Derek’s POV“Did you just seriously say that to Asher?” Lars said through the link. He was pissed off at me.“Yes, I did Lars. Asher isn’t lying. It wasn’t him. Jerek would be able to tell if it was him. Sophia is old enough to decide if she wants to go with him or not. I am not going to stop her. Honestly Lars, with how she has been acting, I think she might reject me.” I felt deflated. I didn’t know what to do any more. So we walked back.“Asher, if you haven’t been attacking us, then do you know who it is?” I asked him seriously.“I sent scouts out, Derek, to try and find out who it is because you can’t seem to, but they turned up dead. All six of my men had their throats cut. They were my best scouts, too. So, I am as much clueless as you are.” He sounded indifferent to me.“Does Alpha Titus know you are here?” I asked him.“It was going to be a surprise. My men chased off that rogue army that was coming towards here, so you and your men can fly back. I heard your Mom isn’t doing
Derek’s POVWe landed a few hours after taking off, the feeling of dread sinking into my entire being. This was going to be the hardest thing that I would have to do. The drivers were waiting for us. Each one of them had a sullen look on their face. So they all knew of the Queen's health.“Sorry about your Mom Prince Derek. Just know that the entire kingdom will be behind you. If you need us to do anything, all you have to do is ask.” Miguel the driver told me.“Thanks Miguel, I appreciate that.” I sighed as we made our way back to the kingdom. I breathed a sigh of relief at being back home. Closing my eyes for the trip back didn’t help my headache. My heart was hurting being away from Sophia. I missed her even though we were fighting. If she was going to reject me, she might as well do it whilst I would suffer from the pain of losing Mom.“She won’t reject us Derek, Bria won’t let her.” Jerek said in my head, but it sounded as though even he wasn’t convinced. Ever since she had been
“Derek, stop. You are killing your mate.” A command came through my head, but it did nothing to me. All I could think about was ending Sophia’s life. I still wrapped my hands around her neck, squeezing her neck tighter with every passing second. All she did was stare into my eyes the entire time and laugh, but there was nothing in them. My Sophia was gone. Finally, she passed out from lack of air. Throwing her body on the ground, I run back to Mom’s side. It was too late. The silver dagger in her chest had delivered the final blow. My entire body went stiff. I felt the snap of Mom’s connection to the kingdom break, causing me to fall to my knees, howling in pain. One by one, as her connection broke from everyone connected to her snapped. All you could hear were the howls. I felt a hand on my shoulder as tears filled my eyes. “She is at peace now, Derek. She can finally be with your father. I am sorry, brother. What do you want me to do about your mate?” Asher asked me. “Take her with
…. POVIt was such a loss of life losing Queen Beatrice, her and I had always had a complicated relationship, but I loved her all the same. My heart was aching. I couldn’t imagine what Derek was feeling at this moment, losing his Mom and his mate. The way that Sophia was acting, there had to be something wrong with her. No sane person would act like that. The thing that got me, though, was why did Derek believe I was the one behind the attacks? I mean, I wanted his kingdom, but I would never wipe out packs like that. My father hated the werewolves, thought they were weaker than us, but then why had he told me they promised me Sophia as my mate?Her head was on my lap as they knocked her out from the sedative that was given to her. I didn’t want her waking up and having an episode on the jet. Plus, I had promised Derek that I would find out what was wrong with her. She looked tired, like the world had already left its mark on her. She was beautiful. Knowing what she had been through ma
… POV“King Asher, Gary sent me over here saying it was an emergency, is everything ok?” Roxy asked me with concern on her face as she walked into the guest house.“I’m fine Rox, honestly.” She relaxed when she saw that there was nothing wrong with me. Roxy and I had had sex a few times. We fulfilled each other’s dark desires.“Well, my King, who am I helping then?” “Rox, I have told you before. Call me Asher.” I sighed.“Not when it comes to being professional, your King. Now who am I helping?” “Her name is Sophia, and she is in the bedroom. I don’t know what is wrong with her. But I told Derek that I would find out what is wrong with her, and that’s where you come in.” She cocked her eyebrow at me.“Is this the same Sophia that your father has said you must take as a chosen mate?” she asked, masking something in her voice that I couldn’t work out what it was.“Yes, the very same. But it isn’t like that at all. She was poisoned. They injected her with wolfbane and something else. Sh
Derek’s POV“D, you need to talk to Asher.” Lars linked me, but I shut him out instantly. The rage I was feeling I needed to kill someone, and if I talked to Asher, then I would say something I would regret. It conflicted me with what to do with Soph. The thought of punishing my mate was making me sick to the stomach, but what she did was also confusing. Someone was in the house. I heard the door slam. Lars walked into the office. “D, have you been drinking all night again?” “So what if I have? What’s it to you?” I snarled at him.“You’re the king now. I get the loss of your Mom D, but enough with the fucking drinking, OK? If you don’t call Asher now, you will lose your mate as well. I am leaving in an hour on the jet to go to her, with or without you.” He was angry, I could understand that, but he still doesn’t get to order me around. Why was he going to Soph?“Why would you go to Sophia after what she did?” I snapped at him.“Because she is our fucking Queen, you idiot, and I will
