Juliet
Silvanus was still out hunting. The city was full of beasts running around, and I didn't think it would take him too long. After my bath, I made my way over to the table Jessy had set up. It had taken him a year to learn from Kubra. All En-gannim's tech the armies could utilize. He was scanning the palace and mapping the building.
"I'm going to have a look around the palace," I said.
Jessy's head lifted. His eyes drifted down my body. He wanted to say something but kept quiet. About my clothes anyway. I had rummaged Brylee's closet. "Let me walk with you. I'm finished here. The tech can do its work."
"Have you got all the ten coordinates for Palmyra?"
"Yes, and tomorrow we'll have to go to all of them. If we can find the station."
"I agree. Let's see if there is something in the offices or find out about their court system and officials. Maybe they had emergency procedures?"
We walked through the many open-plan areas that led into other rooms. Getting a lay of how they structured their spaces. How their servants could come and go unseen. Jessy jumped around swiftly, pointing his gun. Chris growled at him, and he lowered his weapon quickly.
"I was on En-gannim. You're not there. What the hell are you doing?" Chris said.
"Hi. Nice to see you too…."
Chris came back to human, lowering his shoulders. He walked up to me. "Give us a moment," Chris ordered. Even if he had no authority… Jessy knew when to listen.
He held me in his arms for a long time. "I've been gone for five days, and you don't care to be at home, waiting for me."
I pulled him closer. "How did you get here. Did Kubra spill?"
Chris was quiet… I wanted to search his eyes, but he didn't let me, pushing my head down. "Why are you not answering?" It took me a moment… "Chris? What did you do?" I whispered.
"I… swatched you."
I laughed lightly, running my hand through his hair. He pushed me away. "You're not angry?"
"You don't know me at all, do you? It's the most romantic thing anyone has ever done for me."
His smile broadened. "You've just changed so much. It's like you're all grown up. We haven't even talked about Soren or what happened in America… I have to tell you… I kinda miss needy Juliet."
"I'm still needy. I just can't complain about it all the time… And it's going to get tedious really quick if I had to dump my day on four different guys every time I see them."
"That's not my problem." His hand ran over my cheek. I leaned in and pressed my lips onto his palm.
"That's how you found me so easily on Zoreah… During the fight… Washington!" I laughed. "When did you do it?".
"That first night. When you and Caleb were sleeping… Put it behind your snakeskin."
"Aaaa no! It could've gone on my arm. Where I could see it… You're not even saying anything about how I look." I twirled in front of him.
Silvanus's voice echoed through the rooms. "Juliet, a little help!" He was running. There was a stampede of feet following him.
Chris was laughing. "Good girl. I'm glad you brought back up. But you could've asked me. I would've come in a heartbeat. Promise me… You will ask."
Silvanus burst through the doors with a beast around his neck resting on his shoulders. Behind him was a herd of the same things skidding and chasing after him. They weren't big, and it was rather funny. We all jumped in and had a good meal.
***
Louis
We had removed everyone to En-gannim. The werewolves on Earth were their problem. They were not allowed to leave the compound.
I had posed the question to the guys about what they wanted to do with their lives. Chris had left for Zoreah early that first morning… His mind was made up as soon as Juliet started working. He was back to patrolling for five days, and at night, he would come back. We had only seen him once, and he didn't stay long… I didn't know what he was doing or where he had been the rest of the week.
Marcus, Michael, and I were in the family room with no idea what the hell to do with ourselves.
"What are we going to do?" I asked after days in my own room. I had been waiting for her to call me. "Have either of you talked to her at all?"
"Screw it. Let's go find her." Michael said.
"Oh, there's something I have to tell you guys," I said as we made our way to Marcus's old office. They seemed wary about what it could be.
When we stepped into the office, we all stood stunned. My news was forgotten. The room was empty from wall to wall. "What's going on? Even our couches are gone." Marcus complained.
We asked one of the workers where Juliet's office was. She took us a few floors up to Ahasuerus's old office. It was a massive space. We were taken aback even more.
"F-!" Michael whispered.
"I didn't think she would want his old office," Marcus said. "But she is sleeping in his bed… So this was the next step."
It was decorated in a French style, wallpaper and all… And five identical desks. There was a seating area in one corner with the two infamous couches and wingback chairs. A cordoned-off room for meetings. Marcus stepped through the door and walked over to the table.
"Guys!" He yelled. Marcus never yelled about anything. When he did… it was serious.
