Althena Book 2

17. 4 Feet In The Air

I wake up at granny's the next day. I've got an IV and a feeding tube. I'm under the softest, most comfortable blanket. It's warm and comfortable. But I have to pee.

I drag the pole on wheels with me. Granny is sitting at the table with the doctor. I ignore them and keep going.

When I come back out, the doctor stands up. "They were worried about you drinking so much yesterday. Alcohol poisoning is real. But you're fine. Sit down and I'll take the tubes out."

My nose bleeds for the normal few minutes.

"Thank you. That feels better."

"Are you feeling ok?"

"I feel fine." I stretch a bit. I actually feel perfect. Better than normal.

"Good. If you feel queezy later, that's fine, but if you start to feel like you're going to pass out, give me a call."

"Ok."

The doctor leaves and granny puts some breakfast in front of me. "You slept for 15 hours. I imagine you slept everything off."

"I don't even remember what happened."

"You had a little too much wine with dinner."

"Yea. That's probably it."

"I think you and Cyrus are going to have to talk."

"No. We don't have anything to talk about."

"He's trying to abdicate. He blames his parents for ruining what he had with you. They were saying, goddess knows what to him. His mother is something else."

My eyes fill up with tears. "I have nothing to say to him."

"He's not your father."

"I loved him. For me, it was love anyway. I wanted you to test us for the bond. But Atlas got hurt. I had to fix him. When I woke up, Cyrus didn't say anything to me. He refused to talk to me. It hurt. I had to pretend it didn't."

"I know, baby. Everyone was telling him things. He backed away from you." She rubs my hair.

"So, how is he not like my father? He listened to everyone else too."

She nods and pours herself some coffee.

"What were they saying about my mom? What were they saying about me? What made her not worthy? Are they the same things that make me not worthy?" I hear the front door slam and wipe my eyes off.

Drogon comes in a minute later and smiles at me. "My pretty girl is awake. You feeling alright?"

"I'm fine, love."

He kisses my head and picks me up. "We had the doctor do what he could. You drank a lot last night."

"I'm sorry."

"It happens. You got carried away. Let's get you cleaned up."

We get in the shower and he washes my hair.

"Why are we here?"

"You wanted to go to the play park."

"Did I go?"

He laughs while he rinses it. "No. You passed out. But we had to work off some stress. It gave us an outlet, and you were safe in your granny's house. Monte thought you might want to play there today."

"He's right. I do."

"I figured."

Mike and Conner are in the living room when we get out. I sit on Conner and snuggle him.

Drogon towel dries his hair. "He come back?"

"No." Mike doesn't look up from his magazine.

Conner looks at me and gets so serious. "I bet I will win a race at the play park."

I turn and stare at him for a second. Then, -Poof- I'm a wolf.

"Woman, you're standing on me."

Mike chuckles. "I'll get her a bag."

I hop down and bark at Conner.

"Woman, I am not getting naked in front of your granny. Be patient."

I keep barking.

"I shouldn't have said anything." He goes to the bedroom. I stand in the kitchen barking and whining until he comes out as a wolf. Then I run head first into Drogon and knock him down.

Granny opens the door. "Get out."

I run in circles around Conner until the other two come out. Then we go over to the park. It's very obvious that something is wrong. One of the warriors is lying on the ground and Monte is standing over him yelling orders at people. I'm too far away to hear what they are.

"Conner, get her to put her dress on. We may need her to heal him." Mike takes off with Drogon.

Conner headbutts me and leads me into the trees. I get my dress on, and we go over to see what's going on.

Monte's hands are bloody and swollen. A warrior is lying on his back. He's beat up. I can tell his nose is broken, and he has black eyes already. I give Monte a dirty look and heal the warrior. Then I drag Monte away.

I push him down on the picnic table. "I can't believe you. You can't beat them up, Monte. They trust you." I check his hands then start healing him. "Don't make them afraid of you. What happens if something is wrong, and they're afraid to come to you?" I shake my head and let go of his hands. "You have to protect them."

The i***t is smiling at me.

I throw my hands up. "Next time, I'll leave your fingers broken and break your nose."

"You're right. Let's go over to the play park."

Drogon kisses me on the head. "I'll be right back, babygirl. I'm going to go grab someone."

"Please don't let it be the w***e. I will murder everyone."

They crack up laughing. "No. I promise I won't do that. I'll see if Clayton wants to come though."

"Ok. I want to shove him in the mud pit."

"That sounds fun."

Monte gets off the table. "Let's get you to the play park."

-Poof- I'm a wolf.

"MIKE! GO PACK HER ANOTHER BAG. I'M GOING."

Mike gives a thumbs up and I run to the play park. 3 minutes later, nobody is there yet, so I sneak around to the hole in the fence and go in. I go through it twice before Monte opens the gate. Mike and him are laughing. Conner runs over to the starting spot.

I tackle him off the podium, then we climb back on it.

Mike yells, "GO."

2 hours later, Monte is sitting on the ground leaning against the fence. Beta Tony is beside him. Mike, Conner, Drogon, Clayton, and about 20 warriors are running around as wolves with me. This place is so fun. I go over and sit by Monte. Then I lean on him.

"What is she doing?"

"Getting tired. I think the alcohol from yesterday is still messing with her."

