Ch. 9
"Is your warrior going to be okay?" Luna asked wrapping the robe she was giving around her body tightly. She hadn't meant to harm the male so, but he had gone after a pack member, and protective instincts were vital with her people.
"He should be fine, our doctor is looking at him now" the king said sitting down at his desk along with the prince beside him. Her pack members were to stay outside with the other warriors guarding them "Now, you want to tell me what the hell this is all about?" the king said.
"Your Majesty" Luna said "First off I would like to apologize for my actions and the actions of my pack members, we were under fire, and we have young ones down along your woods. My pack was only thinking of protecting the others. Second, I have a proposition for you though it seems now may not be the best time to ask it."
"Go ahead, things couldn't get any worse right now" the king grumbled.
Luna cleared her throat and held on the robe tighter "I have come asking for refuge for my pack members and I. We would stay in your woods where our deer have migrated to and in return we shall keep you safe during the daytime."
"That's very generous of you" the king said "But what makes you think I would allow such a thing?"
"Did you not see how easy it was for my pack to find this place?" Luna said waving her hand around the grand office "Do you not think your enemies would also be able to do so? Especially if they were to alliance themselves with other wolfen?"
"We have stayed safe so far" the king declared "Besides what do you have against our enemy?"
"The enemy of my enemy is my friend" Luna simply said "They have taken something from my pack that I would kill for. My Alpha and another pack alpha were kidnapped by these things, females cannot be Alpha's in our law, so my pack is not safe from others that will come. I need a safe place for them, somewhere we can hunt and keep our young safe from more brutal packs. I am not asking, but begging for you to allow us to stay here."
"Father" Mayhem spoke up "She's right, and I owe her something for saving my life. Besides, the lesser population has tripled over the years, maybe these wolfen can help us in the fighting? You saw they are more than capable of handling themselves."
Luna looked at the prince with a curious stare. It was strange having someone on her side, but right now she needed all the help she could get.
"How old are your youngs?" the king asked softly.
"One is seven, the other six, and our third just turned two" Luna said "They have come from packs that leave their young for dead, I would rather die than subject them to starving."
"All right" the king said "I've heard enough." He sat there for what seemed like forever. Luna just stared at him, trying to read his emotions, then she looked at the prince for only a moment to see what he was feeling. It was the same as her as he stood there tense waiting for his father to speak.
God, they looked alike. The prince's hair was shorter, but the aristocratic look was still there in his face. Those soft eyes that shimmered emerald then turned to her and it seemed they looked right into her soul. Luna found herself blushing and looked down at her grimy feet. She must look horrible right now.
Stop. Just stop. Luna tightened her fists. She was never one to care about her looks, her hair was always wild, her clothes always too big, she never cared about how a male saw her.
Until now that is..
"Okay" the king said "Your pack may stay in our woods, though for good measurement I want some of you to stay in the house, mostly the young ones, then the rest may house in the woods wherever you please. Your kind will go on rotation with the Brothers, mainly to track and help take down lessers. The only reason I'm allowing this is because you saved my son, and besides my shellan, he is my world" he said looking up at Mayhem with proud eyes "But before any of this happens, I want you to go down and apologize to my Brother, true?"
Luna knelt down, making sure the robe covered her enough "I would offer him to silver me if that would suffice."
"That's up to him" the king said "Mayhem, please send the Brothers in so I can tell them what's up."
"Yes father" Mayhem said bowing and then scooting along beside Luna.
"If you want" he said to her "I'll show you where Rhage is, then I'll get Fritz to show you where you can stay."
"Thank you" she said bending her head to him.
Rhage open his eyes and then decided to close them. The brightness from Doc Jane's lamp was way to bright right now, and his whole shoulder hurt like a bitch.
"Rhage?" he heard his Mary say "Baby you awake?"
Rhage opened his eyes and saw his beautiful shellan. Her dark brown hair was pulled away in a messy ponytail, her eyes looking like she hadn't slept at all since they brought him into Doc Jane's room.
"Hey baby" he tried to smile at her, but even his teeth hurt "You should get some rest. I'm okay, just a few scratches."
"More than a few" she muttered looking at his shoulder.
Rhage turned his head and looked at the deep gashes that were stitched up but slowly healing. Damn, those wolfen had a bite to them, if a human ever got bit...well, that's when the bad shit started to go down.
