The Lycan King novel Chapter 46

Avalyn

"I wish I could do something to help him." I whispered.

We were sitting in the infirmary by Mikhail's side. His entire neck and shoulder has turned black and is decaying. He smelt of death already and he hadn't opened his eyes since yesterday night. His heart was beating normally but Grace said that he would suffer for a couple of more weeks before he would die.

"Let's see what we find in Mozog." Nikolai murmured.

We can't let him die. Mikhail was our brother.

I vow to find something to help him. He was out there because of me. He is hurt because of me.

"Let's go." Nik held my hand and stood up. Following his lead, I stood up too and left with a last glance at Mikhail.

Nikolai was hurt. I could feel it through the bond. But he was staying strong for all of us. Didn't he know he didn't have to pretend in front of me?

"Are your bags packed?" He asked me.

"Yes. April helped me." I murmured.

"Good." He said as he took both our bags and carried them out to the car.

Today was the day we were going to Mozog with Sofiya and Vladimir. Andrei was staying back to look after the pack and Mikhail.

Rhazien, along with his mate and the other vampires had left the day before for preparations. Preparations for what? I don't know.

After a two hour drive, we reached the airport and boarded a private flight. During the flight, Nik and Vladimir worked while Sofiya and I spent our last hours together.

I was going to miss her dearly. She was my first friend and I don't think I can ever get used to her not being at home with me.

We talked about any and everything before Nik called us back and told us to take our seats because we were about to land.

Mozog as a total of six hours away from our pack, including road and air travel. It was going to be difficult to visit often but I'm sure we will manage it.

The first thing I noticed when we reached that the Kingdom of Mozog was perched up on a mountain. And on the very top of it was a castle.

It looked very small from were we were standing right now but I was sure it's going to humongous.

It was out-of-the-world beautiful. A lush layer of green coated the mountain and I could see the roofs of the houses in between. I now understand why Vladimir missed his home so much.

"It's so beautiful." I said as I looked out of the window from the car. We were climbing the mountain and Vladimir told us that we would reach in an half an hour.

"You should see the palace. You will love it." Sofiya was amused at my amazement.

"Can't wait." I smiled.

I hadn't been in the mountains since I was in Montana Pack. But then again, I didn't really leave the house so much.

The world was too beautiful to stay in one place. I wanted to see so many places and visit a lot of countries with Nik.

The density of houses increased and I knew we were in the main city. As we passed houses, their sizes kept increasing, indicating the growing wealth of people as we reached nearer to the palace.

A blank mask was in the place of Nik and Vladimir's faces. I wondered what they were thinking about. Nik's link was closed and I had no idea what he was feeling.

Slowly, we entered the gates of the palace. It was made out of white marble and real gold. Guards were stationed at specific points, bowing as our car passed from near them.

Another gate appeared and the driver stopped the car in front of it.

Two men stepped forward and opened doors from both the sides. Nik and I slid out from one door and Vladimir and Sofiya from the other.

"Do not react to the slaves. You will ignore them."?Nik mind-linked me.

Slaves?

What was he talking about?

All I could see was happy and welcoming people standing, waiting for us to come in.

When we stepped in through the gate I saw more people. The path for us was clear to the doors of the palace by the guards who held the people back.

Nik extended his arm and I took it.

He led us through down the carpet as the people bowed down in front of us. Vladimir and Sofiya walked just behind us.

We climbed up the marble steps of the castle and entered through the gold doors.

My pace slowed as I took in the interior.

The word 'beautiful' wasn't enough to capture the essence of this palace. Tall marble pillars intricately carved with gold supported the palace.

It was surreal.

The sides of the passage was bordered with water and different types of flowers floated on it, releasing a sweet fragrance.

Four armed and armoured guards surrounded, forming a square around us. They led us through the palace and through another set of doors.

They let us enter through the doors while they stood outside, guarding it.

Vladimir closed the doors behind us and just like that, we were left alone. We were in a huge room which looked like the royal version of a living room. Everything here screamed expensive.

"You were right." I smiled at Sofiya. "This palace is beautiful."

"I knew you would love it." She grinned.

"You are very lucky to grow up here." I smiled at Vladimir.

"Thank you, Avalyn." He smiled but he still had a far away look in his eye.

"What happened?" Sofiya asked him, catching his hand in her own.

"Nothing." He told her and then looked at us. "This the royal family quarters. The safest place in the palace. It is impenetrable. You don't need to be concerned about your safety once you are here." He informed. "You should take the king's room." He told Nikolai who nodded. "It's the door straight down the corridor."

"And you?" I asked him.

"I'll stay in my old room." He said.

Of course. That was a stupid question.

"The coronation ceremony is in two hours. Meet us here in the living room." He told us before leaving with Sofiya.

We both made our way to the room Vladimir directed us to.

Nik opened the double doors for us and we walked in.

This room was easily more than five times our room back in the pack. It was a mix of classic royal and modern interior. It had its own dining area, coffee table and seats, a television area and a fire place. I located a huge balcony and a sitting area there too.

Then I smelled humans. Frowning I turned around and gasped. Along the wall besides the door kneeled eight slaves. On the door's left kneels four female and four male were on its right. Each of them wore collars and had gold chains attached to them. The chains ended in a leather loop to hold and they were placed on hooks on the walls on shoulder level.?

I jumped when I felt a hand on my shoulder.

It's just Nikolai.

I tried to calm my wildly beating heart.

"It's okay." He kissed my forehead. "It's a custom all vampires are following since the dawn of time."

"It's wrong." A tear trailed down my cheek.

Eight lives. For what? For doing things I can easily do on my own.

"Avalyn." Master said quietly. "I told you to not react to them. To ignore them."

My eyes lowered at the thought of not doing was told. "But—"

"There are somethings you will not understand. But people believe in this since thousands of years. Let it go, alright?" He put a lock of my hair behind my ear.

I sought warmth in his arms and hugged him. His arms came around me and rubbed my back. "We need to start getting ready or else we will get late." He murmured.

I nodded and let him go.

He extended his hand in the direction of the slaves. All of them stood up from their position, took off their leash from their hooks and one by one placed them in the palm of Nik's hand who held them in his fist. They kneeled again.

He took my hand in his free hand and led me to a door, all the slaves following us. It turned out to be the bathroom for a lack of better word. It was just as big as the bedroom and had two sinks, one large shower area and two swimming pools. One was filled with milk with rose petals floating on top and the other one was normal water with epsom salt in it. There were seats and couches to sit too.

"Stand up. Take off your leash and place it by the door." Nik ordered. The slaves stood up and then took their leashes off and placed them by the door in a pile.

"Undress us." He ordered and my eyes widened.

Two males began undressing Nik who couldn't care less. He was confident proud of his body as opposed to me who was feeling very shy about anyone else seeing me naked so closely and intimately.

But Nik's gaze captured me, rooting me to my place as two females undid my dress and slid it down my body. Then my bra and panties were next. Fire spread in his gaze as he looked at me being undress. His nostrils flared as he smelled my arousal.

"You like being pampered." He whispered in amazement as he grasped my hand and took me to the milk pool. It had steps inside so we went in easily. The milk was warm and felt nice against my skin.

Blush rose on my skin.

We stood facing each other in the milk but there was a distance between us I didn't like. I wanted to close the distance but I didn't, waiting for Nik to make a move.