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While we sat there, he washed and rinsed my hair then conditioned it with a touch worthy of a hairstylist, gentle, firm, and enough to make a girl purr. Then he set me beside him and stood, washing himself off before he stepped out of the shower and grabbed some big fluffy towels.
I was asleep before he finished tucking me into bed but, even in my dreams, I knew he was there. Sometime in the dark hours, he woke me and made slow, magical love to me again. It was good to have Dean with me again.
In so many ways.
Chapter Twenty
“Jillian, we’re here. If this damned GPS is right, we’re here. I guess this is the kingdom.”
I’d been playing tic-tac-toe on my whiteboard with Shane who was now sharing the backseat with me. Unlike reading, it didn’t seem to upset my stomach. Creek was driving, and Dean kept turning around to smile at me. We were whole again.
I drew a line through the three Xs I’d connected and turned my attention to the road in front of us. Grabbing Shane’s hand, I watched on as we meandered from highway onto a gravel road through evergreens and pines that seemed twice as tall as any tree I’d seen before.
“Doesn’t look like any kingdom I’ve ever seen,” Creek muttered. He wasn’t the keenest on coming here but would support me no matter what. But that’s what they called it, when it came down to it. The alpha had referred to it as a pack, but the papers he stuffed into Creek’s hand had called it a kingdom. What the heck did that even mean? Wolves didn’t have kings…did they? And shouldn’t something look familiar here?
Nothing did.
But since the council had demanded it, we really had no choice. I preferred my head attached, thank you very much.
We made one swift right turn after the other until Creek slammed on the brakes. In front of us stood the largest house I’d ever seen in my life, surrounded by other houses that made the alpha’s house look like one of those pastel-colored playhouses the pack kids had.
“Whoa. Someone is compensating for something. All of a sudden I’m intrigued.”
Dean made the joke, and while my other mates laughed, I didn’t. I knew this place. It pulsed inside my brain like a burst of energy, forgotten and hidden from me but now deciding to come forth. My breaths lagged and then became shallow while I stared up ahead. People filed out all around the palace, going on about their daily business. My eyes shifted to the top center window, and somehow I knew that they were watching us from that vantage point.
They knew we were here.
I began to shake my head against some terror within these walls even though there weren’t walls. I felt trapped and my chest constricted with the pain.
My parents had been here with me. I had played here. Seen these trees before. The air even smelled like some faraway memory I couldn’t quite put my finger on.
This truck was entirely too small.
I got out after wrestling with the handle. My mates were all asking me where I was going, and their tones got more and more concerned as they realized what was going on.
This place was hell. Somehow I just knew it and I wanted no part of it.
There was only one road out of here. My feet began to move almost on their own accord. Gravel was flung in every direction. The wind hit my face like I was running against it. My mates were hot on my tail but I was faster than them, especially in my panic.
All I wanted was to get the hell away from this place, from this place that spelled nothing but disaster.
Chapter Twenty-One
With three mates who all had much longer legs than mine, I had a zero chance of getting away. But that didn’t stop me from trying. Memories flooded my mind, things I’d forgotten or hidden or stuffed behind a wall of trauma so severe, it was a miracle they were even there to find. Scar tissue had sealed them there until now.
Shane got to me first and scooped me up in his arms. “Mate, hug me and laugh. As if it’s a game we’re playing.”
Was he insane? They’d never believe that. Who would? You didn’t show up like a frolicking pup to meet the people who killed your parents, who had left you and you sister alone in the forest to die. At least I thought that’s what they did with her. She was like me. Damaged.
“I know it sounds absurd, but people believe what they want to, and the high council would believe anything before thinking you were defying them by running away. I’m going to put you on your feet, we’ll get your whiteboard and pens, and we’ll march in there like you own the place.”
As much as I hated the idea of entering any of the buildings on this property, the alternative would get not just me but my mates in hot water with the high council. And they were anything but forgiving of disrespect. Apparently they hadn’t minded the coup that had destroyed my family. The images of the people I’d loved flooded my mind, leaving me staggering, but Shane tucked my arm into his and smiled down at me as if nothing was wrong.
I’d have to shift to convey how much was wrong to my mates. It would take too long to write it. And there was no time for that now.
In the stone archway leading into the castle—manor, castle, it rode the line—stood the black suited butler who would always be there when guests arrived. Same guy as when I’d lived there, and somehow that stiffened my spine. Had he known what was going on? Had he gone along with it? Servants, even high servants didn’t control what their masters did, but I’d have sworn he’d have done anything to protect us. He treated my mother like a queen. Well, she was a queen…but he treated her like he wanted to do it, not like he had to.
I shrugged my arm free, tipped my head up, and glided toward him, as if arriving home from an event of some sort, as if I’d been gone hours instead of decades. My mates were in my wake, allowing me to do what I needed to do, to take care of my business.
