The Alpha Queen's Deadly Secret

Chapter 8 - Caught

s**t.

It’s the only word I can think as I see him standing there, his eyes taking in the picture we make: me, my children, our ridiculous pet dragon, clearly ready to run. And I watch as he focuses solely on them, shock the only thing on his face as he puts together my story, the reason I ran.

I’m completely frozen as I watch the man I never, ever intended for my children to meet looking right at them.

I gasp, suddenly, my body forcing me to draw breath as I realize that in my panic I’ve completely stopped breathing. My mind begins to whir then, coming up with any excuse, any viable solution –

The only thing I can think of is to scream at my children to run – or at least to lie -

Unfortunately for me, Vivi acts first.

“You stay away!” she yells, dropping Coco on the wooden floor of our porch with a thump as she points a small, angry finger at the Prince. “You get away from our house, stranger!” she shouts. Coco gives an indignant little cry but then he shakes himself and, predictably, turns around twice before curling up to go back to sleep.

Niall lets out a little cry of fear at Vivi’s words, tucking himself behind my legs, letting his sister take the lead. As usual.

“Vivi,” I hiss, dropping her other hand and swatting her pointed finger as fast as I can. “Pick up Coco - get back in the house –“

“No!” Vivi objects, turning her face to frown up at me. “No, Mama! He is a stranger!”

“Vivi,” I whisper, leaning down so she can see how serious I am – that this is not a moment when she’s going to win just because she shows her temper. “Take Niall,” I order through my teeth, “and get back in the house –“

Characteristically, Vivi glares at me, but she does as she’s told, bending down to scoop up her little dragon and sling him over her shoulder before taking Niall’s hand and leading him silently inside.

“What –“ I hear Anna gasp, surprised and confused. “What, did you forget –“

Niall looks worriedly over his shoulder at me as the door closes.

But then it’s shut, and I turn to face him.

Prince Auden. Crown Prince of the realm. Son of the man who only a few hours ago claimed me as his bride. Precisely the person I’ve been avoiding seeing for five years. God, I really thought I did it – I thought I was free -

“She’s protective of you,” Auden says, interrupting my train of thought and making me jump. He prowls forward into the light spilling from my house’s little windows, speaking as casually as if he’s a neighbor stopping by to comment on the weather.

“Who?” I ask, drawing myself up.

“Your daughter.”

“She’s not my daughter,” I insist, my body tense, my fists clenched at my side.

“She called you mama,” Auden counters, coming to stand at the bottom of my stairs.

“A nickname,” I whisper.

“A lie,” he snaps, his voice low and sharp.

We stare at each other for a moment and I feel my every muscle strain to what feels like its breaking point.

Bite him, my wolf whispers inside of me – my soft wolf, who hardly ever raises her head to do more than sniff the air on a pleasant fall day. We can take him, she snarls, her hackles raised, her teeth ready. We will go for the neck –

But I brush her aside, not listening to her words, my entire attention trained only on this Alpha before me as I try to anticipate his next move. But my mouth draws into a fine line as he stays perfectly still, glaring at me.

He has the luxury of time, I realize. He has me trapped, after all - he can wait all day.

“You can’t take them,” I hiss, my voice shaking. “I won’t –“

“You have very few choices here, Everleigh,” Auden interrupts, his voice low, steady, in control. “And all of these choices – all of them end with either you dead or back at the palace marrying my father.”

Auden shifts his gaze then to the door, to where my children disappeared. “The children,” he continues, his voice still brisk, “are more flexible. They can be sent away to live with a relative. But first, you need to decide,” he continues, shifting his eyes back to mine. “Are you going to live to see them grow? Or would you rather take death?”

I go absolutely still as I listen to the ultimatum Auden sets out for me. I suck in my breath when he pauses, waiting for the next part, where he tells me that he’s taking the children for himself – that I’ll never see them again – that I’ve betrayed him by keeping them from him and that I’ll pay for that with my life -

And suddenly, as Auden stands too long with his mouth shut…

I realize that those words aren’t coming.

That he…

Somehow, still, that he hasn’t figured it out.

My mouth drops open and I turn towards the door to my house trying to understand –

Did he – did he just not see Vivianna and Niall in enough light? How could he have failed to recognize their features when he sees their archetype every day in the mirror?

I turn back to Auden again, who hasn’t moved, and – I don’t know how, perhaps emboldened by my confusion – I walk down two of the three short steps of my porch until we’re almost at eye level, until I’m standing right in front of him – as close as I’ve been since that night –

And as I stare at him in awe, looking closely at his stern face I realize…

He really just…doesn’t know. He hasn’t put it together.

