Ryatt
Maddox watches me from across the coffee table loaded with breakfast foods. Pastries, fruit, and meat sit on delicate plates, surrounded by bottles of juice and three carafes of hot coffee.
So far, coffee is all we’ve touched.
He’s just been… staring at me. Staring at me for twenty minutes now.
I clear my throat, pouring myself a third cup of coffee. “I believe congratulations are in order,” I say. “Two healthy princes and a Luna still living is nothing to scoff at.”
“It’s a blessing, to be sure.” Maddox glances at the door, then back at me. “I don’t expect Isaac to come to this meeting today.”
“We can discuss your terms without him. He might be the king, but he’s Ella’s brother.” I lean forward, resting my elbows on my knees. “Your opinion on this matter means more to me, and to her, than his.”
“Have you spoken to her about the idea of her staying here, at least until the baby is born?” Maddox eyes me cooly, sternly, radiating that primal aura all born Alphas possess.
“Of course.”
“And?”
“What do you think her answer was?”
Maddox’s mouth ticks into a brief half-smile. “Then she will go with you.”
“And what exactly do I owe you in exchange for your daughter?” The words are harsher than I intended, but this conversation needs to happen, and fast. Ella is already preparing to leave. She said her formal goodbyes to her parents earlier this morning. Whatever hour-long conversation she’d had with Maddox before he called me in to speak with him is still a mystery. Now, she’s upstairs doting on her nephews while I sit here, facing her father.
Maddox turns to the window, lost in thought. “I won’t be giving you a dowry for her,” he says.
I resist the urge to roll my eyes. “Eastonia might be far behind Crescent Falls in terms for technology, but we did away with the notion of a dowry long ago.”
“What is it about her that made you risk not only your life, but the lives of your allies during your time fighting in the war last summer?”
I stiffen as he slowly turns back to meet my gaze.
“You were a double agent,” he continues. “You came here fighting against us, taunting my son, making us believe you were behind the threats and eventual battles that took place in the remote villages on the outskirts of our territory.”
“You’re correct.”
“I want to know why.”
“Alpha King Kane would have waged war against Crescent Falls regardless of my involvement. He had the power he needed. He knew your daughter–he knew Ella was a very particular type of wolf and wanted her in his clutches to pull power from, but he also knew it wouldn’t be easy to get her unless I, her mate, worked by his side.” I straighten up, crossing an ankle over a knee. Then, I tell Maddox everything. I tell him about my mother and her gifts, and her tortured life within the walls of Kane’s fortress. I tell him about how I was stolen out of the fortress as a child, too young to truly understand what my mother and Westfall had sacrificed to get me to safety. I tell him about the Firestone witches–how his line likely gave Ella the powers she possesses. I explain my own powers–my shadows and energy–and then how I came to know Ella was mine.
“I was sixteen,” I explain. “In the coven, the men my age were preparing to head out into the Roguelands to join the ranks of warriors commanded by rogue packs. I was… not keen on being merely a follower of someone else’s command.” I meet his eyes. “I picked too many fights, pissed off too many Alphas. No one wanted me in their pack because of the issues I’d cause, so the man who spent nearly a decade training me, Westfall, returned from a tour of the continent and brought me to Veiled Valley to undergo a type of rite of passage.”
Westfall has brought us to the mouth of a cave deep in the mountains surrounding Veiled Valley. I had one task. Return with an item, and that item would show me my destiny in the world. But inside, I found myself facing incredible danger. Magical beasts, undead, things that should have existed only in nightmares….
“There hadn’t been an Alpha of Veiled Valley for over thirty years at that point. The sword had been passed down by the ruling family for centuries, going from Alpha to Alpha. I pulled the sword from its resting place and used it to fight my way back to the cave mouth. But before I could reach the exit, I had a sudden… vision of hands. Painter's hands. Long, dark hair and freckles. Eyes the color of polished sea glass. I saw Ella and felt that first flicker of a mate bond igniting.”
I didn’t know she was beyond the veil until years later. I saw her only through my dreams. I saw her nightmares and learned later that she saw mine.
“When I finally narrowed down her location and found out who she was, it was too late. Kane already knew about her. He’d be searching for her, for her powers, for a very long time. And he was going to take her and burn your kingdom to the ground just to have her, so I sided with him, promising to bring her back, to breed with her to ensure the full weight of her powers were available for him to harvest…. But I had no intention of ever, ever, letting him near her. My people paid dearly for my deception of the king.”
Maddox hasn’t said a word in over an hour, but finally says, “You met her years before our war.”
“I did,” I confirm. I tell him about the mirror and how my power, and her power, is connected to it. “I knew we were mates that night. I had to see her, to talk to her, selfishly just to confirm my suspicions. I didn’t realize how that night would torment her.”
“She looked for you for years.”
“I know that now,” I say, biting back the sharpness in my tone. “I know she did, and I know the bond allowed my memories, my nightmares, to haunt her.”
“You said there wouldn’t be another Alpha King on the throne of Eastonia,” he says, crossing his legs. A maid bustles in to carry away our untouched breakfast, and we wait for her to leave before he continues, “But I need you on that throne.”
