Chapter 39: Chapter 39

Fox

I lunged at Jason, taking him down swiftly and quickly. He was the third patrol wolf I beat in the sparring ring this morning. It had been 24 hours since I last saw my mate. All I knew was that yesterday she went to France in a private jet with her brothers. I haven’t heard from her since.

“Who’s next?” I growled at the spectators. They all took a step backwards.

“I think you need a break, Alpha, before we run out of patrol wolves.” Stone sighed, stepping forward.

“I thought you were training them, Stone. They are weak!” I yelled.

“They don’t want to fight their Alpha who is obviously in pain.” Stone replied calmly.

“Alpha!” One of the guards from the front gate mindlinked me,

“The Luna has returned with her brothers.”

“Let them through.” I ordered.

“Marigold’s back.” I told Stone before jumping out of the ring and running back to the packhouse to meet them.

I arrived at the front door just as Marigold, Solaris, and Bayu drove up the driveway. They were in a black town car with tinted windows. Solaris was driving. He stepped out of the car first, Bayu followed, opening the back door for Marigold.

I rushed to Marigold’s side and checked her over for injuries.

“I’m fine, Finn.” Marigold sighed, stepping away from me. I resisted the urge to growl at her retreat. Her brothers surrounded her protectively and I felt a new surge of anger threatening to take over.

“What did you do?” I demanded.

“We took care of the problem.” Bayu answered.

“I wasn’t asking you.” I snapped,

“You can’t just disappear like that.” I turned my attention back on Marigold.

“You don’t control her, or did you forget your bargain?” Solaris squared up to me. I looked between the princes and pushed back the urge to rip them apart,

“All of the sudden you two are caring brothers?” I growled.

“Enough,” Marigold stepped around her brothers and pushed me away,

“They were just helping me. I’m going to see them off and then we can talk.” Marigold’s eyes dared me to argue with her. I frowned and gave in to her demands.

The three of them disappeared inside the packhouse and to our room. I knew Marigold made a portal out of the closest mirror in our room, so I guessed they had to go back the way they came. I slowly followed them, taking the stairs instead of the elevator. I stood out in the hallway until I felt Marigold using her magic. A few minutes later she opened up the bedroom door and motioned me inside.

“What the hell is going on?” I spoke harshly.

“I’m sorry I upset you, but I had to take care of it on my own.” Marigold’s voice was small, her back was facing me as she walked across the room.

“I know why you had to do it, but I don’t understand why you had to do it with your brothers and not with me.” I said. Marigold’s shoulders slumped in defeat as she turned to face me,

“What happened with Alpha Julian happened in my past, Finn, it happened before you. It happened because of my brothers and my father. The only way I can move on and actually be happy with you is if I deal with what happened to me in the past.” Marigold’s eyes were pooling with tears but she was too stubborn to cry.

“You’ve been through so much, it isn’t fair. But, it’s in the past….” Apparently that was the wrong thing to say.

“That’s the point, Finn! It’s not in the past. It can’t be in the past until I learn to process it and move on. I had to survive back then, I couldn’t afford to deal with my emotions. Now, that’s stopping me from being able to be with you completely.” Marigold was yelling at me now.

“But, I’m your future, Marigold! How can you say that you’re doing all of this for us but not include me?” I argued.

“Because it’s not about you, it’s about me. I’m sorry, I’m so sorry that I’m hurting you. You don’t deserve this. I have to do what’s best for me.” Marigold ducked her head, refusing to look me in the eyes.

“And your brothers are what’s best?” I snapped.

“They believe me. They believe everything. They know our father is corrupt. They know what he did. They’ve agreed to help me do whatever I need to heal.” Marigold tried to explain.

“How can you trust them? After everything they’ve done? Marigold, they’re partly the reason you need to heal in the first place.” I tried to reason with her.

“They were just doing what our father, their King, told them to do. You don’t understand how it works, Finn, you’ve never had to follow anyone! You’re the Alpha, you’ve always been the one who is followed. We were taught to bow to our King and respect his word no matter what. My mother saved me. She couldn’t do the same for my brothers. I need them. They’re the only family I have left.” Marigold sobbed, rocking back and forth on her heels as she hid in the corner of the room.

“That’s not true, Marigold, you have an entire family right here. I may not understand what life was like for you and your brothers, but I do know that I would never turn my back on my sister, no matter what anyone ordered me to do.” I tried to move towards her, but she recoiled, just like she did when we first met in Alpha Torrin’s packhouse.

