Chapter 67 - The Alpha King and His Second Chance

Ella

"Mommy's coming home soon! Mommy's coming home soon!" Stella proudly proclaimed, shouting her mantra as she skipped through the house.

"Stella..." I reprimanded while I wiped Huner and Jane's faces down from lunch.

I was at my wits' end with this little girl. Levi and Xander were tough for a while, but one day it was like a switch flipped and yes, they still missed their mom, but they didn't seem bitter anymore. Stella, on the other hand, I just couldn't get through to her. Every other day she would talk about all the things she was going to do with her mom when she came back. She said she had a dream about it. Goddess help me with this pup.

Taking on five pups all at once was a huge undertaking. Fortunately, we already knew their personalities and had the funds and room for us to all live together, but goddess, it has been a lot. Jackson had been busy running the kingdom in Edwards' absence and his parents in the eastern kingdom. William stepped up and began doing more to help Jackson. Edward stops by on the weekends, which his pups look forward to more than anything. He said he shouldn't be much longer with King Derek, and I can believe it. He has been coming home more frequently and staying longer. There was, however, still a ton that needed to be done. Derek should be on his feet soon though. I didn't envy either of them. I was secretly grateful that Edward left to help Derek and didn't send Jackson instead. Although Jackson hated the idea of being king, he sucked it up and did it well. He checked in with Edward frequently and I was able to see my mate every day and not worry that he was on some killing crusade.

"Aunt Ella, we're bored." Levi and Xander said in unison. "Can we go outside?"

"It's raining really hard outside, maybe tomorrow? Why don't you play hide and seek? Or make up a new game?" I suggested.

"Okay." They answered disappointedly and walked away.

I finished cleaning up from lunch and got Hunter, Jane, and Abby down for a nap. Ben was watching TV and Joy and Stella were playing with their dolls. Levi and Xander were off doing something. What, I don't know. But they were quiet. This was a rare moment these days. I flopped down on the couch hoping that I might get a twenty-minute cat nap before one of the eight pups under seven years old needed something from me.

I did end up drifting to sleep. I woke up when I heard crying, but thankfully, my mate was back and took care of it. "Thank you." I yawned, lifting my legs so Jackson could sit down with Abby in his arms.

"Rough day?" Jackson asked quietly.

"No... it's just catching up to me." I yawned again.

"It won't last forever." Jackson reassured me. I knew he was feeling worn down, the weight of the world on his shoulders. We hadn't had any alone time together in what felt like forever, which also put a strain on our relationship.

"Uncle Jackson, whats this?" Xander asked with Levi in tow.

He handed him an orange device that I didn't recognize. I took Abby from Jackson and finished feeding her while he looked over the mystery item.

"This was a tracker to find your mom. It was locked in your dad's desk. How'd ya get it?" Jackson asked. The boys' faces turned red and they shrugged sheepishly, caught red-handed.

"We found a key and tried it on the desk." Levi caved in first, as always.

"Where did you find the okay?" Jackson asked.

"On your keychain in your nightstand," Xander said. "How does it work? Can we keep it?" This pup knew how to talk his way out of things. Always trying to divert the heat off of himself.

"You know your dad doesn't want you going through his desk." Jackson sighed, but caved none the less. "This button turns it on. The screen lights up and it gives you coordinates to where the tracker is located."

"Cool!" Xander exclaimed.

"We use them when people go on special missions or when we want to keep an eye on someone." Jackson said, handing it to Xander.

"Why is the dot moving?" Levi asked.

"What? It shouldn't be...." Jackson frowned, taking it back.

"Its moving? Is this one Edwards?" I asked.

Jackson flipped it over and it had a label on the back with Sierra's name on it. We exchanged a weary glance.

"What does that mean?" I asked via link.

"Maybe an animal got her body? We should probably check it out..." Jackson sighed.

"I'm gonna hang onto this for a little while...why don't we go find something more interesting for you guys?" Jackson said.

He took the boys and disappeared for an hour, which was a nice break for me now only having to watch over six pups. Ha! When they came back, Levi and Xander had walkies-talkies in their hands, plus a few extras for the other pups.

"I spoke with William, he and Racheal are going to come over after dinner and me and you can go look for...this." Jackson said, showing me the tracking device in hand.

"Got it." I nodded.

