The Hybrid Queen Mother

Chapter 4

The celebration lasted until late into the night. Many people offered me gifts and condolences, which I accepted. Those who still had questions asked them and I did my best to answer. But as midnight approached, I decided to call it a night. Tomorrow I need to start planning my coronation.

Walking into the palace, I realized I didn’t have a room here. I spent so much time in this place but never once slept here. I always went home to James either in the city or back in Washington.

“Marcy, would you like me to show you to your room?” Mia’s voice came from behind me.

“Yes please.” I said, thankful for her help.

“We know you’ve never actually spent a night here, but we’ve always had a room for you. Even before you knew you were the prophecy,” Mia explained as we made our way to the west wing of the palace.

“Thank you.”

“You gave a beautiful speech. We all felt how genuine you were, and we all want to do our part as well. We all care and worry about you as much as you do for us.”

“Thank you. I will never take you all for granted. And I meant it when I said I would protect you.”

“We know.”

We walked in silence for a while as we made our way up the stairs and down another long hall. Throughout the night, I was more than happy to see everyone, but no matter where I looked, I couldn’t see Victoria. I knew Celeste was in the Moon Goddess' realm, and Vasilia was probably doing her own thing, but where was Victoria?

“Do you know where Victoria is?” I asked Mia.

“The Mother Vampire?” She asked and I nodded. “She left about a month ago. Right after you. Everyone did. The High Priestess of the dark craft, the Alpha’s and Clan Leaders, and the Mother Vampire. The Moon Goddess Celeste left before the war, as you know.” Mia mumbled off.

“Who was in charge while I was gone?” I asked. “Who took care of you?”

“Well, at first it was chaos, but then the Alpha, who stayed behind, and the Generals took charge.”

“What about Stella? She was here, right? Why didn’t she take over?” I asked.

“The High Priestess was too focused on healing Jordan, she basically isolated herself from everyone. Today was the first day she left the room to join everyone for supper.” Mia stopped in front of a door and gestured for me to enter.

“Do you want to come in?” I asked her and she nodded. “Which Alpha stayed back? Alpha Black?” I asked, referring to David.

“Yes. Alpha Devyn Black.”

“Devyn is here?” I asked in shock, and she shook her head no.

“He goes back and forth between his pack and here. Beta Jacob has been filling in for him while he is away from his pack, which is hard considering they are from different packs. But Alpha Black wanted to make sure your return was easy and that things wouldn’t be chaotic for you.”

“I see. Thank you, Mia. For all of your help today. If there is anything you need, please let me know,” I told her.

“It is an honor to be of help to you. Good night,” she said as she excused herself.

The room I was in was huge, but I had no time to explore it. I needed to get some rest before I started planning my coronation and visits to the packs, clans and covens. But I couldn’t stop thinking about Devyn and what he’s done for me. I had planned on visiting Kevin and Lee first, but now I’m thinking I should visit Devyn.

We should go now. Just to say hi and thank you. Then we could have a formal and public thank you later.

You’re so right. I’ll only be gone for a short while.

Making sure my door was locked, I took a deep breath as I tried to think of the best place to jump. I was still technically a member of the Black Forest pack, so I didn’t necessarily need to get permission to enter the territory or pack house.

I focused on the pack house and jumped. It had almost drained me of all my energy. I wasn’t sure if it was the pregnancy or the fact that Gaia and I had done the bare minimum of taking care of ourselves since the war, but everything was making me tired. Looking up at the pack house, I was a little confused about how it was still so dark. Italy was six hours ahead of the U.S, so it should be at least six a.m.

Strong magic was used to make our days match in the woods.

I had completely forgotten about that. But it made sense. And if I knew Devyn, he’d be up way past midnight. So I knew he was awake. I walked into the pack house, concealing myself in the shadows, so I didn’t draw attention from the other pack members.

Some were in the living room area watching TV and eating snacks, while others were in the kitchen cooking a late night meal. I never got to do those things growing up, but I always wanted to. I was still young, and I would forever look young, but my soul has aged beyond my control.

When I made it to the office, I knocked loudly on the door. I knew he was in there. I could sense him. But so was someone else. I tried to focus on who it was, but then the door opened. Immediately, I was swooped up into a bear hug. Taking a deep breath in, I realized it was Devyn hugging me.

