Hector and I stumbled through the pack house door. After the incredible run through the forest, Faris and Rydere tried to race. Well, really it was Faris trying to keep up. After they were spent, Hector and I decided to grab some clothes and head into the town on the other side of the forest and hit up a bar. Which now lead us to laughing, crashing through the front door late into the evening. “Fucking…fuck…” Hector let out a chortle. “That’s a door, Z.” “I know that.” I may have been worse at walking but Hector’s voice was slurred much more than mine. “Have fun did you?” Looking up, Vale was standing on the stairs with his arms crossed over his chest. The sour look on his face made me laugh even more. “Goddess, you look like Leo when he was going to fucking scold me for being…well…not Alpha.” Vale came down, his steps reverberating in the dark house. Everyone seemed to have cleared out or gone to bed. “Well, it’s not very Alpha-like to get drunk on a Tuesday.” I shrugged. “
“Where is Vale?!” I growled, looking down at the two pups in my arms. Both of them were crying, and had been for the past 10 minutes.I’d bathed both of them, only to find out that we were somehow out of diapers. I sent Vale to go get diapers before I finished their bath to go into town. It didn’t take that long to drive across the road and into the grocery store. Hushing both of them, I bounced them up and down.“You’re okay. Daddy’s got you. It’s okay.” I moved around, trying to calm them and myself at the same time.'Vale! Where the fuck are you?'There was no rely to the mindlink. Taking a deep breath, I moved around the room adding more motion to the bounce and hushing. Usually, they were really good. Bryan said we were lucky. That the two of them seemed for more content and inquisitive that other pups he had been around. They were happy to be together and were acutely aware if one was out of the room. If we did separate them for more than five minutes, there would be meltdowns
Reaching out, I took Reagan as well. Walking into the nursery, I laid them both down in the crib. Within a couple minutes they were snoozing. Brushing the back of my finger over both their chubby cheek, I smiled letting my mind focus solely on them for a moment. I turned on the mobile above, made up of little wolves that played soft music and the sound of rain. Another flick of the switch and stars reflected on the ceiling, illuminating the room just a little.“Sleep. I’m watching. Don’t you worry.”Silently, I stepped out of the room and closed the door, leaving just a crack. Hector was downstairs, leaning against the doorframe of the back door. Walking into the kitchen, I set up the baby monitor on my tablet and started to pull out food for dinner.“You’re really good with them.” Hector leaned back to look at me, a wry smile on his face. “Imagine, all your worrying for nothing.”I scoffed. “I think they like Vale better.”He laughed. “No, they like me better. They tolerate you and V
I felt the dark circles under my eyes. The rocking chair I was sitting in moved back and forth. It squeaked but it was deafened by the crying of the twins. They had been sick for days. We’d gone to the doctor and apparently, these things can happen within the first couple years of a traumatic event and a complete climate change. Both of them had ear infections and poor Reagan had the infection move to her throat as well. Neither of them were comfortable and their crying now was just a constant sound. Reagan preferred to be on my shoulder, whereas Rowan was on his stomach draped over my legs. As much as they were more comfortable, it still was painful.Closing my eyes, I just rocked rhythmically, hoping that somehow they would fall asleep for more than five minutes. My phone dinged and I expected it to be Vale. He’d kept his word that he was home more, but he would go off with Peter to try and find Auri since no one else would join the search. Vale and Peter, along with AJ, would hop a
*** Vale’s POV ***Looking up at the building, it had artwork all along the front with the name of the club ‘The Naughty Night’ that wrapped around the sides of the building. It was alone, either side were a parking lot while the rest of the street was littered with bars and tattoo shops. It was about eight in the evening and the line was wrapped around the building. A hand slammed into my back and Peter looked at me, smiling. He was dressed up in a silk maroon shirt and slacks. I was glad I had forgone the suit jacket I was debating bringing.“Sorry I’m late. Ran into some nonsense on the way here. Shall we?”I nodded and looked back at the building. Peter walked towards the bouncer, handing him a gold card. Coming up behind Peter, the bouncer unbuckled the deep purple rope and allowed the two of us past. As we walked in, I took in the dark interior.“Borrowed the card from a friend. She’s an informant for some higher ups and has a standing invitation here. Since she provided informa
Everything had already been cleared from our table save the two drinks we were nursing and so she spread out a map onto the table as well as a pile of documentation. All over the map there were X’s and little numbers next to them. It ranged from one to fifty-six. Sitting up, I leaned over the world map, looking over the red X’s that were scattered throughout the map. “Each stop…” she placed her finger on the markings “…is a known sighting of The Huntress within the past few years.” Pulling from the top of the stack, she placed a paper over the map. “This is the first, the China incident where over 200 vampires died in an explosion at a lab. All the info we could gather on the incident as well as the lab information is on the sheet. Each incident or sighting has been marked with a number, corresponding with a page of documentation.” My eyes widened. “Wait, fifty-six places have been attacked?” Camilla shook her head. “Fifty-two actually ended with a lab explosion. Four of which wer
Closing the door to the bedroom as quietly as I could, Zeke was taking up the entirety of the bed. It was about two in the morning when I finally got home. I’d checked in with AJ and he was still out with Morgan chasing down an obscure issue in Egypt. He’d actually asked me if this was a real mission but I didn’t acknowledge the question. I felt bad for not providing the truth that his mission was to keep Grandpa out of our way but we needed it to get some information.'Outdated information.' Naresh growled in my head.Sighing, I placed my duffle on the couch we had in the room. 'Maybe, but it was more than we had before. We hadn’t heard any movement for over four months. So it was new to us, just not what we were looking for.'Naresh’s tail swished in my mind, irritated. While he didn’t agree with the bounty or trying to hunt her down, he did want to talk to her. Ask her why, ask her questions that only she could answer. It was the only reason he had gone along with all my running ar
I smiled, sitting on a blanket in the grassy fields just north of the town center. Zeke was up, running through the grass after our two munchkins who were laughing and trying to avoid him. At one point, Reagan made a quick turn and Zeke must have caught something because he fell out of my sight into the grass. Roaring, I paused my snacking as I tried not not inhale the crackers. Rowan and Reagan had converged on my mate only to climb on top, their heads now visible above the grass.Suddenly, both of them were lifted up, Zeke carrying each one under his arms and getting back to me and the picnic spread we had laid out.Once depositing the kids, Zeke flopped down unceremoniously, laying on the blanket. Rowan and Reagan started to rummage through the smaller of the picnic baskets. I clicked my tongue and they both looked up at me.“Are you hungry?”Both their heads nodded furiously and I wondered if their necks were still connected.“Alright. But while you eat, you cannot leave the blank
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