A Gold Alpha For A Silver Alpha
Moon-Colored Eyes Bonus

Jace POV

-What the hell are you doing in Noctem Castra! I scream slamming my open palms on the desk separating my parents and me.

Mom rolls her eyes as she crosses her arms and answers me.

-Forgive me for not having a vampire shelter ready, I've spent a millennium killing them, not taking care of them. Without being able to help it, I show my teeth at his sarcastic tone.

-She deserves more respect, she's my mate, not a damn terrorist. Dad gave me a warning look so I put some distance between them and me.

Dannia was leaning against the left wall watching our outcome a little too intently.

-That she's your mate is the only reason she's still breathing and for all we know she could be a f*****g terrorist. My mother threatens and my hands shake with rage.

-How can you know, you didn't give her a chance to come forward before you locked her up in that place! I burst out, running my hands desperately through my hair.

Mom sighs and massages her forehead, it's obvious she's overwhelmed.

-Noctem Castra is the safest place in this herd for her, what will you do when the others replace out that she is here, less than three days ago we just buried men and women because of her clan, they were good people who gave their lives to protect us". Finally he gets desperate and yells at me.

Internally I smile because it means he wants to solve this as quickly as possible, and maybe if I use that to my advantage I will have my vampire where I want her at the end of the day.

-This is a special situation and I demand to be treated as such.

-Are you taking that tone with me pup, because right now I'm all that stands between that flirtatious bat and a bunch of werewolves demanding her head as compensation. His voice is like steel, inciting all my instincts to awaken. To care. To protect. Claim.

They all scream inside me.

-I will kill anyone who tries to harm a hair on her head. I say in an icy tone.

-And then what, you'll make public enemy number one of all the packs, you'll go live among the humans praying that none of their natures are revealed, tell me what your plan is Jace because to be complaining so much about my methods you must have a much better one in mind. Dad leans over to massage her shoulders which seems to have a calming effect on her so she relaxes immediately.

-Noctem Castra is a prison designed to drive its inhabitants insane, vampire, human, witch or whatever the hell she is, I don't want her there.

-I'm still waiting for a better proposal and you better not suggest this house, the only place where sunlight can be blocked is my bedroom and I'll be turning in my grave when I let one of them rest in my bed. He stammers and I know that indeed hell freezes over first before that happens.

-Rae... My father intervenes, looking at her harshly, and she bristles offended by his tone and breaks away from him.

-What, he's looking out for her and that's what he should because it's his mate but I'm the Alpha and I have to look out for the whole pack, make no mistake Jace, I'm not rejecting your life partner I'm doing the best I can with what I have at hand, so all I ask is to have a little patience so I can come up with a plan.

-I'm sorry mom, but I can't, I can't be calm thinking that one second she is saving my life and the next she is attacked, left unconscious to wake up in a hostile environment. My chest hurts just imagining what she must be thinking about.

-Do you think I don't see it? They'll kill her for betraying their own if they replace out, and our own won't accept her for being what she is," I growl angrily without hiding it, "Listen to me, Jace, I will never, ever let them hurt her, does it drive me crazy that my baby's mate is from the race I've killed and tried to kill me for almost a thousand years? Of course, do I want to give her a hug and introduce her to the family while we bake cookies? Of course not- she says with obviousness, but something softens in her mercury eyes- But Selene works in ways I won't question, I won't let this stop them from giving each other a chance-.

And her words bring some peace but not enough.

But I will not be like Leonardo and I will appreciate the effort he is making.

-Thank you mom. I tell her half grateful half forced by the situation.

-I admit I thought Jackson would be the one who had it more complicated and I don't see how a relationship between the two can work," she muses and my father pulls her hair a little earning a dirty look from her, "But that's not my problem to solve, it's yours, and I trust you'll replace a way. He finishes saying and punches dad.

This triggers a series of tugging and punching between them.

The scene is so intimate that it makes me uncomfortable.

-I love you. He spoke to interrupt them.

Mom stops fooling around with Dad and turns to look at me with the love only a mother can have for her children.

-But if you yell at me in that tone again I won't hesitate to kick your a*s, you hear me? He warns and I swallow hard when I see the violence shining in his eyes.

Ouch, that would hurt.

-Yes ma'am.

-Good, now go take a bath and help us think about what we're going to do from now on, because if I'm honest, I'm completely open to suggestions. He ends the meeting by dismissing me with a wave of his hand.

So, I stomped out of my parents' office, leaving them with Dannia to discuss whatever they wanted.

Of course I understood my mother's point, but I didn't agree in the slightest, and if I stayed alone we would continue to fight and get nowhere.

I walked uneasily to the exit of my house, ignoring my mother's request and praying she hadn't said it because it sucked.

I paint a bored expression on my face, the best I can, I head to the most secluded part of the east end of the pack, where I know my mate is.

I try with all my might to act normal, praying to the goddess that my intentions are not visible on my face, I have a horrible feeling that everyone is watching me and that they know what I am about to do.

I greet one or another person on my way, they say my name with affection, happiness, confidence.

And I wonder if they will still treat me the same way after this morning, after they replace out what I will do, the face my family will make, will they still love me, my pack that I have bled and fought for, will they accept me or will they ask for my head on a spear?

I swallow saliva and feel downcast at the prospect of losing my home, but that doesn't stop my steps, at first seeing Julian with Bella and Juliet with Raphael I didn't understand how deep the connection of a couple was, even one like Jack and Diana. But when I felt her, when my soul, my heart, my mind and my body cried out for her closeness, when everything spun me around, my world ended and began anew.

