A Vampires Alpha [BOOK FIVE]

13.

**Moxie**

A week had passed since that Kagen person appeared at our door looking for Leif.
And it's been a week since I've gotten a decent nights sleep.
I was stressed all over again.
I had to worry about Leif going to school and possibly getting taken from us.
Or any of my children getting hurt, period.
I knew I couldn't keep them out of school, it would only raise flags to their cousins and the family we stayed in contact with.

"Dad?"
I turned from the bedroom.
Amber stood there in her town clothes, holding Sunny who stared at me with a curious gaze.

"Sorry, did you say something?" I asked her.
Amber shook her head looking at me.
"No, you just seemed lost in thought, is everything okay?" She inquired.
I blinked but smiled softly.
"Everything is fine," I began not wanting to worry the other.
"I'm just tired." I confessed.

Amber stared.
"I can handle the twins if you want to get some sleep for a little bit." She offered.
"I can't have you-"
"Dad." Amber grinned at me.
"I dropped out of school for this exact reason, to help you, so no more arguing. Get in bed and sleep for a little while." She told me.

I stared at the brunette but couldn't help smiling at her.
"An hour max-"
"Three." She argued.
"Amber." I whined.
"You'll only feel more groggy if you sleep for an hour, trust me, I'll put on Bluey for the twins and hang out here until you wake up." Amber told me.

Sighing softly I nodded.
"Alright fine, thank you." I smiled as Amber grinned, closing my door as she left me alone in the bedroom.

I stared at the bed and let out a gentle sigh, walking over I took a seat on the edge of the bed and made myself lay back, staring at the ceiling as my hand fell onto my stomach.
My eyelids grew heavy.
And before I knew it.
I was asleep.
------
"You look like shit." Rocky commented at the diner later that day.
"Rocky!" Ziggy hissed at the other who raised his hands in defense.
"What? He does!" The vampire looked at me.

"Jackie said that they're fixing to start going out nightly to keep watch for anyone suspicious, but Magna knows what this guy looks like so he shouldn't be hard to spot." Rocky said taking a bite of his fry.
Ziggy's brows were furrowed looking at the other before his eyes fell on me and his expression softened.

"How are you holding up, besides being tired?" Ziggy questioned.
I frowned softly at the two who sat across from me.
"I don't know honestly? I'm scared for my children, but I'm also scared for everyone. Leif mentioned that Kagen was a blood controller-"

"A what?" Ziggy looked horrified.
"Trust me, we all reacted the same way a week ago." Rocky frowned.

I frowned at Ziggy.
"He's a vampire who can control others by tasting their blood, I've never heard of that kind of ability until Leif told us, and ever since? It's all I've really thought about, what if that guy figured out the truth?" I rubbed my temples.

"I just wonder if humans had it as rough as we do now? I know surviving was their main priority, but what about living like this? Where we have to lose sleep in worrying that something may happen to our children, or--"

"Moxie, breathe." Ziggy reached placing his hand on top of mine, this soft expression on the others face as he looked at me.
"Until there is reason to panic, you shouldn't stress like this, it's not good for your health. Your children and mate need you to be strong, we need you to be strong." Ziggy placed his free hand on top of Rocky's shoulder who nodded in agreement.

"He's right, plus we already know our mates can handle anything, they've dealt with Ace Ellison, Codie Lynn and Kaiser Montoya. I don't know about you guys, but I feel pretty confident that things are going to be okay, but constantly worrying and stressing over the kids is only going to exhaust you before something or someone does try to do something." Rocky told me.

My brows were knitted before I let out a soft sigh.
"I guess you're right-"
"Hell yeah I'm right, if Jayce wasn't such a sloth when his kid isn't home, he would be here agreeing with us about this. Stop stressing so much, everything is fine." Rocky grinned at me.

"Well this is a surprise."
I felt my heart racing at that familiar voice, I felt sick as my stomach twisted into the most painful knot known manageable as I sat there, cold sweat greeting me as both Ziggy and Rocky looked almost too stunned to move.

My eyes finally met the ice blue ones, he still looked the same.
Tall, built, but now he had a scar right above his lip and one below his left eye.

"Church."
His name was almost a whisper to get out as I sat there, unable to move as the alpha smirked softly.
"You look like you've seen a ghost." He pointed out, I went to swallow but my throat was dry.
If he was here, there was nothing good behind it.
Just when I thought we had enough problems, he shows up now?

"What are you doing out of prison?" I asked him lowly as I looked around, making sure he was alone.
But he wasn't.
There were two alphas outside of the cafe looking around now like body guards.

"What do you mean? It's been nearly eighteen years since I've served my time, just as everyone else did that day. No one died, we were only charged for attempted murder-"
"You tried to have me raped, you should have been sentenced longer." I growled before the air grew heavy and it was harder to breathe.

"You're still sore about that? It didn't happen, you got away free and I went away for a bit but I'm back now." Church shrugged looking at me.
I glared harshly.
"Why?" I asked bitterly.
Church blinked but smirked softly.

"My son is here doing a job, I have to make sure he doesn't get himself hurt." He responded.
Ziggy's eye twitched.
"Someone must have been desperate to sleep with scum like you." He growled lowly.
Church only smiled at that.
"I wouldn't know considering his mother was killed." He replied.

