Chapter 4 – A Desperate King

MATHIAS

I bit the inside of my cheek roughly and the metallic taste of my blood filled my mouth. I was trying not to lose my cool at my father-in-law as the triples climbed all over me. The boys were playing nicely but little Miss Amali was trying to take me down.

On any other day, I would laugh at the thought of my tiny daughter trying to bring me to my knees. But that wasn’t the case today.

Today my agitation was in full swing. I had just had to deny Bhakhil more troops as we were thin on the ground ourselves on this side of the realm. I understood the second continent was under more duress than us but New Moon and Riocht couldn’t keep sending our own warriors to aid them.

Asiarian was doing what they could but even their forces were struggling. Hunji’s brother Rostam, king of Asiarian was fighting Aodh's army on a daily basis on all different fronts and lending aid to the other kingdoms on the second continent.

I had been out there myself and fought against the dark army. In a bid to find a way to bring my little wolf home and in my search for Odeia.

“Mathias your place is here.” Marcus is saying once again, “We all want Lamia and Kellen home. Don’t you think Vivian and I want our little girl back safely? Don’t you think wherever she is they are doing all they can to come home?” Marcus sighs, rubbing his forehead in vexation, the green of his eyes glowing the more he talks.

Lamia may be his daughter, but he has no idea what I am going through right now. I can't feel my mate. Her mark on my neck has faded to almost nothing. I have no connection with the woman I love. And every time I think of how she was sucked into that void, with Kellen no less… It should have been me. It would have been me if I hadn't been knocked out of the way from getting to her.

“I know that look, Mathias… If both of you had disappeared things would be much worse than they are now.” He lifts Amali off me and into his arms. “The realm needs you. The council needs you.”

“Fuck the council.” I grit between clenched teeth. I could care less for them. My only goal was to bring my queen home.

The emptiness I felt without her couldn’t be measured. The anger that grew inside me came from Arcas and only layered onto my own feelings.

Three years. It had been three fucking years shy of a couple of weeks. I wasn’t losing hope, but I was losing patience. Each day I became more beast than man. Each day Arcas slowly took over more and more. He wanted blood, to see heads roll. He, like I, wanted to burn this realm to the ground, destroy Aodh, and kill anyone who got in our way of bringing our mate home.

“You’ve never been realms apart from your mate, Marcus.” I half growl and deposit the boys on the floor. “You have no idea what it's like to be disconnected and not feel the bond to your mate yet have all these feelings and worry. And the worst is… I can't do anything about it!” I hold my hands out, clenching my fists into tight balls. My teeth painfully grinding together as I hold in the building tension not wanting the triplets to see my anger or feel the wrath I so desperately wanted to release on the realm.

“You think you’re the only one? I’m her father!” Marcus stabs his chest, his face flushing red, eyes glowing showing his wolf, and his voice raising to a growl.

Immediately Arcas becomes defensive, seeing Marcus’ anger as a challenge to his superiority.

“And I’m her mate!” I yell back and Zachary starts to cry.

Out of the three, he is the most emotional and seems to sense people's emotions and feed off them. Max is immediately by his brother's side and Amali scrambles out of her grandfather's arms to join her brothers.

The next second Vivian enters the room with a maid and gathers the children. “I can feel your grumpiness from the other side of the palace.” She lightly growls at me with narrowed blue eyes that look at me with disapproval.

The maid gives me a weak and slightly frightened smile and takes Max in her arms, quickly shuffling out the door with Vivian.

I take in a deep breath and a step backwards letting my body slump onto the couch in my office. Leaning forward I brace my head in my hands. “I miss her Marcus.”

“We all do son.” He says gently with an empathetic tone. “We will get her back.”

He says it with so much conviction that I almost believe him. “It's been three years,” I respond knowing the more time passes the less likely Lamia is to return.

‘She’s coming home.’ Arcas grumbles from within. Even he still holds more hope than I do.

I have never been a patient man and being separated from our mate is tearing me apart. Our bond may have been broken but I loved her like no other. We didn’t need a bond to tell us we belonged together. When Arcas imprinted on her it was for eternity. No amount of distance or time could undo that bond.

I have searched the realm in the last three years for Odeia hoping by some miracle that she would tell me where she was and how I could get her back. I didn’t do it just for myself, but for Tala too. Without Kellen, she was lost. She was stronger than she gave herself credit for and with Mike and Lyric by her side, they were running New Moon as best as they could. Considering what our realm was falling to.

My temper was quicker than it had ever been, and my patience was next to nothing. I was a king, one that should be respected. Not feared. Yet my subject's fear of me grew the more I became displaced due to Lamia’s absence.

It was only a matter of time before Aodh took over the second continent completely. His army grew stronger each night and then he would be coming to conquer this continent.

I was no match for Aodh. Not on my own and not in my current emotional state. The last time we fought him, he almost killed me and Finn. Even our combined strength was useless against the god of the underworld.

That was another thing that perplexed me. I should have the strength to beat him. I know I had it but that’s not what happened. He spared my life only because he thought I would be the one to bring back Lamia. He wanted her spirit animal. It was Inanna he was after. Aodh couldn’t care less for the human side of my mate only the counterpart that used to walk the realms as a goddess until her father stripped her of her immortality.

Morgan had insisted on holding a meeting with the council and Lamia’s remaining three knights. Her visions had been stronger in the past few months and her latest one held a grain of hope of bringing back the King of werewolves and my queen.

It just wasn’t going to be easy. Damn near impossible without Odeia's knowledge.  But the little witch was determined that if we all pulled together… It might just be possible.

