Mia
“We are almost there.”
I snorted at Quinn’s words, hoping that he said that for his own benefit and not mine. I was going to flip out if they were for me. I was strong, stronger than I looked. I kept telling them that but they wouldn’t listen. They needed to stop treating me like a baby or a deformed bunny. They made uncomfortable and insisted that I was meant to have gotten used to their preferential treatment of me by now.
Get used to what? As if it was that easy. I snorted at the ridiculous idea. If only they knew how much the independence streak in me cringed at their overprotective attitude, they would have stopped all this while. Or would they? I thought again. I didn’t think so. Those boys were so arrogant and self-conscious that they believed themselves to be better. They would have told my independent streak to stop being stubborn if it was a person and they could meet it.
I couldn’t wait to have my transformation complete and maybe they would learn to stop seeing me as the weak, helpless human girl and finally admit that I was strong. I doubted that they would, remembering what they had said on the island of Gayalluc. I sighed. It seemed like I was doomed to be treated as a porcelain doll wherever they were.
It wasn’t that I didn’t like being doted on but I didn’t want to be stifled. I wanted to show my strength and skills. I also wanted to impress them as they try hard to impress me. I didn’t just want to be a pretty face that they were in love with, I wanted to be more than that. How hard was it for them to accept that?
It was a horrible feeling to realize that turning into a wolf wasn’t going to change much things where the boys were concerned. I sighed and wanted to scream out loud in frustration. I was going to get back at the boys for this. I promised myself that I was going to.
I chuckled to myself as a wicked thought flew into my head. I couldn’t wait for the night I was going to turn into a wolf for the first time. I promised myself that I was going to sink my claws so deep into the butts of the boys as a payback and wouldn’t let go of them until they cried out in pain. Maybe then they would know what pain they did to my pride by always acting overprotective.
“Mia, watch out!” Quinn screamed as he scooped me off the ground.
I blinked, jolting back to the present as I wrapped my hands around his neck in instinct.
“What happened?” I asked, my voice shaking as I stammered in fear. It had been so sudden that I was rattled. Why did he suddenly pick me up like that?
“Look!” He said, pointing to the ground.
I blushed, looking at where I was. I had been so lost in thoughts that I hadn’t realized that I was going down a dangerous path. I had walked far ahead of the boys and wasn’t looking at where I was going. If Quinn hadn’t rushed over to my side with his supernatural speed and scooped me off the ground, I would probably be dead by now or badly broken. I would have tumbled down the cliff before me and broken my neck if I had hit my leg over that stone and fallen over to the edge.
The thought of being dead sent chills over me and I began to shiver. It was a scary thought to know that I could have been dead some minutes ago. It wasn’t a comforting thought at all.
“Thank you!” I shivered as he placed me on the ground.
He nodded. “You are welcome. This is why we always act like mother hens around you.”
I blushed. He didn’t have to remind me of that. It was embarrassing that I had almost killed myself because I was thinking of how to stop them from being overprotective. I was glad that he didn’t read minds or we were going to have more issues than this. He wouldn’t stop reminding me of how much I needed their protection and I should stop being stubborn.
“Thank you.” I breathed and comported myself.
Regardless of what happened, I was glad that it was Quinn who had come to my rescue and not Jack. If it had been Jack, he would forever tease me about it, reminding me of how big of a superhero he was.
We were almost at the borders of the land of the vampires. We had crossed the sea, scaled the mountains and walked through the thick bushes that separated our land from theirs. It hadn’t been an easy journey but that was our best bet. If we had used a plane, we would have been noticed and they might even think that we were coming to wage a war with them, ruining the chances of a peaceful conversation and truce that Quinn had in mind.
There was no how a car could have survived this journey. We had to make the journey to the land of the vampires in the traditional manner and here we were.
“Cinderella, you have to be careful here.” Jack teased me. “We are about to get to the dangerous land.”
I rolled my eyes at the title he had given me. “Don’t be so sarcastic. I’m not Cinderella.”
“Why are you not?” He snorted. “Because you don’t have an evil stepmother? Come on, look at us. Here are your princes, always ready to save you.”
I snorted in amusement even though I rolled my eyes to show him that he was being ridiculous. Jack would never change. That would be asking too much if I expected him to. I knew that he was going to talk about the rescue even though it hadn’t been him.
“I’m not a damsel in distress.” I hissed at him.
He chuckled. “But you agree that we are princes. You didn’t deny that.”
“As if there was a point in it if I tried to.”
“Shh!” Quinn turned back to us. “Let’s keep it quiet. I can hear voices.”
