edge of the bed. "Yes, a lot has changed, but we'll catch you up. It will take some time but it will happen."
My father sighs before running his hand over his mate's small arm. "Don't worry. Nikolai won't touch a single spot on your body ever again. Nobody here will for that matter," He promises.
Shakily, my mother releases a sigh and shimmies closer to my father. Her eyes examine me, but unlike the other times, her brown eyes land on the necklace that's concealed slightly by my clothing.
"My necklace," is all she says.
I immediately reach behind me, so I can unclasp the necklace, but my mother shakes her head.
"Keep it. I want you to have it." She smiles.
My father looks at his mate with adoration and love.
It weird seeing him act this way. I don't know if I should be grossed out by the sight of my parent being affectionate or if I should be grateful. Once that thought comes to my mind, I can't wipe the smile that appears on my face off.
I finally get some sort of normalcy. Considering that I'm a royal, having a normal life was never going to happen, on top of that, I was raised by a single father. But I still have hope for a normal life.
I have a precious son with a man I'm slowly falling in love with. I have a very complicated father that is most likely going to change rapidly over the next few months. I have a mother who is fits right in with all this chaos despite being dead for over three-hundred years.
When I got pregnant with Aaron, I wanted another life, another family, but now, I couldn't be happier and more excited for the future.