Werloth POV:
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I was analyzing very carefully everything that happened.
Alice’s mother was pure venom, the kind of woman the Elves used to be very cautious about because this kind of being was unpredictable.
The Kings and I made our way to the dungeon where she was restricted and unable to use any kind of magic. Atlantes was waiting patiently for this moment to come and he was prepared for the worst. I’m sure we'll get something from her.
I sneaked a peek at Liam and he was agitated, his hand and his foot were fidgeting.
I wonder what it feels like to get to know your mother-in-law and face this kind of situation. We’re Kings and we’re supposed to always do the best for our people, nothing less than the best and we have to be prepared for anything, but there is no chance anyone would ever be prepared to face someone who used to be so close to your beloved one coming back from the death and showing herself as a monster like it happened today.
I’m doing what I can in my realm for now. I know I can’t take anything for granted.
I’ll give my people a Queen just as they deserve. She will be fair, strong and respectful, care for others and give me an heir.
However, it was not exactly what I had in mind and it was not at all what I truly wished for. Deep down in my heart, I wanted to find my fated mate, the one Moon Goddess destined for me, who holds the other half of my soul.
Meeting the one destined for me would mean that she'd also be destined to be the Queen.
Elves are known and blessed to find their mates at such a young age. We’re all staunch and loyal to the Goddess and I tried to reach her many times but she never reached me for that purpose.
I started to wonder if the royal blood was prevented from such a blessing in our lives because of the war, or it could be someone messing up with The Fates.
Liam and the other Dragons were an exception. They were the victims.
We’d been fooled by the people we trusted the most and it turned out they were hidden, acting on the orders of the Dark Prince.
They collected forged evidence that the Dragons would attack us and we attacked them first. We couldn’t have the smallest chance of having dragons attacking our realms. We would collapse.
We could only summon King Phoenix, the King of the Underworld Realm, if all the Kings from all over the Realms brought us together and summoned him, or if he came by himself. We hadn’t Liam so it was impossible, but now…I wondered.
But he really doesn’t care what is happening in our Realms, he's always too busy dealing with the wandering souls and the Vampire King also wouldn’t gather with us.
The Dark Prince is King Phoenix's brother, but he’s unreachable and untouchable. We could spot him only by King Phoenix's help.
Phoenix was an expressionless being that almost had no feelings, but he still cared a lot for his family to meddle in those kinds of matters in the Realms. He always had another priorities.
It was such a shame when we reached the Dragon’s Realm back that night and saw that everyone was calmly sleeping instead of the dragon's army gathering and preparing to attack us.
I hesitated the moment my army and I stepped a foot into their Realm. Women, children, families sleeping were mercilessly killed by vampires.
It wasn’t a fair war at all and I would never attack an unarmed opponent. The Elves and Faes, Wizards and even Werewolves, who are known for their ruthless fighting in war, hesitated and left.
Thinking back about my fated mate, I still couldn’t help but have some hidden hope somewhere in the depths of my heart, even further in my soul which longs for its other half.
Nevertheless, it wouldn't change anything. I already had someone to be my chosen mate.
I kept fooling myself that two decades of waiting was to prepare her, but I was actually scared to give in so easily.
I've always wanted to save myself for my fated one and the idea of mating another woman besides my fated one was still unbearable. Who knows, maybe in a few years if I get used to the idea and can finally give in, but now I would still be saving myself for when the right moment comes, even though I’m doing this also for my people advised by the Elders, I couldn’t help but feel it wasn’t right.
Besides, what’s two decades for those who have waited for centuries?
I felt like I was fooling myself indeed to try to keep waiting for my destined beloved and I was sure about all of the things I state and decide about the Elves' Realm but when it comes to what my heart desires, I turn into nothing but a lost elf, even before I was 18 years old, the mating age, I've promised to my unknown fated one and myself that I would treasure her, fill her days with love and happiness every single day and mate her all the time just to make her sweet and satisfied, I was completely in love and lost in lust with her without even meeting her.
