Lycan King Joaquin

Chapter 11

Byron had all the warriors up early because Joaquin contacted him saying he wanted to watch them train. Byron is talking to Meno when he sees four nighthawks flying to the balcony of the palace. At first, he thought it was strange for nighthawks to fly at dawn, but then he remembered the birds are active from dusk to dawn.

Right before they went to sleep, after making love, Francemia told him about the men who had just arrived to join the other rogues. So Joaquin got up early and, after finishing getting dressed, he was standing next to the bed looking at his beautiful mate sleeping. He grinned, thanking the Moon Goddess for her and that he had finally found her. Joaquin chuckled, "I still don't understand her well, but we have eternity for us to get to know each other. Damn, I hate leaving you this morning." He kissed her forehead. "I love you Sunshine." Joaquin disappears and appears next to Byron and tells him about the thousands of men they will be battling. "Now isn't the time for them to slack off."

Byron informs him, that so far he hasn't found out anything about any witches joining forces with the vampire hunters, but he's still looking. "Does this have anything to do with our Queen?"

"Yes, it has everything to do with the Queen. It's imperative that we find that damn witch. Then I'll make the b***h suffer a hundred times more than she could ever imagine. Whoever her ass is will pay for killing my Sunshine's parents. After I'm done with her ass she'll sing like a f*****g bird and tell me who the damn hunters were she worked with that night. I saw the pain in my mate's eyes when she spoke about her parents. That's the reason she and her friends go to clubs and bars looking for the ones that killed her parents." Joaquin looks toward his and Francemia's window. "Byron, I made my beautiful mate a promise that I'd find the bastards and kill them after torturing them in front of her. If I don't keep any other promise as long as I live, that's one promise I'll keep even if I die doing it."

"I'll find her scheming ass. If I have to call in some favors then I'll do that. As you made a promise to our Queen, I'm making a promise to you. I promise whoever this witch is I'll find her ass and bring her to you. Even if I have to blind or cripple her ass to bring her here to kneel and kowtow before our queen."

"Thank you, my friend. Now let's see what they can do. We can't afford any mistakes." Joaquin's attention went to his warriors.

Almost two hours later Helga and Ruth are peeping around a doorway at Phylicia, Starr, Jenna, and Delilah who's sitting on the bottom step. “Why are they just sitting there? They’re not even talking.” Ruth whispers.

“I don’t have a clue why they do the things they do. Why do they wear the same color all the time? Have you noticed that? Each one wears a certain color every day. This morning, our queen told me that she would be a few minutes late for breakfast and that she had to go pick up something special for her friends. Maybe they’re waiting for her to return.” Helga looked at the Lycan King, Byron, Hagen, and Riggins coming toward them, discussing how well the warriors' training session went.

Joaquin stops when he sees the four women sitting on the steps. “I wonder what that’s about?”

Riggins shook his head. “Man, I don’t know. But all I do know is that we live with some weird women. They are all beautiful but weird as hell.”

“Weird is an understatement.” Hagen, looking at Helga and Ruth. "They seemed to agree with us."

Joaquin glances at the two women, then looks at Riggins and Hagen. “My mate isn’t weird. Sunshine just prefers not to give us all their details at once. s**t, I’m enjoying this mysterious game. Hell, it keeps you three on your toes.” Joaquin chuckled.

Byron points to the top of the stairs at Francemia with two large burlap bags. “Hey King, what is that in those bags the Queen is carrying?”

“I don’t know. But whatever she has, those four are happy as hell.” Joaquin points to Starr, Phylicia, Delilah, and Jenna, who are clapping and laughing, looking at the bags.

Starr takes the bags and runs down the hall to the breakfast room with the other three women behind her.

Francemia chuckles and walks behind them, "Those four will never change.”

Joaquin is about to say something but stops looking at Hagen, Riggins, and Byron running past Francemia. He jogs to catch up with her and wraps his arms around her. "Am I in for a show?" He points to the breakfast room.

"Maybe. I hope you don't have a weak stomach." She gave him a peck on his lips. "Come on, I'm excited to see the looks on Byron, Riggins, and Hagen's faces." Francemia pulled him down the hall.

“Their faces. Right now, I’m wondering how my face will look. Weak stomach.” He's looking at her confused. Joaquin sees the three men with their mouths covered as soon as they enter the room. He looks at the four women and points at them, then he covers his mouth, staring at the four women eating live grasshoppers and live beetles.

Francemia sits down looking at her friends, then looks at Joaquin and the other three men. “Let’s eat,” she picks up a glass of orange juice.

Joaquin, Byron, Hagen, and Riggins shake their heads, looking at the women eating. Francemia tries to hold her laughter in. "Helga and Ruth are bringing you all breakfast. Now come on sit down." She pointed to the chairs.

