The color in the queen's face fell, draining to her feet when her beady eyes fell on the documents Astrid held in her hands. Her red, plastered lips opened and closed, but no sound reached their ears. Jason appreciated the silence for a second; however, the queen's shrill voice grated his ears once more.

"Where did you find those documents? They are not intended for your eyes!" The queen rushed forward, trying to rip the papers out of Astrid's hands, but the vampire was too fast for her.

In the blink of an eye, Astrid vanished and appeared next to the King, handing the Queen's fate over to her mate. The Queen regent squirmed on the spot while the old wolf read through the documents. They could hear a bird farting from a mile away, so quiet was the room. The more the regent read, the angrier he got. His gray beard quivered as he held back his growl. The old wolf glared at his mate while crumbling the notes in his hand. He then threw the evidence of her crimes in her face, which caused the Queen to yelp out and stagger away from her enraged mate.

"How dare you do this to my son?!" King Desmond rushed up to the frightened queen and grabbed her wrist. "I loved you! I brought you into this castle and gave you everything your heart desired and this is how you repay me?"

The Queen began to sob in earnest.

If the wretched woman wasn't a backstabbing psychopath wrapped in silk, Jason would have felt sorry for her, which he didn't. Oh, no... not even in the slightest. She deserved everything the universe threw her way. He would have opened the gates to the underworld in a split second and helped the King push the bitch into it with a smile on his face. During the regent's, his youngest son, Christopher, slipped past the group of guards and picked up the papers from the ground.

He walked up to his mother while reading them. "Mom? How could you?" Christopher said, dragging his hand through his short, black tousles. His eyes widened in horror as he continued reading from the crumbled documents. "You made a deal with the devil?"

The Queen turned to her son. "I had to! He's trying to kill us all... I had to agree to his terms in order to save you, my son."

Jason scoffed and said," Oh, please... That's utter bullshit. You couldn't wait to plunge a dagger into your stepson's back. You've always been ambitious, wanting to sit on the throne and then steal the crown from Killian when the time arose. When Alaric came, offering you the chance to do so, you grabbed the chance with both hands. So stop playing the victim and own up to your crimes."

"That's not true!" The Queen sobbed through her handkerchief, looking all pathetic. "He gave me no choice..."

Astrid snickered while holding a journal in her hands. "Well, that's not what your diary says." She flipped through the red book while her eyes scanned over the pages. "I must say... you're a nasty piece of work." Astrid threw the diary at Jason when the Queen tried to grab at the book.

Jason opened the book.

Cyron whispered from inside his head. A surge of energy seeped out of Jason's hands and onto the pages of the book. The voice of the Queen filled his ears, narrating the book's contents. Before the Queen ripped the diary out of his hands, Jason had already heard every scribbled word.

"How dare you read from my diary!" the hag hissed. "It's personal!"

"So sorry..." Jason chuckled. He wasn't, really. "You're one viscous black widow, aren't you my Queen? Did you really kill your fated mate by paying rogues to rip him apart?"

The Queen's claws dug into the small red book in her hand. She said nothing to defend herself. She couldn't.

"All because he was a measly honor guard who, unfortunately, wasn't a king. After his brutal killing, you exploited your mate's death to seek solace in the arms of the King who lost his own mate to the vampires." Jason continued exposing the Queen's dirty panties for all to hear. "From the beginning, you had only one goal in mind... to manipulate King Desmond into loving you so that you could ascend to the throne. The birth of your only son further propelled you to get rid of Killian. You hated your stepson because he was the rightful ruler while Christopher would remain a prince—"

"LIES! All lies!" The queen threw her diary to the ground and pointed her finger toward Jason. "My mate died at the hands of rogues, but I never paid them to kill him. I loved him as much as I love you." She twisted on the spot, facing her mate. "I would never do these heinous things they're accusing me of doing." She rushed up to her mate and grabbed onto his muscled arms. "Believe me, my love."

King Desmond's face hardened. Then he grabbed her wrists and detached her hands from his shoulders. "Guards. Take the witch and the queen down to the dungeons—"

"No!" The Queen shrieked when two guards rushed up to her and grabbed her by the arms. "You can't do this! I'm your mate!" She flailed about, trying to break free from the guards' hold as they dragged her away.

The king's shoulders slumped as her cries echoed out through the castle's halls. He rubbed his tired face while glancing over at his firstborn son. His broken eyes told of a man torn apart by betrayal. Jason wanted to rush over to the old man and tell him it would be alright in the end. That it wasn't his fault that his mate nearly killed his son, but any sympathy given to the heartbroken man would only cause him to spiral further. A dark cloud rumbled over the King and wouldn't subside anytime soon.

