The Dark Side Of Fate by Karima Sa'ad Usman

58 It Is About David

~Tamia~

Stephanie did not look well. Her eyes were swollen, and her hands were shaking. It was clear that she had been crying.

I wanted to ignore her, but I couldn't. I knew Sylvester wouldn't, so I decided to show some concern.

"Are you alright?" I asked, and she looked at me and shook her head.

"I am not, Tamia. Everything is falling apart. Dominic won't come out of his room. He said he feels like a nobody. I have tried to talk him out of it, but he is too ashamed to let himself mingle," She said, and I nodded.

"You need to give him time, Stephanie. He had a near-death experience. If Bryce had not confessed, he might have been dead by now. He will need time to recover from it," I said, and she hugged me and began to cry.

I did not know what to tell her. So I hugged her in return and patted her back.

"You need to take it easy, Stephanie. Crying won't fix him. You need to find the things and people that make him happy and try to surround him with them," I said, and she sighed and bowed.

She looked at me and studied me.

"You will be the Lady of the north soon, Tamia; there are things I need to tell you. Things that I swore to take to my grave but I suspect are part of why all these are happening to my sons," She said, and I was surprised that she was willing to trust me with her secret.

"Are you sure you want to tell me?" I asked her, and she nodded.

"You will be Luna soon and rule by his side. You're already doing it, and unlike me, your Alpha loves you and gives you freedom. You take part in council discussions and give advice. None of which I was allowed in my time. You give northern women hope, Tamia." She said and sighed.

"There are things I need to tell for the sake of the Volkov bloodline. You need to know that you have a Volkov growing inside you. You need to know the truth about Maurice and our children.." She said, and my mind went to what Jake had told me.

Was she planning on telling me the truth, or was she planning on deceiving me like she might have deceived her children?

"Does it have anything to do with what is going on?" I asked, and she paused, looking at me. She was contemplating what to tell me. She was sizing me up, and I wasn't angry at all.

"It might," she confessed, and I looked at her.

"I will join you in your room in a few minutes. I want to check on Avery. The hallway isn't as safe as we think; we might have spies lurking about the place," I linked her, and she nodded at me.

I still could not shake off Lily's phone conversation. I could not shake off the fact that I knew she wasn't supposed to have a phone. I couldn't shake it off. Something was off, and I planned on figuring it out.

Stephanie walked past me, heading to her room while I headed towards the Beta's wing to see Avery. I would have checked on Linda too, but I knew she and Marcel went on a date.

I got to Avery's door and knocked.

"It's open," I heard Avery say, and I gently let myself in. I saw my friend sitting on a couch and working on an embroidery piece. I looked at the leaf design she was weaving into the fabric and realised that her skill had improved, but she was still marring the fabric.

"Tamia, you and Sylvester missed dinner," She said, and I nodded and sat beside her.

"How are you feeling?" I asked, and she sighed.

"I feel nervous," She said, and I wondered why.

"Why?" I asked, and she sighed and put down her supposed artwork, which was more of a cluster and an honest attempt at being creative.

"I have wanted babies for as long, but when Michelle came into our lives, it became a tall dream. Now I found love again. Marcel and I started trying before you and Sylvester got together. Then Linda and Theodore got together," She said and bowed her head and began to weep.

"Yet I am still waiting in line, Tamia. I waited in line with Max, and I believe that was why Michelle got the best of him, and now here I am with Marcel," she said, and I moved close to her and rubbed her back.

"Do not be afraid, Avery; it will happen for you, too," I said, rubbing her back.

"But when?" She asked, and I sighed.

"You should see a doctor to know if anything is wrong and if it can be corrected. That is what I would do," I said, and she broke the hug and stared at me.

"You are right, Tamia," She said and held my hand.

"Join me at the hospital tomorrow, please," She said, and I remembered my conversation with Sylvester about protection and not being on my own.

"I suggest you go with Marcel. It would be best if you handled it together," I said, and she shook her head.

"I want you to come with me, Tamia. I do not want Marcel. What if something is wrong with me? He will know and might change his mind. I love him, Tamia; I can't lose him," She said with genuine fear in her eyes.

"Nothing is the matter with you, Avery. I will speak to Sylvester to let me follow you to the hospital," I said to ease her mind, and she thanked me.

I tried to counsel her to the best of my ability and decided to leave because I did not want to keep Stephanie waiting.

My actions might have seemed a bit stupid. Whatever Stephanie wanted to tell me must have been serious, so it was wrong to put her on hold, but I knew that whatever she was going to tell me might leave me shellshocked, and I won't be able to check on my friend, so I wanted to get it out of the way before speaking to Stephanie.

I walked still barefooted so people could not hear my footsteps. I took a mental note to do this often. Lily was on my watch list. I needed to know who gave her a phone and who she was communicating with.

I got to Stephanie's door and knocked.

"Please come in, Tamia; I know it is you," She said, and I let myself in.

