Konstantin: The Heartless Beta

Konstantin

"Are you okay?" Kai asks after I walk downstairs for a breather. I just went to check on Lily, but she was passed out with the babies.

I give him a tight smile as I enter the kitchen. “I'll learn to bear it, don't worry. I knew the consequences and would do it again in a heartbeat.” I say and take a bottle of beer from the refrigerator. I'll have to work through it, I know. This first time surprised me, but I'll be ready for it next time.

I think.

“Marle is busy contacting the blonde bitch so we can do the deal. Apparently, all she needs is a lock of the baby’s hair to create an image of it. The image will disappear as soon as the bitch runs away with what she wants.” Kai says, thankfully changing the subject.

"Do we trust the bitch not to come after us when she discovers she’s been fooled?” I ask, seeing a giant loophole in that plan.

Kai grins. “Leave it to me,” he says, then leans forward on the kitchen island. “Caterina touched the child by accident and saw her future alongside my daughter.”

I nearly drop the bottle when he says this. “Daughter?! You have a daughter?!” I ask, feeling ecstatic for my brother, my heart hammering at the proud smile on his face when he nods.

"Apparently so; Kira will rule fiercely with Kaia at her side. Or so Caterina's vision tells her.” He says, chuckling. “You named your daughter after me, by the way.”

"Yeah, as if you need a bigger head,” I roll my eyes and grumble when he slaps me on my back This feels nice, just laughing and shooting the shit. I know that it won't last and that we have a significant problem to sort out, but we need this laugh for now.

"We've got a lot of shit to sort out after this,” Kai says, downing the last bit of his whiskey and looking pensive.

"Yeah," is all I answer, knowing that the list of shit we needed to sort out is growing by the fucking day. What can you do? Kai's the leader, and I'm his Beta; people are depending on us.

We both look to the door when Marle walks in, and she nods her head when she sees me. “Once you have a lock of the child's hair, come meet me in the living room.” She says, then walks out again.

I down my last bit of beer and let out a sigh. “I'll be right back,” I tell my brother, then plod back up the stairs. Fuck, I hope this works. After everything we've been through, it's the least we deserve. Walking past the room Nikolai is currently passed out in, I hear him growling and talking to himself in there. Already on edge, I walk towards the door and open it... but something feels off, especially when I walk towards the bed and see his eyes are wide open and rolled back in his head.

/“Kai, get your ass to Nikolai's room with Marle!"/ I call my brother over the link when something fucked up comes to mind.

A few seconds later, they walk into the room looking utterly confused. I point to my little brother. "He was with the blonde cunt for a long time; would she have added a mind-controlling parasite as well?” I ask.

Marle's eyes widen at the mention of this, and she rushes towards the bed, placing her hands on Nikolai's head and speaking softly - just like she did to Dimitri earlier on. She stops chanting, and her head snaps to us with a look of dismay crossing her eyes.

“There's one in here,” she whispers, then without another word, she proceeds to chant in a different tongue and both me and Kai watch as our little brother thrashes around while his body tries to fight off the spell.

I don't know what made me think of this, but I think if we left Nikolai like this with the parasite in him, that bitch would have ordered him to take my daughter just like she did with Dimitri.

Marle then stops her chanting and lifts up her hand from Nikolai's forehead, pulling out a wiggling slug-like wisp out of him. The thing gives a screech then evaporates into a cloud of green smoke. Before we can breathe easy, Nikolai jumps up from the bed and screams, falling to the floor and calling out to Kai.

My brother runs to him and takes our little brother's face in his hands. “Shhh, Nikolai, I'm here; you're safe. It's okay,” he murmurs, watching as Nikolai comes down from whatever nightmare he was trapped in. He blinks while trying to control his breathing and frowns.

"Kai? How... How am I here?” he mumbles, looking around the room. “How... Did you save me?! Did you finally come for me?!” He asks, sobbing as Kai wraps his arms around him. I blanch at my little brother's words and get down on my haunches

"What was the last thing you remember, Nikolai?” I ask, giving Kai an odd look when he lets go of our brother.

