Page 132 of The Alpha's Cursed Queen

“I put her to bed in the next room. She was already asleep.”

“I want to see her.”

Mary, who is sitting by Alice’s side, comforts her. “I’ll go stay with her.”

“Thank you,” I say to the healer as she leaves the room. “We need to talk, Alice. Something happened.”

“Is my baby alright?” she demands, her voice scratchy. “If there’s even one hair on her head missing—”

“Mira is absolutely fine,” I reassure her, sitting down on the edge of the bed beside her. “The white witches have discovered that she exists. Whatever the reason was for them not being able to find you all this time, it’s gone now. They knew exactly where you were. Willow was sent to you as a distraction, most likely.”

Alice frowns. “But Willow had no idea about Mira. The shock in her eyes was real, Darian. She had no clue. She lost her mind when she saw the picture on my desk.”

My brow furrows. “How can that be? The white witches ambushed Jimmy. They were there for Mira. So was Thomas.”

“It could be that Thomas knew but never told Willow,” Alice murmurs before looking up at me. “If the white witches know about her, what do we do? Should I take her somewhere far away?”

“No.” I hold her hands, trying to warm them up. “Running away isn’t the solution. They will never stop looking for you. For the time being, I want you to stay here in this mansion where nobody can get to you. The white witches who came for Mira are dead, but Thomas escaped. I have the Black Arrows looking for him as we speak, but he’s going to tell the others, and a war is going to break out. I think it’s time we made a stand against the white witches.”

Alice doesn’t look too pleased about this. “Darian, I’m not willing to take risks where Mira is concerned.”

“You think I don’t understand that?” I growl, unable to contain my own frustration. “They knew exactly where she was, Alice. Wherever you take her, they will figure it out. You’ll be safest in the royal palace. After what Willow has done and what her father attempted to do today, he’s going to try to twist things in his favor.” I let out a gust of air, trying to calm down. “Thomas has a lot of backing, Alice. We need to do damage control, and I need to introduce Mira to the Wolf Kingdom as a member of the royal family and heir to the royal throne. We need to make her untouchable. It will be far more difficult for the witches to go after her when the entire Wolf Kingdom is aware of her existence. If you take her and run, you will not be able to stop them from taking her from you. In fact, you won’t be able to stop them from taking you, either. Nobody will even know what happened, and the white witches will continue on as they have been.”

“Can’t you get rid of them somehow?”

Her question is naive and fueled by helplessness. “It’s not that easy. They are rooted in every aspect of the kingdom. The best course of action is to give Mira and you strong support while I weed them out. I will have to introduce you as my mate before we do any of that.” I study her, wishing I could erase the fear in her eyes. “I made contact with Nara, the archive keeper. Tomorrow night, she will take me to the royal archives. I’ll try to find some weakness of the white witches to use against them. But whether I find something or not, Alice, I will not let them touch you or Mira. You have my word.”

My mate looks at me, her expression drawn. “My only aim in life has been to protect Mira, Darian. I never wanted to expose her to the Wolf Kingdom. After what I went through, I know the risks.”

I gently pull her into my arms. “You have to trust me, Alice. I know it’s a hard thing to do, but you need to now. I will not let anything happen to either one of you. If I thought for even a moment that running away would keep you safe, I would abandon everything and go with you, but I know that nothing good will come out of it. Tomorrow, when I go to meet the archive keeper—”

“No.” Alice meets my gaze, her jaw set. “I want to go with you. I have to be there. I need to find a way to keep Mira safe. If this archive keeper has information that we can use, I want to be right there with you.”

“Of course.” I kiss her forehead. “It will be okay. I’ll make sure of it.”

She gives me a tired smile. “You make it sound as if everything is possible.”

“With the two of us together, it is.” I smile back at her. “I want a long life with you, Alice. I want more children with you. I want to grow old with you. Seven years without you has given me perspective, enough to know that there isn’t anything I would not do to get that life. I’m willing to bend whichever way you want me to for you to be happy. Anything you need—”

Her eyes are glistening with tears. “Stop making it sound as if I’m trying to hurt you.”

“That’s not what I’m saying. You’re leaving everything behind for me, making so many compromises. I have to do something.”

She lifts her arms with some difficulty and cups my cheeks. “These are not compromises, Darian. This is me trying to build a new life with you. Every decision I make is thought out and planned. I’ve been happy these past seven years, but not in the way I wanted to be happy.”

I cover her hands with my own, my heart aching at the idea that she was able to be happy without me.

“I had my career and my daughter,” Alice sighs, “but there was a hole in my chest, something that I couldn’t fill no matter what I did. When I saw you, when you came back into my life, I realized what I needed to fill that emptiness within me. I resisted it as much as I could. There’s no point in resisting now, when I know what I need. I need you. These aren’t compromises or sacrifices. You cannot walk away from the Wolf Kingdom. I understand that. But I can practice law wherever I want. I want you in my life, and I want Mira to have a father. So, stop considering it a compromise. This is my decision. If I for one minute had thought that you couldn’t make me happy, I wouldn’t have stuck around this long.”

I rest my forehead against hers. “It didn’t take you long to forgive me, Alice, but it’s going to take a long time for me to forgive myself for what I put you through then and what I’m putting you through now. I wish I could protect you from all of this, but the white witches have so much control within the Wolf Kingdom that I have to step very carefully. But don’t worry; I will have several contingency plans ready. If I think, or if there is the slightest hint, that things are going to fall apart, I will have a plane ready with passports and a pilot who will take you to the safest place I can think of. I will not bring you to LA without having safety measures in place. We’re not going into the situation blind.”

Alice pulls her head back to smile at me, her eyes penetrating mine. “I would not expect anything less.”

I have to tell her about my conversation with Nara next, which is not easy. Her reaction is what I expected: outrage, fear. But under it all, I can tell that Alice is gearing up for a fight.

“We’ll find out what this archive keeper has to say tomorrow,” she says. “In the meantime, if we’re staying here, we’ll have to figure out a way to explain to Mira what is happening. She’s a smart kid, but she’s only six, Darian.”

“She was sleeping quite heavily when I put her to bed,” I tell Alice. “When she wakes up, let’s talk to her.”

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