Their Pride

Their Pride Part 26

Chapter 25

I snapped my hand over my mouth and glared at Zeke. “You did that on purpose.”

“I can’t here you; your mumbling,” he replied.

Moving my hand, my glare became fiercer. “I said you did that on purpose!”

He sent me a shrug. “It was either make you admit it, or let you take a year to decide.  It’s better this way.  One, you can be stronger once you mate; two, Sebastian will be stronger, and three, Blake can get all of his hopes crashed.”

“Oh man, what am I going to do about Blake?” I moaned as I covered my face with the blanket.

My shelter didn’t stay long as it was ripped off.  Zeke hovered over me. “You both knew you were more like brother and sister than mates.  He will mourn you for a little while, but he didn’t really want you in that way.”

“Really?” I asked in hope.

He gave me a nod. “Really; now, I think you should probably go tell them.”

“I can’t do that,” I said with a shake of my head.

Raising an eyebrow, he asked, “And why not?  Are you afraid?  I told you there was nothing to worry about.  You walk out there, and tell them how it is.  We need this, Alexandria.  We need you to be strong.”

“Damn,” I mumbled.

He gave me a questioning look.

“You used my name.  You never use my name unless you have to.  I really need to do this don’t I?” I asked hesitantly.

He nodded at me. “Races are being killed off.  We need our Queen.”

I lifted forward to get off the bed, but quickly stopped when pain radiated up my body.  Biting my lip, I refused to let the tears spill from my eyes.  We might heal faster than humans, but pain was worse than theirs.  Pain for a shifter magnified like everything else; so, at that moment, the pain shooting through my body made me want to cry out.

“Lean back,” Zeke snapped. “I forgot that you were hurt.  Just lay back and I’ll go get them for you.”

I opened my mouth to argue, but he was already out the door.  I lay back in a huff.  Zeke would always be like this.  To him, I would always be a little sister; someone he needed to take care of.  It wouldn’t matter if I was Queen or not.  Zeke would always treat me like his Ally Cat.

That simple fact made me warm inside.  I didn’t know how everyone would react once I actually became Queen.  I hoped they wouldn’t treat me differently, but there was no way to know. 

The door creaked open, and I snapped my eyes shut.  Maybe if I pretended to be asleep, they would go away.

“I think she’s sleeping,” I heard Blake whisper.

“No, she’s probably hiding out,” Seb replied. “You heard what Zeke said.  She’s giving us some big news.  Knowing Alex, she’s probably worried how we're going to take it.”

“I don’t know.  She looks asleep to me,” Blake said unconvinced.

Footsteps sounded closer to the bed.  I held my breath, waiting for him to go away.  What I didn’t realize was how stupid I was.

“See, she’s holding her breath.  If she was asleep she wouldn’t be holding her breath,” Seb told Blake with absolute certainty.

I opened one eye and almost let out a scream when I noticed Seb’s face was inches from mine.  Pushing him back with my good arm, I hissed, “What are you doing?  Are you trying to scare me to death?”