KING LUCIUS. I held my head in my hands as I stared at the unconscious female passing out on the cold floor of this dungeon. She was smart enough to decide that it was best to tell the truth. But the moment she began talking, she couldn’t stop herself anymore and gave me more than what I was expecting. I still needed to figure out what to do with the truth I forced her to spit out. I was used to seeing horrendous acts, so it shouldn’t be a problem, but hearing firsthand what happened to Adora and Fabian affected me. I knew it would hurt Patrea. And although I still hadn’t totally forgiven Blade, I knew how he felt about his brother’s death. If he found out Soledad had a part in the attack that killed Fabian, and she knew where his body was, it might break him. I needed the truth hidden from him — at least until we found Althea. But I had to go there and check if his remains were still there. But, my queen, I could never lie to her. “What happened?” Patrea’s voice snapped
ALTHEA.My mind was working in overdrive while I stared at the blank space inside this dark cave. I wasn’t going to deny that hatred brewed in me for the people I learned to trust when Soledad’s words got into my head. Because, as horrible as it may be, Soledad really knew me. We were related by blood. It was the reason they didn’t want me to wear this necklace. Soledad was right — no one was able to take it from me. I noticed when Patrea tried, but let it go as if it burned her. But could I trust Soledad?That Soledad in front of me was different from the female who stood before me when she arrived at the territory. Her eyes were different. Gone was the meek, naive human she pretended to be replaced by someone who looked like she was ready to kill Blade — because of me. She was talking too fast, but I understood every word. I was taken. My memories were stolen, and she said it was all Blade’s fault. But I couldn’t get to that part where Blade took me from them because I was sure
ALTHEA. “How about I bind my life to you so I can assure you will not kill me, and then I will unbind it once you get what you want? And you will let me go, let me live on my own, and never bother me again.” I told Alastor without taking my eyes off him. “And what if, in the end, I decide I want to have a witch around me?” “You can’t do that. I want my freedom.” “And if I don’t give it to you? The thing is, I want to know my options.” “I will kill myself. Easy as one, two, three. I have nothing to begin with. Ending my life is nothing, too.” “Bluffing.” “Try me, Alastor.” “And, why would you not kill yourself now and take me along with you? This might be a suicidal mission to save your people.” “I have no people. Didn’t you just see that or hear my words? I have nothing, and I don’t want to be owned by anyone. If helping you means I get my freedom back and no demons are running after me, then I will do it. But if, in the end, you become too selfish, then I will end us. Both o
BLADE. It had been a long and agonizing two days since Alastor took Althea, and we still had no clue where they were. Lucius’ demons had rounded up the whole underworld kingdom, and none of them had any traces of Alastor. In fact, no one had seen him for a long time. So, we believed they were in the human realm. But where? We had no idea. Guilt and worry had been my companions lately, but unlike before, those were not reasons for me to run away. I wanted my female back, and I was willing to bring hell into my territory just to have her again. I had been restricting my people from leaving the shielded area, which meant many had to stop working for a while. I knew this would not go on forever or that our pack’s economy would suffer if no one moved or worked, but this was the best solution for the moment. Lucius’ demons had arrived, and although they were in their human forms, their eyes were not. Aside from their red eyes, Lucius marked them on the sides of their heads with a da
ALTHEA. Blade broke away from me and shifted into his wolf the moment I was able to separate the shield and give him an ordinary but still protective one. At least with this individual shield, we could both fight back. But, of course, the shield was not as strong as the one I’d been using for three days now. To be honest, it was taking too much of my energy to keep a shield going, but I had no choice. Blade and I were on our own. It seemed Lucius and the rest no longer wanted to help us. But I understood them, and I had no time to regret or think of other things. We had to keep going. It was just us moving forward. We needed to keep protecting each other, and I would do it in a heartbeat, even if it was the last thing I had to do. “Traitor!” Alastor hissed before he kept disappearing and appearing within just milliseconds apart along the area, circling where I stood. My head and body kept turning around to follow him until rains of fireballs were thrown my way from all directi
BETA DALTON. “Keep looking for the coin!” I shouted at Aldrin before I left him with the other men while I hurried toward my mate, Thalia, who was rushing down the steps of the packhouse. “Still nothing?” “No. I don’t know why the phone lines are not working. I had to grab my mobile, but they were not home. Gamma Kingston said he would try to reach them.” I nodded before clamping my hands on her arms and looking her straight in the eyes. “Run to the secured area, no need to bring anything.” “And you?” “I will follow Blade. You and Aldrin take charge of the people.” Her eyes watered, but she nodded her head. She cupped my face and kissed my lips briefly before heading down the steps and proceeding in the opposite direction from the forest line that I would be going to. But before I could move, the atmosphere became hot, and my greatest fear just came to life. The demon that took Luna Althea came back, but this time he was alone. And without my Alpha or any Demon Royals around m
