The Princess & The Queen

Chapter 8

Ava's P.O.V.

We arrive at the orphanage which should still be empty, but the babies will be back shortly. I turn to inform the Alpha and Beta that we will have to be quiet for that exact reason, and when I do, I wish I hadn't. The looks on their faces when they see where we live breaks my heart. They feel so bad for us, but little do they know that they have a lot more heart breaking news to hear. "Nobody should be here right now, but the babies should be back momentarily, so we should be quiet." I say quietly. They both look at me confused. "...non of the babies here and currently asleep?" the Alpha questions. "They were required to be at the ceremony. Every member of this pack is to be in attendance, no questions." I inform, hoping I answered correctly based on what little bit Charlie allowed me to hear.  "Wait, wait wait wait. So you mean to tell me, that your former Alpha and Luna demands that infants be outside, at midnight, for a ceremony that none of them will remember?" the Beta questions. "It's how this pack has been run since the beginning of time." Charlie mocks our history teacher.  "That's fucking bullshit! Who does that! Ya know what, that's a problem for another time, lets get your things." Alpha says, clearly angry. "Now wait just a minute, who said we were going anywhere. I haven't accepted you." Charlie says crossing her arms. "Charlie, enough. We have always talked about leaving this place behind, and now here is our chance."  "We never discussed finding our mates and going to live on their land!" "Charlie, I am not fighting you on this. I am going, which means you are going. I don't care if you hate me, I will beg them to drag us if it comes to that." With that Charlie stops speaking to me, and cuts off my link, AGAIN! Very mature.

I lead us up to our room on the top floor. When I go to open the door, I feel Charlie saying something, because her body is moving, but thanks to the link being off, I don't know what anyone has been saying. So I just open the door. I really regret not forcing Charlie to clean up our room before going to the ceremony. The sheets and throw blanket we share are bundled up at the foot of the queen size bed (we have the only queen size bed for obvious reasons). Most of our dresser drawers are open (thank God not the undergarment ones) with clothes of all kinds spilling out onto the beige carpeted floor. Our bookbags lay strewn open with all of our papers spilling out of them, and our shared ten year old laptop lay next to it with the charger in the wall. This is it. Our bed takes up most of our bedroom space because the orphanage rooms were only meant for single or twin sized beds, so the dresser is squeezed between the wall and the foot of the bed. There is just enough room for the four of us to stand in the remaining space without anyone tripping over our bags and things on the floor. Once again I look at the Alpha and Beta. They are saying something, but thanks to Charlie, I can't hear what it is. They both begin to leave, and Charlie pulls us to follow.

Charlie leads us to the bathroom at the end of the hall and opens the door with a ta-da type movement. I can see the irritation on Charlie's face as our mates wear looks of pity on theirs. Charlie all but drags us back to our room and sits us on our bed. When the Beta returns, the Alpha is not with him. He says something to us, can't hear it, and turns to leave as well. What did Charlie do! What did she say to them to make them both leave! I nudge at our link. Nothing. Again. Nothing. I begin to panic, as I nudge at the link over and over again. 'WHAT!?' she screams at me through the link. 'What did you say to them Charlie!?!? Why did they leave?' I am on the verge of tears, I don't want to lose my mate. 'They asked how lucky we were to have a room on the top floor. I told them the layout of the orphanage. They saw our tiny room, asked where the bathroom was, I showed them. And just now, the Beta said he was going to go locate some boxes, don't know where the Alpha went, happy?'  'Happy!?!? Am I happy!?!?!? Charlie, you completely cut me off. I haven't had any idea what was going on, you only opened the link when it was convenient to you.'  'And you think I did?' 'YES! You may not have been able to see anything Charlie, but you could hear what was going on! You not being able to see didn't hinder you in the slightest because they would have never let you fall! I didn't get to hear anything since the start of the ceremony! What if they would have asked me a question?'  'Well they didn't ask YOU anything specifically, so I just answered everything. Now are you going to start forcing me to pack or have you changed your mind and decided to see things my way?'  'Fuck you Charlie! I can't believe you are being this big of an asshole right now. I have spent our whole lives wondering what would happen if we actually got blessed with a mate, or even a mate for each of us, and now we have them and you are making this entire experience hell for me just because you are scared!' 'I'm not scared!' 'Yes you are Charlie! If you weren't scared you wouldn't be having those nightmares. And now, you are scared to leave your mate behind with a pain that no mate should have to endure. Just admit it, if not to me, then to yourself' And with that, I got up to start packing our things to move in with our mates.