Filed To Story: Secret with Betas Daughter: Skylar Story Series
“I did. Is there a problem with that?” Alpha Reggie keeps his calm, but his posture and aura change like he is readying for a fight.
“A little bit, yes. Sir.”
She adds, not backing down. “Why would you send a royal on a mission with the intention to get captured?”
“You meant for her to get taken!” Nathaniel almost shouts. I don’t know if I have ever heard him actually shout before. He’s loud when he has to be, but he mostly observes and keeps quiet.
I place my hand on his shoulder next to me. “I was in on that part of the plan, take a breath, and calm down. We are getting off track.”
I look back to Alpha Reggie. My friends won’t let that go, so I will have to tell that story later. I don’t know if Jena even knew that part.
So many secrets, from people I trust and care about. That is something to unpack later.
Alpha Reggie nods and goes on like there was no interruption. “I am positive that the Rogue King knows of Sky’s lineage now, or we should at least work with that assumption. She will be an even bigger target.”
He holds up a hand as Wyatt and Nathaniel both look like they are going to interrupt again. “Before you say anything, I have no intention of locking her away, she is not a damsel in distress, she is an important member of the Royal family, one many people will want to get their hands on, no different than Xander. So I will train her mentally and you will all train her physically. Preparation is going to be our friend.”
Alpha Reggie stops to take a drink and appears to be collecting his thoughts. “Over the next few weeks you will all train in your specified areas as well as with the elite warriors. As information continues to come in about the Rogue King, kidnapped girls and Jena’s pack we will send your team out to handle it with some of our most skilled warriors. This is what we know so far. The kidnapped girls whose identities we could confirm were all high ranking females. They were subjected to the same treatment as the two of you,” He looked from Jena to me. “We did find a couple of the more recent girls disposed of very unceremoniously, meaning they were in a hurry and made mistakes. Doc Gannon and Doc Sylvia have come to the conclusion that the girls were being dissected…”
“What the hell? That’s awful. Why would he do that?” Oscar asked.
“Skylar already knows some of this, but my family’s history is somewhat bloody when it comes to succession. I have recently found confirmation that my Great Great Grandfather’s second son, who was wildly vocal about being passed over as the Alpha King when his nephew took the throne, captured his own sister and her daughter and O experimented on them both.”
He took a deep breath and we all waited silently for him to go on. “The women born into my family have special abilities and powers. I’m sure you have all noticed some of Sky’s talents are beyond that of an accomplished warrior. Don’t get me wrong Little One, I believe you would be a force without your abilities but even I have noticed abnormalities knowing what powers you could possess.”
“What do you mean ‘abnormalities’?” I ask, now concerned that something is wrong with me.
“Normally each female has one gift
.net or enhancement. Your mother, from what I understand, had emotional control over others. Something I know you have, I’ve seen you use it on all of the boys, even here this morning. Jena is drawn to you when her emotions become too much. You have the ability to keep everyone level headed. Proof enough you have that ability. You also can fight off an Alpha’s aura, even as a born Beta with Royal blood, I should be able to make you do just about anything and I don’t think you even know you’re resisting. And trust me, I have tried. I don’t think it’s your natural stubbornness either.”
He winks at me, breaking some of the tension in the room. “Then there are your scars. Based on all of your altercations and injuries, even you can’t deny that you have enhanced healing abilities, again, beyond what Royal blood would give you. You can fight off silver and wolfsbane put directly into your bloodstream.”
I look down at my hands folded into my lap. I can feel my friends’ eyes burning holes in the sides of my head. I don’t think
Xander knew about the silver until now.
“Is that what the scars on your back are? Silver?” He asks, just above a whisper. I can feel his body heat increase while he is trying to hold in anger that is radiating off of him.
I take a long breath in and let it out slowly, raising my eyes to look right at Alpha Reggie, not sure if I am more relieved or angry that he is forcing me to confess this part of my history. I keep my focus trained forward in a tunnel vision as my voice comes out monotone and flat.
“I was tied up, both my hands bound above my head and whipped with a whip laced with wolfsbane so the cuts would open quickly and deep. Then my feet were lifted so I was parallel to the ground, silver powder poured onto the wounds. I was then dragged out to the woods and left to die. That was when and why my wolf showed up early. It took two days for us to heal.”
I took another shuddering breath, feeling the pressure in my chest, but I refused to cry. Kaley and her torture would get no more tears from me. I kept starting at Alpha Reggie, but I could see Luna Anne in my peripherals, silent tears staining her cheeks. I couldn’t hear breathing from any of my friends. They must all be waiting to see what I do next.
“And that right there is my confirmation that you can fight off even my aura.”
All of my friends gasp for air, even Xander. “Will you take that secret to the grave?” I didn’t need clarification on his question. He forced me to tell my story willingly to see if I would give up my attacker and when I didn’t he tried to force it, going as far as controlling all of my friends and Xander surrounding me.
“Like I told Alpha Lucas and the guys, it is too little too late. There is no going back to fix things now. We need to move forward.”
I don’t take my eyes off of him. “So the abnormality is that I have more than one enhancement?”
He takes my cue and nods. “I have never known any female in our family’s history or any other Royal family’s history to have more than one enhanced ability. What I have found is that my Great Great Grandfather’s second son and his son experimented on the women in their family trying to take on their enhancements, eventually killing them. I think that might have been what Mike was doing with all of the females he took. He is a part of that lineage, but we don’t have records of names for that portion of the family. They were looking for your grandmother and mom, knowing they went into hiding.”
“And you still put her in harm’s way, knowing she was the end goal target?” Wyatt sounds murderous.
“We didn’t have confirmation on that until last night. Doc Gannon and Doc Sylvia were able to confirm the tissue samples that were taken and reverse engineer the process, giving us a better scope of the situation. Without Skylar’s contribution to the mission we would never have confirmed that and we have been going at this blind for far too long. Some sacrifice is worth ending this. She understands this. Watch your tone boy!” Now the Alpha King was out, his wolf’s voice laced with his own. Alpha Reggie is menacing when he is angry and it’s amazing to watch. I can feel the fear and respect radiate off of my friends, but I am in awe of the spectacle.
“Yes, your majesty.”
Wyatt’s head dropped and turned to the side, a sign of submission to the Alpha.
“Now you all know what you need to know to do your best job bringing my cousin, the Rogue King, in. He will be given a formal trial in front of the council of Elders and all of the Alpha Kings and we will decide his fate.”
“Decide his fate? He needs to die for his crimes. How many innocents has he killed in the name of taking over as the Alpha King? He will kill you without a thought to get what he wants. He has to kill you to get what he wants. Why would we give him a trial? He doesn’t deserve the decency.”
New Book: Returned To Make Them Pay
On her wedding anniversary, Alicia is drugged and stumbles into the wrong room—straight into the arms of the powerful Caden Ward, a man rumored never to touch women. Their night of passion shocks even him, especially when he discovers she’s still a virgin after two years of marriage to Joshua Yates.