Three Alpha Princes for an Unwanted Omega

Damon pushed the door open and stepped into the dark. The archives room smelled of dust and old paper.

"Lock the door," Cassian said from behind him.

Damon reached back and slid the bolt home.

They stood a moment in the dark, letting their eyes adjust, and then Cassian moved past him toward the nearest shelf, running a hand along the scrolls.

"You think we could find something to make us understand the situation in here?" Cassian asked.

"Yes," Damon answered. "The last time I saw Soren, he was traipsing about in this room. He said it was because he needed some information from here to defeat the rogue king but now that we know he works for the man, I believe it is something else entirely. Maybe something that has to do with Ayla. And if we can find out what it is, then we can know what he has and what he intends to do."

Cassian nodded slowly. "I will begin from this end and you take that end. Yell if you see anything out of the ordinary."

He moved to the far wall, and the two of them set to work.

It was slow, painstaking work. Damon worked his way along the shelves in the middle of the room, lifting scrolls and reading the first lines before setting them back, checking the dust for the telltale smear of a hand that had been here recently. The archives were vast, and most of what they held was old and dry and useless to him.

He was nearly at the end of a shelf, his fingers moving along the spines, when he stopped.

There was a gap.

Not a big gap that would catch a casual eye but he knew this particular scroll had been disturbed, judging by the angle it was sitting.

Damon reached for it.

He unrolled it carefully, and held it toward the moonlight, and the first thing he saw was a list of names.

Traitor names.

Each one written in a different hand, each one followed by a date and a crime and the manner of death. He read down the list and saw that they all had the same surnames.

Veyr.

He mouthed the name, his lips forming the syllables without sound. He did not know the name. He had never heard it spoken but how was it that a whole family were executed down to the children?

"Hey, come over here," Cassian called.

Damon looked at the scroll in his hands a moment longer, then he rolled it back up and set it carefully back in its place exactly where he had found it.

He crossed the room to where Cassian stood.

Cassian was staring at an empty section of shelf.

"I think whatever we are looking for is gone," Cassian said quietly.

...

Alpha Kieran gestured to the guards outside Ares’ door before he pushed the door and walked in.

Ares did not look up from where he was sitting by the window, his back to the door and his shoulders straight.

Kieran closed the door behind him.

"Son," he began.

Ares did not move.

"I know how you must be feeling and I know you do not agree with my methods. But I need you to understand them."

Ares finally looked at him.

The look was not angry, it was flat... the look of a man staring at a stranger.

Kieran sighed and took a seat across from him.

"When we found out Isolde was pregnant was the best day of my life," he began. "We had been trying for four years, and I knew she was starting to worry. I knew she was starting to think it would never happen but it did and it was wonderful when the healer pronounced her pregnant." Kieran paused, his throat working.

"You were the most perfect little baby, Ares." He murmured, his voice rough. "My perfect heir."

Ares’s eyes stung. He cleared his throat, and looked away toward the window.

"I am not your heir anymore, father," he said. "I am not even your son."

"You are my son." Kieran interjected. "I have been your father since the moment you drew your first breath, Ares. I taught you to shift, to hunt, to lead. That is what makes a father, boy. Not blood."

Ares shook his head. "Father, I am sorry."

"You have nothing to apologize for. I am sorry that I have been such an incompetent Alpha which is why I am going to make an announcement this evening. I am going to step down as Alpha."

Ares’ eyes widened at this.

"You cannot do that."

"Yes, I can and I will. I am going to need you to take over, son. If I had listened to you about Soren then maybe this would not be happening. I do want to listen now. An Alpha who cannot see an enemy standing right beside him has no business leading at all"

Alpha Kieran rose to his feet.

"One more thing, Ares. I know for a fact that Ayla is now in the hands of the rogue king and I have sent a rider with a message for a peace treaty with him."

"You did what? He is not going to listen to wanting peace, Father. It is not something he has ever wanted. You have made a mistake."

Alpha Kieran was about to answer when a knock on the door interrupted him.

"Enter" Ares called out.

The door opened and a guard stepped in, holding a folded letter in his hand.

"My lord," he said. "We have news from the rider. He has a letter from the rogue king."

The room went very still.

Ares rose to his feet as the guard crossed the room and handed Alpha Kieran the letter.

He opened it immediately, his eyes flying across the page while Ares waited with bated breath.

"Well?" Ares asked.

"It would seem your first act as Alpha would be to sit with the rogue king, son."

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