Things Are Not Always As They Seem
1856 Words
Nicole woke up to Josh's steel blue eyes looking at her. She could make out all the different greys and dark blues and sometimes a flicker of light blue specks. They mezmerized her. She smiled at him feeling grateful to wake up to him. "Good morning." She said into her covers concerned about her morning breath.
"Good morning." He said in his deep voice that seemed to match the rest of his body. He smiled at her feeling thankful that she was looking back at him. He pulled her closer to him and kissed her forehead and she curled up under his chin laying her head on his chest.
She was tall for a girl at 5' 10" and loved feeling small and protected next to his large frame. "We get to wake up like this every morning?"
"I am so lucky." He smiled and his voice echoed in his chest.
"It's hard to believe that I didn't even know you a few weeks ago." She just felt so complete.
"Well, you did know me, you just hadn't met me yet. That's the part of being a mate, we are connected deep inside."
"You sure do connect with me deep inside." She giggled at her own joke.
Josh laughed "Anytime Babe, anytime."
There was knock on the door, it was Mark. "Except for right now." She slinked out of bed and into the bathroom to shower.
Josh opened the door and let Mark in. "What do you think the plan should be?"
"First part would next time I get a room on a different floor. Good God man. Did you get any sleep because I sure didn't?" Mark sat down at the little table smiling at his best friend.
"Sounds like a good plan, you need your beauty sleep for sure." Josh was getting the picture, jewlery and letter from Sabrina out.
"Nicole may have put together some pieces here. This jewlery matches the picture indicating that it was parents. Nicole posed the question if this wasn't her uncles sisters but her fathers sister. Could she be from the Blue Moon Pack? If she is, she might have a lot of answers that we need."
Mark studied them and agreed it was a good place to start. "Their headquaters are way down in Georgia. Did you reach out to them?"
Josh picked up his phone and found his page he'd found last night "I was waiting until this morning." He put his phone up to his hear.
"Hello, this Josh Stevens son of Alpha Stevens of the Hollow Moon Pack. I'd like to call on Alpha Giest about some personal business. Can I make that appointment?" Josh was quiet on his end for a few moments "This Friday 2pm. I will be there. Thank you."
"That gives us 2 days to travel there." Mark was doing math in his head traveling from Balck Hills South Dakota to Lithia Springs Georgia was a do able drive in 2 days.
Mark left to go pack his stuff and Josh started packing their stuff and she came out of the bathroom.
"I see you bought me some new cloths." She bounced out of the bathroom with yoga pants and a matching t-shirt. That actually fit her. She kicked her leg in the air showing off her moves.
"Oh good, I am glad you like them. I had no idea. I just went with what came together as a set." He smiled at her unsure if he had made the right decision because now he could see her body and how it moved. He watched her tushy as she walked around and hoped he could control himself. She was so oblivious to how she made him feel.
Everyone was packed up and in the car an hour later. "Maybe we should drive by Wolfgang Hieghts?" Nicole said nonchalantly as she threw her mirrored sunglasses on. Her hair in a side ponytail.
They all agreed since it wasn't that far from where they were at. Mark looked it up and the owners did not appear to be werewolves or anything like that.
It had dark brown exterior and white trim with a big stand alone sign that said "Wolfgang Hieghts" at the enterance. The main door had a canopy over it, nothing had changed since the picture.
Suddenly Nicole felt this surge of panic and wanted to do nothing more than runaway. Her face went flush and Josh felt her unease as well. "Do you want to keep going?" He asked as he reached for her hand.
She nodded, whatever it was she needed to face it. Josh pulled up to the front door and everyone got out. Nicole almost couldn't breath as she walked in. She felt bad things here.
The inside was dark with a big crystal chandelier hanging from the ceiling and a large looming from desk with nobody behind it. It was earily empty and quiet. Nicole took her sunglasses off and looked around. She felt like eyes were on her as she moved closer to Josh.
"What a wierd vibe." Mark said as he walked up to the front desk. "Why isn't anyone here?" Mark almost shouted in the big open lobby.
"Look" Nicole pointed to a picture and it looked like it was a picture of her.
"Okay that's wierd." Why is your picture in this lobby?"