Royal Elves have no carnal desires for no one besides our fated one, so I had to make sure that when the moment came, I would mate and mark my chosen one at the same time for breeding purposes only and I was not ready to give in right now.
She's beautiful and she has confessed her love for me many times and I do love her. She’s a great elf, she’s strong and respectful, but this is not the kind of love I had that we were both wishing for.
This kind of love was the same I had for my people, my realm, not as a woman, not as my Queen as it was supposed to but I was willing to do it anyway. I snapped back from my thoughts.
“You ask the questions and I will just make sure she’s telling the truth” I mind-linked the Kings. They all nodded.
We finally made our way to her cell.
“Hmm, what kind of pleasure are you Royals going to give me?” she asked, offering herself by opening her legs sitting on the corner of the cell and we all felt disgusted. We’re all glad that Alice and Randall agreed to wait at Atlantes' office.
“You, strong and gorgeous blonde elf, want to be my first?”, she pointed at me. I ignored her.
I repressed my thoughts and feelings about anything and I focused my mindpower on her so she wouldn’t lie and she would willingly tell us everything we needed to know.
I just nodded so they could start to interrogate her and they understood it.
“Patsy, long time no see, what you’ve been up to? What do you want with Alice?” Atlantes was the first who asked and I fixed my gaze at her, letting my power overflow the whole place.
She looked dizzy but she told us what we wanted to know.
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Liam POV:
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Werloth was using one of his powers on her so she wouldn’t lie and would willingly answer everything we wanted to know.
“We…we’ve been planning to destroy the realms…I…I want Alice because I…was after her unlimited powers but there’s something else we want from her now…some…something even more unknown and powerful”. She had difficulty speaking.
She was also panting, trying not to say anything, but Werloth was way more powerful and we were all astonished by what she said.
“How did you make Randall think you were his fated mate?” I asked her.
“I stalked him. He stopped by a bar outside his realm's border on his way out to have a drink and I dropped some wolfsbane into his drink before they handed the drink over to him. I did it so he could be more susceptible to dark magic, but of course, not before I tracked and killed his mate, I needed her scent and her heart to have a dark voodoo done by the Dark Prince so he could feel some pull. That was the only way I could reach a being who was immune to magic. Afterwards, I just caused a situation for us to meet outside the bar”, she replied with no hesitation, she didn’t care about it.
“So, you mean that he’s also naturally immune to dark magic since you had to poison him with wolfsbane?” I asked her. I needed to know about Randall's power.
“Yes”
“What else do you want from Alice?” I got enraged every time she replied.
“Her or yo…your…b…ba…baby” she said, and I jumped in front of her and grabbed her neck.
“How the f**k did you know about it?” I yelled.
Alec wanted to kill her right at that moment to protect my mate and our babies.
“I’ve been watching you, sweetheart; do you really think that you can keep your secrets from us? I've seen it when you caressed her belly. What else was it supposed to mean?” she said expressionless. I glanced back at the Kings and they had frowning faces, except Atlantes, because he knew about the pregnancy.
“Wait, if you wanted her powers so much, then why did you agree to block them when she was a baby?” This time, Philip was questioning her. I thought he could see it in his vision.
Was it some effect of the dark magic on her? Or had the Dark Prince blocked her mind from any possible psychics' power?
“She was a baby. I couldn’t have any single chance of having someone trying to kidnap her before me, even whilst powerful, a baby is still a baby. Have you ever seen a hybrid before? People would kill to get her and have her power. I couldn’t let it happen.” She replied coldly.
“Then why did you fake your death? You’re one hell crazy woman” Philip asked again.
“She was giving me a headache and pain. I tried, really tried to raise her and stay close until the right moment, but every time I was with her, she just kept crying out loud and I couldn’t even concentrate on painting my nails and when Randall was around and picked her up, she calmed down and even smiled. I was pissed. I didn’t want to become a mother. I thought about aborting her all the time when I was pregnant. I felt horrible with a bump and the tough pregnancy, you know? But I had orders to fulfill.” Patsy's coldness disgusted all of us.
