Barron: The Ruthless Bear King (The Hybrid Series) Book 7

Chapter 25: Ironside

Barron

I was at my daughter's PTA meeting with Larkina when I got a link from Rowe saying that he was taking Davina with him, and I smiled. Those two were heavy, and if she weren't an Elf, he would have mated her already; we all loved Davina, she was intelligent and knew what she wanted out of life. I see her wearing a ring, so I assume they are engaged until we get enough people behind us to get that stupid law changed. Everyone knew Roman only did things to benefit himself and punish those he didn't like; I admit, since my birthday party, he has been quiet, and he didn't come after Rowe or Polly. Polly informed me that when she mates with Levi in the future, she will be going with him to Elvira, and I notified Nolix that he will be my Beta when that happens. Clarke will resume his role as Gamma, as he has been better at handling his life stresses, along with taking his meds.

I still don't like his girlfriend, and I know she was hiding something; family dinners with her were a pain, but we are trying to accept her for Clarke's sake. Rowe is leaving tomorrow for a seven-day conference in Ironside; this will also renew our treaty with King Silas, as we have had a flourishing relationship over the years. I knew he wanted Polly to mate with his son, but his son wouldn't do it because he had his personal matters to deal with, since he was fond of the same s*x. His other son, Lucas, was a known alcoholic, gambler, and womanizer, so he was not going to mate my sister ever, and quite frankly, I preferred Levi. The meeting ended, and there was a school play my daughter was in; I wasn't going to miss it for anyone, so I remembered to clear my schedule for that evening.

I was active in Rowe's life, and I will be active in my daughter's life; I love both of my kids, and everyone in Bearmore knows that. Rowe was respected as the Bear King's son in other kingdoms, and we were allowed in, which was every other kingdom, but Romans', however, we still did business with Kyan. We reached home after stopping to get a few things for Sapphire at the convenience store, and stopped for dinner instead of going home and cooking up something to eat. Sapphire was tired, so we had her take a bath, and Lark was tucking her in; I went to my home office and saw the work on my desk. I still had to finish up before going into my actual office in a few days. I saw a message on my phone about where Rowe would be staying with Davina, and I had everything charged to my business account, as it was business, and he worked for me.

After the conference, he would be going to Elvira for two days because Davina wanted to visit her family, it was her sister's birthday, and I had no worries about him going, our treaty was strong with Emile. Lark mind-linked me, "When are you coming to bed, my love?" I smiled, replying, "In a few minutes," and she closed the link; I was tired, I went up, looking out the window at the starry sky, hoping that everything would be okay. I still worried about Rowe, no matter how old he got, he was legally my son on paper; I was listed as his father on the birth certificate, his mother unknown, which was in the archives accessible to the public, the actual birth certificate listed Polly as his mother and father unknown, but no one has access to that information. Lark lay next to me after the mind-blowing s*x we had just had; she was asleep, but I was thinking about Sophie.

I hoped she was living her best life and one day would be reunited with our daughter. I know she has three kids now with him, and they are seen together on various occasions; she was in love and happy, and I was genuinely happy for her. I proposed to Lark again, officially, so now we are planning a big state wedding; I couldn't wait to start a family with her and enjoy my newfound happiness. I decided to go for a run as my bear hadn't been out in a while, and I left out the back door and headed to the forest behind the Palace. I notified my guards that it was I running around, and I headed to the lake, my happy place. There was a small town at the edge of the border named Lubartown; it was abandoned and was on neutral land, and was always attacked by rogues. I was planning to purchase the town and make way for new low-income housing.

Clarke was looking into it so we could finalize everything and begin building; speaking of Clarke, I was happy that he was doing better and living his life. I was surprised when I got there; Clarke was sitting by the embankment, I changed into my human form and sat next to him. He turned to me and smiled; he looked sad, and I asked him, "What was the matter, Clarke?" He hesitated at first, then asked, "What was it like to have a fated mate that loved you, even if it was for a brief moment?" I knew he always wanted a mate and I told him how it felt with Sophia, he smiled and said, "I guess it was worth it in the end, then," and I wanted to ask if he had found his mate, but I changed my mind as we jumped into the lake like when we were kids having a jolly old time.

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Rowe

After we had reached Ironside, we headed to our lavish room; I was to meet with Prince Lawrence later, but I wanted to settle in first. Davina was excited to travel with me and I kissed her; she was my fiancé now, and we were heading to Elvira to get married, Levi assured me that it would be a secret and there would be no trace of a wedding as long as we didn't want kids or mark each other for now. Levi wanted to do the same with Polly, but as Levi worked closely with Roman, they weren't willing to risk it; however, if things got complicated, I could move to Vampora, as Roman was never going to oppose Elijah. I was loyal to my father and wouldn't do that, but I knew he would try to talk me out of marrying Davina. My mind was made up, and I wasn't waiting for the law to change in a few months; I think we could keep it secret until then and then mark each other.

I had ordered some food as we were hungry, and after we ate, Davina put on this very tiny bikini; I watched her excited to go to the pool area. I told her, "Have fun, love," kissing her, and she ran off with a guard following behind her. I loved her more than anything and headed out to meet with Prince Lawrence, who was waiting for me in the lobby with a big smile. Yesterday went by pretty quickly, and we were finally heading down to the conference; we had a car pick us up and head to the venue. Davina wanted to visit the city, and I promised her we would do it before our trip here ended, and she held my hand excitedly. We were led to our seats, and I did see Axel, Roman's Beta, who smiled at me, and I smiled back because I wasn't scared of him. I saw Alpha Seth's Beta Kevin with a few of his men representing their pack, and a few other allies and enemies were in attendance.

I signed the treaty with Prince Lawrence yesterday, and everything went smoothly; we broke for lunch, and I was having a word with my beautiful fiancé when Beta Axel pulled a chair and sat facing us. I saw Lawrence from the corner of my eye looking concerned, because they were a small group of Shifters, and wanted to keep things as simple and neutral as possible. They couldn't afford an attack by King Roman, and I knew that, so I kept my anger in check. He said, "Prince Rowe, it's finally nice to meet the long-lost son of King Roman," and I said, "Say it a little louder as it would go in everyone's favor eventually," and he looked at Davina, who felt uneasy around him, so I held her hand calming her down. He said, "She is a beautiful little Elf, maybe she would like to have a little fun," and offered her a dance at the little ball tonight; she said, "No, thank you."

I smiled, saying, "Listen good, I don't like you or my sperm donor and that's okay, but don't you ever hit on my girlfriend again, or I will forget that you are a Royal Beta and end you, little wolf," and my eyes flicked color because Haakon wasn't having the disrespect. He smiled and said, "See you soon," before walking back to his table of misfits; Davina was not scared, but she knew how I got when someone tried to disrespect her, and she turned her face towards me, kissing her. I melted with her touch and smiled, saying, "We needed to head back inside, so let's finish lunch," and we ate without any more problems, then headed back inside. I stopped to speak with King Pele, who was surprisingly there, and he wanted a meeting with Barron, and I told him, "We can talk after the conference ends for the day."

Davina was standing next to me when we started hearing shots; I pulled her as we started ducking around, the machine gun was going off, and the screams were loud in the room. I knew I was hit, but it would heal, eventually; I waited until everything stopped and had Davina on the ground under me, but she wasn't moving.