Forged in the Flames by Karima Sa'ad Usman

Nikolas POV

I spent the entire day with my mother and Aliana. Nothing seemed more important than being there,

watching how Aliana cared for my mother and comforted her.

Aliana was good at caring for people, and I could understand why she easily wore the Luna shoes.

There were awkward moments between us, but we let them pass quickly, and she did an excellent job

of masking her emotion One thing I was certain about was that she genuinely cared for my mother’s

well-being, which just showed she was kind hearted. I wondered how she might have been Gabriel’s

daughter. Her mother must have had a heart of gold.

Once it was evening and we had fed my mother, I left her to attend to pack matters in my office.

Getting there, Delta Grant and Gamma Ingham were fuming.

I could tell they were angry, but their rage must have been insignificant because Qusack was in high

spirits.

“And you finally grace us with your presence after blocking us out all day,” Qusack said with a knowing

look on his face. They were all sitting on the couch in the office.

“I got to feed and spend time with my mother for the first time in a long time,” I said and sat on my chair.

Ingham leaned forward, and so did Grant too, and their faces looked concerned and angry. They might

have tried to mask it from fear but were doing a horrible job at it. “You mean you got to spend time with

your slave w*ho*re,” Ingham said, and I looked at him. I did not know why I felt rage, but he had

crossed the line there.

“What, Alpha? Do you think we do not know? Do you think we do not see it? You always stare at her,

you no longer want to party or have fun. It is almost as if she has bewitched you, but you would argue it

isn’t the case since only Lycans possess special abilities, but just look at how low you have descended.

There are many beautiful, sophisticated Lycan women you can spend your time with, you choose to

spend it with a slave w*ho*re, the daughter of the man that turned your mother into that, killed your

father and stole his kingdom. Have you lost sight of your goal?” Gamma Ingham said, and I was

tongue-tied from rage and confusion. “You are losing yourself, your highness. Yesterday I heard you

decided to start paying those things wages, and you reduced their workload, you also prohibited our

men from disciplining them. I know it is because of that b*itc*h. How can you let yourself lose sight of

your mission.”

“This is the time to take a lycan Luna from a prestigious family and apply for Kingship, instead, you are

having private dates with a w*ho*re and skipping your duties,” Delta Grant said, and I banged my hand

on the table. Bane was enraged.

“Do not forget who you are speaking to,” I warned them sternly, and they fell back and bowed their

head.

“Calm down, Niko. They would not repeat themselves again. I had warned them they would be

overstepping. Tell me how the queen is,” Qusack asked me, and I got up.

They had really pissed me off, so I wasn’t in the mood to discuss anything with them again. “Where are

you going?” Qusack asked me.

“To sleep. We will revisit this tomorrow, and subsequently, my evenings will be occupied. I will spend it

with my mother,” I said, looking at Ingham and Grant, then left the room.

Everything they said to me struck a nerve, and I did not know if they were right about me losing sight of

our mission or not. I just showed Aliana some kindness and kept my word.

How is keeping my word weakness?

I do not play cheap tricks on people and will never give what I can’t. Ingham and Grant had

overstepped with me, but I also needed to watch how I behaved in public where Aliana was concerned

because I was sl*ipping up, which might cause them to question my resolve.

I showered and decided to go to bed early.

I felt uncomfortable, and Aliana not being with me meant I would have a terrible night. I looked forward

to holding her, but after what Grant and Ingham had said, it kind of snapped me back to reality and

helped me draw the line again.

After tossing and turning most of the night, I sat up in bed and thought of what had happened to my

mother.

FLASHBACK TO WHEN NIKOLAS WAS TEN_ YEARS-OLD

My mother and I moved through the woods. We had been hunting a deer all morning and knew we

would get lucky soon. During our hunt, she would stop and ask me to go ahead.

As much as she tried to hide it, I knew what was happening.

Her sanity was sl*ipping, and she was trying all she could to hold on to it.