“It’s easy to say that when you’ve never been afraid of what your own father is capable of.” Marigold’s eyes finally met mine and I saw the seriousness on her face. I sighed in defeat,

“Okay, okay. I don’t want to fight with you, all I want to do is help. If having your brothers back in your life is what you need, then okay. I can’t say that I trust them, but I do trust you and your judgment. But, Marigold, I need you to include me in your plans. You can’t run off to another country for an entire day and not tell me that you’re safe.”

“You’re right, I shouldn’t have done that. I was just afraid that if I gave you time to react you would try and stop me.” Marigold admitted.

“I probably would have. But, I’ll never force you to stay if you don’t want to. As much as I might want to lock you up and never let you out of my sight, I know that’s not a relationship. At least not one that I want.” I tried to come up with a compromise, something Marigold and I had been historically good at doing. She slowly nodded her head and stepped out from the shadows, moving closer to me.

“I promise I won’t do that again. But, I can’t promise not to run off with my brothers again to fix something inside me that someone else broke.” She said. I reached out and Marigold accepted my hand. I pulled her closer to me,

“Okay.” I agreed. I wasn’t thrilled with the idea, but I couldn’t fight with her any longer. Marigold relaxed her body and allowed herself to be pulled into my arms. I kissed the top of her head and breathed in her alluring scent.

“Can I ask you something about your father?” I said after a few minutes of enjoying her closeness. She sighed and pulled away, sitting on the edge of the bed and nodding. I sat down next to her,

“From my understanding, he’s been on the throne for centuries.”

“My father has been king for over 300 years. Fae magic gives the monarch youth until he’s ready to step down, which, historically, doesn’t happen.” Marigold explained.

“And your father didn’t have any other kids or another wife?” I was curious as to why, after three hundred years, the King decided to marry Marigold’s mother and have children.

“I assume that Stone told you about the conversation I had with him and Ferra at the mall?” Marigold asked.

“He did.”

“My father fears losing his power more than anything else, he always has. He’s the paranoid king. About a hundred years ago, the Great Fae came to my father with a fortune. They told him that the key to his power was to marry the woman who bows to the moon but has no magic in her soul. They told him that he would only be able to reach his truest potential, with his truest power, by marrying her and producing an heir.” Marigold said.

“That woman was your mother? How did he know?” I asked. Marigold’s lips turned up in a small smile at my curiosity.

“Yes, that woman was my mother, Tabitha. He knew because my mother was not fae, she was not magical at all, and yet she survived entering the fae kingdom. My father scoured the Earth for the woman in the prophecy. He forced hundreds of humans to make the journey to the fae realm, to check their resolve. But, a non-magical being cannot survive traveling by portal, so all of those humans died in the process. It was a flawed system.” Marigold chuckled lightly to herself.

“How did your mother survive?” I asked.

“My mother didn’t know her birth parents, she was abandoned as a baby. When she survived the portal, my father had people look into her heritage and discovered that she came from a werewolf bloodline.” Marigold replied.

“Bows to the moon.” I quoted the prophet.

“She had no wolf, neither did her parents before her. But, her grandparents were from an old Alpha bloodline, so the magic was still in her blood. She was only fifteen when my father forced her to marry him.” Marigold confirmed my theory.

“So, you have that same magic?” I eyed my little mate. She shrugged,

“I guess that’s why your wolf, Hunter, still senses my wolf.”

“Stone and Ferra mentioned a prophecy about you and your brothers?” I pressed her for more information.

“After fae are married, it’s customary for them to have a private meeting with the Great Fae to receive a prophecy about their future. My parents were no expectation. I have to admit, Finn, I lied to your Beta and Gamma.” Marigold admitted, picking at her fingers nervously.

“About what, love?” I snatched her hand from her lap and refused to let her harm her pretty fingers.

“I told them that no one but my parents knew the whole prophecy. That’s a lie. Upon my mother’s death, I received an anonymous letter which contained the full prophecy. I’m sure it came from my mother. A failsafe in case her worst fears were realized.” Marigold squeezed my hand as she confessed.

“Does your father know this?” I asked, wondering if this information could have prompted Marigold’s exile.

“He suspects. Before I was exiled, I threatened to kill my father a few times. During one of those altercations, he asked me if my mother told me the prophecy. I lied and said no. I suspect I wasn’t very convincing.” Marigold shrugged.

“And this prophecy is worth killing over?”