God damn it, he really just doesn’t remember me at all – remember that night at the winter palace, after Angeline’s midwinter ball –

Well, frankly, during it –

I snap my shocked mouth shut, a new plan forming rapidly in my mind. Never, not once, did I think that Auden would fail to recognize my children the instant he met them. I never trusted that that stupid spell worked at all, let alone as well as this.

But now that the impossible has occurred – that luck has fallen so miraculously on my side –

Now, plans have changed.

“I won’t leave my children,” I say, holding Auden’s gaze firmly and raising my chin. “I can’t marry the King – you know he won’t have me if he knows they exist – that this Celestial is not pure.” I snarl, a little, at the last word.

Because frankly, no one cares if a celestial is a virgin or not – because none are, not really, not anymore. But we all have to play this ridiculous game of pretending to be so the Alphas can protect their precious bloodlines.

And nothing, nothing says “I’m not a virgin” like showing up at the palace with two five-year-old children in tow.

“So, death, then,” Auden asks, raising his eyebrows. “It’s a shame, Everleigh,” he murmurs, an unexpected tension and anger in his voice. “I thought you were reckless, but I didn’t take you for a coward. Or an idiot.”

“Pick. Another. Option.” I hiss, leaning forward, my fear of him draining from me now that I have – for now, at least – discovered that my deepest secrets are safe.

“There are no other options!” he yells, losing his temper as he grabs my arm, enraged by my unwillingness to play his stupid game, to cow to his demand that I either do as he says or die.

“I’ll run,” I seethe, not even glancing down at the hand wrapped tight against my bicep, leaning into it and bringing my face closer to his, a move that makes him bare his teeth.

“He’ll catch you, Everleigh,” Auden promises, his voice grinding, and then his other hand snaps up and grabs my other arm, shaking me, roughly, once. “God damn it, girl – don’t you get it?” he shouts. And then – coming back to himself – Auden drops my arms and turns away from me, just one step, running one hand through the brown hair that I know is silky-soft to the touch.

A little pulse of victory soars through me at the fact that I rattled him – but it’s not enough to make me budge or to bring any change of expression to my face. Because I know this isn’t finished.

“He’s got your scent now, Everleigh,” Auden says, turning to me again, his voice still angry but more even now that he has reigned himself in. “He’s an Alpha – the purest form of it. He would love nothing more than to hunt you down. The longer the better, frankly – it would only increase his desire if it stretched over months. And then, at the end of it, he’d corner you, and drag you home, and destroy you while your children watch for the insult you’ve made in refusing him. And then kill them too, for spite.”

“No,” I snarl, the word ripping from me. “No – I will never let him touch them –“

“Fine!” Auden snaps. “But if you want any chance at all – any chance at living through this – both you and them, your only choice is to relent. You must return to the palace, Everleigh. You will marry him!”

I stare at this Prince, still stubborn, not wanting to admit…

God damn it, to admit that he’s right.

Every part of what he said is right. Mahl – his famous pride, temper, rage – everyone knows his reputation enough to understand that if he learned that I ran, that I’ve embarrassed him like this…

It is a death sentence, no matter how far and long I run.

And I don’t have an alternate plan. Because there is none.

But what I do have is…a Prince. Standing in front of me. Apparently determined to get me back to the palace before his father figures out I’m missing.

And that? I can work with that.

“So what are you going to do, Auden,” I whisper after a long pause, crossing my arms across my chest. “I won’t leave my children. I won’t let anyone else take them. I won’t let them be harmed. If you’re going to get me back to marry your father, how will you protect them?”

And Auden looks at me levelly for a moment before –

My mouth falls open a little when I see a smirk cross his face.

“Well played, Everleigh,” Auden murmurs, and then he surprises me again by pushing past me and heading for the door.

“Where are you going?” I cry out, turning and dashing after him, slamming my hand flat against the door so that he can’t open it.

But Auden just laughs a little at me, because we both know that he’s far more powerful than me and that he could rip this door off its hinges if he wanted to get in. My hand holding the door shut is a bit of an empty threat.

“I’m going to meet your children, Everleigh,” the Prince says softly. “And come up with a plan.”

I narrow my eyes at him for a moment, trying to see if I’ve missed something – if he really knows - but then I sigh and drop my arm, letting him in. Auden nods to me, a little victorious smile playing at his lips as he pulls open the door to my little cottage and walks inside.

I move quickly, following the Prince and watching from the door as he goes to one knee in front of Vivianna and Niall. After all, I don’t want to miss it when the Prince of the Realm introduces himself to his children for the first time.