Heart Of A Lycan King
Chapter 80

AIDEN.

Training ended two hours ago. That was our last training before the match this evening. Everyone had already left the field and it was just Kane and I, going through the documents Kamal had sent via email for my assessment.

Today, I felt a lot better. Just like yesterday. After another long night of phone calls and text messages between Nala and I, I felt relieved enough to let go of my guilt.

I don’t know how she’s doing it, but whatever she’s doing is working wonders. On normal occasions, it’d have taken me days or weeks to get through the guilt, this time though, Nala tore down the walls in two days.

But I’m still nervous. I don’t know what to expect when I get back, and I have no idea what I should do when I finally face her. I do know for sure though, that I need to apologize for the silent treatment I gave her. It still bugs me that she wasn’t angry, but rather, sounded so cheerful and happy.

What was I missing?

“I think that’s all,” Kane said as he tucked the tablet into his side bag. We were seated outside the training grounds.

“Any word from Inna regarding the Goblin?”

“It has been delivered and Rebecca will stay there for a while to finalize the deal before she returns,” Kane answered.

“The woods they live in are dangerous. I’m surprised she agreed to go.”

“She’s a guardian. They can’t do anything to her.”

“And Matteo?”

“Do you even have to ask?” He laughed. “The guardians will do their job.”

I shut my eyes and simply nodded. Left to me, I’d have just killed him. But an easy death is too simple for a man like him. Stripping him of his title and then the separation of his wolf has been an easy step. In a few days, the connection would be completely severed, if it hasn’t happened already and the Guardians will complete the ritual.

Normally, the soul of the transgressor is presented to Alkamai. Alkamai is the god of mayhem and chaos, and he’s always offered the dark souls of people like Matteo. He accumulates them, making them fade completely as though they never existed.

While Nyala and Alkamai, (whom the vampires worship), do not see eye to eye, the procedure for punishment was always the same. The sun god the dragons worship; Karani, and the goddess of the witches; Maliya, all agreed to give Alkamai dark souls for punishment. There is a long story as to how the gods separated, but legend has it that each of the species besides humans were created afterwards.

“How are you?”

“That’s a creepy question Kane,” I answered, his voice drawing me out of my reverie.

“You know what I meant though,” he sighed.

I looked at him for a few seconds, the way the lace of his boots had loosened, his braids hanging loosely just like mine. Of course I knew what he meant. But I’m not ready to discuss that with him.

“I’m fine,” I simply said, crossing my hands over my chest and leaning back on the bench.

He turned to face me for a while before he turned away. “You do look better than you did when we got here.”

“You could say that,” I nodded, a small smile playing on my lips as I recalled Nala’s words this morning.

“You do know that is a terrible habit right?”

“What is?”

“Isolating yourself when you’re going through something,” Kane said. “I’m not talking to you as a subject to his King now. I’m talking to you as a friend. You need to stop that. It is unhealthy, and you know that.”

“I’m trying,” I shut my eyes. “Both Leo and I are trying. It’s just hard to get rid of an old habit that quickly.”

“Well, I guess the Queen has something to do with your quick turn out now. She called me a day after we arrived.”

“Nala called you?”

“Yeah. Asked me to take care of her man,” he laughed. “She sounded worried when she called, and I can bet my life you were ignoring her and she decided to check up on you through me. But she didn’t mention it, nor showed that something was going on.”

As he spoke, I couldn’t help the way my heart broke all over again. I had hurt my woman more than I could imagine. And what did she do? Go to lengths just to get me to feel better. I had been selfish, putting myself first without considering how she and those around me would’ve felt.

All these years, this was how I’ve been doing things.

But that needs to stop.

“As you can see, I’m good now. Thanks for being there.”

“Now you’re the one sounding creepy.” He laughed as he stood up. “I’ll go get some rest before the match. Let’s make our kingdom proud by doing our best.”

I smiled, taking his outstretched hand in mine in a firm shake before I released it. “We will.”

As I watched him walk away, my thoughts drifted towards Nala and my call with both Donald and Mav. They were both angry at my behavior and made sure to tell me that. I apologized, promising we’ll sort things out when I returned.

Then I spoke to both Mama and Baba and that was it. Nala and I only exchanged text messages this morning, and I found I wanted to hear her voice.

I tapped on her name and dialed her number, but it said the number was busy. And after a few seconds, a text came through.

