His voice sounded so calm and relaxed it made my stomach do all sorts of acrobatics! "Uh-uh h-hi." I stuttered. The boys looked at him in amazement. "Are you really a prince!?" Reilly asked running up to him. Kadence bent down and smiled. Oh God his smile was adorable! "Of course I am. Why would I tell a lie?" He asked. "Because we never met anyone who's royalty." Ryjel countered. "Smart kid but you can trust me. And if you need back up you can ask my father." He said back. "Boys let's go inside i some stuff to do and I would like you to stay by my side." I said motioning them to grab my hands. They both ran back to me and took my hands. "You don't have to worry they'll be safe here. You can let them run around." Kadence said standing up. "Let me rephrase that. I need them to be beside me. For as long as I feel necessary." I said in a colder tone. "Look I'm just saying we can take care of them." He said his voice still calm. His calmness made me feel safe but I pushed it away. "Look don't take this into offense but they are my brothers and my responsibility not yours so I would like it if you'd back off. Please" I add the please since he was a prince and I didn't want to get thrown in another prison. He showed a sympathetic looked then nodded and left. On the way back I kept thinking about what I had said to him. Why was I being rude? I had no reason to. He had given me no reason to be defensive but being raised the way I was trust never came easy. Heck I still didn't trust Jim and Eliot. Granny well I've had a little trust grow for her but she's different than anyone I've met. I need to stop using the way I've been raised as an excuse. I shook my head and picked Reilly up. When did he get so heavy? I thought to myself. Does it matter he's a growing boy it's normal. Geez I really need to get my anxiety out. Walking in the way I had ran out I get more calm. Granny came walking towards me worry written all over her face. "Are you ok!?" She asked. "I'm fine." I said with a tight smile. "Chloe you should not be holding your brother right now! For goodness sakes you just woke up from a sickness or something." She said taking him out of my arms. "Granny it wasn't a sickness. It was Blake's fucking plan to imprison me again." I said with distaste. Her brow furrowed at my choice of words. "I will not having a teenager like you saying such words now get back in there we have much to discuss." She said shoeing me in there. I grabbed Ryjel and Reilly's hands and started walking. When we entered I started at the man I saw in my vision. My jaw clenched and I felt my hands start to sweat. Dear God help me make it through this. I pleaded in my mind. The man's expression changed as soon as I walked in. I sit down and pull Ryjel into my lap and put Reilly in the chair beside me. The man from my vision stood up and gave a small smile. "It's nice to meet you Chloe. I am Admiral Jackson Verose." He said then sat back down. "Chloe Ala Verose" I said with a nod. His smile turned from forced to a loving one. "So what do we have to talk about?" I asked. All I wanted was to go sleep but I need to make sure my brothers stay safe. Jackson just stared at me the whole time. He didn't even say anything just stared. Thankfully I had Ryjel to hide behind but that only went so far. "We need to know how powerful Blake is. And you are the only one who can tell us."Jackson finally said. "There are plenty of his men that can tell you how powerful he is I'm not the only one. There are also the victims but ya know they're all uh dead." I said with a smirk. "The only one that is willing or alive." He clarified. "Who said I'm willing to tell you?" I questioned. 'Oh I am having to much fun with this.' I thought. "Chloe please understand that we are trying to help you and this Kingdom." Jackson sighed rubbing his hand over his face. "I have a quick question, why are there two toddlers involved in this meeting?" Sam asked. "Because I thought it was best. They are my brothers and I want them in a safe place where I can make sure they won't get taken like I did. Because if Blake has them then all this," I say motioning around the table. "Is all for nothin." "Why would Blake need your brothers? Are they like you?" Jim asked. "No! He needs them to get to me! And even if he kills them he still has stuff over my head. But I will do what he asks if my brothers lives are on the line." I say in all seriousness. "Dear you shouldn't be put under all this pressure. Your majesty we need to capture Blake." Granny lil. Said matching my seriousness. "Agreed, Admiral I need you to notify all our men who are in the human realm and tell them to search for Blake but stay in their area." The king said standing up. Everyone followed