PRINCESS HELLEN'S POV
You know those moments where time seems to stop? and everything you had planned so perfectly is falling out of place one by one? Well, I am having one of those moments right now. I had imagined that once the curse and the human were gone, it would be just me and the alpha kings.
Me and them enjoying a smooth, lovely ever after.

I guess I was wrong. My perfect plans are falling apart, one after another.
We all sit quietly as the old priest hold the now dull Crown. Its shiny orbs had turned dark. The kings had called the priest, saying he knew more about the crown. But I suspect that they just don't trust anything I say anymore.
King Kian taps his fingers on the table, looking worried.
"Your majesties, the curse was indeed lifted properly. Princess Hellen, your work was effective." the old priest finally speak, his gaze meeting mine briefly before returning to the kings. I nod vigorously my eyes darting back to my Lovers whose expressions still seem doubtful.
"I told you, I did my best!" I say desperately.
"If the curse is gone, Why do we still have these problems? Why has the Crown lost its power?" King Aleric demands as he displays the rash covered skin on his arm to the priest.

A deep concerned look appears on the old man's face and he looks at all of us gravely. "It is possible that Princess Hellen here did everything right, but may not have completed the full ritual required to dispel the curse," he confesses.
"I followed every step...
to the end." I protest.
"We were there and saw the crown start working," King Reagan backs me up.

