Chapter 9
2320 Words
~Glinda~
Mom could have been in real trouble. If she was hurt and those witches had her in a corner and she was alone without anyone knowing where she was… Well, luckily, I have Lowella and together we are strong enough to take on anyone and anything.
Circe “Glinda! Gareth is here to walk with you to the packhouse!”
Huh? To do what?
Glinda “Coming!”
I run down the stairs and see him talking to father laughing. For some weird reason, my heart skips a beat and I miss a step on the stairs nearly tumbling all the way down!
Gareth catches me before I fall flat on my face at the bottom of the stairs.
Gareth “Steady there, Princess. Don’t want both you and your mom with broken ankles stuck in your beds now do we?”
A flash of concern crossing his face, replaced by laughter when dad rolls his eyes and shouts.
Frank “No not again!”
Dad throws his hands up in the air.
Frank “One hospital trip is enough for today… If you get hurt, Gareth is taking you.”
He is still holding onto me and I feel a hot blush rushing over my cheeks.
Glinda “I have two feet and I can stand on them, thanks.”
I say, pulling from his hold. He lets me go as if suddenly realizing he is holding a trash bag. Rubbing his hands on his shirt! What the hell?!
Gareth “Oh, yes, sorry. Don’t know what I was thinking. We have to go in any case. You are late for kitchen duty in the packhouse.”
Glinda “Excuse me? You are joking. I don’t work in the packhouse. I am an Alpha daughter.”
I wave him off as if he is making a joke.
Frank “He is right Glinda. Your mother arranged it for you. She said it would be good for you to learn to cook and learn some humility. Now off you go.”
My entire family has lost the plot!!! Turning around, about to run up the stairs Gareth catches me around my waist and my cheeks burn bright pink.
Glinda “Mother!!!”
Frank “Don’t you dare wake her up! She has to rest so she can heal! Gareth, I don’t care how you get her there… just get her there and make sure she helps.”
Gareth “Sure thing Alpha.”
He throws me over his shoulder. Of all the undignified thing to do!!
Glinda “DADDY!!! Help me!!! You can’t be serious!!”
He laughs at me while Gareth walks out of the house with me over his shoulder kicking and screaming.
Glinda “Put me down!! Now!!”
Gareth “Are you going to listen?”
I hesitate, thinking about it.
Gareth “Well there is my answer.”
Walking through the square with me over his shoulder, everyone staring at us, I want to die. Can the earth please swallow me, now!
We walk into the kitchen and I hear a latch being locked… Really!
Anna “Welcome to the kitchen, Miss Princess.”
Gareth puts me down in front of our grandma in charge of the kitchen. She is adorable and one of my favorite people. She always gives me secret treats.
Anna “This my darling is called a potato peeler. These are called potatoes”
She shows me a heap of potatoes and I roll my eyes at her.
Anna “Oh, and there is the rest of them.”
She points at four more bags.
Anna “I need them all peeled before tea time so they can be cooked before lunch.”
I look around the kitchen at the others.
Glinda “Okay, who should I tell to do that gran?”
She and Gareth laugh at me.
Anna “No darling you misunderstand. You are here to peel them. Now get cracking. We can’t wait all day.”
Glinda “WHAT?! There is no way I will be able to do this! It will ruin my manicure!”
Gareth “Shall I call your mother and tell her you can’t help, Princess?”
I look at him sending arrows of anger with my eyes. Picking up a potato and the peeler, I slide it over the potato, keeping my eyes on him, I don’t concentrate on what I’m doing and take a piece of skin off my thumb, screaming bloody murder.
Everyone in the kitchen goes silent and looks my way. Anna looks at me, grabs my hand, the peeler, and the potato and drags all of us to the tap, washing off the blood until the wound is healed and the blood is gone.
Walking back to the table, I expect her to give up on me, saying I am not cut out for this and send me back home.
Anna “Now let’s try again. This time stop looking at your ma… at Gareth and focus.”
My what?! I look at Gareth wondering why she stopped mid-sentence.
Anna “Princess! Focus! We don’t have all day!”
I look at the potatoes and sigh, there is no getting out of this. I have to remember to thank mom for this amazing day she planned for me!!
~Gareth~
ANNA!! That was close! Frank and Melissa know and Anna, but nobody else knows that I’m Glinda’s mate. Her parents and I agreed that we will keep it quiet until she is old enough to realize it on her own. We… I didn’t want to spoil that first realization moment for her. Besides, she is still young and I don’t want the pressure of the mate bond hanging over her head while she can’t feel it yet.
I didn’t want her to feel that she is being forced into anything until she was old enough to decide for herself. And now Anna almost blew it! I have to admit that it is getting harder by the day to resist her pretty little full lips, but my respect and love for her has always been stronger than anything else. I just want to be around to protect her.
Watching her trying to peel the potatoes I realize there is no way she is going to finish even one bag. But if I give in, I’m going to be in trouble with Luna and I don’t want that. Walking over to the other ladies I find a cupcake and sit talking with them, chewing on the delicious cake. If Glinda could kill me with her stare, I would surely be dead by now.
I almost burst out laughing, having icing fly out my nose, sneaking a peek at her every now and then. But she starts getting the hang of it and around tea time there is a bag of potatoes ready to be cooked for lunch. I look at Anna who winks at me. The old troll!! They don’t need all of it! She was simply pulling Glinda’s leg.