“I don’t have a choice, anyway,” I tell him. “We’re going back to unrest, I’m sure. Kane had loyal followers who will be vying for the throne.”
“And Ella will be your Luna?”
I shake my head. “Whatever throne I create to rule Eastonia in whole will be hers, and hers alone. It’s what was prophesied. It’s what my people have been waiting for. Eastonia was ruled by the Firestone witches and only knew peace with their queens on the throne. Ella will be queen, even if I have to lay waste to my own kingdoms to ensure it.”
Maddox holds my gaze for several long, drawn out seconds. I wonder what he’s thinking, if he believes anything coming out of my mouth.
“You have my blessing.”
“I don’t need it,” I say.
Maddox eyes me, but the corners of his mouth lift in a half-smile. “Neither does she, but you have it all the same.” He stands and walks to a desk, picking up a folder and sliding a piece of paper from it. He hands it to me with a pen.
I don’t know this Ben fellow, but he is precise. Wordy, even. The contract lays everything out. I will be an ally to the royal household of Crescent Falls. Eastonia will never wage a war against Crescent Falls, and if we are called to help Isaac’s kingdom, I will accept the call to arms and fight for him.
And, to my surprise, vice versa.
I look up at Maddox as I toy with the pen. He’s not looking at me. His eyes are on the ocean and the dark storm clouds rolling in, blocking out the sun.
I look back at the lengthy contract. Once a month, on the eve of the full moon, Ella and I will make contact with Maatua. Apparently, Isaac believes the connection between Maatua and Eastonia works both ways and has finally accepted that his power might be similar to Ella’s when it comes to manipulating the veil separating our kingdoms.
Any harm that comes to Ella by my hand would be considered an act of war.
I fight down a pang of fury that this line was added, but I’m not in a position to press the issue.
And, finally…
“It may not be possible,” I tell him as I sign the treaty.
“Isla insists.”
Ella’s mother insists on a month-long return trip to Crescent Falls and Maatua once a year, every year, at least when it’s determined that our daughter has the power to travel safely through the veil.
I set down the pen and rise, my bones creaking from being seated all morning.
Maddox doesn’t pull his gaze from the window as he says, “Ella told me about Commander Westfall this morning.”
My blood freezes in my veins.
“I’m sorry for your loss. She made him sound like a great man.”
“He was my best commander,” I say unsteadily.
“And your father.”
“I didn’t know until it was too late.”
Maddox nods. “And this sword… you believe it’s gone for good?”
“If it’s not destroyed, it’s buried beneath mountains of rubble, or has been taken by someone that may not know how to use it…. I’d prefer it be gone forever than for it to fall into the wrong hands.”
“Ella is confident she can take you both through the veil using that mask. Do you believe her?”
“I do,” I tell him.
That’s it, conversation over. He walks toward me and extends his hand in a business-like fashion.
“Welcome to the family.”
Family.
He leaves, and I stand by the window in the cozy office for several minutes lost in thought before leaving the room in search of Ella.
I find her resting beside her sister-in-law in the massive bed in Maddy and Isaac’s bedroom, the twins nestled between them.
I darken the doorway, and my mate looks up at me, smiling. “Come look at them.”
I look at Maddy, waiting for her gentle nod of approval. Isaac is nowhere to be found, which might be a good thing, because even with the treaty signed and sealed, I highly doubt he wants me anywhere near his children.
Ella scoops up the larger twin, the second born, and shows him to me. “Unnamed baby,” she says with a laugh, “this is your Uncle Ryatt.”
Seeing Ella with a baby is doing weird things to my mind and body. I give the baby a tight smile, unsure what I’m supposed to be doing. “He’s a fine looking baby,” I tell Maddy.
Ella gives me a sharp look before laying the infant back on the bed.
“I still can’t decide what to name him,” Maddy says, stroking a knuckle over her second born’s rounded cheek. “This, however, is Sid. Short for Sydney, which was my mother’s name.”
“Isaac says it’s a girl's name, not a name for the future Alpha King,” Ella teases.
“Well, Isaac wanted to name him Thor, so I don’t really care what he thinks,” Maddy laughs. “What are you going to name your daughter? Have you thought about it?”
I watch Ella carefully as her eyes cloud over. “No, I–”
Shouts lift from below, followed by the sound of Isaac’s voice ripping through the air. Maddy scoops up the babies and huddles them close as Ella rises from the bed and hurries toward me.
“What’s going on?” Ella asks, trying to side-step around me toward the door, but I block her and shove her back toward Maddy.
“Stay here,” I growl, then edge out of the room.
The staircase landing is only a few feet from the door, and as I walk toward the railing overlooking the foyer, several wolves come into view.
“What is it–”
“Ella!” I hiss, but it’s too late. Ella is rushing toward the railing but stops short. I come up beside her, noticing the way her body goes rigid with shock, the color in her cheeks flushing of all color.
I follow her gaze and find it hard to breathe as my eyes lock on the man pinned to the floor by six wolves. He thrashes against them, his black hair gleaming in the midmorning sun.
But then he stills, and slowly, ever so slowly, looks up.