Chapter 19

“Tell me, Your Majesty, after what you just witnessed are you still willing to tell your son, the only heir to the throne, that he cannot marry his ulhi’maos? Are you really willing to lose your son to madness?” asked Zachary in a half growl, half whisper.

Marcus couldn’t move. All he could do was stare at his only son lying unconscious on the floor. He was still in complete shock over watching Xavier completely shifting into Wahani form and lunging at him as if he wanted to rip him apart. Instead, the men who’d restrained Xavier had suffered for it, especially Kegan, who was currently sitting in a chair letting the healer administer to the forearm Xavier had literally ripped apart.

Finally, realization sank in and Marcus closed his eyes. Zachary was right. They had all told him the truth. Xavier had no choice but to be with Nikki, even if she was a human. Sighing, he looked down at Xavier once more as tears stung his eyes. His stubbornness and prejudices had nearly cost him his son’s life. He just hoped he hadn’t gone too far.

Looking at Zachary, he swallowed the lump of grief in his throat, “Get my son to bed. I’ll go make the arrangements to bring his ulhi’maos here immediately. As soon as you can, meet me at the manufactory building and we will go get her.”

Zachary shook his head, “We don’t have to do that, Your Majesty. Nikki is already here. She should be in Xavier’s rooms visiting with the Queen and your daughter.”

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Nikki was listening as Devnet explained to her about all the events that would  be taking place on the day of Xavier’s birthday. She had told Nikki that the day would begin with the celebration of Xavier’s twentieth year, then that would be immediately followed by his coronation.

After that, there would be a break in which most people would be enjoying the festival that would have started at day break and would last until day break the following day. After midday meal, the wedding would begin and immediately after the wedding would be the gala held for the new King and Queen.

Devnet was just beginning to explain what went on during the gala, when Marcus entered the room, followed by Zachary, Jules, and three guards. The only one not attempting to carry Xavier’s lifeless body was Marcus. Instead, he had come in and immediately looked at Nikki with a very guilty look on his face.

The moment Nikki and Devnet realized it was Xavier whom the five men were carrying, they sprang to their feet. Devnet’s eyes snapped to her husband’s guilty face and although she had a hunch, she still heatedly whispered to Marcus, “What happened to my son?”

Marcus never looked at his wife, instead he watched as Nikki made her way to where the men were carrying Xavier towards the stairs. Zachary called a halt as Nikki leaned over and looked at him. Reaching up, she brushed a strand of hair from his face. As her eyes traveled the length of him, making sure he was still intact, a frown began to form on her face.

She looked up at Zachary and nodded, letting him know it was okay to take Xavier up to his room. As the men continued up the stairs with Xavier, Nikki turned around with the frown still on her face and faced Marcus.

“Let me guess. You tried to get him to take another woman as his bride, the two of you fought, and he lost it?”

Marcus lowered his head, “I’m sorry…I”

“You’re sorry!” growled Devnet.

“Yes! I had no idea.” he turned beseeching eyes on Nikki, “I thought they were making it up. My son has never been anything other than in control around me. There was never any hint at all that Xavier wasn’t okay.”

Nikki nodded, “And now?”

“Now, I know the truth.” he paused a moment before going on, “I’m just sorry that it had to come to this. That I had to see him change like that.” He swallowed his fear, “It took two shots to sedate him and six men to hold him down. Even then, the healer was about to administer a third shot when he finally went under. I don’t know if he’s going to wake up sane at this point.”

Devnet gasped, “Two shots! Od‘yia dimo, Marcus!”

Nikki looked in the direction of the stairs as she asked, “What exactly does the shot do?”

Devnet answered her, “It’s called ireca and works like a tranquilizer. A shot is given to any of our people who seem to be losing control to the wildness within. One shot is supposed to knock them out for a bit and when they wake up, the wildness should be contained. But Nikki, it’s taken two shots and even then it took a while for him to be sedated! So, we have no idea if he is going to be calm when he wakes up!”

Nikki nodded and turned her back to them as she continued to stare at the empty stairs. Sighing, she closed her eyes and said, “I’m going to go up and wait for him to wake. I’ll talk to him.”

