The Twin Alphas’ Fated Mate
Fate of the Forsaken Brother Chapter 23

~Kaden-

After we brought Tonya outside, it caused all the fighting to stop and everyone looked over at us. I pushed Tonya down on her knees, making her groan in pain. Devin throws something down in front of Tonya. She looks down and screams.

"What did you do to my brother?!" Tonya screams, pushing away Jerald's head. I hold back a laugh. I can't believe he brought Jerald's head out here just to put it in front of her.

"That's better than what he deserved." Devin mutters. He can be quite ruthless sometimes. Just then, Max speaks up.

"The fighting stops now. Stand down all of you! We have taken down your leaders, Tonya and Jerald. Black Creek pack will be no more!" Max yells in his alpha tone. All of our pack members stiffen at the command. The warriors who were in their wolf forms shift back. The alpha tone works on everyone except other alphas, but it works better on your own pack members.

The members of Black Creek all back off too. They look at Tonya, confused about what to do. There are not a lot of them, maybe 30 or so members. We are outnumbered, but our warriors are well trained. They can handle a situation like this. It doesn't look like there have been any casualties on either side.

I turn to Max. "You finish her." I say quietly. Max looks at me confused.

"No. She's your mother. This is your fight."

"It's our fight. She did a lot to our family. Nearly broke it, both now and back then. And yes, she may have given birth to me, but Mercury is my mother. She has been since the moment she decided to protect me without even knowing me. How a mother should feel." I get in closer to him, whispering quietly, "Plus, this is your first time leading as the future alpha. Letting your beta kill the person who caused all this will make you look weak."

Max straightens up at the last part, his alpha wolf not wanting to look weak in front of his pack and the one we're taking down. Max nods and moves behind Tonya. She's pleading with us, telling us she'll do anything to not be killed.

"Please, Kaden. I'm your mother! You can't kill me. I love you!" Tonya sobs.

"I don't feel anything towards you except pity. You had a second chance at life and this is what you chose. You did this to yourself." I say, moving away from her. Max grabs the sides of her head, looking out at the warriors. Tonya is full blown ugly crying now. It's a little pathetic. I look over at Devin. He's standing next to Kai, who's still holding Rhett. Blake stands next to me, looking at Max. I look back at Max too.

"For Rhett." Max says quietly with tears in his eyes before snapping Tonya's neck. Her limp body falls to the ground and her pack members feel the pain of the loss of their leader. Some stumble back, some fall to their knees. The ones still in their wolf form howl at the pain. I mind-link our warriors quickly to round up the rest of the rogues while they're distracted. We need to bring them back to the pack and let Elliot and Arthur decide their fate. They're still the alphas, after all.

After the warriors finished trying everyone up, we called for more vans to be sent over. Our head warrior, Gordon, is going to stay behind and monitor everything. Max, Devin, Kai and I are heading back right now to take Blake and Rhett home. We also need to start figuring out what the hell we're going to do about that warlock. They're supposed to be all dead. We have no idea how to go about it. If he's working with Ivan and Hudson, they could be anywhere in the world right now. And he did something to our bond. I think he erased it. I knew warlocks were powerful, more powerful than casters and fae, but that is next level crazy. Warlocks were wiped out by the caster and fae population because they believed the magic warlocks practiced wasn't right. They weren't bound to anything. Fae are bound to magic by the four elements. Casters are bound to magic by the moon, which is why they get along with werewolves so easily. Warlocks are bound to nothing, which means they have no limits. They can do anything they want with no physical or mental repercussions. They can alter realities, make people forget who they are, where they came from. They have no limits and that scared the casters and the fae. It's unnatural to have so much power with very little control. So they were wiped out. Not sure how it happened, I just know the fae and casters came together for the first and only time in history. They did some magic and the warlocks were suddenly gone. But I guess they missed some. We need to get home and talk to Elliot and Arthur about all of this. Maybe they know something that can help us get Aubrey back. Hopefully.

-Elliot-

I'm sitting in my office after spending all day with Mercury. She's a mess right now. She's convinced one of the twins is dead. She said she felt it in her soul. I don't doubt her. She's never wrong. I just wish this one time she might be. If one of my sons died, I don't know how we'll make it through this. Mercury will never be the same, my other children will never be the same. I don't think I will ever be the same. And I know Kaden will just blame himself. They were after him and Aubrey. Rhett and Blake were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Kaden will definitely blame himself for the death. I'm just praying to the moon goddess that Mercury's gut feeling is wrong, just this once.

I'm supposed to be going over paperwork. Ivan is still out there and we need to take him down. We all need this. But I can't seem to focus. All I can think about is my children. Are they safe? Was it the right decision to let Max take the lead on this? He's not alpha yet. Yeah, sure, he's got alpha blood and he's next in line, but he's never been in battle before. And if one of the twins is dead...that could break him and he won't be focused. They're too far away to mind- link. Maybe I should call them.

I take out my cell phone from my pocket when suddenly a smokey portal opens in my office. I stand quickly, backing away from whatever this is. A man steps through, he looks to be in his 50s. He's well dressed in a dark grey suit. His hair is black with some grey, hanging down to his shoulders in a slicked-back look. He has grey stubble along his face and jaw. But the most striking thing about him are his eyes. His eyes are blood red. He's looking around the room, like he's looking for someone. The portal closes and the man smiles.

"Hello, I'm looking for the Alpha and the Beta." The man says.