We nodded and kept quiet, silently cleaning our faces and changing into new clothes, discarding the dirty ones we had used to travel. If we wanted to resolve this with words, it wouldn’t be in our best interest showing up before the king of the vampires looking like we were homeless.
We had barely finished dressing up when I heard footsteps around us. We all tensed and looked at one another. Jack seemed like he was going to start fighting once he saw the people we were about to see but I wasn’t bothered about it and my mind was at peace because I knew he wasn’t going to fight.
We all had our instructions. Quinn had told his brothers – Jack especially – not to fight and I knew that he was going to listen to him. They might all be brothers of the same age and right but Quinn had some privileges as the next alpha of the silver moon pack and he used it well when the situation demanded it.
This was one of them.
I wondered if it was the confident way with which he carried himself as one who was sure of himself and his position that made me fall in love with him first. I shook my head and cleared out my throat. This wasn’t the time to be distracted.
Quinn leveled a stare at his brothers and they nodded at him. He stared at me and I nodded as well. I totally understood him and wouldn’t affect the plan. The plan was to get caught and we were not to struggle if that happened. That was the only way that we could meet with the king on time and resolve whatever it was that needed to be resolved.
Two men jumped out at us and I held my breath as they walked towards us, their faces shining with annoyance and bloodlust.
“Who are you?”
I had no doubt that they were vampires. They looked pale, their skin as white as snow and their fangs showed in their mouths as they talked, sharp and pointed that I was convinced that syringes as much as I hated them weren’t the most painful thing in the world.
That would be the fangs of these beings. I couldn’t begin to imagine how it would feel if they sucked in their fangs into someone’s skin. That must be a lot of pain the person would be in except the vampire decided to take away the pain.
I hoped that the there wouldn’t be any issues here and I wouldn’t have to deal with a vampire sinking his teeth in me. I was with the werewolves they had raided, I didn’t think that they were going to be nice to me. I sincerely hoped that the conversation with the vampire king was successful as Quinn hoped.
“I’m Quinn. I believe your clan came to raid my house. It’s only proper that I come to say hello.”
“Our clan didn’t do shit to you, werewolf, so stop lying and get on your way.” The one who had spoken first said.
“Are we playing pretense now?” Jack growled.
Quinn looked back at Jack and he groaned. Jack blushed and looked away. I looked at the vampire who had spoken and sighed. I didn’t think he was playing pretend. He seemed honestly confused and annoyed that we were there. I frowned, wondering if we had made a mistake. Had they not been the ones who had come to our house? Had we come to the right land?
“Pretense? Don’t be ridiculous. Go back now, werewolves and there would be no problem.” The second one repeated what the first one had said.
I frowned. These men seemed to be in charge of securing the border. Was it possible that they truly knew nothing about the attack on our house?
“We need to see the king before we leave.” Quinn insisted.
“You will be dead meat if we take you to the palace of the king so go now while we are still being nice.”
Quinn smiled at the two guards. “Thank you for your concerns but that was why we came and we wouldn’t be leaving until we have seen the king.”
The guards looked at us as if they couldn’t believe their eyes. I almost laughed. I didn’t think that they had probably seen anyone as stubborn as we were but they hadn’t seen anything yet. They stared at us, hoping to discourage us by staring down at us and ignoring us but we didn’t budge. They had another thing coming for them if they thought that we were going to turn back and go because they wanted to stare down at us. If only they knew that we had a lot on stake here, they would have taken us to the king as we asked instead of wasting their time thinking that they were wasting ours. We wouldn’t leave here until we had Albert with us and the staff member of the house in case they had taken any with them. The butler had run off the moment he sensed danger and couldn’t be much help. He had no idea if some of his colleagues were taken by the vampires or they had all run off for their lives as he had done.
After some minutes, the guards sighed. “Fine. Let’s take you to the king. It’s your loss if you all end up regretting it. Don’t say you haven’t been warned.”
We breathed out in relief and smiled as we walked after the guards into their city and towards the palace. We had done it. We were soon going to be out of here with Albert with us. How we were going to carry a statue with us without any mode of transport, I didn’t know yet but I trusted that Quinn already had it covered.
I was only too relieved that we had made it into the city of the vampires without any confrontation. We didn’t know any better. If only we had known, we would have asked the guard what he meant by saying he hoped we didn’t regret our wish to see the king instead of assuming that he was only trying to chase us away because we were werewolves and they didn’t want our kind in their land.
We didn’t know at that time that we were in for an adventure we hadn’t expected and weren’t fully prepared for.