Derek’s POV“Come now Derek, we all need to talk. We will stay here in the house, but not in here. Gary will stay with her and make sure nothing happens. She shouldn’t be able to get out of the cage.” He sighed as he left the room, waiting for the rest of us to follow. I didn’t want to leave her, but I knew I had to because I needed to know what the hell was going on here. Asher went to the kitchen.“Coffee anyone?” He asked.“Sure, we will all have one.” I said back to him. Sitting down on the stool at the island bench, the others copied what I did.“So, your mate has been poisoned with a rare concoction that Roxy has only ever heard of it once. But this is where it gets really complicated now.” Asher said as he paused, taking a sip of his coffee. I couldn’t move. I needed to know what we had to do.“Roxy is very talented in lets say potions. She is the best healer in the kingdom. I trust her with all the lives in the Kingdom. She smelt the poison. She doesn’t even know the name of i
…POV “Asher, I will be back in a few hours with a visitor, Elder Alaric. He is one of the original vampires Asher he has offered to come and help. He needs to know which Elder gave up their blood to do this.” Roxy’s voice came through the phone. “Rox, if that’s what it takes to save her, then bring him, but remind him that he may not feed on any of our members unless they are willing.” “Noted King Asher. I dislike werewolf blood. Funny taste. I feed outside the city limits. I will be fine for a week. But from the sounds of it, your friend Sophia does not have that long. We are waiting for Elvenia to bring her blessing.” The vampire elder's voice came through the phone. His voice rang with authority. If he was on the originals, then he was thousands of years old at the very least. This was going to be interesting. Hopefully, we do not offend him in any way, I was thinking to myself. “King Asher, I can hear your thoughts and yes, from a distance away as well. Your mind is very clear.
The darkness had consumed me, but I felt a hand grab mine, causing my eyes to open. I had been to this place before, but I couldn’t remember how. Looking at the hand touching mine, I saw her for how she really was, a goddess truly touched by the moon.“Do you remember how you got here, my sweet Sophia?” Her voice rung regal.“I am having some trouble, Selene. It seems that my mind is trying to stop me from remembering.” I was confused as to why. She stopped in front of me, still holding my hand, her other hand touching my cheek.“Will you allow me to show you?” She asked me. Nodding my head yes, I knew there were people waiting for me somewhere. Light shone from her hand and every memory that I ever had from when I was a baby right till my death flashed before my eyes. I saw all the love, all the hate. I gasped as the last memory stopped.“Will they be ok Selene?” I asked her.“Sophia, my child, would you like me to show you the future they have, or would you like to stand over all my
Why did he always assume that it was me? No matter what I did, he always thought it was me and I was tired of it. Here I was, accepting my fate to die so that they could live. Asher felt the pain he had just caused me. He was about to say something when I stopped him.“How dare you assume it was me? You always do this to me, Derek. I am sick of it. You ridicule me even though I accepted my fate so that you could live. I Sophia reject you, Derek, as my fated mate.” I said, and the bond snapped from me. The warriors gasped behind me.“You want to know where my mate is? I don’t know because I just rejected him. Even in death, he still chooses to believe the worst in me. As for my mate, you already know, Asher.” I told Zakari it wiped the grin off his face.“But you can’t have them both as your mates? It’s not meant to work like that.” He scolded me. The mate bond with Derek was broken by my side, but it wasn’t for him. That’s why I hadn’t said the rejection correctly, because I didn’t ne
Jarrod’s wolf was killing him slowly. His paw was on his head so that he couldn’t shift. Angus wasn’t even squirming. It was like he was welcoming death.“DO IT JUST KILL ME.” He screamed at us. He really wanted to die, but why should he? After all the pain he had caused me and countless others, death was the easy way out.“Jarrod, stop, don’t kill him. That would be doing him a favour. Chain him in silver.” Jarrod’s wolf cocked his head sideways. Asher disappeared and was back a few seconds later. Angus was now chained in silver and chained to the tree. Jarrod had shifted back.“What the fuck Sophia.” He said, coming straight at me. Asher stepped him in front of me and Jarrod stopped where he was.“If you touch her, Jarrod, I will rip you to pieces.” Asher’s voice was calm, and that’s what the scariest thing was.“I wasn’t going to touch her Asher, relax, but I want to know why she won’t let us kill him?” He questioned.“He wants to die Jarrod, we would be doing him a favour. See, we
