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"I am sorry for your loss, Iota," I assured her, but then shook my head. "But not for what had to be done. I have others' safety to worry about."
My Caretaker seemed to understand because she closed her eyes, nodding at me as she confirmed, "I can't fault you for had to be done, Gigi."
Her eyes opened, shimmering a little with her tears. "I'm just sorry it had to end so tragically."
Iota stepped forward, raising a hand to place on the side of my cheek. Her gray eyes, so filled with warmth, smiled as she did when lowering her voice to thank me.
Iota out out a long breath, assuring me that because of me, Emory was safe. I smiled at the mention of that kid, nodding silently.
My eyes widened, startled, when I heard him cry, "Gianna!"
Turning, I found Emory rushing in my direction after Cody let go of his hand. I beamed, holding out my arms while the boy ran over. He hugged my waist, squeezing his eyes shut.
Resting my head on his as I bent forward, I gently tightened my hold on him.
"You did it, Gianna!" Emory muffled against me before pulling his head back to tilt up. "You saved me!"
I smiled, nodding that I did. I brushed his hair back from his forehead and he giggled, jumping up and down while chattering a hundred miles per hour about how cool it was to see me with my 'Snail' eyes.
Lowering a brow and raising the other high, I stared at him. He kept telling me about how he could see how strong I was and that he wanted me to teach him to be strong like that too.
"And---and then you can teach me to control other Snails too!"
I laughed, shaking my head that perhaps I could, when he was older.
"Awwww," Emory pouted.
"Come now, Young One," Iota smiled, motioning him to her. "Gigi has people to speak to, and it's best to get you cleaned up anyway."
"But, Iota!"
The she-wolf raised a brow, blinking once that made the eight year old blush and raise his shoulders up high sheepishly. Emory looked up at Wade standing now with Iota. He weakly grinned at my brother who winked at him.
Without her saying another word, Emory obediently nodded, "Okay, Iota..."
Iota grinned, shaking her head and nodded to the side, "Come on then. You need a good scrubbing, some dinner and then it's bedtime."
She held his hand as the eight year old went willingly, but was still protesting all the reasons why he couldn't go to bed yet. One of them being that he hadn't eaten his three bowls of 'pazgetti' yet.
Not looking down, Iota patiently replied, "Then you shall eat a few bowls. Then it's off to sleep."
"Awwww!" Emory whined, looking up at Wade to plead with the man to help him out.
Shaking my head, I smiled after them. When someone appeared beside me I turned to look at Vicky. She still had a frown but there weren't tears anymore. Her eyes shifted to mine, carefully looking my face over for a moment.
"My sister's right, Shorty... about our sister, I mean. And... and how it had to be done. You even told me that you were going to kill her. And you went through with it."
I said nothing at first. Just waited to see if she was going to say anything else. When she didn't, I nudged Vicky that she was to keep her chin up. That I wouldn't have one of my Caretakers being more of a sour puss than usual.
Growling with her nose scrunched, Vicky lifted a finger at me to be mindful of my attitude.
"Just because you're some hot shot she-wolf now doesn't mean I won't still whoop your ass, Shorty!"
And without missing a beat, Vicky scrunched her nose and raised a brow that I ought to cover up. She eyed me up and down that it was indecent of me, and that I should be embarrassed of my muffin top.
Narrowing my eyes, I growled, "I'm... not... fat!"
Vicky grinned, raising her brows as she walked away that she just wanted to get a rise out me.
I shot the back of her head a look while she sauntered away to follow after her sister.
When I turned, I smiled seeing my family and Eden coming over. Mom was the first to reach me and wrapped a blanket around me. I took it gratefully; securely wrapping it around my torso and holding the ends together in front of me.
Then I was able to rush into my parents' arms. My Dad's kisses on my head made me smile, and Mom's words of how worried she'd been for me had me sigh.
I looked up at my dad to see that he'd taken a few good hits in the fight. There was dried blood in the corner of his forehead and by his lip, while some scratch marks were running down his neck.
The rest of my family was pretty much the same. My eyes landed on Cody who grinned at me that he had Nikko by his side the whole time which explained why Cody looked more dirty than bloody.
A huge relief washed over me when my sister with her arm in a sling was seen behind the two boys, with Sawyer beside her on crutches. Immediately, I rushed over to hug my sister.
Cece laughed lightly, shaking her head as she whispered to me that she was so proud of me. "We told you that you were meant for something more," she reminded me.
I smiled, looking to Sawyer whose bruised face and bloodied hands. I looked down at the long gash running down the middle of his thigh that was bent slightly as he leaned on his crutches.
"I'm glad you're alright." I told them both, stepping back from Cece. I took in all of the loving faces around me. "All of you. I don't know what'd I do if I'd lost you. Any of you."
