Filed to story: The Rise Of The Lycan Queen
“I know, I just…” I glanced toward the window, not sure how to proceed.
“She was trying to protect all of us.” Mason sat at the table, bringing our coffees with him, and patted the seat next to him for me to sit. “She doesn’t want to worry you two.”
“But that’s our job.” Kassie pointed at herself. “I want to worry so we don’t find out weeks later that a vampire is stalking you at work.”
“Stalking? Work?” Mason turned his head in my direction and narrowed his eyes. “I thought we were finally on the same page.”
“I referenced it at the witch’s place.” Okay, I wanted to take it back. Doing this was stupid, but there wasn’t anything I could do about it now. “One of them keeps showing up at my work.”
“Where do you work?” Mason’s shoulders tensed.
“The Flying Monkey.” I hated the name. “It’s just ten minutes from campus.”
“Yeah, I know where it is.” Mason frowned and crossed his arms. “What do you do there?”
“I work in the kitchen.” I sat next to him and placed my hand on his arm. “Mainly wash dishes, but I have to help with serving food when we get busy. That’s how he saw me.”
“Great, when do you work again?”
“Next weekend.” Brad had told me I better have my hot ass back. I figured I could leave that part out of the conversation.
“We made her take this weekend off.” Kassie frowned as she picked up her cup of coffee. “Honestly, I’m not thrilled about her going back.”
“It’s not like it’ll matter.” Mona sighed as she plopped into the seat between Kassie and Mason. “They know her scent. They can hunt her down.”
“Not only that, but one of them was at Mason’s …” Oh, shit. I probably shouldn’t tell them that, “…gym last night. He recognized me while Mason was changing out of his sweaty clothes.”
The corners of Mason’s lips tilted downward. “Yeah, I wish I would’ve killed the bastard.”
“Me too,” Kassie grumbled. “But I bet humans are around where you’re working out, so that wouldn’t go over well.”
“In my defense, I still thought she was human too.” Mason leaned back in his seat and took my hand. “And I’m worried that she hasn’t shifted. That’s not normal.”
“We’ve told her the same thing.” Mona ran her fingertip along the rim of her coffee cup. “But we do understand her reasons.”
They weren’t sure how much he knew. “Last night, he learned everything after he had to take me to the witch’s shop.”
“You went there again?” Pure rage flamed in Kassie’s eyes. “After all this shit with the vampires?”
“They already identified me.” The last thing I needed was to be lectured. I was well aware of the risks. They still treated me like a child at times. “So I don’t think a few more drops will make that big of a difference.”
“I understand you’re mad,” Mason’s tone turned cold, “but don’t talk to her like that. You didn’t see the state she was in last night.”
He reminded me of the Mason I first met at that moment. He was protecting me. “My wolf forced her way to the forefront, and I almost shifted. I’m not ready to face him.” I hadn’t meant for it to happen, but my voice cracked.
“Don’t be so hard on her.” Mona dropped her hand back onto the table. “She’s had so much thrown her way.”
“You’re right.” Kassie cut her eyes over at Mason. “Both of you.”
“I think I might have found a way she can shift, and the king won’t know.” He turned his body in my direction. “When your dad said he could feel all his people, was it every wolf here or only the alphas?”
“I don’t remember.” I had been so young it was hard to retain everything.
“It was alphas.” Kassie nodded her head in my direction. “He told me the same thing, and that’s what you are. You were born to rule as Queen.”
“But what if she submitted.” Mason squeezed my hand.
“No way. She can’t.” Kassie slammed her hand on the table. “She’s not made for that.”
“No, I want to do it.” That was the perfect plan. “Would it be to your father?”
“Yeah, or even one of these ladies.” He pointed to Mona and Kassie. “As long as you aren’t the alpha, your uncle would never know.”
“And I could be a true shifter after all this time.” I glanced over to Mona. “What do you think?”
“Will you be happy?” Her eyes met mine.
“Are you seriously entertaining this idea?” Kassie’s mouth dropped. “She wasn’t made for that.”
“Maybe fate intervened when my parents were killed.” It hurt to say all this stuff, but what if it was all true? “Have you thought of that? Maybe Darren was always supposed to be King, and I was supposed to figure out a new way of life for myself.”
“You don’t really believe that, do you?” Kassie’s forehead furrowed, and she leaned toward to me.
That was a fair question. “The thing is none of you are worth losing for the crown. I’d rather submit and be happy instead of always living in fear. I want to be with my mate and not worry that my uncle will appear and take everyone that I love and care about away.”
“And this will make you happy?” Mona took a deep breath as she stared at me intently
I glanced at Mason and then them. “Yes, I believe so.”
“She’ll have to go to your father.” Kassie shook her head and bit on her bottom lip. “I can’t have her submit to me.”
“So, I’m the only one stuck with your grouchy ass?” Mona arched an eyebrow and winked.
“Yeah, our pack will remain small with the two of us.” Kassie pointed at her. “But good try.”
That was one of the points of contention right after we lost my parents. Neither one of them wanted to be alpha, but eventually, they had to choose since being rogue was taking a toll on them.
“Will your father accept me?” He was my only hope at this point.
“Of course he will.” Mason grinned and leaned toward me. “When I told him I found my mate last night, he was so happy. And when he asked if that meant I’d be leaving and I told him I didn’t think so, he asked if you’d want to join our pack.”
Maybe this could work out after all.
“I told him I would talk to you about it.” His voice turned warm. “If you don’t like it with my pack, we can go find another one to join together.”
If I wasn’t already falling for him, I would have at that moment. “That sounds fair.” Granted, I’d never want to make him leave his pack. “So how does this work? Submitting?”
“As long as you recognize him as your alpha, you’ll be good.” He reached out to touch my cheek. “Do not feel pressured to do this. I was only trying to help solve a potential problem. If you don’t want to do this, we can cut off this conversation now, and it’ll never be mentioned again.”
