The Lost Warrior Princess

Making plans

Luna’s POV

We spent the first half of the day explaining everything to Riley. Max even came out and told Riley he was into guys, he seemed a bit shocked but for the most part handed it really well. It made Max really happy that he wasn’t being treated differently because of his s****l orientation.

I’d just finished explaining what had happened with my biological family, Nicolas and Gareth were just as angry as they were earlier when Max had first told us what he had read.

“You can’t tell the commanders about being mates, they will find a way to kill you both to protect themselves. They don't care about the citizens or peace, they only care about keeping their power.” Riley spat out.

With him coming out and telling us what had happened with his sister it was clearer now that our leadership was corrupt with hatred for nonhumans and that we couldn't trust them. The warning from the messenger of doom on our journey through the portal kept replaying in my head.

‘The people you thought you knew will be your enemies.’

I hadn’t thought it would be our own commanders and government leaders, I had thought it was someone a lot closer to me personally. I had thought it was Riley, even with his confession about his sister I still couldn't be one hundred percent sure he was trust worthy, but I was willing to give him a chance.

“I know, we had already figured they wouldn't be okay with Alice and I being mated to supernatural leaders.” I had gotten up during my explanation about my family and was now pacing back and forth. I did that when I was stuck on a problem and was trying to figure it out, moving around helped me think. “For now though we need to get the peace treaty signed and get some information from the assassin and find out who sent him and why before we can summon all the leaders and then the spell can be removed from me.”

“You don't understand, they will send someone to kill you both! I can’t go through that again!” Riley yelled.

“You’re not the only one that has been sent on covert missions before Riley, we have all done things we would rather forget about.” Alice replied looking down at her hands.

She wasn't wrong, I remember the first solo mission I was given. I wasn't the same after that, It took months before the nightmares faded away and even then, they still sometimes pop up.

“They will assign the job to one of us, it will be Max and I that will be given the order to assassinate you and if we don’t, they will just send someone else to do it instead. If you’re some royal vampire that makes you an even bigger target.” He said to Alice and I as he slammed his hands down on the table.

“Well then, I guess you will just have to follow your orders.” I said with a deadpan expression causing everyone to looked at me like I had grown a second head.

“What the f**k does that mean?” Riley spat back.

“It means, if you or Max are given the order I want you to carry it out. I want you to show them you can be trusted. If they tell you to try and stage it to look like the vampires or the wolves did it, I want you to follow that order. At the leaders meeting Nicolas will address the attempt made on his life by a human assassin and things will snowball from there. They will either admit to wrong doing or they will try to lie their way out of it and if that happens they will be questioned about the order to assassinate the mates of two powerful leaders. They wont get away with it this time. You just need to trust I know what I’m doing.”

This was something I had been thinking about since Riley started telling us about what happened with his sister, the thought had crossed my mind that they would order those closest to us to take us out and spin it in a way to make it sound like we were traitors.

“Luna, what are you planning?” Max asked looking a little worried.

“It’s best you don’t know yet. Its not that I don’t trust you, we just need to be careful. My plan hinges on they ordering you two to kill us. I just hope that they order you or Riley to do it because if they don’t we have a serious problem. Lily, will your brother be able to testify to the assassination attempt on his mate?”

“Well, technically he’s my cousin but I don’t see why he wouldn’t. He was a wreck when it happened, he was barely holding it together. I’m just glad that Ivy is still alive, it would have killed him, literally if she didn’t make it.” Lily said sounding sad. “Once she was better, he wanted to kill her brother for what he did to her but she wouldn’t let him. She had said you didn’t know it was her they wanted you to kill, that you wouldn’t have agreed if you knew it was her.”

“She’s right, I never would have taken the mission if I had of known. I regret it every day.” Riley said honestly. “But if I hadn’t been the one to take the mission they would have sent someone else and then she would have been dead.”

“Just know, I will kill you if you hurt Ivy again. There wouldn’t be anywhere to hide that I wouldn’t find you.” Lily snarled at Riley.