All the Kings were enraged, children were blessings all over the realms.
Even vampires couldn’t do such a thing with their own kind, especially because the birth rate decreased after the war.
“Where’s your HQ?” Atlantes asked.
“Not in this dimension” she replied with a small grin, and then we heard a blasting sound from the Dungeon’s door.
Alice POV:
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Me and dad were waiting patiently.
All of a sudden, we saw a very tall and gorgeous man flashing over Atlantes Office with some guards.
He was about 6’8, taller than the other kings, he was extremely handsome.
I guess no woman could just simply pass through him without staring.
He had dark blond and short-length hair, very bright grey eyes that could pierce a soul, natural tan skin and he was wearing a long black trench coat and he wasn’t wearing anything underneath showing off his perfect abs and hard chest, there was something gloomy about him that made me shiver inside even though he had a face of an angel.
"Wow, that was unexpected, a villain that looks like an angel, still, he isn't sexier than my dragon". Hope said, and I rolled my eyes at her.
I glanced back at my dad and he was startled and speechless.
The gorgeous man looked at us expressionless with cold eyes like he was looking for someone. He simply ignored us, turning his back on us and made his way to the dungeon.
When he was in front of the door, he just blasted it away by pointing his finger at the door and he went in. I was confused and then my gaze found my dad once again.
“He’s Lucius Vernom, the King of the Vampire’s Realm”. I froze in my spot and gulped hard.
We all knew he was as cruel as the Sixforce members.
“But shouldn't the vampires be, like, really pale? Are you sure?” I asked my dad.
“Alice, you’re reading too many fantasy books from the Human Realm. He’s a King, he’s different and even more healthy and powerful than normal vampires by his own nature. Besides, vampires aren’t all pales. Humans figure it out because they can’t understand anything that isn't within their scientific understanding. They're limited right now. Please don't tell me that you also believe that vampires' diet is all about blood as well. Anyway, we should follow him. We don’t know what he wants or what he’s going to do, he’s not trustful”. My dad said and I nodded. We made our way after him.
We weren’t too close to them but, of course, he noticed us following him, he didn’t seem to care at all and when we got there, the Kings already knew he was there.
“Sorry for interrupting you but I have to take her with me right now” King Lucius said politely but coldly without greeting anyone, just glancing at Patsy, which made her quiver and her heartbeat speed up.
“What? What do you mean? We didn’t finish interrogating her and how come you’re here now? You're uninvited”, Atlantes told him.
“Wait, maybe we can work together” Werloth said, trying to calm everyone down.
“I’m not the kind of king who works together with anyone”, Lucius said bitterly.
He was cold and bitter, just like I imagined the vampire’s King would be, but still expressionless.
“Why do you want to take her that you felt the urge to come all the way to my realm for that? And how did you know she was here?” Atlas asked him, trying to relax.
“Lucky guess” he said, like it was not a big deal, and continued; “well, my father is working for the Sixforce, so it’s natural for me to defend its interest. Besides, I can easily take her to Phoenix if she doesn’t cooperate with my purpose”.
I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion. He was talking about King Phoenix? The unreachable one?
He got closer to Patsy, took the restraining stuff off her in a blink of an eye. Lucius made them both flash without even touching her, but not before he glanced at me and I could see his piercing cold eyes looked somehow startled, which made me also startled and uneased.
I shook it off, but these Kings are indeed powerful.
The Kings glared at each other.
“We should go to the Vampire's Realm and take her back”, Atlas said. He was enraged.
“I don’t think it’s a good idea. We already have a big problem to deal with. We better not look for another one now”, Werloth said. It seems that he’s the wisest of them all.
I noticed that Liam also looked enraged and tense.
Therefore, I approached him and I hugged him tight.
I missed him, I couldn’t stand being away from him anymore, not even for a minute.
He wrapped his arms around me and held me tight like he didn’t want to let me go ever again, he was protective and he pressed his lips on mine and I melted all over him.
“We need to talk, let’s go back to the office”. Liam told me after we parted our lips and I nodded.