"Lock the door," She said, and I did as she said and approached her where she sat on the couch in her room.

I went to sit with her, and she smiled at me. I was still wary of her, but I let it be because she was open to me again. There were only two possibilities: to misguide or tell the truth, so I was attentive.

"I am sorry to ask you this question, but I need you to be honest. How did it feel when Leo met his fated?" She asked, and I looked at her. I contemplated answering it, but I knew I had to, or the

conversation won't make headway.

"Heartwrenching. My life was over. He was the lead alpha of the East; I had nowhere to go, and no one would want me. I could not leave, so I was there through it all until the north attacked and gave me a chance to escape," I said, and she looked at me stunned.

"Yes, I gave myself as a tribute to leave Leo. We would have subdued the people who attacked us, but I did not want to be the third wheel in their home anymore. They were going to be a family. There was no place for me," I said, and she looked at me worried, but I smiled at her.

"I am glad," I said and placed my hand on my belly. "I found love in the north and everything I ever wanted." I told her, and she smiled.

"Do you know if Leo were Sylvester, then truly you would have nowhere to go? Sylvester is a step up from Leo, but no one is a step up from the Wolf lord. So, in that case, you will be stranded forever, and even if you want to leave him, it would be impossible. Society won't allow it, your family won't allow it, and your heart and wolf will hold on so tight, and it won't allow it. There is something in us that seeks the dominant male," She said, and I wondered why she was saying such things.

"I didn't call you here to discuss your relationship." She said and sighed. I called you here to discuss mine.

"Something my sons did not know was that their father had a fated," she said, and I exclaimed, pretending not to know so she could give me her version of the story.

"Everyone that knew was sworn to secrecy by Maurice. Her name was Alissa Pavlishchev, and she was from Gad in the western region. Only the people in the council and older western Alphas knew of her." She said.

"Maurice loved me wholeheartedly until he met her. He never slept with anyone. Like Sylvester is with you, my husband was that way with me. Maybe not exactly, but you get the picture," she said, and her eyes welled up in tears. RêAd lat𝙚St chapters at Novel(D)ra/ma.Org Only

"I loved Maurice with all my heart, and I thought our lives would be rosy, but I was wrong. He met Alissa and took her as his mistress. My family and the council did not let him claim her because that would insult me, so he slept with her and made me endure unimaginable pain. The woman wasn't a saint, either. They never are. It is not by choice but by design. No fated would want to be a mistress. They see us as taking their space, so they would do anything to replace us fully and not share their mate.

She plotted against me and manipulated my husband.

She was the one that made him start the war frenzy. When my family and part of the council pushed back, Maurice moved to eliminate them to make her Lady and his Luna; I had given up hope. I had Dominic then, and he wasn't an Alpha, so I knew my days with Maurice were numbered. When she got pregnant, I left the estate and returned home with Dominic. Maurice did not look for me. He doted on her and loved her, but he never claimed her. The woman was so wicked that her people refused to come and work in the estate to help her. If you think I am lying, you can investigate. Because of this, Maurice forced me to return and be her midwife. I was maltreated and abused. He would beat me because of her and her lies, and she never ran out of lies. I was tired. If it was a lesser Alpha, I could run, but who would challenge the wolf lord for my sake? I knew I wouldn't be able to leave until he let me go.

The goddess took pity on me and she died giving birth to her son. Maurice lost his mind. First, he said I poisoned her and had me locked up in a cell, but it was proven that she died of a dangerous case of preeclampsia. I was released and asked to care for the child, but I refused. I told Maurice I would not touch his bastard because that was what the boy was. Maurice felt guilty for locking me up, so he did not try to force me to care for the child. Soon he found out all the lies she told about

me. When the boy turned one, Maurice found out he had an Alpha wolf, so he sent him to Grizlo in the north to be cared for by a small family. Around that time, I was pregnant with Sylvester, but things weren't the same. Although Maurice loved me, the loss of his mate destroyed him, and he found himself drawn to women of the west who looked like her, so he started actively keeping a harem. He conquered the entire west for other reasons but took their women so he could replace Alissa briefly. I handled it well, had Sylvester, and when Maurice found that Sylvester was an Alpha, his love for me increased, and Alissa and her son faded away." She said and looked at me.

"That boy's name is David Pavlishchev. Maurice did not give him his last name because he was a bastard." She concluded, and I was in shock.

"That bastard was why I left here, Tamia. I went to see if I could find out about his whereabouts because he was the only one that would want to kill my sons. He is the only one who will have something to gain from this. Dominic and Sylvester do not know of his existence. I told Dominic yesterday, he didn't take it well. That is why I am telling you this so you can help me tell Sylvester. We need to find David and be sure he isn't behind all this. I do not have proof; I am just speculating, but I know you are good with investigations. I will need you to carry one out for me and figure it out," She said, but I was too dumbfounded to respond.