Suddenly, Lucy’s face went red. “I’m sorry, Vale! I didn’t even think you would have a mate!” My mom, Hector and Bryan snickered as Lucy turned even more red. “I didn’t mean…I just…I’m sorry!” I laughed. “Lucy, it’s fine. Currently, I’m not attached to anymore. Though, maybe check with the person before you use them as revenge on your ex-mate, yeah?” She nodded sheepishly. “You guys captains now? When I left, you guys were applying.” AJ rolled his eyes. “Turns out, you needs to be a fat fuck to be a captain now.” He shot a glare back at the group we were completely ignoring. Jax elbowed him. “We decided freelance was more our thing. Your mom here hooked us up with the deluxe mercenary package. So we’ve been working for the guild for five years now.” “Shit! Congrats you guys. I’ve worked with more than a few mercenaries in the past five years. Maybe there will be an opportunity." “Hopefully really soon.” Jax waggled his eyebrows but I watched as my mom kicked him in the back of
Hector got to her door first and threw it open. I could hear the lock break as it hit the wall. Right behind him, I surveyed the room. My mom was standing, chest heaving, golden eyes lit up and her full-length mirror shattered under her. Her hand was sporting shards of glass and blood as it held the crumpled piece of paper. She was shaking but the look on her face was angry more than upset. “Mom?” Her eyes found mine and suddenly, I was brought to my knees. Behind me, I felt Bryan grab me so I didn’t fall to the ground. “Auri.” Hector walked into the room, his hands up. “You’re bleeding.” Shaking her head, she brushed past him and disappeared into the closet. She came out a few minutes later, wearing body armor, her hair pulled up and completely suited up with weapons. Bryan took a deep breath. “You aren’t going onto the territory, Auri. You can’t. They will attack because they would know you are coming! They can feel you!” Her hands came up quickly. “I don’t care.” She signed it
“Lucy, don’t say it like that. We are going to build a pack and ask nicely when the time comes.” AJ laughed, leaning back on the stool he sat down on. My eyes stared at Lucy as she held my gaze. I was trying to rationalize what I just heard. The thought had crossed my mind that I would eventually like to have my own pack. Staying at the castle for the rest of my life wasn’t necessarily appealing to me, I didn’t really know how to begin. Really, I had thought I would start with my Luna and work our way through the world. Maybe picking up some of the good apples amongst the rogues and building from there. Usually, the king would take over his families pack but I refused since I didn’t want to take away anything from Týr. That left me packless for the first time in recorded history. Alpha King Odin did have a pack but chose to leave it. Though, he did end up building a new pack from what I knew of the genealogy book. I just hadn’t really nailed down the specifics. Now, I was being told
I sat on the edge of a small cliff that was not too far from the house. Further east was a waterfall from a stream that wrapped around the territory but that was further than I wanted to go. The air blew through my hair and I had my leg pulled up, the other dangling off the edge. It was sunny and so the rock beneath me was warm since the trees didn’t grow this close to the edge. It overlooked the rest of the forest that dropped down about thirty or so feet. It was peaceful. There weren’t any sounds outside of the wind, the rustling of the trees, and the creatures in the forest. I found a place that I escaped to outside of the High Council castle as well. Here though, was familiar and safe. A place where my head could just not think of all the things I needed to do, all the duties and problems of the world. Naresh also sat quietly in my head as we looked out. At some point, I closed my eyes and slipped into a meditative state. I heard someone come up behind me and I looked back, seein
***Ezekiel’s POV*** I sat in my office looking down at the paperwork in front of me. The same paper had been in front of me for the last half hour but I couldn’t bring myself to comprehend what I was reading. My mind wandered more and more lately. In my dreams, I found myself back at the High Council, roaming the corridors of castle. It was a never ending maze and at every turn I could smell him; fresh baked bread and basil. Rose had tried to explain to me what it meant to have a mate, what it was like when she met Cory. I didn’t understand until now. It was harder though, so much harder. The first day I saw him, stepping forward as the Alpha King Vale, I was shocked. I remember Leo having to get my attention after he spoke. His words flowed over me and I felt myself being carried away. I wanted him. I want to walk into his arms and never leave. It was only when he backed away, disappeared from my line of sight that it all came crashing down on me. I remember shaking like a leaf and
My eyes opened and I was in an unfamiliar forest. I was glad it wasn’t the tight space of the castle that I normally dreamed. The trees grew taller here than at home and they provided much more of a canopy. It even smelled different. It was still clear and crisp but the trees weren’t the same and the grass wasn’t the same. My feet were bare and I was wearing the sweats that I had on when I fell into bed after my shower. The grass felt cool and I thought this dream was surprisingly realistic for what I had been dealing with the past months. Though the first time I dreamed about him was an experience I don’t think my ass would forget. I shivered from the memory. The wind blew through the trees and I turned to follow the breeze. My eyes fell on my mate. He was leaning against a tree, eyes closed, wearing nothing but boxers. I let my eyes roam over his body. He seemed different from when I first saw him but then, I was comparing him to a dream I had which was already weird. His eyes open
We sat on the floor, her legs were draped over mine as her back leaned against my broken bed. My back was against the wall and her fingers were intertwined in mine. “So…you saw him from a balcony twice. You know he is your mate. You keep dreaming about him and this time you met him, you talked. It did not go well and you woke up.” I nodded, my head was leaned back against the wall, and my eyes were closed. Somewhere in the middle of the explanation, I had stopped crying. It didn’t feel better though, my heart still hurt with every beat. “How do you know if he actually hates you?” “You didn’t see his face that day, Rose. Leo could tell you. It nearly brought me to my knees. He was livid. He was still fair and still advised the council on our situation but he was so angry. He didn’t even stay for the rest of the meeting, he left and slammed the door so loud behind him even some of the High Councilors flinched.” She nodded but narrowed her eyes. “How do you know that it was even him
I curled my fingers up into a fist and let loose on the tree in front of me. Every single punch made splinters fly as I punched further and further into the wood. One, two, three…. Faris growled and I started to go faster. …eleven, twelve, thirteen… I stopped training with the boys almost two weeks ago. After the fiasco that happened at the training grounds, I had elders and doctors up my ass for a week after that. They all came to the conclusion that I was fine, something both Rose and I knew but the entire pack now wondered if I was on my death bed. …thirty-three, thirty-four, thirty-five… I still could barely eat but I did make an effort to eat more than I had been. It wasn’t helping though. Now, Leo was starting to hound me and wouldn’t let me alone. Even when Rose told him off, he would come back minutes later as soon as she walked away. The only time I ever got some peace and quiet was when I snuck away for my own personal training. 'Alpha, we need you at the pack house.'
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