The Ivory Throne

10. Rise of a Tyrant

***Aurora***

It’s been four days since we arrived at Orozco’s ranch, a calming breeze sweeping across the land as I step out onto the patio to watch the sunrise. The birds in the aviary begin to chirp as they awaken, and before long, the rooster begins to crow. As the workers start their morning routines and feed the animals, I walk out of the aviary to think, grabbing the small bucket of seeds and finding a bench nearby for me to ruminate on. I toss some seeds on the ground, birds flocking to get their breakfast while I watch.

Celeste told us all about my mother’s former kingdom and the packs that remain independent . Luna Huasteca is a small pack situated in the tiny town of Nueva Apolonia, just an hour south of Mante. The pack keeps mostly to itself but its relative remoteness makes it ideal for the Navarros’ and their nefarious businesses. To the west is the Valle del Sol pack located in Nuevo Morelos. While also not a large pack, Valle del Sol is known for its hand-to-hand combat techniques. Of course, what good are such fighting skills against guns? The Estrella del Monte pack has been hitting them particularly hard, though it remains unclear why. Of all the packs though, none have experienced the amount of violence that the Rio Azul pack has. Rio Azul is a pack located in Panuco, Veracruz, bordering the Estrella del Monte territory. They sit just along the Panuco River which leads to the port in Tampico, making it prime real estate for the Navarro’s drug trafficking operations.

Finally, there is the Hernandez Clan, residing just two and half hours south of Mante in Ebano. They are the smallest of the three original Silver Wolf clans in the kingdom, but are by no means weak. Estrella del Monte has left them alone for the moment, but there’s no guarantee they’re not interested in them. We will pay a visit to the Hernandez Clan first in order remain under the radar before heading to Panuco and meeting with Rio Azul.

As for the remaining Altamiranos, no one knows where they are. After the collapse of the two kingdoms, Montserrat and Melissa Altamirano took their families and vanished. Celeste believes they may have gone to San Luis Potosi to live under the protection of the Luz Marina Kingdom, but their whereabouts remain a mystery. Still, Celina and I have not given up on finding them and Oliver has assured me that he will look into our mother’s maternal family.

For now, we will focus on helping protect the remaining independent packs and clans from Estrella del Monte’s claws. Ubaldo, the current Alpha of the Orozco Clan, arrives tomorrow and Celina could not be more anxious for him to arrive so we can start our work.

We’ve been confined within the Orozco lands since we first arrived, the guards having informed Celeste that Jadiel and his men arrived in Mante shortly after we did. I can only assume Jadiel’s goons are staking out the city to watch our movements, so we have been very careful in not leaving the territory until Ubaldo arrives. There’s no need for us to put ourselves in danger in an unknown city, but Celina’s antsiness is slowly starting to drive me insane.

It doesn’t help that my pregnancy has somehow managed to progress this far along without any complications. Reyna’s excitement continues to grow, but as the day I lose my gifts and change my scent slowly approaches, I become more terrified. I try to keep my expectations low, but watching Oliver play with Celeste’s great-grandchildren makes it hard to not dream. I want to make Oliver a father, but more than anything, I want to be the mother I never had. I want to hold my pup in my arms while I sing them to sleep, and I want them to know how much they are loved.

As I sit here watching a little momma bird feed her hatchlings, I can’t help but feel I am making a huge mistake in taking on another responsibility. Starting this journey in reuniting the packs could lead to an all out war against both Estrella del Monte and the Navarros, and if the fighting doesn’t kill me, the stress might complicate things for me.

I just need to hang on for another week, I whisper to myself.

But in the back of my mind, I know surviving this week only means Oliver will eventually find out about our pup, and when he does, there’s no telling how he’ll react. Then again, I could very well lose this pup at any point in my pregnancy. That thought alone brings tears to my eyes.

Why couldn’t I just have an easy pregnancy like everyone else? Why must my first thought always be of impending death?

“This is so unfair,” I whimper, wiping away the tears that roll down my cheeks.

Evan’s scent fills the air, and I do my best to compose myself, forcing a smile on my face as he rounds the aviary and settles down beside me.

“You’re up early,” I chuckle, hoping I look calm.

“So, what’s so unfair?” he asks, ignoring my comment.

“Well, good morning to you too,” I mutter, Evan narrowing his eyes at me.

“You didn’t answer my question.”

“You didn’t answer my good morning,” I retort, Evan crossing his arms over his chest.

We stare at each other in lethal silence, nostrils flaring and eyes narrowed.

“Ducks have corkscrew d***s,” he blurts out matter-of-factly as I stare at him in confusion.