"Because she is our Queen." A booming voice came from behind them. A somewhat short stout man was standing behind them in a suite and tie like he was ready for business. His eyes met Nicoles and he dropped to his knees "Your Majesty" he bowed and stayed there.
"Please stand up." Nicole felt embarassed in front of her friends. "Tell me about this place."
He stood up and offered a place them for them to sit in the furnished lobby. They moved as a group to the couch.
"Coffee, water?" He offered as he got himself a coffee. He sat across from them looking hard at Nicole. "You are not her, are you?" He pointed to the painting.
"No, that might be my mother or my grandmother." She answered honestly.
"Ahh." taking a sip of his coffee giving himself a moment to think. "How did you find this place?"
"I have a picture of it and it was on a hand drawn map that I have."
He nodded in understanding and set his coffee down. "I am willing to bet that you are the long hidden daughter of MaryBeth. Only Royals can find this place and be in this place, he looked over at the men with her. Did you all come here together or have you collected them along the way?"
"Josh is my mate and Mark is his friend and will be his Beta." She tried to sound confident about her words.
"Ahhh, well, they both must still have some royal blood in them to be allowed in here."
Josh and Mark looked at each other wondering what this guy was talking about.
"I feel like bad things happen here?" Nicole said.
"They can. This place was built so the Royal Family could have a break, it's like a vacation house. Sometimes the things they fight follow them." He paused for a moment.
"I demand you tell me the whole truth about everything." Nicole harnessed her Grandmothers confident voice when she was giving comands.
"Yes your Highness." He cleared his throat and sat back. "Your mother came here with you to hide. I remember you as a baby. She had your father with her and everything seemed very happy. One night men, not of this world, came and everyone was screaming and running. She and your father fled with you and only you in their arms. I don't know what these men were after it seemed to be her but they could not leave the property and continue thier chase." He was quiet for a moment "Princess, you should leave. They have eyes here and they are looking for you. Your parents risked their lives to save you." He stood up and walked behind the front desk.
"In their room you parents left behind some jewlery." He pulled out a tin box that looked similar to the one she found in Uncles floor. "I suppose you are the rightful heir to these."
Josh stood up, "I thnk we will leave them here. Maybe someday we will come back here." He ushered Nicole and Mark out of the lobby.
The stout man followed them "You will never get away from us. We will always find you Princess." He had to stop at the door because he couldn't leave. He stood in the door watching them drive away. Nicole looked back at him and they locked eyes just for a moment.
"How did you know to leave Babe?" Nicole asked as the pulled out of the parking lot. "How did you know not to take anything from him?"
"Trenton was going nuts with warning, there was something in the air that he didn't like at all." Josh looked in the rear view mirror. "Was your wolf going nuts too?" He was talking to Mark.
"He was anxious but not in full on warning mode. What do you think would have happened if we had taken something from him?"
"I don't know but it was the barrier that was holding him back."
"Creepy." Nicole said as they pulled onto the main road looking for the highway.
The two day trip was filled with fun. They stopped and saw the worlds biggest twine ball, played mini golf and ate at dive resturants. The three of them took turns driving.
Josh was sleeping in the back and Mark was driving. "Have you found your mate yet?" Nicole asked.
"No, but I can't wait. I hope she's beautiful" Mark smiled thinking of it.
"I think no matter what the world thinks you are going to see how beautful she is."
"Probably." They talked about not much and then it was her turn to drive.
Both guys were sleeping as she drove in the middle of the night in farm town Ohio and into Tennesse. Dawn was breaking as they entered Georgia and it was her turn to sleep.
She listened to the guys talking as she faded off to sleep in the back seat. The next thing she knew Josh was waking her up. "We are almost here. We got a hotel so we could shower and get ready."
Nicole pulled herself out of the back seat and the air was heavy with humidity. She was instantly sweaty and she wondered how long a shower was really going to last her.
A few hours later they found the address they were looking for. The air conditioning car sat in front of an old abandoned mansion. Josh got out of the car and opened Nicole's door for her. "Well I trust the address that they gave me and I can smell wolves everywhere."
The three of them walked past the old broken iron gate hoping that they were on the right track.
- Writer
