The Sovereign Heir (Book 1)

We slept in late for the past few days and went to my pocket dimension to train frequently. Nolan understood more of what I meant when I said what’s mine is his. He is faster, stronger and could perform some elemental magic. With time Nolan can cast spells on his own.

Alexus told King Alder she is mated to Maddox and as we guest it, he is very displeased. There was nothing he could really do about it; they have marked each other already. Breaking the bond could lead to them both dying or them going insane.

No two bonds are ever the same, especially with hybrids and cross species mating. Anything could happen from forced separation, the only way to break a bond is by a vow of rejection by both parties, even for those willing to remain together. Neither party is ever the same after. We have had cases of abuse in which rejection after mating was necessary and that rejection needed to be accepted. Those situations required our interjection.

We are expecting Nolan’s father to arrive any day now, trying to wedge his way between Alexus and Maddox. We not only have our mating ceremony to plan but one for Alexus as well. Lennox and Michelle’s ceremony is in less than three weeks.

Everything is colliding together and is getting in the way of us going to the realm. Nolan and I are setting up a dinner party for my graduation when we both hear a commotion outside the gates.

He huffs and curses under his breath, “My fucking father is here.” I didn’t like how this man can cause such a strain on my mates mood.

King Alder barges into the mansion. “Where is she? She better not be with that mixed up mutt! I swear on all that is holy she will not stay mated to someone beneath her station! Well, where is she?”

Nolan is fuming and about to go off on his father. “Nice to see you too, King Alder.” I give him a slight bow to remind him he is in the presence of the next Empress and Emperor.

“Forgive me, your Highness. I need to have a word with my son.” King Alder returns the bow but stays fixated on my mate. “Any word you will have with your son will be in my presence or if you would prefer my parents.”

Normally, I do not throw my rank around but in this case it is absolutely necessary, actually a requirement dealing with my father in law. The last action I will take would be to make him submit with my aura and I really hope it doesn’t come to that. In fact, Nolan could use his aura to do the same because once we mated he outranked his father. “Princess Elaina, this is a matter for those more suitable in…”

Nolan charges forward cutting his father’s words off before he can finish them, “You watch your tone addressing my mate and your future ruler! I will not stand for it! Do I make myself clear?” King Alder is in complete shock in the manner Nolan addresses him and the dominance of his aura.

“How dare you, you insolent child!” My mate is going to cold cock his father any second. I move at an increased speed in order to separate the two of them. King Alder notices my speed, he starts to become wide eyed.

My father in-law or should I say monster in-law looks as if he is going to stroke out any minute. “What is the meaning of this, what are you girl?”

I had enough of his disrespect, just as much as Nolan. I approach him with slow calculated steps, my body clearly fully a glow, my eyes become a spiral of color. King Alder takes several steps back, “I am your superior in more than rank, you will not enter my home, our home and address me as girl. You want to know who I am? Let me show you!”

My gauntlet outfits me in my armor, not just any armor but the one for the lead commander. “You hold no authority or power here other than what we’ve allowed. Your daughter is mated to one of my lead warriors more noble than yourself. It will not be broken based on his station, but by our codes if he violates them. Do I make myself clear!”

I have King Alder pinned to the wall. Nolan places his hand on my shoulder, the bond eases my hostile demeanor, enabling my battle armor to retreat. I look up at my mate with a serene smile and he plants a kiss to my forehead. We have our own private conversation on how we should proceed with his father.

Nolan addresses his father in an absolute manner, “You have over stepped my entire life, it ends today. I advise you pray my mate, and her family are merciful and forgiving because I am not. You are not welcome here unless accompanied by my mother. You destroyed my mother’s light, her independence and individuality. You will not do the same to Elaina or Alexus. Your mindset is outdated and barbaric. My mate has graciously allowed you to stay in our guest quarters or you may take lodging in the palace. The choice is yours but be advised any further disrespect is punishable by our sovereign rulers and their heir.”

King Alder opens and closes his mouth like a fish out of water. I read his mind which gave me a glimpse of his clear defeat. He is too fearful of me and of what Nolan would eventually become. “I will stay at the palace.” His tone is somber, his insolence contained for now. I link my parents to inform them of their unintended guest along with the issues that surround Maddox and Alexus.

Because of King Alder’s resistance to change a parley would be held over the next few days. Since I had instigated a minute amount of the tension, I am not required to be in attendance. His deplorable manner provoked my reaction, thank goodness my parents believed it was not intentional on my part. Truly, I only wanted to keep the peace between my mate and his father, but that monster of an in-law knew how to illicit a reaction.

