The Last Spirit Wolf (Elena Norwood)

-Vera-

"Please tell me we are close," Eli says.

"We're close, only about one more hour," Caleb responds.

"Had I known how much walking and running we had to do, I would've bailed," Lucas says.

"You can't go against your King's orders, young man!" William scolds him.

Lucas just rolls his eyes.

He has grown so much these past months. I don't know if it's the fact that he's getting older, or the experiences he's gathered in this time, but he's definitely maturing and I can't help but smile at that. It's like witnessing your little brother finally become a man. "Noah, when we get back you should consider training with us, without you it's like we're not training at all," he says.

"Young man!" William scolds again.

Lucas stops.

"The young man has a name," he replies, "Hi, I'm Lucas, it's nice to meet you," he says extending his hand to William, mockingly.

I giggle at this. Council member William is a lot more modern and accepting than the rest of the Council, but compared to the youth, he's very outdated.

William ignores him and keeps walking, huffing and puffing as he goes past him.

"What's up his ass?" Lucas joins Noah and I as we walk behind all of them.

"He's old school, and you were never taught manners," Noah says, punching Lucas's arm.

He chuckles.

"I mean it, Noah. You were one of us only a few months ago, we all support you as King, but you can't neglect your troops."

"I know. Thank you for telling me, I promise I'll go train with you guys once we return."

Noah smiles at him and this seems to satisfy Lucas, because he happily jogs back to Eli's side.

"And yet another thing I have to put on the list," he sighs.

I smile sympathetically at him. Noah has a lot in his plate right now. Everything from the Council meetings, training, tending to the new diplomats, healers, and scholars, designing economic and defense strategies against rogues. And now, hunting for a wife. Running a kingdom is hard enough, but rescuing a dying one? It's almost impossible.Original from NôvelDrama.Org.

"You can't do everything at once, Noah. At least not now. You have to prioritize, which is why we're here."

"Everything is a priority, that's the problem." he mumbles.

"State your business in Queen Cecil's land!"

Queen Cecil?

I raise an eyebrow at this and notice that we are quickly being surrounded by men with weapons, if you can even call them that.

Noah instinctively places me behind him, hiding me.

"We are here for an audience with Cecil, I am Council member William, her cousin. This is Lucas, warrior of the Castle, Caleb, the former Beta to the great King Alexander, Eli, Beta to the current King, and Noah, his Royal Highness." They seem to relax a little at William's introduction; the fact that he didn't introduce me doesn't go unnoticed.

"My apologies, I didn't realize your party would be this small. It's quite dangerous out here, I was expecting his Royal Highness to travel with a small army."

"We *are* a small army," Eli snaps back, not too pleased with their presence.

"Again, my apologies, please, let us help you with the bags the rest of the way."

When they come close to Noah and I, one of them catches my scent.

"A wolf! They have a wolf with them!"

Suddenly, they all stop what they are doing and pick their weapons back up, this time surrounding Noah and I.

"I *suggest you lower your weapons, or else our visit here will be rather short and bloody," Noah growls.

Noah's large frame still covers me, but some of the soldiers have come close enough so that they

can see me.

"Ah, yes, yes. This is the King's mate." William quickly introduces me; rather dismissively in my opinion.

"A wolf?"

"The King's mate?! The king has a mate?"

"Does Queen Cecil know His Highness has a mate?"

"I can't imagine Violet knew."

"Why is she even here?"

Their comments are mumbled amongst themselves, but not low enough.

"She is my mate, under my direct protection. If that is a problem, please excuse us with "Queen* Cecil, but we will have to turn around and go back home," Noah says, his aura once again making itself known. The soldiers are visibly shaken by his presence; some even shutter.

"No, no. My apologies once again, we were just not... expecting her. Please follow me,"

The first soldier to speak speaks again. This time, all of the soldiers lower their weapons and begin walking.

Noah keeps me tucked behind him to hide me from their curious stares. At one point, some of them were getting too close and comfortable to his liking and he had to quietly growl at them so that they'd back up and give us some space. "Excuse my intrusion, Council member William," the first soldier says, not intending for anyone else to hear but we all do, "you know what your cousin's plans were, why bring the King's mate along? It might be a problem for..." "It won't be, I'll make sure of it," he says.

Satisfied, the soldier goes back to lead the group into their territory. William glances our way, winking at me and Noah.

I have to say, he's putting up a very convincing front, maybe a little too convincing.

When we reach the perimeters of the territory, the soldiers begin opening and searching our bags.

"Excuse me! What do you think you're doing?!" William protests.

"This are express orders from Queen Cecil, Your Grace, everyone entering these lands must be searched."

William glances at Eli and Caleb, both crossing their arms and frowning. Eli simply shrugs his shoulders, letting William know not to protest any further.

"Okay, everything seems to be in order. Please, come -

"I'm sorry, soldier, I didn't catch your name," Eli says.

"Oh, sorry my Lord, my name is Jeremy, at your service," he bows respectfully as he says this.

Jeremy seems quite polite, the one I'm not liking very much is this Queen Cecil.

"And tell me exactly why you keep calling my cousin, *Queen* Cecil?" William asks.

"Her Grace appointed herself the Queen of her land ever since King Alistair took over the throne, it's all I've known her as my entire life," he says, obviously understanding the implications of calling her 'Queen' in front of the actual King. His head stays low while the rest of us process what he said.

After a moment of silence, Caleb clears his throat.

"Well, Jeremy, I think it's about time we meet this Queen of yours."

Caleb comes close to Jeremy and pats his back, making him lightly flinch.

"Yes, of course, please follow me."

Once we are let in, the house looks like a mini castle. All of the outer walls are made of thick stone, like a small fortress. There is a vast garden as we walk in, one that has been undoubtedly neglected. There are wild flowers overtaking the entire space and crawling up the stone walls. The entrance is big, but nowhere near as big as the Castle's. The sight would be quite beautiful had it been properly taken care of. The front of the home also has high windows and several floors. It's quite pretty in a quaint way. "Why is the family not living at the main house?" William asks Jeremy.

"This home is farther from rogue territory and easier to defend, if it came to it. It also has passage ways that lead to the forest as a means to escape. It's safer."

"I see."

Just before we make our way up the small set of stairs that lead to the entrance, the wooden doors fly open, revealing a beautiful blonde woman in an elaborate, long sun dress. "Cousin! Oh, cousin! It's been so long!"

"Cecil," William says, opening his arms for the fakest embrace I have ever witnessed.

They both air kiss each other's cheeks and laugh.

"Cousin, I'd like you to meet Caleb, former beta of the great King Alexander, Eli, the current King's beta, and of course, His Highness and Lord of this Kingdom, Noah."

"Oh, my," she says, as she curtseys to Noah.

The gesture is so over the top I have to fight the urge to roll my eyes.

"Your Highness, thank you for making the treacherous journey to our humble home, my

daughter, Violet, has been so excited she's barely gotten any sleep," she says.

When she lifts her eyes from the floor, they land directly on me, her smile falling.

"And who's this?" She asks, her tone a little too high.

No one answers, soon her eyes land on my neck and then on Noah's. Her expression sours.

"Queen Cecil," Noah breaks the silence, "I'd like you to meet Vera, my mate."

"Mate?! No one said anything about a ma -"

"Ah, cousin! Do you still produce your famous apples here? I've been talking nonstop about the apple pies of this region; His Highness has been looking forward to them!" William quickly diverts the attention from me, grabbing Cecil by her shoulders and turning her towards the home.

Before disappearing within the home, she takes one last look at me, eyes narowed, throwing daggers my way.