The Alpha King (29 page)

On the one hand, he should probably alert Blaze and Kazumi to what had unfolded—Tal had been kidnapped, but he couldn't. The timing wouldn't allow it. He didn't have the minutes to spare to head over and grab his communicator from his pants all the way around the side of the palace wall. He had to stick with Tal. Another reason he couldn't stop to get help. Tal was his friend, his best friend, and he wouldn't let Idiot, Stupid, and Evil just walk off with him. Especially since Siron, Tal's newly appointed assistant and personal guard, had to have disappeared somewhere. Blaze had introduced Tal to the Edifician-Vermithian half-breed, and the two had instantly bonded. And it relieved Percy from trying to assist both Tal and Blaze. Siron proved to be faithful and always at Tal's side when needed. The fact Tal had been out in the garden alone could only mean Siron had been missing since very early that morning.

He put his muzzle to the ground and silently followed them, very happy they wouldn't be able to identify him. For the very first time since he'd shifted and realized his Epsilon status, he truly appreciated not being easily identifiable even when he close to someone.

He only needed to follow the trio to where they were going to hold Tal and then he could go get help, or rather, extra help… and probably a doctor for Elder Bryce, Anglania, and Freud, because once he finished with them, they would all need one. Either a doctor or a coroner.

Huffing out a satisfied breath through his nostrils, at once very pleased by his rationalization and his plan, he continued to follow the group of kidnappers. They would pay. Even if he had to rescue Tal all by himself.

* * * *

Tal woke up, agony tearing apart his insides, his back bowing when an intense tightening sensation shuddered through him. His mouth opened on a loud scream, though his ears heard no sound. Pain fiercely ripped through his back and stomach. Feeling as if a steel band wrapped around his belly, squeezing and crushing his ribs and pressing forward, he frantically tried to push away the torturous device his kidnappers had placed around his stomach. He had to save his babies. Finding no band, he began to panic. Why did he have so much pain?

He began panting, struggling to catch his breath from the massive pressure on his back and abdomen. He grabbed the edge of the pillow he lay on and shoved it into his mouth and struggled not to scream again at the vicious torment rushing through his body. He didn't want to alert his kidnappers, but fuck if he didn't want to pick up the bed he lay on and throw it across the room. His eyes took in his surroundings. He tried to find something to focus on, sweat beading up on his brow and his hands shaking. His body felt as if it were being ripped in half. He forced himself to focus on the damp cement walls, the cold bare floor, and the aged cot he lay on.

His limbs trembled when the pain begin to slightly subside. Obviously, whoever had decorated this particular room had done so with dungeon cells in mind, he thought. When the pain eased away to just a dull throbbing sensation, Tal breathed a sigh of relief.

He snarkily panted. "Tacky." He referred to his surroundings, before placing his hand over his belly. "You guys couldn't have waited until after I found out a way to get us out of this mess?" he hissed in agony to his unborn children.

Life had taken much joy in finding the best ways to screw him over. Having him go into labor after being kidnapped? Score five thousand one hundred thirteen for Life, zero for Talon Versuthion-Roughshire.

"Don't worry, guys. Daddy is going to figure out a way to get us out of this and then when I see your Father I'm going to kick his big, muscled, Tumaron ass for leaving us behind. But everything's going to be fine," Talon assured his babies through gritted teeth when pain began to zip up his spine.

He pulled up an image of his mate and tried to soothe himself and his unborn children who seemed to be desperate to make an appearance. He would seriously strangle Blaze. Who left their pregnant mate in their last month of pregnancy? Yes, he'd wanted his brothers back and yes, he'd wanted Blaze to be the one to bring them home, but dammit, hadn't Blaze figured out a way to clone himself? Tal would have snorted at his ridiculous thoughts but another burst of pain squeezed his midsection.

"No need to worry about your filthy half-breeds, Your Highness, you'll all be dead soon enough. As a matter of fact, if your disappearance hadn't been noticed so quickly, you would be dead already," a deep, raspy and almost inhuman voice slid from the darkness.