“Oh okay,” Joaquin scratches his head and sits beside her. “Damn, that’s good to hear. I thought for a second that was our breakfast.”

“No Papa. They love a good feast right before a battle.” Francemia chuckles, looking at Riggins, Hagen, and Byron sitting down staring at her friends. "You all will understand later."

"We hope so," all the men said, frowning, looking at the live insects in bowls.

****

Cahir and his men arrived right a little after dawn. He had wanted to check into a few things before he joined Rocky. Cahir watched the videos at Apex’s bar of the night Joaquin and Byron were there. It confirmed that his brother and the others were planning to kill Joaquin and Byron. Apex always recorded the weekly poker game because he was always looking for some dirt on someone to blackmail them with later if they didn’t do as he asked at a later date. Cahir never understood why anyone wanted to sit at the table with his brother. As much as he dislikes his brother’s scheming ways, he loves his brother and couldn’t allow anyone to live that killed him.

L.Q. informs Rocky that he, his brother, and their men have decided not to join in this battle. Maybe next time if they live. He knew they weren’t going to survive after what his brother said last night about the war. L.Q. decided not to share that information with Rocky and the others.

Parry was quiet and watching Rocky pacing and cussing about L.Q., his brother and men were cowards. Parry knew the reason was probably because of him. He wonders if L.Q. has discovered that he was the one who killed his mate years ago. Then he smirks, thinking, “No if he knew one of us would be dead. Once I think about it, it's for the best that he and his little brother leave." Parry cut his eyes at L.Q. "

Rocky grabs L.Q. by his shirt collar, "You son of a b***h. Why did your ass even show up? If you were and your damn brother was going to run away like bitches?"

L. Q. Snatched Rocky’s hand off of him. “Mutherfucker, I don’t have to explain myself to you. He punched him in the face.

Rocky’s on the ground looking up at him. “Don’t let me see your ugly ass face again.”

“Looking into your face is something that I don’t have to think about.” L.Q. kicks him in the stomach. "That's for calling my brother and me bitches."

Rocky folds over, looking at L.Q. and his men shifting and running through the woods.

Cahir, Diego, and Tate stood behind watching the event. Tate taps Diego's arm. "Do you think we should do like they did and leave?'

"No,, they're just cowards like Rocky said." Diego shook his head.

Tate looked at Rocky on the ground holding his stomach, thinking "Cowards my ass. If he was a coward he would be the one on the ground."

****

Gregoire, Melvil, and some of Gregoire's men are having breakfast at Happy’s Delight Diner. The diner is owned and operated by shifters. Only shifters and vampires preferred to be there. But Happy, the owner has human customers who are welcome but not this morning. He has received orders from the Lycan King like all the other shifters and vampires that have business, that today no humans are allowed to enter before ten today. The business owners can allow the humans after an important announcement has been made.

Ne-Yo enters the diner looking at Melvil and shaking his head. He and other men had been out all night searching for Francemia. No one has seen her since she and her friends left the club. One woman mentioned she had seen the five women sunbathing in the northeast of Kinghaven. She thought they lived close by because one of the women left for a few minutes and came back with a pitcher filled with juice or something. He and the men went there searching for her and the four women and the house. They didn’t find Francemia, the four women, or the house. Ne-Yo and the others are mad because they went on a wild goose chase.

When Gregoire hears this, he picks up a glass to throw it but stops when it comes to him that they’re in a public place, and he doesn’t want to show his anger. He looks around the diner at the customers who all seem to be in deep conversation. For a few seconds, he wonders about it. Gregoire grits his teeth “Keep looking for her. I'm sure she's around her someplace. I can feel it.”

"Greg man, we're wasting our time looking for her. It's not like her to hang around a city too long." Melivil looked at a man turning on a huge ass TV that was hidden behind a wall. "I wonder what's going on?" He stops a waitress. "What is all that about?"

"Lycan King Joaquin is making a major announcement. It's mandatory that all shifters watch it." She walked away.

Gregoire clenched his fists. Something about his ass makes me dislike him. I’ve met him personally, but I'm sure I wouldn’t like him if I did. Now back to finding Francemia. We'll stick around for a couple more days. But my gut says she's here."

Melvil started eating his waffles. He knew there wasn't anything he or anyone else could say or do to change Gregoire's mind once it was made up. Ne-yo looks at him. Melvil shook his head. "Let it go. I know."

Gregoire points to Ne-yo and Melvil with his fork. "I'm sitting right here and know you're talking about me. The only thing you two should be talking about is locating Francemia before she mates with an asshole." Then he hears people in the diner cheering, and clapping. Some are dancing around the diner with strangers.

"Well, you were right about her being close. Hell, she's closer than you think." Melvil points to the TV.

"What now?" Gregoire turns around and sees Joaquin on the TV kissing his mate. He screams when he sees that the woman is Francemia.