Filed to story: Sorry Alpha I Am Wolfless Novel
Hopefully, we still have two or three days until the battle starts. That was the time frame for Talia’s other visions. Three days. That was how long she had had after each vision before the Jaegan acted on the images that she had seen. This most recent one, as different as it felt to her, should follow the same time frame. I hoped anyway. There was just no saying, especially considering that it was not the same type of dream or vision that she had had before.
We stood around in the courtyard of the castle as the others arrived steadily. Joaquin, Vincent, Shawn, Dietrich, Shane, David, Riley, Landon, Trevor, Athair m贸r, Carter and Noah were all there with me as the steady stream of men and women arrived to help us out. They were directing the people to where they were supposed to go. They were helping me to guide these people even though, as their Queen, it was my responsibility. That was fine though. Hadn’t I been told many years ago that I needed to let others help and to do their fair share of the work? If I tried to do all of this myself, I would probably mess up and send the soldiers to some random location as they tried to come through the door. Nope, delegate and accept help, that’s what I needed to do, and I was making sure that I did just that.
“I think that is it for now.” I nodded as the two dozen doors seemed to be done with their stream of warriors. It had been steady at the beginning. Then it became a trickle that was slowly pouring through the doors, and now it was like someone had turned off the faucet altogether. No one was coming through at all anymore. At least, I didn’t think that they were.
Just as I started to close the doors, there was someone that started to yell.
“Wait! Wait! I am coming too.” A boy, and that was all that he was, yelled as the door started to fade.
“Huh?” I looked at the door that his voice was coming through. It was the one that was in the south of England. It was connected to Nigel’s office in Wolfhamm.
“Arthur!?” The man yelled back at his office as a boy of sixteen burst through to our side.
“Hahh. Hahh. Made it.” Arthur was grinning as he looked around. “Oh wow, a real castle.”
“What the hell are you doing here, Arthur?” Nigel growled at his son.
“I want to help.” Arthur was looking all around as he spoke. “I am a warrior too.”
“You’re sixteen.” I countered his words.
“Yeah, and that makes me a man in most cultures.”
“Not in ours.” Nigel was angry.
“I want to help.” He got angry and argued with his father.
“I told you not to come here.”
“I don’t care.” He stood his ground, and was toe to toe with his dad. “I am old enough to make my own decisions. And I want to be here. I want to help the King and Queen. It’s my duty as a man and a wolf.”
“Arthur!” Nigel was about to yell at his son.
“Don’t worry, Nigel.” I put a hand on his shoulder. “He can help.” I gave him a meaningful look. “Arthur, when the battle starts, I need some men and women to protect my younger children. Will you be able to do that?”
“What?!” He looked shocked. “I wouldn’t be on the battlefield then.” He was heartbroken.
“Not initially, but if the fighting breaks past us, you will have to fight to the death to protect Princess Zaley, Prince Zachary, Prince Zander and Prince Zayden. And you will be protecting them along with Princess Rika and Prince Reagan. It is a major thing that I need to make sure is staffed properly. Can I count on you to protect my children?” I knew that this arrangement would satisfy Arthur’s need to show that he was a man, and Nigel’s need to protect his son.
“Yeah. I can do that with no problem, Queen Riviana. I will protect your children with my life.” He put a hand over his heart and bowed to me. Was that a gesture that the people of my kingdom had gotten together and discussed? Did they talk about the proper way to bow to the Queen if they ever met her in person? I didn’t know for sure, so I wasn’t really able to rule it out.
I was about to dismiss them all when there was a sudden and frantic voice in my head.
鈥楺ueen Riviana!?’ Kiernan, one of the two scouts sent to look for the Jaegan, sounded panicked and worried. I wondered briefly what it could have been about, but I didn’t linger on the thoughts for long. I could just ask him what was happening.
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Kiernan
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“We are sending the two of you.” King Joaquin’s voice was firm and steady as he looked at me and Javier standing in front of him. We had been summoned to the Queen’s office after they had wrapped up a meeting earlier.
“We have been given a general location.” Queen Riviana continued as she explained in more detail. I knew what it was that we were supposed to be doing. And the reason behind it as well.
The King had gone out last night to arrest a group of murderers. I hadn’t been part of that group, but I knew about the mission. And I was happy that I was being chosen for this trip. One of the men from last night, one that was not particularly loyal to their family members, told us the approximate location of the cabins that their leaders were staying in. And the two of us needed to narrow it down. The King and the Queen wanted to march on them and take the battle away from the city. They didn’t want to be blindsided by an attack that came to their home, and I didn’t blame them for that at all. For one thing, all the children of the King and Queen were at the castle. And, furthermore, all of the children of their guards and family members were there as well. It was supposed to be a safe place for them, and a battle happening in the courtyard would not be good for any of them.
Queen Riviana explained the general location and everything that the man, Gustav, had told her about the leaders of the Jaegan. I didn’t know much about this family, or group, or whatever they really were. However, I did know that they were the ones that were responsible for killing all those people. All the super naturals that were on the news in this country and around the world. Though the humans didn’t know that they were shifters, magic users, vampires and others such as those. They had been murdered, and these people were the ones that did it.
…..
When Javier and I left the castle, I wasn’t scared at all. On the contrary, I was excited, happy, and proud. My King and Queen were showing trust in me. They were showing me that they knew that I was loyal to them and could do my job. What more of an honor could a soldier such as me hope for?
As we started off into the mountains about twenty miles out of the city, I could feel that my eyes were practically glowing. That was something that happened often, since I was a feline and my eyes picked up the light so easily, but I knew that this time my bright yellow eyes were glowing because I was excited. And my rusty, reddish brown hair seemed to be standing on end. I knew that this was also from my excitement that was coursing through me. If only Javier, the bear shifter that was accompanying me, was as excited. He seemed nervous and scared from the moment that we left the castle. And he didn’t speak at all as we entered the mountains in search of the off the grid cabins.
The location that we were at showed no buildings when you looked at a map, and that meant that these were either new builds, or secret builds. No one would really care if there were cabins out here, and I was sure that this was privately owned property, so they had every right to build these cabins, but it was still unnerving to not know what was out here.
I knew that we were getting close to where we needed to be though. Queen Riviana and King Joaquin had made us smell the bad men that were in the dungeons. They stank to high heaven. Which I found weird. Why didn’t the ones that were working with us smell like that? If they were all from the same family and group of people, shouldn’t they smell the same? And I guess there was a lingering sort of odor that clung to them, but it was nowhere near as horrible as it was coming off of the others. It smelled rotten and dead, but they were alive. It just didn’t make any sense to me at all.
“Keep a sharp eye on the terrain.” Javier said as we started to get higher into the mountains. “They might have some sort of booby traps out here.”
“I doubt that they will, but don’t worry, I will keep an eye out for it.” I saw that he was a lot more wary of these people than I was.
Since we were on the right trail, evident by the smell, I didn’t really think that this tracking mission was going to be that hard. We followed the smell further and further into the mountains until we came across a more leveled off section. The two cabins that we found there still had the support stilts that one needed to build on terrain like this, but it wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be. And the domiciles were also a lot different than I thought that they were going to be.