Although it wasn't the date night I had in mind, it was alone time with my mate. Even if it was to look for a dead body. The afternoon dragged on, the pups seemed extra needy, but it was probably just because I was excited to get out, but also nervous about what we would find. William and Rachael showed up with their pups shortly after dinner, adding to the unbridled chaos.

"Thank you for watching them." I smiled, handing Abby to Rachael and grabbing my shoes.

"No problem." She said, snuggling up to Abby, who cooed in her arms.

"Who is ready for a movie night?" William announced, getting the pups all riled up.

"Have fun!" Jackson yelled while we snuck out.

We hoped in the car, Jackson had already grabbed a body bag earlier today, just in case. We weren't sure if we would find her body, or if anything would even be left of her. Maybe the tracker was just stolen. The witches had put her in a special glass coffin, essentially in a snowglobe, to preserve her body. Obviously, something was tampered with for the tracker to be on the move. We were going to her memorial first to see if there were any clues left behind. It was dark when we got there but our wolf's eyesight gave us a clear look.

"Someone took her body..." Jackson said, scrubbing his hands over his face. The coffin was clearly broken by someone, there was even some dried blood left behind.

"Who would do such a thing!" I scoffed. I felt bad for my friend, even in death she couldn't be left unbothered.

"Lets go find out." Jackson sighed. He pulled out Sierra's tracker and grabbed the coordinates. Fortunately, they seemed to have stopped moving. We pulled up our gps which guided us into a human town just over an hour away.

"Do you think we'll need backup?" I asked.

"In a human town? Doubt it. Probably just some stupid kids."

"I just don't understand why they would do it." I sighed and shook my head, scared of what the human race was becoming.

"People are sick, humans especially." He said, putting the car in park. "It looks like this is the place."

We were parked in front of a modest two-story house with a nice yard. It was filled with humans, music was blasting, and drinks were flying. Why would they steal a body and then throw a party? Goddess humans were awful. I got out of the car with Jackson, who shot me a look, but I returned it right away. "I'm coming with you."

"Fine. But stay close." He said, holding my hand. "We should be able to blend right in."

And he was right. Although we were in our thirties, no one batted an eye at us. Most of the party was comprised of humans in their early twenties if I had to guess. Thankfully, our supernatural genes slowed our aging process, so we fit right in. We were able to go right inside without a single person stopping us, which was fascinating to me. I guess since meeting Jackson I have become accustomed to going places where our names were on a list, or we had to RSPV, or even show ID. Royal living I guess.

"I think its safe to split up...I'm confident most of these humans are almost too drunk to stand, let alone pose a threat. We can cover more ground and get the hell out of here." Jackson linked me. I nodded and we split up. I headed towards the stairs while Jackson cleared the first floor and then went outside.

I got a few cat calls on the way upstairs, and someone spilled their drink on me by accident, but I managed to make it to the second floor. There were five doors in the long hallway. It shouldn't take me very long to check. The first was a bathroom that had fresh vomit in the tub. Disgusting. But nothing else out of the ordinary. The next was a bedroom. It had a ton of electronics in it, an unmade bed, and empty chip and pop containers, it looked like a total guy's room. Next was another room with a few people inside. They were all on the floor staring at the ceiling. I'm positive they were high on something. Three down, two to go. Next was a cleaner-looking guys' room, nothing to report. The last room was locked, I could just barely hear people behind the door telling me 'its occupied' over the music.

"Anything?" Jackson linked me.

"One room left to check upstairs, but it's locked."

"Break it down baby."

As much as I admired my mate's enthusiasm, I chose the more subtle route. I gripped the handle and turned until it snapped, the door effortlessly swinging open.

"Hey! I said occupied!" A topless male said. He tried to shut the door on me but I stopped it with my foot.

"Just looking for something, I'll only be a minute." I said, pushing past him.

"This is my house! Get out!" He snapped.

I rolled my eyes, ignoring him. My blood ran cold when I saw who was sitting on the bed looking flustered.

"Sierra?!"

"Sophie actually, who are you?" My once dead sister-in-law asked.

"Do you mind?!" The guy snapped.

"Get out." Jackson growled from behind me."Find anything?" He asked, his attention on the guy who ran out of the room like his life depended on it, which really it kinda did. I grabbed his chin and faced him towards Sierra.

"Sierra?! How is this possible?! How are you here right now?! You were dead!" Jackson exclaimed.

