"You don't believe me." Finn comments later that day. I was perched in the center of the bed working on some papers for my internship with my laptop placed right in front of me. I glance up at him and pull my bottom lip between my teeth.
"I do believe you." I say slowly, "It's just hard to swallow what happened." I try to explain to him.
"What are you doing?" He asks curiously, glancing at my laptop.
"Paper work." I mumble, continuing to work on it. "You should go try to talk to Baron." I suggest to him only to get a scoff in response. It was enough to make me look up at him and furrow my eyebrows together.
"And risk getting massacred myself? I think not." He states. I roll my eyes and shake my head, but continue to finish up my work. "If there's someone out there tearing wolves to pieces than I think it'd be wise to take care of my own land and people." He adds.
"Well then go do that." I mutter, "I'm busy." I add not even looking up.
"Too busy for your man?" He questions, tilting his head at me.
"Yes." I answer in a breathy voice.
"No." He chuckles, taking my chin in his fingers and making me look up at him. He smirks down at me and I let out a long sigh.
"No." I agree.
"That's what I like to hear." He smiles, stroking his finger along my jawline. "I love you." He tells me.
"I love you too." I rest my hand on his hip, grabbing a handful of the fabric that sat there.
"I'm going to send out a group of men to run the perimeter just in case." He says and I nod. "I'll be downstairs when you're finished." He adds.
"Ok." I breathe. It didn't take me long to finish up once I could work uninterrupted and about an hour later I was walking down the steps into the big foyer area where Finn was talking with Charlise.
"Good afternoon Lady Annabelle." He smiled warmly at me.
"Hello Charlise." I return the smile. I was up to Finn and press my lips to his jaw line, "I'll be outside with Dillon and Gannicus." I tell him softly.
"I'll be out shortly. Perhaps we can go for a ride in the woods?" He suggests. We hadn't actually even ridden together yet. There was either no time or we'd be fighting, or lately I'd been sick.
"That sounds fun." I beam up at him.
"Go and get Dillon ready." He smiles, nodding his head towards the stables. I pushed open the front doors and bounced down the steps headed towards the stable where I was greeted by a soft nicker from Dillon.
"Hello sweet boy." I smile at him, pressing my lips to his soft nose that he'd stuck in my face. "You want to go for a ride?" I ask him, pulling at his stall latch. He wasted no time stepping in front of me when I got it open. "Hey! Personal space, please." I grumble at him.
"My my, he is protective over you isn't he?" I hear a male voice say behind me. I turn around, expecting one of Finn's men, but I was face to face with someone I'd never met before. Funny thing, is even though I know I'd never seen this guy before he still looked so familiar.
"Can I help you?" I ask wearily. I was fully aware of Dillon's protective stance in front of me, and it was setting off all sorts of alarm bells in my head.
"Finn is not with you?" He asks.
"I missed your name..." I say to him, narrowing my eyes.
"I never said it." He smirks. "Shame that my brother wouldn't be protecting you every moment possible, especially with such a killer running around." Hold on, did he just say brother?
"I wasn't aware Finn had a brother." I say to him, making him laugh and Dillon snort and pin his ears back.
"Of course he wouldn't talk about me. He'd never admit to stealing everything that was supposed to me mine. Everything that I have full intentions of taking back." He snorts.
"Maybe I should go get him for you." I suggest casually. Truth was I didn't want to be the one left alone with guy, no matter who he was.
"That won't be necessary, my love." Finn says from behind the man. "Alec. I should've known. You can't just accept the fate you made for yourself and our parents." This is all new knews to me. Brother. Parents. I think we're going to have to have a little talk later about family.
"I made no such fate! You're a thief and a liar!" Alec snarls at him. A snarl scary enough for me to take a step back. We all paused when the ground shook under our feet and a few seconds later I realized it was Gannicus, landing just outside the stable doors. "Yes, yes, rally everything you have. You know you can not beat me without them."
