Page 34 of King

She’s not afraid to see a stranger sitting here–she grins at me. And she’s not at all affected by the other Alpha in the room. She doesn’t even submit to him. She looks almost excited to be here.

I glance at her neck and see multiple marks. She has mates. At least two. The idea of multiple Alpha mates makes me queasy, but she looks so happy. They must treat her very well.

She steps closer, looking at me kindly. “Her eyes,” she says. “Do you see them, Lucas?”

The golden-eyed Alpha hums thoughtfully in response. The Omega darts out of the room and returns seconds later with a tall, curly-haired Beta in tow.

“Look,” she whispers, tilting her head toward me. “Look at her eyes.”

The Beta leans forward to peer at me as well. “I see it, but… she’s so young,” he says, wrinkling his brow.

“Time passes differently there, remember?” the Omega says.

A second, new Alpha steps into the room. He’s broad and imposing, like any Alpha, but his aura is very different. His dark eyes stand out sharply against his short, pale hair and skin, just like everyone I’ve seen in the elven camp. I try to look past him for Allina, wondering if he’s the elves’ link to this realm. But his wide frame is blocking the doorway.

“I think she may be telling the truth,” he says, studying my face.

“Why wouldn’t I be telling the truth?” I challenge, locking my stare with the dark pits of his creepy eyes. “Where is my son?”

The four of them exchange looks before the Omega shuffles over to the doorway they came through. “Please,” she says softly, reaching for someone on the other side. “Please, just come see. You can bark if you need to.”

A bronze arm with long, slender fingers takes her hand and pulls her out of the room. Something about the arm plants a seed of dread in my chest. It takes root and burrows deeper the longer the silence stretches on. Tremors run through my body as the realization sinks in.

Still, my mind fights to resist the truth looming just outside that doorway.

The Omega reappears, gripping the arm of a tall, handsome Alpha. One with pointed ears and bright blue hair. His eyes are as blue as Durin’s, but their shape is unmistakably mine.

They even hold the anger and bitterness I’ve carried with me for so long.

My chest feels like it’s ripping open. My heart spills onto the floor at my feet. I double over in agony, struggling to find a breath. That fully mature mixed-fae Alpha shifter is my son. He’s Vaegon. A mother knows her young, and despite the frantic protests of my mind, my soul is certain that it’s him.

I close my eyes, recalling the Omega’s words.Time passes differently there.

Hot tears carve paths of sorrow down my cheeks. It fits. It all makes sense now. The weight of what the elves have actually taken from me crashes down on my back.

“No…” I whisper, clutching at the cavern in my chest.

My legs give way, and I fall back onto the chair behind me. I wish I could sink deeper, back to the dark nothingness I’ve been hiding in for months. But this pain is even more unbearable than the one I was trying to escape from. Before, I had hope of getting my pup back. Now, I see that he’s truly gone for good.

Soft fingers gently pry my hands away from my chest.Through my tears, I see the lovely Omega kneeling in front of me. Her own tears race down her cheeks, highlighting the pretty speckles that run across them.

“I’m Jade,” she says quietly, squeezing my hands. “I’m one of Vaegon’s mates.”

One of them?I glance around, wondering if the others are here. I see that the Beta is clearly one of them. He’s clutching Vaegon’s hand tightly, looking up at him with enough love to bring me one brief moment of comfort.

I rip my eyes away from Vaegon’s suspicious stare and squeeze them shut. Durin is waiting for me. I need to keep it together so I can get back to him. I can still have a life with him despite this loss, but I have to survive the pain long enough to get home.

“Are you Vaegon’s birth mother?” the huge Alpha, Lucas, asks. His tone is gentle, but his Alpha bark is woven carefully into the words.

“Yes,” I reply numbly. “Or at least… I was,” I mutter. I try to stifle the sobs rising in my chest, but one slips out as I finish. “For three days before they ripped him from my arms.”

I pull my hands from the Omega’s grip and wrap my arms around my stomach. My fangs unsheathe, and a quiet whimper escapes my lips as every painful emotion I’m capable of grapple each other for control.

I don’t know what to do. Should I even bother asking him to come back with me to help Faerie?

My mind buzzes. The room is spinning. I can’t even think of another alternative but to stand up and walk back to the portal to sink into my depression again.

That plan quickly dies when Allina appears in the corner of the room. The Alphas growl and instinctively move to shield the rest of us from her. They seem to feel some kind of animosity toward her.

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