Chapter 7

The door swung open so fast I had to dive to catch it before it hit the wall. I quietly shut the door, and slid my dagger back into my jeans. A quick glance around and I’m rapidly making my way down the hall to the door.

Squatting down, I crack open the door. My ears are straining for any kind of sound; thankfully I hear nothing. Slowly, I peek my head around the door frame and glace both ways, finding it blessedly empty.

I squeeze my body out of the tiny crack in the door; terrified to open it farther and run the risk of being seen. Sticking to the walls like paint, I creep my way silently down the hall, keeping my eyes and ears pealed for any sign of a person. I guess in this case it would be a wolf. I can’t help but feel like a ninja, the only thing I’m missing is the black get up and some theme music.

I’m finally within eye sight of the front door. My only remaining obstacle is getting past the extremely open living room, a living room that just so happens to have walls made of glass, so you can see the entire room from outside. I notice a couple guards are stationed outside the house as well. Damn! They really don’t make it easy for prisoners to escape.

I think on it for a minute, and I finally decide the best way to get out unseen is to army crawl on the ground. If I can just stay as low to the ground as possible I might be able to make it out unseen. This is definitely going to be near impossible, but I’m just banking on the fact that hardly anybody looks at the ground.

Dropping down on my stomach I start to make the slow trip across the room. Midway across I hear footsteps making their way towards me, and I freeze for a second before hurriedly slithering my way behind the massive TV stand. I frantically look around to make sure I’m covered, but realize that anybody can see me through the window that is immediately to my left, so I try to flatten myself as much as possible. I say a silent prayer that nobody will look in my direction.

Hell must have frozen over because several agonizingly slow minutes later the footsteps retreat. For once luck was on my side. Inhaling a much needed breath, I continue my crawl to the door. I’m only a couple feet away, and desperately trying to contain my excitement. I’m finally getting out of here! I feel like I’ve been trapped for years, even though I know it’s only been a day-ish, but boy does it feel longer! I’m just about to try to figure out a way to open the door, when it opens on its own.

Huh. Weird.

I shrug it off. I’m not about to complain when one of my problems just solved itself. Just as I go to lift my hand up to move I notice a pair of black and green skater shoes. Crossing my fingers it’s not my Amato I slowly raise my eyes to meet a steely pair of brown ones locked onto my own. He raises his eyebrow and crosses his arms, challenging me to come up with a plausible reason as to why I’m here, on the ground and out of my cell.

Immediately I drop my cheek to the carpet and rub it appreciatively with my hand. “Wow! This is the softest carpet I’ve ever felt. What is it? I mean it’s just so soft and clean I had to get a closer look. Whoever picked it out deserves a pat on the back because it’s so soft I didn’t even get carpet burns.”

Andy continues to stare at me, clearly not amused. “I’ll let my mother know. Now do you want to tell me what you’re doing out here, other than appreciating the carpet?”

He looks at me with both anger and betrayal. I feel a pang if regret, but I really need to get out of here to spy on the vampires. If what that one said is true, then I need to find the rest of the Fae. It’s been so long, there’s no telling what they have been through. I won’t let anybody stop me from getting to them, not even my Amato.

“I would think it would be obvious. I needed some fresh air. You know we Fae thrive when out with nature.” The only reason I got away with saying this was because it was a partial truth. I did want to get some air, but my main reason was to escape. I just excluded that part.

He looks doubtful, but since I didn’t sputter or choke he knows it’s the truth. “Okay then. Do you want to tell me how you escaped?”

I level him with a glare. “No, I don’t want to tell you. I will, however, tell you that if you lock me in a cell again it will be the last thing you do. Trust me you do not want to be on my bad side; Amato or not I will kick your ass.”

Again he looks at me doubtfully with a raised eyebrow and smirks, “See, baby, I don’t think you can. You seem to be forgetting that I’m an alpha and a prince at that. I know you can’t kick my ass, let alone get close enough to get a single hit on me.”

He is just so damn cocky that I can’t resist. I tap into my Fae powers moving faster than the eye can see, and punch him as hard as I can in the stomach. I would’ve gone for his face, but it’s just too handsome to blemish.

He instantly doubles over in pain, and drops to the floor.

“What was that you were saying about not being able to hit you?” I hear a few different people burst out laughing, but I ignore them. “You seem to forget who I am. I’m Lily, daughter of the Queen, princess and future queen of the Seelie Court. If you’re going by status and power then I’m afraid you are sadly mistaken if you think you have me beat.”

Once I said I was future queen the whole room gasped then went quiet, and I finally turned to acknowledge them. There were three guys, two teenagers and one older man, and an older woman all staring at me like I had grown a second head.

“Is there a reason you’re all looking at me as if I’m some mystical unicorn?” My voice seemed to break them of their trance, and the older man stepped forward.

