All of us sat or stood in the living room. Jax, Simon and Morgan were leaning against the wall with the fireplace, the couch was taken up by Ezekiel, Bryan, and Lucy. I sat on the single chair across from them, closest to the fireplace while Vale sat in the other. AJ was sitting on the arm of the couch. Everyone was shifting uncomfortably, trying to get comfortable in a conversation we knew was impossible. “Really, Pipsqueak should be here but she’s been unreachable for a past few weeks.” Morgan was the first to say something. “It’s fine. I just…I need some of it. Whatever happened.” My knuckles were white as I threaded my fingers together, just trying to hold myself together. Trying to let my emotions consume me. It was Simon who spoke up first. “Alpha…sorry…Auri had been in contact exclusively with Pipsqueak. They were working nonstop. Auri wouldn’t sleep. She wouldn’t eat until she was working on a new lead with her.” AJ nodded. “We took turns making sure she rested or ate. Othe
Turning into Auri’s office, I could see Ezekiel had been working out of it but I turned to one of the bookshelves and pulled out the drawers that were beneath them. Auri had a complicated, yet brilliant filing system that spanned over a ridiculous amount of time. Everything was meticulously ordered and filed. Bryan walked in while I was working through drawer number three. “Hector, what…?” “I know Auri kept records of everything. Where were the lists?” Bryan came closer. “What lists, Hector? There are thousands of them in here.” “The…the ones with the individuals we went after. The BloodHunter coven. When we took down the High Council.” I slammed the third drawer shut, opening the fourth. “I don’t think it’s on that side. It’s older.” Bryan turned and opened up two of the drawers near the door. “Why?” I growled, moving onto the next. “To prove a theory wrong.” Ezekiel came into the doorway next. “Everything okay?” “Apparently, Rydere has a theory that Hector is trying to prov
***Ezekiel’s POV*** I brought the two wooden swords down against Morgan’s block. The sound reverberated in the backyard only to be overshadowed by the waves crashing against the rocks. My body was covered in sweat and I already had discarded my drenched shirt a while ago. Morgan, however, looked completely unperturbed. His button up shirt was just rolled up to his elbows and not even a hair was out of place. Growling, I spun into a kick and then followed up with two strikes, trying to overpower him. Of course though, he blocked my kick with his arm, his one sword blocking both of my hits. Jumping back, I straightened and took a deep breath. “You’re doing much better.” Morgan nodded to me and reached over, throwing me one of the water bottles on the table. Cracking it open, I downed half of it. “I still can’t even get a hit in.” “Don’t worry. It took Auri a long time to even get close. You’re starting to build back up the muscle you lost. You can’t expect to be better right away.
“No Dad, she isn’t. Hector and Pipsqueak have been working nearly non-stop trying to find her but they aren’t able to grasp much. We don’t have a lead or anything. The first time Zeke felt anything was three days ago, and she was removed from the pack. It does mean she is still alive but now we don’t have a connection to her.” Logan sighed. “Neither do I.” “Well, maybe you could have helped four months ago when we told you she was missing in the first fucking place.” Morgan grumbled. “Auri goes ‘missing’ all the time. I didn’t think…” Vale balked and his mouth dropped open. “Are you kidding me? We told you, explicitly, that the BloodHunter Coven somehow has been rebuilt. That they were the ones who had her and you thought she was on a fucking vacation? She traded her life for my mates. The least you could have done was come and help!” Logan looked up at Vale. “You found your mate? Did you make her Luna?” I winced but Vale held my hand tighter. “Alpha Ezekiel is my mate, Dad. He c
I opened up the door quick enough to grab the flying glass turtle out of the air. Sighing, I put my hand on my hip and looked at Vale. His eyes were wide as he gaped at me and then a sheepish, apologetic look flashed across his face. “This the third time, Vale. The third time. I fixed him the other two times but one of these days I won’t be able to repair the damage you have done.” “I’m sorry, Zeke. He’s just here and so easy to lob.” I growled. “I’ll make you find your own desk if I catch you doing it again. He does not deserve that kind of treatment.” Holding the glass turtle out, I waved it in front of him. Vale tried and failed to keep the smirk off of his face. “Come here and I will give you a proper apology.” Refusing to give Vale the satisfaction of my smile, I walked over to him and gently set down my paperweight on the desk. Vale had taken over the desk and there were papers thrown everywhere. It was a mess and I had to look away before my instincts to organize it kicked
The screen before us flickered and showed a typical news layout. A woman of fey decent with bright purple hair and black glasses was sitting behind a desk, her hands intertwined on top of it. A blue news bar at the bottom ran: ‘We interrupt you nightly news for an important segment. We will be back to the nightly news after these messages’. In a box on the right hand side of the screen was a title card as well.“High Council, friend or foe?” Lucy read aloud. “Oh god…no…”Felix shifted and took her hands, holding them tight. In fact, all of us were now holding onto something. For me, I clutched my knees, as did Jax next to me. Simon and Vale were clutching the arms of their chairs while AJ just had his fists balled up.The paused screen started with the scurrying of multiple people, all wired with earpieces in. One handed the anchorwoman cards and another finished putting in her earpiece. It all felt like an emergency announcement. The fey seemed nervous, quickly glancing through the ca
“The BloodHunter Coven, after being reduced to ash and any suspected members removed, they had no way of rebuilding Nova into Nova 2.0 as they do not exist anymore.”Dr. J followed up to Ophilla. “As far as we know, the BloodHunter Coven has been completely dismantled, correct. The removal of the previous High Council members also insured that no sympathizers or members were amongst their numbers.”“Which wouldn’t make any sense as Nova 2.0 is now being distributed out there.” Ophilla turned to the camera. “However, there is a common link between these drugs and that is the High Council, also linked by the Luna Queen.”My eyes widened. They couldn’t be. There was no way. I looked at Vale but he didn’t seem to catch on yet, his brow still furrowed like everyone else as their eyes were glued to the TV. Jax looked at me for a moment and seemed to understand as well but I looked back over to Bryan. He only gave me a curt nod.“The High Council originally ordered the confiscation of the dru
I couldn’t wrap my head around what was going on. We thought there would be a tipping point. We knew that there was going to be a moment where we might see a shift. This was someone throwing a bomb onto it and blowing it to pieces. My eyes searched Pipsqueak then Bryan for this being some kind of joke. Anything that would make this better. Anything that would not destroy everything we had.“How much of this is true?” When Vale spoke, it was low and menacing but he didn’t look up at anyone in particular.“A surprisingly good bit of it, actually. I would say maybe about 80-85% of it.” It was Pipsqueak who answered. “It’s what makes it believable. If you really wanted to dig, you could. A lot of it would be confirmed.”Vale grabbed the coffee table flipped it over the heads of Lucy, Felix, and AJ as it slammed into the window and shattered the glass. I winced and turned away from him.“Fuck! Fucking damn it!” He yelled as he kicked the chair he had been sitting in and it flew into the fro
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