“I wouldn’t run, I would let you kill me if I hurt her again.” He looked like a broken little boy.

“Okay, now that you two have sorted that out. Can we please get back to working out this peace treaty? I want it sorted sooner rather than later.” Gareth asked getting everyone back on topic of why we were sent here in the first place.

“Yes Alpha Gareth, does tomorrow morning work for you? It gives us time to interrogate the human.” Nicolas responded still all business, gods he was handsome when he was giving off that in-charge vibe. It made me just want to jump him and rip his clothing off. Leaning in close so that his lips were just brushing my ear he whispered so that no one else could hear, “I can smell your excitement, is my little warrior wanting to play?” Afraid my voice would betray me I nodded in response. “Later when we are alone, my delicious little flower.”

I felt my panties get just a little wetter at his promise of pleasure, causing Gareth to clear his throat and screw his nose us. Only to turn and glare at us, oh gods! He could smell it, smell me! My face went a bright shade of red causing Nicolas to burst into laughter.

“That’s disgusting, I don’t want to smell that.” Gareth murmured giving a disgusted shiver.

“My apologies Alpha, perhaps Luna and I should retreat to our room?” Nicolas asked with a huge smile that showed his fangs.

“Oh no you don’t,” Anya said just as a shoe came flying past to hit Nicolas in the side of the head. “You have work to do, don't make me summon another shoe.”

A snicker was heard from the head of the table just before another shoe went flying towards Gareth, only this one slammed right into his face.

“No more childish games, act your age. You two need to keep your hands to yourselves in the presence of others. Stop trying to make your mate uncomfortable Nicolas or I will make you uncomfortable. Do you both understand?” Anya snapped.

Wow, she was like the serious parent that didn’t let her kids get away with s**t. To think she was so fun and relaxed during our girls time and now she was being the five hundred plus year old witch. It was kind of scary. Both males looked completely dumbfounded, no one could believe that she had actually thrown a shoe at them. They didn’t respond until after she summoned another shoe into her hand.

After Anya had laid down the law so to speak, the rest of the talk went by smoothly. No one wanted to get on her bad side so we all behaved. We were able to go over who would be in the treaty meeting and who would be on security. Gareth and Nicolas refused to let Alice or I out of their sight at all during the meeting and for the duration of our stay here. So in the end Riley and Max would be on security outside the room with the vampire guards and the packs head warriors to make sure that another attempt didn't happen. Alice and I would sit in and make sure that everything was secure in the meeting on our side of things. I also had to let Riley know he was security detail to Anya for the rest of the stay, that where she went he went. He wasn't happy about it, he wanted to make sure Alice and I were safe and Max felt the same way but they ended up agreeing that we could in fact take care of ourselves.

As we were about to leave the conference room Leo walked in, he had changed clothes and showered since he left to interrogate the assassin. He was in a pair of grey pants and a plain black t-shirt. He came over to Lily and buried his face in her neck, it must not have gone very well.

“Beta Leo, how did your interrogation go? Is he still breathing and awaiting his demise or has he breathed his last breath?” Nicolas asked with his more serious tone. He could turn it on and off like a switch, one minute he will be happy and caring with me and the next he would be cold and composed ready for business. It was amazing and terrifying all at the same time.

“Unfortunately he is still breathing Prince Nicolas, but he did say that he would only talk to ‘the hot one with green eyes’. I made sure to make the next injury hurt more than all the others. We have stopped the torture for now but only because what ever he took is making him heal faster than a normal human.” He said as he rubbed his temples. The hot one? Gods that sound disgusting coming from someone else. I could see that everyone had the same kind of reaction, they were either angry or disgusted. “Good news though, I can most certainly tell you he is a human. What ever he was using to hide his scent faded shortly after he was taken to the cells. Good thing we had a spell caster, wizard guy come and put some magical wards up to erase scent blockers. Too bad he didn't also have a way to erase the s**t people have to eat or drink. Torturing that guy would be easier if he wasn't bloody healing so fast.”

“What spell caster? When were they put up?” Anya blurted out.