“What?”

“I said what I said,” he huffs, turning away, yet side-eyeing me. “Now that I have your full attention, what are you all upset about?”

“Who said I was upset?” I ask, Evan raising an eyebrow and frowning.

“You seem to forget that I am your Gamma. I can sense when something is bothering you,” he says.

“Don’t worry about it,” I reply with a shrug.

“Translation: I’m in so much pain that I don’t want to be a bother.”

I smack him on the shoulder and sigh in annoyance.

“Translation: Evan is so insanely smart and handsome that I’m annoyed that he’s figured me out. AND DID I MENTION HE’S THE MOST HANDSOME MAN I HAVE EVER MET?!” he adds, shouting the last part.

I burst into laughter, a smug smile curling on his lips as he watches me. When I stop, I lay my head on his chest, Evan draping his arm behind me and pulling me closer to his side. I don’t know how long I lie there, but I am grateful for my friend’s company.

“You don’t have to tell me what’s wrong,” he whispers, kissing the top of my head. “You just need to remember that I’m here whenever something is wrong.”

I nod my head, listening to the sound of his heart lightly thumping against his chest, when his stomach suddenly starts growling.

“Can we go eat? Your great-aunt is making something and it smells spicy,” he begs, helping me to my feet and practically pulling me back towards the house.

The scent of spices, beans, eggs, potatoes, cheeses, and cooked meat emanates from the kitchen as we enter through the back door, Evan bursting into laughter when we see Oliver in the kitchen, cursing under his breath as he burns himself while flipping a bocolito on the comal {griddle}.

{A/N: Bocolitos are a small yet thick tortilla-like patty of dough that is cooked, slit down the middle, and then stuffed with a choice of beans, cheese, eggs, or even leftover meats. They vary within the La Huasteca region but these ones are specific to Tamaulipas.}

“Very good, Señor Aceituna {Mr. Olive}. You’re practically Mexican now,” Celeste says encouragingly, her eyes narrowing at Evan as he laughs. “Oh you think it's funny?” Celeste asks, her Mexican accent growing thicker. She smiles in amusement when Evan shakes his head. “Ven aca {Come here}. You wanna eat? You’re going to work for it,” she huffs, Evan sulking as he too is tasked with making his own breakfast. “Everything tastes better when you make it yourself. Come here, I’ll show you how to shape yours.”

After washing his hands, Celeste demonstrates the correct size and thickness that Evan’s patty of dough should be, before she instructs him to place it on the comal.

As I pull up my sleeves to wash my hands and make my own, Oliver stops me, instructing me to go sit down.

“Let me make you breakfast.” He smiles, his dimples on full display as he looks down at me.

I look at the comal behind him and then at him, skeptical that he knows what he’s doing.

“Did you not hear Celeste?” he chuckles. “I’m Mexican.”

“Boy, if you’re Mexican, I’m Icelandic,” Evan mutters, Oliver rolling his eyes.

“At least I speak Spanish,” Oliver mocks.

“Hey, I speak Spanish. Como se dice, shut the f**k up. See? Who’s the Mexican now?” Evan chuckles.

Celeste grabs a wooden spoon and smacks both of the boys on the backside, Oliver and Evan growling at the small woman but going silent when she raises the spoon threateningly again.

“Ya basta {Enough}!” she huffs, ushering me into the dining room. “Don’t worry, mija. He will make you breakfast. Sientate {sit}. He’ll bring you food.”

Reluctantly, I sit, as she delegates, Oliver bringing me coffee just how I like it before finally presenting me with a plate of four very different looking bocolitos.

“Celeste says I’m worthy of marriage now,” he chuckles under his breath, bringing a second plate of bocolitos for himself, these ones quite burnt and falling apart.

I take two off his plate and replace them with two of my much nicer bocolitos.

“I want your good and your bad,” I whisper, taking a bite of the very burnt bocolito.

He settles beside me, silently preparing his own coffee, but I know he too knows something is bothering me. The mate bond makes it very difficult to hide our feelings from each other.

“I want your good and bad too,” he whispers in my ear. “You just have to give it to me. I promise I’ll take care of it.”

He turns back to his food as if nothing happened, patiently waiting for me to be ready to share my burdens with him. We enjoy a relatively quiet breakfast, Celeste joining us and sharing more stories about our family.

“Tia Celeste, what did you mean when you said my great-grandfather Rafael was a tyrant?” I ask, Celina and Mia both stumbling in with severe bedhead.

“What time is it?” Mia yawns, settling next to Evan and attempting to take one of his bocolitos.

