The Lost Lycan Princes: A Journey Home

Nate On The Case

Jameson POV

  Telling Mom and Dad what had been going on with us was a big relief. Our family didn't do well with secrets - at least, I didn't think we did. It appeared that Dad had been keeping a pretty big one over the years. I understood his reasons though. 

  Long after everyone else had gone to bed, Jonathan and I were sitting up in my room, making plans and discussing the situation we seemed to have found ourselves in. Occasionally Damien or Donovan would chime in, clarifying information or offering an opinion, but for the most part they were quiet and let the two of us talk. 

  We decided that we'd give Nathan until Monday night to reach out to Sarah with the articles before calling to ask him about them. (Today being Saturday.) We both didn't like seeming like we were rushing him, but we were both anxious to find out if we were indeed the missing Lycan princes.

  "Can you imagine it?" Jonathan remarked. "Us, Lycan crown princes. Doesn't that just blow your mind?"

  "It does," I agreed. "Just think, we were supposed to be raised in a palace, with servants and crowns and all that jazz."

  Jonathan shrugged. "I don't know about you, but the more I think I prefer the way we were raised. Sure, as princes we might have had everything we ever wanted and a big fancy palace to run around in but we wouldn't have had Mom, Dad, or Sarah. And if you tell ever tell anybody I ever said mushy stuff like that, I will kick your a** from here to Tuesday."

  I snorted. "I won't say a word, as long as you don't tell anyone that I'm agreeing with you on that," I replied.   

  "Do you think we really need to go on this trip to find them - provided that we can even find out where the Lycan palace is?" he asked. 

  I sighed. "Well, my thoughts are, we don't know if Arthur acted alone in kidnapping us," I replied. "If we reach out to the palace, we could possibly tip off the wrong person. What happens if we tip them off and they somehow get word to Arthur that we're aware of who we are and wanting to return? I worry that he'll send someone here to get rid of us, or come here himself. I'm not too worried about the two of us, but what if Mom, Dad, or Sarah gets hurt in the process? I couldn't live with that. Best to take it their territory, where our own loved ones can't get caught in it."

  He nodded. "I agree. I don't want them coming here. And who knows, even if Arthur didn't come or send someone, the King and Queen might come here to try to force us to go with them. So I guess the next question is, when do we leave?"

  "I say we wait until we get those articles, then go from there. Maybe Nate can arrange it, we can stop at his pack first, to see what, if anything, they can tell us that isn't in the articles." I'm honestly not sure when Nathan became Nate in my mind, but he did. I was hoping he didn't mind being called that, because to me, for some reason, he looked like a Nate.     

  Jonathan raised a brow. "Nate?"

  I shrugged. "He looks like a Nate to me."

  He laughed. "To me too. I guess he's Nate from now on."     

  "So what do we do in the meantime?" I asked. "Sit and twiddle our thumbs? Because I've never been much good at twiddling."

  "I guess we could start by getting stuff ready for the trip," he suggested. "That way, the minute we know where we're going, we can hit the road." 

  I nodded. "Good idea. The Equinox is due for an oil change anyway, so I can go have that done today and make sure it's all good before we leave. Wanna come with?"

  Jonathan raised an eyebrow. "The Equinox? What does your car have to do with our trip?"

  I narrowed my eyes at my brother. "Dude, I know you're not thinking we should take your old dinosaur on a road trip."

  He scowled at me. "It's called an antique, or a classic, but not a dinosaur. Anyway, how are we supposed to impress chicks in your grandpa-looking car?"

  "Well, I don't know, maybe by my car actually having air conditioner and power windows, which yours does not?" I replied, rolling my eyes. 

  He snorted. "Dude, you wouldn't know a cool car if it ran over you."

  I crossed my arms and raised an eyebrow. "Wanna hear what Mom has to say about us taking your car versus taking mine?" I asked, amused. We both knew if we tried to take off on a road trip in his car instead of mine, Mom would blow a gasket. Cool car or not, his didn't have OnStar. Mine did. "I mean, do you really want her blowing up our phones the whole we're gone? Because we both know that she will."

  He threw his hands up. "Ugh. You're right, and I have no desire to hear it from her," he replied with a groan. "But I get to control the music."

  "Only half the time," I told him. "Passenger controls the radio. Deal?"

  "Deal."

Jonathan POV

  The next couple of days were spent getting stuff together for the trip. Since we didn't know exactly where we were going yet, we couldn't really pack any clothes, but we did go raid the junk food section at the local supermarket, bought a new cooler since the old one Dad had had a hole in it, got the oil change on Jameson's car, etc. I would never tell Jameson, but in a way I was glad we were taking his car instead of mine. I loved my car, but it did sometimes suck to have no A/C in it, especially in southern California in the middle of August. Besides, taking his car would mean he drove the first leg of the trip and I could spend a few hours blasting some classic rock on the kick a** sound system he had in his car. 

