Chapter 15

MISTY

I woke to clattering in the kitchen. I’d been beyond tired last night and fallen into bed, avoiding explanations except what I told the pack. Jumping out of bed, I ran to the kitchen.

“Mom?”

“I’m here. Still alive.” She smiled, albeit a little sadly.

I knew it was difficult for her not to know whether my dad was dead or alive, but until I saw his body, I chose to believe he was alive.

“And you better stay that way,” I hugged her carefully.

We sat down at the dining room table and sipped our tea in silence, but I knew it wouldn’t last long before my mom demanded explanations.

The pack had no alpha, and my mom was the highest-ranking female. I’d seen the looks they’d given her, expecting her to take charge.

My dad’s phone buzzed—without a pack link this is how we communicated. “Hello?”

“Misty? Dom speaking.” I closed my eyes, trying to remember which warrior he was, but came up blank. “We have someone here who claims to be your friend. Her name is Chelsea. Do you know her?”

I stood up so fast my chair went over backward. “Yes, she’s my best friend from the Monolith Pack.”

“I’ll bring her around, but she is accompanied by a male who she claims is her mate, but I see no mark.”

Okay, that had to be a new development, and maybe that’s why I couldn’t find her, but did she know what happened?

“I trust her implicitly. Please direct them to the house,” I requested.

My mom’s eyes met mine, and I could see the hope reflected in them. I waited at the front door and watched a silver Mercedes drive up.

Chelsea was out of the car before it came to a complete stop. I met her halfway, and we hugged and cried until my mom cleared her throat. Dom gave me the thumbs up and left.

“Hi, Chelsea, won’t you introduce us and come inside?”

“Mrs. Ross, I’m so glad you’re alive. I was so worried.” She hugged my mom and then grabbed the male’s arm. He was tall, with sandy-colored hair and a mustache. His blue-green eyes focused on me. “This is my mate, Tanner.”

I stiffened. I’d heard that name in the throne room. “You,” I yelled and grew my claws.

“Excuse me?”

“I heard the king shout your name with instructions to kill Aunt Faye and Olivia,” I gritted, my eyes never leaving his.

“I wasn’t in the throne room,” he defended.

“What is going on?” Chelsea asked. “How do you know that? Tanner said you weren’t at the palace. I tried calling you a million times but your phone is off.”

“What? Of course I was, and my dad is still there, and we don’t know if he’s alive.” I took a step forward, my stance aggressive. Chelsea’s gaze flicked between Tanner and me.

Tanner held up his hand. “Wait, I can explain. Lloyd told me he left you and your father stranded.”

“Stranded?” my mom asked, her eyes narrowed.

“What the fuck is going on?” I asked. “How do you know Lloyd?”

“He was with me,” Chelsea moved in front of Tanner protectively and looked at me pointedly.

“Enough!” my mom shouted. “Get inside, and then you will explain in order.”

Okay, now she was pissed, and I’d have to explain what Lloyd did. I gestured to the door and hoped Tanner wasn’t here to kill us. My mom walked to the dining room table, pulled a chair out, and sat down carefully, cradling her stomach.

“You first, Misty.”

“Fine. We stopped on the side of the road because Lloyd said he heard a noise and inspected one of the back tires. Dad joined him, and then Lloyd punched him so hard he was knocked out. Once I was out of the car, Lloyd drove off.

“I flagged down the next car, which happened to be Beta Anthony, and he gave us a lift to the palace.”

“Oh, fuck,” Tanner exclaimed. “Lloyd instructed me to find Chelsea and ensure they didn’t enter the palace. He told me you and Harris wouldn’t be there, but he didn’t want anything to happen to your best friend.”

I gaped at him. “How did he know she’s my best friend?”

“I can’t answer that question, sorry. Regardless, I smelled Chelsea before I knew who she was and took them to safety.” He reached out and squeezed Chelsea’s hand.

“Them? You mean your parents are safe? And your pack link?”

“Alpha Martin must be alive, and my parents are on their way to Monolith. We came here to make sure you were okay. Tanner knew the pack would be attacked, but he managed to convince some of the warriors to go easy, and I hope that was the case.”

Tanner nodded. “I wish I could have stopped it, but I am no longer the beta, and King Axel instructed them himself.”

“What happened in the throne room?” my mom asked.

I held up my hand. “Wait, how are you acquainted with Lloyd, and why was he standing next to the king like his bodyguard?”

“Because we released him from a chamber deep in the palace none of us were even aware of. He was born in 1754 and cursed, only waking when there is a threat to the monarchy.”

My mom gaped at him uncomprehendingly. It was hard to believe.

“So that’s what he meant?” I said thoughtfully.

“Tanner,” my mom said urgently. “What happened to my mate?”

“I don’t know. After I convinced Chelsea and her parents, we headed out immediately. I had to be out of linking distance. I’m a deserter.

