The Ivory Throne

7. Names

***Jadiel***

I stare at the pages of the black book, unsure if I’m understanding things correctly.

So a Gold Wolf mated to a Silver Wolf makes an Ivory Wolf? I ask, my wolf Omar nodding in response. So my mate…

Is an Ivory Wolf, Omar finishes for me. She outranks us.

You’re shitting me, I reply. Is that why I’ve been bowing to her?

Yes, Omar replies. She’s the captain now.

I don’t like this one bit. If Celina and her sister outrank us, then they will have a much easier time taking over my kingdom. I need to know why they’re here. Why, after all these years, have they come back?

A knock at the door pulls me from my thoughts and I look up to find Felix coming in with a pile of papers and files.

“I did the research you asked of me, Your Majesty,” he sighs. “And let me tell you, this dude is rich. Like, rich rich,” he adds, pinching his fingers together and rubbing them. “I wouldn’t mess with him.”

I scoff at this. “Felix, what’s my name?” I grin, Felix chuckling in response.

“Jadiel.”

“Jadiel what?”

“Jadiel Navarro, King of Estrella del Monte,” he sighs.

“King of Estrella del Monte,” I repeat, snapping my fingers. “I am a king, not a nobody.”

“Yes, but so is this guy,” Felix replies, handing over the files.

I raise an eyebrow at this, flipping open the first folder and looking at it.

“Olivier Honoré Artaud, CEO of Artaud Inc,” I say aloud. “Located in Silicon Valley.”

“California, Your Majesty,” Felix says. “I cross-referenced the location with the map of packs in the area. There’s a lot but since Artaud is a French last name, I checked for French packs in the area and voilà, only one is French; Lune de Rivière, better known as River Moon, and it sits within a kingdom called the Ivory Phoenix.”

“Ivory Phoenix?” I repeat, Felix nodding his head.

Ivory… Could it be a coincidence? I think to myself.

“Mhhhm and it’s a relatively new kingdom. I had to update the damn map on the pack tablet for it to show up,” he says, handing me the tablet. “The register says Alpha King Olivier Artuad of the River Moon Pack and his wife Luna Queen—”

“Wife?” I ask, Felix raising an eyebrow in confusion. “You mean fiancé?”

“Eh, no. Wife. He married his wife, Aurora, three years ago and from the looks of it, they do a lot of charity work in their area. Mostly for victims of s*x trafficking and domestic violence,” he says, pointing to a file containing lists of charities and their honorary members. “See, here are some pictures of them at different events, receiving awards or recognitions for their contributions.”

I stare at the pages and find pictures of Olivier with his arm around a woman who looks like my mate but is clearly not her. This girl smiles timidly as she’s handed awards and poses for pictures. The captions all read, ‘Olivier and Aurora Artaud.’

So she lied? I ask myself. What for purpose?

“I tried finding more info on this Aurora girl but I couldn’t find anything. It’s almost like this girl didn't exist until three years ago. She just appeared out of thin air, married rich, and is living life as a queen.”

I skim through the articles before an idea pops in my head. If Aurora and Celina Altamirano-Reyes are here to take what’s mine, I need to prepare myself.

“Find out if the Ivory Phoenix Kingdom has any enemies and set up a meeting with their pack leaders. I want to know who I can utilize when the time comes,” I say, Felix narrowing his eyes in suspicion at me.

“When the time comes for what?”

“Are you questioning your Alpha?” I snap, Felix knowing better than to challenge me when I’m annoyed.

“No, señor,” he replies.

“Then do it.”

Felix bows as he turns to leave, taking the tablet with him when both he and I receive a mind-link from my sister.

“Jadiel! Felix, come quick!” Belen whimpers. “This i***t is trying to intimidate me.”

I curse under my breath, Felix rolling his eyes as he too hears the message.

“Your sister is always getting into trouble with the clients,” he mutters, looking at me anxiously when I glare at him.

I mean, he’s not wrong, but he didn’t have to make her sound like a w***e. She just likes to make my parent’s life a living hell.

“Aren’t you supposed to be at the mall with your friends?” I snap, pinching the bridge of my nose.

“Oh like you’ve never snuck off from the shadows?” she retorts. “You know I don’t like them.”

