***Auri’s POV*** There is something about feeling your mind slip. Letting go of the fight and just falling into the void. Feeling nothing and not caring. They couldn’t reach you, couldn’t make you do things, not in the void. You were disassociated from your body. It was a feeling I was all too familiar with. One I was glad Ezekiel had yet to reach. There was still light in his eyes. Still a fight, a hope, and I was glad I wasn’t too late to save him. Vale deserved better than to have his mate ripped from him. He deserved better than the experience Logan and I had gone through. Logan was already lost to me. The connection between us one sided. So much so that even my side of our bond started to wither but now, I was glad. He wouldn’t need to feel this pain again. Not that he could. The amount of silver that was holding me up was more than Micah had ever used. But at the time, he didn’t know who I was. I wondered if they knew I couldn’t feel pain. If they realized every time they tor
The next time I woke, I was hanging back up in my usual position. My eyes were wrapped with gauze from my nose up to my forehead. The pounding in my head was the same. It happened every time they put me under. It would take days for it to go away. I took stock of my body. Toes moved. Fingers moved. Muscles in my legs and arms were tight but could move. I had been out for a while then just hung up to dry. “It’s awake, sir.” My brow furrowed and I cocked my head slightly. Usually there wasn’t someone in here watching. It was only just a guard check. There was another few moments and the door opened to the right of me. “Well, well. It survived at least.” A door swung open and I could smell their cologne as they got closer. “You alive, mutt?” I didn’t say anything. They grabbed my chin and yanked me up. I could feel their breath fan on skin and it made me convulse. “We fixed your voice so you could speak. Didn’t they once hail you as the best singer? What was it? ‘She could charm a
***Trigger Warning: There are some scenes depicting a little more indepth of rape so I wanted to add a quick trigger warning for some.*** I breathed quietly, trying not to stir him. I knew he had passed out at some point but I didn’t know when the last time he had slept. Peeling my lids back, I blinked a few times, trying to clear my vision. It had been so long since I could see, it was disconcerting. Not that there was much to see in this grey concrete box. My eyes fell on Hector. He wasn’t chained to the wall but rather the floor. His ankles and wrists were locked and I dug my teeth into my bottom lip. That must hurt him so much. The silver was already making its marks on his skin. He was laying on the floor, his face turned to me with his eyes closed. I wanted to brush the hair out of his face. The last time I had seen Hector was when he stood in my doorway before I left for the blue scroll mission from the High Council all those years ago. He had both changed and not changed at
We didn’t speak, didn’t move for a long time. Just held each other, holding tight knowing this moment would be fleeting. But this was the first time in two years someone hugged me and I’d be damned if I was going to waste it. “Hector?” He hummed into my shoulder and it sent a wave a goosebumps over my skin. “Thank you.” Lifting his head up, Hector looked at me in the eyes. “How can you say that? This is as good as forcibly marking you, Auri. I made the choice that you had no input. I just…I couldn’t listen…couldn’t watch as they did that to you. I’m sorry, I was weak. I…” My finger came up to his lips, hushing him. “Stop, Hector. You saved me from another five rounds after that.” His eyes widened but I continued. “If anything, you might have saved me for all of those in the future too. It’s okay. You aren’t forcing me, Hector. It’s not the same.” He shook his head and my finger fell from his lips. “You’re wrong. It’s the same. The lesser of two evils doesn’t make it good. It’s st
When I woke, I was back hanging up against the wall. My wrists had already re-dislocated and I knew they must have used something to knock me out. Who knows how long I was actually asleep. Worry wormed it way through me but I realized after a bit it wasn’t mine. I lifted my head up, resting it against the wall. Hector was stuck with me. As much as the bond shouldn’t be felt with all the silver, I didn’t have the strength to pull up my walls. He would just have to feel everything for now.“Auri?”I slowly peeled my eyes open and looked at him. He let out a sigh of relief.“You’ve been out for a long time.”Showing him a small smile, I leaned back again and closed my eyes. “You could say they keep me sedated all the time. Giving me extra just adds more potency to it. I’m too weak, my body can’t fight it anymore.”Hector grew quiet and I slipped in and out of sleep. I was awoke by the door scraping open and Oran stepping in, followed by two guards.“Good morning newly mated wolves, how’s
Shock couldn’t even begin to describe what I was feeling. My mind raced and I felt like I was just looping around in my head. All my thoughts were jumbled. Putting together everything that they were doing to me, it didn’t make any sense. They healed me, made me stronger, continued to experiment on me but it had done nothing but really build me up.“Why…why would you even bother doing that to me?” Hector seemed to have the same swirling confusion.“Honestly, immortality is lonely. It was a gamble, sure, but now you two have each other for forever. Aren’t I nice? You call me a monster but here I am, saving your love life and an impending doom of the death of your mate.”My head started to shake and I looked over at him. “All this, why all this, Oran? It doesn’t make sense. None of it does. You’ve built me up. Your experiments, replacing the things I lost, healing abilities, giving me my voice and my eyes, immortality…”“Don’t forget your power.”My brow furrowed.“Oh dear, your Alpha Ki
It had been surprising quiet. I guessed three weeks had passed. Hector’s beard now being my indicator of time passing. At one point, he begged one of the lab coats to shave it off but they didn’t do anything. Once a week I got my injections and Hector received a meal that I was thankful I didn’t have to eat. Despite that, somehow, Hector looked bigger, gaining more muscle and height. I wondered if it was because of our bond or it was because the power I imparted into him. Either way, the guards gave him a more wary eye and it made me laugh. For the most part, they kept our chains slack, allowing us to be together. The only time was the meal time or if they were hauling me away for more additions. Yesterday had been one and I slept most of the rest of the day. After that, they had actually pulled the chains tight and we were stuck apart. It was wearing on Hector and I wondered how close we were to his heat. His replies were more growls than anything. The sound of scrapping reverberat
We ambled five minutes before we ran into anyone. Luckily, it was no one who knew us. They didn’t even stop as we swayed with the two bottles in our hand. I stopped at the power room. It was out of our way but I wasn’t about to leave this place running after everything I had gone through. Leaning Hector up against the wall, I unlocked the door with the keycard. It was too easy. No one was monitoring the room and it was as easy as pulling levels well past the red marker. It was sophisticated but at the same time, simple. I wondered where we were that would build a power system this easy to fuck up.Quickly, I closed the door and pulled Hector back over my shoulder and we ambled our way down the halls. Unfortunately, this route took us past the guard common room for the east side. Sure enough, three guards stood outside, chatting. They looked us up and down.“What the hell…”Flaring my nostrils, I pointed my pinky at them, while holding the beer bottle up. I did my utmost to slur my wor
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