  Finally, Monday afternoon rolled around and Sarah called to let us know Nate had gotten copies of the articles his mom had. Apparently, she'd taken quite an interest in the case and had printed out every article she'd ever come across about it. 

  We arranged to meet Sarah and Nate for dinner at a local steak house called The Steakery. They hadn't been open long and we'd heard they were pretty good, so we all wanted to try it. 

  Even though it was a Monday night, the restaurant was fairly crowded when we got there. Nate and Sarah arrived together a few minutes after we did. We only lived about ten minutes from where the restaurant was located in downtown El Segundo, but it was a little further for Sarah and Nate, since they had almost a thirty minute drive from the UCLA campus, so we didn't mind the few minute wait.

  When they arrived, after we'd hugged Sarah and shook Nate's hand, the hostess led us to a back corner of the restaurant, just as we'd asked. We didn't want to take a chance of someone overhearing what we were saying. As we were heading to our table, I noticed a couple of werewolves towards the front of the restaurant, watching us warily as we went by. Damien assured me that they were harmless, and I smiled at them to let them know that we weren't a threat. I noticed that Nate and Jameson also nodded to them. It was wild to think that there had been supernatural creatures around me my entire life and I had never known. It was even more wild to realize I was one of them.

  When we got to our booth, Jameson and I sat facing Nate and Sarah. After we'd been greeted by the waiter and ordered our drinks, we got down to business. 

  "So, Nate," I began, "what's the word?"

  He raised a brow with a grin. "Nate?"

  I nodded. "We both agreed you look like a Nate. Is it cool if we call you that?" 

  He laughed. "Never been told that before. And yeah, it's cool. Anyway, my mom has quite a few articles she sent me. Some she faxed over, others she emailed me links for. I printed those off too." 

  He looked over at Sarah, and she handed him a stack of papers she'd rolled up and had in her purse. He unrolled them and smoothed them out on the table, facing our way so that Jameson and I could read them. 

  "She has articles dating all the way back from the day of the kidnapping, to just a couple of months ago," he told us. "Apparently the royal family has been pushing to raise public awareness of the fact that the princes - you two, most likely - were never found, in light of their - your - 18th birthday." He was keeping his voice low, even though we were had empty tables around us. "My guess is, they knew you guys would be getting your Lycans and wanted to make sure you know how to get in touch with them."

  He showed us on one of the papers where there was an email address to send tips to, along with an 800 number we could call. 

  Jameson and I looked at each other both thinking back to our conversation a few days ago. "We'd prefer not to take the chance of tipping off anyone in the palace that we know who we are, or that we know we were kidnapped," Jameson explained. 'We'd really just like to show up unexpectedly. We have no way of knowing who Arthur might have been working with, if anyone. Is there a way to find out where exactly the palace is?"

  Nate nodded. "I personally don't know where it is exactly, just that it's located in Maine somewhere. Mom had a hunch that you might ask something like that, so she told me to let you know that she's spoken to the Alpha our pack and he's given permission for the two of you to come visit for a few days and take advantage of the huge library they have there. She said there's a lot of books there about Lycans and the history of them. She also said that our former Alpha has been to the palace several times and can tell you where it's located. Our pack is apparently on the way from here to there anyway - sort of, anyway - and they're willing to teach you both a few things you might need to know before going to the palace. How does that sound?"

  Jameson and I both nodded. "Sounds great," I told him. "Where is this pack anyway?"

  "Pike's Peak, Colorado," he replied. "We're called the Whispering Pines Pack. Alpha Terrance just took over a little over a year ago, but he and Luna Ana are amazing. You guys will love them. You're actually almost the same age they are. Well, they're a year older."

  "And you're sure they're cool with us crashing on their territory for a few days?" I asked.

  Nate nodded. "They're perfectly fine with it, trust me."

  "So how soon do you think we could go there?" Jameson asked. 

  "I'll talk to my mom," Nate replied. "My room at her house is pretty good sized, and since I obviously won't be there, I'm sure she won't mind if you guys stay there."

  "Would you mind giving her a call now?" Jameson asked. "We're kinda anxious to get this show started."

  Nate laughed. "Sure. Hold on, I'll be right back."

  Nate walked out front of the restaurant to call his parents, since it was a little noisy in the restaurant. After a couple of minutes, he was back inside. "Mom said that is absolutely fine if you guys want to stay there. She also said to give you guys her phone number so that you can text her when you're there and she'll have the border guards let you in."

  After Nate had given us his parents' names - Linda and Dave - and their phone numbers, we talked a little more and decided we would head out in the morning. After that, we dove into the food that had just been set in front of us. 

  Sarah was regarding us quietly while we stuffed our faces with food. I looked up and noticed her watching us. "What?" I asked, "Do I have something on my face?"

  "Nope - not yet anyway," she replied. "It's just, well, I was thinking how finally I know why you guys shovel food in like you do. It's the beast within."

  I laughed and flipped a green bean at her. "Nah....I just learned my manners from my big sister."