Chapter 26

I started grabbing my clothes and getting everything together. I am so tired of people giving me ultimatums like I am not someone who can make choices for myself. If the Goddess wants a fight then that’s exactly what she is going to get. I let someone make my decisions for me all the time and this time it’s war. I was born a farm girl but got damn it,I am stronger than they think I am. “Did you mean what you said?” I turned around and saw Jack and Vincent standing in the doorway. I think for the first time we had an understanding. We were fighting against each other and behind each other’s back. But this time we are fighting together. “I do. Jack, you were always my Alpha and you took care of us. But Vincent was born one. He was able to break the spell and be an Alpha and there is no one I’d rather be under than him.” Then my words kind of turned more sexual than strong. Which the stupid boys in them came out as they laughed. “You know what I mean you, idiots.” I gathered what I could and we made our way to the SUV. We are going to do this with or without any help because relying on others leads to disappointment. “Athena, wait!” I turned around before I got into the driver’s seat. I walked over to meet Drew halfways. “Listen, my mom may not want to help you. I respect you for not being a puppet to her game. She may not want to help you but we do.” I looked past him to see him and a pack of wolves behind him. “Who are all these people?” I asked him. “This kingdom is broken up by regions. This is my pack. Those are my brothers. I may be an Alpha but we aren’t cut out to be one.” Drew had walked over to Vince and put his hand out. “We’d like to help if you allow us Alpha.” He seemed confused but he took his hand and shook it. “Mind if we ride with you guys?” He asked. Knowing 4 brothers and us three. “Well, Jack either you or Vince is driving. I’ll have to sit on someone’s lap.” The men looked at each other. “Rock, paper, scissors ?” Jack blurted out. “You both cannot be serious, are you? But again they’re boys on the inside.

We began our long drive back to the men’s brother’s pack. Apparently, Vince had won. So I was cuddled up with him. “Listen, in the human world this would be illegal but I don’t care. I reached back and grabbed the backpack that I got and pulled out a bottle. “You stole a bottle.” Xavier jokes. “Not like you’ll miss it but I need this even if it’s the last time I will drink because of tomorrow’s training day. I need you all to teach me how to really defend myself. I can’t fight a damn duck if my life depended on it and we eat those.” I made eye contact with Jack. “You’re serious about this?” I nodded in acknowledgment. “I am going against the Goddess and you know first hand I got my nose broken from a mind-link. So I need to toughen up. Waking up at the ass crack of dawn. Swallowing raw eggs and being miserable or whatever.” I heard snickering from behind. “Oh my god, how the hell do you turn things so damn sexual. All of you. Children I swear.” I screamed out. I opened the bottle and began to chug it down. Tomorrow was going to be a new day. It was time we started planning on ending this. Because quite frankly it’s getting old. We drank and had a good time until I fell asleep. By the time I woke up, it was in a bed. The hangover was killing me but there was one more familiar scent that got me out of the bed. The door burst open and Ryn and Karina were there. I held them both in my arms pretty much squeezing the life out of them. “I missed you both so much.” This is what I was fighting for in the end. It was going to be so much more than that. I was fighting for peace.