Filed to story: Sorry Alpha I Am Wolfless Novel
“Oh, she is upstairs.”
“Y..you had the baby?” Aunt Glory asked in a stunned voice.
“Yes, this morning, just past midnight. She was a little eager to make her appearance.” I was acting like there was nothing at all wrong with what was going on. I moved toward my chair, but the others were taking up the issue.
“S..so Queen Riviana had the baby last night?” Dolan asked and looked at the others in confusion. “She had the baby last night and is already here, back to work?”
“Yes, Dolan. There is no time to waste here. We need to keep things moving along. I understand that this is not the conventional way to do things. And had this happened during any other time in our lives, I would have taken time off to spend with my baby. As it is, though, there is just too much that is happening in the world right now. If I don’t take care of all of this, then there is no future for me or my baby. Don’t worry though, I am fine and so is she. We’re all healthy and doing well.”
“Where is the baby?” Kirk asked, looking around as if he thought that she was there with us.
“She is with family at the moment. I wanted to talk about the different things that were important to us all, and to the issue at hand. We need to find Orson, and we need to put an end to this war that he is trying to wage.”
“I agree.” Athair m貌r rose to his feet and nodded at me. “Once that is all done, I will go with Riviana to see my great, great, great, great granddaughter.”
“Your what? How many greats was that? Wh..what is going on here?” Kirk, who had so recently looked excited about the baby, was looking at Athair m貌r with eyes that said it all. He couldn’t believe what he had heard, and was wondering how old Athair m貌r really was.
“Son, I am one of the original three Fae, me and my sister here are two of the triplets born directly from the mother, Danu. I am over three thousand years old. And Riviana is one of my descendants.”
“Wow.” That was all that Dolan had to say, Kirk on the other hand, seemed to be stunned into silence.
I took a seat at the head of the table, Joaquin next to me in an equal position. The guards standing behind me in the formation that they usually took when protecting me in a meeting. It was time to start this discussion.
“Alright, by now we all must know what happened, but if not, allow me to recap.” I proceeded to bring them all up to speed on the attack and bombing of the stadium the day before. The DOE member that got away. The show that was sent to us by Dolan. And the conversation that I had had with Dayton. They knew that the NSA knew about Orson now, so they would be looking for him as well. It was unlikely that Orson would be able to attack us directly, with so many people searching for him. Still, I wouldn’t take any chances. I wanted to make sure that he was captured before anyone else was able to be hurt.
“So much happened in just one day.” Aunt Glory said as she shook her head.
“That mad man is really trying to blame that man’s death on you? He thinks that anyone will believe that?” Athair m貌r spoke next, his voice sad and filled with pain. “Anyone that watches the video would see the truth. You said that the blood was pooled around him. They can’t believe a word that Orson is saying.”
“Whether they believe it or not isn’t the problem, Athair m貌r.” I looked at him with saddened eyes. “There are people out there that do not need a reason to hate us. They want to hate us and are just looking for some sort of justification.” This seemed to strike a chord with several of them. And I saw that Dolan looked a little uncomfortable. He had joined Orson when he started the DOE because he wasn’t sure what else he was supposed to do about the news of us nonhumans.
It was clear that this uncomfortable situation was getting to Dolan. And there seemed to be something that he wanted to say as well. I think that he was just wary of interrupting us in the middle of the conversation. He was human, and we weren’t.
“Dolan.” I called out to him. “Is there something the matter?”
“I am sorry, Queen Riviana. I didn’t want to interrupt you, but I think I might know where Orson fled to after the incident at the tunnels.”
“Do not be afraid to tell me what you need to, Dolan. We’re different species, but we’re all still people.”
“I know, but, I mean, you’re a Queen.”
“And Queens need to know what is going on.”
“Not in other countries.” He and Kirk said at the same time.
“Fine, this Queen needs to know what is going on. I lead my people, gentlemen. I fight alongside them, and I advocate on their behalf. I don’t let them face these things on their own. That isn’t the right thing to do.”
“You’re quite amazing, Queen Riviana. Did you know that?” Kirk looked as if he was watching some sort of superhero at work. His eyes were lit up and shining brightly.
“I appreciate the confidence.” I nodded at him. “Now, Dolan, if you know something, please tell me what it is.”
“Well, there was a backup location. The tunnels that we were in before were just one of the places that Orson had prepared. About fifteen miles or so away from the city of Benkelman, Nebraska, there are some caves that we found. They are hidden in the mountains and hard to find, but we scouted them out. There were emergency provisions there as well, so they would be able to hide out for a little while.”
“You know where these caves are?” I asked as the door to the room opened quietly. Talia was coming in, Reeselynn in her arms. She told me telepathically that the baby was hungry and needed me.
“I..I do.” Dolan stuttered a little when he saw the interruption. He didn’t know where they were.
“That is good.” I took the baby, smiled into her face, but didn’t stop talking. Not even when I started to reach toward the fastening of the maternity bra I was wearing. I was about to feed the baby without a care in the world.
Joaquin growled a little, Shawn draped a blanket over my shoulder, and Dolan and Kirk seemed to gasp in surprise.
“Riviana?” Joaquin snapped at me.
“What?” I asked him, not even looking up as I positioned the baby for her meal. It had been a long time, but this was something that you never forgot how to do.
“Everyone here could see you.”
“I don’t mind.” I told him, not letting it bother me.
“Of course you don’t.” He sighed in exasperation. “Cover up first next time, OK.”
“I didn’t even cover up, Shawn did that for me. I hadn’t even thought that he was prepared for this.”
“We all were.” Shawn said with a smile. At that, I turned to the others and saw them all pull out a small blanket. They were ready to cover me when I needed it.