Dad wrapped his arm around me, kissing my head and pointed out that I would have avenged them. As I should have. Mom frowned, slapping the back of her hand against my dad's shoulder. Dad chuckled, glancing at me with a shrug.
Shaking my head, I smiled back. It felt good to know my family was alright. That I didn't lose them like I feared I would. And they were proud of me. Even if I did get scary for a nanosecond. Which my mom brought up.
Her hazel eyes were wide as she placed her hands on her chest as she did when worried.
"I was so frightened for you, Gigi! I was so scared that you let the Darkness take over completely!"
Grinning, I shook my head and scolded my mom for having such little faith in me. At her stricken face, I laughed, reaching over to hug her and laughed"I'm kidding!"
Mom hugged me back tightly, sniffling that she was so frightened for her baby girl. I nodded, opening my eyes to meet Eden's. She was smirking, raising a brow at me while folding her arms in front of her chest.
When Mom stepped back, snuggling into my dad's side, Eden rushed me with her arms up in the air.
I was startled a little but then looked upward when she cried, "Gigi! Don't you ever do that to me again! You can't leave me with these crazy people!"
We looked at one another after she pulled back. I was relieved that she wasn't too injured. Like the others, she was sporting some good bruising and claw marks, but otherwise was okay.
Eden sighed, glancing at Wade who had come back from the house to check up on Cece and Sawyer. He was currently growling at Cody reaching up to make kissy faces at him. My older brother didn't budge from his crossed armed posture, but curled his lip at our younger brother.
"Well... I mean... Not everyone is crazy," my best friend shrugged. "I find your brother an exception. Which means that when I procreate with him, we'd have normal babies."
I lowered a brow, about to inform my friend about Wade's mate but that was taken care of on its own. Especially when Iota appeared with a giddy Emory who escaped a bath. She came back to join our small get-together and stood beside my brother.
It was a mate thing, I knew, when Iota sensed another she-wolf eyeing my brother. Wade was grinning at her, wrapping his arm around Iota.
The tall she-wolf's gray eyes shimmered gold hue as she snuggled closer into my brother's side. Wade grinned, tugging her closer. My brother leaned his nose against her neck before kissing his way up to her cheek. All while Iota was giving Eden a narrowed gaze.
I couldn't hide the grin seeing Eden's wide-eyed look to Iota's sudden possessiveness. Even more when Iota was almost clutching to Wade.
I sensed someone nearby that made my eyes slowly shift to them.
Behind my family with his arms crossed, Nigel was watching the whole reunion. When I noticed him, he raised a brow that disappeared under his blond fringe.
Tilting my head to the side, I approached him as my family was chattering to themselves still; laughing and being playful.
Nigel's blue eyes glanced over my head then back to me. He didn't move out of his stiff posture.
"So..." I lifted my chin playfully with a small grin.
Nigel's brows furrowed as he stared me down, then grunted, "So..."
Feigning a frown like his, I stuck my lip out more. Nigel scrunched his nose a little as he stared at me do this then lifted his eyes to mine.
"You're vastly different than your Dark Queen mode, Miss Gianna," he pointed out.
Smiling, I nodded, "I am." then raised my brows as I tilted my head to the side playfully, "And it's 'Your Highness' to you!"
It was nice to know Nigel wasn't as uptight as I thought he would be. There was a small second of a grin before it disappeared at my teasing.
I sighed, twisting around to stand beside him as I looked over the pack grounds. The pack was wandering around, still trying to settle the dust from the fight. It made me think about how long it would be before Carmel was back on its feet.
Nigel interrupted my thoughts when he spoke through his gruff voice. "You know..." he started, keeping his gaze forward. "Being a ruler over two Quails seems insignificant."
I raised a brow, asking what he meant.
He didn't look at me directly, but tilted his head towards me as he emphasized, "I mean..." then actually looked at me. "That your leadership over two Quails will grow."
"Nigel..." I frowned, "Are you insinuating there are more Quails?"
Nigel shook his head, "I'm not insinuating. I'm telling you."
He saw the confusion on my face and grinned that since he was more in touch with his Quail Wolf---not the Dark part---he could feel when there are other Quails around.
"You feel the others?" I asked in surprise, brows raised.
He shook his head, "Not here."
Nigel told me that he happened to be from New York, but as he was passing through states across the country with Madilynn that he could sense the presence of others.
"Not many. Like perhaps one or two more."
Nigel shrugged, "That's not to say that there aren't more outside of the U.S."
"Nigel..." I pressed, knowing what he was suggesting.
The man shrugged again, shaking his head to remind me that I had obligations.
"You're not just any Quail Wolf, Miss Gianna. You're the Dark Queen."
