I will be back

Aleida’s POV

I lie in bed and count the minutes until my mates come running into the room with millions of questions. Kian and Miliano are the lights of my life, clearly, but they tend to be overprotective. In my opinion, they often make a hen out of a feather when it comes to my patronage. It doesn’t matter how many times I tell them I can take care of myself; they love me and just want me to be safe. I can understand that, but they must also know that the earth doesn’t stop spinning just because I don’t have guards with me every waking moment. The merits of my fights should point to the same thing. But if that makes them more happy and harmonious beings, then sure. However, this time, I know that they have every right to both be upset and demand answers to their questions. Because this time, I got kidnapped and was gone for over a week, apparently. I wasn’t aware of that at all. When I was in the hybrid’s house, it felt like I only were there for a day or two. I’m guessing torture makes you lose your sense of time.

Michael has explained to me how everything happened. At first, he called my mates and explained what happened. They, in turn, sent Killian and Nathan here, who brought more guards. Nathan asked our allies to help in the search for their queen. Over eight hundred wolves were out looking for me. That bit of information baffles me very much since I obviously wasn’t very far from home. Shouldn’t they have found me easier then? I’ve pointed out the area I suspect I was in for Luis and Michael. They immediately sent out seekers to the scene, but they came back empty-handed. The search for that house spread over a ten-mile radius around the area, I informed, but nothing was found. I can’t have gotten that far with my injuries. Two or three miles possibly, but not a meter longer than that. I may be a werewolf queen, but I’m not indestructible. Just as I anticipated, the door slams open at a tremendous speed. Both my mates are by my side in a matter of a second. They don’t say anything but just hug me and lay their heads at my neck. They pull my scent deep into their noses and whine. My hands find their way into their hair, and it makes them purr. None of us let go until I have to pull myself out of the hug because of the pain from my stomach. I lift the hospital dress and look at that dressing that was once white but which is now red. My body doesn’t heal me as it should. I look up at my mates with fear within, who’s staring at the blood that keeps flowing down over my hip. Since the wound is intense, it’ll also take longer to heal, wolf or not. But it shouldn’t still be bleeding. And above all, not this much.

“Nurse!” Kian screams.

A short and nervous nurse comes running in. She sees the blood and shouts for more help out in the hallway. More and more hospital staff are entering the room. Everyone looks equally puzzled over the wound that refuses to heal. It doesn’t matter how many blood transfusions I get because, at this rate, I’ll bleed to death regardless. I desperately try to put pressure on it and scream from the pain that burns in me. The pain is intense enough that I can’t focus on what the others are saying. Everything is spinning, and I don’t know who or what I see in front of me anymore. The last thing I remember is that someone says my name repeatedly; after that, everything is black as night.

Silenced anxious voices are the first thing I hear when I wake up. My eyelids feel heavy, but I finally manage to open them. I’m still in the hospital, in what seems to be the same bed, impossible to determine. If I move my head slowly, I can distinguish two people sitting on a sofa standing along the wall by the window. I try to talk, but my mouth doesn’t move at all. It’s like something is forcing me to be quiet. Either I’m too weak to cope with it, or something has happened while I was away in the dream country, so to speak. Everything is a blur and very difficult to discern. I can’t even determine if it’s my mates who are in the room or someone else. Circus animals might as well surround me; I still won’t be able to notice. The person or people are moving towards me, I think?

“Aleida honey, are you all right?” a voice asks me.

Yup, that’s Miliano, all right. I try to focus on their faces while my head hurts like hell! After a bit of time, everything stops spinning, and I can see them clearly. My throat is killing me. I try to talk but end up coughing instead. Kian walks into the bathroom and comes back with a glass of water. I down it in seconds.

“Thank you,” I whisper.

“Are you okay?” Kian asks.

“I don’t know. What happened?” I ask.

“They took you away to surgery when your wound continued to bleed heavily. It turns out that you had a big piece of a black claw in you. Do you have any idea how that got there?” Kian asks with narrowed eyes.

Oh, sweet goddess above. How am I supposed to explain everything without them starting to burn down the world? “Oh hey, so... I found out that I am betrothed to a hybrid. He wants me to bear his pups, drinks anyone? No? Oh okay...”. That conversation is going to make them explode. And they have every right to be upset about it; I just wish they would calm down.

“I kind of met a hybrid...” I begin.

“A hybrid?” Miliano asks.

“Yeah. The hybrid told me that we are betrothed long before I was born. He wants me to be his mate and carry his puppies...” I whisper.