I clenched my fists to hide the trembling of my hands.

At last I arrived at Noctem Castra, where there was only one guard, because in the previous attack most of the prisoners had been killed or wounded. With no one really needing guarding the place had remained unguarded which made me suspect that the warrior who was stationed at the gate was to blame for the presence of my mate.

To prevent others from getting to her or to keep her isolated, I don't know.

But I would remedy that immediately.

I greeted the man with a nod who nodded back.

-My mother is asking for a list of the prisoners inside," I informed him boredly, "She asked me to replace you while you generate the report and deliver it to her.

-To the Alpha?

-To her, to Dannia, to Loga, to Noel, to whomever you want, but hurry, she thinks that someone extremely dangerous has escaped and she wants to take precautions immediately.

The warrior, who to my luck for being short-staffed was quite young and not suspicious of my ridiculous excuse said goodbye before leaving at full speed to fulfill my invention.

I want to enter immediately, but I force myself to wait until he is out of sight before pushing the doors, I enter closing them behind me, they will give me a beating for sneaking into this place I guess they will make me ashes if because of me someone escapes. The place is exactly as Juliet described it, dark, heavy, cold. Immediately my sixth sense tells me I should run away and the feeling that the building itself is upset with me for my intrusion sinks into my bones.

Loris howls in my chest because despite the rotten smell he can smell her, I let my eyes shift to his and take a few seconds to adjust. It's not magic, I can't see much, but something is something.

She's here, she's close, she's scared, we need to comfort her.

She screams at me and rips at my chest, which makes me grunt and use quite a bit of my inner strength to keep her from coming out.

I trot along on her trail, relieved that she's not far away.

I stop in front of a closed cage, it has no lock but when I touch it with my hand the metal burns making me withdraw immediately.

Who are you, who are you, you smell like her but you're not her, you shouldn't be here, intruder.

Whispers swirl in my head making me dizzy and stealing my breath.

-I am a member of this pack and I need to open this door. I declare loudly to whoever is listening.

No, no, no, no, only she, only the pure one can open them, no one else should.

They return to the attack and this time I pay more attention.

-The pure one? Do you mean me? The Alpha Rae? I omit the detail that she is my mother, not knowing if that will play against me.

Rayna Elizabeth, the pure queen, the Alpha of Alphas, the protected of Selene, the guardian of this world with the other, the one who defends the door, the sword forged in sweat and tears, her blood opens and closes, she is the lock and the key, she alone judges and condemns. My mother is what, what do I call her?

I bite my tongue to send to hell the mad presence that keeps me from reaching my mate instead a crazy plan forms in my head.

Well, if her blood is the one that opens and closes, and I inherited her blood?

Running out of time I use a claw to open the skin of my palm and try again, the feeling of rejection is still there, but not as strong.

I am blood of his blood, I have the right

I press and insist, my heart hammering like crazy knowing that if this goes wrong I will pay a heavy price.

But in the end logic wins out and the bars open noiselessly, a sigh of relief escapes me.

I rush through, but I don't even take three steps inside when a body crashing into my side sends me straight to the floor.

The air is knocked from my lungs by the impact and my head hurts where I bounce off the ground, but it takes a back seat when instinct tells me who's on top of me, my hands catching her hips to anchor her in place while hers grasp my shoulders. -Who are you? She finally asks me in a mesmerizing voice that numbs my senses.

Unable and unwilling to stop, my palms slide to her waist and back down again, making sure she is real and not an illusion of this hellish place.

I earn a hiss from him and his fingers dig harder into my skin to the point of moaning.

-Who are you? She repeats irritated and Loris shakes sadly.

Doesn't she recognize us, doesn't she know who I am?

-Shouldn't you know by now? I ask her back, holding my breath.

-Why should I know, one moment I'm attacking the mutts hunting me and my family and the next my body has a mind of its own because it's moving to rip someone's heart out to save you, so tell me, who are you and what did you do to me? He says with acidity and I swear I can hear my heart breaking.

Mine and Loris'.

He shakes me out of my reverie as he despairs at my lack of response.

Never mind, she's mine, she'll learn that we're hers, tell him.

Loris urges and I open my mouth to give him a brief summary of the mates, but my words are drowned out by the sound of the doors crashing against the wall.

-JACE! My mother's voice booms from every corner of the place and I have never heard that tone in my life.

I take advantage of the shock to change positions, pinning her under my body with my hands on her wrists although she kicks hard enough to free herself, her beautiful light blue eyes shining with panic.

-What's your name? I urge as footsteps at full speed echo.

Her gaze drifts to where the sound is coming from and I grab her chin to make her look only at me.

-Your name? I beg her, and I don't know if it's because of the desperation that seeps through every pore of my skin or because of something she saw in my eyes but her lips open to give me an answer. -Rose... Rosemary Lennox. I take half a second to savor her name in my head.

Rosemary... Rose... Rose...

My Rose.

-Rose, I swear I'll explain everything, and I apologize in advance, but I have no other idea. I explain to her in a hurry but her look is one of confusion.

The noise is practically out of the cell and I can no longer delay the matter.

Apologizing again and ignoring the terror on her features I lower my head to her pale neck and open my mouth where my fangs are already prepared.

I bite her without hesitation, marking her.

Sealing her fate with mine for the rest of eternity.

It will continue...