Edited by : Debbi_theChocEditor
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Anna
I watched Vanessa sleeping quietly on my bed. I wish she wouldn’t have to grow up as a rogue, which was no way for my baby girl to live. She should grow up in the safety of a pack not exiled by one. It made me sad that I couldn’t make her life better.
Suddenly I heard a sound coming from the room beside mine. I checked to make sure Vanessa was still sleeping before I left the room to check what the noise was. When I entered the other room I saw a man positioned in the closet doorway. He didn’t look familiar but I swallowed my pride and addressed him; “Excuse me, may I help you with something?”
I watched as the man jumped and turned around obviously thinking he was alone. He was a very handsome lad; light brown hair that almost looked a dirty blonde (probably lightened from the sun) and his blue eyes that reminded me of a storm. And although I had clearly asked him a question, his reply was simply, “What?”
I rolled my eyes, “I said, ‘Can I help you?’”
He seemed to think things over for a minute before saying, “Can you lead me to Than or Callie?”
“Why do you want to see them?” I asked suspiciously.
“Queen Emmaline’s orders.”
My eyes widened and I was at a loss of words. Queen Emmaline? Why does the Queen want to see Than and Callie? How does the Queen know either of them? Okay so maybe Than is the main offence when we attacked the castle but how did Callie have anything to do with this?
The more I thought about it, the more I started to question Callie. She arrived with Than right after we attacked the castle, which means she must have been at the castle at the time of the attack. Yet she wasn’t one of our rogues. Could she have been a prisoner? Maybe even a servant?
“I understand the reasoning behind why her Highness would want to see Than, but I am puzzled at how Callie is involved.” The man seemed nice enough that he might give me some answers.
The man closed his eyes. He stayed like that for maybe five minutes before he opened his eyes once more. “My orders have changed, I no longer need to find either of the two but I need to collect all of the rogues to bring back to the castle.”
I eyed him suspiciously, “What for?” Are they going to punish us for the attack?
He sighed, “I can see you don’t trust me much and I don’t blame you but maybe I can earn a bit of it.”
I stayed quiet so he continued. “My name is Dexter, Royal guard and also best friend with the soon to be Supernatural Queen, Callie. Today is Callie’s eighteenth birthday meaning she can officially take over as Queen.”
I wasn’t sure how to react to that. Callie was the next Supernatural Queen?
Dexter continued, “Our original orders were to get Callie back under any circumstances, but now instead it has been bestowed upon me to bring all the rogues back to the castle. Why? I’m not sure but the Queen has insured that it is not for harmful reasons. Why, maybe she just wants to chat or something?”
“How do I know your not lying?”
“I swear upon my life and the life of my Queen, no harm will come to you and the rest of the rogues.” He said with a short bow.
I nodded, “I can convince the others to go back with you but we will have to make a quick stop first.”
Dexter followed me out of the room and into the one beside it. “Dexter meet Vanessa, my daughter.” I said waking Nessa up and putting her in my arms.
“A pleasure to meet you,” Dexter replied giving Nessa’s hand a quick kiss. He turned to me, “Let’s go get the others.”
I nodded for him to follow me as I walked towards the lounge area where I knew most of the others would probably be.
****
Convincing everyone was a little harder than I expected but we managed it in the end. Dexter had gotten someone named David to drive a big transport truck over and all the rogues got in the back. To ease everyone’s anxiety, he had David get into the back with them and Dexter and I sat in the front. I had passed Vanessa over to a friend, she was very tired and I wanted to give her a little more chance to rest.
“Who is David?” I asked.
He looked at me quickly before turning back to the road. “David is Callie’s brother. He’s very kind and considerate, don’t worry. He will keep the rogues calm and also probably make a few friends in some of them.”
I nodded. “Have you found your mate yet?” I didn’t mean to sound so blunt but the question was eating away at me. I never really ever talked about mates much, so this surprised me.
“Yes.” He said it with no emotion on his face, but I could see the sadness in his eyes. I waited for him to elaborate. I wasn’t going to force him to though, it was personal and whether he wanted me to know or not was completely up to him. “She passed away though.”
There was silence, and then Dexter asked, “What about you?”
I took a deep breath. “Yes. I met my mate, we spent two days together before he was caught in the woods and brought to a zoo. He went feral in the zoo so they had no choice but to put him down.” I took a deep breath. “He came from a family of half wolves. Being a mix caused their wolf form to look a lot more similar to real wolves than the larger form of a werewolf. That’s how they mistook him for an average wolf.”
I gazed out the window, “Although that was a few years ago and I never got to know him that well, it still hits me hard. I can’t imagine what it was and is like for you. You knew your mate a lot more then I did, you were definitely a lot closer to her. I never had the chance to get that close to mine. But I hate that Vanessa has to grow up without her father. He never even knew I was pregnant with our child, hell, I didn’t even know.”
Dexter looked over at my tear filled eyes. His eyes looked watery from unshed tears as well. He grasped my hand with one of his own; it wasn’t a romantic gesture but a comforting one. We kept a reassuring grasp on each other the rest of the drive to the castle.
_-_-_-_
Callie
Leo and I decided to walk back to the castle. It would take more time and probably wasn’t the smartest way to get back but we didn’t care. It would give us some alone time and I knew how to get back anyway.
We were currently just holding hands and walking in silence but it was nice. Don’t get me wrong, he wasn’t completely forgiven yet but we were mates. He can make it up to me in a different way than what was planned.
Leo must have been on a similar train of thoughts as me because he said, “ I know that I probably have a lot of making up to do but can you stop hating me and can we just be mates? I can be your personal slave; do the chores and be your bitch. I don’t care what the consequences for my actions are as long as I have you, and I meant actually have you. I finally realized how important you are to me. I don’t care if you are going to be a Queen, honestly I think of that as a sort of set back because I will have to share you with the rest of the world. I just can’t stand you being mad at me.”
I stopped walking and turned, so we were facing one another. “I thought we already went over this. Even though you are going to have a little kissing up to do, I forgive you Leo.”
His smile at that moment was so full of happiness that it reminded me of when a child is given a cookie. I laughed and then Leo chuckled as well.
“How about a redo of that kiss from before?” And then he leaned in and our lips touched.
Unlike the kiss on the day Than had taken me, I welcomed this one. It didn’t even take me a second to respond, it was just automatic. It was even better then the first one. His lips, hot as fire, gave mine a strangely satisfying numbing sensation.
It was better than any kiss me and Than had ever shared, hands down. Than’s kisses had always been rushed and filled with urges whereas Leo’s were filled with love and patience. Patience that would be necessary for the both of us. It would take time for both Leo and I to trust each other fully and to act how mates should. But no matter how long it will take for that to happen, I knew and still know that we would never desert one another. He will stick by me just as I will stick by him. Forever. And this kiss just sealed the deal.
_-_-_-_
Sorry about the gap between updates. I have a completely hectic summer schedule (cottage, camp, Ottawa (to see the musical “Wicked”), Quebec, camp, camp, cottage) so the updates are going to be inconsistent but I will try to update whenever I can.