My heat had lasted for a full week. Logan took off another three days after, and the two of us rested. We were both exhausted but he still held me tight as we rested. But today, I got up and Logan was already gone from the bed. Sighing, I sat up. To say I was sore was an understatement. I felt like I needed to stretch for days but no relief came.
'Well, you did exercise for a week straight.' Kai chuckled.
'I don’t wanna talk about it.' I groaned.
Getting up, I took a long shower. The hot water steamed up the bathroom and I felt my muscles relax a little. Turning off the water, I took my time as I blew dry my hair and combed through it. Braiding my hair, I dug around in my closet for some sweats and a t-shirt. I only paused to listen to the house, it didn’t sound like anyone was home, so I just walked out without a bra. Bryan and Hector did come back to the house after my heat but I guessed they were out. Which was kind of unusual t
“Hector, I’m bored.” I was pacing the living room. Hector was leaning in the chair, reading a local paper. I had already done all the paperwork in Logan’s office, cleaned the house, reorganized the refrigerator, and finished a book. Logan was gone most of the time, along with Bryan. Between the businesses and the pack, we really only saw each other in passing or at night when we were in bed. It had been a few weeks but I got the distinct feeling that I was being kept in the house but it was starting to drive me insane. “Hector!” I whined and he flipped the page on his paper. “I’m here to protect you Luna, not entertain you.” He smirked Huffing, I left the living room and stomped up to the bedroom. I sat on the edge of the bed, arms crossed. 'You know, he was giving you a hint.'Kai popped up. 'What do you mean a hint?' She chuckled. 'You can do whatever you want, he’s only there to protect you. Which
Everyone fell silent. I smiled, the scent of the a rainstorm with a cracking fire washed over me. Logan’s hands held my shoulders tight. The captains made a line, just as they had with me, bowing their heads to him. “Good afternoon, Logan.” I bent my head back, looking up at him. He did not look at me. “I thought I made my orders perfectly clear.” “Yes Alpha.” I rolled my eyes. “I wasn’t sparing with them. I was critiquing them, helping them adjust their stances.” “You just flew back five feet thanks to Everett. I would consider that sparing.” I ignored the last bit. “It was amazing wasn’t it!” I looked at Everett who was now looking at me, smiling. “Just a little change of stance and he could pull that much power! Once he gets used to it, he is going to be a force to be reckoned with!” I winked at him and he blushed. “Auri, I thought I told you I didn’t want you training.” I loosened my shoulders from his grip. “No, yo
“Holy shit.” “What the fuck just happened?” “Did we really just witness that?” “Luna laid him out. She actually laid out Alpha.” I put my hands on my knees. My body hurt from all the times he had hit me. I didn’t think anything was broken though. Kai brought her eyes and I looked at the scene in front of me. He was bruised to hell and his arm was swelling from where I cracked his arm. But he was laid flat on the ground. The captains were all just staring on the sidelines, slack jawed. “Anyone want to help their Alpha?” I called to them, still trying to catch my breath. Everett and Jude came forward and picked him up, taking him over to the bench that was against the training building. Hector and Bryan came over to me, helping me stand up straight. “Shit, he’s strong. It’s been a while.” I laughed. “I’m out of shape.” “Luna, no one has beaten him before. On my best day and his worst, I can’t beat him.” I rolled m
“Whatever you’re thinking, you might as well do it.” Bryan walked in and opened up the refrigerator. He poured some of the iced tea I made the other day into a glass. “You’ve been staring at the phone for the past ten minutes. Just do it.” I nodded. It had been three months since the Gathering. Since I had spoken with my siblings. It had been gnawing at me a little that I hadn’t called to check in. To see if Ty found his mate. To see if Maddie had found hers. I had thought about them a few times but so much happened it was forced to the back of my mind. I also didn’t know if I was ready for it. I picked up the phone and dialed Ty’s cell number. ‘Hello?’ I cleared my throat. “Hey Ty.” ‘Holy shit, Auri? Is that you?’ “Yeah. I just wanted to…check in.” It was nice to hear his voice. Bryan gave me a thumbs up as he sat at the kitchen bar with me. ‘Checking in?
“Logan! We need to leave in soon! What are you doing?” I put a necklace on and smoothed out my dress. We were taking the drive to Midnight Howl pack for Ty and Christine’s baby shower. Ty asked me to come early and I was happy to, but Logan had gotten exponentially busier the past three days. I walked out of the bedroom and down the stairs. Bryan was walking up and he whistled. “Looking good, Luna.” I rolled my eyes as we high fived past each other. Walking down the hall, the door was cracked open to Logan’s office. He was on the phone, his head in his hands. There was double the amount of paperwork on his desk than there normally was. “Look, I don’t care whether this goes through or doesn’t. If anything it’s more paperwork for me to do. But I’m not going to just let them flip flop. They have 48 hours. If they don’t agree, we will move forward with the other plans.” Logan looked up at me and wav
The engine of the Bugatti roared into the driveway and I listened to Ty and Logan talk excitedly. They came in and Ty sat down at the table, Logan leaned again the kitchen doorway. “Oh man, Christine. One of my bucket list drives.” He looked like he was going to cry. “We’ll have to have Bryan bring the Lambo next time.” I smiled at Logan as I leaned against the kitchen counter. “You have a Lamborghini too?!” Logan chuckled. “No. It’s my Beta’s. What possessed him to get a yellow one will always be beyond me.” “Auri. Take me with you.” Ty whined. “Nope. You’re on your own. You need to take care of my niece or nephew.” Ty whined but I turned my back on him. I gathered the ingredients for the frosting and started to cut the cake in three
I pulled away from Logan and leaned against the wall in front of him. My father and Melissa walked in and I could feel the tension from the five of us. Christine gave a quiet hello and my father shook Ty’s hand, clasping him on the back. There was still a lot of chatter in the room and not many people noticed the awkwardness. Christine’s parents did though and I could hear their whispering in the corner. “Dad, mom, Auri is here. She made the cake for today.” Ty, I’m sure, pointed at me. I gave a short wave and a strained smile. Honestly, I was afraid of what Logan or Cato would do. 'Logan’s back.'Kai said quickly. My father stalked up to me. “Girl. You are two weeks late. You have some expla
I quickly fumbled for my phone. “Bryan.” ‘Coffee work?’ “He just left.” ‘What?’ ‘I…I…” I stuttered still in shock as I looked out the window. “I had my music on and I started to sing. I didn’t realize it. But halfway through the song, he pulled over. He just threw it into park, opened the door, and just left. He took his wolf form and disappeared into the forest.” ‘You’re sitting alone in the car right now? He just left you alone?’ “Yeah…” ‘What the hell?’ “It was a rough day. A lot happened with my family. He was livid but I don’t know what to do. Do I go after him?” ‘No. Get in the drivers seat. Continue back home. I don’t want you alone in a vulnerable spot. You’re in between territories and a Luna is fair game from a lot of enemies. Shit. What the hell is he thinking?’ I unbuckled my seat and crawled over the center console. I got into the driv
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