Marcus and Devnet glanced at each other before Marcus took a step towards Nikki, “But we don’t even know if he’ll be himself when he wakes!”

Nikki turned back to look at Marcus and with a squaring of her jaw, she said, “That’s just a chance I’m going to have to take.”

As she started for the stairs, Marcus interjected, “Wait! Please!”

She shook her head, “No, I have to do this.”

Marcus nodded, “I understand, but maybe we should take some precautions.”

“Like?”

“Like we should have the men tie him to the bed so that he can’t harm you or himself. There should also be a healer on hand with more of the ireca on hand and…”

Nikki shook her head again, “No, no one will be in the room with us.”

Marcus frowned, “It’s too risky, Nikki.”

“I can handle him. I know he won’t hurt me.”

Marcus looked at his wife with a questioning glance. Devnet stared at Nikki for a moment before finally nodding to Marcus. “I think she’s right, Marcus. He’s always stopped himself from hurting her.”

Marcus closed his eyes and sighed, “Fine. You can go in alone.” Opening his eyes he continued, “But he will still be tied up and all of the men will be down here on alert with the ireca just in case you need us. All you have to do is scream and we’ll be there instantly. Understand?”

Nikki nodded, “I understand.”

Marcus led the way up the stairs into Xavier’s bedroom where all of the still were. Two of the guards had taken up posts at the door, while the third guard stood at the foot of the bed. Zachary and Jules were sitting on either side of Xavier on the bed.

As Marcus entered with Devnet and Nikki in tow, all of the men raised their heads towards them.

Marcus gave them the news, “Nikki is going to stay with him.”

Zachary stiffened, but before he could say anything Marcus continued, “Jules, I need you and Zach to secure the Prince to the bed.” He turned to the guard at the foot of the bed, “You go find a healer and tell him that I want him in the Prince’s living area on stand by with as many shots of ireca he can find. Accompany him back and stay with him. The rest of us will join you when the Prince is secured.”

The guard bowed and immediately left to do the King’s bidding. Zachary and Jules took the chains that the other two guards wore at their hips and used them to fasten Xavier’s wrists and ankles to the bed posts. They tested the hold of the chains and made sure Xavier wouldn’t be able to get out of them easily.

Zachary turned to the King and said, “These chains should hold against his extra strength, but he could end up hurting himself if he struggles too hard, Your Majesty.”

“I’ll make sure he won’t have that chance, Zach.” replied Nikki.

Zachary gave her a frown, clearly he didn’t like this at all, but even he could see the determined look on Nikki’s face. He finally gave her a quick bow and joined the others at the door.

Marcus looked at Nikki once more, “Remember, keep him tied up and if it gets to be too much, scream and we will come immediately.”

Nikki nodded, “I will.”

“Be careful, nu’halla.”

Nikki gave him a reassuring smile as he gave her arm a gentle squeeze. He walked to the door as Devnet gave Nikki a hug.

“I know you’ll reach him Nikki.” She pulled away to look in her eyes, “But please be careful. You can’t save Xavier if you don’t save yourself too.”

Nikki smiled, “I know Devnet. I know what I’m doing.”

Nikki stood there watching as they all filed out of the door. Zachary was the last one to exit. He turned around and gave her a silent look that told her he understood what she was doing. He gave her one final nod before he closed the door, leaving her completely alone with Xavier.

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Kristine sighed as she sat in the middle of her bed, hugging herself. She could hear her parents in the living room as their frantic voices reached her. They had managed to get a few of the members of their group together to search for Nikki. That had been over six hours ago.

When Amy and Felix had gotten home and found Kristine alone in her room crying and Nikki no where in sight, they had instantly gone on alert. As Amy asked Kristine where Nikki was, Felix had gone searching on the grounds for her. All Kristine had said was ‘she’s gone’ over and over again in between her sobs.

Her parents had assumed something bad had happened to Nikki since Kristine seemed to be somewhere between a state of shock and grief over the loss of her best friend. It wasn’t much of a stretch for them to assume that the Hell’s Angels had something to do with Nikki’s disappearance.

So, they had rounded up as many of the members as they could and organized a search party for Nikki. Still, six hours later they had not found a single clue as to where Nikki was. Not even the Hell’s Angels seemed to have Nikki since they had spent most of their time at a drive in diner making all kinds of ruckus.

