“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
***Auri’s POV*** At some point, Max picked me up from the ground. He carried me into the house and held me in his arms as I cried. I buried my face in his chest. All this time I had fought. I had tried to survive. Only to watch my mate, my Logan, walk away from me. I knew it was a possibility. That he had moved on and what did I expect? I literally asked him to. But that didn’t mean it didn’t hurt. Everything I was feeling was just my own heart though. I didn’t smell my mate. Didn’t hear him in my mind. The slight shock I would feel when touching him went away after the first few timess. I was cut off from everything that made me a werewolf. I honestly couldn’t imagine myself removing these shackles. After what I had been through, I questioned whether I was even a werewolf anymore. If I deserved Kai anymore. Weeks into my torture I decided I wasn’t. Decided that I would never take these silver reminders off. It burrowed deep in my subconscious that now
“Come on Auri, you’re faster than this!” I was drenched in sweat and breathing heavy. Morgan was chastising me. Growling, I rushed forward, swinging quickly with the two wood swords in my hands. Morgan easily blocked them with his one, but I spun around and brought my foot up, a kick aimed at his side. He blocked it too but it did push him a little. Smiling, I flipped the sword in my hand and hit Morgan in the stomach with the butt of the blade. But the sweet feeling didn’t last long as his hand grabbed my wrist as he was doubled over. He pulled me towards him and threw me down. I growled, feeling the side of his sword against my cheek. “You got lucky. You’re still too slow.” Morgan got off me and I jumped up. “I’m not a vampire, Morgan. I’m not ever going to be as fast as you.” I downed some water on the table. “You’re wrong. You train yourself, you can absolutely be as fast. But you think too much.” “I have to think! Think of where y
“Auri! Dinner is ready!” Max called down from the bottom floor. I was curled up in the window seat of my room. I hadn’t gone downstairs. Morgan even had to come up to say goodbye. He had given me some books in brail and said that if I didn’t want to talk to him, I didn’t have to. But he had left hours ago. Now it was just Max and I. There was a knock on my door but I ignored it. Running my fingers over the words. It had taken some time to adjust but I was back to reading at my normal speed. This book was impossibly fantasy. Getting just about every race incorrect. A far away place, with make believe problems and make believe solutions. The door opened slowly and Max stood in the door. “Auri, you need to eat.” I refused to acknowledge him. Mostly to stop the blush from creeping its way back onto my face. “Now Auri. I won’t ask again.” This time I glared at him. I slammed my book shut and put it on the seat. Swinging my legs off and jump
I screamed as Max launched me into the pool. I hit the water and quickly swam up, gasping for breath. I heard him jump in after and then it became too quiet. I started swimming towards the edge when Max came up under my legs, launching me again into the middle of the pool. I laughed as I hit the water.“Max!” I yelled as I broke the surface again.He was laughing and started to swim over to me.“Some of us have to breathe!”I felt his arms snake around my waist and pulled me close. I wrapped my legs around him and he turned, pushing me up against the wall of the pool.“Is this why vampires don’t date werewolves? You have to breathe?” Max’s lips crashed against mine in a passionate fever. His body was pressed against mine, leaving no room for even the water to settle between us. I kissed him back, my hands grabbing his wet hair. Pulling it back,
“No Auri.” Morgan’s voice was firm.“This isn’t just you though. If its a year or two, I can train. Be better. I can…”Morgan stood up and I felt him loom over me, the old vampire presence starting to emanate from him. “I said no and that’s final.”Tears sprung to my eyes, feeling angry and frustrated. “Why not! This is more my fight than it is yours! Why would you deny me that chance?”“Because I’m not losing you again Auri!” Morgan yelled. He was walking away from me.“Do you think I can’t do it?”“No, I don’t think you can!” He turned from where he was walking and yelled at me.Stunned, I stepped back. Max was behind me and his arms held my shaking shoulders.“I think you will die at the hands of him. I think he will whistle and you will die beca
“I’m headed out, thank you for the dinner!” Morgan grabbed his suitcase and now clean laundry. “Sure Papa!” I gave him a small wave. “Call if you need anything.” Max added. We were sitting on the couch after Morgan had done a little reading for me while we waited for his clothes to dry. I got up, confirming that the door was locked. After that, I headed up the stairs. “I’m gonna go to bed. I’m really tired after that.” I stood in front of my door before deciding it would be okay to sleep in there tonight, not wanting to disturb Max. He came up behind me though and put his hand on the door. “Where do you think you are going?” I turned around, aware he had me caged against the door and no way to escape. I smiled. “I figured I would sleep in my room. I didn’t want to bother you tonight.” “Why would you ever bother me Auri? Other than get me hot and bothered.” He leaned into my ear, growling the last sentence.
I heard the whirl of the machines first. Taking deep breaths, the smell of bleach and antiseptic hit my nose and physically recoiled from the smell. Squeezing my eyes shut, I tried to remember where I was, what was I doing. Max, kissing me. Morgan finding out. Then the rush came. Morgan almost killing Max. Taking away Morgan’s attention. Max taking me to a hospital of some sort. Then Micah. The machines started to beep faster and I remember his touch, his words. He took it away, he managed to take everything I had left. Reaching up, I touched my hair that now was just below my jaw. Burying my face in my hands, I cried.“Well, took you long enough to wake up. Been out for two days.”I growled.“Now see here pup! We don’t normally serve your kind here, so you better be happy we didn’t just toss you out. The only reason your here is because Max looked like he was going to collapse and you’re Morgan’s daughter.”
“MOM!” I screamed as I woke up. It was raining and thundering. Drenched in sweated, I hugged myself, rocking back and forth. I had dreamt about the hunters, when they had taken us away. I screamed when they had taken her away. Taking deep breaths, the emotion was overwhelming. I was being crushed by it. Drowning it in. Being set on fire. Everything was on fire. I choked out sobs. My heart was breaking apart, piece by piece. Frantically, I pressed my finger into my cut on my hand. I felt nothing. No pain. I screamed again and curled up into a ball. Hours passed as I cried, as I was washed with memories. Max’s sweet touches and kisses, his words of love. All of it made my skin sting. Morgan’s attack, his abandonment felt like I was set adrift in the sea, alone during a storm. Logan’s goodbye was a sword in the heart. My head hurt but if I closed my eyes, Micah was leaning over me. Touching me, whispering in my ear that he had stolen everything from me. Finally exacting his rev
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