Normally she would chain herself to a tree by our cave so the episode could come and pass. There

were times it would take a few hours, and sometimes it would take days.

The last one she had, lasted a week. We knew the day would come when she might not regain her

sanity again, and I dreaded it I was just ten years old, and I had no wolf. I just needed her to hold on a

little longer until I got my wolf.

Then, I could be her Alpha, and she would have a pack.

She would no longer be a rogue, and her sanity would be safe.

My mother had cared for me in the woods all my life. She told me of my father, a powerful Lycan king

who was betrayed by some of his subjects, the werewolves. They had teamed up to take over his

kingdom.

My father was a kind king. Even though Werewolves were inferior to Lycans, he treated them nicely. My

father was kind and accommodating, unlike the other two kings, who put them in their place by taking

away their freedom.

Little did he know that would be the death of him.

My mother said she had warned him considerably, but he refused to listen, always looking for a bright

angle.

One day the Werewolves teamed up, led by the treacherous Gabriel Nowak. They poisoned my

father’s officers and his loyal Lycan subjects and took over his kingdom.

They killed him and would have killed my mother even though she was pregnant with me. She had to

escape to ensure that I survived. She had been on her own ever since. She roamed the woods hiding

from werewolves that were hunting her and Lycans that believed my father was a traitor for

accommodating werewolves.

She could not go to the other Kings because they also believed my father was a traitor for allowing

werewolves to have freedom, so we were on our own.

She had held on to her sanity to train and protect me.

My mother had taught me how to defend myself and what to do when I saw rogues.

She ensured we were fed, and even though we had to move occasionally, she ensured we had a roof

over our heads. She also ensured I could read and write because she dreamed that I would recover all

that was stolen from my family one day. I would take back my father’s kingdom and avenge his death.

Every day from age four, she would make me promise that her sacrifice would not be in vain. I did not

only make the promise to please her, but I did so because it was the right thing to do. When I turned

seven, she began battling her sanity, which scared me.

“If I ever lose it and I do not regain my senses, promise me, you will put me down, Nikolas,” She would

say every time she returned to her senses. It was a promise I had refused to make no matter how

many times she had asked. “Do not let me kill you, Niko. A feral wolf is an empty shell of its old self, it

knows and loves no one. All it wants to do is harm and kill. Do not leave me at the mercy of Lycan

hunters, do not leave me at the mercy of the unknown. I want you to hold me with the chains and stab

my heart with the silver blade,” she instructed me. She had kept the blade in our cave and sharpened it

every fourth night to make it easier to use.

I was only seven.

It was too much for a child to bear, too much for me to process, and too much to handle.

I would nod so she would drop the topic, but I knew I could not do it.

Three years down the line, she sl*ipped in and out of sanity often, every time it was about to happen,

she would chain herself with silver to a tree so she could not shift, and that would make her an easy kill

for me, but today we were a bit far from our cave, so I wondered what would happen.

“We will soon catch the deer,” My mother said, trying to cover her struggle, but I knew.

“Let’s go back, momma, we can always hunt some other time. I will settle for potatoes and mushrooms

today. They are tasty,” I said, wanting to discourage her from hunting the deer because I knew she was

doing it for me. She wanted me to have meat, but I did not want her to lose her mind out here.

“Just a little while longer, Niko, and we will head back,” she said, shifting into her wolf.

We were lycans, so unlike the weres, we could stand on our hind legs and use our arms. She pounced

on a deer and used her jaws to break its neck. The sound always made me cringe, but we needed to

kill to survive.

I moved closer to celebrate her victory, that was when she looked at me with red eyes. Not black but

red eyes.

Lycans had black eyes, Weres had yellow or golden eyes, and ferals had red eyes. She looked at me

and bared her teeth with a roar. The deer’s blood dripped on the sides. I stepped back, ready to run.

“Momma,” I said, afraid. She growled at me. Tears began to sting my eyes because I knew what had

happened.