My mates growl loudly. Kian throws a chair into the wall, and I just sigh. I put my head into my hands and pray silently to the moon goddess to calm my clearly pissed mates down.

“Did you know about this beforehand!?” Kian growls.

“Of course not! Do you not think that I would have told you if I did? What do you take me for...” I ask and feel slightly hurt by his accusation.

He looks ashamed and calms down somewhat. I understand all the feelings they have right now. I would probably do something much worse than throwing a chair in the wall if we reverse the roles. Just thinking of how it would be if someone else were engaged to my mates makes both me and my wolf growl. Yet another threat stands at our doorstep, and none of us are particularly eager to plunge into trouble again. We just reunited, and now we risk never seeing each other again. This whole thing makes me angry inside about everything I have to go through and what will happen. I growl soundly before finally shifting without being able to control it. My legs quickly change in my body and creak in the right places until my giant white angry wolf replaces my little human body. We behave like a lunatic and can’t control ourselves. I howl loudly with anger and growl uncontrollably. This anger isn’t something I experienced before. I jump down from the hospital bed and run towards the forest. My well-built body easily slides between the branches and jumps over stones. All the emotions I closed in are catching up with me, and now it’s time to pay the price for burying it. My big wolf eyes release salty waves of tears. Lisa is a strong wolf, but even she has her limits. That’s why we both break down now. I hear someone running behind me, but I don’t care. The creature or creatures behind me grunt, which probably means I should stop. I can’t. As long as my legs carry me through the woods at super speed, I can’t stop. Because if I do, everything is accurate, and I have to face it head first. I’m not ready for that, I can’t, and I don’t want to. I may be a queen, but I can’t do anything. Someone tackles me from behind and makes me slip into a tree with a thud. I whine from the pain and look at the “tackler.” Miliano and Kian’s wolves are standing in front of me. They look ashamed. It probably wasn’t intended to use that much power when they want me to stop. They walk up to me and lick my face. I growl at them without really being mad. They aren’t the source of my anger anyway. I think back to my meeting with the moon goddess when she told me not to let the darkness take over. The intimacy from my mates helps me calm down and push the dark away. We lay down together and lick each other—happy by just being together.

King’s POV

I finally got the woman of my dreams—the lovable and broken little girl that I watched over the years without being able to meddle when her pack mistreated her. I saw how she took all the blows and taunts with her back straight and her head unbent. She took what they said and did without breaking down. The day she challenged her alpha, I was close to jumping in and saving her. I had decided that it was the day she was going to come home with me. If it hadn’t been for her mate, I would have succeeded... But nooooo... Of course, she would fall head over heels for him like a princess in a storybook. The naivety she had disgusted me. To say that I was jealous would be a tremendous understatement. I had to watch as they were close to each other as if no one else existed. When I managed to teleport her back where it all started, I was exhilarated to have another chance to save her. Even though that chance disappeared just as quickly again, when she meets Kian’s beta instead, that took her home to him... Watching her fall for yet another hurt my cold heart. Of course, I knew who these alphas were. They’re as famous in the werewolf society as Michael Jackson is in the world of humans. I didn’t realize then that they’re twin brothers, and both are Aleida’s mates. It made my work more difficult. How could I get Aleida to come with me voluntarily now that she had two mates? The witch’s help pushing aside the turmoil in her mates was what made the next step possible. Jana was just part of the big plan. Whatever she did in their heads, Aleida agreed to Jonathan’s terms without hesitation. Jonathan was also just a game piece in all of this, but he didn’t even know that himself. You didn’t have to look long before you could both see and feel his hatred for her, even if it for me lacked all ground. When Aleida killed Jonathan’s luna when she was pregnant, it was hot! I didn’t think she had it in herself. Her ingenuity, creativity, and stubbornness made me slowly begin to admire her. She managed to get through uncharted lands with a whole pack and built a home for all of them. After that, I saw how her psychic chains held her down every night—how her nightmares forced her to experience things she didn’t deserve. She had killed enough people to make me lose count, never any innocent people, however. When her puppies came out, I daydreamed about our puppies and decided to either take her or her puppies; the choice was up to her. I knew she would sacrifice herself for them. Everything that happened on the alpha gala and the meeting put a stick in my plan. In the end, I had no choice but to kidnap her. I wasn’t too fond of the attitude she had towards me. It wasn’t at all how she behaved towards others in her vicinity. And now, I’ve hurt her enough, and she’s probably never going to want to see me again. She has shown a lot of that by locking all four of us in the cell across hers... Now I sit here, up in a tree, and stare as she cuddles with her mates. Soon Aleida, soon we’ll be together again.