Her Alpha King

Chapter 31

"Yeah, daddy's a little sad today so when he wakes up, we have to give him extra hugs so that he knows we love him."

I had finally coaxed him to his recliner since he'd refused the bed, keeping my comfort in mind and ensuring that he was never too far to protect us if need be. He'd cried for nearly two hours but refusing to give any extra information on his nightmare, he'd just held me and cried himself to sleep. I was worried about him, I'd never seen this kind of emotion from him and I wasn't sure how to handle the situation.

I watched him from my seat on the bed and took in the deep, purple bags under his eyes that had been getting worse and worse over the last few weeks, his eyes were swollen and red to match his nose. He looked exhausted and I imagine that this is the most sleep that he's had in a long time.

"Why's he sad? Is it because I'm sick?"

I gently smoothed Steve's hair as I scrambled for an answer that I didn't have.

"Hey, how about some cookies, I'm sure he would like some when he wakes up."

"Yeah!"

**

"I think we should go with the blue."

Ariel said as she motioned to the blue swatch on the table. I'd been shocked when she told me that she was Titus' birth mother, but I decided that she would be a much better mother in law than that other awful woman I'd met when I first got here.

I was with our parents in the kitchen, planning out the coronation ceremony that was quickly approaching. While we were discussing the color scheme that really didn't seem all that important considering the circumstances, we were under that forced the ceremony to happen to happen in the first place, but tradition was tradition.

"I think we should go with the navy blue and gold. What do you think Amina?"

"Yeah, that's fine Ariel."

"You seem a little distracted, what's on your mind?"

Before I could answer, I heard screaming and then the sound of little feet thundering down the hall. Steve burst into the kitchen, carrying James as best he could, struggling to catch his breath as they were both in tears. I skidded on my knees in front of them, grabbing onto Steve's shaking shoulders as he let James find his footing on the tiled floor.

"What's wrong, what happened?"

I'd left them under Michael's watch and I knew that they adored him,  so them running in here in their state wasn't making any sense to me. Steve took a few puffs from his inhaler before he answered.

"Daddy's bleeding!"

I didn't stick around longer than it took for me to tell my parents to keep an eye on them before I took off up the stairs to our room. It was complete and utter chaos as Michael restrained a thrashing, growling Jaxon to the floor with Tyler, ordering him to stay down while across the room, near the bed, a medic team surrounded a still body on the floor, blood trailing past their feet. And that was when I saw it, a tattooed hand stretched away from the body, covered in blood.

Oh Goddess.

**

Michael's POV

I was sat with Steve and James in the infirmary while I took my daily visit to see Avery. Her skin had taken on the radiance that I'd grown familiar with in the last year or so and I felt like I wouldn't have much longer to wait until she was with me again.

"Uncle Mike, why's she sleeping so long?"

I brushed my hand over Steve's blonde head. Avery would just adore him.