Twist Of Fate

Chapter 2 Lysario

It has been an entirely bizarre twenty-four hours.
How I went from rallying the troops to being handfasted to a wolf that Faery deemed our queen (admittedly a gorgeous wolf but still a wolf regardless) is absolutely beyond me.
Then we arrived at the dragon's castle and the King admitted to an affair with a woman who was betraying their kingdom and tried to make their oracle vanish permanently.
Then there was the fact that my handfasted could order the dragons - including the King.

I'm not sure what crazy train I jumped on, but boy was I having a blast! I was excited enough about the upcoming war, but Eve seemed to be my ticket to life being breathed back into me.
Faery was, for lack of a better word, boring. It was a beautiful gilded cage. But a cage nonetheless.
When you don't venture out of your realm and are essentially immortal and forever young, with only the occasional squabble with the Dark Fae to break up the mundane, you're just reduced to going through the motions.
As a royal, my daily ritual was to train our soldiers, then sit on my throne with my siblings listening to any petty complaints, or our people's suggestions to improve our way of life.
Our very boring way of life.

Then there was an attack. So now there are not as many siblings to sit with and our father was dying. (I think he is relieved, to be honest) Then Irinda was excitedly babbling about a girl who had given him orders, and how he was going to play with her a little. Take her down a peg or two.
I will be forever in his debt for bringing her to us. She brings forth emotions I thought had long left me. Not only excitement but lust, confusion, jealousy towards other men, protectiveness and so much more. It's a kaleidoscope of emotion inside me, and I am reveling in it.

Currently, however, my emotion is concern.
She is sitting slouched on a chair, holding the woman they rescued by the hand. She looks tired and defeated.
We have spent the afternoon here, where Eve has whispered in the comatose woman's ear on and off with reassurances, promises, and occasional threats, before spinning around to stomp out, only to be stopped by her dragon. They have a whispered argument, about how she can't go and beat the King and his mate to a pulp and then she stomps back to the chair to start the cycle again.

"She needs to rest," I tell her dragon.

"I know, but she will not leave. She wants to speak to the Oracle or go and punch Adele, possibly my brother too. I don't think she's fussy at this stage." He says with frustration.

"SHE can hear you," Eve grumbles from her seat.

"Angel, the Doc said he was knocking her out for at least a week. She is in a drug-induced coma. There will be no talking. Let's just go home, the guys are waiting for you. They were terrified when you disappeared into that portal. We can come straight back when she is due to wake." Her dragon promises her.

"I can portal you here anytime," I add to sweeten the deal.

"I still need to interrogate the King and the traitor, they have the information we need. I know he is your brother, but he knows more than he admitted. Why wasn't he tearing the place apart trying to find his precious Oracle?"

"He can stay chained in the cell for now. They both can. They can be tomorrow's problem. Now let's get you home." Garret tells her motioning her up.

She groans in annoyance, but surprisingly gets to her feet and joins us by the door. I call forward a portal, concentrating on the training grounds on their pack lands.
We step through smoothly and Garret, taking Eve by her hand takes the lead to their home. Within a few minutes, we are on the steps of a large, modern, three-story house.

Garret leads us inside and into the kitchen where a group of men sit at a breakfast bar deep in conversation.
Eve is immediately whipped out of Garret's grasp and quickly checked over by a tall strong looking blond male, and a dark-haired giant of a man that has muscles on muscles.

They handle her gently as they make sure for themselves that she is in one piece, before they sandwich her between them, peppering her face and neck with kisses.
She mutters reassurances, then gently extracts herself. She pauses briefly at another tall built man covered in tattoos. She hugs his waist and presses a kiss to his lips before beelining for the pot of coffee deeper in the kitchen.

Their eyes all follow her as she puts together her drink. My eyes however have strayed to the last man, who is also watching her.
She hasn't greeted him.
He may as well be a figment of my imagination for all the attention he has received. But then I notice her eyes slipping to his and flashing, before skittering away.
This stirs my curiosity. They are clearly interested in each other, he is a vampire but he puts her on edge. She is wary of him.
She returns to the breakfast bar and I see she has three cups of coffee. She passes one to Garret and me, before claiming the only available seat between the vampire and the Lycan.

"Hey, Luka." Eve murmurs. "What are you doing here?" She outwardly appears to be polite but I can feel her tension, she is as skittish as an abused pup.

"Eve." The vampire responds with a polite nod. "They called me in when you disappeared. Then we got news on the team sent to the weapons factory. They were all killed. Someone tipped them off. The team was ambushed." Eve's eyes grow wide.
"Oh, Luka! I am so, so sorry about your team." Her hand goes to his arm in sympathy. They both jolt at the contact and she swiftly pulls her hand back. She clears her throat nervously. "Can the bodies be recovered?" He shakes his head at her.

"No, their bodies were burned on site."
Eve sighs and slumps.

"We need to find the mole here before we send anymore. The risk is too high." They sit quietly in contemplation. "Darius, Dev, call a meeting tomorrow. Say one p.m.? All wolves and Lycans only." The giant man stares her down.

"No."

"Yes! Enough is enough! The mole or moles need to be ferreted out. We can't make a move until they are disposed of. I will tackle the Dragons after - Dev can do the Lycans and wolves. Hopefully, they are in those three groups."

"No," Darius growls.

"Yes!" She roars, her eyes flashing blue, her pupils expanding vertically, as aqua-colored scales erupt and race up her arms. "I will not stand by and allow innocents to be hurt when I can do something about it!" Vines that the clothing faery gifted her, elongate and whip around her in agitation. She looks the giant in the eye. "Call the damn meeting Hulk."

His knees bend slowly and his neck tips to the side in submission, as he growls in frustration. She watches him kneel and submit and throws her hands up angrily punching the wall while swearing like a sailor, as her hand crunches and rebreaks.
This alarms us all and the Lycan swiftly grabs her hands to stop her. Her fangs and claws elongate.

"Fuck she's shifting! Luka - your fastest, get her to the training field." The Lycan yells shoving Eve at the vampire.
The vampire throws her snarling form over his shoulder and blurs out of the house, Garret hot on their heels.
I help the giant to his feet, as we trail after them.

"Bloody hell, I take it today was a bad day." He grumbles.

"Eve did not enjoy today," I reply politely.

"Hope she hasn't scared you off." He says wryly.

"Quite the opposite," I reply flashing him a grin. Before turning my attention to the giant disoriented aqua and white dragon staggering on the training grounds like a newborn colt. "I find her remarkably interesting, a far cry from the boring simpering women of the Fae court."

"Oh, Eve is definitely not boring. She will keep you on your toes." Darius laughs.
My grin gets even wider.

"I'm very much counting on it."