Apollo
"Horses are ready sir." One of our gaurds tells me. I turn back to the dark haired wolf and nod my head. We have been waitng for Hatspehut for ten minuets now. I laugh to myself knowing what she is up to.
"Be ready, I'll be back with the empress is five minuets." The gaurds bow thier heads, I turn away from them heading up the stairs to Haty and Saryia's room. Once I get to the top step that smell clogs my nostrils. My wolf gags at the scent of his baby sister's arousal.
"The horror! The horror!" He howls as he tries to cover his nose. Rolling my eyes I continue down the hallway to their door. I stop at the front door, the scent is just worse. I hear them giggling behind the door and roll my eyes. Heat has defiantly got Hatspehut bad.
"Haty!" I say slamming my fist on the door, "Haty! We should have left ten minuets ago! Haty!" She doesn't answer so I just let myself in. Hatspehut and Saryia look at me and thank the goddess they are clothed.
"I was just about to come down. I was just kissing my wife goodbye." My eyes meet a hickey on Saryia's neck. I cross my arms with a smirk.
"Right. Common, please." I am really excited for this trip. Hatspehut is letting me see my territory. This is all I have been looking forward to all week. Odin already saw his territory few days ago now its my turn. The pack has chosen who they will be leaving with after the war is over. Half are going with Odin, half go with me, and the rest stay here with Hatspehut. Its okay to me, as long as my sister is safe, my sons and future child are safe, and of course Rayne. Nothing matters without her in my life.
"I guess I should let you go, so you can come back to me faster." Saryia kisses Haty again.
"Four days tops." Haty kisses Saryia again then picks up her sword that is next to the fire place. Saryia helps her put it on and hugs her again. I turn and trust that they are following me down the steps. Hatspehut follows along with Saryia, and my adorable little nieces follow too. Belle latches on to my leg and laughs as I try to walk with her on me.
"Higher!" She screams, then I hear the battle cry of my boys and they all jump on me. I wrestle with them trying to pry them off.
"Your not leaving us here with a bunch of girls!" Midas proclaims. Narcissus and little Apollo nod in agreement. Hatspehut and Saryia help getting the four kids off of me. Kelly just waits until they are all off me and scampers up to hug my leg.
"Bye Uncle Apollo." She says snuggling into the plates of armor protecting my leg. I gently pry her off and hug her.
"Bye bye Kelly, you be good ok?" She nods and kisses my cheek. I really wouldn't mind having a daughter next, but then again all the teenage craziness might drive me insane. Rayne can deal with a teenage werewolf girl, she was one so it should be easy. Yet my sons, all of them will have the Alpha blood line, but it will be Apollo Jr that will be the Elder. He is my oldest, only time will tell what happens to them when the time comes. Belle runs up and hugs me along with my sons. I hug them all and so does Hatspehut.
I think Odin is out with Selene and Ann training with the pack. Ann and Selene will be Haty's Beta pair after all this hopefully goes our way. I think that Jamie and Marie have gone out to that cabin again having alone time before we head to the fort in a month. Haty and I leave out the mansion and mount our horses. Haty rides horses like a pro now, but she still has her problems. Saryia comes down the steps and secures her feet and checks the saddle.
"Be safe." Saryia pleads then kisses Haty's hand. Haty smiles then leans down to kiss her hand.
"I promise. See you in a few days."
"Probably sooner than that, her wolf is seriously in heat right now." My wolf huffs. Saryia backs away, Haty turns her horse in the direction of the mountains. She gently flicks the reigns and the horse begins to gallop. I flick mine as do the rest of the guards. All twenty of them surround us as we take off from the mansion.
"There is a reason my wolf told me to escape in the direction of the mountains when I first got here." Hatspehut states looking up at the mountain.
"Why is that?" Hatspehut sighs. Her eyes haven't left the mountain for a while.
"Because of what was beyond them.... If we ride hard we will be half way there by night fall! Let's move!" Hatspehut flicks the reigns harder, her black horse whinnies and gallops ahead. I make my horse go faster, so do the rest. We ride towards my new territory, not saying much. The only talk was my wolf chatting away about marking his new territory. I try to tune him out as best as possible while I survey the trees for any unwanted company.
****
Nightfall has crept over us quickly. We will move continually through the night so our scent won't be able to be followed. That is the last thing we need. We have no fires lit, cannot draw attention to ourselves. So Haty and I share a tent whilst the soldiers stand guard on the outsides of the camp. Hatspehut sits in the tent with me with a big fur over her shoulder. The glazed over look in her eyes tell me she is talking to Saryia.