‘Hey handsome. I’m a bit busy organizing the space we’ll use to watch your game tonight. I’ll be keeping my phone aside. Let’s talk after the match, okay? I’ll watch and cheer for you from over here. Love you.’

I wasn’t happy. I really, really needed to hear her voice. Having no other choice, I replied to her text with ‘I love you too’ and trudged to the guest quarters in a gloomy mood.

Adrenaline.

Loud cheers. The smell of dirt and sweat. Crowds. All were things the wind carried to the locker room where we were waiting. If we lose this game, then that is it for us for this season, and we’ll have to wait for the next. Which would be very bad because that would keep us out of the picture for the next months to come.

We stood in a semi circle form, legs wide and hands clasped in the back, while coach Kamis stood in the middle of the circle, a clipboard in hand and a pen in mouth.

“We managed to climb on the table after our last game. But this is the knockout stage. We lose, we leave.” Coach said, as always, his voice was loud. “I have full faith in you all, but the defending champions are vile even for humans. They know the game.”

“And so do we,” Kane said. His shoulders were squared, his face filled with determination. “We’ll do our absolute best to win. I trust my teammates.”

I patted his back fondly. He takes the captain role so seriously which has saved us lots of times. We circled our hands behind each other and prayed before the circle parted and we began filing out to the field.

I still haven’t heard from Nala, and I wasn’t happy. But that just fueled my determination to give my best so that when we talk later, she’ll be proud of her man.

The cheers grew louder as we finally stepped into the field. Our wolves were already blocked so now it’s just us. The scent of sweat was stronger now, but I was more interested in the red jersey wearers we’ll play against. It was their home and while we had won last time, we had missed other matches which had pushed us down the table.

The whistle was blown and the game began.

For the next twenty minutes, the home side dominated with 80% possession. We were treading on a dangerous thread. By the time it was half time, they were leading with 2 goals to 1.

“What is going on?” Coach asked.

I was sweating profusely as I gulped down a whole bottle of water. I was still weak from the incident with Matteo, and from blocking off Nala, which had cut down my performance rate to at most 60% which is bad.

“Their defense is strong, which makes attacking extra hard. We are using the 4-3-3 formation while they are using the 4-2-3-1.” Kane breathed. “We just need to double our efforts. If we push more, things can go wrong.”

I nodded in agreement as did the rest of the team.

In the next fifteen minutes of the second half, we have 70% possession. Things were looking a bit better, at least, until Badr was knocked down, which resulted in a yellow card to the home team and a free kick to us.

I stood by the right wing, waiting and hoping we would get a chance to equalize on the second goal and work harder for a third.

Badr took the shot, the resulting free kick was beautifully curled into the top right corner of the goal post!

Yes! We’re now 2 to 2.

But scoring that goal made the humans double their efforts. They attack and defend as though their lives depend on it. With only two minutes left added to the already 90 minutes gone, I was overly anxious, and so were the rest of the team.

And then, I was knocked down in the penalty area, securing us a penalty.

My heart thundered loudly in my chest as I looked from the ball before me to the goal post and the goalkeeper. The whistle was blown, I sucked in a deep breath, shut my eyes tightly and pictured Nala smiling at me.

Then I opened my eyes and kicked the ball.

“Goal!!!” The whole field took the chorus.

I did it. I scored the last goal!

And just like that, Leo stirred. He never does that in the field, but he did now.

‘What are you…’

It hit me then. The scent of wild flowers and ice. I whipped my head around, only to see Nala running towards me. I stood there rooted in my spot, unable to move because I couldn’t believe that this was real. But it was. The more she approached me, the more real it looked.

My breath knocked out when she threw herself into my arms, sending me stumbling back a step. A sense of rightness took hold in a split second, bringing me back to my old self. It took me a moment to finally realize that I have my woman in my arms. In the flesh and not just the images in my head. Her scent was everywhere around me, filling me in, sucking every ounce of sense in me, capturing the remnants of myself I had thought I had kept safe.

I wasn’t safe. Not when she was clutching me like this. Not when her hot breath hit the core of my heart, not when she had her face buried in my chest, taking in my sweaty scent. And not when her arms were wrapped tightly around my neck.

The cheers and screams faded, replaced only by the feel of my woman. By her presence. I brought my arms and locked them around her as tight as they would go, and I felt her melting into the embrace like butter.

This might be a soccer field, but I was home.

In my woman’s arms.

“I missed my recharging corner,” she murmured softly, the sound of her voice filtering through my ears.

Yes. I was definitely home.