Michael and I quickly stepped into the conference area, "What?" I had stopped reading everyone. Tired of it. I wanted some time on my own.
"She went to Palmyra."
"Alone?"
"Recon mission. Going in… invisible."
Marcus picked up more papers. "She's been busy… Going on a business trip… Into freaking space… Go searching for other planets and finish mapping the Milky Way and then onto other galaxies. Who knows where she is?"
He swiped his hand up into the air, and the solar system we were in came into view. He panned out, so you had a clear picture of the whole Milky Way. "She's been studying. This is as far as we've ever gone. Or that I know of, anyway." Marcus pointed to a line floating in the air. "Juliet's main goal is to see if there is other life. And if anything is a threat in the future."
"What are we going to do? I can't think you will be happy with being a tattoo artist?" I asked Michael.
"I've no freaking idea what I want to do." Said Marcus.
"What if we each take some tasks on her agenda and start with them and see how it goes?" Michael suggested. "It's not like this year finding the coordinates had been so bad. I rather enjoyed it."
All our eyes drifted out to the office space. Her table was filled with little tubes. The others were completely empty. "Well, one of them isn't needed. Chris will never sit at one."
"Yeah, but if she has to fight someone… Who will she run to? Who's army will she commission? Chris will be general, and they will be working together."
"That was his plan all along… He knew how to make himself valuable. Where are those bird people?"
Marcus pushed some buttons, and a planet flickered in one of the systems. "In that one."
"What planet did Brylee need the Riphaths for back then?"
Marcus shook his head. "We will have to get Kubra in here. Maybe Silvanus." Marcus said. "I was too busy at that time. And Ahasuerus kept a tight lip on his dealings."
I walked out. "I'm going to talk to Jessy. He has to be somewhere, waiting for her to come back."
They followed me. We couldn't trace anyone and went to the teleporters. Kubra was at the station, pacing. "Where are they?" I asked, irritated.
"How long have they been gone?" Michael asked.
Kubra didn't want to say. "I can't. Direct orders."
"Travel us."
"Do it yourself."
Michael got in with us, and we did. We came out on the platform In Caude. Ready for a confrontation. It was too quiet.
"Michael, can I ask you a favor."
He picked me up and dropped me in a room in the palace. He went right back and brought Marcus. We heard them joking and splashing in the water. Jessy and Silvanus's weird voice and way of speaking echoed through the space.
There was silence when they saw us. Juliet was in Chris's arms. Her gaze traveled between the three of us.
"What's going on? How long have you been here?" I asked, even more irritated. She loved me best but had the worst way of showing it.
"A week."
I was ticked off.
"The whole planet is empty. Not one living soul." Juliet exclaimed.
"What do you mean?"
"We don't know? They're gone."
"How the hell did Chris get here?" Michael asked. There was silence until he figured it out. "When did he do it?"
"That first night," Juliet said.
"He can come and go as he pleases? Find you wherever you are. Whenever he wants?" Marcus asked. "So much for not manipulating her time and family meetings… Come on, Chris."
Chris didn't look at him or us. He and Juliet were gazing into each other's eyes. "Across space and time… Whatever that means. But yeah, I did it." Chris whispered... "Written on the stars and all."
Juliet bit her bottom lip, smiling.
"What do Ira and Beatrice say about them being gone?"
"You're not going to like it," Juliet said. "If a ruler is killed by someone with a branding. That species is completely wiped out."
"When you killed Brylee… All of them died." Silvanus added.
Shocked, the three of us sat down on a stone bench that faced the water.
"The only werewolves left are those on Earth?" I asked.
"We don't know. I don't know how far it goes… Because they didn't die. So maybe that is why she was conquering other planets. Maybe those places are filled with the rest? I haven't gotten that far."
"She was splitting them… How long would you have stayed here?" I spat out.
"Until we figured out how to steer that freaking fish." The three of them burst out laughing. Jessy gave her a high five.
"That's what you've been doing? Training a fish?"
"You say it like it's a bad thing. I'm the freaking queen of this place, for all intents and purposes. And I'm working. What do you want me to do? Sit at home in my office the whole day? Even Chris expects me to be waiting for him at five with food on the table." Juliet swam across the water to where we sat. She held out her hand to me.
My mouth hung open when she stepped up on the ledge. Juliet was dressed in the finest, softest material I had ever seen. A crop top sat low on her breasts with the thinnest beaded straps that ran over her shoulders. The full-length skirt hugged her waist. It was patched, and every color and placement was made with precision. The wet material was stuck to all of her. I swallowed hard… "You look F-ing amazing… No wonder Chris didn't blab… Have you been walking around like this?"