We all made our way back to Atlas' office. Liam and I were holding hands and our fingers intertwined.
I feel like I could spend forever like this by his side, he was the peace I needed, like nothing else mattered around us anymore when I was with him.
Liam told us what happened and what they asked Patsy and what she replied to them. I stiffed when he told me she knew I was pregnant. My father approached me and kissed my forehead. I'm sure he could listen to the little heartbeats but he was waiting for me to say it.
“You’re going to be a great mother for your pups because you’re a great daughter. I’m so happy for you”. I felt some tears falling from my face when my dad said that.
“Thank you, dad, sorry for not telling you before but we were kind of busy" I giggled at him "I want you to take part in their lives. I know you miss it when I was a pup and didn’t take part of it like you wanted to because you were always protecting me. I will make it up to you now”, he hugged me as soon as I finished saying it.
He got on his knee and placed his hand on my belly and he smiled.
“They have a strong heart, I can hear them. Are you having twins?” He was happy and startled at the same time by the surprise in his voice. I just nodded at him with my teary glistening eyes.
“What a blessing” Werloth said, and Philip nodded dramatically.
Did all the Kings wish for an Heir that much or was there something more to it?
“The birth rate decreased after the war. I guess it’s the punishment from Olympus upon us, so hearing that you’re having twins is a blessing and cheers us all with hope”. Philip was the one who broke the silence now and he wasn’t with that playful smirk anymore, he was thoughtful and genuinely happy.
“I really hope it doesn’t take long for you to find your mates. You’re all great Kings and deserve the very same happiness I’m sharing with Liam now”, I stated to all of them.
“I was talking to my dad and we have to find King Conri, the royal meeting is in a few days and I think we might have a chance to investigate the Royal Pack then”, I continued.
“You sound like you just had an idea” my dad said, and I nodded.
I know he wouldn’t like it, but I don’t think there’s any other choice now that King Lucius took our shot away.
"The Daddies are going to love our idea" Hope ironically said while she was also chuckling.
“I did actually, I hope you don’t get mad, but I thought about going with you so you could introduce me as your hybrid daughter”, I told him, sounding more like a question.
My father furrowed his eyebrows.
“You want to make yourself a bait? Absolutely not”, my dad said. Liam also tensed.
“I’m sorry, princess, but there’s no way we’d agree to put you in danger” Liam stated firmly.
“I get it, I know how it sounds to you. But I’m willing to do it, we need to save King Conri from them. His own army wouldn’t go after him when their King was already there in the Royal Pack, right? Even though it’s a usurper, the Sixforce thought about everything and about every possibility but this one. And I’m sure of it, they would never expect that I would show up willingly. Please, he has no one else to count on but us. We don’t know where he is or how he is. He might be in pain, his wolf might be in pain and blocked, and I can not stand the thought of someone being hurt because some evil beings wanted to get their way to approach me. Maybe it's not even that and I know their awful decisions aren’t my fault, but somehow it makes me also responsible for him. I’m tired of feeling like they’re always one step ahead of us. I will do it and neither one of you will stop me, so you’re with me or I’ll have to get my way there by myself”. I told them all honestly and firmly, Hope howled in victory in my mind.
My dad came closer and his eyes were glowing but not as like Shadow was on the surface. It was admiration.
“You turned out to be a very strong woman, Alice. I’m proud I’m your father” he said while cupping my face.
I couldn't help but smile at him with so much love. I would kill anyone who dared to hurt my father, my mate or my pups.
“What if you get caught, princess? I still don’t completely agree with this decision”, Liam said with a frowning face.
Of course he wouldn’t, he cared about me, but I was determined.
“It would be better then because I would have a way to reach Conri myself. You’re the Kings, everybody knows you, so you'd never stand a chance I have now”. I sounded even more determined in my words.
Liam understood that I wouldn’t change my mind and he was left with no other option but hesitantly nod.
“I will cast some protection spells on you when the day comes, Alice”, Atlas said, and I nodded, thanking him.
We would only have to wait for the meeting’s day to come in a few days and prepare ourselves.