I wanted to pity him for a split second but all I felt was anger and hatred towards this guy.
He was a part of that monster's plan.
They were prepared to kill all of the vampires in this town.
My brother was nearly killed.

Our attention fell to the door that opened and in walked one of the guys who weren't at the door.
I didn't recognize him at first, but now that he was in here with us.
I wanted to cry.

It was Kagen.

"Sorry to cut this conversation short, but I just got word the job's been done." He told Church who blinked.
"Oh really? It was that easy?" He asked.
Kagen nodded, his eyes fell on me before his expression hardened looking at me.
"It was considering his guard was dropped." He reached into his pocket and tossed something onto the table, it was wrapped in a rag.

My brows furrowed, I was almost too scared to open whatever it was.

"My condolences, you see," I watched Ziggy slowly opening the rag before my blood ran ice cold and nothing but a loud wail escaped me.
"My boss nor my self tolerates liars." He said as his eyes fell on the wedding ring with blood stained on it.

"This isn't real." I cried looking at the ring in shock.
"Not enough proof for you? I guess that could seem like anyone's wedding ring, luckily I thought ahead." Kagen then tossed a picture onto the table and I felt myself threatening to lose consciousness.

"No fucking way." Rocky choked back a sob staring at the image.
Ziggy was stunned, his eyes black as tears streamed down my cheeks sitting there.

"No no no." I cried staring at the picture of Magna's left hand and green eye with blood everywhere in the image.
"It's fake." I cried.
"He's not dead!" I screamed standing to my feet but only stumbled as I felt vomit trying to rise up.

"For someone who thought he was unable to be touched, he was quite fun chopping into pieces to be delivered to all his loved ones." Kagen smirked deviously looking right at me.
I couldn't control it.

I launched myself right at Kagen before screaming the moment his nails scratched the right side of my face, drawing blood.

"You have the boy my boss wants, unless you want more people to die, I would strongly suggest handing him over to us." Kagen said licking the blood off of his nails as my head spun.
"Killing your mate was easy, imagine receiving pictures of your children's bodies next, I tend to have the most fun torturing them so it's to the point, they're begging to be killed." He told me.

I could no longer focus.
His words were becoming inaudible as I began to sway standing there.
Magna..

"I'll tell my boss you're being given three days to decide everyone's fate, I'm not a total monster. I'm sure you need time to mourn." Kagen chuckled as the tears slipped past my eyes.
"But here's a question you should ask yourself, is one boy who isn't biologically yours, really worth risking the lives of those who are your real family?" Kagen asked me before him and Church both stepped out of the cafe.
-------
Later that night, our friends and family were called to come to the house, I was still in shock so I was trying to figure out how I would tell my kids.
It didn't feel real.
It didn't seem possible.
Nearly seventeen years of marriage and all I could feel was denial.

That wasn't his hand, his eye or his ring..
Magna wasn't the kind of guy to get caught that easily.
It had to be someone else.
To fool me.

"Mox?"
The tears slipped hearing my brothers voice.

Monty stood there, concern in his eyes as I turned to him.
"Monty." I cried as he raced over to me, bringing me into an embrace.
"Sh sh shh, it's okay. I'm here, everyone is here. You and I both know, Magna is somewhere alive, he's not dead." Monty told me.
I looked at him.
"What if he is? What if that was his hand, his eye and ring? Monty, I-I-"
"Shh." Monty cut me off holding me tighter as more tears fell, damping the others shoulders.

"How am I supposed to go out there and tell everyone? Tell my children that their papa may or may not be dead?" I asked through fallen tears.
Monty pulled back, brushing his thumbs under my eyes as he looked at me.
"You won't say he may or may not be dead, you'll say he's missing, there's no sense putting that in anyone's heads when we know there's always that chance he's out there. Those bastards could be holding him hostage for all we know, but putting yourself in that stage of grief where all you think is that he's dead? Is going to keep convincing you that he won't be coming back." There were tears in Monty's eyes now.

"Magna is one stubborn guy, wherever he's at? He'll get himself out of it, or we will find him. Hope is not lost, do you remember when all of the vampires were caged up and placed away from their mates so they would get weak to the point their marks would vanish? It's the same way for us, is your mark still there?" He asked me.

Trembling I pulled my jeans down looking for the mark.
There was this relief seeing it still there and deeply scarred.

"See? He's alive." Monty told me sounding relieved himself and just as I went to breathe.
A sharp pain greeted that same spot where the mark was.

"What's wrong?" Monty asked worried now as I tried not to scratch the mark.
"I-It's burning, something is wrong." I replied with tears in my eyes.
And then it happened.

The boldness of the scar began to fade and the tears fell faster than rain.
No no no.

"N-No." I choked back a sob.
Monty's eyes were wide.
"No way." He looked stunned.

He's not dead.
He's not dead.
Magna can't be dead.

Please, fucking PLEASE.
Don't take him away from me.
Don't take him away from our children.

I'M BEGGING YOU.

"What's wrong? We heard screaming." The door swung open and there stood Stetson and Joshua.
Their eyes on us and both of their attention fell on my mark that was slowly becoming no more.

"Wait."
"Where's Magna?" Joshua asked looking around.

And just like that, the question itself was what did it.
I felt my knees buckling and before I knew it.

Everything was going black.