Nemesis didn’t have to answer for his wife came in and filled the woman in on the details while he poured himself a drink. Ivan was quick to address Ayla with some shushes when she addressed Celeste. “She’s one of the alpha females here and my sire. She’s much stronger than she looks, believe me.” But the mistress spoke up for herself while he hid behind Ayla. To see that she scared him of all things, it was a sight to behold. He backed off during the inspection, quietly waiting for her word, her permission to start the process. Nemesis could see plain as day of his excitement before remembering that this was Ivan’s first sired, or soon to be. Or a victim of misfortune if it proved lethal for her. In any case, this was about to be his first something as the father slipped on his wine.

“Indeed, but she might survive, which will give us a powerful new member. If not…we can bury beside the roses.” He actually held some pity for her and thought that death would have been a far kinder fate than being underneath Ivan.

When he was given the word to, Ivan approached her from behind and bite her neck, draining her of her blood as he held onto her tightly. Nemesis and Celeste watched on until it was over and the former listened and observed Ayla well before downing his drink. “She might just make it…” Ivan smiled as he wiped her blood from his face and then turned to Celeste. “Wait, what do you mean? Vaewolves are naturally stronger than most shifters already. I’m a bit confused, Mama Volkov.”

“What she means is that while you are a vaewolf, you started life as a human”, Nemesis said when it became apparently Ivan didn’t account for one thing. “She was born a shifter, technically stronger than you were Think Ivan, what do you think will happen when she becomes a Vaewolf? Myself and Celeste, along with Serafina are stronger than you and her because of age. In other words, she will not be below you unless she is loyal enough to respect that.”

“Oh…crap.”

Celeste was of the same mindset as her husband. The girl was far better off dying during this process then being stuck with Ivan for the rest of her life. It was a pity though, she could tell that Ayla would make a fine vaewolf… If only her sire had been different.

It seemed to finally click for her boy as he discovered what they meant. “It will be a while before we know if she is alive or dead. I would sit tight my dear Ivan. She is not going to be happy when she wakes up and she didn’t like much to begin with. I would prepare for a fight that you are probably going to lose.”

The hours ticked by and her body shook in violent spasms as the change occurred. In her mind, it was more like a haze and she was repeatedly fighting herself. The new beast that was within her, her other self. At the height of the fight, she broke the new entity that lived within her and consumed it. It was the best way to describe the change. When her eyes opened up they were as red as blood. “Ivan…!” The name came from her lips like a dragged out roar as she got up on her feet all too easily.

Her stomp was mighty as she grabbed Ivan and tossed him into the nearest wall. “A LITTLE MORE WARNING WOULD HAVE BEEN NICE!” Her voice was more powerful now as it shook the tiny crystals of the chandeliers above.

Celeste got out of her seat and moved around Ayla. “She is a fine addition Nemesis… Look how strong the vaewolf blood has made her…”

Ayla was staring at Ivan intensely with that more or less looking like a hunter to the hunted.

Why didn’t anyone warn him about this bit? In Ivan’s mind, it made perfect sense that she would follow his lead- with age and experience by his side, he thought that he’d have no problem controlling her. But both leaders told him otherwise and he looked to his alpha with a questioning look before glancing over at Ayla’s lifeless body. She has already been nothing but hellfire before the change…what the hell was going to happen now? Fear wasn’t something that crept onto him easily, but he wasn’t sure of what to make of this new feeling other than that he didn’t like nor enjoy it.

He sat down and watched her body as every now and then it would stir before falling still again. Nemesis left and ventured upstairs until he would hear the inevitable waking. There was no point in watching a still body as far as he was concerned. But the hours passed and soon Ayla was waking up the shouting caused Ivan to look back at her with a smile while Nemesis flew downstairs in time to see the newly born Volkov toss her “master” into the wall. “Geesh, if you have to do that, then take him outside. We just redid the interior.” He didn’t wish to hear Celeste wanting to do it all over again. Ivan found himself crawling back up to his feet, his insides feeling like crap and he stared at his fledgling, “What made you think it wasn’t going to hurt? Hell, even I was able to come up with that conclusion myself before I was turned.” Besides, she was a big girl and he had warned her that death was possible. Perhaps she wasn’t as smart as he had thought.

“Now that you are changed, you get to stay here with me, Ayla. And I can teach you our ways.”

“Just one moment, who said that you were welcomed to stay here?”, Nemesis inquired. “We said to bring her here and you did. But staying here? I don’t think so.”

Ivan ignored him for the moment and took hold of her arm, “Now, you may refer to me as Master Ivan, or Ivan if you’d prefer. Gotta get that hierarchy thing out of the way.” He threw out another smile towards her without worrying about the consequences.

Ayla looked at him with that hellfire and let his words crawl across her flesh. “My apologies.” Was all she said to Nemesis. “I wasn’t talking about the pain you crazy piece of shit.” She shouted more at him.

Celeste perked up and crept back towards her husband at long last. “What did you see Ayla that makes you tremble?”

The trembling was faint but something obviously had shaken the girl. “Two wolves… fighting. Devouring one another until only one was left.” Ayla let it out in a low hiss towards Ivan.

“The reason why shifters don’t often survive the transformation. It goes beyond the pain Ivan. It’s a psychological reset almost.” Celeste moved her tiny self towards them half way. “She was talking about the mental aspect of it all and not the physical. It didn’t hurt her at all. You can tell. It scared her.”

“Fear isn’t something the shifters of the savannah admit to having. Devouring myself… That was something new. Something fierce. The change didn’t hurt at all but that doesn’t mean the battle wasn’t hard. Shifters don’t feel pain in the sense that a human might. We’re mostly numb to it.” Ayla was sure that Ivan had no clue about this. “But that other wolf… That’s the reason why many don’t make it… Isn’t it?”

“Correct. It’s a battle for life or death and only those strong enough to beat themselves can claim our blood… Shifters go through this alone.”

Then Ivan had to open his loud mouth about where they were staying and how she should call on him. “Where the bloody hell did you get the idea I would listen to you? The deal was I would come to Kurayo with you. The deal wasn’t that I would stay with you. Also, Ivan is about as good as you are going to get from me. When’s the next ship out of Kurayo?”

Celeste looked up at Nemesis with a smirk. This girl would be a good wake up call for Ivan or it would be the end of him.

Both Ivan and Nemesis was simply confused at her…chosen words. It was a rarity to have both of them lost about what she had experienced, though Celeste has some sort of clue to this. “Sounds like a side effect of the poison”, the lord said with a shrug. “Our bite is rather venomous to shifters and vampires alike. This whole wolf thing is relatively new to my ears. Then again, you are probably the only successful vaewolf to start out as one of them.”

“Don’t blame me for that, sheesh. A bit of an overreaction, don’t you think?” Ivan was going to forgive her since she still had some of the qualities that he favored, mainly that toughness about her. But regardless, they had to settle on who was the dominant one in this relationship of theirs, and clearly, she wasn’t about to submit. In fact, she seemed to want to leave now, which confused him even more. “Hey now, why you gonna run away? We are all family around here, Ayla.” His grip got a little tighter as he didn’t wish for her to leave. Didn’t she need his permission to leave? After all, what was the whole point of being a sire if he didn’t have some control over her? He looked over to Nemesis for help, but he simply stood and watched and Celeste wasn’t going to be much help either.

“Now, let’s stop this foolishness about you leaving. Besides, you don’t know everything about our kind to make it on your own just yet…”