The Alpha King Call Boy
Chapter 261

Alexander

It was as simple as that. Fiona ignored the stupid things coming out of my mouth, pinned my broken body underneath her and forced me to change my mindstate. She snapped me out of that dark place of near insanity by feeding me her beautiful, intoxicating body and pressing her own energy into my soul in the process. She reminded me what hope tastes like. My heart began to heal the second that our lips touched, and by the time she came on my mouth she'd successfully reminded me that I never want to refuse contact with my beloved mate ever again. Fiona was not only strong and resilient; she was so f*****g smart, too. She paid attention to everything and she knew me well. She knew that there was something wrong and she'd figured out what it was.No wonder I had been feeling so sick. So hateful. Visions of Caius had been haunting me, and no f*****g wonder-I knew vampire blood was bad for you, I was just too far under its effects to remember that and realize what was happening to me.Fi also taught me something I didn't know. I guess she learned that elder vampires had even more potent and dangerous blood than younger ones. It: made sense. It made sense that the ancient, half-demon vampire I finally defeated had pure venom inside of him. Caius's final act had been to poison me with his demon blood. He left me wounded, under the influence of his hateful life force for days after his demise.

But now that I knew, I could push past it. Now that I knew the reason for my depressive spiral, I knew I wasn't simply losing my mind. I was just still reeling from my enemy's final blow. But Caius was not going to win.

Not if my Luna had any say in the matter, as it turned out.She brought Alexis to see me the next morning. I was still afraid of harming our sensitive baby, but Fi told me to get over it and plopped the child upon my half-reclined chest, forcing me to wrap my forearms awkwardly around the infant's soft little body. And of course, Fiona was right. It was good for me to touch Lexi.

To touch the both of them. Because when I held them, my wife and child shared their energy of love and healing with me, and when it came right down to it, my responsibility for treating them right also motivated me to fight harder against the last dregs of dark, Caius-infected thoughts in my mind. I was motivated to push those visions aside and deny them power over my mind. I to overcome them for the sake of my family, as Fiona had reminded me.

And so I did. After spoon-feeding me some breakfast, Fiona took the baby next door to put her down for a nap.I got in a little nap of my own in the meantime. I had decided to stop taking any of the pain medications the doctor was still trying to prescribe me, because I was getting better. My injuries were no longer acute and I'd decided needed to come to terms with my pain, become acquainted with it and learn to live with it for a while.

But the soreness of inactivity had me feeling sleepy, and I knew too that it was best for my body to rest as much as possible while healing.Fiona woke me in the mid-afternoon with the quiet sounds of her careful entry into the room. "Hey, handsome," she said when she saw that I was awake. "Hey, beautiful."'m here to give you a sponge bath," she said in a business-like, matter-of-fact tone.

"You are, are you?"Mm-hmm." She leaned down to give me a soft kiss on the lips.I was sleepily savoring the deep pleasure of my mate's gentle, loving touch, when suddenly her phone started ringing.

I groaned unhappily when she pulled away to retrieve and answer it.Fi picked up the call on speakerphone and said, "Hi, Liv."Fiona!" cried a familiar voice. "Oh, thank goodness. ""What's going on, Liv?" Fi looked at me with a puzzled expression. "Everything okay?"Liv distractedly mumbled, "Yeah, um, wait," over the sounds of a door opening and closing in the background. "Okay. I've got Alexander here with me, by the way. You're on speaker.""Oh!" Liv cried. "Great!

Perfect! Wait-let me put Grayson on the phone, he's walking up right now."'You won't believe this, Sir," came Grayson's breathy, excited voice. Fiona held the phone out closer to me. "But we've got your brother here with us right now. ""My brother?" I repeated. Another male voice mumbled in the background: "Stepbrother..." I recognized the voice, but: only vaguely. "Stepbrother, he's saying now.

Stepbrother. Lucas. And he's got a girl with him. They look rough as hell. Showed up at our gate here naked, dirty, looking for shelter. Not doing too good, if I'm honest. We need to get them some medical attention, I think."I met Fiona's eyes. The both of us were stunned speechless for a second. "Let me talk to him," I said." Of course, yeah. Here you go... "The phone was shuffled from one set of hands into another as my heart picked up pace. I had been so consumed with my own issues these last few days, I hadn't even begun thinking about what needed to be done next out in the desert. We may have killed the vampires, but we still had work to do to clean up the horrific mess they'd surely left behind." Alexander..."Lucas." I hardly knew where to begin with questioning him. "I'm so sorry, Alexander," Lucas said

quietly, with an unfamiliar but unmistakable tone of humble regret in his voice. "I heard you killed them. I wish I could have helped you. I've been trying to get away, but-"I interrupted. "Where's your mother, Lucas?

Is she alive? "He coughed, clearing his throat. "I think so, but I haven't seen her in a while. Blackout Casino, that's where we were staying. That's where the vampires were headquartered..."I know."Oh. Okay.

Well, yeah, I think she - my mother - she's probably still there."Can you tell me exactly where?""Yeah, uh, I can try..."We spent a few more minutes discussing the hotel. Lucas provided a great many details, and something about his earnest tone had me convinced he was being truthful and telling me all that he could." There are werewolves locked up there still," Lucas said with panic in his voice, after describing the dungeon-like cellar where he'd been held captive for some time before escaping.

"They need help. You gotta send like some ambulances over there right away."I was still stunned by the change I was hearing in my stepbrother's voice, demeanor, and apparent personality. I guess some time with vampires had a profound impact on him. I could certainly understand that. "Alexander?" Lucas asked hesitantly."Yes..." He cleared his throat. "Are you-are you going to arrest me? I saw on the news I was, uh, wanted.

After I left with my mom..."I met Fiona's eyes and gazed into them while thinking through this question. "Yes," I finally said.Lucas exhaled heavily. "Yeah. I get it. I'll go willingly, you know. I'm surrendering. Just, though, the woman I'm with right now, please don't let any harm come to her, she is only a victim, and she helped me escape so that I could surrender and try to help you, please make sure she's not arrested, I-""Heard," I said authoritatively, shutting up Lucas's rambling. "I'll make sure your companion is treated respectfully when you are taken into custody.

You don't need to worry about that. Are either of you injured? Grayson said you might need medical."m... okay. I mean, we've been in the desert for the past few days, it's been rough. Tuesday - that's my friend who helped me escape - she hurt her wrist, but the people here have been taking care of her.

You, uh.. you know them?""Yes.""Wow. I mean, good. I was looking for a way to get to you, Alex. It was weird, I: just followed my intuition. Like I knew we'd get help if we came this way. And it led me here to your friends, I guess. "That was interesting. "One other thing," he mumbled. "I, um, I need to ask you for help with one other thing.""And what's that?""There was one other werewolf that escaped with us, but she didn't make it.

If we can. if you can send someone out there to recover her body... if we can get her body back to her family.. We marked the spot where we left her, so we could hopefully find her later. If she's still there... please, Alexander, we need to get her and bring her home."Okay, Lucas: Let me make some phone calls. In the meantime, talk to Grayson about the gravesite. He'll send someone out to look for your friend. We'll find her."