Chapter 58: Breaking the Mate Bond

Damien

“Did you really think that you would get away with my mate, my Queen?” I growled. “She is MINE! She has always been mine.” He spat. “Before I could say anything else her sweet scent of strawberries filled my nose.” “MATE!” Ayres yelled out. “Find mate, she near.” “Damien!” Her voice sent goosebumps gliding down my spine. “Reign!” I turned to her; she was speed waddling to me. I couldn’t help but laugh a little, she was having trouble running. Jyden was following right behind her making sure she doesn’t fall. She’s going on two months and couldn’t run. I jogged over to her holding my arms wide open for her. She flung herself into my embrace and clung to me like a baby kola. “Babygirl, I missed you so much.” I told her nuzzling my face in her hair. “Damien, you found us. I knew you would.” She whimpered. “We had a little help from Jyce and his mate.” He smiled. “I knew it! That little bitch when I get my hands on her...” Luther snarled. “You will not touch either of them! All this is...” Reign motioned “...is over.” “It will never be over until you’re claimed by me.” He told her. “That’s not going to happen.” I warned. He lunged at me, I pushed Reign back towards Jyden.

“STOP!” A voice boomed. Luther’s lips curved up into a smug smile. “Ah, it’s about time you got here.” He walked over to the woman that yelled. “Looks like the two main parties that you need are here with us.” “What are you up too?” I asked glaring at him. Reign quickly made her way to my side. “He’s going to use a witch to break our mate bond.” She said trying to push herself closer to me. “Not gonna happen.” I snorted, I pulled Reign behind me. She gripped the back of my shirt tightly. I could feel her hands trembling. “I hate to break it to you, but this witch is here to do just that.” He motioned to the hooded woman. “Luther! Please don’t do this.” Reign pleaded with him. “Just a while longer sweetheart and then we can be together, we can raise our pups together.” I tightened my grip on Reign, Jyden, Koltyn, Shadow, Spyder, Spencer, Grant and Grifyn created a barrier blocking her from his view. “You need to get your hands off my mate!” He growled again. “Not a chance, because she’s not yours.” “Luther, I don’t love you.” Reign sobbed. “Ali let’s get this over with.” He ordered the witch. She removed her hood. “Ma?” Shadow and his twin brothers said in unison. “What are you doing here?” Shadow asked. “Awe, jeez, ma, please tell me you’re not the witch this psycho is talking about.” He sighed. “Hush Shadow, darling, calm down. I’m the only one powerful enough to do what he wants.” Ali said with pride, hugging Shadow and then the twins. “Aunt Ali?” Reign sobbed with wide eyes. Ali pulled her into a strong embrace. “But why?” “Oh child, do you really think I would come between you and your fated mate?” She scoffed. “I would never, besides your mother would find a way to come back and haunt me.” She chuckled. “You promised me my mate!” Luther bellowed. “First of all,” Aunt Ali held up her finger to him, “you rejected your second chance mate. Second, Reign is not your fated mate, second or third chance mate, which by the way, has never happened. The Goddess has never gifted the rejector a second much less a third. She is in the arms of her true fated mate. Third, she despises you, the spell won’t work.” She shrugged. “If you had mentioned that I would have told you.”

“Luther Garan?” A strong male voice called his name. “What?!” He yelled glaring daggers at the male. “Who are you and what do you want?” He narrowed his eyes. “I am Elder Counsel member Jon Hayes; I am a representative of the Fae people.” He introduced himself. “And I am here to inform you that you are hereby being charged with the kidnapping of Alpha Queen Reign Dyanera Hunt, attempting to interfere with the mating bond and the attempted murder of King Damien Ayres Hunt.” “What about him?” He pointed to me. “He took my mate from me. She would have fallen in love with me if he hadn’t stuck his snout in our life...” “Wrong!” Reign yelled. “He should also be charged with abuse. All you ever did was threaten and beat me.” “Your majesty,” Counsel Hayes calls her, “are you saying that Mr. Garan has abused you on more than one occasion?” He asked with surprise. “Yes, before I found out who I was and what I am. I broke up with him and he stalked me for several months, that’s why Hunt Security was hired.” He held up his hand. “Guards! Take Mr. Garan into custody, lock him in the palace dungeon. Advise the other council members of the situation and a trial will need to be held.” The guards went to grab Luther and cuff him in enchanted chains, but he started to run. He didn’t get very far, Spencer, being the Shadow Guard he is, was able to stop him before he got three steps away. “What just happened?” Jyden asked out loud scratching his head. “Let’s get Reign home and all will be explained.” Ali smiled. “Does this mean it’s over?” Reign asked. “Well, we still need to have the trial but yes for now. You will need to answer some questions, but I think Mr. Garan has buried himself.” Ali said.

