Ultima Trials

Leaving the Past in the Past

Camden’s POV

They all left me in my old home. It wasn’t much of anything, but it was the place where Mav took his first steps and spoke his first words. The place I read to Mav and told him stories of his mother. I began to clean the room. Noah’s men had ransacked it looking for something. I didn’t have anything pack related in anywhere but the safe that was in my office, and my family things were locked in my parent’s safe in their bedroom floor.

I smelled Hayden’s scent but continued to clean. I hadn’t wanted her to see the life I was forced to live before she saved me. I wanted to be a knight in shining armor when I was a pup, I wanted to swoop in and save the damsel in distress. Now I was the damsel and Hayden was my knight. Jersey was a puddle of mush any time Hayden was around, just a giant puppy with his tail tucked between his legs and laid on his belly. Some knight.

“Gloria sent me to get you for dinner,” Hayden said softly.

I kept cleaning. Food wasn’t really on my mind at the moment. The last two days, I learned I was adopted. My father was an Ultima Wolf, my mother a Wiccan. The parents that I had known and loved had kept this huge secret from me. Then the man that had killed my family was some banished d**k that was looking for a place to call home because he couldn’t be the Alpha of his own pack after killing his own brother. Noah had run the home my family had built from the ground, right back into it. It took seven generations to get my pack to the standing it was at, financially secure enough for my great grandchildren to live without needing to work, and only three years for Noah to destroy it all.

“I’m sure Mav misses you.”

Somehow she already knew how to get me out of my own head. I finished cleaning quickly, and Hayden led me to the dining hall. Mav was sitting at the table with Gloria, Randall, Bentley and the warrior Todd. Noah might have been an i***t, but the pack members were smarter than him. They wouldn’t attack an Alpha so connected as Hayden. Not even the ranked members could take on a born Alpha, even if they tried.

Mav was telling me about his day. Gloria had taken him to her garden in the forest, a place he had always loved. Now that I knew about his blood, it made more sense. Gloria, being a Wiccan, was always more attuned to the Earth. Gardens, herbs, trees and even animals were more likely to be drawn to her. Mav once cried for days because there was a feral wolf pup that had attracted itself to Gloria, but she sent it away before Mav could attach to it. Little guy was a mess.

The other Alphas had gotten over the shock that I was alive, but they were still baffled by the idea that Hayden and I could be mated. Even if it was a rank issue, it wouldn’t be that surprising. Female Alphas were rare, even more so a female Alpha with a male Alpha as a mate. The few female Alphas that lived in our country had lower ranked mate. Since males are more dominant, having two Alphas in one relationship is just asking for trouble.

I didn’t care what rank my mate was. She could have been a human and I would still take her. Complicated, sure, but to reject my Goddess given mate because of rank was an insult to our Goddess.

“So, Camden, Hayden. How are you planning to run two separate packs?” “Will your wolves tolerate being that far away from their mate?” Just as soon as we stepped foot into the hall, questions were thrown our way. Things that we hadn’t thought about, because I never thought it was possible to get my home back. I looked down at Hayden and she had a polite smile on her face. She didn’t answer any of the questions but listened intently to the things spoken of.

At the end of the summit, Hayden had gotten her land, and four packs had offered to assist in building the structures needed. Two packs wanted business deals, and the final three packs had offered an alliance with both Black Storm and Silver Star. As the meeting concluded, Hayden slipped out of the doors without a word. I was bombarded with questions and offers of alliance. Mattias had even offered to send warriors, which was then followed by new allies offering.

Though Silver Star had been run to s**t the last three years, these men knew my father, and even my grandfather. My name was something that could be trusted, and to them that was enough. I didn’t like that they had treated Hayden so poorly for years, but the moment I came as her mate, she had some semblance of respect even if that respect was only because of me.

It was another two hours after the official closing of the Alpha Conference before I was finally able to escape the other Alphas. Their Lunas practically had to drag them out. Alpha Jordan gave me his phone number and offered a meeting with his mate.

“It’s not every day we get another male Luna. In fact, the week before the full moon, we all get together and plan the full moon festivals for our packs.” Jordan said with a smile.

I smiled back, “Sounds like a plan.”

“Though I guess you’ll have your hands full. Being an Alpha and a Luna. How does that work?”

I ran my hands through my hair, “Honestly, I have no idea. This was… unexpected to say the least.” I sighed, “I should probably go find my mate.”

Jordan nodded and gave a small wave.

