Fated for Forever (Kindred of Arkadia #3)

by Alanea Alder

The gentleman sat at his desk, a dreamy smile on his lips. Throughout the entire estate he could hear the anguished screams of the hyenas being tortured in the basement below. It had been centuries since he last enjoyed the sounds of absolute human despair, modern day had no appreciation for the soul-shattering desolation man experienced at the hands of a well-trained, methodical pain expert. Humming, the gentleman stood and walked to his expansive bookcase. It would be criminal not to take this time to relax and read, especially as he had such soothing sounds in the background.

"Marcus Evans dropped by again," Ashby said, sliding into the chair between Rebecca and his other friend, Kate Edwards. "That guy needs to eat out of a feeding tube for a while," Nic said, taking a French fry from what looked to be the communal fry plate on the table. Rebecca frowned and swung her head back to Ashby. "Did he hurt you, Ashers?" she asked, making sure she made eye contact. He looked away and shrugged. She grabbed the hem of his shirt and manhandled it up over his head. It got stuck around his ears, but she somehow managed to get his bruised arm free. "Kate! Look at this. That asshole Marcus Evans has hurt Ashby, we need to arrest him!" she said, waving Ashby's arm around. Ashby got his arm free and managed to pull his shirt down from where it had been lodged around his head and put his arms through the sleeves. "It's okay, Moe ran him off. Even Marcus isn't stupid enough to mess around with Moe," Ashby said grinning. "No kidding, Moe would eat him for breakfast before coming to you for his banana split," Nic said, laughing. Kate snorted. "Mojo," She chortled. "Kate, it can't still be funny," Bran said from across the diner, where he and Caleb waited for their order holding the trio's twin sons, Landon and Lucas. "Mojo, Jojo," Kate giggled. Rebecca, whose anger was fading, smiled. "It is kinda funny," Rebecca said.

"If he hurts you again, I'll shoot him!" Rebecca said and Aleks looked down at her panicked. "Becca, baby, did you bring your gun?" he asked gently as if approaching a wild animal. All of the shifters at the table picked up on his edginess and subconsciously scooted back a bit. "Of course! It's not going to do me much good in a box under the bed is it? The next time hyenas come to town it's open season," she said, patting her purse. "Is the safety on this time?" Aleks asked, inventing new shades of pale. The purse had shifted down between their bodies and was resting in his lap. "Of course it is," Rebecca said, picking up the purse and patting it. She dropped it to the floor and a loud bang echoed throughout the diner. "What in the hell!" Connor demanded, coming out of the kitchen. Rebecca stared down at her purse and then looked up at Aleks. "Okay, I swear the safety was on." She tilted her head the way she normally did when she was thinking. "Maybe..." She looked around the table and Nic and Kate were trying not to laugh. Ashby was trying to get his heart to stop beating out of his chest. Aleks began to shake. "Aleks, are you all right?" Rebecca asked. At the sound of her calm and rational voice Aleks snapped. "That's it! That. Is. It! No more gun for you. That is the second time you have almost killed someone, the first time was when you tried to show me your cowboy stance. I can't do this! I can't think knowing you have a weapon!" Aleks roared and bellowed. Rebecca sat...

"If you see a decent rocking chair small enough for her can you pick it up for me? She has the one from Ma, but her feet don't hit the floor and she's too polite to say it's uncomfortable," Nic asked. "Sure. I'm going for more clothes, my godson will have to have the best outfits." Ashby grinned. He couldn't wait to hold the little guy. "He will be my nephew too," Nic reminded him and Ashby smiled. "My godson and your nephew, which we'll have to kidnap from Kate, Rian, Damian and Liam." Ashby cracked up. "We called dibs when we first found out she was pregnant, there's nothing they can do," Nic said. "Can you call dibs on an unborn baby?" "I don't know, but if I don't know, then they definitely don't know," Nic said. "I get first dibs, though, since I got morning sickness. Most of the time the Inner Court bond is fun. However, I don't appreciate being nauseous randomly throughout the day. I don't know how women do it." "I can agree to that. That morning sickness is no joke. I've never seen you throw up so much," Nic said. Ashby shuddered. He didn't know how women lived through pregnancy, he was doubly happy to be a man.