suit. "Wait! How will you find him if no one moves from their assigned area?" I asked before he left the room. He turned around and gave a small smile. "We have wolves in every part of the world child, there is nothing to worry about." "If that's so then how did you not know about me until I ran away from Blake." I argued back. His expression changed from kind to troubled. "That's none of your concern." "I thought werewolves could sense when others were around or tell when one is pretending to be a human. I guess what my mother told me was a lie." "It's not a lie." He said still facing me. His voice didn't change it was still calm. "Really then you should have known about me I mean if you can then you should have known who I was since my father is a werewolf." I said staring at him with a clenched jaw. Everyone froze and just stared at me. From the corner of my eye I saw Jackson move towards us. He stood by my side and looked at his majesty. "I will take care of the siblings your majesty." The king nodded and looked at me one more time with a sad gaze then left. I looked down to see the boys staring at me but their gazes didn't show fear or anger it showed love and compassion. I didn't realize I had been squeezing their until Ryjel whispered to me to stop holding on so tight. I gave him a small smile and we all went back to my room. The three of us collapse on the bed and stared at the ceiling. "Can we go on a walk?" Reilly asked. "Sure" I said not really caring what we did. "Can we go to the playground?" Ryjel asked. "Yea, come on get your shoes on." I said sitting up. We had been in here for only five minutes and they already want to leave. Well I can't blame them we spent most of our lives in our room or house. We never really got the choice of going outside. The only time I went outside was to….. kill people. "Chlo-Chlo! Come on we want to play tag with you!!" The boys shouted. I smiled at the pet name they gave me. It always made me smile and I never wanted them to stop saying it. I quickly got up and slipped on my boots. Then we were off to the playground.
We went between playing tag, hide 'n seek, and sword playing. It was around sun set when we stopped play and just sat and watched the sun sink into the ground. The boys fell asleep with their heads on my lap and I just watched the stars. "You like looking at stars?" Jackson said walking up to us. I looked at him then back up at the stars. "Yea, never really got the chance to actually look at them." I said my voice low. He sat beside us and looked at the sound asleep boys and chuckled. "I can tell you wore them out." "They had too much energy. But at least they knocked out quickly." I said petting their heads. "Yea, they'll knock out tonight and double up their energy tomorrow." He said leaning back. "Oh dear…." "I thought you'd already know this? Don't take this to offense but aren't you their guardian?" He asked puzzled. I sighed and ran my fingers threw my hair. "The thing is growing up I didn't get a lot of time with them. And when mom and Jordan died in the accident Blake kept us apart most of the time. He had the boys together all the time but I only saw them when we ate and sometimes before that. But since Blake didn't let me take care of them he hired a nanny and that went south because she got valuable to and I was sent to hunt her down. Then after that Blake just had Robert look after them. This is the only actual time that I get to raise my brothers." I said as the nightmares of my last stared creeping into my mind again. "That's why you don't like it when we recommend where your brothers can stay or what they eat and stuff like that?" He asked. I guess he's starting to understand but only a little. "That's part of it." I said with a nod. "I get it. I have a daughter and I wanted to raise her but I couldn't because I got put in a lot of danger during the war and I had to leave my mate and daughter. So I get how you feel. You don't want anyone to take them away from you because you don't know what you'd do if that happened." He said nodding. How does he understand everything that is going on in my mind! It-it doesn't make sense! "What happened to your daughter and mate?" "I don't know. All I know is that my mate died and I don't know what happened to my daughter but I'm trying to find her." He said looking down from the stars and to me. I held his gaze. "What's her name?" I asked. "I'll tell you another day kid. But right now I think we should get you three to bed." He said standing up. "I'll carry the boys so you won't have to." "I want to carry one of them. You carry Ryjel and I'll carry Reilly." I said motioning to which one is Ryjel. Ryjel had light brown hair with green eyes but Reilly had