“It’s been confirmed,” Chris said, changing the subject and looking somber again.
“Confirmed, are you sure?” Lily asked as she lifted her bottle for another drink.
“Yep, the five prisoners that escaped last week Silvano and Bianca are among them,” he told her then set down his empty bottle, pushing it a little bit from him and Lily set her bottle down, no longer desiring to have another drink.
“Wonderful, just freaking wonderful,” she said sourly. Silvano was a local vampire king that had first come to assess Lily when they realized she was different. At first he seemed only concerned to make sure she wouldn’t succumb to blood lust like most newly made vampires did, but when Xavier was dealt with the vampire king went against Aequivalere orders and tried to kill her simply for the fact she was a hybrid. In response the Aequivalere had him and Bianca, his liege imprisoned.
“The rumor is that they are going to call you in,” he continued and Lily glanced over at him with narrowed eyes and he held up his hands. “Just what the rumors are. I’m not the only one that’s heard them either Xin Qian has heard them too.”
“I have no clue why. I’m not a guardian nor do I have any kind of fighting skill besides the pure brutality of my monstrous personalities,” she stated, but he simply shrugged in reply. “Well if it’s really true then I guess I’ll be hearing from the higher ups soon enough,” Lily finished.
They continued to drink for a little longer, remembering times before Xavier had messed with their lives as they always did when the anniversary of Lily’s changing came around until both went their own way home. Lily unlocked the door of her small apartment with a little smile, hearing the excited giggles of A. J. “Hey Wendy, I’m home” She called out when she stepped into her home, closing the door behind her.
“We’re in the kitchen,” Wendy called out. Feeling the tension of her work with Veronica and from the news Chris had given her ease out of her shoulders she walked into the kitchen to see Wendy handing A. J. a piece of carrot with an almost sheepish expression.
“Nice try but I can spot a wolf in sheep’s skin a mile away,” Lily told her. “How many cookies did you feed him this time?”
“Only two, I promise…” Wendy told her and Lily narrowed her eyes at the teen.
“Yeah two, like I believe that. You are so lucky you’re the alpha’s daughter or I’d eat you,” she teased her and Wendy scoffed at her.
“Like I hadn’t heard that before and just so you know dad said go right on ahead,” she told her with a laugh and Lily smirked at the teen.
“You know I use to think I was good at pissing off your dad but I’m starting to think Nick just has a low tolerance for women,” she said with a thoughtful tone that cause Wendy to burst out laughing.
“Oh, I’m so telling him you said that,” she said, getting A. J. out of the high chair and handing him to Lily.
“Please do. It’s been nearly a month since he’s threatened to kick me out no matter what Aequivalere has to say about it. I’m starting to think he doesn’t care about me anymore” Lily said with mock worry. Nick was the alpha of northern Montana pack and didn’t like Lily’s lack of respect for his position. He also didn’t seem to appreciate that his daughter tended to share the same lack of respect. Lily had no idea why he blamed her for it.
There was a sound of a car horn indicating Wendy’s ride was there to take her home. The teen huffed in a complaint. “I wish he’d just let me drive! This town doesn’t have enough people to actually have traffic,” she complained as she left. Lily shook her head and kissed her son’s cheek.
“And how was your day?” She asked him and he prattled a quickly garbled response that only allowed her to discern a couple of words. “Well I hope that’s good then,” she replied, walking to his bedroom to get him ready for bed. It wasn’t long before he fell asleep and Lily sat on the floor next to the small bed. She brushed his dark hair that was only a couple shades lighter than her black hair while she watched him sleep. It still amazed her just how much he looked like James.
Really the only thing she saw of herself in him was her bronzed Native American skin tone, the rest was an almost mirror image of his father. Her stomach clenched remembering that James had no idea that A. J. existed. At first she excused her silence by the large possibility that A. J. would have never made it to term but when he did and came into this world as any other healthy infant she deluded herself into believing that she wanted to make sure he was healthy as he seemed before she told anyone. Now she was running out of excuses, even bad ones, for her silence.
James had a right to know that he was a father, she knew this. Just as she knew A. J. deserved to actually meet the man she had told him about several times but every time she picked up her cell with the idea of telling James she remembered how once their bond was broken he had seemed to completely forget that she existed. She allowed herself to believe it was proof that anything James had felt for her was simply because of that stupid mate bond.
The feeling of rejection hurt her more than she had ever admitted to anyone and Lily couldn’t stand to see A. J. rejected in the same manner. Maybe when he was a little older the rejection wouldn’t hurt so much or maybe A. J. could understand that like Lily’s mother, James didn’t want to have some mixed blood child dragging him down or at least that’s what she told herself.
Her cell rang, breaking her out of the painful thoughts and memories and she stood, quickly answering it. “Good evening Lily,” Queen Hazar greeted with her silky smooth voice filled with its strong Arabic accent.
“Good evening Queen Hazar, I was talking to Christopher Lyons earlier and I have a feeling you would be calling me,” Lily replied, leaving her son’s bedroom.
“So you know the subject of my call then good,” the Queen stated. “I request that you come to the manor tonight as I wish to take immediate action in retrieving the former king and his liege.” Lily inwardly groaned; stating that she was requesting Lily to visit her was just a polite way of telling her to get her butt over to the vampire queen’s home ASAP.
“Of course, I will need some time to find someone to watch my son but I guess I can be there in about an hour or so,” Lily told her, trying her best to keep her tone neutral and not irritated as she felt. Her therapist Charlie, another vampire, explained that giving into negative feelings, like irritation, would prevent her from moving on from her past and living in the present.
“Actually it will be closer to an hour and forty-five minutes,” the queen replied, clear amusement in her voice as she obviously had one of her little flashes into the future and Lily slowly and exaggeratedly rolled her eyes but had a small smile on her face.