Derek was going to be back in a few minutes. I could feel his aura getting closer through the mate bond.“As much as I want to stay here in your arms forever, we have to clean up. Derek will be back in a few minutes.” I whispered into his ear. Luckily, I wasn’t going to be alive long enough to worry about upsetting both of my mates. After we had a shower, which turned out to be a little longer than we thought because we couldn’t keep our hands off each other, we went downstairs. Derek walked through the door, instantly coming to the both of us and pulling us into a hug.“I am glad that the both of you were able to have that time together, but now I must talk nothing but seriousness.” He was hiding something in his voice that I couldn’t decipher what it was. He moved away, looking at the both of us. “Marcus and I have been talking, and we have come up with a plan. I am sorry, but I must leave both of you. I can’t stay here and watch you die, Sophia. It is selfish of me I know but on
Asher’s POV“The cost of this is your life, isn’t it?” I was choking on the words as I tried to get them out. “You both know this has to happen. I don’t know when it is going to happen, but I know it will be soon. It is the only way to keep our babies alive.” She told me her voice was not her own, she sounded other worldly. I knew this was coming, but I didn’t expect it to be so soon. I needed time. I could fix this. My heart was being ripped from my chest, falling to my knees. I was struggling to breathe. Her touch on my shoulder warmed my body, but it still didn’t take away the fact that she was going sooner than we thought. I had only just got her.“There is a cabin in the woods on the other side of the kingdom. You both should go and spend the night together there, please. I beg the both of you. We all need this. Sophia, baby, I love you, but you need to love Asher as well. Asher, you need her. Spend the night with her, make it worth it.” Derek said. He had sat down on the other
Asher’s POVKnowing what Derek was asking me to do was taking me away from our plans to stop this. But I couldn’t bring myself to leave. Sophia had suffered some much pain in her life times. And I couldn’t be the cause of more pain to her.“We need to stay with our mates and babies, Asher. If our mate has to die and all we can do is to be there for her, spending the time that she has left to make her happy, then that is what we will do.” Ivar ordered me.“I know, but the pain is too much, Ivar. How are we meant to keep going with knowing what is going to happen? And we know that Derek will do whatever he can to die as well after she does. I can feel it Ivar, he is not going to stay here on this earth if she isn’t here. This is why I am scared to finish forming the mate bond with her. We can’t afford to do that. We have to be the strong ones here for the sake of the twins. They are going to need us. We are their family.” Ivar was right, he always was, but I couldn’t help but feel I was
Derek’s POVWhen Asher told me to get Tim because the babies needed to get out, I don’t think I have ever moved faster in my life. Within minutes, we were back in my office carrying all the equipment that Tim required. She was in pain. I could feel it, but again she was blocking it through the mate bond, trying to save us from pain.“Soph, baby, let the pain through. We can help you take it.” I tried to explain to her, but she screamed, the pain in her voice causing me to fall to my knees. She was going to die and I wouldn’t be far behind her. The babies would have Asher. I just can’t be in a world which she isn’t part of. Jerek had heard Soph and Bria talking about what has happened in their other lives and there is no way that I was going to let her go through this shit by herself. We had to keep it to ourselves because I know she would make us swear to stay with the kids, but I wouldn’t leave her again.Asher backed away to let me in to take her hand. He had every right to be here
Sophias POV“You already know about this, don’t you?” There was no point beating around the bush.“Know about what, child?” He looked at me, confused.“He doesn’t know Soph, I am the only one that does. Although I suspect that Asher’s beast knows about it, but he hasn’t told Asher yet.” Bria confirmed with me.“Sorry Alaric, seems you don’t know, but I think you need to know because I need you to look out for my babies.” My voice sounded firm even to me. My strength was building, and I had a feeling that my babies were going to be here soon, so I needed to start putting plans into place.“What are you talking about, Sophia? Something is changing in you. I can sense it. What is happening?” He sounded concerned, which in all honesty he should be, because I had just accepted my fate that I have to die.“Alaric, I have to die.” I stated to him.“No, you don’t. We are putting plans in place so that nothing will happen to you.” “No, Alaric, that is not what I mean. My fate has been set, a
Sophia's POV“Soph, did you just feel that?” Bria was on high alert.“I did, but what was it?” I asked her.“Someone wants to hurt us, but they need us alive. We need to always be at arm’s length to these guys, just like Asher told us.” She was right. There was no way that we were going to be out of their sight. Automatically placing my hands on my stomach, I felt one of my baby's move towards my hand. “They love us all so much already Soph, but they are growing at a rate of three times quicker than a normal pup would. I would honestly guess we have less than a month before they will be here, so we must do everything they tell us tonight.” Bria commanded me this time. The way she was worried had me worrying, too. Both Derek and Asher were watching me with concerned looks on their faces.“Soph, what is it?” Derek asked me. He really was in tune with us ever since he had woken up from the despair that he had been in.“Let’s just say it is a feeling, but someone wants to hurt me, but th