After searching the dining hall and garden, I found Mav and Gloria. Randall was sitting on a bench just watching. I sat next to him and watched as Gloria and Mav played. Gloria had used her magic to bring on small batches of wind tunnels, which Mav would stand directly in the middle of and spin until he fell over.

“He’s a great kid,” Randall said.

I nodded. Mav was a great kid, though most parents say that about their child.

“Noah is being sent to the council’s holding cells. Due to the nature of the trial, I’m not allowed to know where he is.”

I looked to him. “ The nature of the trial?”

“Noah told the other Elders of your paternity. Your true paternity.”

I growled. That was no one’s business, but ours. Where did that leave my pack? Would the Elders allow me to be Alpha of a pack that wasn’t of my bloodline? Would they force me to take over Graystone? That was in another state. I couldn’t leave Hayden.

“I can hear the thoughts screaming in your head.” Randall laughed. “I might not be able to rule in Noah’s trial, but I do still have influence.”

“Does that… Will I have to go to Graystone?”

Randall shook his head, “No. Right now, Silver Star is in limbo. Technically, you’re still the Alpha, but until you have full proof of Noah’s indiscretions, an Elder will be stepping in as Alpha. We know of Noah’s crimes, we’ve seen them. Until the challenge, though, you cannot rule as Alpha.”

I groaned. I watched Mav a few more minutes before letting him know that I would see him for dinner. Bentley ran into me in the hallway questioning where Hayden was. I told him I was looking for her myself. He went one way, and I went to our room.

Curled into a little ball on the bed was my mate. She was trying to lay as still as possible, but the slowed, forced beating of her heart gave her away. Instead of trying to explain my side, I simply climbed into bed with her and wrapped my arms around her.

Noah’s POV

That bastard. First his father, now him. The Tarains had taken everything from me.

I should have been mated to Isabelle. From the beginning. I saw her first, I wanted her first. She should have been mine. After the fiasco called a challenge, my older brother was the thorn in my side.

“Just let her go, Noah. Goddess will give you a mate, you just have to be patient.” It was ironic because I had already killed his first mate. Right before her first shift, I had given some rogue her scent. In hopes that my brother’s wolf would kill them both, sadly that didn’t happen. I had to take extra steps to obtain the title.

My father had caught me just as I pulled the knife out of my brother’s chest, and I was banished. He should just have killed me. An Alpha as a rogue was shameful. Not just on his bloodline, but for me.

I found that the rogue that killed what should have been my sister-in-law, my Beta, Des, was that rogue. Though he wasn’t of Beta blood, he was loyal to a point. All he asked was I give him his choice of women in whatever pack we took over. Six months of planning, and a little spy planted inside the packhouse, finally my dream of being an Alpha came to light. Sort of.

Camden survived and so did his bastard son. He was comatose, and I could not get close enough to end him. Not with that Wiccan so close. I was ruthless, not stupid. Pureblooded Wiccans were forces of the so-called Goddess. They could control nature, and in some instances could control the wolf side of werewolves. My spy had told us of the whispers of her being the biological mother of Camden. There weren’t very many Wiccans around, so it wasn’t hard to figure out who his father was.

Masen fought as hard as he could, but the wolfsbane that my spy had been slipping into his every food and drink for six months weakened him. It wasn’t difficult to coerce him into signing a few papers. Divorce and then titling me as Alpha. The Gamma had signed as witness to my marriage to Isabelle, brief as it was, she was mine in death. Those few brief moments of victory were shadowed by the news that Camden had survived.

Des wanted to kill Camden and the pup, but my vision was much darker. What better way to make the pack fall in line, when I had the heir under my control. They didn’t need to know that Camden was alive. Those that did see him were under my command to never speak of it. It was best if the pack members stayed away from the packhouse, just in case they saw him without my knowing. It helped that Wiccan was somehow suppressing his wolf. I should have done that to him as well.

Now, after three years of being Alpha, I was on my way to a holding cell in some remote council jail. I growled.

“We’re almost there, Noah,” the guard said.

There were three guards in the vehicle. One on either side of me, along with silver cuffs, and the driver. I wasn’t strong enough to be able to take on three guards. After killing my brother, my wolf shunned me and only shifted during full Moons. He had tried taking over my body, but I had a stronger will than him.

They say karma’s a b***h, but I didn’t believe it. Until I felt the first strike of another vehicle on the rear of the vehicle. The guards secured the shackles both my hands and ankles together. The next strike sent our SUV spinning out of control. A third strike sent us into multiple flips.

Blackness took over my vision.