Mated to the Four Kings

chapter 4

Ember (pov)

"Your mother loved the sunrise too," Seth said softly.

"Please finish telling me what happened to my parents. I need to know."

" Your right you do." Seth agreed, then took a big drink of orange juice.

"Come on Seth." I whined.

"What, I'm thirsty?" He said, throwing his arms up. I just stared at him.

"Tell me what happened." I said, now frustrated.

"Fine, but you have to at least eat this sandwich while I do." He said, passing it to me. "Ember, you have to eat. You have not eaten anything all day." He said, giving me a pleading look.

"Fine." I said, taking it from him and taking a big bite.

"Ok. So, once the sorceress told your parents what she had seen, they came up with a plan. Your father knew he would never be strong enough to fight. There was no way your mother could give birth to you at the palace. They didn't want to split up, being apart made them weaker. Have you ever noticed that a lot of warriors don't have mates?"

" I did notice that. Alpha Dimitri only had one warrior that was mated, but I just figured the others had not found their mates yet."

"That's part of it. Did you notice how Tom's mate was always close by, even when he trained?"

" I did. I always thought it was strange she didn't train with them, she was just always there. She was with him on patrol too." I said, not sure where he was going with that.

"Your right she was, she had to be. We are stronger when our mates are close to us. The further away from each other we are, the weaker we are. So it would only make sense to keep his mate close by to insure Tom would be at his strongest, right? That's the problem. By doing so, we put our mates in danger and, essentially, ourselves as well. Sometimes a warrior's mate will hide in a tree. I have even heard stories where holes have been dug around pack boundaries for mates to hide in if their warriors should need to fight. I know the palace warriors would train with their mates, so they would be better protected."

"OK, so what does all that have to do with my parents?"

"Your parents had to make a choice: either try and save you together or separate. Together they would be stronger but not strong enough to win a fight. Your father knew if he was killed and your mother was close by, or there to witness his death, she would never be strong enough to deliver you. They also knew they would not be able to get you to safety. But if your mother left and gave birth to you far away from your father, she would be too weak to feel the full force of the pain of losing him and might be able to deliver you before she passed.

The sorceress agreed that was the only plan she could see that had any chance of anyone from the royal family surviving. By the time your mother was pregnant with you, the whispers were loud. Your parents knew that an Alpha named Dominic was moving against them. They heard the stories of his travels to different packs where he spread lies in an effort to gain followers. Most Alphas admired and respected both your parents, but there were a few who were jealous of your father's power and wanted it for themselves not to be great leaders but to control the packs. So they joined forces with Dominic.

By the time your mom was two months pregnant with you, we knew we had to leave. The sorceress told us she had seen the army moving in, and we had to move now. That's when your father came to me. He told me it was time that I needed to go. He made me promise that I would do everything in my power to keep you safe. I gave him my word.

The plan was to get Scarlett to her brother's. Once there, his pack would help protect her until she gave birth to you. The sorceress traveled with us to help if she could. We tried to talk your brother into coming with us, but he refused. He said with his father being too weak to fight and me leaving to protect his mother and sister, it left his father and palace unprotected. He refused to leave his father's side. I did later hear that he had killed most of Dominic's warriors along with three alphas. Your brother was trying to get your father out of the palace when Dominic found them. I was told they died together. "

I had been staring out the window while Seth told me about my family, so I didn't know why he stopped talking. I turned and looked at him to see if he was going to continue. That's when I saw the tears rolling down his face. I quickly looked away. I had never seen Seth cry, not once. Seth cleared his throat.

"Um, so we got to your uncle's place and two weeks later she had you."

"If I was born at my uncle's, how did we end up in Dimitri's pack? Why didn't we just join my uncle's pack?" I asked him, feeling confused. I mean it made way more sense to just stay there.

"We couldn't stay there. It wasn't safe. Your mother gave birth to you three hours before Dominic attacked the palace."

"How do you know when he attacked?" I mean really how would you know something like that if you were far away.

"The sorceress, mate."

"The sorceress had a mate?" Why was I so surprised by that? Of course, she had a mate. Everyone has a mate.

"Ha ha ha you sound surprised by that. Trust me, we all were.

When your father asked the sorceress to stay, he didn't know she was mated to someone in the palace. He was a palace doctor but not a royal doctor at the time. He never came to the palace. He stayed at the hospital and took care of the pack and the guard. Your brother was trying to impress a girl and fell out of a tree and broke his leg. He healed fast. So fast no one had a chance to reset it. The royal doctor was away, so the palace hospital doctor was called.

The sorceress was there to try and help with the pain of having to re-break Mark's leg. That's where they met. The doc moved into the palace that day. When we left, he stayed behind to keep an extra eye on the king and to help if he could. He was a great doctor, not so great a warrior though.

We trained together a little bit. I taught him some of the basics, but that was as far as his fighting skills went. He mind linked to the sorceress when Dominic arrived. He was our inside man. He was able to keep us somewhat up to date on what was happening at the palace. He was the one who told us the king was dead, not that we needed him to, we all felt his death."

"Wait, what do you mean you felt it? Like you actually felt it?"

"Yes, the alpha king and Luna queen are connected to us. I guess you really don't know much about that. OK, so you know how when the alpha gives an order, you have to, summit?" I shook my head, yes. "Well, the alpha king and Luna queen can do that, but not just to its pack to every werewolf, even the alphas. To have that kind of control, you have to be connected. Only a true king or Luna from the royal bloodline is strong enough to have that connection.

Because of that connection, every werewolf felt your parents' death. Your mother died an hour after your father. Your uncle had a funeral for your mother and that's when Dominic showed up. He came to make sure she was gone. He also came looking for you. He could not take power if a royal was still living. Your uncle told him your mom died before she was able to give birth to you."

"He believed that? He just took my uncle's word that I was never born?"

"Yes. Remember how I said the sorceress came with us? Well, it's good that she did. She binded your wolf and by doing that she covered your scent. You smell human another wolf would never be able to smell you. It helped keep you out of danger. She also bonded your blood. I'm not sure how that works. I don't know much about blood bonding. What I do know is that it covers up the smell of your royal blood. Werewolves can smell royal blood up to 20 miles away. Once bonded, you can't smell your royal blood any more and that is how I have been able to keep you safe."

"We're almost there now. You look tired. Get some sleep. We should get to your uncles in 3 hours. I'll tell you more once we get there."

"Wait, you never told me how we ended up with Dimitri's pack."

"You really should sleep. We can talk more once we get to your uncle's."

"I promise I will rest after you tell me."

"Fine. But then you have to rest."

"Deal."

"OK, so the sorceress mate followed Dominic to your uncle's house without him knowing, of course. We knew he was coming, so I hid with you in the packs underground bunker until he left. Your uncle convinced him that he and his pack had no interest in seeking revenge for the death of the queen and king. He only wished to give his sister a proper burial."

"Your uncle's pack is one of the biggest packs there is. His warriors were strong and Dominic knew he didn't have enough warriors to win a fight against your uncle. When he finally left, I stayed hidden in the bunker with you for two more days to make sure he was gone."

"Your uncle and I knew you would not be safe if you stayed with his pack. Dominic would always be checking, and we could not risk you being seen by one of his spies. Dimitri was not my first pick of packs to hide in, but I knew Dominic and Dimitri had bad blood, so he would not be coming by for random visits. I'll tell you more when we get to your uncle's. Now go to sleep, you need your rest.