CHAPTER 273

CHAPTER 273
NICOLAI'S POV

The night passed by slowly with my eyes wide open and my head clouded with thoughts.

It felt amazing to have my mate and child in one place, with me. But I feared that the world would do everything it could to destroy the peace I'd found.

I looked at my mate's face, tracing the smile lines on them. Even in her sleep, she is still so perfect, laughing in her dreams. I could imagine her relief at no longer having to dream about me getting chewed to bits so I left her alone, she deserved every good dream there was.

I watched the clock tick, the day approaching quicker than I would like.

I couldn't find that confidence I had earlier, the one that convinced me I could stand before seasoned soldiers who had survived centuries of war and defended our species and tell them what to do.

Worse, I don't think they'd be particularly excited to come help me take care of a problem that I'm blamed for. Different worst possible scenarios passed through my head, all of them leaving me more agitated.

Xander made a squeak and I slowly extricated myself from Elly, making sure she didn't wake up. I went to get him, putting my fingers in his mouth and he immediately latched onto it, sucking ferociously.

I looked between him and her and it became all too clear.

It didn't matter who came with me or if anyone would.

This is my family and I had to undo the mistake I'd made by trusting Xavier. He took advantage of my insecurities, the dark place I'd sunk into after years of abuse and ridicule.

If my family were ever going to be happy and live without having to manage in a world with infinite resources and chances of happiness, I needed to do whatever it required.

‘I'd speak to the men, and if no one wanted to fight with me, I'll find a way around it by myself,’ I decided.

Xander's lips popped my finger out of his mouth, dozing off.

I lay him back in his cot before heading back to bed.

With two hours left till dawn, sleep finally caught up with me.



There was no hall big enough to contain every man of fighting ability so training was done in batches. Different halls lined the rest of the station, some of them bare and still showing the earth the entire place was dug out from.

I'd taken Xander and dropped him off with my mother before I went to join them myself.

I didn't want to be a hypocrite, asking my mate to forgive her parents while being suspicious of my own mother so I cleaned off every thought of her possible involvement in my predicament. I've not had time to actually sit with her since all of this began and I doubt there'd be time for that at the moment but I knew once all of this calmed down, I'll make her as happy as possible.

I walked into the training hall my mate's scent led me to.

“Nope,” the trainer shook his head the second he saw me, “go to the next room. We don't want distractions. Both of you are disgusting by the way!” He yelled behind me as I walked away with a laugh.

I turned back again and Elly’s eyes met mine, and I winked then revelled in the blush I brought to her face. That's when I noticed what she was doing.

Stretches that sent blood rushing towards me cock.

“You're still here?” The trainer yelled, snapping my attention back to the entire room watching me because a creep.

I zipped off immediately.

‘What a great first impression,’ I thought sarcastically, they're probably talking about me already.

Considering I needed to speak to them later, I feared I'd made a mistake.

So I decided to make up for it during training.

I went as hard as the General leading us for basic workouts.

I sparred as though my opponent was the cause of my problems and I went through every single training process without breaking a sweat.

I wanted to impress them, make myself worthy of their respect in any way possible.

After training, the Kings walked in just as everyone began preparing to leave.

“Nicolai,” King Reed called, “you have something to say, don't you?”

“Yes your Majesty,” I nodded.

“Everyone is aware of the situation and they can hear you from here so go ahead.”

My blood ran cold the second he was done speaking.

I'd prepared a speech, memorized every word and the perfect way to pronounce them but standing right there, every word I'd written seemed… wrong.

Someone coughed, jerking my attention back to the present.

“Good morning everyone,” I began, my voice carrying the anxiety that wrapped my form. “I know I don't need any introduction but I still want to reintroduce myself, not as the son of our enemy but as his victim just as much as every human he's held hostage. I'm Nicolai, I have spent the last fifty years preparing for a life in the shadows, but out of the blues, I received a mission that changed my life and the world as we know it.” I sighed, the blank faces staring back at me splintering my confidence into tiny pieces. “This man has taken the world you've all fought hard over the years to create and use destroying it every day. What's worse is he's not going to stop. Everyone can agree with me that he needs to be stopped. Their Royal Majesties want us to wait it out but I have a new idea. We've tested it and it works, I'm also working on other poisons that can turn the tide in our favour. I just need you guys to join me. We'll start by slowly reclaiming the small villages he's forced to pay him tributes and gradually we'll cut off his power source which is his army base. Then we will launch a full on direct attack. So… yea, I'll be grateful for every hand that decides to join, they've sanctioned the mission but won't force anyone to join me.”

I stepped back, my heartbeat ringing across the room and even a toddler could tell I was petrified.

“So let me get something straight,” a soldier stepped forward slowly, his eyes holding a dangerous smirk, “you killed a high level general, were arrested and somehow, you escaped. Then you and your accomplice disappear into some hole, resurrect our mortal enemy and unleash mayhem on the world. And when he turns against you, you suddenly remember us and want us to fight you against him?”

Murmurs erupted from the room as my hopes were dashed to pieces.