Filed to story: Sorry Alpha I Am Wolfless Novel
“Oh, she’s a cutie.” I smiled at the baby that was perhaps two months old, if that. “She is going to grow up with little Reeselynn here, isn’t she?”
“Looks like it.” He laughed and nodded. “I wanted to make sure that I showed her to you. I happened to be in town when Dad called and told me that there was a family get together. It’s been a long time, and I wanted to tell you how happy and proud I am to know you and consider you a part of my family.”
I had not been expecting this. It was out of the blue and it set off the waterworks again. I could tell that I had confused Conner and his wife, who both stiffened and looked a little worried.
“Thank you, Conner. That means more to me than you can imagine.”
“Are you alright, Aunt Riviana?” Conner asked in a worried tone.
“I am. It’s just been a tense year for me. Well, not quite a year, but several months. There is a lot that has happened, as I am sure that you know. And I am just a little overwhelmed by it all. Honestly, I am happy that you came to see me.
That you said that to me. It is helping me to cope with it all, to know that I have done the right thing.”
“You’ve always done the right thing, Aunt Riviana. Even when I was a little boy, I knew that. You were always the nicest grown up I had known at the time. You should know that we all love you, even the ones that aren’t here all the time, we all love you and are happy that you’re a part of our lives.”
That moment was random, and completely out of the blue, but I knew that I had needed it, and was so very thankful for it. Conner will never know how much that comment that he made helped me to get through the rest of the night and to brace myself for the news of what happened after the incident at the stadium was over.
He gave me what I needed to face the rest of this war that was stretched out before us.
****
Riviana
****
The ‘not quite a party’ party lasted until late at night. It was the weekend though, so I didn’t care. The kids didn’t have school, most people, aside from guards, didn’t have work. And we were able to just sit around and do nothing in the morning. I was sure that the bulk of the issues following the incident at the stadium would come on Monday morning, when the week actually started for people.
My plan was to just sit around the tower and pretend that the world didn’t exist. I was going to let Vincent, Shawn, Dietrich, Shane, David, and Gabriel take most of the day off as well. They didn’t need to come and protect me when I was just sitting around and vegging out with the kids.
They showed up though. Not quite as early as they usually did, but they were still there by eight in the morning. I was awake of course, because Reeselynn was up every couple of hours to be fed. And I was sitting in the living room with Joaquin when they came in.
“Are we heading to the office then?” Gabriel asked as he looked at me. I was dressed, but not for work.
“What are you talking about?” I clearly showed him how confused I was by the comment.
“There is a lot to discuss, Queen Riviana, I am sure that you want to stay on top of these things. And you want to be prepared when Odin comes to see you again, don’t you?” I had nearly forgotten that he had said he would come to see me soon. I didn’t want to let him catch me being a slob in my living room, not that there was anything wrong with that, it just wasn’t all that Goddess-like.
“Alright.” I sighed and got to my feet. “We can head down there, but I am bringing the baby.”
“We figured.” Shawn said with a smile. “Her bassinet is still down there.”
“Is it now?” I smiled at him. They were always so prepared when it came to things for me and the kids. Like the incident with the blanket the other day. They had known me so well that they were ready for it. Then again, they had had to do similar things in the past, so they probably just planned ahead because of that.
“Let’s go.” Shane was smiling, but he seemed to be a little more somber and serious then he usually was. I wasn’t sure how I felt about that.
The lights were on and there was a fire roaring when we entered the office. They had gotten things ready for me in advance. That was why they had been a little late when they came into the living room earlier. It made me smile, knowing that they were always thinking about me. I was their Queen, but it was more than that. They were family to me, brothers.
“Alright, so we have some things to worry about.” I said as I nodded at them all. They were sitting in their chairs and facing me. “The first is the incident from yesterday. We know that it didn’t go as well as it could have. And we might be facing backlash because of the disastrous ending.”
“You know what, Riviana,” Shane shook his head at my words, “it’s that right there that made us bring you here today. You seem to think that it was a giant failure. That everything ended so horribly.” He sighed loudly but with a smile, so I knew that it was all for show. “Hahh. You know that yesterday was actually a huge victory for you, right? You did everything right.
You saved the humans that had been fighting. You saved the humans that had been trying to kill everyone else. And you tried to save that Orson asshole. You did nothing wrong, and the world saw all of that.”
“Orson still died though. And I know that there will be people that blame me for that.”
“Not really.” Vincent said as he pulled out a laptop. “You know that creep, Jeffrey Packard, the one that had Orson on his show multiple times?”
“Yeah.” I nodded my head at him, not sure I wanted to know what Packard was saying about me murdering Orson.
“Well, he has gone to radio silence. He hasn’t posted a single video about what happened, even though you know that he saw it. Now, he might have been arrested as part of the DOE, but if he wasn’t, then you even managed to convince him that you’re not a monster.”
“Well, that is just one person, not the world.” I pointed it out to him. “And he was probably arrested, as you said.”
“Maybe.” Shawn said as he continued the dialogue. “But I am going to guess that you haven’t seen the news.” He pulled out the remote for the screen that was across from me, the one that Vincent’s computer was connected to wirelessly. “There are a lot of people buzzing about what happened.”
“Yeah, I gathered as much. And I am sure that it is mostly-.”
“Positive.” David interrupted me. “They are not against you, Riviana. Most of the people out there know that you did everything that you could to save the humans yesterday. All the humans. There is also a lot of buzz about Odin, and how you’re so powerful that you stopped a God.”
“Th..they’re not scared of me?” I asked him, not sure if I should believe what I was hearing.
“No, the majority of the humans are raving about you. Even the sites that used to post nothing but hate speech. They have deleted all their old posts and have been non-stop talking about the amazing Riviana Gray and how she was a savior to the human race.”
“B..but why? They hated me so much before, and now they are acting like they were the ones that were personally saved.”