LouisaThe pack was growing worse by the minute and I paced back and forth wishing that Liam would return. If anything happened now. If they broke through the defenses, we had. I would be all alone. I heard footsteps coming and when I looked up, he walked into the office. It felt as though he had been gone forever, but he had actually only been gone for a couple of hours.I ran straight into his arms and he clung to me. While stroking my hair, he tried to comfort me, but the noise from outside was drowning out his words. He lifted my chin and I looked into his eyes. I saw a confidence there I hadn’t even noticed before.“You are safe. I will make sure you stay safe. Okay?” He frowned, and it was as though his words and his confidence were giving me confidence. “Now, the men in prison all admitted to the crimes, and they also confirmed that nobody else was involved. The people you hear out there are upset because their alpha has been taken prisoner without a reason. We …” He hesitated.
HelenaWhen we received the news that everything was okay, I felt as if the weight of the world had been lifted from my shoulders. The missing grain was on the way back, but Liam and Louisa were spending a couple of days in the northern kingdom just to make sure that everything would stay okay. Having all of these different regions made it very hard to run the kingdom.It was just the way things were, and we had no other choice but to take care of all the people. Not that I didn’t love taking care of them. I just sometimes wish we weren’t the royal family. Now that there was peace again, the reality of my life came sharply into view.I needed to make a decision. If I put it off any longer, I would have another surge of heat and that would be very bad for our kingdom. From the stories I heard about the first time, it was really tough keeping the single male wolves out of the castle, and it was worse for Bennie.He was across the hall from me. I looked at him as he gave the warriors the
LouisaThe news that Helena and Bennie had finally accepted each other came at just the right time. Liam was planning to stay in the northern kingdom for the winter, but I knew Helena wanted us to be there for the ceremony.“We can come back here in the spring. I’m sure it’s even more beautiful then.” I tried to convince him that it was for the best, but I could see he felt torn between his duty towards his people and his duty towards his sister.“If something happens while we are gone …” Liam’s voice trailed off, and I put my arms around his waist, looking deep into his eyes.“Then we will deal with it. How much trouble can they really cause during the winter, Liam? Nobody can go very far.” I shrugged and he nodded.“You are the reason to my wild side.” He smiled as he pulled me closer and kissed me. With that decision finally made, we started packing and, in the morning, we left the northern region. I had made a point of calling it that, since it wasn’t really a kingdom anymore, and
LouisaWinter in the kingdom was usually very beautiful. Cold as hell but beautiful. I got up in the early morning hours after Helena and Bennie’s ceremony, and the entire world was covered in a beautiful white blanket. It looked so soft and inviting that I couldn’t wait to get out there. Soon the snow will be so thick that we won’t really be able to go out and do much.“Liam! Get up! Get up! It’s snowing. Helena was right.” I squealed with delight and jumped on the bed like a kid at yule.“Okay, okay. What about good morning first? Then a kiss, and then we spent the day in bed.” Liam grinned and I rolled my eyes.“There is no way I’m missing the first day of snow, mister. Get up!” I squealed as I jumped out of bed before he could seduce me. I felt like a young kid as we changed into winter clothes and made our way outside. All around the square and even up in the mountains, you could hear people laughing and screaming while they played in the snow.The smaller children were building
LouisaOur entire family took turns taking care of me for a couple of days, while Liam took care of some business. He was still very worried about the northern region and what might have been going on over there. The snow hadn’t stopped falling for over a week when he came to see me looking very upset.At first, I thought something might have happened in the north, but I didn’t want to push him while he paced back and forth in front of our bed. I waited patiently while he huffed and sighed and pulled his fingers through his hair until finally, he turned to look at me.“I hate this. I hate being so busy and not being able to spend enough time with you. How are you feeling?” He looked worried, and I smiled to try and ease his concern.“I’m fine. Our mothers have made sure to give me all the advice they could, and I haven’t been sick for two days, which feels really great.” I shrugged and could see his shoulders relaxing. “Are you so stressed because of me?” I frowned and he sighed befor
Helena“You can’t. You just can’t, Bennie.” I frowned and all around us the small council went silent as soon as my brother and Louisa walked in. Her appearance drew the attention of the small council away from what Bennie was saying, but as soon as the meeting started, I was ready to run for the damn hills.“Your majesty, I would like to volunteer to go to the north.” Bennie stood up as the meeting started, and I wished the earth would just open up and swallow me. I asked him not to do that. If it wasn’t safe for my brother to be there now, it sure as hell wasn’t safe for Bennie!Sadly, my mate heard about what had been going on and how worried Liam was, and he thought it was the perfect opportunity to prove he was worthy of his new title. Liam frowned for a moment and then looked at me.“Well, sister. I take it you have something to say about this?” Liam looked amused as soft mumbles could be heard from the rest of the small council. I could say no and then that would be the end of
LouisaI thought Bennie was being very brave, but I also knew that speaking up like that during a small council meeting did not bode very well. Bennie and I were only there to observe, really. We didn’t have any authority unless … Unless our mates were killed. I could also imagine how Helena must be feeling. She didn’t want me and Liam to go, and now Bennie was going.I wished that there was something I could do to ease the burden on all of them, but this was what we were here for. We were the royals. We had to be strong and do the difficult things to protect our packs. To protect everyone in our kingdom. If something really was brewing in the north. We needed to know sooner rather than later.I joined the small group in the armoury in the late evening. Liam wasn’t happy that I wanted to be there, but I felt that someone had to be there to comfort Helena. It broke my heart to watch her as she said goodbye. It broke my heart to watch all of them say goodbye.Liam didn’t want anyone to
Helena“I haven’t heard a word for two days.” Liam hissed as I walked into his office and my smile turned into a frown. We took all week to get the nursery ready and Louisa was waiting to surprise Liam, but what I just heard nearly stopped my heart.“Liam?” Tears stung my eyes as I looked at him. My hands felt numb as my fingers interlaced, and my knuckles turned white. “Did I hear that right? You haven’t heard from Bennie?” My heart, which almost stopped a moment ago, started racing, and I felt the darkness tugging at the back of my mind.“Helena, that doesn’t mean …” What he was saying and what his face was showing me were two different things. I took another step forward and everything went dark as my legs gave way under me.BennieI was so tired