Chapter 3

(Juniper’s P.O.V)

           Hearing Euan calling my name made me relax slightly after the shit show of a day I had, thanks to Grant Howard and his little gang of douche-kabobs. After he got in trouble with Aunt Morrigan, he took it out on me verbally and so did his friends. They knew better than to physically hurt me. Getting into Euan’s car, I’m surrounded by his scent: leather with a hint of cardamom. As much as my parents’ individual scents calm me, his calms me even more than theirs.

“So, Queen Junie, your birthday is the day after tomorrow. And as tradition dictates, we are going on an adventure.” Euan says as he pulls out of the school parking lot.

            I can’t help the smile that comes to my lips because he always treats me like a queen even though we aren’t dating nor are we mates. At least, I don’t think we are mates.

“Does that mean you want me to pick our adventure?” I ask, not signing to him.

            I don’t speak around many people, but Euan is different, plus he’s driving and shouldn’t take his eyes off the road.

“Of course, it does! Last year we went to the beach in Oceri and had a picnic together. We could go to Eferhile and see the Light Meadow for the Goddess Danu.”

            I had heard how beautiful the Light Meadow was from Aunt Morrigan when she told Uncle Rian, that she was pregnant with the twins.

“Can we please? I’ve been wanting to see it forever.” I respond.

“Of course, Queen Junie.” He says, in a mock formal tone.

            I couldn’t help but giggle, though it sounds more like a bark than anything else, I try and hide my face in embarrassment.

“Don’t do that.” He whispers, putting his finger under my chin.

           I realize that he’s stopped at our spot, the spot that we go when I’ve had a hard day—which is basically every day. The lake on the pack territory that is surrounded by wildflowers and lavender, it’s my favorite place to be. No one ever comes out here and we are always free to just…be. Euan gets out of his car and comes around to my side, ever the gentleman, to open my car door and help me out. We walk hand-in-hand to the lake in silence. That’s what I love about him and our friendship. There was never any pressure to fill the silence with useless babble. Sometimes it was just nice to BE with someone, without having to fill the quiet, to just bask in one another’s presence. We sit by the lake, Euan placing his hand on my knee.

“Want to talk about what happened today?” He asks.

“What’s there to say? I know your mom told you what happened with Grant.”

“Obviously, but she wasn’t there all day. Did anyone retaliate against you for that?”

“Of course, they did. You know that Euan.” I sigh.

            He knew that the moment he left my side at school, I was fair game to everyone because they knew I would never tell him on purpose what they did out of his eyesight or out of his hearing range.

“Who was it?” He growls.

“Not going to tell you. You don’t need to get a reputation for beating the members of the kingdom’s asses for the Royal Beta’s defective half-breed daughter.” I say, anger lacing my tone as I look down into my lap.

            Euan grabs my chin and forces my head up, making me look at him.

“You. Are. Not. Defective. You are smart, beautiful, capable, and the most amazing person in the Lunar Realm.” He whispers, his eyes showing so much love for me.

            That love takes my breath away. Does Euan love me? Like, romantic love? Not like, “Oh hey, you’re my best friend’s baby sister and basically like a cousin,” love? Oh, how sweet it would be, to be loved by Euan Leonard O’Connor.

“Euan,” I murmur.

            He leans in, and I swear he’s about to kiss me when a howl goes up through the pack lands.

“Rogues.” He growls.

            That word alone makes my body go stiff; my eyes widen in horror. My father may have killed the wolf that tried to kill me but the other rogue that was with him managed to get away before the pack warriors could get to me. Euan picks me up and rushes us back to his car, peeling out on the dirt road, flinging dirt and rocks behind us. I see wolves running through the forest, marking our car. I couldn’t recognize any of them, that meant…

“Rogues found us.” He says.

“Euan.” I whimper.

“I know Junie bear; we’ll get back to the safe house I promise.” He murmurs, trying to shake off the rogue wolves that were now running alongside us.

            We couldn’t lead them to the safe house, and they were intent on following us.

Where were the warriors? I thought to myself.

“There was a huge breach on the Eastern side of the pack. How the rogues got this far into the kingdom I have no idea.” He growls.

           The rogues come from a territory known as the Rogue Lands. It doesn’t just hold rogue shifters, it holds rogues of all supernatural species. The only reason you would end up there is if you were banished from your kingdom for breaking laws, and it wasn’t just any law broken. It had to be severe enough to warrant the banishment. Euan puts his foot all the way down, the gas pedal hitting the floor as we zoom past the rogue wolves, leaving them in a cloud of dust.

“Almost there.” He whispers, whether to reassure me or himself, I’m not sure.

           Suddenly, they come out of the forest and are running alongside Euan’s car. The proximity makes me whimper and tears well in my eyes.

“Don’t worry Junie bear, I got this, just hold on tight,” Euan murmurs.

            He jerks the steering wheel into the set of rogues on my side of the car, hitting two of them and making three of them back off. He tries to do the same to the rogues on his side of the car, but they knew what he was going to do. The rogues fall back as we get close to the packhouse, knowing that warriors are going to be closer to the packhouse than out in the open like we had been. The car comes to a screeching halt, and Euan jumps out of the car as I shakily unbuckle myself. Euan rips my door open.

“I’m carrying you.” He says before bending down and picking me up out of the car.

           He runs at werewolf speed towards the safe house, the howls and growls of shifters fighting reaches our ears. I put my head into Euan’s chest and the tears fall down my cheeks, flashbacks coming one right after the other.