Her Rejection's Revenge

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE: EVERETT BECKER

“Where is she?” a gruff voice roared in the middle of the camp, making everyone hurriedly cleared the pathway which led to me. I felt exposed as a pair of icy blue eyes stared at me with scrutiny, and I had no idea who that man was.

He stood with long black raven hair and creases on his forehead as he continued to stare at me with open animosity mixed with bafflement.

“That little girl?” he said in a tone meant to offend. “Is she the one who proclaims she can speak to dragons?” he thundered towards the group of men responsible for keeping the camp afloat. “What credibility does she have? Where are the dragons?”

I didn’t appreciate the tone he was using, neither what his words insinuated. He almost called me a liar. I opened my mouth to give him a good piece of my mind when a flash of orange surged ahead preceding me.

“Everett!” Miriam exclaimed as she hugged the stranger warmly and I narrowed my eyes suspiciously. Another refugee from the Royal Mystic pack? He didn’t look like he needed help though, in fact he appeared in quite good shape.

“Princess?” the man exclaimed in surprise and taking two steps back to curtsy. There were a few audible gasps in the audience which indicated that not everyone had been aware of Miriam’s status.

A beaming Miriam grabbed the man’s arms to help him stand up from his crouched position. “No need for decorum here,” she said with her green eyes glittering with undisguised happiness. “It’s so good to see you, Everett. What are you doing here?”

The man named Everett threw a searing look in my direction which made me both squirm and feel irritated at the same time. Who did he think he was to treat her like she was some sort of trash?

“I heard about someone who could talk to dra…dragons… and A…,” he stammered before his eyes flickered back to Miriam as he shook his head in disbelief. “Forget about my mission for a moment princess,” he took Miriam’s hand to bring her to a more secluded side of the room.

Filled with suspicion, I accosted them because I wasn’t sure that I trusted the man. Well, not surprising since there was not many people which I trusted.

“Tell me, princess,” Everett asked Miriam by holding her hand in reverence. “How did you land here? We all believed you dead after you left the pack territories. Goddess knew how much we searched for you after the attack, but we couldn’t find you anywhere. We didn’t think to look in the Neverland refuge.”

Who was we, I wondered suspiciously. Everett was speaking in the name of someone else, I felt sure of that. Was he in cahoots with the evil uncle?

Over-protectiveness for Miriam filled me, and in that fleeting moment, I realized how much I had grown to care for that stupid buoyant woman. Miriam was so naïve that she wouldn’t even think of doubting anyone from her pack. I was more attuned to the new ways of the world.

“I don’t remember how I landed here,” Miriam was openly admitting. “All I knew is that as soon as father breathed his last, Uncle Vincent was desperate to eliminate his only threat to the throne. I became hunted and some faithful helped me to flee the golden cage they’d locked me in.”

“They followed you?” Everett asked with a frown and Miriam nodded.

“Right until I felt the territories. I felt my powers leave me, as my speed slackened, and my wolf became weaker. They easily caught up with me and beat me to death,

she shrugged nonchalantly like she was speaking of the weather conditions. “That’s as far as I remembered.”

Everett’s eyes flickered around. “I assume someone found you and brought you here. This is hardly an appropriate place for a princess. You should have informed us as soon as you recovered.”

“I didn’t know who I could trust, Everett. There were so many who swiftly changed their loyalties as soon as father died.”

“I know! Trust me, I know! It was all so horrible. We all thought you were dead. But…,” he stopped himself right before he was about to say something. He squeezed Miriam’s hands gently. “It’s okay. I got you now. Everything will work out for the best now that I’ve seen you.”

“Where have you been? I haven’t seen you after you left together with Aerys in the battle with the dragons,” Miriam asked curiously.

That sentence pricked my interest. If Everett knew what happened to the Prince Aerys, that meant that the man knew more than he was letting on. I again had the pricky sensation that he was hiding something fundamental, and I froze when the blue eyes pinned me once again with that ominous stare.

“Who is that weird girl?” I heard him ask Miriam, nodding his head in my direction and I averted my eyes quickly.

Miriam seemed to finally realize that I was hovering around, and she signaled me to come nearer. I acquiesced, albeit somewhat reluctantly. “This is the one who worked hard to get me back on my feet. If today I am standing in front of you, it’s all thanks to her.”

“Don’t exaggerate!” I snapped nastily, and belatedly realizing my mistake when Everett’s eyes rounded in shock at my impertinence. I gulped down the rest of my words as I figured that I had overstepped my boundaries.

“Sorry,” I muttered humbly, once again missing the fact that Miriam was a princess.

Miriam rolled her eyes playfully at me and shared a sheepish apologetic smile. “It’s okay. I am not known as a princess around here,” she explained quickly to Everett, stopping him as he was about to give me a good piece of mind. “Zelda is one of my close friends and I hold her in a high esteem.”

Everett seemed to take her words seriously. “Is she the one proclaiming to speak with dragons?”

