[KAWAI]
"Kosta, do you think they will come for me?" Tamiko asked softly as he lay on Chief Konstantin's lap.
After the King had released them, Igor had taken Tamiko to one of the streams in the Kingdom. It was peaceful there and it was also one of the places Igor told Tamiko he loved being at.
They had been here in silence, enjoying the serenity for thirty minutes when Tamiko spoke. Kosta had somewhat expected the question, but now that Tamiko asked, it reminded him of the impossible happenings.
One unexpected trade had gotten the King's heir back home, but how was he to explain that to the young Lycan on his lap?
"Who?" Kosta asked, worried about spelling the name out. He knew Grealor was a sore spot for Tamiko, given how they had treated him over the years, but he also knew that they couldn't pretend that greater didn't happen.
Kosta knew that there was a war coming, but as Tamiko's mate, he wanted peace. But that was just impossible. The pain Tamiko endured over the years, was too much of a burden even for Tamiko who had mastered the art of making everyone around him in kawa let out smiles.
"Alpha Ashton. Do you think he will come for me here? Or Gabe?" Tamiko asked earnestly. He was very aware that Igor hated conversations about Grealor, but they couldn't pretend that Grealor never happened.
If anything, without Grealor, there was a chance that they wouldn't have even come together. It was a reality so cruel, but it was one they lived in nonetheless.
"Don't worry about that, Dusha. Be happy, forget them for a while. You've only been here for two days and I have seen you smile more than once. That is progress, my love. Can we just focus on that?'' Kosta asked and Tamiko let out a sigh as he played with Kosta's fingers.
He knew and understood where Kosta was coming from, but Tamiko didn't know the first thing about Kawai. He had been here for two days, just like Kosta had said and there was so much that could go wrong.
He just couldn't trust himself here, especially now that he had a feeling that the best parts were slowly coming to an end.
"This is your home, Kosta. As much as we want to pretend, I am a formal prisoner of Kawai. There can only be so many smiles from people, Kosta. That doesn't change what I am doing here.
"Grealor is my home, however terrible it is," Tamiko said earnestly and Kosta felt like he had just been gut-punched. He had been hopeful that Kawai would be home for Taniko, but he understood where Tamiko was coming from.
Everything was just so new for him here and he wasn't sure how long this would take. Sure, they were mates, but they both knew that Tamiko couldn't be officially bound to Kosta, or he didn't know where he was born.
Tamiko may have been a Lycan of Kawai, but he didn't know his house, something that was essential in all the ceremonies. He didn't have that and he wouldn't let himself into the fantasy of having that.
The reality was a little too cruel and the sooner he faced it, the sooner he would be able to deal with whatever the fuck the universe wanted to bring his way.
"I know, my soul. I'm not asking you to forget about them completely, given the damage they did already. I'm just asking you to let it be, even just for this moment. Forget about your troubles, and know that you're never going to be alone.
"No matter what you choose, my beautiful. I will always be there for you, even if I have to give up my position as the Lycan Chief," Igor said earnestly, as Tamiko sat up, his head hitting Kosta in the face thanks to the sudden motion, but they both recovered quickly.
He hadn't expected this and it was scaring him. He knew Kosta had worked so hard to be a part of the King's circle and now the man was talking about abandoning the position in the name of love? It was crazy and Tamiko wouldn't let him do it.
He had seen people in power and he had learned power; that was also how Tamiko knew there would come a time when Kosta would hate him for that choice. He had to stop him before things got out of control.
"Kosta—'' Tamiko whispered softly as he looked into the eyes of the man he had hopelessly fallen in love with. In his absence, Igor Konstantin had been nothing but loving to him. So, there was just no way he would let his mate do that. It just didn't work like that.
"No, Tamiko. They say a man's fate is always bound to the choices they make, and I choose you, Tamiko. Power aside, I want to be with you. I don't care what you choose. I know you want your vengeance against Grealor and I won't stop you, baby. I won't hold you back.
"I don't care if you go to fight the Lycan King himself. If that is your choice, then I will follow you. I will be by your side no matter what happens and who shows up. You, my dusha, are my lifeline and I'll be damned if I let anyone take that away from me.
"Not even you, my dwarf erasthai," Kosta said earnestly as he cupped Tamiko's face, and stared into the beautiful eyes that had so much life and pain in them. He could only hope that the future wouldn't be as cruel and that the King would stand up for his son, his Tamiko.
"I don't want you to regret choosing me, Kosta," Tamiko said earnestly as Igor smashed their hips together, letting their unspoken worlds be expressed in the kiss. It wasn't a long kiss but it was enough to give them both the reassurance they needed.
They were almost going into war, one that Tamiko didn't know of, but one that would shake the entire realm.
With the King knowing about his son, Igor was certain that King Zaffuto was already strategizing his attacks and investigations. Zaffuto Hinata was a beast that wouldn't stop until he got to the bottom of what had happened in Kawai twenty-five years ago.
"I'd never do that, moya dusha. I would never regret choosing you. If I have to burn, for you to shine, then I will without a doubt," Igor said when they pulled back, and their lips were swollen from how rough the kiss had been.
However, they had communicated, they knew what they needed and in it, they got to make each other the promise of unconditional love, a love that wouldn't waver, no matter what chaos they were stuck in.
"But I don't want to shine if it means losing you," Tamiko said earnestly and Igor felt his heart leap in his chest. He wasn't sure how to react to that, so he pulled his mate onto his lap, before hugging him like their lives depended on it.
Their moment however didn't last long, because there was a storm coming, and while Tamiko assumed it was just a normal one, the Lycan Chief knew this kind of storm so well, thanks to the experience Kawai had in the year that followed Kawai's greatest heartbreak.
Twenty-five years of tainted history was about to resurface, and it didn't seem pretty.