“Nuh-uh.” He shakes his head. “Make your own. I worked hard on these.”

Mia groans and serves herself a cup of coffee while Celina simply curls up beside me in her chair, still half-asleep.

“It’s been many years now since I thought about this, but I still remember the atrocities your great-grandfather, King Rafael, committed during his reign. Sol de Oro existed long before him, but the Sol de Oro Kingdom your mother grew up in was very different to the one Rafael inherited. He was born at a time when the kingdom was much smaller, just five packs and my family's clan joining together under the rule of the Reyes family. Previous kings were pretty insignificant, but Rafael was very ambitious, and he made a name for himself very quickly. Using his charm and charisma, he was able to expand the kingdom’s territory across three states, until he had twelve packs and two clans under his control. He then turned his father’s bed-and-breakfast into a hotel chain in a relatively short time, establishing Sol de Oro as a powerhouse within the wolf world. But we later found out where his money and power came from — Trata de Blancas.”

“What’s Trata de Blancas?” Evan asks.

“Human trafficking,” Celeste sighs, my heart sinking to the pit of my stomach. “He would coerce the young she-wolves of the kingdom to the bed-and-breakfast, drug them, and sell them to wealthy, white businessmen for an allotted time, and if they ever spoke about what happened to them, he had them executed under grounds of treason,” she says, clearing her throat and wrapping her shawl tightly around herself.

I feel Oliver slip my hand into his, bringing it to his lips and kissing it to ease my racing heart.

“In addition to the trafficking, Rafael was very controlling. He managed all the finances of every pack under his rule, designating rations for every member of his kingdom. Of course, the rations were never enough, and many wolves found themselves struggling to feed their families. They started searching for ways to make their own money, but when the king found out, they were quickly executed or enslaved.”

“Oh, so you meant tyrant tyrant,” Evan says, shaking his head in disbelief and whistling. “Damn.”

“So how did Rafael meet his end?” I ask, eager to know what caused his downfall.

“His son took him down.” Celeste smiles proudly. “And he never even saw it coming. Rafael married a young she-wolf, Guadalupe — an arranged marriage — and after she gave birth to your grandfather, Juan Carlos, she disappeared. No one knows for sure what happened to her but it’s believed she tried escaping with Juan Carlos and was caught. Rafael took care of it, and she was never heard from again. The little prince grew up without a mother and everyone feared that, under Rafael’s guidance, Juan Carlos would be equally as cruel, if not more so than his father. But, while he inherited his father’s charisma and intelligence, he did not inherit Rafael’s thirst for blood. Still, he played along with his father’s schemes all while planning his demise. He agreed to an arranged marriage with the princess of the Luz Marina pack, which if the roles had been reversed, would have been illegal, but kings who make the rules, often break them themselves.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, it was illegal for a woman to marry anyone outside of our own kingdom,” Celeste explains. “You can’t abuse your packs if you give them a way to escape. We could marry within our own kingdom, but should our mates be members from foreign packs, we were forced to reject them. Men, on the other hand, could marry outside of our packs, but only if they brought their mates to Sol de Oro. Many of them didn’t for the sake of protecting their mates.

Now, as luck would have it, Princess Ana Lucia was Juan Carlos’ fated mate, meaning he could bring her to Sol de Oro as his queen. Of course, Juan Carlos had no intentions of starting a family within such cruelty. But he knew the packs would be too frightened to join him and fight back, or would simply not trust him, so he looked beyond the borders of Sol de Oro. That’s when Juan Carlos turned to the Altamiranos.

The Altamiranos have been around for hundreds of years and are well known for their unique abilities. Their power is legendary, with many of their gifts still yet to be replicated. But Manuel Altamarino himself was a prodigy. He was able to access his gift and harness the power of storm at age ten— three years before his first shift.”

“How is that even possible?” Oliver asks, Celeste shrugging.

“That is the power of the Altamiranos,” Celeste replies. “But as I was saying, Juan Carlos reached out to young Alpha Manuel, and he was reluctant to join the fight, and who could blame him? Why would he risk incurring the wrath of a Gold Wolf? But that all changed when he met my sister.” Celeste smiles to herself, shaking her head. “Oh, my dear sister, Valeria, drove him crazy. She was the calm to his storm and though they were mates, she made him work for it,” she chuckles. “Manuel could be a bit of a brute, but she tamed him and before long, Valeria became Manuel’s motivation to join forces with Juan Carlos. Like I said, it was against the law in our kingdom for a woman to marry outside of Sol de Oro, and Manuel was not willing to let Valeria go, especially when he found out she was pregnant.

