A Wolf's Duty (44 page)

Examining the earnest look
on Alex’s face, Ilyanna found it didn’t match up to the scent the
young woman was giving off. Feeling bolder and braver in the
Princess’ company that she ever would have been with any other
member of the royal family, she placed Alice against the cushions
of the sofa before sliding down to sit down on the floor beside
Alex, fixing her with an intent stare. “You’re lying.”

“Ilyanna,” she
sighed.

“You should never lie to
one of us, we can tell.” Alex’s shoulders slumped forward as her
deception was revealed. “Now what’s really bothering
you?”

“I’m lonely,” she mumbled
under her breath, slightly ashamed of the admission.

“Lonely?” Ilyanna
questioned, slightly confused by the statement, her expression
reflecting her bafflement. “I know that the estate is large Alex,
but you of all people shouldn’t be lonely. You have Prince Tobias
and anyone with eyes can see that he absolutely dotes on
you.”

“Tobias is
busy.”

“Busy?”

“Yes. That Council of his
have stolen him from me. They’re all demanding that he gets ready
for his coronation. I don’t know much about the wolf monarchy, but
seriously, how much stuff does he need to know for someone to put a
crown on his head and call him King? He’s usually gone from sunup
to sundown and I barely see him.”

It had been
three days since the claiming and though Tobias had tried to spend
as much time as he was able with her, since the first day, members
of the Council had swarmed them wherever they had gone and woke
them at the crack of dawn to prepare Tobias for his upcoming
coronation. The constant hounding had finally worn him down and he
had agreed to their tutoring, reassuring her that while they would
be forced to spend less time together at that moment in time, it
would be over soon enough.
Soon enough
can’t seem to come fast enough,
her mind
grumbled.

“Have you tried going to
some of the meetings that Tobias has with the Council? If you just
want to spend time with him then that could work,” Ilyanna
suggested, sympathetic towards her plight.

“I tried that the day
after the claiming.” She blushed, reminded that everyone on the
estate knew exactly what her and Tobias had done that
night.

Her hand instinctively
rose to the mark at her neck, her fingers lightly caressing the
letter engraved into her skin. She hadn’t expected to be marked but
the thought of a permanent reminder of Tobias wasn’t unpleasant and
it reminded her that she wasn’t alone despite his recent absence.
“I went but they kept saying things that I didn’t understand and I
felt so stupid. I asked them to explain what was going on and
Tobias was fine with that, he’s used to my questions, but there was
this one man…” she spat, remembering the condescending tone in
which the man had addressed her. “I think his name was Adam, and I
swear he was so bloody rude that I honestly thought that I was
going to slap him. I’m not doing that again because I genuinely
think that I’ll try to do him some damage, if I hear one more ‘we
don’t have time for your questions…’”

“The people have been
waiting a long time for him to ascend to the throne Alex, it’s
reasonable for the Council to want to get this over with. You
shouldn’t hold this against his highness.”

“I don’t!” she rushed.
“Tobias is wonderful even though he’s not with me most of the time.
He leaves me breakfast in bed with little notes every morning and
he’s had some guards assigned to help me with my garden. I still
miss him though and like I said I’m lonely. I don’t want to be a
burden on him, I know that he’ll make a great King. He’s got all
the traits I’d associate with a good King and I know he has to do
this, but it doesn’t change the fact that I miss him.”

“What about Ryan and
Sebastian? I’ve heard that you’re close to them, I’m sure they
would be willing to spend time with you.”

“Sebastian disappeared and
Ryan went after him, they’ve left the estate now and they didn’t
say when they were coming back.”

“What about her majesty,
Queen Yvonne?”