I don't know how it is possible that she can talk to Saryia through some type of pack link they have. The both of them must be stronger than I thought, or it could be some type of side effect to them mating. She blinks a few times then looks back at me.
"Everything is okay back home. I miss her so much." She sighs deeply them shivers. I've noticed that she has gotten cold again, it was like that when her and Saryia were fighting. What I do notice is Haty is doubting her marriage to Saryia. I hope my brotherly advice will help out.
"She really loves you, you know." Haty tilts her head to the side then nods.
"I know."
"No, I mean she really loves you. Haty I've been watching you over the past few months, and I can tell you are in doubt." Haty laughs dryly then looks at me again.
"There is no doubt at all between Saryia and I. I know that she loves me and I love her." I cross my arms and raise my eyebrow.
"Tell me this, do you think that she loves you besides the fact that you are mates? I mean does her love go beyond that?" Hatspehut's eyes widen at my question. I want her to know how much Saryia loves her, I should know love like hers when I see it.
"I'm positive it does. Why do you ask?"
"Do you notice how she looks at you, how she protected you from everything that came your way, how she is more than willing to do anything to reassure your happiness? The kind of love she has for you goes waaay beyond mates. Think about it, just think about it for a second. Don't just think about her love for you think about your love for her. All the way from the beginning when you first saw her." She went deep into her thought. Haty or Odin never went into detail what happened before I came to the mansion, but I get an idea of what happened.
I could see it in their eyes anytime I would ask about it. Painful things happened before I showed up, and I can see it now in those dark brown eyes. A tear falls from her eye.
"I didn't love her when I first got here. I didn't want to love her. But everything in my heart pushed me to her. It wasn't even my wolf that made me do it, it was just me, my heart that told me to go to her. After my failed escape, everything changed, she changed. She opened herself to me and I opened myself to her, and. . . we fell in love." I moved over to Hatspehut and pull her into my arms.
"And after everything that happened with Mercy, and all this war crap with Aria you are still together." Haty looks up at me, I dry her tears and rub her shoulders comforting her.
"Your freezing." I state. She nods with a deep sigh.
"Mate separation. Saryia and I literally are eachother's strength. We both get cold and weak, that's why I'm making the trip four days... Apollo, all that love talk earlier, did you and Rayne go through that too?" I nod slowly.
"From our escape from Alcatraz, to our meeting with Sirius whom wouldn't help us and the few pack members we had, to our recapture, to when Rayne got pregnant, to when we got here. We been through a lot and we loved eachother more every time we overcame. So when you go back to Saryia, you have to show her that you have more love for her that goes past the term of mate. Trust me, that type of love will save your life." Haty smirks then snuggles into my chest. Then the bang of something outside draws our attention to outside the tent.
"Stay here." I say kissing Hatspehut's head. I grab my sword and exit the tent only in my pants. I see our men fighting unknown werewolves. They have on no armor, just tattered shirts and pants with black bandanas on their faces. Then out of nowhere one jumps towards me. I know this one is different right away. His stance is different than any other of the wolves. He attacks me with a lot of grace, force, balance, and control. This has to be who I think it is, my old sparing partner. Our swords clash and I pull off his bandana.
"Long time no see... Shen He." At the sound of my voice he backs away and turns to his men.
"Stop the attack! Stop!" Out of the shadows come three more of my old friends with more of their men. Lrya, Joan's daughter gasps when she sees me, Nicholas, Sirius' son smiles when he sees me, and the future High Elder William the forth also gasps when he sees me.
"Apollo!" Haty comes out the tent in her armor. They all look in her direction and Shen gets on both his knees and bows to her.
"Empress Hatspehut, Lord Apollo, I didn't know that this camp was yours. I thought it would bring our pack some supply." William says bowing his head to us. Lrya and Nicholas come forward and bow to us.
"You all must be cold. Please follow us to our encampment." Lrya offers to us. I look back to Haty and she nods. She goes back into the tent and gets the rest of her things. I enter and garb mine as well. We mount our horses and follow them through the deep woods until we come to a large camp, but up in the trees.
"There has to be hundreds of wolves here." Hatspehut looks around in awe. There were many zip lines going from tree to tree, at the bottom there was a blacksmith shop, bakery, and meat shop.