With King Alder being sequestered with my parents Nolan is now responsible for the kings duties. Typically that was meant to be the responsibility of the queen regent. Alder only used his mate as a show piece instead of her true purpose. It is men like my father in -aw that made us enact the codes in the first place. The bond is more than someone to give you an heir or to warm your bed. A mate coexists with you blending together while also keeping your autonomy, to be truly loving of one another.

Alexus came back to the mansion the night her father showed up. From what I understand Alder threw a temper tantrum in front of my parents and to appease the asshole, they granted his request that they not live together until after the meetings concluded . Personally, I wouldn’t have done it, they are mated despite the ceremony not being conducted yet.

Situations like this encouraged me to take the throne. “Thank the goddess you’re awake! We all thought you were dying…” Lexi talks on autopilot, and I see a flash of her thoughts. She is thinking about Maddox in the back of her mind. Poor thing is trying to hold up as much as possible with her father interfering in her life.

I reach over to grab her; it makes her pause, letting out a deep breath. “Lexi ,it will be okay, I will make sure of it. I might not be on the throne yet, but I still have power as the executor of our rules. The final say is not completely up to your father. My parents would never split you two up.” My words brought her more relief.

Nolan comes into the kitchen. ”What are you intensively discussing over there?” We both look at each other, “Nothing.” Our unified answer causes him to raise his eyebrows. Lexi excuses herself, going upstairs to her room. “Laina, Bryant has some surveillance footage he wants you to look at.” He hands me his iPad. “We have surveillance to look at, we do this together.” Nolan sits with me at the table as I went through the video clips.

My eyes widen as I see something that should have been impossible. A high priest of Allister. They were all executed or so I thought. “We need to go to the realm soon, make some time tomorrow, it’s been a week since I’ve woken up. The elders have things to discuss with the both of us and I have questions for them.”

Nolan calls his mother, speaking in her former packs own creole language. I could understand it, clearly having roots from early Bozal Spanish. My mind is able to break down any language and speak it, thankfully. Queen Alder will be coming in another day. I couldn’t wait to meet her from the way Nolan described her.

The queen’s name was Angélica and she came from more than a Lycan pack, it is a hidden Afro-Bolivian Kingdom for over 700 years. Her people left the Sub-Saharan region when the foreign invaders began plundering in the name of exploration, to find the ‘River of Gold’. Many supernatural’s migrated to avoid human discovery, while others withdrew deeper into areas not easily accessible by non-supes. Nolan gave me his mother’s history and watching his father slowly assimilate her into what he wanted her to be. Their marriage had been strained ever since he was born which worsened after his sister and brother were born.

Angelica was not only the first born of an Alpha, but she was also the head warrior of the Kingdom, training young pups. Female warriors amongst other Lycan packs was very rare hundreds of years ago. In fact, Nolan told me that his mother challenged his father to combat and if he won she would give up being a warrior. King Alder lost to her and young female Lycans were slowing trained to be warriors.

After his mother beat King Alder their relationship became ‘complicated’. “I feel like my father was jealous of how strong she was, the fact that she was better than him in many ways. His only way to get back at her was to slowly remove the uniqueness of who she was. My mother loved cooking a blend of Bolivian and African dishes for us once a week. He slowly started to insinuate her cooking was peasant like and she slowly stopped cooking."

"I used to love helping her cook while she told me stories.” I could tell my mate respected and adored his mother by the way he talks about her. “You remind me of the way she used to be when I was younger, it just adds to why I love you.” If it was possible to love Nolan more than I already did, it would be right now.

The Next Day

Nolan and I agreed to randevu at my tech company at 3 today and it is now 3:30. I messaged Nolan:[Where are you? You were supposed to meet me 30 minutes ago!] I watch the three bubbles appear and disappear several times. Finally a response arrived:[I’m so sorry, Love. My father has thrown more on me than usual. Go on without me, update me tonight.] Wait a frigging minute, what the hell does he mean tonight?:[Umm, when do you plan on being home tonight?] More bubbles appear, :[Maybe 8.]

This shit with King Alder is so in the way right now. “Laina, where is Nolan? You guys need to get the realm, like now!” Of course Bryant would state the obvious.

“Duh, I’m going alone. I’ll let him know what I find out later. Wish that man would carry his ass back to Canada like yesterday. How has it been with him at the palace?” Bryant grunts before answering. “King Alder is a pain in everyone’s ass. I think dad was about to beat him senseless last night. Mom had to separate them during dinner.” I didn’t expect anything less from him. “I’m surprised our father didn’t throw him out.”