“He came just after Luna was taken. He had white hair and violet eyes, he had similar markings to you but his were the same colour as his eyes. My father said he was an old friend. Why? What’s wrong?” Gareth replied sounding worried.

“That wasn’t just any spell caster, that was Talbet, the same spell caster we are looking for.” She seemed to become annoyed about this. “That son of a b***h has been in hiding since the fall of the Ravenwood royals. Is the spell caster still in the pack?”

Leo and Gareth shared a look before they shook their heads side to side, damn it, He wasn't here. Anya started pacing around the room muttering to herself while we all stayed quiet. After a long time she stopped pacing. Turning, she looked directly at me. “We need to speak to your parents.”

“Why, what would her parents have to do with this spell caster?” Max asked.

“Because Talbet wouldn’t have stayed to far away from the princess. He would have been close enough to protect her if she needed.” Anya replied to Max. “Alpha Gareth, are they still here in the pack lands?”

“Yes, but they live on the outskirts.” He replied.

I missed the little cottage I grew up in. I missed the smell of a fresh fire and the smell of my mothers home made vegetable soup.

“I can arrange for them to come to the pack house today.” Gareth offered.

“No, we will go to them.” Anya said shaking her head. “We don’t need Talbet having a chance to go into hiding again.”

“Why don’t I go and visit them? I can take Luna and Anya with me? I think if they saw the vampires they might have a heart attack.” Lily said with a smile.

Leo was looking at her with slight irritation. I wasn’t sure why until he responded to her. “Lily, have you been going and visiting them by yourself? I thought I told you not to go alone, it isn’t safe.”

“Why? they were alone, I like to go out and check on them and make sure they are safe. I know I don’t need to go out and check on them, it always smells like magic there. Kind of like the magic on Luna but stronger. I just wanted to make sure they were okay.” Lily replied with a small pout, causing Leo to soften. “They have been really nice to me, it was like having my parents back.”

“Thank you Lily, I really appreciate you going and checking on them while I have been away.” I was thankful that someone had been going and checking in with them. It would have devastated me if anything happened to them, even with knowing now that they weren’t my biological parents. They were still the people that raised me, I would forever be grateful to them.

“Okay, Lily will take Luna, Anya and Alice to visit the Martin’s. I know that wont sit well with us mates being away from our lovely ladies but we need to work on a plan to beef up security and patrols so that another attack doesn’t happen. Leo, has anyone reported a breach?” Gareth asked looking at Leo seriously.

“No Alpha, it would seem that the human was someone from inside the pack. No one knows who he is or where he has been before the attack but I have some of our best trackers trying to find where he has been staying. Hopefully once we find it we will get some leads to who ordered the hit and why.” Nodding, Gareth sat in his chair silently thinking. Alice looked to me with a worried look on her face, I just shook my head at her. After a while, Gareth also turned to look at me. I knew that look, I groaned aloud knowing exactly what he wanted to do.

“Fine, I will go and talk to him. But, only if Hunter comes with me. I can’t trust that neither of you will kill him as soon as he opens his mouth. Alice, I need you and Gareth to work on a plan to get him to talk if he doesn’t give me anything. Max I need you to stay with Leo and Lily and get all the information you can from the pack archives about my parents and when they got here. Anya, can you give me a detailed report on everything about Talbet. I want it by the end of day along with a detailed report on what you found with Riley, I mean everything, spells, magical marks, memory tampering, anything and everything. That leaves. . .” Bloody hell, I had paired Nicolas and Riley together. I face palmed myself internally.

“It’s fine my love, we wont kill each other.” Nicolas said rubbing my cheek. “We will both be alive upon your return. What would you like us to do while we wait?” Gods he was understanding.

“I need you to stay out of trouble and for Riley to be your protection detail while I’m gone. Your other guards will also be with you incase another attempt is made. Riley, try to figure out who the commanders might send if they were to order someone else to make a hit on Alice and I. I want their names, age, what their skill set is, even what they look like, everything. I want to be prepared, Understood?”

Followed by their response.

