Queen Alpha (NYC Mecca #2)(39)

Violet stepped up to me, snapping her fingers as she walked. She now held a long white robe, which she tossed to me and I slipped into quickly. Finn’s power brushed against me as he barreled into the room, moving to my side. Sinking my hands deep into his fur, I let his calming presence wash over me.

My eyes burned and my throat was tight, but I definitely couldn’t fall apart now. We had to deal with this situation and make sure there were no other attacks on my people.

“Violet, get this body back to the castle and put it on ice. Calista!” I yelled. She poked her head in the bathroom door.

“Please pay for the repairs to have the bathroom fixed and find out if there were any other attacks in the boroughs,” I said, my tone hard. She nodded, her tablet out, fingers flying across it.

Kade took a step away from me, his face unreadable. “I should get back to my people. Make sure there wasn’t an attack there as well,” he said.

There was so much wrong right now, not just with the fae attacking us, but also between Kade and me. Unfortunately, I had no time to deal with that. Neither of us did, so I simply nodded.

“Be safe,” I managed to choke out.

“You too, Ari.” His reply was soft, and then he was gone.

The moment his bright energy drifted from the room, my body caved in a little. I realized then, in a flash of clarity, that it wasn’t possible for me to be just friends with Kade. There was so much more between us. Baladar’s story had only made it worse. In the beginning, bear and wolf were one. A team. Stronger together. Somewhere along the line we had broken apart something that was whole.

If I were any normal wolf shifter I’d say screw the rules, I was taking what I wanted. But I was the queen, and selfish actions by me could bring down both of our races. Kade and I had to stop all of this, all the training; it was just asking for trouble. After fixing the mecca on the night of the summer festival, that would be the end of Kade in my life. Our people came first. The past was going to stay exactly where it was, in the past.





Chapter Nine


Summer fun. Summer love.


The next two weeks passed in a blur of organizing, training, and endless searching through the Red Queen’s personal stores. I couldn’t help my magic born with the fae magic library. Only a handful of the books were written in English. If I really concentrated I could understand the language of magic, of the Tuatha de Danann, but it was too hard to do it in larger texts. I was thankful to have Violet in charge of this research. I trusted her implicitly, and she was the next best thing to me being able to oversee it myself.

Of course, so far they hadn’t turned up anything of importance, although as more and more fae magic and history was uncovered, more and more it seemed that Sir Baladar was correct. Shifters were not evolved from humans, we were the offspring of fae. Wrapping my head around it was still difficult. Especially since they kept trying to kill me and my people.

Since the day I got attacked by the dark fae in Vinnies, I had only seen Kade once, very briefly for a training session. We had planned to examine the dark fae’s body together, but somehow it had disappeared before we could get it to my royal home. I couldn’t figure out if I had a traitor in my mix, or if the Tuatha were becoming more paranoid about us finding out information on them. It felt like they’d spelled their assassins’ bodies to return home after death. Probably we wouldn’t have learned anything from the body, but it annoyed me that someone had snatched her away before anyone could check.

Tomorrow Kade and I would kick off the summer festival on the Island, then together with Violet we would send the mecca back to the Otherworld. I had a million things left to organize, but it was lunchtime, I hadn’t eaten yet, and I desperately needed a break, so I snuck off. Some of my stress lifted as I wandered through the massive courtyard garden of the royal home; crossing into the world of green had a calm descending over me.

Taking a good look around, I decided right then that I should spend more time here. The warmth of nature soothed my soul. In my opinion, the design and plant choices weren’t as beautiful as those in Kade’s garden, but it was still an amazing area, filled with large potted trees, rows of lavender, and other herbs. There were also long manicured rows of flowers, and a small duck pond near the back right corner. A few of my shifters kept the plants thriving and healthy. Kade took care of the garden in his own home, which was probably why it was so perfect.

Kade…

Dammit. He was distancing himself from me, and even though I should be happy about it, I found myself missing him. His wise council. His strength and kindness. It was often lonely as a leader, a life filled with responsibility, always having to hold yourself back from others.

As if she had heard my thoughts, a sweet voice shrieked my name, and I spun to find Winnie barreling toward me, her familiar and harassed looking advisor trailing after.

“Sissy!” she yelled again, her brown hair streaming out behind her, and the pure joy on her face lifted my spirits.

Despite my queenly outfit and heavy mecca crown, I took off toward her, reaching out to scoop her into my arms. We hugged for many long minutes, which was eventually too much for a five year old. She wriggled out of my arms, and with a cheeky grin reached out and tapped me on the hip.

“You’re it!” She took off then, shrieking as she ran. I was right on her tail.

Eyes turned toward us as we dashed through the gardens, more than one person surprised to see the queen threatening her sister with tickle monster fingers. My heart felt light, free. It had been too long since I had these moments with Winnie. There was an uncomfortable feeling in my chest when I thought about things I was going to miss by being so busy. It was my duty, and growing up I had felt that distance from both my mother and the Red Queen, but I didn’t want that for my sister. I wanted her to feel so much love that she never had a moment of loneliness. I wanted to protect her from the harsh realities of life for as long as I could.