Royal Blood

Home

I looked up at Valentina to tell her that she could stop now and witnessed blood flowing freely from her nose before suddenly the tiny flames went out and she started to fall to the ground.
One of the men we had left alone rushed to catch her and fell to the ground with her on top of him. He made eye contact with me and whispered the word mate before stroking her face and lifting her into his arms.
"Okay, everybody is alright?" There were only 5 dead female bodies on the ground. Only one being from a woman that was collared. It looked like she had strangled herself with the collar, it was the other female that Carrie's mate had. "I promise I will get you all home before getting home myself. Make groups with other people from your packs. If you don't remember what pack you were from, come stand in front of me."
A few minutes later there were 7 groups and 1 more of about 8 people in front of me.
"We remember what packs we were from but we would like to join yours Luna. If that's okay?" One of the groups asked me, it consisted mostly of women from the cell with me.
"Of course you can. But we should let your pack that you're okay. Also, does anybody recognize these people?" I gestured to the people from the other cell.
"I do, Kara is from my pack. She's very special." Naomi smiled at her and Kara beamed right back.
"Do any of you know what packs you are from?" I asked the rest of them and only two did. They were both slightly older children but the youngest ones didn't remember. I combed through their minds and found a few of them knew their alphas but I didn't know what packs they were from. I would have to take them home to let my mother and father get them home. Home.
For the next two and a half weeks we traveled to the surrounding states and dropped people off at their packs. They were always so grateful to us that they let us stay however long we needed and gave us everything we needed until we made it to the next pack. A couple women even met their mates in different packs but promised to contact their old packs.
Eventually we got close enough to our own border that the guards noticed. We came back with more people than were taken but the moment the guards saw Melody and I, she had shifted and let most of the youngest kinda ride on her back for the journey while it was Marie's turn to forbid me from shift in because I was too pregnant.
"Lunas, you're back!" They all cried and got very excited. They immediately escorted us back to the castle, the women who had homes elsewhere broke off as we got farther into the territory, including Naomi who was apparently part of my pack.
"Oh my god I'm so glad your home!" My mother cried and blubbered on me the moment I walked in the door. My father had silent tears streaming down his face as he hugged us both tight. "We looked for you everywhere but it was like you disappeared from the face of Earth!"
"I know, I'm sorry I couldn't come home sooner. I vowed to get the other women home before I got home myself." I found myself crying also.
Suddenly the room filled with men looking for their mates. Birdie didn't even hesitate as she flung herself at Jordan. Marie was carried away by a few nurses. Robin crushed Melody to his chest and growled viciously since she had just shifted back and was naked. Zenith was shocked and ecstatic to see that Marianna was pregnant. All the men dragged their mates out of the room. All except mine.
"Where is Axton?" I asked as Igor, Alicia, Esmerelda, Joseph and Reese walked into the room.
Joseph and Reese took my parents spots and hugged me tightly, careful of my bulging stomach.
"We had to restrain him." Igor said somewhat strained.
"What? Why? What happened?" I demanded to know.
"Well, you know how he was freaking out back in London when you were gone for barely a day?" Alicia said carefully. I nodded. "Well, you've been gone for about three months. Since he's a hybrid he is more volatile and about two weeks after you were taken he lost it. Demanding that we send out more search parties, he was angry at everything and once he attacked Robin we had to chain him up in the dungeon downstairs." Alicia had tears in her eyes for her big brother.
"I will go shower and then show him that I am okay. I'm sure I smell like other males." I was crying myself as I ran to our room and meticulously scrubbed every inch of my skin until it tingled and used my typical shampoo and body wash so that I smelled like myself.
None of my clothes fit me anymore since I had doubled in size, at least, since being taken so I had to wear a shirt of Axton's and a pair of his boxers.
"How do I get to the dungeons?" I asked Igor and he exchanged a glance with his wife. "What?"
"We don't think you should go down there. What if he hurts you?" Esmerelda asked lightly.
"He would never hurt me." I said with certainty.
"Fine, but be careful we only feed him enough to keep him alive but not enough to break the chains." She pulled a pair of keys attached to a necklace out of her dress and handed them to me.
She led me down about 147 million different hallways before we got to a solid iron door. 3 of the keys were used to unlock 3 different locks on the door while the other was used to unlock the shackles I was told.
"Bottom of the stairs, to the right. Please be careful Dove. He's not himself." Igor put his hand on my arm and I nodded to him before pushing the door open.