One of the cubs climbed
onto her legs, settling down for a nap and she stroked its soft fur
absentmindedly. “She’s a really nice person but I’m just not as
comfortable around her as I’m with you. She’s Tobias’ mother and
that makes me nervous. I keep thinking that one day she’ll wake up
one day and realise that I’m just not right for him so I just can’t
relax around her. Besides, I get the feeling that she’s secretly
trying to groom me for the position of Queen. It’s nothing overt,
she just tries to advise me on how to act in little ways. If she
were doing it to someone else, I’d just think that she was giving
them general advice but I know better. She probably thinks it’s
better that way, but it just makes me more nervous around her. I
don’t like people watching every little thing I do. It’s more
likely to make me have an accident or do something stupid when I
know that someone else is watching.”

“The King?”

“Helping Tobias prepare
for kingship,” she replied automatically. “You know Ilyanna, if I
didn’t know better, I’d think that you were trying to avoid
spending time with me.”

“It’s nothing like that,”
she chuckled. “Its just hard looking after the little one’s when
they’re like this. They’re so full of energy and it can get hard to
keep up with them. I don’t want to wear you out.”

“These little angels?” she
laughed, picking up the sleeping wolf cub that had taken up
residence on her legs. “Don’t be silly, it can’t be that
hard.”

“That’s what they want you
to think,” Ilyanna laughed.

Eying the cub within her
hands, a question occurred to Alex, one she hadn’t really thought
of before. “Ilyanna, were the triplets born wolves?”

“Yes of course they were,
it’s part of their heritage.”

“So you gave birth to
puppies? Does that mean if Tobias and I have children they’ll be
wolves too?”

Ilyanna laughed at the
question. “You seem so at ease here Alex that sometimes it’s hard
to remember that you’re human.”

“I suppose I should take
that as a compliment,” Alex grinned.

“It was meant as one. If
you and his highness have children then yes, they will be wolves,
there’s no escaping from that. Our genetics are stronger than a
human’s. However you won’t be giving birth to puppies as you put
it. All our children are born in their human form, they can’t
change at all until a few months after their birth.”

“That’s a relief.” Alex
sighed, gently stroking the soft fur of the wolf she held. “Now
that that’s sorted, let’s have some fun together.”

Hours later,
Alex had come to regret her belief that the children she had called
angels would live up to the name and be easy to care for. The three
cubs had run her ragged, spending hours climbing over her, trying
to escape the suite and get into places they shouldn’t. They had
then opted to change back into human form, their energy unflagging
dragging her to and fro demanding that she play whatever game they
had invented in their minds.
I don’t know
how Ilyanna does it,
she groaned before a
small smile appeared on her lips as she walked down the
surprisingly empty hallway.
But it was
great fun spending time with them, makes me wish I had brothers or
sisters.
An image of Tobias floated through
her mind.
Maybe I’ll be able to have a big
family of my own one day.
She giggled,
wrapping her arms around herself as she closed her eyes and spun
around in giddy circles.

Her wild circles stopped
abruptly as she crashed into a wide body, a small prick in her arm
had her eyes opening instantly. Her green eyes widened as she took
in the face of the owner of the large frame she had landed against,
noting the dirty blonde hair and small blue eyes. “Sean?” she
gasped.

“How have you been Alex? I
hear things have been looking up for you.”

“What are you doing here?”
she hissed, stepping back from his body determined to place a
larger distance between them.

“I told you before witch,”
she gasped at the name, his voice and proximity triggering memories
she would rather forget. “I want power and I’ll be taking it from
you.”

“It was you. You tried to
kill me when I was in England.”

“Yes Alex, and I think
you’ll find that I’m owed.”

“You’re not going to get
anything from me,” she snarled, readying herself to immerse herself
in the whispers that resided at the back of her mind.

“Before we do anything
drastic Alex, I have a question for you.”

“What is it?”

“Where’s your father? Have
you seen him? He came into this place a while ago and I haven’t
heard anything from him.”

“He’s dead. I ordered him
to be killed, you’ve walked into the wrong place this time Sean. If
Tobias finds you then he’s going to hurt you badly for what you
tried to do to me.” Her head began to feel dizzy and she shook it
trying to clear her thoughts.

“Oh Tobias, I’ve heard all
about him. The werewolf Prince, your mate.”

