9

Dave

“Where were you?” Morgana said as I stepped through the front door.

“Hunting,” I said and walked past her. She scoffed and followed me.

“Hunting? Is that what we’re calling it now? Everyone in the realm knows that you went after that Omega!”

“Morgana, I don’t have time for this. I want to…”

“Of course, you don’t have time for this,” she interrupted, folding her arms. “You spend your time chasing after the Omega you rejected five years ago and have me back here looking like a fool for marrying you!”

“You don’t understand, Morgana,” I scoffed. “You don’t know what these last few years have been like for me. I can’t… I need her.”

“You need her? Dave, I’m your wife! Why would you need someone like that? What can she do for you that I can’t?!”

“Heal this evil pain that has plagued me for years!” I yelled. “Can you do that? She can! If I get her to give me her heart’s blood—even just a single drop—I’ll finally get rid of this chronic pain and be able to sleep again. I need her, Morgana!”

We stared at each other for a moment, then I walked away, muttering a curse under my breath.

“If you need her so much, why did you let her go five years ago?” She replied, and I halted.

I shook my head and shrugged. “I had to make a choice between her and my throne; I chose what was important to me.”

“And you have the throne, you have me. We can find a cure here; we can go to the ruins or see the worshippers of the moon…”

“I’ve tried all of that, Morgana. I’ve had healers, sorcerers, magicians, witches, and everyone who I thought would be able to help me down here, and they’ve all said the same thing. I need her heart’s blood. And I don’t have you, whatever that means; our marriage exists because the council wanted it, not because either of us chose it.”

“So... our marriage is nothing more than a farce?” she gasped.

I nodded.

“That’s right. The council orchestrated our marriage; we aren’t fated mates; we’re married because our families need to retain power within the realm. I rejected my fated mate, and I’m paying the price for it; you have no idea how that feels.”

“The Omega,” Morgana said and shook her head. “Ayla, she’s under Ragnar’s protection, isn’t she? I heard you met them in the woods, and he challenged you to a duel.”

“Word travels fast around here,” I said and continued walking.

“Your men know better than to hide things from me if they want to keep their heads on their necks. If she’s so important to you, how do you intend to take her from Ragnar?”

She followed me down the hall into my study and shut the door behind her as I plopped onto the seat. I put my feet on the table and leaned backward. “I’ll figure that out soon.”

“Dave, you don’t have to do this. We can send someone else to get her. Send the elite guards, put a bounty on her head, and send them to bring her here. You don’t need to be the one who crosses the borders and breaks the rules.”

“I stopped caring about the rules the day they failed to save me,” I yelled and sat up.

I ran my hands through my hair and opened my eyes. “I don’t care about the rules, Morgana. I don’t think anyone cares about the rules right now. Ragnar was at the sanctuary; he followed her to the neutral town borders. Do you think he cares about the rules?”

“Ragnar has always been one to flaunt the rules,” she protested. “Everyone knows that he likes to walk around like he owns the world, doing whatever he wants, but he is smart enough to know that he can’t come into this realm and take what belongs to another Alpha King. What you’re doing is treason, and I’m starting to believe there’s more to this than just getting her heart’s blood.”

My mind flashed back to the clearing in the woods where the children made the men kneel. I clutched my chest as a shiver went through my body when I remembered what the pressure felt like against my chest. There was something oddly familiar about them, and at the same time, I was terrified of the powers they possessed.

When I banished Ayla from the pack, she hadn’t said anything about being pregnant, and the patrol wolves didn’t report anything regarding a childbirth or cubs running around in the woods, which made me more curious.

If they were her kids, that meant they were probably mine too, but where could they have inherited such incredible power from? If they weren’t hers, where did she find them, and how had she kept their powers hidden for so long?

I had so many questions I needed Ayla to answer, and I knew better than to tell Morgana about the children. If she was this rattled about an exchange with Ayla and Ragnar in the woods, I didn’t want to witness what her reaction would be when she found out about the children.

“I don’t care what you believe, Morgana. I’m Dave Nightclaw, the alpha king of the southern werewolf pack. I don’t need your permission to do whatever I want.”

“You’re going to make me look like a fool before the entire realm.”

“This is not about you, Morgana.”

“Imagine what the elites would say,” she protested, and I shrugged.

“They’re not required to like every decision I make; they’re required to obey me. That means, if I need an army from the eleven elite families of this pack, they’ll provide it.”

“You’re willing to send members of your pack into a war with Ragnar and his armies over an Omega?”

“If it gets me the answers I seek, then yes. All you have to do is sit back and enjoy being the king’s wife. Morgana Faust, the Luna of the Nightclaw pack.”

“You’re about to make a fool of my name and my family’s name by going after the mate you rejected, and you expect me to do nothing?”

“Yes. Now leave.”

“You’ll regret this, Dave, I promise,” she said and walked out of the room.