“Can we go home?” Reign whimpered. “Of course.” I picked her up and started walking. “Hey D!” Koltyn called. “The car is this way.” He said pointing in the opposite direction that I was walking. Reign cuddled closer to me, and I could feel her heart rate slow down. Ayres was happy to be able to talk to Dyanera, we both were finally at ease with our mate in our arms. “Did you feel that?” Ayres asked. I chuckled at him. “Our pups know our touch.” I reminded him. “Dbear.” “Yes, my love.” I said as I carefully eased us into the backseat. “How long until we get home?” “A couple of hours, at least. Why?” I nuzzled her closer. She sighed in contentment. “I’m hungry. I didn’t really eat anything.” “He didn’t feed you?!” I growled. “Yes, he did but I was hesitant to eat anything he offered.” She frowned. “I drank the tap water, yuck.” She said scrunching her cute, adorable nose. “We can stop and eat.” Jyden said from the front seat. “Can we get it to go?” “Anything you want love.” I told her. “Well, how about something quick and when we get home, we order pepperoni and mushroom pizza, chicken stripes with ranch, fried mushrooms, shrimp alfredo pasta...” Koltyn laughed at the gleam in her eyes as she called out what she wanted. “We’ll call the order in and pick it up on the way home.” Jyden grinned. “But now how about a chick-fil-a sandwich.” Koltyn suggested pointing to the sign. “With a large lemonade no ice, actually we need to get like 5 gallons of it.” We just looked at her. “What? I like their lemonade.” She gave an innocent smile. We laughed as we pulled into the parking lot. “Make sure you get food for all the others, especially the little ones.” She told them. They got out of the car, leaving me and Reign alone for a few minutes. She looked up at me with her beautiful grey eyes. “I missed you so much, the babies knew you weren’t around and that something was wrong.” She sniffled into my neck. I hugged her tighter and rubbed her belly feeling our pups heart beats start to go back to normal. I leaned down and pressed my lips against hers. “I’m so sorry my love. I should have been paying more attention...” she cut me off “...it’s no one’s fault, I don’t blame you, I can’t even blame Avery. She was only trying to protect her mate and pup.” She sadly said. “How are they doing? Is the pup okay.” “Yes, they are both okay. Avery said she’s willing to accept whatever punishment we impose on her.” “I-I can’t...I don’t think she should be punished; she was forced...” “Okay, here ya go.” Jyden said opening the passenger door handing me two bags and a drink holder. Koltyn opened and closed the trunk. “The five gallons of lemonade, well actually, I got you like twenty gallons.” He smiled at her. “I just want to make sure you don’t run out for a while.” Reign smiled and clapped happily. “I’ll make sure to put it in the freezer, so it doesn’t go bad.” He chuckled. She digged into the bags, pulled out a chicken sandwich, fries and the mayo. She prepared her sandwich and took a huge bite. “Mmmmm...” she moaned. “Dear Goddess love don’t do that.” I groaned adjusting the front of my jeans. She giggled. “Sorry.” She said with a mouthful of food. I leaned into her ear. “When Ebbie gives you the all clear, I am going to show you exactly how much I love and missed you.” She choked on her lemonade. “Reign! You okay?” Jyden turned around. She was blushing, “Uh, yeah, just fine.” Jyden looked at me, I shrugged my shoulders, he chuckled at us and turned around. “You two need to behave until we get home.” Koltyn chuckled. “Jyden make sure Aunt Ebbie is waiting for us at the pack house. When she’s examined Reign, tell her I want our guests examined.” “Already done, she’ll be waiting for us and said to send the others to the clinic so their work ups can get started.” “Good, the quicker the better.” She said through a mouthful of food. I looked at Reign and she was finishing the last bite of her food. When she was done, she crawled into my lap and nuzzled tight in my arms and closed her eyes and mumbled, “I love you.”

Reign

I don’t even remember getting home or being brought to bed. I tried to get up, but Damien’s arm was wrapped tightly around my stomach. I looked around and saw that I had a monitor around my belly and an IV in my arm. I didn’t want to wake him, but I had to pee, one of my little ones was kicking my bladder. “Damien.” I called his name. “Damien.” I called again. Damn this fuzzball can sleep. I poked his nose, nothing, then I poked his cheek, again nothing. So, I stared at him. “You know it’s very rude to stare and poke people.” He grumbled. I giggled. “I had to do something, I need to go pee, one of your pups is pushing on my bladder.” I whined. He kissed my forehead. “I need to call Aunt Ebbie first.” He said pointing to the monitor. “Aahhggg... I have to go pee!!!” I moaned. “I’m here, I’m here.” Aunt Ebbie called hurrying in, unhooking the monitor and IV. As soon as she did that I sat up, Damien helped me up and I rushed to the bathroom. “Aaahhh...” I could hear Ebbie and my dear sweet, wonderful mate laughing. “Not funny! They love using my bladder as a punching bag!” I huffed walking back into the room. “C’mere babygirl.” He opened his arms for me. “Let me have a talk with them.” “They’re probably feeling just as stressed as mum.” Aunt Ebbie told him. “Let’s do a quick ultrasound and take a look at them.” She squeezed some gel on my tummy and dragged the wand over my tummy looking for my three little Alpha’s. “Okay, here’s our little female and she’s looking wonderful. Where are our little males, ah, there they are.” She chuckled. “Looks like they are...comforting her. They’re hugging her.” She smiled. “Looks like they are protecting her.” I smiled as a tear or two slid down my cheek. “Those are my boys.” Damien said proudly and rubbed my tummy gently.