I was a little shocked at first, but then eventually hugged him back. When he let go of me, I was able to finally concentrate on the other aura in the room. It was Jacob. I looked up at Devyn and saw the tears threatening to fall from his eyes. With a quiet sigh, he hugged me once more, then pulled me into the office.

“Marcy-”

“Devyn-”

We both said at the same time. Jacob looked back and forth between us, then stood up to excuse himself. Before he left, I needed to talk to him as well.

“Wait. Jacob. I need to talk to you too.”

“You don’t want me telling Kevin that you were here?” He asked with an arched brow.

“I don’t want you telling anyone that I came back. I need to plan my coronation, or at least set a date before I start visiting the packs. I wanted to thank everyone, in person, for helping in the war. But then I heard about what you’ve been doing for Black forest and what Devyn has been doing for my Tribe, and I thought I should stop by and say thank you first.”

I knew Jacob was mad about James. I get it. So was I. But I think he wanted someone to blame, and so he blamed me. I understood him though. I blamed myself also. But now was not the time to play the blame game. We had a lot to figure out.

“Welcome back,” Jacob nodded. “Goodnight.” He left without another word.

“Don’t mind him. He’s just tired.” Devyn said as the door closed behind Jacob.

Turning my attention back to Devyn, I felt this overwhelming need to hug him. I owed him so much and a simple “thank you” was not enough. My vulnerability at the moment made me feel like I needed to cry some more. As much as I’ve cried the past two months, I still had more tears.

“Marcy, first I wanted to say-”

I threw my arms around him and cut him off. He owed me nothing. Not an apology, not a thank you and certainly not an explanation.

“I’m sorry, Dev. For everything.” I whispered as I felt his arms slide around my waist to hug me back.

“There’s nothing for you to be sorry about.”

“I’m sorry you had to leave your pack to take care of mine. I’m sorry for the stress it caused you and the strain it caused the pack.” I said as I pulled away from him and wiped my tears.

“Marcy, it is the least I could do. I owe you so much more. For the way I treated you growing up and for the way I never once defended or protected you. Yet you still forgave me.”

“You don’t owe me anything. You never owed me anything. Just being my friend is all I could ever ask of you.”

“Of course,” he whispered.

After a few moments of silence, he got up and poured two large glasses of wine. He tried to hand one to me, but I shook my head. I didn’t tell anyone I was expecting, so he was a little surprised to see me turn down the glass. Without saying a word, I placed my hand on my flat stomach, rubbing a small circle over it.

Devyn’s eyes grew big, and the shock was evident. He quickly set the glass down and grabbed some juice he had in the fridge and offered some to me. We talked for a few minutes about nothing serious, trying to lighten the mood when I finally asked what's been on my mind.

“Where is David? Why isn’t he helping you with the pack while you’re away?”

“He and my mother have been MIA since the war ended. He only gets close enough to link me and let me know they are okay. But other than that, I haven’t been able to see them or talk to them.” He sighed and I knew this was bothering him. He was an only child and very close to his parents.

“If you want, I can help look for them. Or reach out to them. There is no limit on my mindlink.”

“Thanks, but you have more important things to do. They’ll come around.” He said and I just nodded. “ Are you going to be staying the night? We have an extra room, or you can sleep at your parents' place.”

“I’m going to go back to the woods. My tribe needs me. But I will stop at my parent’s house to get some blood. This little one is draining me quickly,” I chuckled.

“You can feed from me if you want. I don’t know how vampire stuff works, but I assume blood is better when it’s fresh.”

“So much better,” I laughed. “But you’ve done enough for me. I’ll take it from here. Focus on Black Forest now. I’ll be back to formally thank you and the pack. Take care.”

Before he could say anything, I jumped to the living room of my parent’s house. It looked the same as when we left it. I made my way to my mom’s blood reserves and took a few bags. Once I got my energy back, I stuffed another bag in my jacket pocket and then jumped back to my room in the woods.

The moment I landed, I downed the bag of blood I brought with me. My craving for blood was through the roof and it was becoming annoying. Tomorrow, I need to hunt and also make sure I have enough reserves on hand. Otherwise, people will get suspicious of my hunger.

“That they will,” someone said, and I quickly turned around to see who was in my room. “Welcome back. Did you find what you were looking for?”