He frowns. “Uhm... Lily waking me up while they tied her to the black slab? I don't... don't remember much after the blonde woman stuck that dagger in my side.” He says, looking at his hands, then back up at us. “Did you guys come after?”

I sit with my ass on the floor, pulling my knees up and resting my elbows on them. “We did, yeah. It also looks like you were being controlled by the same type of parasite that had been controlling Dimitri for the last twelve years.” I say, then sigh and pinch the bridge of my nose.

"What? That's bullshit! Controlling Dimitri? What...” Nikolai trails off and shakes his head. “What the fuck happened?”

"A lot of fucking things happened these last six months, little brother; we'll tell you about them later. For now, I need to ask you something: do you remember Nova?" I ask, watching as Kai's jaw clenches when he’s guessing where I'm going with this.

If that thing has been controlling Nikolai since we rescued him, then it wasn't him who rejected Nova. I thought it sounded strange for him to say those ugly things to her, but I didn't think anything of it at the time because he had been through a lot and possibly needed some space. Nikolai shakes his head at my question. “No? I don't think so. It sounds familiar-"

“Nova was your mate. She came to New York all the way from Seattle to look for you, and that parasite made you reject her this evening.” I say, watching as a dumbfounded expression crosses his face, then I get up from the floor. “We'll fill you in on the way downstairs.”

Nikolai still had the same look on his face when I left his room for mine, and I wonder what the hell must be going through his mind knowing he rejected his one true mate.

"Hey, you're awake,” I whisper when I walk into the bedroom and see Lily stir. She smiles when she sees me, causing my heart to pound at the sight of her. God, she’s beautiful, even while looking so exhausted, and she’s all mine.

“Yeah, I wake up periodically to check on them; it must be a new mom thing.” She says, then beckons me over.

I sit down on the bed next to her, and she wraps her arms around my neck, holding me close. Her lavender scent caused my entire body to relax in her embrace.

“I've missed you so much, Konstantin. I don't know how I went by all these years without letting you know that I'm in love with you. When all of this is over, I'm not letting a day go by without telling you how much I love you.” She says, breathing in my scent.

The smile on my face felt like it could stretch for miles, and right then and there, everything felt worth it. This pain I am silently suffering is worth all of this.

“I don't think anything I say can top that,” I chuckle, then let go of her, cupping her chin and watching as she moulds into my touch. “I love you so fucking much, and I am never letting go again.”

A tear slips out of the corner of her eye, and she nods. “But before we can relax, there is something you need to know.”

Her eyes shoot open at my words, and she looks at me intently as I start to tell her what we are planning. She nods, then looks down at our sleeping daughter and removes a lock of her dark curls with a sharp claw. “There,” she says, then lays back down with the babies.

I get up and kiss her forehead. “I'll be back before you know it; I love you.”

“I love you too,” she says with a sleepy smile before her eyes close again.

Damn, I would give anything just to stay here and watch them sleep, but I know that I can't do that right now. My brother needs me to be there for him just like he was for me.

I walk downstairs again and hand Marle the lock of baby hair. “Let's get this over with,” I growl, then sit down on the couch with my eyes trained on her while she performs the spell.

If this doesn't work, then I don’t know what will. Kai's daughter has been gone for over five hours - anything could have fucking happened in that time. I don't think I need to remind him of that, though. I'm sure he’s well aware of the danger she’s in.

Caterina joins us and walks towards Kai with her arms crossed. To think only a few hours ago she gave birth to her firstborn, only for it to be ripped out of her arms by someone she trusted. Not only that, but Kai wasn't even here during the birth... that must be eating him up inside.

“It's done,” Marle declares twenty minutes later, and when she turns to face us, she’s holding the projected image of my baby in her arms. “Let's go.”

It's time to meet the blonde bitch.