Everyone started to get up and move out of the room. I followed Nicolas and Riley back to our room so that I could quickly grab some clean clothes before heading to the cells. It hadn’t accrued to me that I was still covered in blood from the attack. I had forgotten about it in the moments after.

Entering the room I quickly grabbed a towel and headed to the bathroom. I quickly washed off and jumped out, after I dried my body I realised that I was in such a hurry I hadn’t grabbed my clothes. Wrapping the towel around my body I slowly opened the door to see where Riley and Nicolas were.

“. . . I may have to accept that she is your mate but it doesn’t mean I have to like it. She deserves to be happy, even if it isn’t with me.” I could hear Riley saying as I cracked the door open a little more. “So believe me when I say that if you hurt her in any way, I will stop at nothing to end you.”

“Good, because I wouldn’t deserve to live if I ever harmed her in any way. . . You know, if you weren’t in love with my mate I might actually liked you.” Nicolas replied with a chuckle before taking on a dangerous tone. “But know this, Blood bag, I will not hesitate to drain you of every drop of blood you have in your body if I find out you plan to betray my mate. She means everything to me and I will not stand to see her hurt by someone she trusts.”

“Okay, you two need to stop. I am a big girl and I can defend myself. I don’t need either of you having a contest to see who has the bigger d**k because I can tell you now that it wont be either of you.” I said stepping out of the bathroom door.

Those two are like children fighting over a toy, I was sick of it. Riley was looking at me like I was the most exotic thing he had ever seen, his face flushed when he realised I was looking at him and he quickly looked away. Nicolas on the other hand was looking at me like I was his next meal, the hunger in his eyes was intoxicating. Quickly grabbing my clothes I rushed back to the bathroom and slammed the door shut. I couldn’t catch my breath, every time Nicolas looked at me like that I became weak at the knees.

Snap out of it girl, you are a strong independent woman.

I was but damn did I want him to dominate me, I wanted him to take control and ravish my body and soul.

Quickly getting dressed I headed back out to Nicolas alone, he was shirtless sitting on the bed. His eyes were closed and he looked so peaceful, he was just as stunning when he looked like he was asleep.

“Are you done devouring me with your eyes little warrior?” He chuckled as he opened his eyes.

“Well, um. . . No but I have work to do.” In the blink of an eye, I was pinned to the bed with Nicolas’ body pressed against mine. My shirt had ridden up a little in the rush of movement and my bare skin was touching his. A shiver ran down my spine as he captured my lips with his in a passionate fiery kiss. It was perfect, it was like he was pouring all of his love and desire into that one kiss, like he would never have this chance again.

All too soon he pulled away, looking down at me with his stunning green eyes. “What was that for?” I asked quietly as he gazed at me with a swirl of emotions in his eyes.

“I almost lost you twice now, I didn’t want to let you leave this room before I got the chance to do that.” He looked so torn about the thought of me not being by his side.

“Well, technically you almost lost me once and I have almost lost you once.” I said nudging his chest a little. “I’m only going to interrogate the guy, I'm not going to be fighting for my life or yours. He will be restrained the entire time and Hunter is going to be with me. I will be back before you know it, and maybe if you and Riley behave while I'm gone, I might let you kiss me like that again.” His face lit up in a mischievous grin, oh no, what have I just gotten myself into here?

“Well then, I guess you better meet Hunter in the hall then so that you can be back sooner so I can claim my reward.”

Pulling me up to a standing position, he helped straighten my clothes and walked me to the door, opening it for me. Hunter was waiting on the other side of the door with a not so happy Riley. Steeling my face I stepped out into the hall.

“Behave you two, I don’t want to come back and find you at each others throats. Hunter, lets get this done.” I said looking at the men around me.

“Hunter, if anything happens to her I will be holding you personally responsible, is that clear?” Nicolas said looking directly at the vampire standing next to me.

“Yes my prince, I will protect her with my life.” Hunter replied before we headed down the hall towards the cells. Hopefully this would be over quickly, but something was telling me it wouldn’t be.