"Brother you're wrong, that dragon wouldn't piss on me if I were on fire. He's here to protect her." Finn nods at me casually. I watch him form one of his famous fire balls in the palms of his hands and he aims it for Alec.
"We're not finished." Alec tells him, before vanishing himself. I glance up at Finn who looked more annoyed than anything else.
"You failed to mention you had a brother." I grumbled at him.
"It wasn't-" he started to reply but i cut in.
"Can we just go for a ride? We'll talk about it later, I just want to spend time with you." I let out a heavy sigh.
"Of course, my love." He nods curtly. "Let me get Aron ready." He states.
***...***...***
"Alright... So, Alec." I finally say. We went out for an afternoon ride, came back in for dinner and I'd bathed before I even thought about bringing up the subject.
"Alec is my brother." He comments.
"So where'd he come from?" I ask, crawling up the length of the bed and laying down by where he was sitting.
"He and my parents live in another land." He answers simply, "To which I've banned them to." He adds like it's no big deal.
"What could family have possibly done to deserve that kind of treatment?" I wonder. He glances down at me and I can tell that he doesn't want to talk about it but it was also something that I needed to know.
"Annabelle I worked hard for this land, for these people." He starts off. "It wasn't inherited, it was won. My mother is a no body and a peasant, my father has many of my same powers but he used them quite differently than I. He was always more concerned about power than respect. My brother Alec, has always been the same way." He explains. "When I won rights to this land with my men my brother and father, much like Jordynian and Baramire, conspired against me to take it. Power hungry." He states.
"So you banned them." i comment.
"I didn't have it in me back then to put them into a dungeon like I do now. I still don't. They're family." He sighs.
"Where's your mother?" I question. He didn't seem to want to answer that question. "She's dead?" I push harder.
"She's not dead." He shakes he head. "You've met her." He adds and I furrow my brows at him. "Promise me you'll think no less of me..."
"I promise." I agree.
"Ellena is my mother." He states, looking at me for any kind of reaction. I'm quiet for a moment, letting that sink in.
"Are you punishing her?"
"No, my love." He replies softly. "My mother didn't want the people to know that she was related to me or my father and brother because she didn't want them to think of her the way they thought of my father and brother. She made the decision to work in the kitchen. She is free to come and go as she pleases, I'd never force such a thing on her. You have to understand, mother loves to cook. I will have to tell her that you know though. Why do you think she was so ecstatic when she found out you were pregnant?" He smirks at me.
"She's very sweet." I smile at him.
"I made her promise to always protect her from my brother and father, and I have every intention of keeping that promise." He tells me.
"How come you never told me any of this?" I ask him.
"I was hoping it would never arise." He sighs. "Technically Alec has broken several laws not to mention he entered land that he's banned from. I should send my men after him and throw him into the dungeons for the rest of forever."
"And you're not because...?"
"Because he's my brother." He shrugs simply.
"You're brother slaughtered half a wolf pack last night, and Baron isn't going to be able to accept the fact that you and your brother aren't working as one." I say.
"I will figure out something." He assures me.
"I can't believe Ellena is your mom and you didn't tell me." I growl at him. "I introduced you to my parents like after a month." I glower at him, making him grin at me.
"I believe my situation is slightly different from yours." He chuckles.
"Come and lay down, lets go to bed." I suggest. "You're brother looks just like you." I tell him a few moments later. "I kept thinking, do I know this cat?" I say making him laugh again.
"We're nearly identical to our father, and look almost nothing like our mother." He smiles, tracing his finger along my upper arm.
"What are you going to do about Alec? He is kind of a threat..." I murmur, knowing he didn't want to talk about it anymore.
"I need time to think about it." He answers shortly.
"So tomorrow will you tell me about your childhood?" I ask him changing the subject, "Or do I need to ask your mother what kind of kind you were?" I smirk at him.
"One step at a time, my love." He smiles.
A/N: I'm sorry for making you guys wait so long for an update :/