Tal turned his head towards the sound, his body shaking in fear when the jagged pain began to swell again.

Tal kept his voice steady when he spoke. "Who are you?" he asked.

Shoving his wrist into his mouth and biting down hard in an effort to muffle the earth-shattering scream that wanted to erupt from his throat, the coppery taste of his blood flooded his mouth and his eyes slid shut. Whoever was in the room with him could smell his blood. He heard the deep inhalations when the scent flooded the room.

"Oh, Your Highness. Why I am deeply offended and very disappointed… hurt really. With all the time we've spent together and you still don't know me?" The voice chuckled moments before Anglania stepped into the pool of light surrounding the bed.

Freud and Elder Bryce entered right behind her.

"Anglania? Freud? Elder Morgasen? What the fuck are you three idiots doing here?" he questioned, his voice wavering and squeaking at the end.

He knew what was going on, but he tried to buy some time and think up a way of escape.

"I would think it obvious, Alpha Queen," Elder Bryce sneered, his upper lip curling in distaste.

"But w-w-why would you want to kill me?" Tal asked, the words catching in his throat when another jolt of pain lanced through him. "You crazy motherfuckers! If you were going to kill me, you should have done it already. Stupid fucks!" he growled.

Angered at their actions, angry he'd gone into labor, angry Blaze had left. That stupid bitch. How dare he not be there? How dare he leave Tal to deal with these crazy, shit-stupid fuckers who were determined to kill him?

The one thing Tal hadn't been able to figure out. Even if they killed him, Blaze wouldn't mate again, and Buck would be his heir. So why kill him and not him and Blaze together.

"Blaze! Blaze!"
He shouted out through their mental link hoping his mate would be on his way back home and would rescue him and their babies in time.

The big, dumb idiot better rescue them in time or Tal would never speak to him again.

"Oh, is that what we're doing? You want us to monologue and tell you our evil, nefarious plan in the hopes to buy you some time so you can get away?" Anglania mocked.

"How could he? He's too fat to run. Blaze is still trying to rescue his"—Freud finally spoke, pointing an aggressive finger towards Tal—"two brothers and he took his best warriors with him. Plus with his sister being locked up in that trunk in their room and Siron off on that wild goose chase to a false location, no one is available to save him."

Tal winced when he heard the futility of his escaping or being rescued laid out before him. He closed his eyes and once again felt the sharp pain rip across his abdomen. His back arched and this time he couldn't stop the harsh cry from tearing from his throat. He would fucking kill Blaze for doing this to him! He would tear apart the three idiot wolves in front of him as well. He glared when they all chuckled at his painful labor. He would die. He just knew it. He would die having these babies.

"My love? Where are you? What's wrong?"

Blaze's voice, his blessed voice came through Tal's mind and he almost sobbed in relief, seconds before a white hot rage lanced through his chest. How the fuck could Blaze be talking to him through their mating link now? Where the fuck had he been when Tal had really needed him? Quite irrationally he refused to answer Blaze at first. Stupid, but in that moment he couldn't give two shits.

"You are right, my boy. I guess you aren't so useless after all," Elder Bryce commented, a thoughtful expression on his face when he looked at Freud speculatively.

He turned to Tal, his eyes instantly filling with anger, hatred and an unholy gleam. "You were not supposed to be here. You were not a part of the plan, especially not pregnant within the first year of mating the Alpha King," he stated, his voice flat and emotionless as if teaching a college course. "You see, Anglania and Blaze were supposed to marry. Blaze would then make Freud and I his top advisors, at the request of the new Alpha Queen," he amended with an almost courtly and regal nod in Anglania's direction. "Anglania would have the unfortunate task of sleeping with Blaze to ensure the royal line continued pure and untarnished through their cubs. Once we were sure Anglania carried the heirs"—Elder Bryce continued pacing back and forth in front of the bed—"we would kill the Alpha King, and Anglania would then take the throne and marry me. And we would rule Tumaro together." Elder Bryce's eyes softened somewhat when he looked at Anglania, reaching out to pull her up tightly to his body. "As we were meant and born to do." His voice sounded awed and almost reverent when he ran his fingers through her unbound blonde hair.

