104

104
Emma 

Kai wraps his arm around my waist, holding me tightly against his strong frame as the portal gets increasingly bigger. 

I urge myself to keep my heavy eyes open as I couldn’t sleep peacefully last night. I kept having nightmares, and even if I was angry at them for acting this suspiciously, I felt bad as Ace was so happy to be able to take a pill and cuddle with me. 

So cute, but what the fuck was going on? 

“Mom?” Kai asks in a worried tone, tearing me out of my thoughts. I look up, my heart dropping to my stomach.

We can already see Luna Artemisia standing on the other side, her hands folded in front of her, and she is standing unnaturally stiff. 

“Is everything alright?” Ace asks, stepping closer to us. 

“Can she even hear us?” I whisper as I study her empty expression and her glassy eyes. 

“Ace,” Kai shouts, picking me up, and they reposition the bags on their shoulder to jump into the portal. 

“Thank you for everything, Aintín.” 

Now I understand why Corvina hates travelling through that thing. I’m thankful for Kai holding me as my body feels wobbly as hell, but as soon as we are on the other side, I push at his chest, panicky. 

“What’s wrong? What are you doing?” he growls, struggling not to let me fall, and finally manages to let me down on my feet. 

Just in time for me to turn around and empty my stomach on the lawn without covering him in my puke. 

“Fuck, babe. Sorry, I didn’t realise,” he crouches down, caressing my hair. 

With the last strength I can muster, I hold up my hand. “It’s alright. Go check on mom.” 

My stutter comes out breathlessly, and he holds my hair gently as I throw up again, shaking. 

“No worries. Ace is already checking on her.” His eyes roam our surroundings before falling onto me again. “I’m here, babe. Is it better already?” 

I nod, but my heart squeezes as the smile he flashes me swiftly falls at the steps resounding behind me. I don’t get in time to turn around to see who is approaching, as Kai has already stood up. “If you even dare to bother us now, I’ll rip your head from your shoulders,” he snarls, the steps halting abruptly. 

“I’m sorry, sir,” a high-pitched voice answers, his feet shifting in the high grass. “But you have to join the others, please.” 

I close my eyes, as he must be from the royal palace because I would recognise every voice of a pack member. 

“Make me, kiddo,” Kai barks, and I hear the challenging grin in his voice. 

Inhaling deeply, I get onto my knees, taking Kai’s hand, so he can help me up to my feet. 

“Slowly, babe,” he urges me, his tone as gentle as his touch. 

‘See, he is a good mate,’ my wolf says happily, and I gasp. 

‘Oh, my goddess! I’ve missed you,’ I answer in my mind, a smile stretching on my lips while Kai lifts an eyebrow. 

“My wolf,” I mouth, making him smile as well. 

He takes my hand as my wolf giggles, ‘There was no need to. I’ve been with you all the time.’ 

My heart suddenly feels much lighter, beating less painfully, so that I even forgot about the man with the honeyed voice who came to summon us. 

“Are you alright? Should I carry you?” Kai asks as I am already scanning the people standing around us. 

The thing that bugs me the most is that my Luna is standing all alone, surrounded by only her brother and what seem to be guards from the royal court. 

“What is going on?” Kai asks as we finally reach them. 

‘Where are your mates?’ I ask Artemisia via mind link, but to my horror, she just shakes her head. 

What the hell is going on? 

The royal warriors are just three, counting the man who came for us. And to be honest, he is not the only one with a baby face. So, what were they thinking about sending just so few? What is their plan? 

By holding Kai’s hand, I successfully stabilise on my feet, just before I move to reach Artemisia, wanting to hug her. 

I know that the two guards standing beside her want to stop me, but Kai’s growl makes them retreat from whatever move they wanted to pull, and I finally get to wrap my arms around my mother-in-law. 

“Everything is alright. Welcome back, my love,” she whispers into my ear, but something feels wrong, my stomach turning once again. 

“Let’s get inside,” she says, pushing me away from her. “You need a good tea after this stressful journey.” 

Looping her arm around mine, she pulls me into the pack house.

Kai growls at the guards to stay back, using the pup as an excuse and threatening them that if they stress me out too much, they would be paying for it with their lives. 

I fear that he will stir up diplomatic issues, but I can’t concentrate long enough on what he is doing wrong, as my Luna is worrying me too much. 

“We are here now. Your sons will take care of everything. The witch told us a lot of great things. All will be alright,” I try to cheer her up with random phrases as the doors close behind us, leaving us alone for a moment. 

My stomach drops as she finally mind links me, a single tear rolling down her face. 

‘They took Cayden. He took the blame for killing the judge, and now he went to the royal pack with Hendrick. They took a few of our best warriors with them to make sure that he will be safe. But I’m so scared.’ 

She squeezes my hand, gulping down a sob, and I do my best to squeeze back, letting her know that we are here now, and everything will be alright. ‘Where are the Beta and the Gamma?’ 

Taking a shaky breath, she answers me just as the door opens again, the guards streaming in with my mates and a few of our pack warriors. 

‘Upstairs. They decided that I would only walk around protected by Giorgio as they risked starting a war several times, and I don’t have the strength to calm them down.’

She inhales deeply, and I’m glad that we finally reach the kitchen. 

‘And at the moment I just want them to rip those royal guards into pieces.’