The old man pauses thoughtfully, and Everyone waits for him to answer, but I’m sure I am the one most eager to hear what he is going to say because I carried out every step that my mother had written in that letter.
"The curse cast upon you was  'You shall not be free until the Crown  finds its rightful heir." He explains. Shock and confusion ripples through the room at his words. " I believe to fully rid yourselves of this curse, you must find the rightful heir to the Crown of Alpha Kings and crown her."
Crown her? But I already did that! I placed the crown on the pitiful human's head before she died.
"I'm also afraid you must also acknowledge the heir as your ruler and king," the old man adds, and my heart almost stops. Doesn't that mean she was to keep the crown forever! I have never been more relieved that I ended someone's life before.
But now my gorgeous lovers are stuck with a curse with no one to even heal them.
Disbelief and anger flares in King Kian's eyes. "What do you mean by a true heir? We are the rightful sons of our father!" He protests, but the priest shakes his head.
"You misunderstand, Your Majesty. This crown was not made like any other crown. It was not meant to be passed through the royal family bloodlines. The Crown of the Alpha Kings chooses its wearer," He reveals.
A suffocating silence envelopes the room as the implication of the priest's words sink in.
"Are you saying that none of us are fit to wear the crown, even when the curse has been lifted?" King Aleric asks.
"I fear that is the case, Your Majesty," the priest confirms.
"What if we don't find the heir?" King Reagan asks after a moment sounding devastated.
"Yeah, for all we know she could be long gone or dead" I quickly chime in earning a puzzled look from king Kian.
Offcourse they won't find the heir, because it's their human mate Ella and she is long dead. But there must be a way out of this predicament. There has to be a loophole.
The priest meet my gaze with a grave expression. "If the original heir is no more, then there must be another heir. And I must also say that the crown wouldn't have functioned before if that heir wasn't alive or in contact with it recently."
Another stunned silence follows, the kings exchanging glances of confusion and then realization.
"Aside from us and princess Hellen, who else has even neared the crown?" King Aleric asks sounding doubtful.
King Reagan's voice, barely above a whisper, cut through the tension. "Ella..."
"Impossible. She never touched it, even when I took her to see it," King Kian argues but Reagan interjects.
"Her blood did touch it... on the day we tried to break the curse." He recounts and everyone grows quite.
"If there no more questions, I will return back to my duties, your majesties." The old man says after a moment of silence, a look of apprehension etched on his face. I can tell he is eager to escape the expected king's outbursts after what he has just revealed to them. King Reagan gives a subtle nod of dismissal and Sir William assists the old man to his feet.
A sneer forms on my lips as I eagerly waits for the kings' reaction, for them to express disgust for what they have been told. I had kept this information from them before, fearing they might become desperate to break the curse and give the crown to the human. Now, I think I can reveal that their human is no longer a concern, that she is long gone and we just have to find the other heir and everything will be resolved.
"No. There’s no way,” king Kian says after a moment, shaking his head. “It’s gotta be a mistake. Do you realize what this means?" He sounds fascinated rather than upset!
"Yes, it means our seemingly weak human mate is the ruler of all alpha kings," Reagan states leaning back in his seat, his voice is also devoid of the disgust I expected.
"Of all people the moon Goddess chose to give such essential power to a weak and insignificant human! She can never lead anyone." I mutter, dismayed by the not so disgusted reaction of the kings.
"Obviously the moon Goddess saw something in her that we did not. Ella was a good and overly kind person. Can't say I am surprised." King Aleric praises and my eyes narrow.
Confusion grips me as I try to make sense of his words. I know they share my sentiments of disgust towards their human mate but right now they really sound like they are enomoured to hear that she was meant to be the king of alpha kings.
"You're not seriously considering giving that crown to a filthy human, are you?" I ask incredulously, a small laugh escaping me. I know that she is long dead and they can't acctually give her the crown but even the fact that they are thinking that she was worth anything is hurtful.
The room falls quiet, and it seems like they are actually entertaining the idea that their once rejected human mate can be deserving of the crown.
"She may be human, but now she possesses a power far greater than even any of us," King Aleric explains and my heart constricts at his words.
I stand up, unable to contain my frustration. "How can you even be considering this? You killed her peasant father for that crown, and now you believe his pitiful daughter is deserving of it?"
"Hellen, please calm yourself!" King Reagan warns firmly.
"You are all fools! She was a weak pathetic human, incapable of ruling even her own thoughts, let alone a pack of Alphas. You are all so easily swayed by little things. And it sickens me."I lash out.
King Kian fixes me with a fiery gaze, then rises to his feet, the chair scraping against the floor.I instinctively take a step back. "Sometimes, Hellen, you seem to forget who you are addressing." he admonishes me.
"That's because you are hurting my... feelings," I mutter furiously.
"Feelings?" King Kian scoffs. "Let it be clear that while we have treated you well because of your magic skills, do not overstep your bounds. Know your place."
I laugh because I know he is blubbering because I have pissed him. He cares for me deeply, they all do, they chose me over their own mate.
"My magic isn't the only reason you were sweet to me. You love me!" I retort confidently.
"You are the only fool here. What else do you have for someone to love? Your royal title? Your skinny body?" King Kian snaps and I hear a sudden crack Inside, it is the sound of my heart breaking.
KING KIAN'S POV
"We are totally fucked?" Aleric mutters in defeat as soon as the ugly witch leaves the room. We wasted countless gold coins, precious jewelry, and time in an attempt to impress her, only to end up right back where we started.
I take back my seat feeling frustrated.
I could tell that the witch already knew everything the old priest was telling us. She didn't let us know instead she fully enjoyed all that we gave her. She was not just using Ella to benefit herself and make herself richer but also to convince us how better she was so that we can be inclined to marry her. I am not just shocked, I feel angry. She is apparently way too ugly inside than I imagined.
"The rash is spreading faster on our skin now. It'll be worse after the full moon which is in a few days. Soon we might not be able to step into the daylight completely." Reagan says in a disgusted voice pointing at the spreading rash going up his right arm.
"What do we do now?" I sigh defeated. Everything has been perfect for the last two days until now.
"We find Ella." Aleric suggests, a hint of desperation in his voice.
Find Ella? Is that even a an option? We got rid of her after believing Hellen had broken the curse, thinking we no longer needed our weak mate. Now none of us knows where she run to that night of the royal dinner. And even if we were to find her, getting her to help us after the traumatic verbal rejections we dragged her through would require a miracle. I'm sure she would spit on our faces without a second thought.
"We have no clue where she went, and I doubt she would ever want to help us considering how many times we have hurt her." Reagan replies and I remember something. Apart from cruely rejecting her, using her for her blood, and using Hellen to get rid of her, there is something even more terrible we had done.
"We also killed her father!" I exclaim, and watch as realization dawns on my brothers' faces.
"Our Generals killed her father," Aleric corrects, but does it really make a difference. We might not have issued the orders directly, but it was still our generals who carried out the deed. She might forgive us for other wrongs, but killing her father seems unforgivable Even to me.
"Looking for her might still be the only option we have. I'm prepared to give her anything she wants, including the crown of alpha kings as long she rids us of this curse," Aleric asserts and silence befalls the room once again.
He is right, we are running out of time. The curse had already weakened us enough, the coming moon will only exacerbate our problems.
"There must have been something truly special about our mate for the moon Goddess to choose her as the heir to such a powerful crown," Regan says after a long silence of considering our limited options.
He resented our human mate the most when she first walked into our throne room with princess Hellen. At the time none of us had imagined she could be the most powerful beautiful woman, even than the wicked witch we were admiring.
Now we understand she wasn't capable of healing us because she was our weak mate, destined to break the curse, but because she was the heir to the most powerful crown.
"Not many alpha's will accept being ruled by a human." Aleric points out the obvious.
The crown will obviously give our human mate powers beyond the mightiest alphas, including ourselves. However, humans are considered the lowest in the hierarchy, and no lycan Alpha would willingly submit to someone beneath them.
"We should find her first and then decide how to handle the crown," I suggest.
"Agreed, but where do we even begin searching? She had no specific place to go," Reagan remarks. "She could be anywhere, or worse, she may even be dead." He adds and my stomach churns at that thought. She was a weak human, incapable of protecting herself. What if she didn't make it to anywhere safe that night?
But if she is not alive would we still be feeling our mate bond with her, guess not, Maybe she did manage to find somewhere safe. "If something bad happened to her we would know." I point out and we all relax again.
"You were good to princess Hellen, surely she must know where her servant could have run to." Aleric suggests turning his attention to Reagan. He shakes his head.
"She left at night while we were all at the royal party, if I remember correctly, I doubt Hellen got a chance to ask."
"We can send messagers to all our neighboring kingdoms that she might have run to, with a big reward. I'm sure she will be found then. " I suggest determined to pursue any path that bears hope of safely ending this curse for us.
My brothers nod in agreement.