Decision

The walk toward the Rudolf Estate was not short, but the energy Megan had seemed to not run dry. She found herself in a new city, and there were a lot of sights to see and food to taste. However, she didn't have tantrums when Adrian pulled her away from things. After all, Darius would take note of those things and buy her one of them someday.

However, when they entered the werewolf territory, she quickly stopped running around and stuck to Adrian's side. Even the eldest stayed rooted in his spot, waiting for their daddy to hold their shoulders. Darius then held their hands as they walked to the estate.

Soon enough, they began seeing other werewolves eyeing them as they approached the estate. It was normal. Two powerful pups were heading to their Alpha's estate, unescorted by anyone from their pack. However, more of them were outside to see the matter because of two things…

One, Darius Walker was the one walking the children. Two…

"Adrian, Megan… I've been waiting for you." Nicholai smiled at them as he stood outside the gates of the estate with Millicent and two other males.

"What?" Darius lifted an eyebrow. Then again, when he regarded the werewolves looking at the kids, he figured Nicholai found it necessary to welcome them publicly. After all, Adrian was showing signs of becoming an Alpha in the future.

The two kids stared at him and then at each other. For some reason, they could recognize this man as if they had already registered his scent… as if they had met him before. When he strode toward them with a smile, it was Megan who first looked at the supposed 'Uncle.'

The girl smiled. "Hello, Uncle… where is Dylan? Daddy said he's here with you…"

"Yes, but Dylan can't leave his bed for now. I can take you and your daddy to see him again." Nicholai then looked at Darius, who was hinting at those wolves that surrounded them from hiding spots. He only smiled. "Let them. They won't lay a finger on any of you."

"Make sure of that." Darius tut-tutted before kneeling down and pushing the two kids gently. "Hey, don't you want to explore the huge garden? Why are you still standing here?"

"Can we really play there, Daddy?" Megan turned to Darius. "They're scary…"

At this, Nicholai only had a deeper smile. The wolves all over the place started retreating; some were even whimpering at the thunder of his mental order toward them. In a few seconds, only those with Nicholai remained. The uncle then spoke again, "Megan, look around. Is it still scary?"

The girl turned to him and then all over the place. The scent of the territory was very new, but she could hear whispers in the wind. She then looked up at the uncle's face… before grinning. Her arms shot up in the air, and she raced inside the gates to find the huge garden. Adrian followed suit without delay, making sure Megan wouldn't end up hurting herself.

By then, only the adults were left at the gates. Nicholai mellowed his smile before turning to Darius, who was looking in the direction his children took. "What's your decision?"

"…Rica told me that they will only loathe me if I leave now. I should probably stay with them until they are old enough to know the truth about their parents." Darius slid his eyes and glared at him with a warning. "Until then, I won't commit to anything with you."

"Ah, so if they decide to not let you go, you will accept it?" Nicholai narrowed his eyes as if starting to run mischievous at the spoken agreement.

"What? I…" Darius turned in an instant to face Nicholai in panic. However, when he saw Millicent standing there with the Gamma Chief and their Beta male, he couldn't bring himself to blurt out. He just gritted his teeth before calming down. "We'll see how you handle the kids first. If they decide to leave you, I'll go with them. Do you understand?"

At this, Nicholai only nodded. He didn't say anything before Millicent moved to ask Darius to go inside with them. After all, the kids were probably exploring too far from them already.

…

Megan jumped up and down as she waited for Nicholai to open the door to Dylan's room. When it did, she went straight to the bed, climbing as if she wouldn't disturb the other child. However, instead of seeing her horrified at the state of her brother, she just pointed at the tubes as if counting.

"One… two… three… four…" Megan frowned. "Daddy, what's next?"

"Okay, I'll count with you…" Darius came despite the confusion. He sat next to Megan halfway through the bed before holding her pointing hand. "One, two, three, four, five, six… seven…"

How horrifying. There were seven tubes connected to a small boy's body…

Megan, however, frowned at the seemingly wrong count. "Seven? Not eight? Daddy, Dylan said there were eight long things! Is eight next to seven?"

"We already drained out the human blood from him, so one of the tubes was already removed before you returned." Nicholai walked in a few seconds after. He turned to Adrian, who was looking at the deeper hallways. "Can you smell it? The scent of other wolves?"

"Are they called wolves?" Adrian looked up at the uncle that was too tall for him to find meeting his eyes comfortable. The kid was already having trouble with his daddy; this uncle's face was definitely harder to stare at. "Are you like me and Daddy?"

Nicholai went to sit down, glancing at Megan and Darius, who were talking in hushed voices. He then turned to Adrian as the kid joined him on the couch. "Yes, Darius, you, and I are the same, albeit Darius belonged to a different family before you came along."

The boy nodded and watched his sister curl up next to Dylan as if falling victim to the soft yet firm bed. He then asked, "Some people tried to hurt Daddy before. Will they be here, too?"

"Of course not. I will take care of them as soon as they stepped inside the city." Nicholai chuckled and hesitated to caress the boy's head. He still did so, feeling the same hair that once covered Nikita's head. His eyes grew dim a little.

"You will fight them?" Adrian turned, making Nicholai erase his own somber expression. However, there was something in the boy's eyes that Nicholai was familiar with. At this, the boy then received a smile.

"Do you want to help me protect your siblings and your daddy?"