ALTHEA.“Hand me your power, Anaiah, or he will die before your eyes!” Soledad shouted, but I couldn’t pay attention to her because my eyes widened when I realized who grabbed me and where I landed. As expected, a loud growl erupted in the air, drowning out all the noises around us. But before I could move to pull myself away from Alastor, he pushed me to the side, making my body fall to the ground. The push was far from harsh. In fact, he pushed me aside, like I was something fragile. “Don’t you fucking touch her!” Blade growled, and when I tilted my head to look at him, I saw Dalton on the ground with Soledad. Then Lucius and Patrea appeared, and I had no idea where to look first. Everything happened so fast after that. I stood up and moved away from Alastor. I raised my hand and chanted a spell, casting an air to knock off Soledad, at the same time, Lucius threw his hand in our direction. I knew he was aiming for Alastor because his eyes were on him and not mine. But just as m
BLADE. “I didn’t…” Althea mumbled. “I didn’t do anything to protect him…” My jaw tightened. My heart wanted to believe Althea, but I saw the mist coming off her body. ‘Don’t forget that Alastor is the Prince of Deception. He could be deceiving all of us.’ Rage growled in my head, and I knew he was taking Althea’s side. But he was right. I saw how Althea was after Alastor left her. There was no way she would protect him, but why did he save her earlier? I was about to jump at her to take her away from the blast Soledad cast on her, but my Beta and Alastor reacted faster. I only saw the attack when it was near her. But even if I hated Alastor, and for whatever reason he did it, I was glad he came in between. My Beta caught the blow, but if Alastor hadn’t come, Dalton’s wolf would have crushed Althea. “No! Please, baby! No!” Thalia’s screams resonated in the air, and it snapped me out of my thoughts. I found myself standing and still face-to-face with Althea. We both turned
EPILOGUE 2 BLAIR.I showed Alonso my dagger—a gift from Mama Patrea and Dada Lucius. It was made in the underworld. Mommy taught me a spell where I could summon it even from a great distance, in case I needed it in a time of danger. But I didn’t tell Alonso I was not supposed to use it for simple duels like this. In no time, we were dueling, and I could tell he was going easy on me. Easy, but not really easy. “Oh, shoot!” His dagger slashed into my arm as he was backing away. It was painful, but it was just a small cut. Nothing that wouldn’t heal. He was about to approach me, but I held my hand to stop him. “Moved back. You’ll pay for cutting me.” I said, giggling, and before I realized what I was doing, I threw the dagger at him. Like I’d done twice today, and I didn’t throw hard. I knew he could dodge it.But for some reason, my surroundings felt too warm, like I was placed in a sauna. After that, everything happened in a flash.I saw the dagger flying at full speed toward him.
FIVE YEARS AFTER EPILOGUE 1 Blair 11 years old Alonso 16 years old Luther 12 years old Blast 7 years old Lukas 6 years old Lily 6 years oldALTHEA. I sliced another portion of the cake and placed it on Blast’s plate. He, Lily, and Lukas had been eating non-stop, and if I was not aware of who their fathers were, I would definitely ask them to stop. But I knew they could all handle the sweets and food. They had an appetite bigger than the whole Kalmerus. “And you were saying?” I inquired as I made my way toward the sink. I had to wash the cake knife directly and place it back inside the drawer afterward, as it’d be a big risk to leave it on top of the counter where Lukas could see it. Lukas had a fascination with knives, and at six years old, he had no control over his reflexes. Everything he throws would end up exploding. “Sorry, I spaced out,” I added.“I said Blair is doing great in the Alpha camp. It didn’t matter that she was the only female there. She could make all th
6 YEARS AFTER BLAIR’S BIRTH.‘Luna Althea…’ The Omega’s voice reached my head, and my heart dropped. She was panicking, and I could tell she was running.‘Where are you?’ I asked as I opened the door from where I was.I saw Meredith running toward us with Blair in her arms. I grabbed my daughter from her and checked for any injuries or something strange, but there was nothing. “What happened?” Blade asked as he stood behind me. He was holding Blast, our two-year-old son, in his arms. We were celebrating Blair’s sixth birthday, and we had a small celebration in the packhouse. I was in one of the receiving rooms with our guests when Meredith mindlinked me. She was Blair’s Omega, and she had been with her since she was a baby. When I was not with our child, she was the one responsible for her. So, the worry in her voice made me panic, too.“I turned my back to her for a few seconds, and when I looked back, she was already outside the door. I didn’t hear her open the sliding door. I kne
