The First Fae Mate

Part Two: Forty-eight | Rest

The walk back to Invictus was endless. Prim and Orion had run out and met the group halfway after Eve had mind-linked them, looking pale as ghosts. They walked stoically alongside the quiet group without speaking.

Visena's feet ached, but she refused to be carried by Gideon in front of everyone this time. Their first bridal-style embrace felt an eternity ago and entirely inappropriate to recreate now she was 'Queen'. Her eyes fluttered shut a few times as she trudged in the predawn darkness. In these instances, Prim gently pulled her out of the way of a tree or rock, and Visena smiled back gratefully.

Pride and dignity were not the only reason she refused Gideon's embrace. He was occupied carrying one end of a makeshift stretcher of woven clothes shredded from a couple-dozen werewolves shifting. The myriad of fabrics made great strips of cloth ready to be tied to six-foot branches. Jed lay atop the stretcher in painful silence.

Thyra and her wolves split off and said their farewells at the crossroads. After a passionate goodbye kiss, Eve chose to return to Invictus and took over one of the injured wolves carrying Jed's stretcher.

He hadn't stirred once despite her mother giving her remaining Anima to him. At first, when Liam explained what she had done, Visena was furious, but almost immediately, she was flooded with undying gratitude. Her mother sacrificed herself for Jed because she knew the cost if he died. The effects on Gideon, the Pack and inadvertently Visena were undeniable. Her mother knew her better than she ever would.

"What are you gonna do tomorrow?" Prim's questioning broke through her internal thoughts.

"Huh?"

"Well, now that your Qu-"

"Prim, please..." Visena couldn't stand being viewed differently by her friends. Her new family. "It's still me."

"I know that, Vi. But there's so much to do! Malum is Alphaless. The Earth Fae are prowling the forest and the Council... Well, those assholes-

"Primalia! I can hardly think with all these damned memories rattling around, let alone you asking all these questions. All I care about is getting Jed home safe for Kora to look over him."

Visena's fiery little friend quieted and gave her friend an appreciative look. "You're right. My mind just wants to plan ten steps ahead. We're almost home. We can make arrangements in the morning."

Visena sucked her teeth but couldn't repress the exhausted laughter. "I swear to Hina that I would tackle you right now if you weren't pregnant."

Prim laughed along with her, "I love you, Vi." She took Visena's hand in hers, and they stayed that way until they breached the trees and were met by hundreds of wide-eyed Invictus wolves.

"Is it true?"

"What is she?"

"Who is she?"

"Alpha?"

Gideon had his head bowed, looking at his unconscious brother, one hand holding his stretcher, the other brushing a stray hair on his forehead.

"Please head home, everyone. We have lost people, and I plan to tell you everything after a few hours' rest. But, for now, all you need to know is that Visena is still your Alpha, just as I am, and I'm taking my brother to Kora."

The fabric across the wooden branches squeaked under the tension of Jed's body as Eve, Gideon, Orion, and Liam walked behind the Packhouse with their fallen Gamma.

With the last ounce of wakefulness, Visena stood before the wolves. Her wolves.

"Hi. I don't think we've ever formally met." Her inquisitive audience reciprocated her shy smile. "I'm Visena, daughter of Darius Alastair, the true Alpha of Malum Pack, and Esmerelda Sage: Princess of the Water Fae realm." She was relieved her voice didn't crack and realised with gripping pain that she was officially an orphan.