Which was one of the reasons I was losing myself to my anger and impatience once again. Reverting back to the cold-hearted shit I was when Lamia first met me. I didn’t want to wait to discuss it with the leaders of this continent.

I wanted to take action now.

It was like a crawling agitation wriggling around just under my skin and it was all I could do to keep my wrath at bay.

If only that wrath had helped me two years ago when I faced off against Aodh. I still remember those penetrating red eyes glaring down at me. The fucker snorted as Finn lay half broken and I lay a bloody mess.

I thought it was my end.

I thought he would finish the job but to my surprise, he didn’t. ‘A demigod who has yet to find his power. I will let you live until you bring her back. After that your soul is mine.’ He had laughed and then in a black could of grainy smoke disappeared. Just like he had when Odeia fought him.

A demigod who has yet to find his power. I had no idea what he meant.

I was the Alpha of Alphas, King of the shifters. I had power beyond measure. The strongest of the strong. But it wasn’t enough to defeat the red-eyed god of the underworld.

I wasn’t enough. And if I wasn’t enough then how did the realm stand a chance against him?

What kind of king was I that I couldn’t protect this realm from him and his monsters? A weak fucking bitch. That’s what I was.

New Moon, MacTire, and the Kodiak Kingdom had sent warriors to the second continent. I had come back from leading the Elite warriors of Riocht only three months ago and Tobias was set to come home before we held the gathering.

Morgan’s powers had been growing stronger, unfortunately, her gift to raise the dead was useless against Aodh’s army. As they were when we fought Senko.

According to sources, Senko's children and a number of his changelings had survived the battle but had gone into hiding deep underground. Just like Oliver and Petra. No had seen them since that day and he had remained just as elusive as the yellow-eyed children and the changelings.

Morgan's visions had been coming more frequently and even though she had said time and time again they were only a possibility of what could come, she was sure she had a way to bring back Lamia and Kellen. But it would take all of us to make it happen. My half-sister had been hitting the books hard and trying to recall all her mother had taught her.

Finn, Morgan, and I had even made several trips to Xenia in an effort to locate Odeia. We were met by Nyctimus, the king of the northern Lycans, only to be turned away and told she had not been seen in those parts. Even the three sisters had been absent according to the Northern King.

It’s strange how close Morgan and I have become since Lamia’s disappearance. Even Finn and I had been getting along better. Though I swear the fucker still had a thing for my mate. I could see it and feel it. For whatever reason he had an attachment to Lamia and had one ever since the day she met with him in the clan mansion cells. The only reason Arcas entertained him was because we had the same goal. To bring my mate home.

Morgan wasn’t afraid to go toe to toe with me. The little white-haired witch even managed to put Arcas in his place when the beast took over and went on a rampage. She could be a scary little thing and bossy when she had to be. Even Hunji, her mate would cringe away when she became assertive.

In truth, if it hadn't been for Morgan, I think I would have crumbled and gone feral three years ago. She had been the glue holding us all together. A good friend and confidant to not just me, but also Tala and Tawny.

Marcus cut into my thoughts as he shuffled the stacked papers on my desk. “All the main players are arriving in two days, hopefully Tobias too. Let's have a little faith in Morgan and see what everyone else has to say.”

“It’s a long shot, Marcus,” I say focusing on the conversation we were having.

“That it is.” He replies, stopping what he was doing to swipe a hand down his face. “If Morgan believes there is another way to bring them back… I’m willing to try it. Lamia is my daughter and Kellen is as good as my son. And well, let's face it, Odeia has pulled her famous magic trick and disappeared again. If anyone could have told us how to reopen the portals it would have been her.”

“Tawny and Crimson have poured through the books in the library of Tolba. Even Tristan has gone back to Andora to retrieve all his works and manuscripts. Nothing has been found. At least in the way of reopening the veils. If there had been, it would have been done by now.” I tell him, exasperated with the conversation now.

All we do is go around and around. And I guess a part of me and Arcas feel that’s all that’s going to happen with Morgan's idea and her visions.

I’m not sure I can take being disappointed again. I know Arcas can’t. If this doesn’t work, then I’m afraid he will either leave me or completely consume the both of us.

I was fighting many wars, but none were as taxing as the one in my heart. At night I would wake up in cold sweats feeling like I had been attacked. My heart pounding as if I had been running from something I feared. Then there were the nights I dreamt of Lamia and woke with a burning ache in my chest.

For three years, I don’t think I had had a decent night's sleep. Yet none were as threatening and all-consuming as the night I woke in hysterics a little over two years ago.

I had dreamt of Lamia, her emerald eyes stared at me, burning into me. A wicked smile had come across her face, one born of pure evil. That’s when her face began to reshape. Her hair became black as onyx, and her eyes glowed brightly as she began to morph into her beast. Yet it wasn’t her beast it was more Lycan. Her claws scraped across my chest and her teeth sank into my arm. And I remember to this day the burning feeling that spread throughout me and settled in my chest.

A pain like none I had ever felt. A pain that was aching to the mate bond betrayal. Except when I spoke to Hunji about this, he insisted that it couldn’t have been. That the effects and the pain I felt were different.

Hunji’s face had paled at first, thinking Lamia may have died but Marcus told him if she or Kellen had then the rest of the knights were sure to feel it. At least their spirit animals would.

Nothing was certain though. They were in another plain of existence. We couldn’t be sure of anything. Would they really feel it if either had died? I wasn’t so sure.