I snorted, turning away that that was a name others would learn to fear.
"Yes..." the man agreed with a nod. "But for the right reasons. Not the bad."
Nigel gestured to himself that he struggled with the Darkness. That he'd been on his own for a long time before finding Madilynn who seemed to be his only guide.
"She wasn't the best Caretaker, as you know," he glanced at me.
The man frowned that it was hard for him to resist the Dark before. That his wolf did its best to keep his human in check, but before finding me, his wolf was weakening.
"Then you happened," Nigel confessed.
I blinked, seeing him nod with a frown, "Miss Gianna, you are the reason I am able to breathe a little easier."
I stared at him, waiting for him to explain.
"With you now in control of the Darkness, my wolf and I have a harder time being controlled by the Darkness alone. I am drawn more to your control than the Darkness. There's an invisible link between you and I that helps me want to follow you, to be near you, and to protect you."
Nigel nodded in the direction of my family, "Just like the boy does. And will continue to do so."
I looked to where Emory was running around with Cody as Wade and Iota were trying to calm the eight-year-old's giddiness.
The blond beside me grinned that it was a price to pay for being a Quail Wolf. That our species of Werewolf was powerful, but it was drawn to just that: Power. And because I had so much of it thanks to my control of the Darkness that is why Nigel and Emory will so easily stand at my side than some other Quail.
I looked down, frowning at my bare feet covered in dirt and blood. I needed at shower. Badly. But my thoughts were drifting back to what Nigel was saying about the other Quails.
"We have to leave..." I sighed, a grim look up at him. "Don't we?"
Nigel felt my sadness, and nodded. He sighed that it was for the best because of the danger the other Quails will be in. That it would be our responsibility to find the others and form a pack of our own. He explained how this pack of Quails would be specifically mine to do my bidding.
I frowned, "But I don't want them to do my bidding. Just because I'm able to control the Darkness suddenly I have to act like it?"
"You are Queen, Miss Gianna. Whatever it is you deem fit for something, it is our obligation as your personal soldiers to follow through. We cannot resist the want and need to protect our Queen. To make sure your reign will be long."
That was a lot to take in...
Biting my lip, I frowned at the ground and thought about how Nigel was right.
I couldn't stay here and live a normal life when there were other Quails who would be alone out there. They would need Nigel, Emory, and I to balance out.
Besides, as Nigel so bluntly put it, I wasn't a normal Werewolf anymore. I was a Quail Wolf. That came with the obligation to protect those who cannot protect themselves. And if it meant that other packs needed our help then it was my obligation to see that through.
But that did mean that there was a possibility of never seeing my family again. Or at least not for a very long time.
I closed my eyes, groaning with a scrunched nose.
Nigel chuckled and I narrowed my eyes at him.
"You can thank the Spirit World, Miss Gianna, for the difficult decisions ahead. They obviously saw in you what they did not see in the others. Me, included."
Rolling my eyes, I groaned out that this was so not how a teenager should be living life.
"Teenager...?" Nigel raised his brows.
I frowned, nodding that I was nineteen.
Nigel grinned, muttering a curse under his breath while shaking his head.
"What?" I frowned.
"Nothing," he shook his head, shrugging. But then Nigel looked straight ahead. "Just that following orders of this teenage girl is still hard to sink in."
Narrowing my eyes, I leaned forward to remind him that Nigel got pretty horny with 'this' teenage girl. My brows shot upward that he didn't seem to have a problem with me pressed up against him and my fingers in his hair.
My Quail companion's eyes slowly looked at me from the corners, and growled low. "So I haven't gotten laid in a while, sue me, Princess."
I laughed, turning away and shrugged, "Clearly." then I glanced at him, "And I already told you... It's 'Your Highness.'"
"Ah yes," Nigel tipped his head then glanced in a particular direction over my head.
He cleared his throat, asking me without breaking his gaze at whatever he was looking at, about what was to happen now with the mate who was starting to remember me.
I lowered a brow, remembering about that. Ridge was getting some memories back.
Glaring at Nigel for ruining my light mood, I grumbled that I didn't know now thanks to him because of the insight of the life I would be leading now with the other Quails.
Nigel hummed, nodding slowly then raised a brow. "Well whatever you are going to decide to do... Best think it through."
My companion lifted his gaze over my head, nodding behind me and my eyes widened as Nigel grinned wider, bowing and waved his arm to the side---a little more dramatic than I liked.
Nigel narrowed his gaze and offered a slight bow of his head as he acknowledged the person behind me with a short, "Alpha Beaumont..."
I stiffened as Nigel smirked at me, "I will leave you for now... Your Highness."
Damn you, Nigel.
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Xoxo Always,
SAMiAMiz