Deprived (Daughter of an Alpha Book 2)

by Kaitlyn Taylor

  “You guys didn’t say anything about a prophecy,” Luna glared accusingly. “How did you know she had vision? It’s not like her to not tell us about it.”

  “Because I saw it, too,” he answered looking up at Luna, fear plastered on his face forcing Luna to soften as she recognized his pain.

  “You what?” Gavin and Hudson said together.

  “How is that even possible?” Deja looked to Luna and I. We were just as clueless as she was, but no one could deny that this was a development that no one saw coming.

  “Did you see her most recent vision, too?” Gavin asked looking at Nathan as he continued to stroke Kota’s hand.

  “No,” he answered. “It was only when our blood touched one another’s.”

  “What did you guys see?” I asked stepping towards the bed, hoping Nathan would not shut down on us now. He couldn’t reveal something like that and then go quiet. If he didn’t want Luna to strangle him, he would be smart to answer our questions.

  “I promised her I wouldn’t say anything to you guys,” he muttered. “She said if she told you then your choices would be taken from you and she didn’t want to be the one to do that to you guys.”

  “Nate, I understand that she wants to protect us but if it has to do with Malachi then we need to know,” Deja sat on the other side of Kota and tried to speak to Nathan face to face. “We need you to tell us what you saw. No matter what it is we won’t freak out.”

  She glanced over at Luna, silently making her promise to stay calm while Nathan talked. She seemed offended that Deja would even think she would be the one to lose it if she didn’t like what she heard but she eventually nodded her head, agreeing to behave.

  “You should go get Nova and Roman,” Nathan suggested. “It has to do with them, too, and I don’t want to repeat myself. It’s bad enough that Kota can’t tell you herself.”

  Hudson and volunteered to go get them while Luna, Deja, Gavin, and Declan stayed behind just in case Kota woke up. I was quiet at first, walking side by side with Hudson. My mind was only concerned with what Nathan had to tell us and not so much about what had happened between Hudson and I. He stayed close to me as we made it to the main floor of the castle, watching our surroundings as we continued to head for the dungeons. Just because there was a distraction doesn’t mean they suddenly stopped plotting to kill us. Hudson knew that and staying within grabbing distance of me was his way of keeping me safe.

  It had been many years since I’d been down in any of the dungeons in Medova. Since there were prisoners down there we were told to stay away and for some reason we actually listened to this order. I guess since there was no need for us to go down there it was easy to stay away like our parents told us. Our footsteps echoed as we made our way down to the basement floor. I could hear voices talking amongst themselves and then there was shouting, which made Hudson and I move quicker. When we got to the entrance of the dungeons, Nico was fighting with two of the council members who were trying to blame him for the escaped prisoners.

  “This is exactly why you shouldn’t be the Alpha!” one of them shouted. “This never would’ve happened under your father’s leadership or any other Alpha’s for that matter.”

  “If you need to blame me then fine but you and I both know that this is not my fault,” Nico countered. “Every single member of the council was here while we were looking for Medova’s greatest enemy and you’re telling me you couldn’t do anything to stop the break outs from happening?”

  “It’s not our job to be defenders of the dungeon,” the other one snapped. They were both slightly shorter than Nico and not nearly as muscular. One of them, with the light brown hair and hazel eyes, seemed to think he could talk however he wanted to the Alpha and the second one, with white blonde hair and brown eyes, seemed to be afraid of Nico and the one time he snapped made him go pale faced.

  “It’s your job to help me protect Medova from danger and to keep things in order,” Nico snarled, a low growl coming from his chest. “No one on the council seems to be capable of doing their jobs. All you want to do is argue with me about every fucking thing that I bring to the table and if you’re not doing that, your fucking prostitutes in your studies while your wives raise your children.”

  Both the council members were stunned but not because Nico yelled at them. The council must have thought their extracurricular activities were a secret but clearly, they were wrong. I was unaware of anything like that going on, but I made a large effort to stay away from the council members whether I was in Giant Territory or any other territory. I definitely wouldn’t be going around them now that I know they’re all trying to kill me.

  “Did you think I didn’t know about that?” Nico smiled as the council members stood speechless. “I’m well aware of your dishonorable actions and how you choose to bring it into the castle. You should know that I plan to put a stop to all of that. I can’t stop you from being unfaithful to your wives but you sure as hell won’t be doing it under this room. As for the situation at hand. We’re going to send as many guards out as we can to find the prisoners and bring them back here where they will serve the remainder of their sentence. I expect every single council member to do their part in helping us succeed in this task. Am I understood?”

  They both shook their heads, agreeing with Nico before running off like children who were just scolded by their parents. Nero and Roman had wide smiles on their faces as the two men passed them, Nero waving goodbye to them, rubbing it in their faces that Nico just ripped them a new one.

  “Knock it off, Nero,” Nico slapped his hand down before looking over at Hudson and I. We were leaning up against the wall closest to the entrance watching the show. “What’s wrong?”

  “We need Roman and Nova to come with us,” I said hesitantly. Since Nico wasn’t in the best mood right now I had no idea what would set him off. He would never hurt me, but he could snap at me and I wasn’t trying to give him any reason to do that.