Given my step-dad’s occupation, Belen and I grew up surrounded by bodyguards, or as we like to call them, our shadows, because they stay with us no matter where we go. I used to make a challenge out of sneaking away from them but now that I’m older, I understand the precaution. Efraín is a powerful man, and with a lot of power comes a lot of enemies. We have targets on our backs, whether we like it or not.

“Ugh, this stupid waiter spilled his drinks all over me!” Belen whines. “Pelotas, can you bring me a new shirt and some shorts, please?”

“Don’t call me Pelotas,” I snap, Belen giggling to herself while Felix stifles a laugh. “I was only a pup.”

“A very cute pup who wanted to be a wolf so bad, you used to run around naked to bring out your wolf,” Belen giggles.

“At least I didn’t electrocute myself,” I mutter, Belen gasping in return. “Chispa.”

{A/N: Pelotas means balls, and is sometimes used as a slang term to mean butt-naked. Chispa is a word that can mean spark.}

“Take that back!” she snarls.

“Do you want your clothes or not?” I tease, Belen huffing angrily in return. “I’ll be down in a minute. Try not to piss someone else off in the meantime. I don’t have time to babysit you.”

Belen only grumbles under her breath as I go upstairs into her room and grab her clothes from her closet. I’d send someone down to take her things to her but I could use the fresh air.

You just want to see your mate again, Omar chuckles.

I ignore him as I take the elevator down to the lobby, Felix and I parting ways at the hotel entrance. I make my way outside to the beach bar, my eyes fixating on my mate’s white hair swishing from side to side as she dances with a man I’ve never seen before.

To my surprise, I can’t seem to catch Celina’s scent, but I don’t give it too much thought. Her scent would make me do something I’d regret anyway. I watch her sway and grind her hips against the man, and it’s almost too easy an opportunity to pass up.

She sees me before I reach her, her cheeks flushing bright red as she pushes the man away.

“I don’t think your fiancé would approve of your dancing,” I tease her, Celina clenching her fists at her sides as she smiles coldly at me.

“My fiancé is a very understanding man,” she retorts, but even I know that hotheaded Alpha wouldn’t hesitate to knock her dance partner’s teeth out for looking at her.

“Oh yes, I’m sure Olivier is a very understanding man,” I reply with a grin. “So much so that he’s actually married to your sister, isn’t he? What’s her name?” I ask, tapping on my temple as I pretend to remember. “...Aurora, is it?”

Celina remains silent as I tower over her. There’s a fierceness in her eyes that dares me not to step any closer, but it only serves to tempt me even more. What would she do if I leaned over and kissed her? Would she smack me… or kiss me back?

“Y aparte de mentirosa, me saliste ladrona también {Not only are you a liar, you’re also a thief},” I add, Celina rolling her eyes as she tries to push past me.

“Where are you going?” I ask, following her to the bar.

She ignores me, walking to the bar to order another drink.

“You gonna buy me a drink?” I tease her, Celina holding up two fingers at the bartender as she takes a seat on a stool

“Sure, it's on you anyways,” she says through a forced smile.

I laugh at this, her feistiness almost charming. If she weren’t a damn Reyes, I might have even liked her. Two shots of tequila and lime wedges are brought over to us, Celina swinging hers back without a hesitation and placing the shot glass upside down. I drink mine as well, feeling the liquid burn as it crawls down my throat.

“So, you plan on explaining to me why you lied about your sister’s husband?”

“Is this conversation done now?” Celina asks, preparing to jump off her barstool.

“Might as well tell me now,” I taunt her, Celina stopping in her tracks. “I’ll find out eventually.”

Pain lingers in her eyes when she turns to look at me, and I know whatever her reasons may be, they bring her great sadness.

“Why do you care so much?”

“I want to know what a Reyes is doing in my hotel, on my territory after all these years,” I snarl at her, Celina glaring at me.

A small smile curls on her lips. “You mean the territory you stole from my family?” She scoffs, her silver eyes narrowing to slits.

“Hate to break it to you, chula,” I laugh, leaning into her ear so she hears me loud and clear. “But I bought these lands fair and square. All the contracts are legal and there’s not a lawyer in México that will help you take it back.”