"You can leave your horses here with our Omega." The boy comes up and takes our horses to the stable.
"Hatspehut!" Someone cries out with glee. A girl runs up and wraps her arms around my sister. Haty looks at the girl then embraces her again.
"Cassie!" I run over to look at the curly haired girl and hug her to. Cassie used to be in our old pack. I remember she was with Haty and Odin in the hideout.
"How did you survive? How did you get away?" Hatspehut ask looking into Cassie's eyes. Happy tears flood their eyes. Cassie sighs and pulls up her sleeve. My wolf growls at the burned mark of a Wolf Mill on her shoulder.
"When the law was passed against the mills, I, my pups, and mate ran for it. We found them and they took us in. Been out here ever since." Haty ran her fingers over the mark. Nicholas, pats my shoulder.
"Some of them are from mills, others are just runaways, they all found us and we made this place. We wish to fight for you on the blood moon." I nod and put my arm around him.
"Fort Crescent is where the battle will be, after that night you won't have to love in trees. You will be the Elders." I look back at the rest of the older elder's children.
"You must understand that your parents will be punished severely."
"They deserve death, so give it to them." Shen says putting his hand on his hilt. I tilt my head questioning his statement.
"Your father-"
"Is already dead to me." Shen cuts me off. William nods.
"They all are dead to us. They betrayed their Empress, their High Luna, they are no parents to us." William says with a powerful tone. I nod my head and Hatspehut comes back over to me.
"What are you doing out here anyway?" Lrya asks.
"Showing Apollo his territory after the war is over." Nicholas comes up and puts his arm around Haty.
"Well you must sleep now, and get head start for new territory. Come I show you place for you." I could almost see the hearts around Haty's head. Nicholas is what these she wolves would call a heart throb, silky black hair, calm green eyes with a smile and body to match. Even though I know Haty is one hundred percent lesbian Nicholas is just that type of wolf that makes any girl go gaga. He takes Haty up to a rope and puts his arm securely around her waist.
"Hold on tightly." He says as he pulls on the rope. He and Hatspehut go whizzing up the tree. Haty squeals in excitement as she disappears with Nicholas into the high trees.
"That is not natural. That is why wolves don't have wings. Can we just climb up?"
"I don't think so muscle boy." Lrya giggles. She walks up to a rope and extends her hand to me.
"Common scaredy cat. Its fun." She bats her brown eyes at me and I have to cooperate with her. I grab on to the rope for dear life. Lrya giggles them pulls on the rope. We quickly go zipping up the tree. I think I might have squealed like a little girl.
"No that was me." My wolf admits. We finally stop and I jump off quickly. Lrya laughs and swings off the rope. She pulls back the curtains and inside is a big luxurious room.
"Very nice." I say to myself.
"This is yours until you leave here. We may not have much, but we are willing to share." Lrya walks back out the curtain, she pulls on the rope again and zips up the rope. Nicholas, William, and Shen come in and bow their heads.
"Like your room?" Nicholas asks. I nod and unstrap my armor.
"Where is Hatspehut?" William beckons for me o follow and I do. He points across to the other tree. She has a much bigger room than I do, it suits for an empress.
"Just swing this rope and there she is. We will leave you to it. Goodnight my Lord." They all bow and jump to different ropes and pull on them. They all go away and I return to my room. I take my shirt off and get ready for bed, but first I look out the window to see how far we are. It will take a bit more time to get there, in the morning we go see my territory then I have to get Haty back to Saryia ASAP.
****
Hatspehut
The sun pours into my room the next morning. I didn't get much sleep, I was up all night thinking about what Apollo said the night before. He is so right. Saryia loves me more than the term of mate can define, and I love her that much too. She is my anything and everything, and I haven't been showing her that fully. When I get back I promise that I will show her with every little thing I do how much I love her.
"Good morning!" Cassie says before jumping on me. I grunt and we wrestle in the bed like we used to. It brings back good memories of the old days.
"How you sleep?"
"Pretty good, I want to meet your mate and pups." Cassie smiles and nods happily. I get out of bed and put back on my armor.
"We are going to have to leave soon after breakfast." Cassie comes behind me and helps me put on the rest of my armor.
"When the hunting party gets back. It always depends." I huff then nod.
"Alright lets go." Cassie leads me to the rope, Apollo stands in front of his rope.
