~Trixie’s Point of View~
Ten o’clock. It couldn’t get here fast enough! This morning’s training was taught by William, and the princes were nowhere in sight. The females all gossiped about where they could be, but I only cared about one. Ten o’clock. The magic hour when Damien would be waiting … just for me. He’d be meeting just me.
Breakfast seemed to take forever, then I had an hour long hearing activity where we sat in the woods and tried to pick up on sounds and notice animals without seeing them. They wanted us to do it as pups and then again once we had our wolves since our hearing would be drastically better then. They wanted us to see the difference.
I couldn’t really pay attention. Ten o’clock, that was the only thing I could think about. My mind raced w
~Dawson’s Point of View~ Ever since the whole finding my mate debacle I’d pretty much been holed up in my cabin and I’d missed a few classes so I was probably going to get fussed at. I had always had a very disciplined and structured life and now this little … this little… Ugh. I couldn’t say a cross word about her. She was consuming me, the more I thought about her the more my mind wandered. My heart was desperate to know more but my mind said that would just make it worse. KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK “What,” I yelled, not wanting to look up from the letter I was writing. “You may enter,” I then said, dryly. I took a deep breath and didn’t recogni
~Trixie’s Point of View~ My head was still throbbing with the brutal rebuff from Damien. I really hurt his feelings, but he didn’t even give me a chance to explain. I went through the motions of the evening, but I mostly tuned everything out. I couldn’t focus. Maybe if I could find a way to get him alone then he would listen to me. I made my way back to the cabin after what seemed like an endless day that had started out so good, with so much promise. Just to end with a giant knot in my stomach. There was a male outside my door who looked bored out of his mind. “Are you…” he trailed off, looking at his paper. “Trixie?” I nodded, unsure
~Trixie’s Point of View~
~Dawson’s Point of View~ 17 hours... That's how long it had been since I said the words. How long it had been since she looked at me like I wrecked her world. What I never expected … was what it would do to me. My head was throbbing, and there was a dull ache in my chest. No matter what I did neither of the feelings went away. Was she feeling this too? At some point last night I felt even sharper pains for a few minutes, but they went away. I had to wonder if she was crying, if she was upset. Would I always feel her in some way? I hadn’t even marked her, I didn’t understand how this was possible. I had to hold onto the belief that it would dull in time. It absolutely had to. I couldn’t live like this o
~Trixie’s Point of View~ When I got back to my cabin after my heartstopping morning with Damien, Jeanette of course grilled me about where I’d been all night. I didn’t know what to tell her. “Girl where you been?? It wasn’t like you to just not come home, you all right,” she said, a million miles a minute. I sat up and sighed. “I’ma let you think about what you’re not going to tell me, but you’re fixing to tell me something,” she said, eyeing me and wagging her finger. I grinned. I was so terrible at fibbing I knew she’d see right through me. If I said I was mated to a lycan prince would she even believe me? I barely believed it
~Trixie’s Point of View~ I had a bit of a chat last night with Mila and we both agreed to try and move forward. One day at a time, that’s all we could do anyhow but still. Dwelling on losing my mate wasn’t going to do either of us any good. I was at training, unfortunately Mallory had been following close to me once she saw Damien and William were leading the class. Whatever she thought she was going to get from me, I didn’t know and having to constantly keep my guard up was getting old. “Hey everyone, can I have your attention,” William said, waving his hands for everyone to come forward. I stood frozen, but secretly hoping he’d say Dawson fell off a cliff.
~Trixie’s Point of View~ “What’s something we can do here that you’ve wanted to do but never thought possible? Never dreamed you could do it,” Victoria asked as we walked away from my cabin. “Well I had always wanted to learn to swim and I took some lessons with William. He was very nice and patient with me,” I said, pointing toward the lake. “Oh that’s nice. No swimming in your kingdom then I take it,” she asked. I wanted to laugh out loud but it was hardly appropriate. “Nope, none,” I just said. “What’s over that way? Let’s explore,” she said, her eyes wide with excitement.
