Rejected Warrior

ALPHA KING THEO

Sitting here in the car with my head leaning back with my mate and her parents while we drive to the orphanage is awkward. It’s not a bad awkward, just never expected that I would need help to get to the car. Let alone having to leave early.

I tried walking out on my own but my mate had to hold me up with her dad just in case. I have gotten some strength back but I am still unsteady on my feet. We had a doctor come up and even he had never seen anything like it either.

Her brothers went back to run their pack while her parents stayed with us.

I chuckle at myself because if I am having issues as the king, could you imagine Stern! He would probably be comatose.

I just try to relax sitting with my little Cora next to me when I start hearing sniffling. I lift my head looking at her parents confused when her dad points to my mate.

I look down and can see she is snuggled into me crying. I reach over, undoing her seatbelt and pick her up placing her in my lap.

“What is wrong my little mate?”

“I hurt my mate! Why would you want me if this is what I do? I didn’t mean to do it!” She spoke softly as tears fell.

“Cora, baby I am not mad! You are mine and I love you already! We will figure this out I promise. I am getting some strength back, and before you know it everything will be fine. Please don’t cry!”

She just nodded burying her head in my chest while I wrapped my arms around her holding her. Within a few minutes she was sound asleep which was good. I knew she needed it because we have had a rough last 12 hours.

We knew it couldn’t wait so the moment we were done eating food we all loaded up to head out. We knew it would be a couple hours drive to the orphanage so we all decided to just rest.

I thought it would have been local to them, but like they said the orphanage sought them out for the adoption.

By the time we arrive and park in the front I have gotten some more strength and can hold myself up. I have to sit down quickly because the energy is spent quickly.

We make our way inside when we are ushered into a conference room while we wait for the director to come in. Cora didn’t want to sit in the chair I pulled up for her so she just crawled into my lap.

Luckily she is small enough to fit without feeling like I am being smothered. Perfectly made just for me.

As the director comes in she sees me and my little mate snuggled in with her parents and her color just drains from her face. She knows fucking something and better start fucking talking! I can see her dad look at the situation unfold and is getting irritated as well.

“We need answers now as to why you wanted us to adopt her? Why when she found her mate he is like this? Where did she come from? Why is her wolf white with blue eyes and her tattoos transferred to her fur?” Cannon questioned, clearly irritated.

“Well to begin, yes she is a werewolf. She was brought here because she needed to be kept hidden. There are people who will be coming after her. Especially now that her wolf is active. Her parents were killed trying to get to her.

“The cook of the palace snuck her out and traveled to us explaining what we needed to do. She needed to be trained as a fighter until her wolf would come out. Her family’s palace still stands and has been waiting for her to come home.

“I just have to make the phone call, and they will tell us what to do. Her enemies have been watching for her return ever since she would have turned eighteen.

“Luckily for her it’s been so long now most have left thinking she is in fact dead.” Sandy explained to us which even left us with more questions.

“So let me get this straight. Tricora is the lost child of the Aries royal shifter family. The one that everyone thought was dead. Who is now Queen of all shifters?”

“Yes, which now since you are her mate makes you King of the shifters.” Sandy responded.

This is deep! A lot deeper than we ever thought possible. I stare at her parents while they stare at me. “So now we make the phone call.”

We just sit silently while Sandy pulls out her phone, taking out a slip of paper from the file. She punches it in and after a few rings, a deep voice picks up on the other end.

“Royal security.”

“Argon? It’s Sandy. The phoenix has awoken.”

“We are on our way for pickup! Our ETA is 30 minutes.”

She hangs up and we just sit waiting for these people to arrive. We are unsure of what to expect but have a feeling things will be moving quickly and pray that once we are back at the palace everything will calm down for a bit.

I lean my head back, closing my eyes to try and get more strength back when we hear cars pulling up. I look at her parents as about twenty men in suits and earpieces walk in with all eyes on my little mate.

One steps forward and looks to be much older than the rest. I give her a gentle nudge and when she looks up her eyes focus on him.

She quickly gets up, climbing on top of the table as she rushes over, putting her forehead against his for a minute, closing her eyes and then scoots back smiling. He has the biggest grin, pulling her in for a hug.

Ok dunno what that is all about but it must be something they can do to communicate. He sets her down and looks at me, laughing.

“So it is true, when the royals find their mate they zap their energy. Come on everyone let’s get them to the palace so he can get his energy back. We will have to beef up security because once it’s announced that she is back there will be attacks to try and get to her.”