KNOCK, KNOCK, we heard. Damien got up and opened the door. “You ready for visitors?” He asked. “As long as they have food.” I laughed as Aunt Ebbie helped me sit up. He opened the door wider and our whole family came filing in. “Reign, my baby.” Apryl cried and pulled me into a tight hug. “I was so worried.” She was sobbing. “I may not have given birth to you, but I have always, since your dad and I, well, you are my daughter. I consider you my own child.” She cried into my hair. “Your father and uncle won’t let me go near that monster.” She huffed. “They think I’m going to kill him or something like that.” She smiled evilly waving her hand. “Now why would they think that?” Reign chuckled. “Apryl...mom, I’m glad that dad found you and your family. Thank you for taking care of him. I am honored to call you mom. I also know that my mom would approve of you and dad.” I soothed her and hugged her close. Dad came up and wrapped us both of us in his arms. We were then embraced by Grant, Grifyn, Grace and even Geneva wormed her way in between us pushing our siblings and dad aside so she could get closer to me. “Reign.” Geneva whispered. “I missed you.” And she snuggled close to me. “I missed you too.” I kissed her little cheek. “Okay, our turn.” Jazlyn sniffled. Dad, mom, and us kids untangled ourselves. They were replaced by Damien’s family, my extended family. Each took a turn hugging me. “Hey, I love all of you, but these little Alpha’s are hungry and are getting restless.” “Do you want to eat up here or go downstairs?” Ana asked. “She needs to stay in bed for the next few days.” Aunt Ebbie chimed in. “She needs to rest and gain some strength. I’ll be right back.” Ana said hurrying out. “All of you can stay for a while longer but after she eats, I want her to rest.” Ebbie instructed. “Of course, we’ll go ahead and go.” Ryott hugged me. “We’ll come back later. I have a meeting at 1:30.” Damien said. “Then we will be back after lunch.” Jen grinned. “Sounds good.” I yawned as Ana came in with a tray of food. “Here you go my sweet girl.” Ana fluttered in placing the tray over my legs. “You eat up, I also brought you some fruit. I’ll put in it the fridge so you can eat later.” “Thank you, Ana.” She caressed my cheek and kissed my forehead. “I’ll check on you in a couple of hours. Is there anything special you want for lunch and dinner?” “Lunch not really. I’ll just munch on the fruit but can we,” I rubbed my belly, “have steak and a fully loaded baked potato?” I asked. “Of course, my sweet girl.” She wiped a tear from her cheek, she hugged Damien and left us alone.

I sighed lightly. “You okay love?” Damien asked sitting down next to me. “Yeah, just...” I paused “...so much has happened in the last months.” I rubbed my head. “Some bad but mostly good?” He asked. “Mostly good, makes me wonder what our life would’ve be like if someone had revealed himself sooner.” I teased, he blushed. “I know, I should have...” “Babe, I’m kidding.” I rubbed his arm. “God and Goddess had their reasons for us not coming together sooner. Yes, I wish it would have been a whole lot sooner, but the important thing is that we are here with each other and expecting our first child, well, children.” I chuckled rubbing my belly. Damien smiled as we watched our little ones roll around my stomach. “Let’s eat before it gets any colder.” He said cutting up my food. “I can feed myself.” I snickered. “I know but you are my Queen and it’s my duty to care for you, to protect you, to provide for you and our children. So, feeding you is a part of all that.” He smiled at me. “Damien...” he put his index finger to my lips .”..please allow me this honor.” “Are you going to do this at every meal?” “Every meal we have together until our death.” He held up the fork and gave me a little pout. “Okay.” I sighed taking the bite of food he held up. “I will make sure our sons to do the same and our daughter will know how her mate is to treat her and what is expected of him.” He explained. “My dad did and still does this with my mom, Jyden does it with Ryott and Koltyn with Jaz. It’s taught to all Alpha, Beta’s, and Gamma’s, especially us Alpha’s. The majority of our pack members will do the same with their mate but for them it’s not necessary. It’s to show our respect and our love for our mate.” He explained. “That you are my equal.” “So, it’s kinda a tradition?” I asked. “You could say that…but like I said it’s more of a matter of respect, love, and affection for our mate.” He nuzzled my neck inhaling my scent.

