Chapter 24

Lia~

I give her an incredulous look. The entire supernatural kingdom felt my shift? Also, why does she say it like it was some sort of natural disaster? " Wait, if you knew I'd shifted, why not return earlier? Why didn't you come back when you knew your daughter needed you? For goddess sake why take this long to address it?! "and just like that both of our resolves have snapped. I hear the staff all scattering away, all scared to get caught in the crossfire. No one wants to get caught between two alpha females.

She scoffs," Oh please, I had more pressing matters to deal with than being your emotional support! I raised you to be an alpha-!"

"You barely raised me at all!" I cut her off, "After dad's death you shipped me off to every place that would take me just so that you wouldn't have to raise me because you still blame me for what happened. Well newsflash, mother, I'm not the reason your mate, my father, is dead!"

Tears are streaming down both of our cheeks but we both know that this fight is far from over. " If it weren't for you, your father would still be alive! He died protecting you! He was a strong and proud alpha but he had to die because you couldn't be a normal pup, you had to be so special!"

"I never asked to be born this way! Dad loved me and he died because he was protecting his daughter, whom he loved! I never asked to be some sort of powerful being! "

"Some powerful being you turned out to be! Having a human as a mate just proves how weak you are! An alpha with a human mate could never rule a pack much less a kingdom. You'd drive this kingdom into the ground and I refuse to hand over my title to you!"

I stand there shocked before rage clouds my vision. I snarl at her and my eyes shine the color of my wolf's. For the first time since our mate's betrayal, I feel her. I feel her hurt, her misery, but most of all I feel her anger. My fist slams down on the table so hard the wood splinters under the force. My voice booms through the castle and the pack link, making sure every member hears me, "If you won't give me the title then I will take it! I Princess Amelia Knight challenge you, Queen Evangeline Knight to an Alpha duel."

The pack link buzzes with commotion but I shut them all out. I can't afford to focus on anything besides this woman in front of me. My mother's shocked expression morphs into one of pure alpha rage as she growls and lunges at me from across the table. Her claws extend and she tries to tackle me to the ground but I use her momentum against her and throw her off me, sending her flying into the wall. The anger is radiating off us both. An alpha challenge is to the death or till someone surrenders and that someone will not be me.

I lunge at her with my claws extended but she ducks away just in time and I smash through the wall. I land on the grass outside with a hard thump and she uses this to dive on top of me and starts throwing punches. I kick her off into a tree and run at her sending a hard punch to her stomach. She grabs my hair and pulls my head backward. I hiss in pain and claw at her arm, forcing her to release me. She sends a hard punch to my jaw and sweeps my legs, kicking me hard into a nearby tree before I hit the ground. I roll away right before her fist can connect with my face and kick her in the stomach.

She snarls at me and her eyes glow red as her bones start cracking and she shifts into her gray wolf. I smirk at her wolf, which is much smaller than mine and even though I haven't trained much in wolf form, I know that Raeya is the strongest by far. Her wolf growls at me and bares its canines, readying itself to attack when I shift into Raeya. My bones crack and my teeth elongate into canines. I hear gasps at the sight of my wolf and I can see a hint of fear in my mother's eyes. She lunges forward and tries to bite my leg but I dodge her quickly by jumping right, before headbutting her stomach, knocking her off her paws. She gets up quickly and attacks again. Our jaws lock as we claw at each other, trying to do some damage. She manages to slice my stomach but I ignore the pain and bite her hind leg. We tackle each other to the ground, both fighting to dominate, clawing and snapping our jaws at each other. I headbutt her stomach again hard and send her flying and before she can recover I stomp my paw onto her back, pinning her in place while my jaws hover around her neck. Our breathing is the only sound heard. I growl at her. She has no way out but to surrender. After a long and antagonizing moment, she howls in defeat and I remove my paw from her. The entire pack surrounds us as I howl in victory. The power of my howl is so strong that it forces every member to shift and howl along with me in submission, making it known that I am now the alpha.

My mother shifts back and a shawl is thrown over her. She covers herself and walks towards me. I shift back but instead of being naked, my clothes are still on my body in one piece. "Raeya?" for the first time in a long time, I feel her spirit strong and proud. "I am so proud of us. We deserve this title and these wolves deserve a true leader. As for the clothes, I'm not sure but the book did say that your different sides could affect each other so maybe this is your magic bleeding into me."

My mother comes to stand in front of me and I watch her carefully. She extends her hand towards me and I take her warm, bruised hand into mine," You'll be a formidable leader. I'm proud of the alpha you've become." she releases my hand and walks back towards the packhouse. I stare at her retreating figure and wonder just how much of that she meant. Gretchen is suddenly in front of me as well as the former beta. They both congratulate me and soon I'm surrounded by omegas all planning the alpha ceremony which will take place in four days under the full moon. The ceremony will also mean I'll be married to Henry but I won't dwell on that now. I have a lot of arrangements to make before my big day, the day I officially become queen. We all walk back to the house together, talking about decor, my dress, and who should be invited. Every girl dreams of their wedding while I stand here, loathing mine all because I'm marrying an egotistical idiot instead of the love of my life.

***

Lucas~

Pain...

That's all I feel when I try to move any part of my body. I hear a groan but I'm not sure where it came from. I try to open my eyes but my lids feel like concrete and they refuse to move, my limbs feel heavy and I can't seem to move my legs. Something is seriously wrong here. I hear the sound again and this time it's coming from all around me. I struggle and finally, I open my eyes to a pretty horrid sight. I'm in a dark room and from the looks of it, it's underground. I notice the chains around my legs and realize they're the reason I haven't been able to get up. Someone coughs from beside me and that's when I notice that we're all chained to the wall me, Camille, Jackson, and Julia, all still unconscious.

The events of the last few days slowly come back to me as I groan in frustration. The fight with Lia, her disappearance, Cammie trying to kill me, then this girl, Julia, stumbling into our lives which eventually led us here.

"Where the fuck are we?" Camille's awake.

"ugh, how did I get here?" that would be Jackson.

I hear chains rattling and look towards the last of us, "I can't believe they put me in here with you! This has to be some sort of mistake!" and that's Julia.

"Oh please, you deserve to be in this hole, we on the other hand don't."

"Who asked you garlic breath?!"

Jackson and Julia start arguing about who should be locked up and looking at them now, I start to see similarities. The last few days are running through my mind on repeat, always coming to the same conclusion.

Long story short, we've been kidnapped.