Vampire King Chapter 40

An Alpha Emerges
An Alpha Emerges
*Kane*
I was almost there.
I had almost made it
to where Emory was confronting her father. I could see her in the distance as I sprinted across the grass, not even slowing as I passed the line of my own troops that had been standing back, watching.
“What is she doing?” I’d screamed aloud to no one. Why had Rainer allowed her to get so far ahead of him? I see my friend dodging forward now, coming up behind me, but it’s too f**g late!
Emory falls backward, the slash of a wolf’s claws ripping through her abdomen as blood sprays across his face.
I am there before she hits the ground. I scoop her into my arms as the crowd gasps in shock. I have no idea what Emory had been saying to them, but by their expressions, most of the wolves looked ready to stand down.
All but one.
Her own fucking father.
Blood drips off the claws of Bernard Moonraker as he stands directly in front of me, his fangs showing as he snarls at me… at her.
Never before in my life have I wanted to speak to a wolf shifter more than I do right now. I want to know what the f**k he was thinking.
Rainer is behind me, and he’s calling for a healer. Emory’s eyes are open. “K-Kane?”
“You’re all right, baby,” I tell her, but I have no idea what the damage is. All I know is that I smell her blood, and she’s in enough pain that she can hardly keep her eyes open.
Rainer insists that I let him have her, and I turn to address the wolf in front of me. “You’d better shift right now and give me a really good f**ng reason why I don’t rip your go**mn head off, Bernard Moonraker!”
He smiles at me, still snarling, and it’s not him that speaks but a woman nearby who is in her human form, “The Alpha says that he was punishing his daughter for trying to get his own army to turn against him.”
“Turn against him? He sold her!” I shout. I look along the line of wolves standing in front of me. They are no match for my army that is coming in at full speed from the north right now. The line that I here will hold them, and we will destroy them.
And I’m not f**ing afraid of any of them or all of them. Not in the mood I’m in.
“The Alpha says that you are a liar, that you stole her, and that Emory has been compromised.” The same woman is speaking to me, but she doesn’t seem to believe the words coming out of her own mouth.
“You all know that’s not true! And now, he’s led you all here to be sl**red, the same way that he just tried to kill his own daughter!
A healer is there now, treating Emory, and Rainer is up now, at my side.
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I look at her brother and the man that I am certain Emory thought at one point would be her mate. They are both uncomfortably shuffling on their feet next to the Alpha. They know. They are not fools who are so consumed by the idea of having power that they are acting irrationally.
I hope.
We are about to find out.
“I’m giving you all a choice right now,” I tell them. “Before I send in my troops. Before you all have to risk dying because of this nasty a**le whom some of you call Alpha and some of you have absolutely no loyalty whatsoever. Shift back into your human forms and pledge your allegiance to Emory Moonraker as your Alpha. If you do so, she will be the Alpha of your pack. She will use the knowledge and skills she’s been honing her entire life, ones she worked on in anticipation of becoming your leader, until this man lied to her, tried to sell her sister, and then she gave herself up, to stay here, in a castle full of vampires, people she’d been told her whole life were her enemies, but we’re not! We don’t have to be. We don’t want to be!”
I look down the line and see many of them heavily affected by my words. The ones that are not members
for
being of her pack are already backing away. This isn’t their fight. Ordinarily, I would punish them just here, but I don’t have any desire to **k with that at the moment.
“Make your choice, and make it now,” I say. My eyes wander up and down the line, looking for reactions.
I feel something cold brush against my hand and see that Emory is struggling to sit up. She looks a lot better now than she did when I’d handed her over to Rainer. I’m not sure what the situation is, but I’m thankful to see that she’s able to take my hand.
If this works, it will be because of the words she said to these people before I arrived. But I am still infuriated that she did this-and that Rainer and Lex did nothing to stop her.
When I return my attention to the wolves, the members of the neighboring packs are retreating. The others are still hesitating
Bernard Moonraker shifts and takes a pair of shorts from a s**nt standing nearby, one next to the woman who did the speaking for him.
His eyes are not focused, and he still has that snarl on his face. His hand is dripping with blood, but it’s
not his.
“How dare you!” he shouts at me. “How dare you spread lies to these people. Stand strong, Moonraker pack! We will move forward with our attack, and we will claim Crimson Peak as our own! These vampire demons cannot stop us! He’s lying to you again, telling you that there are more nearby!”
“Father!”
Emory’s brother has shifted and is pulling on some shorts as well. “Shut up! Don’t you see what’s happened? Now, you’ve screwed everything up for me! These people, they don’t want me to be their Alpha, not after what Emory Just said to them. They want her! And what of me? She’ll likely have me sent to the feeders’ prison.”
With his words, Emory begins to stand up. I am hesitant to help her because I don’t want her to be further Injured, but she manages, and I hold her up, my arm around her waist. When she speaks, her voice is quiet because she’s having difficulty breathing through the pain. “No, Colt. I would never do that to you. I will
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need your help. You’re my brother. I love you.” Looking at her father, she says, “I would never turn my back. on my family.”
“You little **h!” her father says, stepping toward her.
“Call her another name and I will tear your throat out!” I shout at him. “You might’ve been able to take advantage of your daughter when she wasn’t expecting an attack, but I assure you those tactics will not serve you well.”
He hesitates, stops in his tracks. I can see him considering whether or not he should continue to press
the issue.
But I am done.
“All right, members of Moonraker pack. If you are ready to accept Emory as your Alpha, shift now. The rest of you can either take off and try your hand at being rogues or prepare to fight my army.” At that moment, they appear over a rise in the distance, twenty thousand vampires, dressed in black, their faces. glowing in the moonlight as they prepare to fight.