"She's falling asleep like that."

"Yea. But she's stubborn and will have a fit if I try to move her."

I plop down. Then I lay my head on his knee and snort.

Monte holds his phone up. "This is what I was saying earlier. There is a weak spot right here at the border."

I roll over on my back.

"Woman, I don't want your foot in my mouth."

I stretch my legs and toes as far as I can. I hear the beta and Mike laughing. Monte moves my feet. Then I am out.

I wake up and stretch. Monte is sleeping beside me on a blanket. Mike is directing and watching everyone in the play park. Beta is talking to Dacious. He glances at me and smirks. "How do you even sleep with 4 feet in the air?"

I jump up and pounce around. Then fall over and wiggle in the blanket. I rub on it.

Monte sits up. "s**t, I was sleeping hard."

"You both were."

"I need some damn coffee."

Dacious watches me try to get unstuck from the blanket. "Will you heal my brother? I know he's an asshole, but he's pretty banged up."

I try to jump up, but my feet are stuck. I fall over on Monte instead. I kind of summersault.

"What the hell?" He picks me up and shakes the blanket off. "Go, be free."

Mike cracks up laughing. "Go, be free." I sit by Dacious and Mike smiles. "You need a dress. Come with me."

Dacious nods. "He's on her front porch."

Mike gets me changed and I go to granny's. Cyrus is sitting on the steps. Granny sees me and goes in.

Dacious wasn't wrong. Cyrus's face is bruised with a few cuts. He's got blood on his shirt. His hands are messed up. I sit beside him. "Did you and Monte get in a fight?"

"Yea."

"I thought he beat up that warrior."

"I did. Monte pulled me off."

I take his hand and heal him. "That feel better?"

"No."

"I don't see anything else."

"I'm sorry."

"You should tell the warrior that. Not me."

"I'm sorry I hurt you. I listened to my mother and I shouldn't have."

"I think we're supposed to listen to our parents."

"They don't know everything." He shakes his head. "I blamed her, but it wasn't her fault. I'm the one who listened. I did the damage. She kept telling me you were too young. I need to stay away from you and let you grow up. We can't feel a bond until you're old enough. I'll do damage if I try to be with you early. Some of what she said made sense. I've been listening to her about girls since I was a kid. I think that was part of it. It's hard to stop listening to your parents."

"I guess I'll never have that problem."

"I'm sorry you lost them. I wish they could have figured everything out."

"I wish a lot of things would have been different. But I understand why some stuff happened."

"Like what?"

"For a while, I wished he would have known about me. He could have helped us with money. But then I realized, if she had told him about me, he would have either taken me or killed me. I wasn't the family he wanted. She had to protect us. There is no way she could have stopped a king from doing whatever he wanted. She would have never seen me again. At least I got to know her."

"You were the family he wanted, sweetheart. It took him too long to realize it. By the time he did, it was too late. The damage was done. She was gone. He had no option but to move forward with his chosen family. Try to be as happy as he could."

"But..."

"He made up his mind to make you a princess, nearly immediately. You were always his princess. He loved you. Everyone could see that. I doubt if he even asked Clayton what he thought about putting you in line for the throne. He didn't know you very well, but he was trying."

I stare at him until he continues.

"Your mom was protecting herself. Your dad would have tried to get you both back. I have no doubt he wanted the 2 of you back. But after everything he did, she probably wouldn't have given him the chance with her. Then your dad would have either taken you or at least demanded to see you, and have you move back to Darkburn. It's hard to know what he would have done, but he wouldn't have hurt you. And yea, at the very least, he would have given you money and tried to buy your mother back."

I shake my head and wipe tears away. "She hid me because she was mad at him."

Granny comes out and hands me a plate of cookies. "That only played a part in it. Aurel was scared to death. Yes, he could have taken you away from her. Losing you would have been worse than death to her. But she didn't want you to grow up like him either. Always under so much pressure to be perfect. Hell, the man refused his own soulmate because the advisors told him the city was counting on him. Mary was better somehow. He listened because that's what he did his whole life. She didn't want that for you. She made you stronger than any royal I've ever met."

"Would she have taken him back?"

"With enough money and threats of taking you away, she would have given in. But her whole life would have been a fight in another way. Trying to keep all the assholes away from you. I watched your boys nearly fail and give in to them once Drogon took the throne. They nearly gave you up because of what people were saying."

Cyrus steals a cookie. "What did they do?"

"They were telling Drogon he couldn't take care of her and be king. He was going to sign off. Then he decided to threaten them with death instead. He knew he would have hurt his mate if he continued to listen to them. He was too strong for that."

I laugh. "Yea, he threatened to rip their heads off and they ran away. I don't think they've advised him about me since."

"Well, we can't expect Cyrus to threaten to rip his own mom's head off. He'll have to figure out another way." Granny laughs and goes back in.

Cyrus takes my hand. "I'm sorry for the damage I did. I know I hurt you. I wish I could take it back. But I'll figure it out. I'll fix it somehow. I promise."

Dacious, Drogon, and King Stone walk out of the woods.

"Come on, woman. Monte opened up the river park. You can throw Clayton in the mud now."

I shove the plate of cookies into Cyrus's lap and run for it. "I'M GONNA GET CONNER TOO."