  “What for?” Nero asked before Nico could saying anything.

  “We need their help with something,” Hudson said completely lying to the Alpha and his brother. “It’ll be quick, I promise.”

  “Find,” Nico waved us away. “The dungeons back in order now anyways and there’s nothing us we can do except wait for the guards to find the prisoners. I’ll come get you if I need you, Roman.”

  Roman nodded before he wrapped his arm around Nova’s back, motioning her towards us. They exited the dungeons first and we followed behind them. We were all silent until we got back up to the main floor of the castle.

  “What do you need our help for?” Nova asked as we continued to walk towards the staircase.

  “We don’t need your help,” Hudson answered.

  “Then why did you come get us?” Roman questioned. “And why did you lie to Nico?”

  “Kota had a vision the day of her binding ceremony,” I hurriedly said before Roman became too upset that he couldn’t hear anything we were saying.

  “Why didn’t she say anything?” Nova asked looking more concerned than upset.

  “Because then she would’ve had to explain that Nathan saw the vision, too,” Hudson replied before I could.

  “What?” Nova and Roman said in unison.

  “It’s why they both fainted and not just Kota,” I said. “Anyways, the point is, the vision was about all of us and Nathan is going to tell us what they saw but he wanted us all there so that he didn’t have to repeat himself. He’s not doing so well with Kota being unconscious.”

  “Well, why are we still standing here then?” Nova said as she turned away from us, running up the stairs instead of walking. We were close behind her, all of us hurrying to get back to the others so that we could hear what Kota and Nathan saw. I still had no idea what it would be about but if it had to do with all of us then it couldn’t be good. If it were just the girls and I then it would make sense but now Hudson and the others were part of the vision, too? I didn’t like that at all. It’s ba
d enough that the girls and I are a part of it.

  Nova burst through the door of Kota and Nathan’s chambers, rushing to Kota’s side. She was still asleep, and Nathan was still holding her hand, sitting in the same spot that we left him. Luna, Deja, Gavin, and Declan all moved over to the couches in the center of the room as they waited for us to return.

  “How is she doing?” Nova whispered to Nathan.

  “She’s still the same,” he answered.

  “She’ll wake up,” she told him as she reached for his arm and squeezed it gently to comfort him.

  “I don’t mean to rush things along,” Luna stood up from the couch. “But the sooner you tell us what you saw the sooner you can go back to waiting for Kota to wake up.”

  “You can’t be a little sensitive to how he’s feeling right now?” Deja mumbled at her. “Seriously, Luna, you can be a little less bitchy about all of this.”

  Luna rolled her eyes as Nathan stood up from the bed. He took a few steps towards us and then crossed his arms against his chest before he spoke.

  “When Kota and I bound together at the ceremony we both saw the vision that she had. It had to do with all of us and when I say that I mean the four original families, the strongest bloodlines of our species. The girls are the ones who kill Malachi, that we already knew, but in order to stop everything that he’s put into place the four original families from each species need to be one.”

  “What does that even mean?” Luna questioned looking around at all of us hoping to find an explanation. I think we all wished that’s what we found when we looked at one another. Instead, we only saw blank looks.

  “That’s why we were compatible,” Declan muttered behind Luna after a small amount of time had gone by. She looked up at him, waiting for him to continue but he just looked over at Nathan and let him continue.

  “Exactly,” Nathan agreed. “Kota and I bound together, making two of the original families one. In order to complete the prophecy, Kory needs to bind with Christina and Kody needs to bind with Davina. Once that happens, then all four families will be one.”

  “That’s what Kota meant when she said our choices would be taken from us,” I said quietly. “We would bind because we had to but not because it was our choice.”

  “Yes,” Nathan confirmed. “She was trying to protect you even if it meant Malachi continued to torment us and kill people.”

  “But it’s not just us that has to bind,” Nova reminded us. “The Alphas and the boys have to as well, otherwise, this will never end.”

  “It’s not just on us anymore,” Deja realized as she glanced at Gavin.

  “We need to tell the Alphas,” Roman decided. “They need to know about this. It changes everything.”

  “How?” Nova questioned.

  “Because this whole time we all thought it would come down to you girls and Malachi,” he explained. “Now we know that all of us play a part in it including your brothers’ potential wives, who know nothing about any of this. Their worlds are about to be turned upside down.”

  “They don’t know about the prophecy?” I asked, surprised that our fathers would only tell the men who would be joining our families but not the women.

  “Like he said, they thought it would come down to just you girls,” Nathan said. “They didn’t think the others needed to know about it.”

  “The sooner we tell them the better,” Declan said. “They’re going to need some time to process all of this. We can’t expect them to just accept it and play their role.”

  Roman left the room with Nova so that they could tell Nico and Nero everything that Nathan had told us. We all needed some time to try and understand what we had just learned, and Nathan insisted on staying with Kota until she woke up. We were the last to leave Kota and Nathan’s chambers. I tried one more time to get Nathan to eat something or get some fresh air, but it was no use. Hudson finally convinced me to leave him be. We left the room, heading back down to my chambers. Hudson looked like he was going to keep walking towards his own room, but I reached for his hand before he could get any farther from me.