That was all of the persuasion most of them needed. But they didn’t turn and run like I expected them to. No, they all shift and drop down on their knees. Even her brother bows down to her. The other guy, the Beta’s son, he does the same.
The only one who didn’t bow down to her was her father.
He takes two swift steps backward before I release Emory to Rainer, knowing he is right there to take her, and grab him by the throat. “You don’t get to run away, Bernard,” I tell him.
He makes gurgling noises, and I decide not to squeeze so hard, not for his sake but for his daughter’s. As much as I want to snap his neck, I won’t. Emory can do whatever she’d like with him, but I won’t kill him.
“Should we round them up?” one of my lieutenants asks me as another takes Bernard Moonraker into
custody.
“No.” The answer comes from Emory, but I agree. “No, they did as the king requested. They are free to go back to their homes. Colt, you’re in charge as acting Alpha until I can sort through the situation and get some treatment for my injuries. Darius, you’re acting Béta. Make sure that everyone has what they need. I will be there to check on the situation as soon as I can.”
Her words make me wince a little. She’s leaving. She’ll go back to her pack, and I’ll let her. It doesn’t
will. matter that I “own” her. I can’t keep her at my castle against my
“Yes, Alpha,” both of the men Emory has addressed say, and immediately, they take charge of the situation. I single for some of my people to assist them. I’m not sure what the status of their pack is at this point, but if they need something-food, supplies, resources, anything-I will provide it for them. The only thing I’m short on myself right now is blood.
Thinking of that reminds me that I still have King Peter to deal with. He wanted to meet with me to discuss the situation, and I left to come here instead. I know that the troops I left behind are well-led, and they will not lose the upper hand we fought so hard to take, but it’s one more thing I must deal with.
Right now, though, all I can think about is Emory. I want to ask Rainer what he was thinking. I want to yell at her for doing something so dangerous. I want to kiss her.
I won’t do any of those things. Especially the last one. She is leaving soon. She’s made her decision, and
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even though I can respect it, I can’t help but feel like my heart is being wrapped out of my chest.
The healers show up with a stretcher, and even though she protests, she climbs on it. As she is taken back to the castle, the people of Moonraker pack erupt in chants of, “Hail Alpha Emory!” I couldn’t be prouder of her, but I have no idea how I will ever let her go.
*Emory*
A clan healer has sewed me up for the second time in just a few days. The attack from my father was deep, tearing through muscle, but it didn’t hit any vital o**ns.
I am thankful that I am okay, but I can’t believe my own father did that to me. I trusted him. I know Rainer and Lex both feel awful that I was injured; I just hope Kane hasn’t done anything to kill them yet.
He hasn’t come in to see me either, and that worries me. I know he’s probably busy with everything that’s going on. We need to talk about how I will do this-be the Alpha of my pack and still see him.
Assuming he wants to see me. I hope he’s not angry at me for going out there without speaking to him first.
My hand brushes over my abdomen. It’s a bit sore, but I’ll be okay.
I need to talk to him desperately, though. I need to tell him what the healer said to me. I can hardly believe that it’s true. I didn’t even know it was possible… She said it had happened once before, a thousand years ago…..
The door creaks open and Kane sticks his head in. I smile at him, but the smile he gives me back is forced. “How are you feeling?” he asks me.
“Better, thank you. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. I just thought you’d be busy, and I could handle it.”
He comes to stand next to me, but his hands are folded behind him. “You did handle it. I only… reinforced what you’d said.”
I can’t help but smile at him. “We have a lot to discuss.
“Do we?” he asks me.
“I think so. Being an Alpha over there and living here….”
His eyes widen, and I am confused. “Living here?”
“Well… yes.” I pause. “Unless you don’t want me to.”
“Do you want to?” His tone is cautious. “Because you don’t have to. I’m not going to force you to stay with me, Emory
Confusion washes over me as I’m not sure what he means. “You own me,” I remind him.
He shakes his head. “No one owns you, Emory Moonraker.” Finally, he reaches over and touches my arm. I only want you to make an effort to stay with me if you want to.”
My hand slips down to his, our fingers interlacing as I run my palm along his smooth, cool one. “I can’t imagine being without you.” We’ve been through too much for me to be anything but honest, even if the
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truth leaves me feeling raw and exposed. I feel so drawn to him, so intoxicated by him, I can’t imagine a mate’s pull being any stronger, but I’m not old enough to have experienced that yet.
If I never meet my true mate and this is the closest I ever get, I will not know what I am missing.
Kane’s smile is content. He seems to be breathing easier as he says, “I can’t imagine being without you either, Emory. In fact, I love you.”
His words make my heart swell as an ache of longing shoots through me. “I love you, too,” I tell him. He leans down and gently presses his lips to mine, like he’s afraid I might crumble and blow away in the wind.
When he pulls away, I say, “I want to be with you always, but even more now that you and I will forever be tied together.”
His forehead crinkles as he caresses my cheek with his thumb. “What’s that now?”
I grin up at him and say, “Kane… I’m pregnant.”
His reaction is the same as mine had been when the healer told me. “Wh-what? But… how?”
I shrug. “I’m not sure, but it has to be yours. I have never been with anyone else. The healer says I’m not very far along, and this has happened before, long ago, but… we’re going to have a baby.”
th the
“A baby?” he repeats as a look of pure joy has his face glowing from within. “A baby with the woman! love? What could be better than that?”
He leans down and kisses me again, and I know that nothing in the world could ever be better than this.