After the incredible dinner, I convinced Max to let me help wash the dishes. I was scrubbing the plates, Max was sitting in one of the chairs at the kitchen bar and Auri was sitting on the couch across the room. True to Max’s words, it had already started to get dark as the waves crashed angrily at the rocks.
“Man, Morgan missed a good dinner tonight. He is gonna be pissed.”
I chuckled. “I figured you would always eat like that.”
“What? Like an Italian grandma cooks for us every night? Not even. Hell, even Auri sometimes decides it’s cereal night.”
I looked over at her, sitting on the couch, eyes closed and curled up in a ball. She looked like she was listening to the storm, turning her head ever so slightly
“Do you guys take her out ever?”
Max chuckled. “Of course we take her out. She’s not an invalid, Logan. Tomorrow we were thinking about going to the open market since it’s Saturday. This storm should pass by the morning. If you wan
I opened my eyes and looked up a ceiling I didn’t know. Sitting up, I looked around the room. It all came rushing back to me. The flight to Italy. Seeing Auri. The days events. Her singing. Goddess, her singing. I put my head in my hands. Did I dream smelling her? Hearing her speak to me? I looked out the window. It was well past noon. Showered and dressed, I made my way slowly down the stairs. Auri was sitting at the kitchen counter, swinging her legs under the tall chair while Max was chopping up something in the kitchen. Max looked up from his chopping and smiled. “Sleeping Beauty has woken up! Honestly, I didn’t think you would get up this early. The time change is terrible. Plus, you just passed out standing up.” He looked at Auri. “Little bird, why don’t get some food out for Logan too?” She nodded and got up. My heart sunk. I watched her, her usual head tilt down, small movements. Had I just dreamed it?
Once we dropped the items off in the car, we walked back into the street. Max picked up Auri, letting her sit in the crook of his arm. She seemed use to it because she didn’t even squeak. I had to lengthen my strides to keep up with Max. We made it to the edge of the street after a couple minutes. The crowd of people that seemed to have doubled since we dropped the items off. It made sense that he picked up Auri now.The view from the edge of the street with spectacular. You could see a wharf at the end with a multitude sailboats and yachts. The bright blue sea stretching out but the populated city abutted the sea with cobblestone streets. Honestly it was one of the most breathtaking landscapes I had seen in my life. Max had already gone into the building on the corner.“Logan, come on.”I nodded and followed after him. He had put Auri down and was talking with a man in Italian. They clasped hands and laughed. Auri nodded to him, doing a quick
Auri took up the seat next to me and I was surprised. Max also seemed a little surprised. She usually left a seat between everyone except Max. She started swinging her legs as she rested her head on the countertop. “I can’t believe that the bakery didn’t have sourdough bread yesterday. Frankly, it’s an insult to have to use anything else.” Max took out a loaf of bread and stared to cut it. “How’s your back?” Auri looked in my direction, confused. “Stings a little. The shower yesterday was a bitch but it’s mostly just road rash. Can’t do anything for it but let it heal.” Max looked up and I froze as Auri reached over and ran her hand over my back. It was a feather touch but I hissed as she touched a particularly sensitive spot. Her eyes looked wildly in Max’s direction, but he was too shocked. The knife in his hands frozen. She got up and went up the stairs. “She didn’t wait for permission.” I nodded, also shocked.
I looked at the man before me. “Well, Micah, since you apparently know so much about me, why not enlighten me as to why your breaking into someone else house just to speak with me.” He smiled. “A man who knows when it’s time to talk and not fight. I like it. You command an air around you, frankly, it’s interesting to see in person.” He was right, I did start to let my Alpha presence fill the room. He didn’t seem disturbed by it at all though. “I’ve come to see if you and I can make an arrangement, a deal per say.” My eyes narrowed. “Normally, I’m not one to make deals with vampires.” Micah laughed. “Oh, I know. Other than Morgan and Max you surprisingly have very little to do with the supernatural world or any politics of it. But I think this may be one you want to listen to, considering it has to do with not just you but your family as well.” I growled. “What are you saying?” “That you have more enemies than you know little Al
Honestly, I didn’t hear Max and Morgan pull in. They busted through the door, ready for a fight. I stood, my death grip on the chairs I was leaning against relaxing, third cigarette still in my mouth. Auri was still sitting on the chair. She was pretending to smoke, an unlit cigarette in her mouth. She was holding onto her iced tea that she had refilled for us. I looked at my watch. “It’s been three fucking hours.” “We were in the middle of something Logan! What the hell happened here?” Morgan was taking stock of the house, the table, and Auri. “Yeah, another dead end of the Bloodhunter coven? Almost like it was conveniently laid out to have you busy for a few hours.” I scoffed, turning away from them, I leaned back on the chairs, my eyes roaming over the paperwork in front of me. “How the hell…” I shook my head and reached out, tapping the ash into the ashtray. I realized my cigarette was almost gone and I grabbed another, lighting that one w
“Don’t yell at me Alpha.” She put her hands on her hips. The cigarette dropped from my mouth as I looked at her. I searched her face, trying to think, trying to figure out if that really was her. Was my Auri. Inhaling, her scent hit me like a freight train. The forest surrounded me, hugged me. Cato howled and I felt him jump out from the depths. He threw me back and we exploded into our wolf form. It was painful after not having shifted for so long. She didn’t move, didn’t flinch as Cato stood before her. He was growling, baring his teeth at her. I tried yank him back, tried to take control again. I watched in horror as he jumped her. She didn’t move or dodge as Cato sunk his teeth into her shoulder, his claws into her chest. I screamed from inside but Cato saw nothing but red. Crying out, I watched as blood started to soak though her shirt. 'MATE.' He y
One eye cracked open as the sun streamed through the blinds that I forgot to close. Getting up, I rubbed my face. The stubble started to become irritatingly long on my face. I walked into the the bathroom and looked in the mirror. Why did I look so damn tired? Pulling out my shave kit from my bag, I started to lather the shave cream and rub it on my face. For a moment, all I could hear was the sound of the straight razor against my skin. Getting a little ways down my cheek, I rinsed off the razor and continued. Settling into a rhythm. It didn’t take me too long and I massaged my face with the after shave. I looked in the mirror. I still didn’t like what I was seeing. Being with Auri for the past few days had been wonderful but also had me on edge. As much as Auri being back was the happiest moment, she was still struggling being back. She would jump if you touched her. Now she voiced her displeasure of us wanting to take the s
“Logan?” I looked up at Auri, who was standing in the door of the bathroom. After throwing up everything in my stomach, I just sat on the floor with my back against the cool bathtub. I looked away from her, not baring to look at her. She kneeled down just inside the door on the tile. “Would you like something? Water? Soda?” I didn’t say anything. “I know it’s a lot to handle.” I head her breathe out a laugh. “Trust me, I know.” She paused. “How can I help?” I felt the anger and bile rise again. “You can’t help me Auri.” “Let me at least try.” I could hear the concern in her voice. The feeling was getting worse. I took a breath, trying not to snap at her. “You’ve got enough going on. It’s just going to be an adjustment.” I was fighting for control that I had held onto the past few days desperately. She was quiet but she didn’t move, she just sat on the floor with me. I was
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