MATED TO FATHER, FATED TO SONS

ALPHA CORVIN

Freya stood there in the center of the room with a bloodied trembling hand, and Zoya was on the floor impaled deep in her chest with a knife, blood pooling rapidly around her body and soaking into the carpet in an expanding circle.

"What—" I could barely form coherent words, my mind struggling.

"She came here to kill Ryker," Freya said quickly, her voice shaking. "She drugged everyone in the entire house. It did not work on me because I am a witch. I felt the poison in the wine and shielded myself immediately with a protection charm."

I looked at Zoya gasping desperately for air on the floor, her hands clutching uselessly at the knife in her chest, her eyes terrified as blood bubbled from her lips with each struggling breath.

Ryker was on the bed, still unconscious but starting to stir slightly now, his head moving and his breathing changing.

"I had no choice," Freya said desperately, tears streaming down her face and dripping off her chin. "She was going to kill him. I saw the knife in her hand already raised. She was standing directly over him with the blade ready to plunge into his heart. I had to stop her. I had to protect him."

"Go," I commanded, my voice harsh and broken. "Leave this house right now."

"Corvin, I cannot leave you here alone—"

"Go!" I commanded, my voice louder and hoarse and she had absolutely no choice but to obey even though tears were streaming down her face and she was sobbing.

She gave me one last apologetic look and ran from the room without looking back.

As soon as she disappeared down the hallway, Ryker woke up gasping for air desperately. His eyes opened wide and he saw his mother on the floor, bleeding to death with the knife still impaled deep in her chest, and me standing over her body.

"What did you do?" Ryker asked, his voice breaking completely as he looked at me with absolute horror and betrayal filling his young eyes. "What did you do to her? Father, what did you do?"

Present Day

I snapped back violently to the present, my body shaking uncontrollably as the painful memory overwhelmed me like it always did on the full moon.

My wolf started becoming increasingly feral inside me, clawing desperately at my insides. Trying forcefully to take control of my body, trying to shift against my will, my bones aching with the desperate need to transform.

My vision was going red at the edges and blurring badly. My hands were shaking violently and I gripped the window frame hard enough that the wood cracked audibly under my fingers, splinters digging into my palms.

My breathing became ragged and harsh, coming in short gasps. I felt my fur trying to push through my skin on my arms.

Then suddenly a huge blinding light hit me directly in the face, so bright I had to squeeze my eyes shut tightly against it to protect them.

An image flashed vividly in my head.

Freya.

She was standing staring at the moon in a small rustic cabin, covered in terrible burn scars that marked her arms and torso and sides. But it was definitely her face. Her eyes that I would recognize anywhere. I would know her in any form.

I heard a whisper directly in my head, soft and desperate and urgent and achingly familiar.

"Corvin."

My name repeated again and again like an echo bouncing off invisible walls.

"Corvin. Corvin. Corvin. It’s me. Corvin."

I snapped back to reality violently, breathing hard, my heart racing dangerously fast in my chest.

What the hell was that? A vision? A hallucination brought on by grief?

I felt erratic and unstable, my wolf still clawing desperately inside me demanding answers I did not have.

I needed to find my sons immediately. I needed to know they were safe from whatever was happening. Were they also feeling this?

I went to Rowan’s room and knocked hard on the door three times. No answer at all. I pushed it open and the room was completely empty, his bed untouched and perfectly made.

Maybe he is with Lila at Ironcrest pack,

I tried to rationalize his absence on the full moon.

I went quickly to Ryker’s room next and knocked firmly on his door. No answer again. I opened the door and it was also empty, no sign of him anywhere.

Maybe Ryker had resumed his old clubbing and wild ways again, out at some party or bar drowning himself in alcohol and women like he used to do.

But something felt very wrong. Very off.

I paused outside in the hallway, thinking about going to Amaris’s room. I did not want to see her. I did not trust myself around her after what had happened between us earlier in my private office when I had almost completely lost control and taken her on my bed.

But I had to check on her. I had to know she was safe.

I walked to her door and knocked firmly three times. No answer at all.

I knocked again, much louder this time. Still nothing but silence.

Slowly I pulled open the door and stepped inside carefully.

The room was completely empty. Her bed was neatly made. No sign of her anywhere in the space. Her things were still here but she was gone.

I became immediately alert, all my senses sharpening to maximum.

"Marco!" I called out loudly, my voice echoing through the empty house.

In less than a minute Beta Marco appeared running with several of his men behind him, all looking alert and ready for orders.

"Amaris is not in her room," I stated, trying desperately to keep my voice calm and controlled. "Victor may have kidnapped her while everyone was distracted by the full moon. Find Nia immediately. She was supposed to stay with Amaris tonight and protect her. Find out where she is."

His men immediately dispersed to search the entire grounds thoroughly.

Beta Marco stayed with me, studying my face carefully. "Alpha, are you alright? You look unwell."

"I need you to look into something else for me," I said, my voice rough.

"What is it?" Marco asked, stepping closer.

I took a deep breath, knowing how insane this would sound out loud. "Today I felt Freya. Not just a memory or wishful thinking. I felt her actual presence. I saw her clearly in a vision just now."

Marco’s eyes widened in complete shock. "That is impossible, Alpha. She died in the fire a year ago. You know this."

"She is not dead," I stated with absolute certainty, my voice firm and leaving no room for argument. "She is alive. I know it. I can feel it."