“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
“I think it’s perfect.”“And you know those who don’t want the crown make the best leaders.”“Everyone loves you and you care about the people. You always have.”“I also think he would be perfect for the role. I mean, you already run the mafia, that’s just a slightly smaller group of idiots that you have to push around commodities and stuff. If anything, it would be great for business.” Pipsqueak put her hands behind her head, smirking. “No more having to get the okay from the king for imports.”Morgan shook his head. “No. You find someone else. I am not powerful enough, nor am I old enough to take the role. No one would back me.”“I think more people than you think, Papa.” Auri smiled at him. “I would say most of the population of vampires are younger than you.”“That’s your doing, princess.”She waved him off. “I just think that the majority of vampires now would rather have someone that actually relate to them. Age doesn’t matter so much now. I think you are plenty strong as well,