"I'm sorry, who are you?" She shook her head.

"We are your family." I said just above a whisper, my eyes filling with tears.

"Hey listen man, you and your girl need to go, we'll call the police for trespassing if you don't." The same guy from before said, a group of five other men with him.

"You'd have to be breathing still." Jackson growled back.

It was instilled in all werewolves to protect their Luna. Sierra was no acception. When Jackson saw a topless man leaving Sierra, who was comfortably sitting on the bed in nothing but a tank top and shorts....well, it didn't sit well with him. Even if nothing happened yet, there was the prospect of something happening. And Luna aside, she was his brother's mate, his own sister-in-law, and queen. This frail human was a threat.

"Dont talk to him like that!" Sierra said, getting off of the bed. It was still shocking to see her alive. Jackson and I just stared for a second, our brains still playing catch up.

"Ella, Sierra, lets go. We can discuss this in the car," Jackson said. The last thing we supernatural people wanted to do was get the police involved. Things only got messy after that. There is an unspoken rule for us to not tell humans about our kind for a reason. Jackson grabbed Sierra by the arm and began pulling her to come with us.

"Hey-" She protested.

"You don't have to go with them if you don't feel comfortable," A different male said to Sierra.

"We are her family!" I yelled, fighting back a growl.

"Fine. Then where do you live?" The second male asked.

"Um.."

"Do you have pictures together on social media?" He pushed.

"Well-"

"Is there anyway you can prove you are related." He frowned. Sierra pulled away from Jackson looking like he was some pervert.

Of course, we could prove it, but we couldn't do that in front of all these humans. Give away the location of our kingdom, show them pictures where there are probably shifted wolves in the background. I yanked out my phone and began discretely going through the photos, trying to find one of Sierra from months ago that wouldn't expose our race.

"Here!" I said, finding a picture of Sierra and Edward sitting together while she was pregnant with one of her five pups. "This is your ma-husband." I corrected myself.

"If he is my husband, why isn't he here?" Sierra asked.

"He is helping someone right now..." I began.

"Too busy to help his own wife? How terrible." The topless guy said.

"I was pregnant?" Sierra asked, her head cocked to the side.

"Yes, you have five perfect pu-children." I corrected myself again.

"Who is watching them?"

"Well....we are right now." I admitted.

"So I have a husband who can't be here for me or our children? I'm staying here." She said firmly.

"Sierra please," I begged.

"Tell my husband if he wants me he will have to come and get me." She said, slamming the door in our faces.

"Shit." I said under my breath.

"I think its best you two leave now." One of the guys said.

Jackson and I reluctantly left the house, staying close in our car while we came up with a plan. Jackson tried calling Edward a dozen times, each time it went right to voicemail. We were too far to link, so Jackson decided to catch the next flight to the southern Kingdom while I called Dr White and Gwendolyn to see what the heck happened that caused the dead to be living again. Sierra had no memory of us or her mate or pups either, which was concerning. I left vague voicemails for each of them, asking them to come to the palace tomorrow morning to figure this out. We didn't want word to spread about this before we could figure out what was really going on and tell Edward and their pups. Hopefully I wasn't having some sick twisted dream. A dream...Stella!

"Stella, sweetie, wake up." I said quietly, doing the unthinkable and waking a sleeping pup.

"Momma?" She said in a sleepy voice.

"No sweetie, its Aunt Ella. Can you tell me about your dream about mommy?" I begged the pup, her eyes rolled back into her head, the little girl fast asleep again.

"She saw mom break out of her glass bed." Levi said from the doorway, rubbing his eyes.

"And then she came back home." Xander finished, yawning next to his brother.

"You two knew? What else did Stella say?" I asked, going to the hallway to talk.

"Not much." They answered together.

"Her dream was a vision, wasn't it?" I asked. That would explain so much.

"Yeah." They mirrored again.

"Thank you boys, go back to bed."

"Is mom going to be back soon?" Levi asked, walking back to his room with Xander.

"I hope so, buddy."

I felt like a complete idiot, ignoring the fact that these pups were anything but normal. If I had listened to Stella, really listened, maybe things would be different right now. She spent six months, six freaking months talking about Sierra coming back and I totally dismissed her. Goddess, I felt like shit! Hopefully, Edward could get her to come home and we could get her memory back soon...