Ultima Trials

Three Weeks

Hayden’s POV

I could feel my body getting stronger from the second Eli stopped the spell, but I also felt my body draining.

Cam got me home as soon as he could. Instead of taking me up to our room, I woke up in the hospital. Hunter had set up a desk next to my bed and was typing away at a laptop with a stack a papers on the chair next to him.

I wanted to talk but my throat was so dry. My body felt both weak and strong at the same time.

Mira, are you there? I asked. I had no idea what I was looking for, but I hoped she’d answer.

I’m here. I’m just… I’m tired, Hayden. So tired.

I felt her exhaustion.

I can feel him. Mase. He’s stronger. It shouldn’t be much longer before Hunter wakes up.

I wanted to smile, but even that was too much work. I drifted back to sleep.

When I woke again, I was still in the hospital. There were hushed voices, it was too much work for me to try to listen. Mira told me that Hunter had finally woken up but his body was still weak. Mase was trying to give them both strength and she was giving them ours. It was only a few minutes, but I was so tired again.

Again, I woke up, this time Cam was holding my hand with his face on the bed next to my arm. I tried to move my hand and luckily it didn’t feel like a ton of bricks. I pulled my hand through his hair. The soft sparks shooting up through my arm and giving a jolt of strength to my weakened body. Cam shifted his head, turning to look up at me. His gorgeous blue eyes met mine and a beautiful smile spread across his face.

“Hey, baby.” He muttered.

I just smiled.

“Are you feeling okay? Don’t try to move too much.” He sat up more before coming closer to me. “I missed you.” He kissed my hand.

“How long..” I coughed.

Cam gave me a cup of water with a straw and let me sip slowly. After my first cup he gave me two more. He still had his adorable smile on his face.

“How long have I been out?” I finally asked.

“It’s been four and a half days. Hunter woke up two days ago.”

I couldn’t help but feel excited at the idea that my brother was awake, but that ache in the back of my heart reminded me that I was never supposed to be Alpha. It was always Hunter. My smile faded slightly but Cam noticed. A throat being cleared stopped any other thoughts.

Hunter stood in the doorway. He was leaning against a cane, and his body looked stronger than it had, but not anything like an Alpha should. Because of how difficult it was to cut his hair we had let it grow out through the years and was now pulled back into a long ponytail. His face had always been clean shaven. He never liked facial hair, and his big brown eyes held the look of curiosity and anger.

“I don’t want it, Hayden.” He looked at me and almost snarled. “I didn’t want this!”

Cam released a low growl, but I stopped him. Cam looked at me and kissed my forehead telling me he’d be back. He didn’t shove Hunter out of the way, but he also didn’t gently push him.

“You know you keep saying that you didn’t want this, but neither did she. You didn’t even think about her when you decided to give up.” Cam said before leaving.

“What did you tell him?” Hunter asked as he sat down.

“He’s my mate. I told him the truth.”

“Does everyone know?”

I shook my head.

“Hayden-“

I held up my hand to stop him. “When I asked you to just leave with me, you said no. When I begged you not to give up on me that I needed you, you left me. I was alone, Hunter, for nine years. My wolf didn’t make up some dreamland for me. I was here. I dealt with everything. Grandpa the other Alphas, the pack. I did it alone. Dad wasn’t there to walk me through it. Mom was broken.” I felt the first hint of tears well into my eyes. “You don’t get to come in here and tell me that you didn’t ask for this. I didn’t either! Not only did you force me to watch as you almost died, but you also almost took me with you! I gave up everything because I knew… I didn’t have friends. I never got close to anyone. I was alone.”

“You had your mate.”

I snorted.. “It’s only been a few months, Hunter. We only marked each other because I needed to do what was best for the pack. I avoided him and the bond for as long as I could. I was trying to be not you.”

“You think I’m selfish for what I did?” Hunters voice dropped low.

“I think you didn’t think about me or our pack. I think you believed all the bullshit Grandpa spouted and had your head up your ass that you couldn’t see what was right and wrong.”

Hunter was stunned. I hadn’t been like this when he was around, but nine years of loneliness stress and fear of dying had turned me into a different person.

“I think you forgot the most important thing about being an Alpha.”

Hunter snarled, “I don’t want to be an Alpha.”

“Well tough s**t, brother.” I looked him dead in the eye, “I didn’t want to be Alpha either. I also didn’t want my big brother to try to kill himself because he thought he was too weak. I didn’t want to watch my mother cry for days on end because her precious baby boy was gone. I didn’t want to spend six months in training learning what you leaned over 10 years.” I stopped and Mira let out a growl, “I didn’t want to see the look on my mate’s face when I told him that I too was dying after he had already lost a mate. But I did it. I did it all.”

Hunter tried to stand up but I reached out and pulled him back to the chair.

“YOU DON’T GET TO RUN AWAY AGAIN I DID EVERYTHING YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO DO. I DID IT ALL! ME! You don’t get to come into my room after I almost died for you to tell me that you don’t want it. You don’t want it? Then be a f*****g man and tell Dad. Tell Grandpa Tell the world. But don’t you dare tell me that it’s not what you wanted.”

