Her Pact

Part 3

Chapter 3

She watched him leave the room, frozen in her spot.  What had she done to make him so angry?  She knew he was a snow leopard, she knew he had powers that she could make disappear for a time being, but she had not meant to make him mad.  They were laughing, and he had issued a challenge.  Maybe, the blank expression on his face should have clued her in on the fact that he was not the one laughing; that it was everyone else in the room doing so.

“Charlie.”

Looking over at Alexandria, she sent her queen a smile.  “I am sorry for angering your second.”

“Don’t worry about it,” she said, shifting Noah in her arms to make the boy more comfortable.  “Everyone in this room has made him mad at one point.  You’re going to be here for a while; you might as well have something in common with us.”

Charlie looked over at the man who had introduced himself as Andrew.  “What have you done to make him mad?”

“You mean what do I do?” he asked, his eyes weren’t on her, but on his queen as Alexandria wiggled on the ground.  He let out a sigh before reaching over and grabbing Noah from her arms.  “Go sit on the couch,” he told her, “and I’ll bring the boy to you.  Although, I think you hold him too much as it is.  It might be good for him if you let them all play where they are.”

Charlie tensed, ready to see the woman, who she only knew from word of mouth, yell at Andrew for speaking out of conduct, but to her surprise, Alexandria just let out a sigh and rose to her feet.  “Am I really babying them?”

“Stupid question,” the King said while sitting next to her.  Alexandria immediately snugged into his side.  “They are babies, you’re meant to baby them.”

“You have to remember who they will be though, Ally,” Andrew started.  “They need to be independent.”

“They’re two months old.  They can be independent when they’re teenagers.”

Andrew glanced up at her.  “How old were you when you had to be on your own.”

“That is different,” she said, her eyes narrowing at the man.  “I didn’t have a family any more.  I didn’t have someone who could love me for who I was, no matter what I had done.  My children will always have me in their lives.  I don’t care if they turn out to be the worse rulers shifters have ever known, they’re my children.”

“Ally,” he started, but Alexandria shook her head.

“Later, Andrew; I promise we’ll talk about it later.  Right now, we have Charlie standing in the room, watching us argue, and she won’t quit calling me Alexandria in her mind.”

“It’s better than my Queen,” Sebastian said with a laugh. 

Alexandria sighed.  “Very true.”  Turning her eyes to Charlie, she smiled.  “You can call me Ally.  It seems to be the name everyone prefers, except Seb.”

“Ally it is,” Charlie replied, happy that the woman wasn’t as bad as she had heard.

Sure, her people loved her, but some had spoken of an edge she had.  They had told Charlie that if a person did something the queen did not like, that person would not be alive to make the same mistake twice.

“Being a buffer,” Ally started.  “You are not used to having someone in your mind.”

Charlie nodded.  “Yes.  I’ve never had anyone be able to read me, but I’ve never met someone who had that ability.”

“Zeke does, but that was not why I brought it up.  My guess is that once you are bound to another, they will be able to communicate to you mentally?”