"That would be me. I'm one of the alphas here at Red River. Alpha Elliot. My brother is Alpha Arthur." I tell him. The man narrows his eyes.

"Hmm. The name of the pack is correct, but you are not who I'm looking for. I'm looking for a much younger version of you. He goes by the name Alpha Maxton, I think the name was. And Beta Kaden." The man says. I roll my eyes at the 'much younger' part. We're not that old. I'm not even 40 yet and this guy looks like he's got 15 years on me.

"Maxton and Kaden are my sons. They're 18. They take over the pack in two years. The pack calls them Alpha and Beta out of respect for their future rolls here." I say to him, my hands clenching in anger. "What do you want with my sons?"

"Oh, I'm so sorry, Alpha. I meant no disrespect. I was not aware the boys were not officially in charge yet. They seem to handle themselves well. I'm not here to harm them, either. I'm here because I'd like to get their side of the story." The man says. "Where are my manners today? My name is Silas." Silas holds out his hand for me to shake. I take it, careful to be wary of him.

"Like I said, my name is Alpha Elliot. Can I ask, what are you?" I ask. Silas chuckles.

"You don't waste any time, do you?"

"Well, you popped into my office through a magic portal, unannounced, looking for my kids. So I think I have a right to ask what you are. Only women are casters and I've never heard of fae being able to open a portal." I say blankly. Silas smirks at me.

"Very observant. Familar with magic, are we?" Silas says, moving to one of my chairs. "May I?"

I motion for him to go ahead, while I remain standing. "My mate is a caster, so I'm familiar enough. So, what are you?"

"I'm a warlock. Yes, I know, we're supposed to be dead. But not all of us died. Very few of us survived. I'm not sure what the casters and fae did that day, but it made 95% of us just disappear. The remaining of us had hid away. stayed in the shadows to not anger them. We will

all be gone soon anyway." Silas says.

"What do you mean?" I ask.

"Well, we can't reproduce anymore since that day. So when we all die naturally, that's it." Silas says casually, like he's come to terms with it.

"If you can't reproduce, how are you here? Warlocks were wiped out over 300 years ago." I state.

"As you know, fae age the same as you or any human. Caster age slowly and the average life span is between 110 and 130. Us warlocks are the same, meaning we age slowly, but a lot slower than casters. The average life span for a warlock is 1000. I may look like I'm in my 50s, but I'm in my 500s." Silas says. My jaw drops and he smirks. "I was 236 when the casters and fae decided to rid the world of us. That would put me about 23 in werewolf years. I'm now 578, about 56 in werewolf years. I don't blame them, though. Most of us warlocks were power- hungry animals. I was never like that. I mostly used my power to help people. I still do, when I

do use it."

"Alright. This is a lot of information." I say, rubbing my temples. "You said you're here to get Maxton and Kaden's side of the story. What story is that exactly?"

Just then, Kaden comes through my office door, followed by Blake and Devin. I rush around my desk and take them all into my arms.

"Thank goddess, you are all back safe." I say. I pull back and look at them all. "Where's Rhett?"

Blake starts sobbing as he grabs onto me and I instantly know. I look to the door. Max is standing there, holding Rhett's lifeless body. I drop to my knees with Blake still holding onto

me.

"They killed him dad. But Max, Kaden and Devin took care of them. But Aubrey is gone because she gave herself up for me." Blake sobs into my chest. Max comes next to me with Rhett. He's so pale and still. He almost looks like he's sleeping. I take him from Max, holding onto him.

Probably for the last time. This is going to crush Mercury.

"I'm very sorry to interrupt, but the boy is not dead."

We all turn to look at Silas, who is still sitting in the chair. "What do you mean he's not dead? He has no heartbeat." Max says angrily.

"Yes, I know. That's because of me." Silas stands and walks over to Rhett. "When I was in Black Creek, I overheard Jerald and Ivan talking about how one of the kidnapped boys got injected with too much wolfsbane and would be dead soon. I don't like killing innocent children, so I went down to the dungeon to heal him. But, since the pretty nurse werewolf had already made a scene about how he was dying and wouldn't last the night, Jerald would've known I had healed him and would know I was onto him about not telling the whole truth to me. So I healed him, but then put him in a coma. The coma slows his heart way down to the point you

can't feel it. His breaths are so shallow you can't see them. But he is still alive. I can wake him

if you want."

Silas places his hand on Rhett's forehead, closes his eyes and breathes out. The flow of blue magical enery goes into Rhett and his body starts to regain color. Suddenly. Rhett's head moves and he opens his eyes. He looks up at me and I sigh out in relief.

"Dad? What happened? I feel like I've been asleep for a week." Rhett's voice scratches out. Blake sobs out a loud cry and hugs his twins. Rhett wraps his arms around him and hugs him

back.

"Rhett! You're back!"

"Where did I go?" Rhett asks, furrowing his brows.

"You were dead! For two days!" Blake yells.

"I died?" Rhett look around at everyone. "Cool."

"It's not cool, dummy! We were all terrified. We all cried. Dummy!" Max pulls Rhett from my

arms, tears in his eyes. He hugs him tightly, making Rhett groan. Kaden kneels beside Max,

hugging both of them.

"Don't ever scare us like that again." Kaden says, his voice shaking. I look up at Silas and thank him. Devin walks up to Silas and stares him down.

"As much as we're grateful that Rhett isn't dead because of you, you still have some explaining

to do. You were there today at Black Creek. What did you do to Aubrey?"

We all turn to Silas and he holds up his hands.

"Alright. I'll explain everything."