Chapter 127: (Epilogue, next chapter is the new book)

Third Person point of View:

“Killian, he is still your beta…”

“No one touches what is mine and gets away with it, Eleanor.” Killian said, stopping his mate. Her eyes widened at the hardness of his tone, knowing that the man that he was referring to was his beta. The fact that he had tried kissing her was something that she did not understand; but right now, she knew that she shouldn’t be asking her Alpha for mercy when he saw what happened.

“Killian, please…”

“Go to our room, Eleanor. I do not want you seeing this,” He said, stopping her. She looked at Vladimir for a second, her chest aching, but the man looked calm. Despite the beating that he got and the blood, he didn’t seem to be worried or frightened, if anything, it was as if this was something that he wanted to do all along. And even that surprised her. The man that she considered as nothing more than a brother, a man who was her mate’s best friend; she couldn’t understand how things came to be the way that they were.

“Eleanor?” Natasha asked, shaking her head in question the second that she walked out. It was one bullet that was fired, and the smell of blood filled both their nostrils. Natasha frowned and wrapped her arms around her friend, the woman who has become her only family, blood even, after losing everyone that she held dear. “It is going to be okay. You know that treason is not accepted in this family, and you know that we all have to mourn when we’ve lost those who we held dear to our hearts.” 

Eleanor nodded, hearing her mate walking up from the basement. He looked at Viktor, who stood by the door, based on his order, and Eleanor couldn’t help but find herself avoiding her mate’s eyes. In her mind, she knew that had things not escalated the way that they did, maybe Vladimir wouldn’t have faced the fate that he got.

“Get him out of here,” Killian said, looking at the man. “And I want this mess cleaned up. As for you, Eleanor, I do not want to hear a word about this situation. What happened today was going to prove to the world that there isn’t a single soul in this world that would hurt my mate or my family, and would get away with it.”

Lena, who walked toward the basement hall, looked at him for a second, and sharing a glance, Eleanor knew that she wouldn’t be able to look at the woman. Hell, her own son just died right now, she didn’t know how she was going to face her knowing that he was killed for her sake. 

“I trust that you didn’t come to yell at me, Aunt Lena,” he said, and she shook her head. Her anger was one that Eleanor read in the woman’s eyes, and taking a deep breath as she looked at the man. Lyov wrapped an arm around her, pulling her closer to him, and she forced herself to look away from the two of them. 

The man who took her in as a daughter was the last person that she was going to want to face in such a situation. She knew that he was her mother’s friend, and rather than valuing that friendship and at least, choosing to respect that he was his only son, she knew that he had lost him because of her.

“I do believe that you value me as an aunt,” Lena said, her tone cold and void of emotions. “And while you chose not to explain anything to me. And while I am forced to deal with this pain, I have one request to make of you.”

“And that is, Lena?” Killian asked, his tone as cold as hers was. If anything, Eleanor was surprised by it, knowing that he usually didn’t use such a tone on the woman. She had raised him alongside his mother, and Eleanor knew that it was the reason why he valued her a lot. 

“My son is to be buried where I was born.” She said, and Killian raised an eyebrow. “I do not want such a scandal to be held against him, and if you do not want him to have your last name, then I will give him my older one.”

“Aunt Lena…”

“I sent word to Konstantin,” she said, stopping him. And for a second, Eleanor caught a shift in her mate’s eyes before they hardened again. “He is coming and I want my son’s body to be sent with him. He should be here in the next few hours, and if you do not want me to leave to never return, and if you do not want me to regret every night that I spent feeding, looking after, and tending to you; then his body is to be sent with my brother for a proper burial, and what happened here today will be dying here.”

She looked at Eleanor for a second, and Eleanor nodded, knowing that she didn’t want to break the woman anymore than she already was. Her heart raced, and for a second, Eleanor believed that Killian was going to reject her request. However, to her surprise, Killian nodded, his eyes meeting hers, and the woman raised an eyebrow at him, waiting for what he was going to say.

“We will have his body prepared for your brother to take him to Russia.” He said, his tone cold, frightening, and for a second, Eleanor believed that things could and might backfire in a way that she wasn’t going to like. “As for the scandal, as you requested, it dies in this house; but it is going to be a reminder to anyone who dares hurt my family. And the last name, I will choose to keep his. For the old days that the two of us had, he can keep the last name.”

Lena nodded, and Killian took a step forward, walking past her before looking at her over his shoulder.

“You can deliver my salutations to Konstantin,” he said, calmly. “I am guessing that he will be treating nephew fairly…”