Juliet gave the most genuine smile I hadn't seen in a long time. "Seems flattery would get me somewhere."
"I am just a girl… standing in front of a boy."
"Yeah, but Silvanus and Jessy are also boys."
Juliet snorted, and so did Silvanus. "Silvanus has a planet full of women. Way prettier than me. Jessy had asked for a wife for a while… I don't know how to make it happen!"
Since Juliet and I cleared up where we stood with each other… She didn't guard her thoughts against me anymore. She was an open book and dumped some thoughts on me. "You might as well get in… I'm just going...." I shook my head softly, telling her not to say anything.
Juliet leaned in, and I closed the gap. While we kissed, she thought of some things I needed to hear. It was all I wanted. She walked into a doorway and waited. I turned to Marcus and gestured with my head… He jumped up and followed her.
***
Marcus
"Seriously, you haven't come looking for me for a whole week," Juliet complained. "I told you… work… You said you would talk to me."
I smiled. I had been a little lazy that week. Visited with Liam and Caleb. My grandmother and met her family. My mom and I could finally talk… I Made sure they were all okay. The last time we spoke, I was short with her. Irritated and still processing.
The room she led me to was halfway out in a garden and the other part of the mountain. You had an open vista of the three moons shining brightly. A type of vine provided lights inside, manipulated to grow ideally along the roof. It gave off a golden hue that made Juliet's skin glow in the darkness. I was tugging at her straps as she was walking. They snapped, and the beads fell to the floor. I wasn't so angry anymore.
"So, I haven't slept with anyone since Louis two weeks ago. Made sure I wasn't pregnant once I was on En-gannim… Chris and I have been… keeping it PG 13… And he already knows and fully supports us." She was fidgeting. It was weird that she was still nervous. "I stopped taking Rodrigo's magic birth control." Her jazz hands went up next to her face. I caught her wrist, pulling her slowly closer and onto my mouth. She kissed me quickly and moved away… "I'm making a choice… I don't really care what Michael says." I wasn't saying anything, but I was happy… Juliet was in work mode… I had never seen her like that… Like I always was…
My eyes were on the fabric glued to her skin, making every curve visible… Her cleavage and breasts were almost bare under the material clinging to her as she moved away from me. She sat and lay down on the bed. Slowly, I mounted myself on her. Juliet's knees parted to make space for me. The dress she had on was in the way, clinging to her knees. My hand slid down her leg until I could get a hold of the hem of the skirt. I moved closer as I pushed the material up to her waist. She responded in kind and undid the buttons of my shirt. Juliet wanted to take control and push me over. I sat up and threw my shirt on the ground, stopping her. Her hands roved over my skin, and every touch made the tension build. She wanted my lips on hers… I didn't let her… I wanted to savor every moment… Focus on her and flood her. I could see the moment she let go. Her heartbeat slowed, and it was all I needed. It wasn't only physical. She wanted to give me something. My resolve didn't last long, and I couldn't get my clothes off fast enough, wanting to feel myself inside her. Juliet wanted to take off the dress, "No. Leave it on. I'll take it off after." Her skin was still damp as I rested between her thighs. She cupped me and circled my hard length in her hand. I savored the moment, teased by her nipples, slightly visible and taught.
We didn't join the others again that night. I was going to make sure that it didn't take us two hundred years to have a son… I took her again later, as she slept on her side, waking her up with me thrusting into her from behind... Juliet never minded… One thing I loved about her… Her hand reached back for my head so she could feel my breath in her neck… Again, the following morning. She didn't need to do anything for me to fill her. Make her belly swell with my baby… The idea that she was giving me what I wanted was almost too much… "Julie… I love you… I don't know what I can give you for this…." I finally uttered after I came inside her for the last time. Her eyes on my lips were still in a dreamlike state.
"Work with me… Please… I don't want to be alone." She whispered. My lips pressed into hers. At that moment, she could have asked me anything… I would've done it. And she was asking… I fell asleep, hoping that the place… The planet… And the stars would align for us.
Jessy woke us up later that morning. "Breakfast if you guys want in the dining hall." Juliet stretched out next to me with a strange smile on her face that I could not decipher... I gathered her into my arms.
"Should we go on like that for a month every night? Just to make sure." I nodded, my eyes not leaving hers.