"Okay everyone, I call this meeting to order." Rebecca stood next to the table where Aleks, Ma, Kate, Bran, Caleb, and Liam sat looking at her with curiosity. "If this is an attempt to get a town swimming pool so you can ogle pack and pride members, the answer is no." Aleks growled. Rebecca's eyes widened in surprise. She hadn't thought about a town pool. She brought her smartphone up and made a note. "Um of course not…" P.o.o.l. "The real reason why we're here," she said, beaming at everyone while Aleks tried to peek at what she typed on her smartphone. "We're also not doing a male calendar to raise money for the library," Bran said, frowning. Male calendar!! Rebecca furiously tapped away on her phone. "Nope, not that. It's---" "And we're not doing shirtless car wash either," Caleb muttered. Rebecca paused and tapped on her phone again. Why did I never think of a car wash! "No, y'all are being silly, it's nothing like that…for now." Rebecca smiled wide. The men relaxed.

"Oh, my Ashby, what has been done to you?" Doc said, looking down at the small, still pale body. "He is not your Ashby," Gabriel said flatly. Doc raised a single eyebrow. "I don't care if you're the King of Siam. Ashby belongs to those who love him and I hate to break it to you Dracula, but in Arkadia we have years on you when it comes to caring for this young man. Now, move out of my way as I try to save my friend," Doc said, brushing past Gabriel to lift Ashby gently in his arms. David and Daniel watched the entire scene, their eyes wide. "Dude, can I be you when I grow up?" David asked. Daniel nodded. Doc looked over at the small men and winked. They both blushed.

"What was done before I got here? His breathing is surprisingly even for someone who's been poisoned," Doc asked. "That would be me, sir. My name is Nathaniel, healing is a gift from my family," the auburn-haired man said, stepping forward. "I'd be interested in seeing exactly what your limitations are Nathaniel," Doc said, taking Ashby's pulse. "He's not an experiment. We prefer you not say anything about his gifts," Eirik said from behind Nathaniel. Without even turning around Doc snorted. "You must be the Alpha. Please, it's a closed space, try not to piss on him to mark him, the smell will get overwhelming," Doc said writing down Ashby's pulse and temperature. He turned around to face the room full of men.

"Gabriel, it's been two days since I was poisoned, I'm doing much better now. I can stand, I can dress myself, I can walk to the kitchen, I can make myself breakfast, and I'm bored out of my mind," Ashby said from their large king-size bed. "You were on death's door two days ago, please take it easy, for me?" Gabriel asked, tucking the blanket around his mate. "If I promise to take it easy can I at least get out of bed? Please?" Ashby batted his eyelashes. Gabriel sighed. "You can get out of bed, as long as you take it easy. If you feel weak, short of breath or dizzy sit down and call me." Gabriel looked around for Ashby's robe. "Whoo hoo! I'm free!" Ashby bounced out of bed, heading to the closet to grab some clothes. "What did I just say about taking it easy?" Gabriel held up the robe.

Reluctantly Gabriel let go and walked across the room toward the door. "Come on Roman, it is your job to keep me from killing these sycophants," Gabriel said, striding out the door. Roman rolled his eyes. "Lucky me," he said in his deadpan manner and followed his prince up the stairs.

"I could be a polka-dotted blue alien stepping out of the Tardis—it doesn't matter. This coven, and in particular these men, recognize me as their prince, so when I order them to throw your bony ass out of our home and make sure they break several bones in doing so, they will do it," Ashby said, clasping his hands behind his back taking a more solid stance. He imagined his eyes going cold the way Gabriel's did when he was irritated.

"A quick question Prince Ashby, what exactly is a Tardis?" Roman asked a questioning look in his eye. "It's a—you see there's this doctor, oh never mind. I'll explain later." Roman nodded his head, walked into the hallway and began barking orders to the other coven members like a wartime general.

"Trust me, I have no plans on dying anytime soon," Ashby said. "Good. You still need to explain what a Tardis is." Roman wagged a finger at Ashby. "Time and relative dimension in space," Mikhail offered from the corner. Everyone turned and stared at the large man. "You're a Whovian?" Ashby asked in a whisper. Mikhail grunted. "Is that a martial art?" Roman asked. Ashby looked around the room and everyone wore identical confused expressions. Mikhail snorted and Ashby's head swung around. "You laughed!" Ashby exclaimed excitedly. Mikhail's cold expression frowned back at him. "You're not so scary," Ashby said, leaning back in the bed.

