The Silver Lycan Queen

Chapter 9 - Family

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Novah

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“What’s wrong?” Nolan asks, seeing my panicked face.

“Nolan, what if you’re not the only one? What if all the vampires are back and they are all wearing these rings?” I take his hand and inspect it so I can recognize it when I come across someone wearing it. My mind and body are in conflict as the sparks bring me a weird comfort, making it hard to remain focused.

“The ring’s invisible,” I hear him say and I look up at him, confused.

“What do you mean? I can see it.” I ask, still looking at it.

“Because you’re my mate,” he says, and my heart skips a beat hearing him say that. This is the first time I have heard the words roll out of his lips. My eyes immediately shift to his face, and I find him looking at me with a strong emotion as swills of black appear in his eyes, the white slowly disappearing. My breathing becomes shallow, and I suddenly find myself in a trance, the rings and return of vampires being the last things on my mind.

"Please, please, say that again.” I breathlessly whisper, our eyes still locked together, and he raises his hand to my face, cupping my cheek.

“Novah Kane, you’re my mate. My gift from the gods, and if I had a heart, it would beat just for you. I may not yet understand a lot of things, but I understand one thing: I’m going to fight for you,” he says, causing tears to pool in my eyes, and I grab the back of his head, closing the gap between us.

He deepens the kiss, wrapping his arms around my waist, causing a moan to escape my lips, taking me by surprise. I mentally slap myself and I feel him smile against the kiss before pulling back. He looks me in the eye, causing me to blush and look away, feeling shy suddenly. Placing his hand under my chin, he gently raises my face, making me look at him.

“Don’t…” he says, his voice soft. “Don’t hide from me. I want to know all your faces. I want to know everything about you,” he says, now caressing my left cheek, causing me to lean more into the touch, captivated by it. He leans in and places a kiss on my forehead before pulling me to his chest.

We stay like that for a long moment, and soon sleep creeps up on me, causing me to yawn. Nolan pulls back, cupping my face. “You’re tired. You should get some sleep.”

He’s right; I am, but I don’t want to sleep. I want to spend more time with him.

“Do you want to sleep?” I ask him, sitting upright.

“No, I’m going to stay up and read a bit.”

“Then I’m going to stay up with you, too.”

“You don’t have to, Novah. Th-”

“I want to." I cut him off and place a kiss on his cheek before getting up and heading to the bathroom to wash my face. I head to the kitchen after that to make us some coffee, but I'm shocked to find everything still sealed. Nolan touched nothing here. I make two coffees and head back to the living area. I thought of asking him if he likes coffee or tea, but I figured he probably wouldn’t know.

“I made us coffee,” I say, heading over to him and he looks up at me, giving me a soft smile. I place the cup in front of him before taking my place next to him. “Do you mind if I put on the TV? I like watching the news and keeping up with what’s going on in the world.”

“No, go ahead.”

I take the remote and put on the TV. Just then, there’s an announcement about the King being unwell. His son, Nolan’s picture, comes up as they explain that he’ll be taking over until he’s well.

“Who’s that?” I hear Nolan’s voice and turn to look at him. “His name’s Nolan too... Nolan Silver.” I tell him and I watch his face turn into a frown. “Nolan Silver,” he slowly repeats, like he’s tasting the name on his tongue. “And him?” he asks, standing up and walking in front of the TV.

“That’s his father. King Anselm Silver, he’s the Supreme King. He rules over my father and all the other kings,” I inform him, also walking up to him, placing my hand on his back as he continues looking at them.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. I just had this weird feeling, like I knew them.”

“You probably do. Everyone knows King Silver. He’s the King after all.” I reply and just then a picture of the late prince comes up on the screen as well. “That’s Nolan’s brother. He died in a plane crash about two months ago,” I explain to him as he steps even closer to the TV, staring at the late prince. “He’s the one who was going to take over as king,” I tell him, looking at Prince Ares and my eyes widen as I suddenly realize why Nolan looked so familiar when I saw him. It’s because he looks like Ares—even the height seems to be the same, the only difference is the silver hair and silver eyes. “You actually look a lot like him,” I say to him, and he looks at me, frowning. “Him?” he asks, his eyes turning to Nolan.

“No, like Ares. I think you're even the same height. If you had silver eyes, silver hair, and were a Lycan, you’d totally pass for him,” I tell him, and he looks at me and back at the TV again.

“Tell me more about them,” he says as their pictures come off the screen, causing him to walk back down to the couch. “Is their name Silver because of the silver hair?”