I was stunned that news of my recently acquired aptitude had transcended boundaries. Raising my chin defiantly, I told myself that I was in no way bound to give any sort of explanations to that man. I was no longer connected to any pack or alpha, so there was nothing to prove.

“Yes, she can,” Miriam answered for me, as if sensing my rising rebellion.

“What proof does she have? How do we know she’s not tricking us?” Everett asked with affront, making me angrier.

“I’ve got nothing to prove to you,” I hissed mutinously, and then turned towards Miriam. “Who is that man anyway? Why do I have to answer to him?”

“It’s okay Zee. I know him. His name is Everett Becker, and he was my brother’s beta. He can help us…”

The rest of her words drowned in my mind as I frowned in concentration. Everett Becker. I’d heard of that name before. But from where? No matter how hard I tried, I could not figure out why that name sounded so familiar.

“Zee? Zee are you listening to me?” Miriam shook me gently and I broke away from my reverie and stared at her with a blank expression. “Yeah as I was saying, he’s powerful enough to save us from the attacks. We should form an army to dismount my uncle from the throne…”

My subconscious acknowledged the fact that Everett Becker was a strong warrior for he’d been beta to a very strong royalty, but I was too focused on searching my memory for any remembrance. Damn, I felt so sure of it being right there somewhere in my mind.

“Wait,” Everett was saying, putting a halt to Miriam’s influx of words. “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. First things first, where are the dragons?”

“They flew away,” I answered in a very obvious answer. Where was I supposed to keep two huge animals whose appetite surpassed the greed of Crassus? Within days, both mother and daughter had exhausted the meat stock of the Harper’s village. Thanks Goddess, Rhianna had been grateful for the rescue and had helped them restoring the Neverland back to its former shape.

“What?! How did you let them fly away?” Everett spoke in a gruff tone making me jump in my skin at how ferocious he sounded.

I frowned my displeasure. “Well, I could hardly keep two dragons around in my pocket, could I? I hope you can see how many wounded are welcomed here, and keeping two dragons as pets is not recommended,” I spoke without bothering to hide the sarcasm behind my words.

“Zee!” Miriam interjected with a warning note in her voice. She smiled apologetically to Everett on my behalf. “Sorry, she’s a little grumpy after the dragons left. Well, they were causing us a lot of trouble, and we had to let them find their own way.”

A deep mar marred Everett’s forehead. “Are we sure that she can actually speak to dragons?” I heard him asking Miriam, and he wasn’t even being discrete when demeaning me.

“Excuse me?” I exploded in outrage. “Are you saying that you don’t believe me? That I invented the fact that I could speak to dragons? Like it’s a boon or something that I need to be proud of? Listen, do you know how much trouble we’ve encountered because of the two troublemakers? It’s a relief to see them gone!”

I wasn’t even aware of the tears flowing down my cheeks, and I wiped them off impatiently when I felt the wetness. I was crying? I hadn’t shed a single tear since Braxton’s wedding. Why was I crying over two stupid dragons?

The problem was that I had gotten very attached to those two little mischief-makers. I was finally allowing myself to grieve their loss and felt inordinately stupid to express my grief in front of a complete stranger.

“There, there,” Miriam patted my back comfortingly, and I found myself on her arms like she’d been expecting me to break down like this. “Let it out, Zee. You should pardon her – she’s not very good with emotions,” she stage-whispered conspiratorially to the man standing inside the room. “But I can vouch for what happened.”

I stood in her arms while she related the incident to Everett Becker, like I wasn’t even present in the room. Powerless in the face of Miriam’s excessive love, I allowed her to bear witness to whatever had happened with the dragons.

“Holy sh*t!” Everett Becker whistled when Miriam was done with the tearful story when the dragons left for a safer place. “She rescued a baby dragon? I’ve never heard of such a thing. But…”

The dubious connotation I heard in his voice made my head snap up to stare at him defiantly.

“…does she have any connection to dragons? Is she related to them? I mean you know how rare it is for a human to speak with one?”

“Speak to me,” I spatted with vehemence, p*ssed that he was still considering me as part of the décor. “I can answer for myself and I am standing right here in front of you!”

Everett seemed taken aback by my fervor, but he clenched his jaw tightly not to react accordingly. “So, speak!” he rasped harshly. “Do you know any dragon? Are you pure blood? How can you communicate with them?”

“I don’t know. I am born to omega parents, and I have no link whatsoever to dragons. The first time I realized that I could speak to one was one week ago when the dragon Rhianna came barging into our lives without warning.”

“That’s impossible!” Everett said with his hands scratching the sides of his mouth. “Impossible. Even Lyenna Montgomery of dragon’s blood could not speak with dragons, so how can you…?

“Okay listen, Everett Becker or whatever your name is…”

Then it clicked. I suddenly realized where I’d heard the name before. It was from Isaac, the rogue who had rescued me from Braxton, the one who had died for my cause. If you want to avenge yourself, look for Everett Becker. He will find the protection of a more powerful Alpha to help you fight that asshole.