Althena

53. Queen Of Queens

The next morning, all the normal people are here, except Jax. Cyrus seems confused.

"Why are you confused?"

"This is a lot of food."

Chris sits beside him. "We can never decide what we want."

I get a big bowl of cottage cheese salad. "This is what I want."

"Me too." Chris grabs a bowl.

"What are we doing today?" Conner grabs a cinnamon roll.

"I'm taking her to meet someone who has more than 1 mate. Maybe they can help her somehow."

Conner nods. "Yea, we can all go."

Chris grabs some toast. "I'm coming. But why would they want to go?"

Clayton grabs a steak. "Yea, I'm not doing that. When are you leaving?"

"Afternoon."

"Anything royal today?"

"No."

Cyrus eats a piece of bacon. "I'll go anywhere. I want to see how people live here."

Someone knocks on the door and Conner goes to get it. Then he comes back with Queen Stone. We stare at her.

"Pardon me for interrupting. I thought my son was dead. He does not answer his phone."

"He's not dead. Try this." Chris hands her some cottage cheese salad.

"Sorry, mom. My phone died. I have no idea how to charge it."

"This is excellent. There should be an adapter cable somewhere. Use that."

"Ok."

She leaves with the bowl.

Conner cracks up laughing. "Remember when I flew her across the city because you wouldn't answer your phone?"

"I broke my phone. It wasn't intentional." Mike puts his hand on mine. "I would never ignore you."

Then someone else knocks on the door. Chris gets it and comes back with Drogon's dad. "I was seeing if he's here."

Mike nods. "We'll let you know if he tries to escape."

"Dad, get out."

Storm rolls his eyes and leaves.

Chris grabs for the bacon. "How old are you?"

Drogon rubs his face. "19."

"22. But she thinks I'm 2."

They laugh and I wonder if my mom would have come to check on me. I think she would have. Honestly, I'd probably still be in woodland. This would be my last year of school. Everything would be different. I would never have met any of these people. Mike would still be there. Probably with someone else though. He would never have realized I was his mate. I'd have nothing except my mom. Our little house with just enough stuff for us. I miss it. I miss that life. I miss my mom. I miss the trees. The garden. Millie.

Mike picks me up and carries me into the living room. He sits on a chair with me and rubs my back.

"I miss my mom."

"I know, babygirl."

We sit for a while. Then he collects everyone and we go to the helicopter. We get out in Mystical Moon and go to see what the training group is doing. They're playing baseball and no way I'm doing that again. I go out to the river obstacle course and the whole thing has an alarm around it. I plop down and stare into space. This is stupid. They are making it very clear, I'm not wanted here. Conner tries to unlock it and trips it instead.

Monte shows up with about 10 warriors. He's such an ass. "She cannot play on stuff. She's too young and gets hurt."

Conner punches him in the face.

Monte jumps up and tries to grab Conner, but Mike puts him on his ass.

I get tired of them. The warriors aren't doing anything. I doubt they will. Mike and Conner are too strong. I hide behind a tree and shift to my wolf. He can't close the whole forest.

I pounce around like I love doing. I climb on the downed trees and smell the flowers. Then I snort a bug, I sneeze it out and keep going. Nobody saw. I go right up to the border and watch outside. Out there is freedom. Here there is pressure. Pressure for me never to come back. I wouldn't be surprised if he put an alarm in the garden.

The black wolf I've seen a few times is off in the distance. I guess it's my turn to watch him. He notices me though. He sits and watches me back. Then he slowly approaches. I think he realized I'm alone. He comes right up to the border. We're only a few feet apart. Then he sits. We watch each other. No words can be spoken. He tilts his head and bows it slightly.

He bowed to me. It feels like static goes through me. All my hair stands up and I bounce around. That makes me so excited. I think I can go out there now. He's friendly.

I jump over the border line and stare at him.

He jumps at me and I dive back into the mystical moon territory. He coughs so loudly he chokes. I wait for him to stop coughing and do it again. And again. And again. And again.