“Yeah, it’s like their signature family look. Every child in the Silver family is born with silver hair and silver eyes. Well, except for Nolan, that is. He’s the only one with black eyes. Rumor has it that he’s not the king’s biological son but was adopted. They say even his hair’s not silver, he dyes it to look like his brother, Ares, and their father.”

“Or maybe he takes after his mother,” he says, shrugging his shoulders.

“The Queen had silver hair.”

“Wow, so they only date silverheads in that family?”

“No, actually, they don’t. I know little about it but it is said that once you marry in the family, you wake up with silver hair the next morning." I tell him, only to hear him sneaker before he breaks into a full laugh. This is the first time I see him laugh, and it’s beautiful. “What? That’s just what I’ve heard. I’ve yet to witness a silver wedding.”

“That’s just… It doesn’t sound right.”

“I guess we’ll see when Nolan gets married.”

“I guess so. Come, let’s get some sleep,” he says, gesturing for me to take his hand, and I do.

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Silvera Kingdom

Nolan Silver

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“What’s wrong? I ask, walking inside my room and finding Cora sitting on my bed, scowling.

“You’re in fine spirits,” she says, getting to her feet and advancing to me.

“Aren’t you? Our plan’s coming together. We should both be in high spirits.”

“Should we?” She retorts, still scowling at me.

“Okay, I don’t have time for this, Cora. What’s with the long face? Come on, spit it out.”

“What was the meeting about?”

“What meeting?”

“The one you just had with the King and told me nothing about.”

“I’ve just been appointed king, Cora; even if it’s just temporary, I’m still a king. Father had important matters to discuss with me. It was a last-minute thing. I didn’t have time to tell you.” I tell her, stepping up to her and raising my hand to her face, but she turns her cheek away. “Okay, suit yourself. I had a long day. I brought an expensive bottle of wine because I thought you would be happy that we were winning, but it’s obvious I was wrong. Goodnight, Cora.” I tell her and walk past her, suddenly exhausted. Cora always knows how to ruin a moment and to think she thinks I'd spend the rest of my life with her by my side. She’s f*****g crazy.

“Are you lying to me?” I hear her say, but I do not reply to her. “Are you using me, Nolan?”

“Yes, just as you are using me.”

I reply, setting down my glass before taking off my suit jacket. I hear her let out a humorless chuckle and turn to look at her just as she turns around and marches out of the room, causing me to roll my eyes. Glad she left. I take off my clothes and wrap a towel around my waist, deciding to take a shower before bed, but just then my door bursts open and she marches back in with her hand in her pocket.

“What the f**k are you doing, Cora? You can’t just f*****g burst into my room like this." I scold her, but she replies and keeps advancing towards me. Her hand comes out of her pocket to reveal a big knife that looks like it’s just been dipped in black tar and my eyes widen as she kneels next to my bed before lying on her stomach. I realize what she’s doing, and I sprint to her just as she pulls out the bucket.

“What the hell do you think you are doing?” I ask, holding the hand that has the knife as she thrashes, trying to free her grip, screaming. Thank Goddess for the soundproof rooms; otherwise, everyone would rush in here now. I push the bucket away with my foot and pull her up, causing the knife to fall to the side. She might be a witch, but without using her powers, she’s just like a human compared to me. She’s weak. “Stop! Stop this nonsense! Why would you want to do that? Are you crazy?”

“Do you think I’m a fool? Is that what you think of me? That you can use me to get what you want and then cast me aside?”

“No! That’s not what I’m doing.”

“Then what was she doing here, Nolan? What was Alexandra doing here?” she says and I mentally smack myself. Of course, she saw that.

“I will explain everything to you. Just please calm down,” I say, letting her go. I can’t believe she almost undid everything.

“Fine, start,” she says, folding her arms over her chest.

“You’re not going to sit down?”

“Start talking, Nolan!”

“Okay, f**k! I didn’t know she was coming here today; my father didn’t tell me. He wants me to take her as my bride.”

“What?!”

“You know how it works, Cora. If I’m going to be king, I’ll have to take a bride from a noble house. I can’t just marry anyone.”

“Anyone?!”

“Yes, you’re my PA, as far as everyone knows. You have no royal background.”

“So, you’re not planning to kill the King anymore?”

“Of course, I am, which is why I don’t understand this crazy behavior. I promised you’d be my queen and you will be. I’m only pretending.”

“Then why did you hide it? Why did you lie to me?”

“I’m sorry; it won’t happen again. Just please calm down,” I plead and she sits on the bed.

“Don’t keep things from me; don’t keep anything from me again. Whatever happens, I want to know, Nolan. I will not be made a fool.”

“I’m not trying to, I swear.”