We all froze as Auri was smiling at the group of us. Logan slinked behind her like a sad puppy, his hands shoved in his pocket. Behind him, Felix was holding Lucy around the waist. However, everyone waited as Vale struggled to get out of her grip.“Auri!” Jax was the first one to move and he stepped forward.She let go of Vale’s wrist as he hugged her. His face fell to her shoulder and from where I was standing, I could see his hands grab her shirt tightly. Leaning her head against his, Auri rubbed his back and hushed him quietly.“It’s alright, Jax. I’m okay. I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you when you needed me. I’m here now though. I’ve got you.”I couldn’t help the smile on face as I watched my Beta’s shoulders shake. It was easy to see the pain and the tear that Auri’s leaving had on Bryan, Hector, and Vale. But AJ and Jax were as much affected because they had called her mom as much as any of her biological kids. AJ joined the hug and Auri laughed, moving to stroke the back of his
“That’s a bit broad, sweetheart. You mean in the past year or before that?” AJ rubbed the back of his neck. “I guess in the last year.” “I live in a house outside Lauwil, in Switzerland. There are times where I take a weekend or so and go to Germany to see an old friend but my home is in Switzerland. I’ve been there for a little over two years.” The tension in the room made it hard to breathe. When no one else asked another question, I spoke up, hopefully trying to get everyone to open up. “Nine kids? Hector said he was marrying someone with nine kids and we didn’t really believe him.” Hector chuckled. “Good to know no one believed me.” I shook my head and a few of the guys laughed. Auri nodded as she smiled. “Yes, I have nine kids.” She put up her hand as I started to open my mouth to ask another. “I know the follow up and I can answer it as well.” Taking a sip of her drink, she placed the bottle down on the table and stared at it for a moment before answering. “As I made my wa
I don’t know how late it was when Vale stumbled back into the bedroom but I was already laying in bed. He slipped into the bed but curled up on his side, making sure to keep a canyon between us. Flipping over so I was facing the balcony doors, I laid there for a while before finally getting up. It was still dark and I took a pack of cigarettes out of my drawer and sat on the balcony, smoking as I watched the sun rise.Part of me wished I hadn’t stormed out of there. I would have liked to listen to what Auri had to say and see what other questions we were able to get out of her. Still though, Vale was way out of line. Chuckling, I wondered how much time I would spend in the cell. I’d built them myself so I knew they really weren’t terrible. How to explain it to Reagan and Rowan though. That would be a tough one. Maybe just that I was going to be gone for a little bit for work.Letting out a puff of smoke, I sighed. The feelings and the look Vale gave me was exactly what I was expecting
I hadn’t learned anything. I hadn’t learned a single damn thing. If anything, I regressed back to when I was a pup. Laying on back, my chest was heaving and I felt so much pain everywhere. Hector was sweating but I’m not sure I even hit him hard enough to bruise him. Instead, I felt like I was dying. Waving a hand in the air, I shook my head.“I…can’t…you win…holy…” I coughed, shaking my head.Hector laughed and came over, holding out his hand from me to take it. “You did good. You held your own.”Scoffing, I reached out and put my hand in his. He pulled me up and I groaned, grabbing my side as I felt my muscles shift. Coughing, I leaned over a little to help alleviate the pain. It didn’t really help though because the last hit had thrown me painfully on my back.“I thought…you said you were going to handicap yourself…” I huffed out, trying to catch my breath.“I was…”I looked up as Hector was rubbing the back of his head, his other hand on his waist. I groaned again and shook my hea
We were all sitting at the table eating. For some reason, no one outside of Vale and I seemed absolutely flabbergasted at the display. Logan, Bryan, Týr, AJ and Jax all hadn’t seen it and didn’t even mention it. They should have known we didn’t have a table that looked like this. All the kids made it seem like it was perfectly normal too. Was it normal for them? Was Auri just able to work fey magic like it was nothing? I knew we had seen the markings on her back when she was at the club but to actually be able to use magic like she was; she seemed a whole other level.“Mom, are we going to be able to swim today?”One of Auri’s kids asked and she smiled. “I’m not sure. Your dad and I need to be in a meeting for a little while. After that, we should have enough adults around to help everyone swim.”She looked around the table and there were enough smiles that she nodded. The kids cheered, including ours and I rolled my eyes. As though they weren’t in the sea every single day. Hector tap