Ana Lucia was also nearing the end of her own pregnancy, so Juan Carlos knew he had to act quickly as he did not want to raise his child with his father still around. In the name of love, they began their war.”

“That’s romantic,” Celina whispers, Celeste shaking her head.

“I don’t know that I would call it romantic, but it definitely made them more careful and tactful.” Celeste sighs. “Juan Carlos waged a political war and with Manuel’s help, was able to convince several pack leaders to join the fight. The actual battles were brutal. We lost many good wolves, including my father, Goddess rest his soul, but after two months of fighting, King Rafael was brought to his knees before his people and executed.”

Evan raises his hand timidly, Celeste looking at him quizzically.

“Can I ask how he was executed?” he asks.

Celeste is very blunt with her answer. “By firing squad.”

“Not the fire I would have used, but to each their own,” Evan mumbles under his breath as he sits back in his chair and stretches. “Anyway, thank you very much for this traumatizing love story but can we please do something today that has nothing to do with death, war, or violence? I want to relax.”

Celina perks up instantly. “Can we go to El Nacimiento?” she asks.

She’s been begging to go all week, but Celeste has declined every time.

“It is too close to the hacienda,” Celeste says with a shake of her head. “It’s best to keep a low profile until Ubaldo gets here.”

“So what if we run into Estrella del Monte?” Celina snaps. “They already know we’re here!”

I heave a heavy sigh. “Celina—”

“What good is this vacation if we can’t even visit our parents?” Celina argues with me. “I came here to learn about who I was, not hide and cower away from Estrella del Monte. El Nacimiento belongs to no one. We won’t be trespassing anywhere. Why can’t we just go and have a picnic? Swim in the river our parents used to swim in? Please. I’m not asking you to go to war. I just want to have a picnic and feel like I’m part of my family again.”

Her silver eyes fill with tears as she looks at me and I feel she is as lost as I am.

“Perhaps a picnic is what we need right now,” I whisper, Celina nodding in agreement.

“I strongly advise against it.” Celeste shakes her head.

“And I appreciate your concern,” I reply with a little more strength in my voice. “But we need this. It’s what we came for… to be a family. A small picnic by a river should not cause any issues, but if Jadiel and his wolves show up, we will handle ourselves like true Reyes and deal with the matter amicably.”

“...You speak like your mother,” Celeste says after a long pause, slowly getting to her feet. “I will not stop you from going, but we will not be joining you. May the Goddess be with you on your trip.”

“Thank you,” I reply, sensing a bit of hostility but ignoring it for now.

We get to work preparing the food for the picnic, before going off to grab what we need from our rooms. I pack a spare change of clothes, towels, sunscreen, and shoes, and meet up with everyone out in front of the house. We load everything into the car and drive as far as we can before finding a secluded spot, away from the tourists, for Danny, Oliver, Evan, and Valentina to shift and carry us the rest of the way. They carry us along the edges of the cliffs, Celina and I growing excited when we see the deep green river down below us.

Valentina leads the way for about a mile before stopping at a large tree near the edge of the cliff, a thick rope hanging from its branches.

“This is the spot” Valentina mind-links us.

We could not scramble off any faster, Celina and I racing to the edge of the cliff and looking down below at the glittering water. Just up the river is a large cliff with a dark cave carved out on its face. Oliver and the others shift into their human forms and begin setting up the area while Celina and I remain glued to the cliff edge, wondering how many times our parents must have swum here.

“Mateo used to jump from here into the water,” Valentina chuckles, then she points to a dirt path leading down to the river shore. “But your mother was afraid of heights and would walk down instead.”

Without a second thought, Celina sprints to the edge of the cliff and jumps, squealing with excitement as she splashes into the water below. Valentina looks expectantly at me, but I refuse, looking down at the water and then back at Valentina.

“Move aside ladies,” Evan says, cracking his knuckles. “Let the master show you how it’s done.”

He sprints full speed off the edge of the cliff, pulling his knees to his chest and flipping a few times before ultimately landing on his stomach, the loud slapping sound echoing off the cliff walls.

“That sounded like it hurt,” Oliver whistles, but I do not join in the laughter that breaks out among us, my senses preoccupied by a familiar scent that fills my nostrils.

I close my eyes to concentrate on the sound of paws racing through the woods, Oliver reaching for my wrist to calm me down.

“What’s wrong?” he asks, though he pauses when he hears twigs snapping in the distance.

Several wolves emerge from the woods, but only one stands out to me.

“Jadiel.”