“Who told you that?” she
slurred, her vision becoming increasingly fuzzy. Stepping back away
from Sean, she leaned against a wall, clutching it for support as
her legs began to fell increasingly unsteady.

“I’ve made friends Alex,
just like you’ve done.”

“My head feels strange,”
she murmured, sliding down the wall as her legs gave out beneath
her.

“I know it does Alex, I
gave you something to make sure you didn’t do anything stupid.” He
took the now empty syringe out of his pocket, waving it in front of
her face. “Can you hear them?”

“Hear who?”

“The voices Alex, the
whispers in the back of your mind.” She struggled to reach for the
corner of her mind that the whispers had been relegated to and
panic rushed through her increasingly unresponsive body when she
couldn’t hear the voices she had become accustomed to hearing. “No?
That’s good then. We wouldn’t want you trying to attack
me.”

“Are you going to try and
kill me again?”

“Here? No. The wolves
would find me and kill me wouldn’t they? I know a little bit about
these people you’ve shacked up with, I’m not stupid. The question
is do they know about you, no, the better question is do you know
about you?”

“Don’t be stupid, of
course I know about me,” she whispered, her voice becoming
increasingly faint.

“I doubt that Alex, but
we’ve got time. The substance I gave you doesn’t only mean that you
can’t use your powers, I added a little extra something to render
you unconscious and make sure you couldn’t attract unwanted
attention but that’s going to take a little while to take full
effect.”

“And you think that you
can just sit here and not get caught?” she chuckled.

“Of course I do. I told
you Alex, I made friends as well. Well, while we wait for it to
kick in fully why don’t we have a chat about what you and me are?
Like I said Alex, you’re a witch and I’m the male equivalent, a
warlock. Do the wolves know that?” Her voice now useless she glared
at him, hoping that the simple look could convey her intense hatred
of the man sat beside her. “It doesn’t really matter if they know
or not because I’m not interested in them anyway. Do you know why I
want your power so much Alex? I guess not. I didn’t properly
explain myself last time. You see Alex my father was a warlock much
like myself before I killed him.” Her eyes widened at the admission
but he continued. “Yes, I killed my father but I’ll get to that
later.”

“Where was I?” he mused.
“Oh yes I remember now. My father told me when I was young that I
was special because I was born with the ability to sense where
others of our kind are. Now it may not sound like much and that’s
what I thought at the time as well but it’s how I found you and
it’s how I found all the others as well. You see there aren’t many
of us left now Alex. A long time ago there were a lot more of us
and we were easier to find as well but apparently we turned against
each other, started killing each other to gain more power. From
then on witches and warlocks went into hiding, imprinting the
ability to shield themselves from other magic users into their
genetics. Well, that’s what my father told me anyway. But that gave
me an idea, I didn’t think my power by itself was special but if I
could find others and take theirs and make them my own… then
wouldn’t that be something? My father was the first test and it
worked. From then on I began to seek out people like you and me,
taking their powers and making them my own but there was a
downside. The powers weren’t really mine and they knew it, so the
more I used them the more they faded away. Right now Alex I’m
running on low and I need a little top up and that’s where you come
in.”

Her head lolled
against her chest as she fought to remain conscious. “As soon as
you’ve done my friend a favour, I’ll be taking your power and then
I’ll be back at full strength at least for a while. You know it’s a
shame you didn’t have any kids, unlike your mother, then at least
I’d know where to go for my next top up. You know I tried to get
Natasha’s powers too, managed to get half her neck open but she
died from the wounds she’d given herself and so her powers died
with her, but then there was you. So I waited patiently for you to
come into your own. It took a while but we’re here now aren’t we
Alex?” His voice began to fade as the edges of her vision became
black as she lost the battle against unconsciousness. “Don’t worry
it won’t hurt too much.” As her eyes closed and her mind
surrendered to the darkness she became dimly aware of the feel of
Sean’s arm around her body lifting her from the ground.
Tobias,
her mind
whispered in its final moments of consciousness before it went
blank.