She should have listened to me and returned to our cave.

I began to sob because I knew I would have to run for my life, but I also knew she did not want to be

left at the mercy of the forest.

“Momma, please come back to me,” I said in tears, frozen and afraid. Ready to run but unwilling to

leave her.

“Momma, please,” I said, and she growled, ready to pounce on me. She did not know me anymore. So,

I stepped back and bolted.

She growled, and I heard her chasing me. My mind was reeling with the worst outcome, and I was

scared.

I had no wolf. I was just ten years old, going on eleven. How was I going to save myself and her? We

were going to d*ie. She would kill me, and the Lycan hunters would put her down.

I saw a cave big enough for me to squeeze in but too small for her to enter. I ran into it and stared at

my mother.

It was a tiny cave, so my back touched the wall when I sat there. I faced the entrance with my heart in

my mouth. I was sobbing, and my mother was growling at me. She wasn’t intelligent enough to reach in

with her hand and pull me by my legs, so she kept trying to get in head first, and her attempts were

futile.

My mother’s wolf growled at me, trying to get in, but the stone was hard for her to break through. Tears

fell from my eyes as I watched her try to attack me.

I remembered all she told me about our lives, hatred boiled in me.

I hated the Weres for what they did to us, and I hated Gabriel Nowak for not showing her mercy,

knowing she was pregnant. We did not deserve any of this. They ruined my family by stealing our

home. I wept and watched my mother, who was now a feral wolf, do her best to try to kill me. Evening

came, and my mother’s wolf got tired and plopped down in front of the cave. I remained vigilant.

She soon fell asleep, and I thought of what to do next. I needed to touch her with the silver chain so

she would be weak and shift to her human form. Then I can tie her before she regains some of her

strength.

I snuck out and bolted towards our cave. It wasn’t long before I started running that she gave chase

again.

Luckily, I got to the cave, and the chain was lying on the ground.

I dived to touch it.

I fell on the chain, and my mother’s wolf grabbed my leg and turned me around.

I held on to the chain even though it burned, ready to throw it at her, and she clawed at my left eye.

I closed my eyes, but she tore the skin on my eyelid and part of my cheek. She was about to reach for

my throat when I threw the chain around her wolf’s neck.

The sizzling sound of burning flesh came, and I watched her painfully shift back to her human form

Knowing this was my window, even though my left eye was closed and I was bleeding from the wound,

I used all my might to pull the chain and secure her against the tree close to our cave. I tightened the

chain and secured it with a padlock.

My mother growled and growled until she passed out.

I lay on the floor in front of her and wept. She had asked me to kill her if she didn’t come through.

I knew I wouldn’t be able to do it. I hoped she would come through and hold on long enough for me to

get my wolf.

She promised me that I was an alpha, and I hoped she was right because only an Alpha could fix it.

A week passed, and my mother did not come through. Months passed, and still nothing.

Luckily for me, we were deep in the woods, so no one invaded our space.

I fed her with rabbits and mushrooms. I wasn’t a cook, and neither was I a hunter. I had no wolf, and I

was only a child, but I had to wear a man’s shoes.

I grew up quickly, and soon months turned into years.

She never came through.

I built a pack and conquered all the packs in the Forest territory that used to be my father’s kingdom,

but she never came through. It was finally time for me to enact my revenge on Gabriel Nowak.

He was the man that destroyed my life and family.

I planned to make him and his people feel unimaginable pain. I would put the werewolves in their place

and strip Gabriel and his relatives of their honour.

I would make sure his lineage ends with him or whomever his child is, and when all is done, I will let

him know why.

My mother’s sacrifice will not be in vain, my father’s death will be avenged, and my family’s glory will be

restored. But how could I keep those promises when I was falling for his innocent daughter, and I had

no power over my emotions and my wolf? It was a great dilemma. How could I manage my feelings

and still get justice for my family and people? I was in a quagmire.