Loving a Fantasy - Romantic Shorts

The Search for Love - III

Nikolai's feet barely touched the tarmac once he was down the small steps from the charter plane. The Alpha of the Kelly Pack had sent a car for him, refusing to send Violet herself. When Alpha Terrance had pressed him, Alpha Browning told him that there was a competing claim to Violet. That fact had nearly been enough to cause Nikolai to shift back to his lycan form and tear apart anyone in his path.

Now, as he jumped into the waiting vehicle, his claws descended. There had been humans on the charter and there was always the risk of more when one landed. In order to maintain the secrecy and protection of wolves and lycan alike, the packs and rogues had long ago come to an understanding. No one was to permit a human to see the change unless that human was mated to one of their kind.

Feeling his body turn, Nikolai stared out of the front of the car from his position in the back seat. The two wolves escorting him to the Kelly Pack were nervous. He could smell their anxiety on the air as his large humanoid form changed to his lycan, which was even more massive.

At seven-foot-tall and covered with evidence of battle, Nikolai's lycan was nothing to discount. The Gamma of the Kelly pack, Adam, swallowed hard as he looked back through the rear-view mirror and noted the change. Nikolai had such control of his shift that neither Adam nor Dani had any warning it was coming; one minute he was in human form and the next, he was a terrifyingly large lycan with murder in his golden eyes.

Alpha Terrance had warned Nikolai that the Beta of the Kelly Pack sought to call Violet his own. Apparently, the Beta had lost his mate a year prior. When it was discovered that Violet had gone through her heat within the Kelly Pack's dungeons, the Beta came to see her. No one believed her when she said she had a mate because she was not marked.

They believed her to be lying, that she was seeking to avoid a claim by the Beta rather than admit that her mate had died. Because the loss of a mate was enough to cause a wolf to go insane, it wasn't uncommon for those who'd been mated to seek out a second; a chosen. Alpha Browning was intending to permit his Beta to court Violet with the hopes that the two wolves would find solace and love with each other.

A growl ripped from Nikolai on the thought.

In the front seat, Adam and Dani exchanged a look. They knew what their Alpha and the Beta believed and it had certainly seemed the more likely scenario. After all, the rogue's statement that she had a mate whom she could feel but only recently communicate with, whom she hadn't even met, was preposterous. The whole pack had decided that the beautiful wolf had already started to slip into the mind-crushing despair that would alter her. They wanted Violet to survive just as they wanted their Beta to, so they ignored her claims of a non-existent mate.

With the miles eking away under the tires of the nondescript sedan, the Gamma and his second accepted the knowledge that they would not have a Beta for long. Violet had told Alpha Browning and Beta Anthony her story, but they'd disregarded it. By the time Alpha Terrance had called and confirmed it, it was too late. Beta Anthony's wolf had decided that Violet was to be his and Alpha Browning had been unwilling to deny his pack member.

Violet had no mark and no pack. As a result, Alpha Browning was under no obligation to consent to Alpha Terrance's request for her release. In order to secure her and ensure the two packs did not end in a war, a challenge had been set. Anthony and Nikolai were to meet Violet outside of the pack lands.

Because her story had been at least partially corroborated, the Kelly Pack would not interfere with Violet's choice. She would have the ability to claim Nikolai as her own. However, everyone knew what was going to happen. A lycan's mate had been kept captive because of the wrongful claim of a wolf – Nikolai and Anthony would certainly engage in a fight and, by the look of said lycan in the back of the Gamma's car, Anthony would not survive it.

As the vehicle slowed to a stop just inside an outcropping of trees, Nikolai flung himself out. He raised his head, scenting the air. There, over the next rise, was Violet.

Moving at speeds that were difficult for even the wolves near him to follow, Nikolai ran toward her. For three years, he'd been desolate with her pain. He'd known that she'd experienced some kind of trauma that had sparked her heat – a blessing in that it notified him that she existed after all, but a curse in that he couldn't console her.

As Nikolai crested the hill, a woman barely coming to five feet tall leapt into his arms. His form was too large to stagger under her weight, but he did nonetheless as the overwhelming realization of the end of his search struck him. The scent of fresh rain surrounding him as the sparks that he'd only felt echoes of burst everywhere her skin touched him.

"Violet," he rumbled, his arms securing her to him as her small legs wrapped around his waist. Her hair, long and black, flowed over his forearms as he bent his head and nuzzled into her.

"Nikolai," she responded, causing the small hairs on his arms to rise as his name crossed her lips.

"Release my mate," Anthony called, his voice dark with anger.

Nikolai stiffened and raised his head, keeping the small female wolf in his arms. What he saw caused him no concern, though there was a piece of Nikolai that felt pity for the Beta. Nikolai had lived for years believing he'd either never had a mate, or that she had perished before they'd had a chance to meet. While he didn't know the feeling of loss, therefore, he knew what it took to keep one's mind from fracturing without a mate. Beta Anthony, however, had succumbed.

The realization hit Alpha Browning at the same time that Nikolai's gaze met Anthony's. Browning closed his eyes in sorrow, knowing now that he'd been a fool. He'd so wished that his Beta had been right; that the little wolf was just on the edges of a loss and that she could be saved. Rather than Violet having suffered the mental break that came with a lost mate, it was his Beta. As the Alpha's eyes opened and he swallowed, he nodded.

Even without the physical advantage, there was no stronger incentive to a wolf or lycan than the protection of their mate or pups. Anthony's challenge would lead to his death. And there was no stopping it.

"A challenge has been issued," Alpha Browning called over the space, his voice laced with sadness.

"Nikolai Voltov," Browning continued. "Do you accept Beta Anthony's claim to Violet Montgomery, or will you accept the challenge?" The Alpha's wolf cried out for his friend in the back of his mind as Nikolai answered.

"I accept his challenge."