ALTHEA.“It is no longer in our control, Althea. But I’m keeping my hope that one day, Elliot will realize we are not the enemy.”Althea didn’t reply and just let the silence rule us. The last car passed by, and we acknowledged the nod of respect they gave us. Once they were out of our sight, Althea turned her body around and wrapped her arms around my waist, resting her cheek against my chest. “Shall we call it a night, Alpha?”“Hmmm… The night is young. Would you like to go somewhere with me?”“You know I will go anywhere you lead. What do you have in mind?”My eyes dilated before a smile graced my face. I licked my upper lip before I leaned down, my mouth brushing against her ear. “Rage wanted to take control tonight. If you let him…”She pulled away from hugging me, and I always laughed out loud at the way her eyes squinted and her lips pouted. “Rage or you? You’re always using his name…”“My Luna knows me so well,” I chuckled before pressing my forehead against her. She was so sho
BLADE.“You need to be careful with your words, Blade. He’s too young to be traumatized.” Althea said. “I’ll try my best…” I let out a breath and tried to calm myself. Althea was traumatized as a child, and she made it her advocacy to look after children’s welfare. She had built a women’s center in our territory, which was run by females and served as a safe haven for women and children. As much as I tried to have a peaceful territory, domestic abuse was still present, but no one was complaining about it. So Althea wanted the women’s center to reach out to every school and hold symposiums and meetings to build awareness that there was a place they could always go to. Her vision and effort were rewarded, as lately we were able to save two females and their children. It was not a big number, but it was still celebrated on our end. While one of the perpetrators managed to escape and has yet to be found, another has already received a whipping and is currently serving his sentence in
ALTHEA.Six months had gone by since Blair was born, and so far, everything had been quiet. We had not heard of Alastor. I was not even sure if he was aware that I had given birth already, as there were no strange occurrences within the territory.Blade had beefed up the security, investing in the same equipment that Adan had used before to detect a demon’s presence around his territory. He used Lucius’ body temperature as he was the closest to what Alastor was—a full royal demon. But we have not detected anything up until today. Either it didn’t work for Alastor, or he was really nowhere around us. We tried to live normally. Blair hadn’t stepped out of the packhouse grounds, but she was given an Alpha welcome in one of the hotels in this territory. We took a big risk that day because we wanted our people to see her. They deserved to meet their future Alpha, and I was grateful that everything went smoothly. There were also no signs of Alastor or even his aura. Four royal demons su
ALTHEA.After spending a few more minutes together, Blade helped me change into more comfortable clothes, and we finally let our family and friends see Blair.Patrea, Lucius, Lucy, and Adan came in together. My Beta Female Thalia and Gamma Female Sheena also came with the Beta and the Gamma. Lucy was holding her son, Luther, while Thalia had Declan in her arms. Declan was just five weeks old, and I had already fallen in love with him. I was lucky that my girl would have him. Based on how protective his parents were toward me and Blade, I knew the future Alpha would be in good company.With me and Thalia having pups, we had been teasing Sheena that it was her turn this year, so our pups’ ages wouldn’t be too far away.We had no idea if our teasing did it or simply because our Gammas couldn’t get their hands off each other. Sheena was already in her third month of pregnancy, and in less than seven months, our Gamma baby would be born. Sheena had already relocated to our pack and was
ALTHEA“Blade!” I screamed before I gave one last push, and I felt a large mass just swim out of my vagina as my whole body melted. I had been tired from doing rituals and spells and sex marathons with my mate, but I was never this tired. I felt like all of my limbs and even my internal organs needed a whole year to get their energy back.I was still lost in oblivion when a loud cry pierced the air, and Blade’s hold on my body tightened as he hugged me again. I was sure he had been whispering words to me, but I kept spacing out.“We have a girl…” He mumbled excitedly when I finally met his eyes.I couldn’t stop the smile from curling on my lips. I was actually smiling wide because Blade’s enthusiasm was contagious.What was funnier was that we knew all along that we had a girl. Guinevere confirmed it, and the ultrasounds said it as well. But the excitement on his face and his voice told me like this was the first time he found out we were having a girl.“Can you believe we have a girl
ALTHEA.A soft moan escaped my throat before I bit my bottom lip, suppressing any further sound from coming out as I arched my body. I woke up with a tingling sensation coursing through my core, and I was right — Blade was worshiping my pussy, feasting on it as if he were never fed. I just let myself get lost in the sensation, and it took a while before my surroundings sank in.We were in my cottage. In my old childhood bedroom. He probably didn’t feel right fucking me in my mother’s bedroom, so instead, he cramped us in my little bed. The last time I remember, we were inside the cave behind the waterfall. I couldn’t remember coming here. I must have passed out. My pregnancy was making me sleepy all the time, so falling asleep anytime, anywhere, was nothing new. And the way my body felt secure around Blade was most likely the reason I didn’t wake up while he walked us home.Then the memory of my conversation with Guinevere came flashing in my head. But was it real? Or was it all a d