Chapter 401
This was certainly not the way Violet planned to reunite with her now-inevitable mother-in-law.
Why did this always happen with Irene?
To make it worse, Griffin came inside her with a deep, animalistic grunt right there, in front of his mother.
Yeah. Caught in 4K.
She was never going to recover from this.
Violet eased herself off Griffin’s body on unsteady legs, her thighs trembling. He caught her, hands firm around her waist to keep her from falling.
Violet swallowed, forcing herself to meet Irene’s stare.
The woman hadn’t moved, she was still rooted in place, stunned. Her gaze raked over them, over Violet’s very naked body, taking in the unapologetic aftermath of what they’d just done.
Violet was embarrassed, no doubt about that. But oddly enough, she didn’t sense any mockery, disgust or judgment radiating off the woman.
If anything, Irene’s expression was unreadable. She wasn’t even looking at her anymore, her eyes locked on her son with an emotion Violet couldn’t quite place.
And then, slowly, Irene began to move and stopped directly in front of them. She was still staring at Griffin with her
mouth slightly parted, and her face caught between disbelief and wonder.
Violet was confused at first until she turned to Griffin and realised what was going on.
They were mindlinking.
She could see it in his unfocused stare, and the way they stared intensely at each other without saying a thing.
Then suddenly Irene broke free.
“Finally!” She burst out, and pulled Griffin into her arms with a choked sob.
Oh right, Violet recalled now, Griffin could finally mindlink.
It was a gift familiar to wolves that belonged to a pack as Rogues didn’t possess one, yet one he was never supposed to have.
It was called the curse of the Cardinal Alphas since despite all their power, none of them could connect with their wolves.
Well, until now.
In the short time they’d spent together, Griffin had confessed a lot, Including how their entire creation came to be.
It started after Angus’ plan to engineer a supreme heir failed. With Elijah rendered sterile, it became obvious the succession to the Alpha King’s throne would be soaked in blood. All four major packs were poised to tear each other apart, just to place their heir on the throne.
Then Henry found a witch who claimed she could channel the goddess’s power. Of course, nothing good ever came from Henry’s schemes.
Irene and the other Alphas soon uncovered his plan to create the most powerful heir imaginable. One who would dominate any heirs they would ever birth.
It was madness and would’ve started a pack war at a time when the wolves were already dwindling in number. But then Leon proposed an alternative since there was no stopping Henry.
They would create powerful heirs for each pack instead. Let the strength be shared, and not hoarded. Their people would follow these new generation leaders that would be indomitable.
Above all, the heirs would rule together.
Well, they all agreed to it.
And yes, they kept it from Elijah.
On the night of the Blood Moon—when the veil between heaven and earth was said to be thin—they performed the ritual on the Alpha with their spouses.
But power always came with a price.
Griffin had told her Irene still carried the shame of what they’d done. Five sacrifices per pack. Even if they were willing sacrifices, blood had still been spilled and Innocent lives were traded for power.
Irene could’ve turned back but she couldn’t let Henry seize all the power for himself. She wanted a powerful heir, too.
Because in the end, they were all greedy.
But none of them could have predicted what followed.
Within the same month, all four wives—including Irene—became pregnant. They gave birth on the same day. A divine phenomenon no wolf would forget and the day Elijah found out what they had done.
Elijah was furious. They’d spat in his face by creating powerful heirs that could topple him just because he couldn’t have one.
Elijah would have killed the children if he could. But he didn’t dare challenge the four packs head-on. So he waited for the boys to grow up just to one day tear them down.
He didn’t care about their “unity pact”, and insisted only one heir would rule. That way they would likely tear each other apart, and if he had to drag the entire werewolf race into the flames, then so be it. Elijah would rather burn their world to ash than let it belong to those heirs bred to shame him.
But even in his madness, Elijah refused to let the humans have the last laugh, so he barely held the packs together.
It wasn’t until the boys turned eighteen and still had no connection to their wolves that the Alphas finally realized
what was gained had to be paid for.
And now?
What was lost had been restored.
Irene was sobbing fully now, buried in her son’s arms while Griffin held her close, his eyes glassy with emotion as he patted her back.
When Irene finally pulled away, she turned to Violet.
“Thank you,” she said softly.
Violet blinked, smiling awkwardly. Thank her? For what? She hadn’t done anything except have the most mortifying public sex of her life with her son.
This was so awkward.
And then Violet realized they weren’t alone.
Wolves were arriving, emerging from the treeline one after the other and her stomach dropped.
She was still naked.
Griffin immediately picked up on her distress and snarled aggressively. Several males flinched back, especially as his furious gaze landed on the ones whose eyes dared stray to his mate’s body.
“Get her some clothes now!” Irene barked, turning to one of the females urgently. She knew mates well enough, and If any male came near Violet right now, they were dead.
But not all the males turned away, not the one with the green hair.
Roman. He was here!
Violet broke into a wide grin, ready to run to him until she saw his face.
He wasn’t smiling back.
Roman stood unmoving like a statue, his expression practically carved from stone as he stared at her. Or more specifically at her neck.
The mating rune.
He saw it.
Fuck.