“Hi. I’m Dave, King of the wolves. This is my wife Ellen, my eldest son Duke, and my youngest son Cade.” He points them all out. “I believe you know my middle son, Andre” He says with a chuckle looking behind me.

I glance back to see him finally getting to his feet. He sends me a glare full of promises of retaliation; then looks over to his family.

“Bro, you just got owned by a girl,” Duke snickers. “How sad. . .”

I’m sure he would’ve continued, but I just couldn’t restrain my anger. So yet again, I tap into my powers and am standing in front of him in a flash. His eyed widen right before my fist makes contact with his stomach. He clutches his abdomen, and bends over to relieve some pain, his eyes never leaving me.

“You were saying?” I ask with a raised brow.

“Nothing,” He coughs. The other guys are trying to hold their laughs in, but after a minute or so they just give in and burst out in hysterical laughter.

Cade wipes his eyes and looks at me in amusement. “I like you! In a matter of five minutes you’ve managed to knock both of my brothers’ egos down.”

I shuffle my feet uncomfortably. “Ugh, thanks . . . I guess. They’ll learn very quickly not to talk down on people, women in particular, in front of me. It’s just plain rude.”

Andy makes his way beside and throws his arm over my shoulder, sending waves of heat throughout my body. I know my face is flushed, so I shake his arm off before I do something embarrassing.

Andy looks down at me confused, then shrugs and wraps his arm around my waist pulling me to his side. I try to shove out of his grip, but the only reaction I get is a more forceful grip. Finally conceding, I sigh and relax into his side. I glance up to see his entire family watching in an entertained silence causing me to scowl then drop my gaze to the carpet.

“In case you guys haven’t realized yet, this is my mate, Lily,” He says proudly, like he’s showing off his most prized possession.

The thought makes me cock my head to the side in thought. Huh, I guess in this case he kind of is. Although, I’m not really his possession, but from what I know of wolves he’ll treat me as if I am.

That thought instantly brings a frown to my face. I wonder if he really thinks of me like that. If so, that’s going to be coming to an end very quickly. Especially if he tries to control me; which come to think of it, he has tried twice already. Neither time working out very well for him. I sigh out loud; I guess I’m going to have to teach him how to behave properly. A loud throat clearing brings me back to the room. Again, everyone is looking at me curiously.

“Errm. What did you say?”

The king repeats his question, “I asked where the rest of the Fae are. We haven’t heard anything of you guys in nearly eight years. Since you asked for our help against the Unseelie court and vampires, but we never got called to battle.”

I knew this conversation would be coming. I was hoping to be gone before I had to retell my story. “You want the long version or the short one?”

“Short will do nicely,” he replies.

I nod and try to make this short and not so sweet. “As you know the Unseelie worked with the vamps. They had somehow managed to find out over half of our true names, which gives them full command over those whose names they knew. We didn’t have time to call you guys for back up. Using our true names, they forced our side to attack each other and they then took them hostage. The King and Queen, my parents, are the only two that knew my true name.” I can see that Andy is about to interrupt, and I’m ninety percent sure of what he wants to know so I get to it first.

“Before you ask, no, Lily is not my true name. It’s just a nickname, and no I will not tell you my true name. I was only eleven at the time, and my mother knew nobody could control me, so she told me to run. When nobody came to get me several hours later I went back. There were about fifty bodies lying around, but there were no other Fae in sight. It’s like they all just disappeared. I looked for years and couldn’t find a trace of them.” I have to take a moment to collect myself, and risk looking at all their faces.

Each and every one of them are looking at me with sympathy while waiting for me to continue. Andy must feel how tense I am because the next second he squeezes me a bit tighter and urges me to go on.

“Up until a couple days ago I believed them all to be dead. You know that day you guys found me with the vampire?” Andy and Cade both nod. “Well after I confused the hell out of him he slipped up. He told me that if I kept belittling him he would put me with the rest of my kind.”

“Put you with the rest of your kind? What does that even mean?” Andy asked me confused.

“Well I’m assuming that once the vamps helped the Unseelie Court they took the Seelie Fae hostage. Although, now that I think of it I haven’t even seen any Unseelie Court members since then either.” It just dawned on me that all of them were gone. I truly was the only one out here.

“Hmm. I wonder what happened to them?” I hadn’t realized that I’d been thinking out loud until I heard a grunt of agreement.

Shaking my head I went on. “But as I was saying, I was about to make my way to the vamps mansion when someone,” I give Andy a pointed look, “decided it would be a good idea to throw a rock at my head, knock me out, kidnap me, and then lock me in a cell.”

He at least has the gall to look embarrassed. That embarrassment vanishes as soon as it appeared, and is replaced by anger and determination. I cower back a little, knowing that nothing good comes with that look.