As every member made their way back to the Dixon’s empty handed, Amy and Felix became more and more discouraged about ever finding Nikki. They had attempted to ask Kristine once more, but she had simply sat in the middle of her bed, with tears still sliding down her cheeks and whispered once more, “She’s gone.”

Kristine could hear them insisting that no one had looked hard enough, that somehow they had all missed some clues. They refused to believe that Nikki could have disappeared without a trace especially since their own daughter seemed to be acting as if she had witnessed something too horrible to get over.

Kristine closed her eyes as a wave of guilt ran through her. She knew she couldn’t tell them the truth. Granted, the only words she had said so far wasn’t a lie since Nikki was really gone, but she knew where Nikki was. She also knew Nikki was perfectly fine. But how could she tell her parents not to worry about Nikki? The words ‘Nikki went to another dimension to marry her ulhi’maos, her soul mate’ would definitely make her parents think she had finally lost it completely and commit her.

So, since her parents had come in to find her still crying over Nikki leaving with Xavier, she had simply let them think she was too upset to explain and had left it with ‘she’s gone.’ Thankfully her parents had taken that and ran with it. Now, Kristine wasn’t going to tell them the truth, but it didn’t prevent her from feeling guilty.

She could hear the others beginning to take their leave. All of them said they would continue to keep their eyes and ears open for any sign of Nikki. After they were gone, Kristine heard her mother once again tell her father that she still believed the Hell’s Angels took Nikki. Felix said he agreed, but there was still no tangible evidence that would make the others stand up and fight against the gang.

Kristine turned sad eyes towards the door when she heard it open. Her father stuck his head in and gave her a gentle smile, “Your mother and I are going to turn in for the night, Kris. You should try to get some sleep too, okay?”

Kristine nodded.

Felix came into the room and sat next to her, giving her a hug. “It’s going to be okay Kristine. I promise we’ll find her.” He hugged her tighter, “Do you need me to stay with you?”

She shook her head.

“You sure?”

“I’ll be okay, daddy.” she sniffed.

“Okay. Please try to get some sleep, sweetheart.”

“I will. Good night dad.” she said as her father went to the door.

“Night, Kris.” he replied, closing the door behind him.

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Zachary and Marcus stood at the very bottom of the stairs in similar stances. Both had their arms folded over their chests and stared up the stairs as if listening for the slightest sound. Devnet and the healer sat on one of the couches trying to appear relaxed while the three guards stood at attention near the entrance from the hallway. Jules was pacing from the guards to the stairs. All of them had been waiting in various states of unrest for the last three and a half hours.

Devnet sighed as she looked at her husband and Zachary, “I don’t think having the two of you standing there like that is going to make this happen any faster. I think we all know it may be a very long night.”

When neither one of them gave any indication that they had heard her, she raised her voice, “Marcus, Zachary! Sit down!”

Zachary immediately stiffened, but he grudgingly did as she said and sat down in a chair as close to the stairs as possible. Marcus on the other hand just looked at her over his shoulder and said, “Long night or not, I’ll never forgive myself if something happened to either one of them.”

No one said another word as they continued to wait.

It was almost an hour later when they heard the deafening roar descending down the stairs.

Instantly they were all on their feet. Zachary was already on the stairs when Marcus pulled him back, “Wait! We can’t go.”

Zachary growled, “What are you talking about!”

The King gritted his teeth, “I told Nikki we wouldn’t go up until she screamed.”

“He could be killing her!” protested Zachary.

Devnet shook her head, “No, Zachary. He isn’t. I trust Nikki. I know she can handle him. Marcus is right. If Nikki needs us, she won’t hesitate to call to us. I think he’s still tied up and is upset about that.”

Marcus nodded, “She’ll call to us if she needs us. We can’t interfere until Nikki asks or we could very well mess things up beyond repair.”

As several faint growls echoed down to them, Zachary tensed up for a moment, looking like he was ready to bolt up the stairs. But he finally conceded and allowed the King to pull him back into the living area as the growls faded away. Once more they all went back to their waiting.

Translations
ulhi'maos - soul mate
od'yia dimo - my god
ireca - calm/tranquility
nu'halla - little one