The Alpha King’s Ex Mate

Serena Blackwood’s POV

The lace on my dress was rubbing against my collarbone and I kept pulling up the neck while my mother worked the silver pins into my hair. She smiled up at me from the vanity mirror and her hands, warm against my shoulders, inclined down to kiss the crown of my head.

​“You look beautiful Serena and you will give the whole kingdom a glimpse of the true strength of the Blackwood line tonight,” she said, her voice full of a pride that squeezed at my throat with guilt.

​"Thank you, Mom, but I really think I can do the rest of the pins on my own if you'd rather go check on Dad," I said, my smile forced so she wouldn't see how desperate I was to get her out of the room.

“Okay, just don’t screw up the braid, because the Moon Crown Ceremony starts in exactly two hours and we can’t be late,” she warned, squeezing my shoulder one last time before leaving the room and closing the door behind her. ​

Once the latch clicked, I flung open the doors to my balcony and walked out into the heat of the evening, eyes darting along the tree line at the end of our property line until a tall form emerged from the shadows.

Lucien moved so quickly that he was up the trellis and over my balcony railing before I could even draw a breath, his arms locking around my waist and pulling me against his chest.

“You’re late,” I heard him say to me as I whispered against the hollow of his neck and breathed in his scent.

​“I had to run through a half dozen council members wanting to talk about my speech tonight, but I wasn’t going to miss getting a look at you before the hell breaks loose,” Lucien muttered as his fingertips slowly glided up the side of my face and he watched me from above.

“You can see yourself in my eyes, and you want to make sure of that one last time, huh?” I asked, gazing down into his eyes for any inkling of doubt.

"Are you ready for this Lucien? Because once we step out there in that ballroom and we tell everyone about our bond, our lives will never be the same again, not for either one of us."

“I’m ready for this now,” he snapped back, pressing down on his knees to pull himself up over the railing before pausing to lean in and gently kiss me, that pussy soft lips making me forget about the many things that could or might kill me, and which had nothing to do with what we were doing here.

“I have been prepared since the day I found out you were mine, Serena, and I don’t give a damn what the council thinks about the future Alfa King he’s supposed to be having the mates chosen for him by tossing us out in the fate, he stated pretty clearly as he bent down to press a soft kiss that made every bit of fear in me melt away.

"We need to get out of here before somebody finds us because my mother will likely be back any moment to take me away to the cars," I said, lightly pushing on his chest even though I desperately wanted to stay buried in his arms.

“I will see you at the Grand Hall, candidate Serena,” he said with a grin before leaping back over the railing and fading into the blackness of the woods as fast as he’d turned up.

I stayed a moment longer on the balcony to get my breath back, patting down the ruffles of my white dress before I turned and walked back inside, going down the long, dim hallway that led to my parents' quarters to inform them that I was ready to go.

It was odd that the house was so quiet, my father typically shouted for the guards as the cars awaited, so I hurried up as I neared the double doors that led to their study.

The door was already slightly open, allowing a narrow slit of black to enter into the bright hallway, and when I pushed it open the scent of blood struck me with such force that I reeled back behind the doorframe.

"Mom? Dad?" I called, my voice quivering as I entered the room and my eyes fell upon the toppled chairs and the dark stains spreading out along the wooden floor.

My father was huddled over to the side of his desk, his eyes wide open yet vacant, and my mother was mere feet away with her hand frozen in place still reaching out toward him as if she had attempted to grasp him in a final moment.

A silver dagger was lodged deep in her chest and before I knew what I was doing, my mind completely blanking out from the fear, I charged forward and grasped the hilt to pull it out.

Blood spattered over the front of my white dress as I withdrew the blade, painting the fabric a terrifying shade of red and I let go of the weapon to the ground as I fell to my knees next to my mother, imploring her to wake up.

“Please, Mom, no, you can’t leave me, please wake up,” I sobbed, my hands were drenched in her blood as I rocked back and forth, completely losing track of time until the door was flung open.

A dozen royal guards stormed into the room, swords drawn; at once their eyes fell upon the bloodied dagger at my feet and then at my stained dress and shaking hands.

"Lady Serena” The lead commander’s face was ghostly white as he leveled his weapon at my chest and two guards came rushing to pin my arms behind my back.

“I didn’t do this, I just found them like this, you have to help them!” I shrieked, fighting against their hold as they pulled me from my parents and shoved me to the door.

"The weapon is right here, and her fingerprints are all over the hilt, Commander, and there is no one else in the whole estate," one of the guards shouted as he held up the bloody knife, and the rest of the squad closed in a circle around me to block any means of escape.

"Take her directly to the High Council dungeons, the death warrant will be signed before the night is out," the commander ordered, and as the handcuffs snapped shut around my wrists, I realized that my life was utterly finished. crashed down on me while they dragged me out into the cold night.