“Vale?” Ezekiel’s voice sounded cracked and dry. I opened my eyes, looking down at him. “Hey, little Alpha. You doing okay?” He nuzzled further into my chest. “I…never want to go through that again.” Chuckling, I kissed his forehead. “I’m glad your coherent again. Come on, let’s get you out of this water. Get some water into you.” He nodded and I scooped him up in my arms. Ignoring the pain in my arm, I knew that even with my werewolf healing, it would take days for my arm to recover. Naresh was quiet in the back of my mind, tired from the continuous healing. I remembered what Hector said about my mom, that her wolf died trying to heal her and keep her alive. It was a fraction of what I’m sure she felt but I could understand it more now. I placed Ezekiel down and gently tried to see if he could weight on his legs without crumbling. “Vale, I’m fine. You can…” As soon as I let more of his weight fall, he started to drop and I just picked him back up. He whined, embarrassment flood
I stood in the shower, hot water streaming down my body. My eyes were closed and my head was facing the shower head above me. It felt good, my body’s tension releasing slowly. It had been four days and it didn’t seem like Ezekiel was even close to stopping. My only reprieve right now was when he passed out from coming too much within a short amount of time. Taking a deep breath, I leaned over and spread my ass cheeks. Blood ran down my leg and into the drain. Naresh now came forward to force Faris to submit when he got too excited. He also was able to heal every time it happened but it was slow going. I still let him take the reigns though. I knew he was an Alpha, as there was something in him still needing to be that Alpha. Ezekiel was starting to already take over the pack, working with Hector, Bryan and my Mom for the every day things. Apparently, it wasn’t enough. Faris showing his true colors as he took over. 'Vale, do you need anything, dear?' I chuckled, hearing my mom mind l
“Do you really need to go back so soon?” Ezekiel whined, helping me with my bag as I carried it down to the stairs. I sighed. “Yes, they are imploding according to Jess. They need help. I also need their help and for them to take me seriously. I know all the requests I sent were just tossed in the trash.” “Can’t I go with you?” He put his hand on my cheek and I smiled. “I’ll request it. Especially since now we have officially mated, but it might take a couple weeks. I’ll have you come though, don’t worry. I love you, my little Alpha.” Kissing Ezekiel on the forehead, I pulled him into a tight embrace. My face fell to his neck and into his loose hair. Inhaling deeply, I wanted his smell to fill me up once more before I left. The sparks even felt more like electrocutions than their usual calming energy. I didn’t want to let him go. Finally, I peeled myself away from him. “I’m leaving my car for you. So when I do call for you, you can come up to me.” He nodded, his eyes glossy. I kis
It took twenty minutes of walking before anyone even came to greet us. I was following Mark but I didn’t know why we weren’t shifting and running in. It seemed like the long way to be going in but when the Beta, Joshua, finally showed up with two other warriors, Mark shifted. He still hadn’t said a word to me the entire time. I adjusted my duffle and shifted as well. All of their eyes went wide as my shift probably shocked them. My size and color also didn’t help, considering I towered over Mark. We had never shifted and I had never seen his wolf form just as he hadn’t seen mine. So it wasn’t surprising but I felt a shift of wariness in all of them. As though my ‘stupid frat boy’ persona may be broken. They took a minute but were able to gather themselves enough to lead the way. Again, even in wolf form, it was slow going. Heading north, we passed the outskirts of a town before coming to a stop at an older castle looking building. It was gothic and reminded me a lot of the High Counc
It has been a week and I never felt so angry before. I was already frustrated being away from Ezekiel for so long. We spoke over the phone every night but I couldn’t vent my frustration with always feeling like I was going to be overheard. Text ranting was not something I was inclined to do. I wasn’t a teenager and I could handle this myself but damn, did I start to hate everything in this whole situation. This pack was treating me like shit. First, I was told dinner was at a specific time and when I showed up, they had already eaten and there was none left. Then, I tried to train with their warriors but they decided they would be able to beat me too easily and said that they don’t allow outsiders to train with them. The next thing that got under my skin was a look at Mark’s room. He had a huge queen or king size bed and his room even had a couch in it. I happened to pass by while he was exiting and I never felt so irritated in my whole life. Sure, I might be complaining for nothing.
Warily, I looked into the doorway but there was only a few steps before a staircase went down into an underground part of the castle. It smelled like something was dying or decaying and I held my hand over my nose. I walked in and looked behind me, the door had a handle on the inside. Pulling it shut, I descended down the stairs slowly. Already, I knew that Alpha and Beta were out with Mark doing the rounds or whatever they did. No one would interrupt me for at least another hour. Not that they would be looking for me in particular, I just didn’t know how often they came down here. The stairs descended underground, where the stones became mossy and dripped with condensation. Some of the stones even had come out and there was just straight dirt behind them. I stepped as lightly as I could, but as I reached the bottom there was no door but it opened up into a bigger room. Peering in, the whole room was lined with huge cages and cells. It was definitely a dungeon and seemed like most of
It took over a half hour but the entire call was silent during that time. My mother and Ezekiel listening to Bryan as we signed back and forth. She would occasionally ask as question as well but I did all that I could to explain the situation and what I thought that I needed moving forward. ‘I think we should send Hector as well. He can leave straight from the coven he is currently at and be there in a little over a week.’ My mom signed and I nodded. ‘Ezekiel can take the car and it will be faster as well. I don’t trust you just having one.’ I laughed. “Me, or them?” She shook her head. ‘Honestly, the fact that they are all still alive is frankly amazing.’ ‘I don’t know how far this corruption goes but I think it is at least central to this castle. The people seem too afraid. Of both the outside and their Alpha.’ I signed back. Bryan narrowed his eyes. ‘Is that even enough? Especially if you are having suspicions about High Councilor Mark.’ My mother’s face turned dark. ‘We will
***Hectors POV*** Arriving at the border of the Crescent River pack was easy but walking into the territory was even easier. I thought Auri has said they had better security since losing pups but the fact that I just walked up the road without seeing a single wolf was shocking. I was hauling ass on the road, knowing Vale was in serious shit with this group. Auri said everything that we needed to speak about would need to be done through signing and I knew he was in deep shit. Ezekiel should have gotten here at least a few days before me. I hadn’t been able to get out of the fire Morgan and I were trying to put out for two days. It had been a fucking mess and I realized how old I felt, especially not having Auri. t The need to live up to her expectation and keep up with her was stronger than I thought. I had spoken to Bryan a bit about the situation but I basically got the cliff notes of what was going on. Bryan was a little mad that he didn’t get to come but whatever was the issue,
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