Quinn
“Do you know Ava is pregnant?” Mia asked as we got to the house we were to stay in. It was the same one we had stayed in when Rudolph got out of prison.
I was glad that they didn’t give us another house. We were already comfortable here and wouldn’t have to start worrying about getting comfortable in another house.
I looked at Mia and smiled. Her face was lit up with smiles as she spoke. She must truly be happy for her friend. I looked at her belly and imagined how she would look like when she was pregnant with my child. Even though she would be round with our child, I knew she would be beautiful still.
Mia continued talking and chuckled. “She says she wants it to be a boy so Ethan would have an heir as soon as possible but he wants it to be a girl. He says he wants a beautiful princess who looks just as adorable as she was. Aren’t they both cute?”
I smiled. The only thing that was adorable to me was her and the smile on her face. I could watch her all day long and listen to her talk without getting tired.
“I know.” I nodded.
She looked at me in surprise. “What did you already know? That she is pregnant or wants a boy?”
“That she is pregnant.”
“Oh! I guess Ethan told you during the meeting you had.”
“Yes, he did but we already knew she is pregnant before he did.”
“How?” She asked, narrowing her eyes at us.
I laughed. “Take it easy, wolf. A vampire who is pregnant is not a secret. You would have noticed that she looks paler than the others if you had observed.”
“Oh!” She muttered.
“Yes. You would have if you hadn’t just been gushing to each other of everything you could talk about.” Jack added.
She giggled. “Don’t blame me. I missed her and got carried away with seeing her again.”
“Aren’t you going to ask us what the meeting was all about?” I asked.
She chuckled. “Contrary to what you believe in, we didn’t just spend our time giggling and gushing over each other. She gave me ideas of how to be a good baroness and also told me of the reason Ethan had sent that letter.”
Oh oh! It wasn’t until Mia had talked of being a baroness that I remembered that I hadn’t heard the girls shout when they had shared their good news with each other contrary to what I had assumed they would. They were really unpredictable and I was surprised. I couldn’t hold back my grin that I had been caught off guard.
“Okay.”
“What did you tell Ethan?” She asked.
“What do you think?” Jack asked.
She grinned. “I knew it, boys. It’s time to prepare for war.” She shouted in a loud playful voice.
I winced. “Keep it down. The vampires can hear you. Ethan doesn’t want his people to worry about a war.”
Instead of keeping it down, she shouted again. “Come here, boys and I will have your eyes for dinner.” She lowered her voice and winked at us. “What do you think? Now, they will think we are playing in the house. They wouldn’t think that we were talking of a war happening in their land. Brilliant, right?”
I looked at her in amusement and the others started laughing. She was crazy but I still liked her. I nodded at her. “Yes, that was brilliant.”
“Let’s get to bed.” John yawned. “We have a long day tomorrow. We have to go over strategies with Rudolph and teach the soldiers new strategies they are not familiar with.”
Jack nodded. “I’m sure it is going to be a long day for everyone tomorrow.”
For the soldiers, especially. I thought in my head. They hadn’t had to fight in a war before as their land was always peaceful and they probably had been learning only the basics. We were about to drill them and make them go through tactics that would almost break their legs but would make them stronger.
“Don’t worry.” Mia said. “You can all go to bed since you have a long day. The same doesn’t apply to me as I don’t have to train or train anyone. I doubt I will be allowed to join the war.”
I growled. “Even if you are allowed to join the war as a werewolf, I wouldn’t allow that as my mate. I doubt Ethan would allow his mate to join the war as well, pregnant or not.”
Mia chuckled. “My point as well so don’t get overworked up, wolf.” She teased. “Since I guess I only have to keep Ava company while the men train, I think I can wake up anytime I want. I don’t have to rise early as the three of you so go to bed and I will arrange all our stuff. I will sleep when I’m done.”
I nodded. “Don’t stay up late for too long.”
She snorted. “We only brought a bag with us. What could I possibly be unpacking that would make me stay up late for too long.”
John chuckled. “I’ve never been more glad that we packed light.”
“Me too.” Jack agreed.