Dyanera and I were content, we were with our mate starting to build our life and kingdom together. We continued to eat with Damien feeding me, I would try to feed him, but he would raise his brow at me... “Okay but I just want to show you the same respect you show me.” I huffed with a pout. “It’s not needed, you show me your respect, love and affection in many other ways, three of which are right here.” He told me patting my swollen belly. We watched t.v. while we ate, every once in a while, we would see the little ones roll around and one of their butts would be pressed up against my stomach, like he or she was mooning us. The other two would stretch their legs and their little footprints would press against my skin. “These three are going to be handful.” I shook my head laughing. “We will handle them just fine.” He assured me. “Yeah sure...” I chuckled “...throw in the others and we are all going to lose our minds. They are already connected to one another somehow. That is kinda weird.” He shrugged.

We finished breakfast and just relaxed. I laid across his chest with his arms around my shoulders. Eventually we fell asleep. I felt Damien gently lay me down and kiss my forehead. “How long have we have been asleep?” “About two hours.” He said as he got out of bed. “The girls are waiting in the living room when you get up.” He whispered. “Okay go ahead and have them come in here. I’m still pretty tired.” “Sure, I’ll tell them come in and bring the lunch Ana prepared for you. It’s something light since she’s preparing your favorite request for dinner. Please make sure and eat a little bit.” He asked giving me puppy eyes. “Trust me, I will. Our little Alpha’s won’t let me go without eating.” I snickered. “Damien, we’re going to be late if we don’t get moving.” Jyden said from the door. “Hey Reign, you doing, okay?” “Yeah, still tired but good.” “Okay, you two get going, dad is gonna have a conniption fit and remember we have a bunch of dads now.” Jaz laughed. “Go on, we have her covered.” Grace said bring in a tray of food, right on cue my stomach growled, and the triplets did somersaults. “It’s the babies, they are starving, as usual.” I chuckled. “They act as if they haven’t eaten today.” Damien shook his head, kissed the top of my head, my belly, and went to his meeting. Right on cue, the pups knew that their daddy had left the room. “Awe, c’mon kids, give mamma a break. Daddy has a kingdom to run, and we can’t always be with him.” I rubbed my belly. “They being fussy?” Mom Apryl asked. “Yeah, they’ve been like this since we got back. It’s like they are scared that Damien will be taken away.” I sniffled a little. “You don’t think they will remember any of this?” I asked squinting at her. “Oh, my sweet girl, you and these little angels are safe now.” She assured. “Now you three listen to grama,” she said leaning down and talking to her granbabies, “your Uncle Grant and Uncle Grifyn are going to be staying here as your mum’s and your personal guards, along with Aunt Grace and Aunt Aleya. So, you three need to behave and give mum a chance to rest.” She told them. “What? They don’t have to do that.” I yelped. “It’s not just for you, they also have their mates here. So, it’s best they stay here, where they are needed.” She smiled. “Besides, your wolves could use a little extra training.” Aleya chuckled. “Hey! My warriors are very well trained, thank you very much.” Jenny snapped. “I’m kidding Jen.” Aleya laughed. We laughed, ate, and talked.

“Hey ma.” I called to Mom. “Yes sweetie.” She smiled at me. “What is the counsel? I didn’t know there was one and who are they?” “All I can tell you is that they were created a few months ago and is made of two members from each supernatural race: elf, fae, vampire, several different were species and even humans.” She explained. “Humans?” I asked with surprise. “Yup, there are humans who know of our existence and since there are half-breeds, related or for whatever reason live among the towns, it was deemed necessary to include them. It’s the best way to keep them in the loop in case there’s a threat against them.” “Makes sense.” I agreed. “Actually, that’s the meeting Damien is at now. All the males are there.” Ryott mentioned. “Wait? What?” I yelped. “We’re all supposed to be there, that was the deal.” I said getting up, well, trying to get up. “Someone help me up.” “Reign, take it easy. Ebbie wants you to rest.” Apryl reminded me trying to keep me in bed. “No! This has to do with our future. I will not be left out of it.” I demanded. “Babygirl.” Damien cooed walking in. “Don’t you babygirl me mister!” I growled. “You said that I would be a part of every meeting, no matter what.” “That’s why I came back. Cloie linked that you were awake and were finished eating. So, I came to take you to the meeting.” He smirked. “Oh,” I said narrowing my eyes at him. “The counsel has some questions for you. I told them that you needed to eat and rest a little more.” He looked at the girls. “Will you excuse us?” He said turning to them. “Sure, we’ll meet you in the conference room.” They all said walking out.