“But I do know Lloyd told King Axel that no other alphas colluded with Alpha Zack. One of my warriors sent me a text saying that there was a fight in the throne room, but most of them were put in the dungeon.”

Most of them?

“Misty? Tell me ~now~ what happened,” my mom said stridently.

I looked down. “King Axel instructed Lloyd to kill Alpha Zack. But now it’s your turn. What was Olivia doing in the palace, and what did Uncle Zack plan?”

“Zack, Faye, and Olivia attended the alpha dinner three months ago. King Axel took a fancy to Olivia and demanded she stay. Zack refused and called him a despicable excuse for a king.

“King Axel didn’t take kindly to that and kept Olivia. The plan was to extract her, but Zack knew there would be repercussions, so he instituted the training in case the palace attacked. Killing King Axel wasn’t part of the plan.”

“It must have been. Otherwise, Lloyd wouldn’t have woken,” Tanner said.

“Lloyd saved me…,” I murmured.

“How?” Tanner asked.

“He threw me out of the window…” I saw my mom’s horrified expression. “First floor, and I landed on a shrub before bouncing to the ground. He told me to run, but he was strange, slow, and weird.”

“Lloyd is the king’s spy?” my mom asked.

“Your mate.” Chelsea grinned.

“What?” my mom gasped. “The king is your mate?”

“No, Lloyd is,” I said, throwing Chelsea an exasperated look.

My mom frowned in frustration. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Because he thought I was a witch.”

Everyone was silent for a moment, trying to absorb the information.

“What do we do now? Attack the palace?” I asked.

Tanner shook his head. “No, that would be suicide. Lloyd knew when King Axel sent out the invitations that shit was going down. He called me that morning, and I did what I could and stole the journal out of the king’s safe.”

He placed a leather-bound journal on the table and slid it across to me.

“Lloyd did tell me he only wakes when there’s a threat, but it was such an odd thing to say,” I explained, getting up.

“Well, we are threatening the king, so hopefully, he’ll wake soon,” Tanner said with a grin.

He’d also told me to save him. Did that mean breaking the curse? Me? Did that crone give me her powers, or did she prevent my mom from miscarrying? And where the fuck were these powers? It felt like an insurmountable task. We didn’t know why he was cursed, but maybe the journal would explain that.

I opened the journal to the first page, and my mom and Chelsea leaned in. I snapped the book closed and glared at them.

“I will read aloud, okay.”

“Goddess, you can be such a pain,” Chelsea snapped.

“Shut up.” Opening it again, I took a deep breath and read the flowery cursive writing.

~Lloyd Tenebris.~

~Birth Year: 1754~

~Lineage: Son of Alpha Dōnal, leader of the Shadow Moon Pack~

~Curse Origin: The curse was placed upon Lloyd as punishment after his father, Alpha Dōnal, challenged King Finn.~

“They cursed him for something his father did?” my mom interrupted.

~Curse Details: The curse ensures Lloyd awakens whenever a threat is directed at the monarchy. Once he fulfills his duty, he falls into a near-death state until the next time the king is threatened.~

“This is horrible,” I said, a frown on my face. Just for a second I railed against the Moon Goddess for giving me a mate that was cursed.

~Lloyd Tenebris’s existence is marked by cycles of vigilance and dormancy, a guardian bound by a curse to protect the monarchy through the ages. ~

~His loyalty is guaranteed as he rises from slumber only when the monarch is in peril. He performs his duty unwaveringly before becoming dormant, awaiting the next call to arms.~

~Special traits~

~Able to mask his scent.~

~Invisibility, but not in direct sunlight.~

~Invulnerability—cannot die.~

There were many more pages where different kings had added notations—one read:

~Tenebris can never be allowed the freedom to seek out a witch. —King Finn~

~I suspect his power is great. Make sure you give him alpha commands. Even though he cannot hurt me, I don’t trust him. —King Broderick~

~It is better to keep him close to the palace. Once the threat is eliminated, he shuts down within a short period, and we had the devil of a time getting him back to the chamber. —King Cillian~

That’s why he behaved so strangely. His body was shutting down… Invisibility, how cool was that?

“Misty?” A smile was lurking on Tanner’s face. “Your mate is Methuselah.”

There was a second of silence before we burst out laughing—laughter that we desperately needed to dispel the tension.

“Goddess, this is unbelievable. The only thing we can do is hope for the best,” my mom said, shaking her head.

“You have to break the curse,” Chelsea said. “Any ideas, witchy she-wolf?”

“No, but I intend to drive to Monolith with the grimoire, and I think that plan is as good as any.” I paused and pulled my T-shirt to the side. “By the way, Lloyd marked me before he threw me out the window, but it’s like linking into a void.”

Three faces gaped at me.

“What? No comeback?”