Page 35 of King

Good. I hope they maul her to death. But not before I get a chance at her.

“You!” I shout, springing from the chair. I push through the giant bodies blocking my path until I can see her face. “You did this! You stole him from me.”

The Alphas don’t stop me from approaching her. When I’m close enough, I grab her by the hair and yank her down to my level. Allina doesn’t defend herself. She just stares at me with that infuriatingly blank mask the elves like to wear.

“I should rip a hole in your throat right now,” I growl, baring my fangs to show how serious I am. “The only reason I’m not killing you yet is because I need to make sure I can get back to Durin.”

She wisely doesn’t pull away or utter any spells. Instead, she blinks at me and gives a single nod. I grip her tightly for a moment before releasing her with a sharp jerk.

“My youngling... Is she well?” she dares to ask me.

“Why wouldn’t she be?” I snap, clenching my hands into fists to keep my claws out of her face. “It’s been less than a season! She’s merely months old and has been cared for by your kind. What could possibly have happened to her?”

Allina’s jaw tightens. “You’re angry,” she says, with a trace of bitterness in her voice. “You felt sorrow for a short time while separated from your youngling. But I’ve endured that emptiness for nearly three decades. You’re not the only one who has sacrificed for our realm’s future.”

My rage is enough to stir my Omega from whatever pit she’s been hiding in. She springs to life, clamoring against my chest, desperate to rip Allina apart.

“How dare you compare your suffering to mine?” I hiss. “Your pup will forget that you were gone and quickly come to know you again. Your kind lives for centuries. You’ll have a long, full life with your daughter. You missed nothing!”

My Omega continues to pound against her cage, but my heart is hardening to protect itself from the truth.

“I lostallof my pup’s youth,” I growl. “I missed his first words and when he presented as an Alpha. I missed his first fight, his first shift, taking his mates. You spent a long time missing your pup, but you get to return to her and live out the life that was paused for you. Your suffering is over. Mine has just begun. You might as well have killed me because you stole my chance to be a mother to him at all.”

I feel myself deflate. My fangs retract, and I drag myself back to the chair. A familiar numbness settles comfortably over me again. But a flash of blue light draws my gaze up from the floor. Vaegon has Allina pinned against the wall, staring her down while sparks of his father’s magic crackle around them.

“Who thefuckare you?” he growls, his face inches from hers.

His strength makes me so proud, but the fact that he doesn’t know who Allina is ignites my rage again.

I rise slowly from the chair, my body tense with restrained fury. I take a deliberate step closer, my voice low and even as I ask, “Why doesn’t he know you, Allina?”

Her gaze flicks to me for a moment before returning to the angry Alpha in front of her. “I’m Allina,” she says, answering him instead of me. “I was tasked with bringing you here from Faerie while your magic grew.”

“That doesn’t explain why he has no idea who you are,” I say, gritting my teeth.

“No, it doesn’t,” Lucas says, standing beside me. Vaegon pulls his magic back and steps away, letting him take over.

“I was instructed to find a pack that would protect and raise him,” she says.

“Then why didn’t you?” Lucas barks. “Why did you force him to wander around at such a young age and find it for himself? That’s how our pack found him, you know. Wandering throughthe forest, scared and alone.”

The thought of a little Vaegon lost and crying for his fake mother infuriates me. I know where the gateway is. Allina’s not needed anymore. Fuck whatever magic she has. It won’t be enough.

I lunge at Allina, going straight for the throat.

But the Beta steps in from behind and gently holds me back. Allina takes the opportunity and rushes to explain herself.

“I was with him the entire time. Under a concealment spell. I couldn’t choose the pack for him. He needed to imprint. It was up to him to find his way.”

“Imprint?” the fair Alpha asks, uncrossing his arms and stepping forward, clearly intrigued.

But my anger comes before his curiosity. “You couldn’t be bothered to stay with him?” I shout, struggling not to shove the Beta off and spill the elf’s blood onto the floor. “Or at least explain to him what happened once he’d settled in with the pack? You want credit for your years of longing whenhespent that entire time thinking his family abandoned him?”

“The seer forbade it,” she says evenly. “She said interfering would change the outcome.”

“Fucking convenient,” I snap.

“Where have you been all this time?” The Omega, Jade, asks her. “Why did no one ever see you?”

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