Then Mike comes running over with the group. "Babygirl, what are you doing?"

I show him the new game.

Conner rubs his face. "I don't even want to know how long she's been doing that."

The alpha coughs. I sit by him. I'm trying to show them we're friends now.

Then Monte shows up with the warriors. "What now? You cannot be out there. They are dangerous." He reaches for me.

I jump back, and the alpha bites his arm. I hear it break.

"ATTACK HIM."

Mike puts his hand up and smirks. "He has immunity. He's protecting the princess."

"You have got to be f*****g joking." Monte's eyes glaze over.

Then a very strong smell gets to my nose. It's not the smell of a rogue. It's the smell of the forest after a heavy rain. Mixed with freshly cut grass. It's overwhelming though. It's strong. I glance behind me and about 100 wolves are approaching. They walk past me. All of them sit at the Mystical Moon border. None of them cross it.

I check again and another wave of them are coming. They are walking with the woman I saved. She smiles and sits on a downed tree. She pats beside her and I run over.

Chris runs over and sits on the other side of me. "What's going on?"

"We have been waiting for the true queen. We knew she would surface soon."

"How?"

"Prophecy. The true queen will lead us out of a time of war."

"I didn't know there was a war."

"Life is always a war."

"Who are you?"

"The protectors of the queen. We've been waiting."

"What happens now?"

"After she was seen, we started to collect ourselves here. We were waiting for the alpha to make a decision if it's really you. He made that decision today. We are now a pack. A place for you to be safe."

"She is safe."

"It will not always be that way. Her brother's followers want him on the throne. They will fight to put him there."

"He's going to take the throne. She doesn't want it."

"Good. That's not her throne. But his followers won't believe it. She will be in danger here."

"Where is her throne?"

"She will unite the cities. She will be the queen of the world. Queen of Queens. Her throne can be wherever she wants it."

"The prophecy said all this?"

She smiles. "Yes. The prophecy shows unity. We know her title. Queen of Queens. It's coming together."

"What do we do?"

"Nothing for now. Know that our packland will be here. She will be safe here. We will protect her."

"She has 4 mates."

The lady looks at the boys. "We are aware. The kings. We'll build her a big house for when she needs it."

Chris sits up. "Do you know who her mates are?"

She laughs. "Perhaps. But we won't disclose it."

Mike walks through the snarling line of wolves and sits on her other side. "How's it going?"

"Fairly well. Nobody is fighting. Our packland will be about a half a mile away from here. She'll be safe there. You all will."

"Good to know. What do you want to do about this?"

"Nothing. Boys will be boys." She stands up and the Alpha howls. Then they go back into the woods.

Chris scratches his head. "They came together quickly. They were rogues."

Mike stands up. "Yea, they were ready."

"Why weren't they a pack before?"

"They were. But not officially." He rubs my ears. "It's harder to find a rogue than a member of a pack. No pack will get in trouble for what a rogue does. A pack wouldn't dare attack the city, but rogues will."

"They attacked to draw her out?"

"Yep. There were probably rumors floating around about a white wolf. They would have attacked to see where exactly she was. Then tried to watch her. Once they were certain, they made the pack official."

We get back on Mystical Moon territory and the alpha, beta, delta, Monte, and 100 warriors are standing there. "What was that?"

"They're putting their pack territory about a half a mile from here."

"They bit him."

Mike smiles. "He went for the princess with force. He got his hand bit. That's his own fault. You can't grab a princess. He should know better."

Monte gives him the dirtiest look. "That's bullshit."

Mike puts his hands up. "If you want to summon her dad here and let him decide, that's fine by me. She'll tell him what happened, herself."

Chris nods. "He tried to grab the hair on the back of her neck. He was going to drag her back into your territory. It would have hurt."

Alpha nods. "We'll let it go. No reason to summon the king. This is over."

Mike picks me up with one arm. "Good. We have some people to meet."