Alpha of the Dead

Chapter 18--Split Chapter

(Siobhan’s P.O.V)

After my three-day fuckfest with my mate, I really didn’t want to be near him or his disco stick anytime soon, but alas, here we are in the sitting room with my family. Awesome.

“What do you guys want?” I ask, a little more harshly than I intended.

“We are here because we care about you and want to know what happened,” Brian said.

“You already know what happened Bri, I already told you guys what happened with Wyatt. I don’t want to open that can of worms again.”

“We know we aren’t asking you to do that. We want to know what happened in your life that made it so you thought you couldn’t come to us for help.” My mother said, her voice trembling.

“Nothing,” I say quickly.

“Bullshit! You have barely talked to any of us in almost a decade and this is the first time you’ve been home. If it weren’t for the investigation into the kidnappings, you wouldn’t even be here right now!” Patrick yells.

“You really want to know? You ready for the truth big brother?” I ask.

“That’s all we want, is the truth. So, we know how to fix it, Tater Tot.” My father says.

I sigh, “All my life I was shunted aside as the weird kid of the group just because I preferred my studies to fighting. It was like I was the black sheep of the family because I didn’t want to be a warrior because I preferred my studies over everything else. You all used to make fun of me as being the nerdy sibling, the one who couldn’t fight her way out of a paper bag. Mom and dad, you guys were always going around bragging about everyone else and how powerful they were, and you guys never once said how proud of me you guys were. For Goddess’s sake! I graduated high school at 16 f*****g years old! I graduated with a Ph.D. before I even turned 25! Not once did you say congratulations, or you were proud of me. You didn’t even show up to my graduations! None of them! But you showed up for the others.”

My chest was heaving, my breath coming in short gasps as I let my anger and frustration out at my family. I know it may seem petty to some people, the complaints I have, but when you are a child, all you do is focus on the acceptance of your parents and family. I never had that. There was silence from my siblings and my parents, tears streaming down my mother’s face and my father’s face had shock written all over it. I felt Tiernan next to me, his hand on my shoulder giving it a gentle squeeze of reassurance that I needed right now.

“We didn’t know that you felt that way.” My mother whispers.

“You’re really going to complain about us teasing you as kids?” Lily asks, sneering.

“Goddess f**k Lily, why can’t you keep your f*****g mouth shut!?” Morgana shouts.

“Well, excuse me for thinking it’s childish to hold grudges over petty bullshit.” She huffs.

“It’s petty to YOU, twatwaffle, but it’s NOT petty to Si,” Stella says, tears in her eyes.

There’s silence after this, awkward silence, that makes me get up from the couch and head back to Tiernan’s room. I couldn’t do this. I wasn’t in the right headspace for this. So, what do I do? I called my therapist. He’s making a killing off me this week.

(Preston’s P.O.V)

After finding my mate, Julia, she helped me search through the Royal Archives looking for the ancient magic that I suspected was the cause of the thirteen children who had been kidnapped in the last two months. We needed answers and I was hopeful I would find them here, but, so far, nothing seems to fit what I felt in the Johnson’s backyard.

“Julia, darling, I’m not finding anything that seems remotely close to what I felt. Where are your oldest scrolls?” I asked.

“We are already looking at the oldest scrolls that are available…to the public.” She murmurs, eyes a little shifty.

“What do you mean?”

“In King Bayard’s study, there are older scrolls that King Leonard had removed from the Archives before the war with the Dark Fae and spell casters. He was concerned there was a mole within the castle before we found out about the foresight fog. So, as a precaution, he had those scrolls moved to his study.”

“Well, let’s go ask His Majesty for the scrolls! I need them.” I say with a smile on my face.

I thought we were heading back to the throne room, however; Julia veered off in a different direction.

“He’s in the sitting room with his family. Her Majesty, Queen Constance, and Luna Queen Morrigan were getting uncomfortable in the throne room.” She whispered at my questioning gaze.

That made sense to me considering both women were heavily pregnant. We made it to the sitting room where the family was enjoying some tea and snacks, laughing and talking to one another.

“Excuse me, Your Majesties, but I would like to request to look at the scrolls that His Majesty, King Leonard, had removed from the Royal Archives before the battle with the Dark Fae and spell casters. I believe that the ancient magic I felt will be in those scrolls.” I say.

It had been three days of searching between Julia and myself, and I had an inkling that my answers were in those scrolls. King Bayard sighs, and nods his head before getting up from his chair, escorting us to his study. We walk through the halls in silence, until we get to his study door. Walking in, he points to the seats in front of his desk, he went to a bookshelf that was behind the desk and pulled some scrolls off the top shelf.

“Please, be careful with these. These are the only records of this type of magic that we have and we have no one that knows how to translate some of this information.” He states, putting the scrolls on the desk.

Julia and I look at one another, nodded to each other, and dove in.