"Just slide down Apollo!" Cassie shouts over to him. Apollo nods then grabs the rope firmly. Lrya comes sliding down another rope fast as lightning not before she scares the crap out Apollo.
"Boo!" She yells, Apollo squeals and pulls on the rope, he is blasted up screaming all the way. Then he comes whizzing down right to the forest floor flat on his back. Cassie and I flinch at the sound of the thud.
"You okay?" I shout down to him. He picks himself up and throws me a thumbs up.
"I'm okay!" He groans. Lrya is on the ground chuckling under her breath. Cassie lets me down first. I slide down gently but still I land on my butt. I get up and Cassie slides down landing on her feet.
"Its a skill really." Cassie says dusting herself off. Suddenly two little kids both brown haired come running up to Cassie. They hug her legs then when they see me they hide behind her legs.
"Its okay she is a friend." Soon as she said friend the two girls run and hug my legs. I smile down at the two girls and rub their heads. They must have their hair from their father, cause Cassie is strawberry blonde.
"Empress Hatspehut." I turn and see a familiar face. This guy used to be a rouge that roamed around our territory before the war. His deep, steady, chestnut eyes made me calm for some reason. He stood way taller than me and a lot muscular. His shirt was off telling me he was probably just out running or hunting. Cassie comes from behind me and hugs the tall handsome rouge.
"Haty, this is Randy, my mate." He shows me his shoulder, it too has a mill mark. Their mark is different from Belle's but still I can hold sentiment for them.
"My daughter has one too." They both nod and smile. I get a better look at the kids and I see the mark on their shoulders too. It is barbaric what has happened to my people. It all makes me sick, and this treatment will all change.
"You won't have to hide after all this is over." I pat both their shoulder and they follow me to the big fire. All the wolves bow to me as I pass by. The smell of cooking meat brings all the wolves. Many of the young boys were working on their fighting skill with Shen and Nicholas. These boys are as old as sixteen, they are pretty much this pack's foundation. The two let the young boys go and they run to the fire for warmth. The cooks had meat ready and gave it too our soldiers.
"For you travel my empress." He hands my men full water skins and our horses are brought to us.
"Leaving so soon?" Lrya asks. I nod.
"I have to get back to my mate and daughter." I adjust my saddle then mount, "When you get to the fort, tell the guards that we sent you." Lrya bows her head and backs away. I gently flick the reigns and come up to Cassie and her family.
"Be safe out there." I nod then Apollo comes up next to me. I turn my horse back to this pack.
"Hold fast! This nightmare will be over!" I make my horse rise up onto its hind legs. The pack cheers and says together 'Hail to the Empress!' I turn my horse around and gallop away with my brother and men following behind me. We get back onto open ground and gallop off towards the territory.
Hours pass and we finally get to the edge of the territory. My howls with joy being back to our first home, and our birthplace. Apollo looks around knowing that he feels the same feeling. I've been here since I married Saryia, she brought me here many times, and it felt good to be home. I have my horse come up to a tree that Apollo knows very well.
"Apollo." I point to where he carved he and Rayne's names when they were first mated. His eyes brighten up and I smile. We make it through the woods, and there it stand just like we left it, our old pack house. I dismount and walk up the steps to the large front door. Our father being the Emperor naturally had a huge pack house, five stories to be exact.
I turn back to Apollo, he falls to his knees looking at his house, that belonged to him all this time. Tears start to fall from his eyes.
"All this time... I've just been a few days ride from home?" I nod and open the door.
"Come in, Saryia restored it back to its old self." I step aside as he gets up from the ground. Apollo slowly gets up the steps and enters. The gigantic cabin has been returned back to its first setting. The wooden walls and floors have been replaced, but all the furniture is the same. Apollo walks around to the kitchen and I can almost see mom in here cooking with some of the other ladies.
Apollo walks around the house blankly looking over it. He drops to his knees again when he sees the full pack portrait. I look at it with him.
"This has to be the best gift anyone could have ever given me. Thank you so much." I lean down to hug Apollo. He wraps one of his arms around me and gets up from the floor.
"I think its time we got back to your pack house for now." I nod in agreement and so does my wolf. We walk out the house and Apollo shuts the door.
"Be ready were going home!" The soldiers nod and get ready to move out. Apollo and I mount up and ride back home. I fell the wind blowing through my hair as I flick the reigns harder every few miles. I'm going back home to my mate and I'm going to make sure that she know how much I love her, from now on she and Belle come first.