dark brown hair with milk chocolate eyes. But they still look like twins and people still get them mixed up. I'm not gonna be surprised if he pick up Reilly, though I might laugh. He picked up Ryjel and he didn't even get it wrong! I'm actually really happy about it. It can get annoying when people constantly mix my brothers up with one another. But hey at least I don't have a twin. We carried them to my room and laid them on the bed and tucked them in. "Thank you, for helping me. And for talking with me." I said with a smile. He smiled back and put a hand on my shoulder. His hand was giant! It went over my entire shoulder! "You can always come to me if you need to talk and if you want a job I have a place for you in my group. Just saying you look like you can handle yourself." "Thanks but I'll have to think about it." "I know we have to take care of Blake first and make sure your brothers stay safe but after that you could do it." He said. "I'm kinda tired so imma go to bed now." I said walking him to the door. "Night." He said then left. I changed into my fighting clothes then snuck outside again. I felt a ring of dizziness but I could handle it. I felt a pull to the forest so I followed it. I came to cottage and the closer I got to it the stronger the pull got. My mind started to work again the moment I opened the door. I was about to run out but something grabbed my arm and slammed me into the wall. And locked the door. I started breathing hard. 'No, how did he find me!? Please don't be Blake!!!' I pleaded in my mind. "Don't talk someone was following you so I brought you here." The voice said. This was not Blake's voice. But it did sound familiar. "Don't worry it's me Kadence." He said lighting a candle. I let out a sigh of relief. "Thank God." I said collapsing tot he ground. "Who did you think it was?" He asked confused. "A son of a bitch I used to know." I said. "Wow. Some guy must've made a really bad impression." He said with a chuckle. "No, he freaking abused me!" I growled out before I knew what I said. "What!?" Kadence said alarmed. "Nothing. I have to get back to my brothers." I said. "Ok I'll walk you." He said with a smile. I gave him a weird look. "Yea no Im good." I said reaching for the door. "I'm going that way too so I'll just go with you." He said following me. I said nothing and continued to walk. My hands started to shake but I ignored it. We were almost the the clearing a a little bit away from the castle when someone grabbed me and Kadence. There were three men but they were shadows. I grabbed the gut holding me and I flipped him and knocked the wind outa him. Before I could do more I heard his voice. "Nice work Stray." He said wrapping his arms around my back. Kadence was struggling with the man holding him but he was going to win. I could tell. "You better stop fighting Prince Kadence." Blake said. "Or the little girl could get hurt." He finished his threat. That got Kadence's attention. I was so scare that I couldn't speak. Honestly my knees were about to give out on me. "Don't touch her!" He shouted. "No no, no shouting or she gets hurt." "Let her go. You came here for me right. Just take me and let her go." "You're mistaken. I'm not here for you child. "Blake please just let him go! I'll go with you I swear on my life I won't run! I'll do whatever you want just don't hurt them!" I pleaded finally finding my voice. Blake kissed my neck then ear and jaw. "You swear on your life?" He asked. "Yes I swear on my life." I confirmed. "No how bout this. Swear on your brothers lives." He said then whispered at the rim of my ear. "Fine I swear on my brothers lives." I said. "Good. Dwayne knock the brat out and take him home. I'm going to have some fun with Chloe." He said. I felt his smile grow on my skin. My tears started up again. The slowly blurred then slid down my face. Blake made me walk to the cottage with his arms around me and him every now and then he'd kiss my neck and jaw. When we entered he spun me around and kissed me. I tried to fight and that made him pull back. "I think I need to try something else. Maybe Ryjel would like to visit." He said. I whimpered. Then he smiled and kissed me again and I complied and kissed him back. Tears fell down my face the until I went numb. "You will never escape me baby girl." He said then kissed me hard.
When I woke up I was in my bed and the boys were beside me. 'Maybe that was just a dream.' I thought. I got up and went downstairs to find the Admiral. He was in the training square. "Admiral Jackson. I want to take you up on that offer. We can start today." I said walk to him. "Really!? Well I have the perfect job for you!" He said. "Oh?" "You can start by guarding the Crown Prince." He said happily.