*** Vale’s POV ***I looked around the room, if you could even call it that. We were inside a tree. I’d see my mother use magic but when she slammed her hands together, it looked like a wave was going to crash into us. However, when I blinked, suddenly we were here.It was like a tree had been carved out. There were branches and leaves above us but it had to be a hundred or so feet up, at least. The circumference of the tree we were inside was nothing I had ever seen. The walls were made up of bark and it was darker than the floor and the round table in the center.“Sorry, I should have warned you.” My mother giggled like a child and I heard Hector snort.“You are the worst.”Zeke wiggled out from my grasp when I had covered him against the onslaught of power that I felt. Pure shock and wonder came through our bond and I smiled. Sometimes, he couldn’t keep in his emotions, no matter how hard he tried. It really was a sight to behold. The air was clear and the sun’s rays were shinning
My mother was looking at us like we were all idiots but I just shook my head. I didn’t know if Dad, Týr or I were even close enough to smell them. It also probably would be even less noticeable since they were half-siblings. Dad looked like he was about to shift as he vibrated in his seat.“How fucking dare you, Hector! I knew you pined after Auri all these years but you just happened to end up being her mate and have pups? Are you kidding me? I should fucking kill you for the disrespect.”Pipsqueak snorted. “I’d like to see that. Alpha King Logan finally dies because he bit off more than he could chew.”Mother slapped her upside the head. “You’re not helping.” She turned to Logan. “He didn’t do it on purpose. Hector was captured and Oran used him against me. Forced us into heat and tried to use each other against one another. Hector left me in Hong Kong because of his feelings of guilt for what happened between us while we were captured. Hector didn’t know about our children until a
‘We need to make a plan, Vale. If we tried to go one on one with Oran, we would lose. We aren’t alone though. We need to plan together.’ Naresh piped up for the first time since this morning.He had been very upset with me over last night, even before I snapped at Zeke. Naresh pretty much went on a silence strike but I felt him sit on the edge of my mind while we were talking about all of this. I was surprised when he didn’t feel any issues when our mother said that she was still the Alpha King.‘She never said she was the Alpha King. Just that she still had the Alpha King power. Our mom isn’t a threat. She didn’t want the crown when she got it and she doesn’t want it now. I truly believes she just wants peace. The problem is she has the power to do something about it but Mom is aware of the consequences and repercussions if she does take action.’I sighed and nodded. ‘I guess. I’m still not happy about it.’Naresh chuckled. ‘You’re so moody lately. One would think you’re on your peri
Hey everyone. I can't believe we are here. We made it. This is truly the end. This journey has been an epic one and I am both happy and sad all of you could ride this crazy ride with me. It took a long time to get here. Much longer than I wanted, felt needed to, but here we are and it's done. The King's Alpha has finished. I'm sure everyone has the STRONGEST of opinions on my choices of where to go but in the end, I think, I always knew where it was going to end up. And it was here. It just was a struggle to find the right roat to get there. I want to say thank you. To all the mad ones. To all the sad ones. To all the happy ones. To the ones who have stuck by me and given me notes of encourangement through this. To the ones who have left comments telling me that they won't ever read anything of mine again because I haven't finished this story. I thank each and every one of you. Because it means that at some point, my story made you feel something. Made you fall in love or hate
I sat on the balcony overlooking the plains and forest behind it. I’d taken a liking to getting up early, smelling the morning dew as the world slowly woke up. A shot of cappuccino and a bowl of yogurt with fruit and just a drizzle of honey was on the table in front of me. My tablet also was sitting but there wasn’t much in the way of news to capture my attention away from the view.Rowan had called me yesterday from Egypt. He moved there after he found his mate. At first, I thought they might want to both step up as Beta, much like AJ and Jax did back in the day but they started to follow their own paths. Rowan was far more subdued. Taking after the bookworm side of Vale and maybe my introverted side. Reagan didn’t. Reagan was a fists first fight the world kind of girl. She stayed with Golden Moon, though she dragged her poor mate with her wherever she went.She was the Alpha King Nathan’s, Beta and had been for many years now. I had four grandkids and I got to see them as often as I
“Mom!” Syf and Freya both threw their hands around me and I held them close.Týr stood but didn’t say anything. Logan stayed seated next to him, his eyes unfocused as he looked ahead. I wiped the cheeks of my two girls and smiled.“Come on, Vale would be mad that we cried this much over him.”Freya chuckled. “He would say we are being over dramatic about it. Or that we were thinking of other stuff so we would tear up and make him feel better.”I nodded. “We all know it was you two who made him cry most of them time.”“I…we…” Syf looked at her twin before the two of them chuckled. “You’re right.”“I know, I’m right. I’m your mother.”Freya snorted. “Not looking like that you aren’t. I can’t believe you’re de-aging. That’s crazy, Mom. If I didn’t see the effects in you and Hector I would say you were lying.”I tried to smile but it just couldn’t get there. Admitting how much pain I went through wasn’t something I was going to dump here and now. They didn’t need to know. It was the same
