Mated to the Four Kings

Chapter 6

Ember (POV)

I looked around at the different pictures on the wall. I tried to remember how many rooms we passed and what the doors looked like, but there were too many to keep track of. I would have to ask for a map or have someone show me around, so I could make my own. This place was ginormous.

We came to a big oak door and my uncle pushed it open and gestured for us to go in. Seth went in first and I followed. My uncle followed after with the man I believe was Broody, his Beta. Broody closed the door as my uncle gestured towards the two armchairs that sat in front of his oak desk.

I looked around and took the room in. It was beautiful. It had bookshelves lining two of the walls. The wall behind him was painted a royal blue and in the center was a canvas picture. It was obviously a picture of my uncle when he was much younger. There were five other people in the picture with him, a small woman with brown hair on his right side. He had his arm thrown over her shoulder. On his left side there was a much taller woman with blonde, almost white hair, laughing. I looked closer. She looked familiar. I moved a little closer to get a better look. I gasped when I realized who the woman was.

"Uncle is that my mother?" I finally asked, never taking my eyes off the picture.

"Yes and your father." he said, walking over and taking my hand and pulling me closer to the picture. Then he started pointing everyone in the picture out to me.

"This beautiful lady right here is my mate, your aunt Sara. That's me, of course, that is your mother and standing next to her is your father, and next to your father is your uncle Patrick and his mate, your aunt Jody."

He said, as he pointed each person out. I looked at my father. He was a handsome man with bright green eyes, the same color as mine. He was tall, the tallest in the picture. He was big, huge, even bigger than my uncle. They all looked so happy. My heart ached. I wish I had had the chance to meet them. What my uncle had said clicked in my head.

"I have more family," I asked, excited.

"No, I'm sorry sweetheart, it's just your aunt and I, along with your two cousins, who you will meet very soon." he said, smiling.

"What happened to my other aunt and uncle?" I asked, needing to know as much about my family as I could.

"Your aunt Jody was your father's sister. They were very close. They lost their parents when they were young. When her brother took his place as king, Jody and her mate Patrick stayed at the palace with your parents. They stayed with your father when the palace was attacked. They didn't make it." he put his hand on my shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze.

We didn't say anything else, we just stood there staring at the picture together. I tried to imagine what my parents were like. They looked very happy. A knock at the door pulled me from my thoughts.

"Come in," my uncle called.

The door opened, and I recognized her right away from the picture. My aunt Sara walked into the room, followed by two adorable little boys. They had to be my cousins. They looked just like my uncle, only they had their mothers' blue eyes. They stayed hidden behind my aunt, each peaking around the sides of her to get a better look. When they realized I had seen them, they both jumped back behind her to hide again.

I didn't give my uncle a chance to say another word or a chance to introduce us. I was already making my way toward them and throwing my arms around her. Once the shock of me throwing myself at her was gone, she hugged me tight and it felt so good. Growing up, Seth hugged me when I was upset, and he always told me I was loved, so I never realized until now how much I missed not having a woman's love in my life.

There were a few women in Dimitri's pack that took me under their wings and helped me, but it never felt like this, warm and comforting. After a few minutes of holding each other, the boys hiding behind her got impatient. The smaller one gave my shirt a little tug. I pulled away from aunt Sara and looked down at the little boy standing next to me now.

"Hi, I'm Ember, and what is your name?" I asked him, bending down, so I was at eye level with him.

"I'm Austin and this is my twin brother Jameson jr. We call him JJ." he said, smiling at me. I turned and looked at my uncle.

"Your name is Jameson?" I asked, realizing that was the first time I heard his name. Uncle Jameson looked over at Seth.

"You didn't tell her my name?" he now asked, looking hurt.

"No, I didn't want anyone overhearing and figuring out where we were going." Seth said, shrugging his shoulders. I guess my uncle agreed with his explanation because he just nodded his head in agreement with him.

"OK boys, I need both of you to go with mom and help her get everything ready."

"Do we have to? We want to stay." The bigger one I now know as jj whined.

"Yes you do. I have a few things I still need to talk to Ember about, but I promise when we are done talking I'll come get you both." My uncle said, holding out a pinkie finger to each of the boys. This seemed to cheer them both up. They each stuck their pinkies out and wrapped it around their father's and, with a smile big enough to show all their little teeth, said "deal" together, then released their father's finger and ran out the door.

"Those boys are a handful" my aunt Sarah said, smiling and shaking her head.

"Well, I'll leave you guys to it then. I just wanted to come in and introduce ourselves before all the madness started. Don't worry, sweetheart, we will have plenty of time to catch up." She gave me a quick side hug then left the room, closing the door behind her.

"Since I have you both here, we have a few things to go over real quick." my uncle said, now taking the seat behind his desk and motioning for us to sit in the chairs in front of his desk.

Seth, of course, waited for me to sit first, then took his seat.