"I need to shift, will that bother anyone?" he asked, suddenly feeling unsure of himself. He didn't know if is heart could take it if they laughed at him. "You're going to shift? Cool!" Daniel said as he and David released his hands and sat down together on the other bed. "Go ahead and shift, we don't mind," Roman said. Ashby took a deep breath and let the change flow over him. He felt himself shrink and suddenly he was looking out at the world from underneath his clothes and blankets. "Oh…oh…oh. Can we keep him?" Daniel said, popping up from the bed and scooping Ashby up. "He is so freaking adorable!" David added. Running his hand between Ashby's oversized ears. Ashby yipped and rubbed his head against David's hand. "He's not a pet Daniel, he's our prince," Roman said, a soft smile on his face as well. "No wonder Rebecca loves your shifted form. You are the cutest thing ever, Ashby," Emmett said. "He brought out every single one of Ma's protective instincts when we found him. She was ready to hunt down Ashby's ex and maul him. You can see why she was smitten with his fox form," Connor added.

"I'm no expert, but I think he's in shock," Kent said, eyeing Ashby closely. "Shit! I think you're right," Nic said, looking around frantically for Rebecca. "Ashby, hand the phone back to your friend Nic. Everything will be fine, my love," Gabriel said gently. Ashby nodded and handed the phone to Nic who looked down at it confused. He brought it up to his ear. "Yes?" he asked "Take Ashby to the clinic of that sardonic asshole you have for a doctor. Keep him warm. He has had enough shocks in the past few days to break down the strongest of men. Then I want you to put me through to Aleksander Arkadion," Gabriel said softly, but firmly.

"Don't pick up any glass. And don't lift anything heavy. Don't breathe in any cleaning fumes, in fact don't help. Just sit there," Aleks said, as he paced in front of the table where Rebecca, Ashby and Nic sat waiting on their to-go order of breakfast muffins at the diner. "Aleks, don't worry, we won't let her do anything. She is strictly going for moral support. Right Ashby?" Nic said and Ashby nodded. "And to tell us what to do and point and laugh when we do it wrong," Ashby added. "Hey! You're supposed to be on my side, just for that, I am adding snarky comments to my agenda. Muwahahaha." She sniffed dramatically and sipped her tea.

"Aleksander Aaron Arkadion! What in the hell is wrong with you! Why are you dragging that mangled corpse through town? You traumatized an entire first-grade class on a field trip to the town center," Ma said, striding up to them pointing down to the body that Aleks still had a hold of. He looked down at the ankle he was holding. "Fuck my life." Aleks looked behind his ma at the trail of blood heading back to the ice cream parlor. Liam laughed, his arms wrapped around his waist holding his sides. Aleks had a feeling that Liam was laughing to keep from crying.

"Rebecca he's right, no one can interfere with a dominance challenge," Bran said, cracking his knuckles. Caleb bared his canines at the man. "Except when that challenge is issued to a pack that is under the protection of the Alpha Mother in an Arkadian town. In the Shifter Council bylaws the only time such a challenge is recognized is when approved of by the Alpha Mother. So like I said…again. You can't do that," she said, sweetly smiling up at the man. He growled and knocked the table away from Rebecca to leave her sitting in the chair before him. The entire diner began to growl as Connor jumped the counter and stood directly behind Rebecca. "Fine. Where is the Alpha Mother? Bring her to me," he demanded. Rebecca stood. "I'm right here," she said, placing her hands on her hips. "Where? Where is the Alpha Mother?" he demanded, ignoring Rebecca. She growled her tiny growl at him. "I know you're not growling at me puny human. What could you possibly do to me?" He reached down and squeezed her cheeks together. Her eyes flared with anger before two deafening shots echoed through the diner. The skeezy wolf Alpha howled and dropped to the floor clutching at his knees. "Stole it back from Aleks." She grinned, waving her gun. Aleks and Liam entered the diner at a dead run. "We heard gun shots," Liam said, eyeing the man writhing around in pain on the diner floor. "Becca, baby, what's going on?" Aleks asked, as the two other wolves that had come in barred the way to his mate. "I sh...