~Trixie’s Point of View~ “So you’ll come today right,” Victoria asked, looking way too chipper. “It’s a nature hike,” I asked, a bit weary. Not to mention I doubted I had the stamina to really keep up with her. Morning training thankfully had just been led by some regular counselors but it still wiped me out. “Yeah it’s a hike and a chance to see the waterfall, some of the counselors were talking about it,” she said, just as William happened by our breakfast table. Her eyes locked on him and I definitely noticed. “Princess, did you sleep well,” Dawson said, dropping himself at our table. The way he said “princess” made me want to kick
~Two Years Later~ ~Willow’s Point of View~ “It’s so dang hard to believe isn’t it,” Jeanette said, as we watched our mates and pups swimming in the lake. We made a pact that every year, during our birth month we would come back to camp, if only for the day. You can do that kind of nonsense when you’re a royal with a helicopter at your disposal. Of course there were so many of us now the poor pilot had to make two trips. Maybe three depending on how many people wanted to come. “It really is,” I said, shifting my son Dylan in my arms. He was only a month old and certainly not ready for swimming. But we’d get him there. Thankfully he slept through anything and everything, and if he woke … well a boob in his fac
Ten Weeks Later ~Willow’s Point of View~ Trying to find a new normal when so many of us in the palace were still totally new to this life must be what it’s like for a first grade teacher. Kids that are somewhat eager to learn but mostly want to play with their friends and just have lunch and recess. Only us pregnant hippos loved our nap times. It seemed like all we did was have meetings and eat. I wasn’t complaining since I knew it was all important stuff. But it definitely seemed like we were all just making it up as we went. We had some “guidance” but no real adult to stand there and say ‘this is what you do’. Jeanette and I often joked that we were playing house and the real owners would be home soon. It
~Dawson’s Point of View~ The ladies had now been in mom’s room for nearly an hour. Watching them on the cameras made me absolutely sick. They also gossiped freely, truly believing no one was listening. They trashed mom, talked about how she didn’t appreciate her fine things. But oh, they would. They would take better care of her stuff. They were all far more deserving. They already had plans for certain gowns, for upcoming events. I hoped they truly enjoyed their last minutes of freedom and complete indulgence. I was ready to reign down absolute fire on these damn females. At least five pieces of jewelry had been pocketed. They did it without a second thought, and bragged about it. I had to leave the room several times because I got so pissed off. I just saw red. Befor
~Willow’s Point of View~ I absolutely felt this was an all hands on deck situation. I was currently standing in my mates’ office along with Draven, William, Victoria, Jeanette, Brad, Mom, Nicholas and some others that Dawson insisted were their top security people. He was confident they were absolutely trustworthy. I quickly told them my vision then my plan and everyone stared back at me in shock. “Those raggedy bitches,” Dawson said, slamming his fist into the desk and causing splinters to fly. He got one stuck in his hand and my mom quickly went to work getting it out. “I just had this feeling there was something more we were missing. Some
~Willow’s Point of View~ Draven arranged for Victoria, Jeanette and myself to meet with Delia’s girlfriends. I wasn’t sure exactly why it had to be us specifically but I supposed they felt it would grease their wheels. It would be easier to talk with three pregnant she-wolves than with four huge and intimidating lycans. Two that have big crowns on their heads whether they actually do at the moment or not. I supposed talking to anyone with the word ‘King’ in front of their name would be nerve wracking. Although I really enjoyed the talks I had with Dante. He was very easy to speak to, but maybe that was because I was mated to his son. He may not have been as warm and welcoming with everyone. Now, I would certainly treasure them. The tender moments we shared.
~Draven’s Point of View~ For three days now I’ve been an orphan. My entire life the big legacy of the Dubois Drexel families was drilled into my mind until I could recite our family tree by heart. In some regards I felt as if it was all slipping away. I looked at my brothers and our mates and knew that wasn’t true but it still seemed that way. You can take all the precautions in the world, have the finest security. Live in a damn palace and it doesn’t matter. Feeling safe is just that, a feeling. It’s not real. I put my head on Jeanette’s shoulder as the minister began to speak. Our family believed in cremation, at least half your ashes were to be carried by the wind. The rest could be buried or kept b
~Damien's Point of View~ By the time I got back to my mom’s room, dad had fallen asleep. His heartbeat was a bit slower than I liked and his color was off, but I didn’t see what we could do about it. I ordered another bed to be brought in and I didn’t know why I didn’t think of it sooner. It took my brother and I along with two male nurses to get him into the bed and situated. We pushed the beds together making one. Draven then joined their hands. Dad seemed just as lifeless. I wanted him to wake up and fight with me, argue with me about staying out all night. Tell me I wasn’t going to amount to anything. Just say something, have life behind his eyes. He looked nothing like the virile and strong King he was just a month ago. I knew Draven was having the same thoughts.
~Willow’s Point of View~ We literally had no way to get an unconscious Dawson out of the medical ward without anyone seeing. It was bad enough I just ran through like someone was dying, people would want to know why. I hated having to be so accountable to people, having to explain myself. It was quite a burden to shoulder. *Can’t just walk around naked huh? That sucks. Guess what I can do that,* Mila said. I nearly snorted. Like I didn’t know. Ever since the incident where she almost made me pee my pants during a rather important time, she’s been constantly reminding me of things she can get away with and do that I can’t. *What’s wrong with our mate,* she asked, as I stroked his hair.
~Dawson’s Point of View~ She couldn’t die, I wouldn’t accept that. For all her faults she was my mother, the only one I’d ever have. She gave her entire life to her children, to the crown. To the Drexel dynasty. Half the palace was gathered outside the medical ward, desperate for word. The word was, she was in a coma and it wasn’t likely she would wake. The staff loved mother, they were all highly devoted. When Willow brought to my attention that Maxwell could have potentially poisoned something in her room, we literally gutted it and sent all her products for testing. We were still waiting to get the results back, I’d just gotten off the phone with the lab and after some choice words they promised to have it all done today.