We were about to get to bed when we heard a cry. We all rushed out of the house without hesitation. The sound had come from the palace and we got there with our hearts filled with fear and logged into our mouths. A crowd was already gathered at the palace and we pushed through to the front to find out what was going on.
Ava, Ethan and Rudolph were outside with the palace chiefs and some of the guards looking at the crowd crying and talking over one another. From the resignation on their faces, I could tell that this scene wasn’t new to them and they were tired of it already. I could guess what was going on but I had to ask anyways.
I moved closer to Rudolph, leaning in beside him and whispered in his ears. “What happened?”
He whispered back without turning his head and speaking through his teeth, his eyes fixed on the crowd. One wouldn’t have known that he was speaking if they weren’t close enough to hear his whispers.
“Same as usual. Another set of people has been waylaid and beaten up while hunting.” He replied.
I followed his cue, keeping my gaze fixed on the dramatic crowd who were crying and throwing their weights against the floor. I kept my expression blank as I watched them and talked with Rudolph before it was thought that I was laughing at them.
“Hunting?” I asked. “Weren’t they supposed to have stopped hunting ever since the attacks started? Isn’t there any alternatives to getting blood than going into the forest to hunt?”
It was possible that the other clan who were attacking them were closer to the forest and getting into their land from there. I didn’t think that the forest had boundaries as it was a large one and I had heard that it had paths that led to other lands if one didn’t know his way around the place.
The forest didn’t have boundaries but had markers which showed where it ended for one land and began for another. It was possible that the soldiers of the other clans could have snuck into their land through the forest and using the trees and flowers as a disguise, waiting till they had to what they wanted to do.
They really needed to stop going to the forest till everything was resolved. I sighed as I looked at the wailing crowd. I thought they would all have realized it by now.
Rudolph snorted and slowly rolled his eyes. “Tell me about it. As if the people would listen. As if Ethan hadn’t told them not to go there to hunt but feed slowly on the animals kept as pets in the land till everything is resolved but they wouldn’t listen. They preferred the adrenaline rush they get when they have to chase the animals before they can feed on their blood.”
He growled in anger. “They dared to defy the king’s orders and then come here wailing as if we beat them up. What did they expect Ethan to do now? Dress up and chase after the men they couldn’t describe? Men who would have left? Did they expect him to promise to get back at the men on their behalf? We could have prevented this drama tonight if they had listened.”
I chuckled at his sarcasm, without caring if the others saw me. He was angry and I couldn’t even blame him. I would have felt the same if I was in his shoes. He was right. We all could have avoided dealing with this drama tonight if they hadn’t disobeyed their king’s orders.
I glanced at Ethan and saw that he was trying hard to pretend he wasn’t angry at the crowd. It was obvious that he was tired but was trying to be the leader he was to them. I sighed as I watched his dilemma and hoped that I wouldn’t have to deal with problems and disobedient people like this when I became the alpha of the pack.
I would have ordered them to be flogged for disobeying my orders before listening to anything. He was really nice that he hadn’t ordered the guards to decorate their butts with whip marks and leave them crying and being an eyesore.
I could finally see why they had been shocked when he was possessed by the dark wizard and threw everyone in prison.
Rudolph sighed. “It sounds funny but it is not. They are making me angry enough that I want to beat up the men who had gone into the forest against orders. I want to have them flogged for being stupid even though they had already been beaten badly. I can’t say this out loud but being beaten serves them right. They would learn to listen next time.”
I smiled. This was why we had agreed to be friends when we were leaving. He was just my type of person.
“I know, right?” I grinned.
He scowled. “We were all about to sleep early so we can prepare for the long day we have before us tomorrow when we heard the cry. You can see we all aren’t dressed the way we would normally appear.”
I looked around and saw that he was right. I didn’t know what else to say again except join him in looking at the crowd. Finally, Ethan was able to calm them down and he had the guards walk them out of the palace. He called for an emergency meeting as soon as the yard was clear of the people.
I sighed as we all followed him to the palace. It was obvious there was not going to be anyone sleeping early tonight. As I looked around at the faces of the others, I realized that I wasn’t the only one with the depressing thought.
At that moment, I wanted to turn back and join Rudolph in beating up the idiots that had caused this.