“We’ll see about that,” she snaps back, beginning to storm off.

“It’s been an honor by the way,” I shout at her over the music, Celina turning back to look at me. “To meet a Reyes face to face. But I must tell you, I am a bit disappointed. You see, I’ve heard all these great stories about the mighty Altamiranos and powerful Reyes, but… I don’t see much,” I smile. “Guess that’s why there’s so few left.”

I expect Celina to lose her temper but my mate is full of surprises and to my shock, she only laughs.

“That’s interesting coming from a Bolivar,” she replies through a smug smile. “Or should I say Navarro? What’s the matter, mutt? Too ashamed of your own father to bear his name. At least I wear my father’s name with pride. He honored his Kingdom till his dying breath, but I bet yours begged for mercy. Oh wait! I’m pretty sure my father ripped his tongue out.”

She turns on her heel to leave but I reach out and pull her to my chest by the elbow.

“Adonde vas, Chiquitita? {Where are you going, little girl?”} You have something of mine,” I sneer.

“Ask the bartender for your card,” she huffs in annoyance, slapping my hand away. “Let go of me, imbecile!”

Out of frustration, she swings her hand at me and slaps my cheek, the look of anger in her eyes almost palpable.

“Hey, who the f**k do you think you are?” Belen snarls as she pushes through the crowd of people. “Otra vez tú, piruja! {You again, w***e?}”

“A quien le dices piruja, maldita perra! {Who are you calling w***e, you f*****g b***h!}”

Before I have time to react, both my sister and my mate are at each other’s throats, Celina grabbing Belen by her hair and pulling her to the ground. The crowd scatters to make room on the dance floor, people egging them on as they throw fists at each other.

They roll around the ground until Celina finally manages to pin Belen on the ground, landing several punches on my sister’s face.

“Yeah, Celi, f**k her up!” someone in the crowd shouts.

I reach over and grab Celina under her arms but a surge of pain spreads across the bridge of my nose as she elbows me in the face. Blood trickles down my lips, but I ignore the pain and once again try to grab at Celina’s hands as she yanks my sister’s hair back to slap her across the face.

“Stop!” I snarl at her, Celina biting on my hand until she draws blood. “Son of a f*****g b***h!” I hiss, letting go of her wrists.

A man and woman appear from the crowd, the man wrapping his arms around Celina’s waist and yanking her up into the air, while Celina kicks and screams.

“Okay, you win Celina! Calm the f**k down!” the man shouts.

I reach over and help my sister up, holding her back when she tries to lunge at Celina.

“Ya basta Belen! {Enough, Belen!} You lost,” I hiss in her ear, Belen snarling in return.

“You want more? Ahorita te meto otra putiza, idiota! {I’ll f**k you up right now!} Let’s go, b***h!” Celina snarls as she struggles in the man’s arms. “Let me go, Evan.”

“I want her off of my property!” Belen snarls in Spanish. “You and all of your family members! Get out! If you set foot here again, I’m calling the police and charging you for trespassing!”

“You want to kick me off my own land?” Celina scoffs. “Do you know who the f**k you’re talking to?” she snaps, breaking free of the man’s arms. She takes a few steps towards my sister, and I push her behind me before the two break out into a fight again. “My name is Celina Altamirano-Reyes, b***h. My name is sown onto every f*****g towel in every room of this hotel. Everything you see here was built by my family, so you better be f*****g ready because I’m coming back to claim what’s mine.”

“You have no claim over Hotel Reyes,” I argue, Celina smiling coldly in return. “It belongs to me and I will defend what's mine.”

“So will I,” Celina whispers, spitting blood on the sand at my feet and wiping her mouth with her wrist. She reaches into her dress pocket and pulls out my wallet, throwing it angrily at me. “There’s your f*****g wallet, dickhead. Keep your hands to yourself next time.”

I watch her storm off with her two companions, Belen turning to me with a swollen face.

“I’m calling dad and having that b***h escorted off the property,” she whimpers.

“No,” I shake my head. “We’ll let her stay another night here.”

“You can’t be f*****g serious. After what she did to me?’

I take a deep breath and wipe the blood trickling down my nose. “As the saying goes, keep your friends close, and your enemies closer.