The Alpha’s Mate And The Vampire King (The Alpha Series Book 3)

It started around 7 a.m. with a series of caws. Magnus puts a pillow over his face and his ears. Unlike Magnus, I take my pillow and fling it at Reaper. As the pillow knocks him off the foot of our bed, his Caw switches to a squawk.

‘Good morning to you too, Master,’ he hisses via the mind-link.

‘You’re a Raven, not a Rooster, Reaper!’ I growl.

Magnus chuckles but stops as Reaper shoots him a death glare. I grab Magnus’ pillow and toss it at Reaper, missing him by a centimetre.

‘And stop staring at Magnus in that manner,’ I say.

‘Fine, I’m hungry for grubs anyway,’ he adds before flying out the window.

I roll onto Magnus, and we kiss and snuggle for a few moments before getting ready for the day. We can hear Fern, Ela, Ria, and Lilac giggling as they go down the stairs. When I opened my door, Lilac slides down the railing backwards. ‘Skedaddle Dash,’ Ela exclaims and vanishes. Ria races down the stairs while Fern leaps over the balustrade and skips half the steps. Magnus and I make our way down the stairs and into the dining room.

‘Lifto Levitatious,’ says Ela. Magnus and I watch as the sugar dish drifts over towards her. She takes a teaspoon of sugar from the bowl and sprinkles it on top of her cereal. Then she flicks her wand, relocating the bowl to its original location on the table.

‘Good morning,’ I address everyone at the table.

‘Good morning, Luna,’ everyone greets me.

‘I hope you all had a good night’s sleep.’ Magnus asks.

‘Yes, Alpha Magnus, we did thank you,’ Ria adds.

May yawns as she walks into the dining area and takes a seat. Sabre circles the dining room a few times before jumping up and resting on a window ledge.

‘Do you have any plans for today?’ I ask the witches.

‘We were thinking about touring the town centre to meet more people,’ Fern explains.

‘That sounds fantastic,’ I smile.

We wave goodbye as they ‘Skedaddle Dash’ into town.

‘We have a lot of paperwork to complete today,’ Magnus adds as he stands on the front steps.

Reaper is hiding in a neighbouring tree, appearing out of place. I’m feeling sorry for him, having been alone for so long and now feeling out of place in a bustling, lush town.

‘There’s something I need to do before we begin the paperwork,’ I tell Magnus.

‘Oh?’

I approach the tree where Reaper is hiding. He observes as I grab for a limb and snap a twig. I extend my right arm. Reaper descends from the tree, lands on my arm, and walks up to my shoulder.

‘I have a surprise for you, Reaper,’ I say.

‘A surprise for me?’ he says.

‘Yes,’ I answer as I walk around the packhouse. I raise my hands and form a circle with my thumbs and fingers. Through the circle of my fingers, I stare up to the sky. ‘Right here will be perfect,’

‘Perfect for what, exactly?’ Reaper asks.

‘Your new home,’ I say, smiling.

Magnus comes over, curious about what I’m doing. Kneeling, I set the twig on the ground, close my eyes, and place my hands on either side of the twig.

‘Revitilo Sprouto,’ I say. The ground rumbles and the twig grows into the same majestic moon tree in Silverfay forest, complete with two broad bending branches, forming a barren circle in the centre where we can view the moon at night.

Reaper caws, flaps his wings and soars into the tree.

‘My tree!’ he exclaims.

Magnus puts his arm around my shoulder. ‘Does this mean I don’t have to be concerned about Reaper staring at me all night?’

‘Yep, I think he’ll feel more at ease now,’ I smile.

Magnus grabs my hand and leads me upstairs to our office, where we begin going over papers together. By late afternoon, the witches had returned and informed us how much fun they had mending signs, poles, fences, and anything else that needed TLC with their magic.

‘The townspeople were ecstatic, and we also got complimentary cupcakes from the baker.’ Lilac explains.

‘That’s fantastic, and I’m sure Yiselda would enjoy hearing everything about it.’ I smile.

‘We were thinking about paying her a visit tomorrow,’ Ria replies.

‘She’d love that! Do you think I could come too?’ I ask.

‘Of course, you’re welcome to join us,’ Fern adds.

‘I’m going to see Pandora’s Box tomorrow,’ I exclaim to Magnus.

‘Should I come as well?’ he wonders, concerned.

‘We’ll see.’ I wink.

We all have dinner and then retire to our rooms. I open the window and gaze out at the moon tree. ‘Goodnight, Reaper,’ I shout.

‘Goodnight, Master,’ he says, mind-linking.

‘You do know you can just call me Nina or Luna?’

‘You could call me Reaper instead of Rooster,’ he quips.

‘Oh, Reaper,’ I chuckle. ‘Have a wonderful night, okay?’

‘Yes, Luna. You have a good sleep as well, and I suppose I hope Magnus has a good sleep too.’

I can’t help but smile at his attempt to be friendlier to Magnus. I leave the window ajar just in case and snuggle into bed with Magnus. The night flew by, and before I knew it, it was morning.

‘Luna, people are arriving, but I sense they are not arriving in good faith,’ Reaper says as he flies in and pulls the sheet from us.

‘Huh?’ I get out of bed, toss my feet to the floor, and stroll over to the window. There are three huge Alphas, each with a dozen other wolves. I can barely make out the wolf emblem in the sunshine, blinding me. The wolf council is here.

‘Magnus! The Wolf Council has arrived!’ Magnus runs to the window and looks out. He rapidly dresses once he realises I’m correct. I put on my pants and a simple tee and slip my wand into my back pocket. Reaper flies out the window in their direction. I find myself seeing through his eyes and hearing what Reaper hears.

Alpha Bennet snarls, ‘Alpha Magnus better have a solid justification for this,’

‘It might be rumour and not fact. What wolf community would unite with witches?’ Alpha Amir says.

‘One who has been bewitched,’ Alpha Theaton chuckles.

Alpha Bennet growls, ‘Not funny. If this is true, it’s quite dangerous, and don’t forget they killed Alpha Zenith, who used to be a member of our wolf council.’

Alpha Theaton’s demeanour shifts from light-hearted to solemn.

I revert to myself and turn to Magnus, ‘They’ve come to see if we have any witches living here. They don’t appear pleased with the prospect of it being real,’

‘I’m confident that everything will be alright, but I’ll mind-link my parents to join us. They might be able to help put the wolf council at ease.’

I nod and proceed downstairs, preparing to face the wolf council.