Tal wanted to vomit at their display. The babes within him apparently agreed because the pain raced up his spine again and he turned to his side, retching and gagging from the extreme force of the excruciating contractions.

"Eeww! Gross!" Anglania bemoaned his actions.

Tal began panting again, remembering how it eased the pressure before and used the momentary reprieve to finally respond to Blaze. He wanted the whole labor thing to be over with. He wanted his mate and he wanted his bed. He really, really wanted his own bed. Tears welled in his eyes when he thought about the softness of the mattress he shared with his mate and cried softly.

"
Anglania, Freud, and Elder Bryce Morgasen have kidnapped me, Blaze. I don't know exactly where I am, but I'm in a room that looks like one of those human prisons we saw pictures of when we went to the museum a few weeks ago. Please hurry, Blaze, I'm in labor and our children are desperate to be born,"
Tal pleaded with his lover.
"And this shit really, really hurts."

"What?"
Blaze roared.

For the first time, Tal felt the rush of heat flow through the telepathic link when Blaze shifted into his wolf form. No longer afraid of the trio, Tal found temporary relief from his own pain as he realized his mate was on his way to rescue him and Blaze was furious.

"Blaze? Can you still talk to me?"
Tal questioned.

A stronger and more painful contraction ripped through his stomach and Tal experienced a different kind of fear. For their children. He also couldn't be more disgusted when he watched Anglania and Elder Bryce make out. If he hadn't been gritting his teeth against the almost mind-numbing pain, he would have vomited at the image the two made together. He couldn't believe they were getting passionate instead of killing him as they'd threatened to do.

Seriously, what the hell? They acted as if they had all the time in the world. He looked over at Freud and found the man glaring at him, but still unmoving. So apparently he acted as the brawn, not the brains.

"Yes, my own, you can still talk to me. Just hold on for me, love. We have retrieved your brothers and were at the palace to introduce them to you when you contacted me,"
Blaze responded, his voice deeper and more gravelly that usual in his wolf form.
"I think I know where you are—underneath the home of Elder Bryce. He has an avid interest in ancient human practices of discipline, incarceration, and torture. I will be there soon, love, it's not far, just hang on for me and don't give birth until I get there."

Tal rolled over onto his back with a sound of disgust. Yeah right, like he'd really do that. He absolutely refused to have their babies until Blaze got there. Period, end of sentence. Tal noticed the stupid, disgusting, odd couple had stopped kissing and had returned their menacing glares back on him, and Freud gave him a sadistic smile as if imagining all of the ways he could torture him. Tal's mind raced with a way to stall them so Blaze could get there to rescue him and the babies.

"So, what will you idiots do now? I'll be dead, so will Blaze's heirs, but I doubt he will marry you, Anglania. He'll be in mourning. And he'll never want to be with someone else," Tal pointed out, his voice slightly shaky, but his words confident.

He grew slightly concerned when the pain from his labor slowly changed to a bone-crushing pressure. What the hell was wrong now?

Anglania merely smiled as if she found him both annoying and entertaining. "We're going to kill him also. Oh, not right away, maybe as soon as his mourning period is over. That will give me enough time to seduce Buck, who will be next in line for the throne. That way when Blaze commits suicide because he just can't live without you, it will be my new husband Buckington who will take the throne and everything will go on as planned." Anglania detailed their scheme, her blue eyes wide and almost innocent looking, a small smile on her face.

If Tal had been in his right mind he would have snarkily pointed out she'd been doing the whole 'evil, villain monologue' thing for quite some time, but he wasn't in his right mind. His brain flooded with images of ripping her head off and killing everyone in the room so he could get out safely. Had he been straight, he might have found her appealing and fallen for her evil charms. He had never been so happy he preferred dick to breasts before in his life, because he was very aware that had the two of them mated, he would have been the victim of a murder-suicide.