  “I think we have a lot to talk about,” I said quietly. “And I really don’t want to be alone right now.”

  He nodded his head as he took a step towards me, entering the room just after I did. He went straight for the couch as I shut the door and then I followed him sitting down on the opposite side, closest to the windows. He looked at me and I could’ve sworn that he was angry, but I wasn’t sure why he was upset at all. Was he mad that we had to bind a lot sooner than either one of us had anticipated. I was the one who didn’t want to rush. I was under the impression that he wanted to be bound. Maybe he was just saying that because he thought that’s what he was supposed to say. I guess I had it wrong.

  “What’s going through your head right now?” I finally asked, telling myself I might not like his answer and not to be defensive right away. He seemed to be hesitating, trying to find the right words to say. “You don’t have to think this hard when you’re talking to me. Just say what’s on your mind.”

  “You just told me that you weren’t ready for us to commit like this,” he blurted out. “I don’t want you to regret it later or resent me for it because I don’t want to force you into anything.”

  “I could never resent you, Hudson,” I told him. “This choice was taken away from both of us, not just me. You have every right to be upset about it, too.”

  “That’s just it, Juda,” he said. “I’m not upset about it. I’m getting what I want but you’re not getting what you want. It just doesn’t seem fair to you.”

  “It is what it is,” I shrugged. “I’ve been in denial for a really long time. I convinced myself that we would never work because we fought all the time and then I told myself I didn’t want to be with the person that my parents liked because I’ve always been rebellious. You’ve been the one constant in my life, besides my family, for as long as I can remember and maybe it’s time I stopped pushing that away.”

  “How can you just change your mind when two hours ago you said you weren’t ready?” he asked, and in all honesty, it was a fair question.

  “My whole life has been centered around this prophecy,” I told him. “This is what the fates have in store for me and apparently for you, too. It would be stupid of me to mess with whatever the fates have planned for all of us.”

  “I meant what I said, Juda,” he smiled. “I’ll wait as long as I need to.”

  “If we wait until I’m ready then Malachi will just keep killing,” I reminded him. “We can’t let that happen.”

  “I just want you to know that I’m not going to pressure you if there’s any doubt at all in your mind,” he leaned forward towards me, the only thing between us was the coffee table. “No matter what the consequences, I refuse to go through with the binding ceremony if you’re not one hundred percent sure.”

  “You’ve lied for me, you’ve taken a beating from Juno for me, and now you’re willing to let people die for me,” I laughed as I listed out all the things he’s done for me. “How can I not be sure that this is the right thing to do after you’ve done all of that for me?”

  “You know, I started to forget about that beating Juno gave me but now that you’ve brought it up I should probably tell you that he broke every single one of my ribs thanks to you,” he chuckled. I’m sure he wasn’t laughing when it happened but now that it was over, and he was healed it was easy for him to smile about it.

  “I didn’t think he’d get violent with you because of it,” I told him as I attempted to defend myself. “I just thought he’d interrogate you.”

  “He did do that, but he knew I was lying,” he rolled his eyes and shook his head as he spoke. “Do you know how fucking scary it is to have all five Alphas interrogating you?”

  “I didn’t think that would happen either,” I mumbled turning away from him, so I could avoid eye contact.

  “Did you think at all before you set me up to get my ass beat by yo
ur brothers?” he asked, his tone changing slightly, but his expression was still amused by the conversation.

  “I thought I did,” I answered. “But now that I think about it, I guess I didn’t think about it long enough. In my defense, I had just found out that my dad and my uncles were going to sacrifice themselves in order for this prophecy to come to pass and I wasn’t in the right mindset. You should’ve known better than to ask so much of me while I was that vulnerable.”

  “You would find a way to successfully turn this around on me,” he shook his head again.

  “In all seriousness, Hudson, I appreciate what you did for us that day,” I caught his eyes, the one thing I was trying not to do, but this needed to be said. “I know it was painful for you but because of how long you were able to keep quiet we were able to get far enough away that it was pointless for the guys to bring us back. I got to see my father one more time before Malachi had him killed and I’ll never be able to repay you for that.”

  “There’s no need to repay me,” he said. “I’d do it all over again if I had to.”

  I didn’t get a chance to say anything else to him because a knock came from the door, cutting our conversation short. There was still so much to talk about it, but it would have to wait until after I sent whoever was behind the door away. I sighed as I stood up from the couch, Hudson stayed put where he was as I walked away. I reached the door and recognized the heartbeat behind it, whipping open the large wooden piece to see Jona standing in front of me.

  “What are you doing back so soon?” I asked as he walked in, shutting the door behind him. “I thought you were staying to help Juno with the clean up?”

  “Everything’s back to normal if you don’t count the missing prisoners,” he answered. “He couldn’t leave Giant Territory, so he sent me in his place to come talk to you guys.”

  “Talk to us?” Hudson questioned. “What did we do?”

  “You didn’t do anything,” he laughed and then quickly turned seriously. “At least, you better not have done anything.”