We stood gathered on the Italian countryside. It was cloudy but there would be no rain. For the first time in a long time, everyone stood together. Werewolves, witches, vampires, and fey stood side by side to pay their respects to the Alpha King. Vale was encased in stone now. A sarcophagus that stood on the hill of the memorial spot we had chosen. It was carved with running wolves following the one wolf, their king. People came forward and spoke. Spoke of how Vale touched their lives in some way or another. Not just for him though. For Jax, for the wolves we lost in the battles and the ones who went back to their own packs. For Wendy and in my heart all the ones who had lost their lives to Oran’s sick and twisted desires.Hector was sitting on my right, his hand on my knee. Both my hands though were clasped in Zeke’s. Reagan and Rowan were sitting behind us with our kids. Luckily, all four of them made a complete recovery. Only certain things came up, sometimes being alone in a dark
Hector and I stayed by Vale’s side for a while. He held me together as I threatened to fall to pieces. After a long time, I finally spoke. “Oran is dead. Vale incapacitated him and I dusted him. He’s ash in the wind.”“He’s gone. For good.”“But at what cost, Hector? Was the cost worth it? Jax is dead. Wendy is dead. Vale…my son…my king…”Absently, I leaned down and moved a hair out of Vale’s peaceful face. My jaw clenched as I held back another wave of sobs, trying to keep myself together. My body started to shake and Hector turned me away from my son. I looked at him, his eyes as dark and stormy as the clouds above, raining tears down his cheeks. It broke me. Broke my control and I cried out.He put both hands on my face and held me, my hands covering his. It was my fucking fault. It was my fault. My Vale was dead. Our Vale, was gone. Joining the list of ones I loved who left me alone. Absently, my mind thought to the pain of living painfully long and outliving your family. I had co
*** Auri’s POV ***I had killed nine of the monsters that Oran kept in the arena beneath the castle. Nine of them, each one as mutilated and grotesque as the next. They were powerful though and it had taken me too long to kill them all. Too long put them all out of their misery as their minds begged me over and over again to do. Uriel had reached out to me and told me that he had the pups and had left the castle. All that was left was the battle Vale and Zeke were currently fighting.Running as fast as I could, I slid down the hall. I knew the High Council intended that Vale was going to rule inside the castle with them, but I didn’t know they had already built the throne room for him. When Vale first mind linked me about the room and that Oran was waiting for them, I wasn’t necessarily surprised. He was, if anything, a dramatic asshole.I stopped in front of two huge doors that were on the north side of the castle. Using my power, I touched the wood and it turned into a pile of wood
I wiped the blood out of my eyes, trying to focus on the where Oran was in the room. Vale was standing near the center of the room. He didn’t look nearly as bad as I did but that wasn’t saying much. Oran was playing with us but we still couldn’t compare to his strength. Holding up his broken sword, Vale parried Oran’s knife but was thrown back with the power behind the hit. Staggering up, I ran, only shifting my claws since I couldn’t shift my whole body anymore. I caught Oran’s arm as he was making a stab for Vale. My claws dragged across his skin and he dropped the knife.“Well, aren’t you the useful little mate.”I put up my arms to cover my face, sensing an attack either by his fists or foot. Vale though, grabbed the knife and me, pulling us back away and out of reach of the strike. We both were breathing heavily and on our knees. “Vale…we need…”He nodded. “I know. I know, Z. Just hold out a little longer.”Vale lifted up off the floor before brandishing the knife as his own wea
The castle looked empty. At least walking into it from the now ridiculously large exploded hole. Auri, King Uriel, Vale and I stepped over the rubble and the dead bodied of the witches to enter it. Everything was eerily quiet, as though no one had been in here at all. Had all the forces emptied out the different exits just now? Or were they lurking somewhere deeper?“The castle has an underground area as well, correct? If I saw the building plans correctly.” King Uriel looked at the three of us.Vale was the one who answered. “Correct. It has a full underground stadium area and most likely where they are keeping the pups. Or in one of the catacomb areas. It’s a huge labyrinth down there.”He hummed. “We should split up.”Auri frowned. “I don’t know. We don’t know what’s ahead. What we are up against.”“I think he is right, Mom. I think we need to do this. Uriel, if you would take the upper floors. I have a feeling there will be more witches and some other vampires who are able to deal
As expected, the wolves came first. Their snarling and pounding of their paws drowned out every other sound in the forest. Our side had quieted as we waited for their attack. Auri stepped up though, out of the line. Her fur rippled like water as an immense flow of power left her, filling the forest. She barked out a single command and all the wolves we could see coming towards us shifted to their human forms. The sound of their bones assembling back into their body on a massive scale reverberated through the forest.Hector raced forward ahead of her, chomping the closest wolf’s, now confused human’s, head off. It was all that was needed. Our forces surged forward and around us. Vale started to go with them but my paws were planted firmly in the ground. Stopping and turning, Vale looked at me with his gold eyes.‘Can you do this, Z? It’s okay if…’My eyes widened as a wolf came from behind, leaping right at Vale as his back was turned to me. I stepped forward, one step, then another. S