The tears had begun to flow down my cheeks, and I wasn’t sure if it was anger or sadness. Cam’s arms wrapped around my body as I began to sob.

I could feel Hunter’s fear. The same fear he had growing up. The fear he had when he took all the wolfsbane. He was going to do it again because it was easier than dealing with life. Only it wasn’t just his life. It was mine. I had done everything on my own for so long, and he was willing to throw it all away because he was scared. Mira snarled.

Mase didn’t want to go back to sleep, but he couldn’t control the human part of him. I grew angrier at Hunter. He was selfish. He would rather die, than fight. He now knew that it wouldn’t be just him. Mira couldn’t live without her twin, but Hunter didn’t care. If he didn’t have to do it.

“You know, instead of almost killing your sister, you could have just renounced.” Cam grumbled.

“Grandpa would never let me renounce.” Hunter scoffed.

Cam shrugged, “Not up to him. If he wasn’t Alpha when you renounced, there’s not s**t he could do.”

“Except make my life hell.” Hunter growled back.

“Seems like your life was hell before, at least this way, you aren’t taking your sister down with you.” Cam snarled.

Hunter left the room, the door slammed against the wall as he left. Cam snorted and held me until I fell back asleep. At least now I had the truth. And someone to help me live with it.

Noah’s POV

I woke up in some dank basement, the silver on my wrists and ankles still burned into my skin.

I screamed for anyone to let me out. I couldn’t feel my wolf a good sign that I had a huge dose of wolfsbane. Or he had abandoned me. He kept claiming that he would, but I wasn’t sure it was possible. I wasn’t sure why I was paired with such a weak wolf. He had made me use all my human strength to kill my brother and only accepted the role of Alpha because he couldn’t help it. He hated every second of it and made sure I knew it.

The small crack in the concrete let in a bit of sunlight when I first woke up, but it was now gone. It had been hours; my voice was gone, and my body was exhausted. The next two sunrises, I had no water or food. My wolf never surfaced, and my body was more tired than it had ever been. It was the creaking of the bars that I hadn’t noticed before, that finally pulled me from the brink of sleep.

“Hmm. The wolf really did leave.” The woman dragged a chair in front of me and sat down. “Strange.”

“Who the f**k are you?” I asked, my voice was weaker than I would have liked, but three days with no food or water would do that to a person.

“My name is unimportant. What is important is that there are now two Ultima wolves in existence at once. Do you know what that means?”

I rolled my eyes at the mention of the Ultima wolves. Both of them had more than they ever deserved. Ruling with kind hearts and strong wolves. They could have it all, but no. That Camden settled for that little b***h in Black Storm. She could have had a strong man in me, and I would have given her the world, but no. She wanted her ‘mate’. I had found my mate. A weak omega. I rejected her the second I smelled her wolf. She was given to my brother as a second chance. I killed them both. No Alpha should settle for a weak Luna. Only the strong survive. My bloodline would not be tainted with weak omega blood. I was the product of two strong Alpha lines.

Hayden should have picked me. Not that half-breed fucker. We could have become Ultima wolves, and she would give me strong pups. Bloodlines like ours should only produce strong Alphas.

“It means it’s a time of peace.” The woman said. “The man I work for doesn’t want that.”

I smiled, “What does that have to do with me?”

“The Ulitma Camden, his mate is a twin, correct?”

I shrugged. I think she had a brother, but he died during his shift. It was how she got her title. She should have been a Luna not an Alpha. My Luna.

“Twins compliment each other. Where one is peaceful, the other is fueled by war. Anger or hatred. Where one is strong, the other is weak.”

I stared at the woman. What was she going on about?

She huffed, “The sister is not war hungry. That means the brother is.”

I began to laugh. Did she not know that Hayden’s twin brother had been in a coma for the last nine years? There was no way he was fueled by war when he hadn’t used his d**k in nine years.

“He’s not in a coma. Not anymore. You wolves really need to read up on your species. Twins can’t live without one another. Not as wolves anyway. If one dies so does the other.” The woman rolled her eyes. “Camden found a way to bring his brother-in-law back.”

I smiled.

“The man I work for wants Hunter dead. By any means necessary.”

I stopped. Killing Hunter would kill Hayden. I didn’t want Hayden dead, I needed her to be my Luna. Though she wouldn’t be my Luna unless I killed Camden. Which would possibly kill her anyway.

Honestly, f**k the lot of them. With them dead that left a vacant Alpha position for not just one pack, but five. I would be an Ultima. I would get my revenge, my title, and I’d find one of those female Alphas and make her my Luna. My legacy in the world would be power.

“Yeah, all of that, but first you need a wolf.” She pulled a silver container from the hallway. “This wolf will be yours for three weeks. If the job is not done within that time you will lose him and you will never be able to gain another wolf.”

“I’ll be human?” I asked disgusted. I hated humans.

“You’ll be dead.” She stated plainly. “If the Ultima and his family don’t kill you, losing yet another wolf will.”

I nodded. Three weeks.