An awkward silence hung over the room until Darren yelled out, "Can you remove these cuffs from us? My balls are itching?" Jason wanted to slip back into the shadow realm and face the Windigo rather than wait for the King's rage to explode. Darren seriously lacked any sense of tact, but to Jason's surprise, the old man laughed. The King then turned away from his son and addressed his guards. "Release them."

The guards sprung to action and released Jason's friends from their cuffs. Once Mallory freed her hands, she rushed over to Jason and flung her arms around his neck and hugged the crap out of him.

She whispered, "Are you OK?" Weird? Jason pulled away from Mallory and frowned at her, waiting for her to explain. "Your mate..." She glanced over at Killian, who was still unconscious.

She didn't need to say anything further; they had been friends since they were in diapers. They didn't need to communicate in full sentences to understand each other. Jason stared at his mate while continuing to hug his best friend. "I'm fine. Sure... finding out that I have a second-chance mate punched the wind out of my lungs. I never thought that the Moon Goddess would bless me with another. At first, the revelation scared the hell out of me. I was afraid he'd reject me, but I have a gut feeling Killian won't."

"He nearly died, Jason..."

Jason shook his head, not wanting to think about what would have happened if he arrived too late to save his mate. Most likely, he would have gone berserk, killing everyone in his path. Jason shuddered. Thank the Moon Goddess, he arrived on time.

Jason kissed Mallory on the cheek and smiled. "But I didn't, and look at him. Killian's already making a recovery. In a few days, hopefully, he'll wake up."

"Do you think he'll be mad at you for marking him?" Mallory asked.

"No, he won't," The King answered their fear. "My son isn't the type to judge another on who they are. Even though you're a hellhound, it won't make a difference to him. He's been waiting for you since his mother told him about mates."

A grin spread across Jason's face. He hoped that the King's words would hold true. It would break him if Killian rejected him.

The regent walked up to Jason and patted him on the shoulder. "Thank you, my boy. Not only did you save my son from certain death, but you also freed me from the veil my mate pulled over my eyes. For years I lied to myself, trying to ignore the subtle hints that pointed at Annebeth's true intentions." He sighed and rubbed his eyes. "What a fool I am..."

Jason wanted to refute the regent's words, but the dominatrix beat him to the finish line. "Not true, my King. Falling in love isn't foolish. The only fool here is the queen, who used your love in her own wicked ways. In the end, she'll pay the ultimate price." The vampire placed her hand on the regent's shoulder.

"But where does it leave me?"

"You'll come to love another, you old codger." The King chuckled at her remark. "Learn from this and move on. The moment you give into your self-hatred, she will win. You can't let her win." Astrid squeezed the old man's shoulder. "At least you gained another son out of your union. A real handsome one at that." She winked at Christopher, causing him to turn red in the face.

Trying to shake off his embarrassment, Christopher walked up to his father and hugged him. "It's true, Father. I'm sorry that Mom betrayed us, but don't let her take you away from us."

The King nodded reluctantly, hugging his son back. "I won't." He then pulled away, turning to Jason. "I want you to stay behind and watch over Killian for me. We don't know how many spies Alaric has planted in the castle. He's the safest with you here."

Jason nodded and replied, "I will. There's no place I'd rather be." He glanced over at his mate.

"Very well." The King nodded his head and then turned to Ishmael. "If you and Astrid would like to accompany me, I'd like to go over the war preparations. Once Alaric hears his plans have failed, he'll surely attack us."

"Very well, my King." Ishmael bowed before the old wolf.

"But what about Selene?" Darren asked as he scratched his balls through his jeans.

Mallory slapped his hand away from his groin area and yelled, "Will you stop? You don't scratch your junk in front of other people."

Darren pouted and whined, "But they itch—"

"Enough, you two." Ishmael came to the rescue before Darren's mouth ran off with him again. He had no filter. "We'll try to contain her."

"That won't be necessary." All eyes turned toward Jason. "My venom is very versatile. When I bit the witch, my venom burned her magic away. She's human now." As the last of his words escaped his mouth, Ishmael scooted away from him. Jason laughed and then patted his friend on the shoulder. "Don't worry, Ish. You're safe." He continued chuckling while strutting over to his mate and lying down beside him.

The soft mattress enveloped his tired body. His eyes started drooping while he snuggled up against his mate. Much to Jason's surprise, Killian grabbed his hand and dragged him up to his naked, yet godly chest, and wrapped his arms around Jason's back. Jason glanced upward, expecting to see his mate awake, but he wasn't.

Cyron said.

Jason frowned. "And that means..."

Jason chuckled and said, "I didn't know demons could be poetic."

Cyron growled out.

Jason's exhaustion quickly pulled him under. The world and its slowly approaching dangers faded away as he slipped into a deep slumber. The last thing Jason's ears caught was the bedroom door opening and then shutting again.