“The Alpha King’s pack will be moved to the palace as well as his armies. Next, we will have to have a crowning coronation. At that time every Alpha shifter from the regions will be invited. Then after that the real work begins,” Argon announced

We all stand up when the thought races through my mind. Stern is going to piss himself when he realizes who he passed up for his choice mate. What an idiot, but she is all mine now!

I go to take a step and my legs apparently don’t want to function correctly because I quickly grab the table, holding up my weight. It takes a moment but I finally manage to get my bearings and start to walk out.

When we exit, we see even more guys surrounding the cars, creating a path from the building to the cars. Once we exit, we are quickly rushed to the car and shoved in while Argon and other men pile in, squishing us in the center when he yells to the driver to go.

I look back and see her parents being shoved into the other car when guards shift and run. I look around and decide to stick Cora on my lap so we have a little wiggle room.

“So I have to know? What was the thing she did with her head? Is it some kind of communication thing?”

“In a sense, yes. When she was a baby, she had her wolf Jenna present. When the attack happened, My wolf Kaan promised he would hide her and be back when the time came.” He responded.

“Even though she herself doesn’t remember me, her wolf remembers my wolf and me. The forehead thing was our wolves reconnecting and reestablishing that bond of trust.

“When we arrive and get you settled into the throne room, all security and staff will walk in a line, pressing their foreheads to hers and yours. This will establish a bond between you and them. There are many shifters that work for us as we encompass and represent all shifters.”

I just sit and stare, tightening my arms around her, feeling her tremble. I look at her and just watch it starting to get worse when she starts whimpering loudly. I look at Argon and see he is already watching her, noticing it also.

He quickly jumps to our seat, grabbing her face and pressing his forehead to hers. I watch her visibly start crying while trying to calm her breathing as we pass into the royal territory.

In a split second, she throws her head back, letting out a blood-curdling scream, collapsing in my lap. I just stare wide-eyed between her and over to Argon, whose head has dropped down in frustration. I am at a loss for the moment, but before I can say anything, he answers my question.

“She started remembering the chaos of the attack. The scream was from the snapping of the bonds from her parents. I tried to talk her through it with my wolf, but her wolf wasn't listening and panicked.

“She will be ok but it's like she just lost them even though it's been 26 years. We will have to go slow because we had assumed she already went through this as a baby."

I just nod my head, looking ahead and see a huge palace come into view over the rooftops of houses. It's a bright white with opalescent accents. I thought my palace was huge but this is monstrous.

I see pale blue flags flying when we exit out of the houses and go up to the main gate. The armies stay in the houses outside around the premises. When there is an attack, there are underground tunnels for families to run under the ground to the castle while the warriors fight.

We see what looks like thousands of people standing around. The women look emotional and so do all the elders. When we pull up, Cora opens her eyes, stretches, and looks at Argon, pushing her forehead to his. He nods and tells the car to stop and get ready for exiting here.

We see men come running up and surround everyone. The door opens and Cora steps out, and the crowd erupts in cheers and wails. I watch her shift to her wolf, which gets a bigger reaction. She looks at me, motioning for me to follow, so I quickly shift and walk behind her.

We walk flanked by the guards up to the castle gate, and when she steps inside, the wind flares up like it knows she is home. The moment I step over inside the gates, I feel my strength return and like myself again.

We stride up to the main doors as we shift back to our human forms, throwing on some clothes and wave to the crowd. We are ushered into the palace, and the entry is beyond anything I have seen before. I am so going to get lost. I see her parents are brought in, and they are in awe also.

We don't have much time to look while we are guided into the throne room to take our places for the guards to come through. We walk as Cora stops in her tracks, looking at Argon.

"Where is the cook that saved me and got me out?" she asked

"Well, after you were dropped off at the orphanage, the cook Ana ran but they caught her and killed her. Her daughter Annabelle still works here as our new cook. You will meet her as she comes through," Argon stated.

We all walk into the throne room, and it's a pretty big room. Pure white with the light blue and opalescent accents with bright gold chairs right in the middle. We look at the thrones in shock when we walk over, taking our places.

This is where we sat for hours as everyone came through. The last person came in wailing with an apron, holding onto Argon, and we knew this was Annabelle. Cora jumped up, running toward her as Annabelle dropped to her knees. She quickly put her head to Annabelle, and they just held each other crying.

Argon walked over to me and stood next to me. "They were born the same day and spent every day together playing as babies until the day of the attack. Annabelle lost her best friend that day and had prayed that she would see her again someday."