Anna “Okay girlie, I guess that should be enough for some of us to eat and others to look at the ones eating. You better leave for training before the pack finds out it was you who didn’t peel enough!”
Glinda “But you said I had until tea time?!”
Anna “Which it is now… cheerio.”
Anna waves her off and burst out laughing.
Gareth “Siss on you Anna. Tell the poor girl the truth!”
Anna “Okay fine! The potatoes are enough. Lunch is only for the young ones. The potatoes are enough. Thanks, you for your help, Glinda.”
Glinda “What?! Anna!!”
She pulls the apron over her head and storms out of the kitchen through to the recreation room that leads to the training room. Anna shrugs. I wink at her and stroll through to the training room knowing I’m going to wait for Glinda to change into her training gear.
She walks out of the dressing room, determination on her face, making me duck fast to miss her first punch.
Gareth “Anger will get you killed Princess.”
Glinda “STOP. CALLING. ME. THAT!”
I miss the claws protruding in her feet and she jumps me with the full force of her weight making me fall backward. Under normal circumstances she weighs nothing, but mid-shift, she can a beast you don’t want to mess with. Or well outsiders. Me on the other hand? I know her moves.
I flip her over, pinning her, making her angrier.
Gareth “You aren’t going to get anywhere if you don’t focus and channel your anger… Princess.”
I watch the grey smoke in her eyes form.
Gareth “Hey! Using magic in training is not fair.”
Glinda “War isn’t fair!”
I feel myself being pulled off her and held upright while she storms me, landing punch after punch in my midsection. Pulling my muscles together I know I can only hold out for so long, hoping it’s long enough for her to calm down.
Gareth “This is not how you are going to… prove to your parents… that you can fight!... In fact,… this proves the… OPPOSITE!”
I try to get her to see reason between punches until I see tears flowing and hear the heart-wrenching sobs tearing her apart.
Gareth “GLINDA! Let go of me!”
She drops to the floor and the spirit disappears, allowing me to run to her, pulling her into my arms to comfort her. We sit like this, with her on my lap, her small frame clinging to me as she cries and all I can do is hold onto her for dear life until she shed every tear that she has been holding inside her.
Gareth “Sweetheart, why do you do this to yourself? Why don’t you show the world the real you?”
She hiccups and I wipe the tears away.
Glinda “This isn’t the real me! I’m just… I’m worried about my mother, that’s all.”
She wipes her cheek with her arm and jumps up.
Glinda “I’ve trained enough. I’m going home!”
Running out of the building, I follow her. Into her parent’s house, she runs up the stairs, slamming her bedroom door. Frank walks out of his office to see what the noise is about and all I can do is shrug.
~Melissa~
Great! I’m stuck in bed for five minutes and they are already breaking down my damn house!!
Melissa “Frank! FRANK!!!”
Where is he? Why isn’t he answering?
Melissa “FRANK!!!”
Frank “I’m here, keep your panties on.”
Melissa “Excuse me? Never mind. Who is breaking down my house and why? What the hell is going on? I leave you in charge for five minutes and…”
He holds up his hands stopping me mid-sentence.
Frank “One word… no two, Glinda, kitchen.”
Melissa “Oh,” I roll my eyes, “It can’t have been that bad, really?”
Frank “Gareth, you can come in.”
He calls around the corner for his back-up.
Gareth “Hi,”
He waves at me with that stupid, “don’t bite my head off” grin of his.
Melissa “I send you to take my daughter to learn how to cook and you bring her back, breaking down my house… what kind of ma… protector are you?!”
Gareth “Luna, please forgive my forwardness, but you are the second person today who nearly said the “M” word. You lot are going to make me nervous around her!!”
Frank “Okay, okay.”
He holds his hands between the two of us as if we are about to pick a fight.
Melissa “Hmmm. That is odd. What happened in the kitchen that upset her so much?”
Gareth “Nothing I can think of. Anna made her peel potatoes, she teased her by making her think she had to peel four bags worth. But it wasn’t a big thing. Then she stormed out of there and we went to train. In training, she used her magic on me and the next moment she burst out in tears. I comforted her. When I asked her why she didn’t show anyone that beautiful nice side of her, she flipped and ran out.”
Melissa “Oh, my boy… you still have so much to learn about her and women. Frank, either you go call her or you carry me to her room. Pick one.”
Frank “What if I don’t want to do either one?”
Melissa “Then I turn you into a toad.”
Frank “Okay fine!! Gareth… Just note… this is what you have to look forward to… always being threatened to be turned into a toad.”
He picks me up carefully, carrying me to Glinda’s room. I knock on her door and silence.
Melissa “Glinda… if I come into this room and you aren’t there, so help me, I will fly and find you, and then you are going to be so sorry not even your father and Gareth will be able to protect you from me!”
~Glinda~
I open the door seeing my dad’s eyes grow wide and Gareth standing back two steps.
Glinda “I don’t feel like talking.”
Melissa “And I don’t feel like listening. Now let me in!”
I open the door and my dad puts my mom down on my bed, making a quick exit.
Glinda “Mom, I really don’t want to talk.”
Melissa “Then listen. You can’t go around using your magic on your ma… protector!! That is unacceptable!!”
Glinda “My WHAT?!”
- Writer