"What did that?" he heard Mary whisper.
"A big ass wolf" he muttered as he sat up and moved his arms around. The stitches were tight against his skin, but he would survive. "Big and mean" he said looking at her and holding out his arms. She hopped up and went right into them, being careful not to hit the stitches.
"Did you kill it?" she whispered into his neck.
"It's a her, and no. I passed out before she got me, but for some reason she stopped. She's a wolfen, they haven't been around these parts in centuries, but now that they are here, things could get complicated" he said nuzzling her.
"How so?" Mary said now looking at him in his neon blue eyes.
"Well, wolfen have a special bite. I survived it because I'm already all kinds of fucked up. But if a human got bit they turn into one, only not the kind that can actually stop when they start to bite. Back in the old times, vampires would hunt them down and we thought they went extinct. But today they showed up here, and I have no fucking clue why" he said. He never wanted to lie to his Mary, she was his everything.
Mary shook her head and massaged his shoulders "Well I'm just glad your okay" she said. Rhage gave her another nuzzle and thought about another problem he was facing. His beautiful shellan wanted a child, but because of all her chemo, she was infertile. Things had been fine for a while, just him and Mary, happy as clams. But then Bella had Nalla, which didn't bother Mary much, but then the other Brothers all started having children with their shellans, and it didn't take Rhage to be a genius that Mary was feeling left out.
"I love you leelan" he whispered into her hair.
"And I love you" she said giving him a deep kiss.
Suddenly a knock came at the door and Rhage about growled for them to go away so he could have his alone time with his shellan but Mary beat him to it.
"Come on in" she said.
The door opened to the prince and a girl with deep red hair. The prince looked nervous but Rhage could tell he was happy about something. The girl just stared at him, those deep amber eyes glowing like fire. She was wrapped in a robe and nothing more, her dirty bare feet bunched tightly together like she was nervous too.
"Rhage" the prince said "This is Luna, she's come to apologize for what she did to you."
Rhage felt himself tense up. He now recognized her as the girl who turned into the wolf, he remembered now those glowing eyes staring down at him while she bit into his shoulder.
"So you did this?" Mary pointed at his shoulder as her words became heated fast.
"I would offer you to silver me for my offenses" Luna said bending her head down as her wild hair drooped down to the floor exposing her neck.
"And what does that mean?" Rhage said now getting to his feet but still holding on to his shellan.
"It means you may put silver on my skin until you feel I have hurt enough for hurting you" she said still bent down "Silver is deadly to my people, even touching it will burn our skin. I will offer you this only once, and if you decline then the matter is forgotten."
"Alright then" Mary said taking off her necklace "This is silver. Rhage if you want you can use this, it really doesn't matter to me, she hurt you but it's up to you whether she deserves it or not."
Rhage took the necklace in his hand and fingered it. The prince looked at the thing like it was toxic to him and then looked to the girl with such worry it made Rhage think of when he used to look at Mary that way.
"Come over here and let's get this over with" he said "Just to make things even, I'm going to put this on your shoulder."
"Very well" she said and went forward to him exposing her shoulder from the robe. Rhage then saw the massive scars that started from her shoulder that must lead down to her back.
"You seem to get this a lot" he muttered.
"No, that was from something else" she said as her head bent down, ready to take whatever Rhage was going to give.
"Here it goes" he said and dropped the tiny link of chain on her shoulder. A small his sounded and smoke sizzled as the chain touched the girl's skin. Her whole body stiffened and her hands began to shake uncontrollably, but her mouth made no noise. She just stared down, her eyes in terror and shock as the chain began to sink into her burning skin.
"Rhage" the prince whispered and the Brother looked up to the boy about the jump in to rescue her from the tiny chain.
Rhage felt bad for the prince, he had always been a good kid, though the king and queen had a tight leash on him. He had watched the child grow to the boy and soon he would be a man, and now he was damaging the only thing Rhage had ever even seen him want.
As Rhage picked up the chain from Luna's shoulder she let out a horrible cry and fell to the floor. Mayhem came over then and picked her up and helped her out of the room. Rhage looked to Mary, she was holding her hand over her mouth in terror. Rhage looked down to the floor and felt like shit. Things were not looking well for anyone today.