"This is my beta Broody, and his right-hand man is Clifton, they both know who you are." my uncle said, motioning his arm behind us. Just as the two men who had met us earlier in the SUV came around the desk and stood by his side. I noticed Broody stood next to my uncle and Clifton stood next to him. I wondered if they always lined up by rank.

"It's a pleasure to see you again, princess," Broody said, bowing his head to me.

"If you need anything, princess, please let us know" Clifton said, bowing now.

"Thank you very much," I said, nodding my head at them both.

"Alpha, if we are no longer needed we would like to take our leave to help with preparations," Broody said.

"Of course" my uncle said, nodding his head at them. My uncle waited until both men had left and closed the door.

"OK, so I don't want anyone to know who you are. It's not that I don't trust my pack, but there are spies everywhere. The only people who know who you are is Broody, Clifton, and your aunt. The boys do not know. We are not going to tell them right now, just in case. They are young and can slip easily. You're my niece. You do not call me Alpha. You will one day be my Luna queen. However, I can not have you calling me uncle right now until your identity has been revealed. So how would you like to address me?" he asked, smiling at me.

"Can I call you James? Jameson feels kind of formal," I said.

My uncle smiled.

"Your mother called me James." I swear his eyes sparkled when he said that.

"OK, so now we have all that out of the way, I have a question that has been driving me crazy for years. I need to know how you got Dimitri to agree to you both joining his pack." James asked, now looking at Seth.

"Ha ha ha ha, it was actually pretty easy. I knew rogues had wiped out the black moon pack a month earlier, so when I arrived at their boarders, I asked to speak with their Alpha and told them we were from the black moon pack.

When Dimitri arrived, he asked how we survived the attack. I told him my sister mated with a human and he left her right before she had the baby. She was not strong enough to survive the rejection because they had already mated.

I told him I was at the hospital with my sister when the rogues attacked and when we returned I found the whole pack slaughtered. It looked like they were headed west, so I headed east to get as far away as I could, and we came across his pack. He believed me and allowed us to join his pack.

It helped that the sorceress bonded Embers' blood and binded her wolf so she smelt human." Seth said, now smiling looking proud.

"Well, Seth, I will say I'm very impressed. I would be lying if I said I was not worried when you left with Ember. I didn't think I would ever see her again. I was happily surprised when I received your message saying you were coming home. Thank you for all that you have done for our family. We are forever in your debt," James said, bowing his head to Seth.

"No, Marcus was my brother. No debt is owed. Besides, it was my job as Ember's God father to keep her protected and safe. It's been my honor to raise Ember." Seth said, now bowing at James. "I just wish I could have done a better job of protecting her. They both looked over at me and I could tell they were looking at the bruises on my face.

"Well, just know my family and my pack will always be there anytime you need us. You will always be family and have a place in our pack."

"Thank you," Seth said with glossy eyes.

"Alpha, there is something else we have to discuss."

"The floor is yours," James said.

Seth turned to face me now.

"Ember, the sorceress binded your wolf until you were 21. Your 21st birthday is in two months."

"Wait no, my birthday is not for another four months." I said, confused that Seth forgot when my birthday was.

"No, that is what I told Dimitri. You were born three weeks before we arrived. For a wolf, you were normal size but, for a human, you would have been too big to be three weeks old. I also wanted to put as much distance from when you were born and when the queen was due to give birth. I did not want Dimitri or anyone in his pack putting it together that you might be the princess.

Delaying your wolf has helped keep you safe up to this point. The problem is you will only have six months to connect with your wolf before you take the throne and become queen. Most werewolves need at least a year, if not more, to connect with their wolf. It takes almost two years to be able to even call your wolf on command. You don't have that kind of time.

If your uncle agrees, I would like you to start training with his warriors right away. This will help build up your muscles, so your wolf will be strong, plus you need to know how to fight, so you can defend yourself should a time come, and you need to."

"Yes, I agree that is a very good idea," James said, shaking his head in agreement.

"I guess I'm training," I said, looking between them both.

" Alpha, there are some other things you and I need to discuss that I learned while in Dimitri's pack, particularly with his warrior training, but that can wait until later."

" I am very interested in knowing all you learned while with Dimitri's pack, but you are right. It will have to wait until later. In a few minutes I would like to take you both to our banquet hall to introduce you to the whole pack."

"You will be introduced as my special friends. Seth, you will be introduced as an Alpha. You will get the respect you deserve from my pack. Ember, you will be assigned a guard around the clock." I went to object. "No, this is not up for debate." I could hear his Alpha influence, but it didn't touch me.

"I will agree with your guard, but, just so you know, your Alpha does not affect me at all." I said, standing, putting my hand on my hips. James bust out laughing. OK, not the reaction I was expecting.

"You are more like your mom than I thought you would be." my uncle said, still laughing.

"Are you ready to meet your pack?" James asked, now walking over and putting his arm around my shoulder and leading me to the door.

"As ready as I'll ever be," I said, sounding braver than I felt.