Blood Legacy (Rewritten)

75. A castle fit for a queen

I bit back a tired yawn, absently staring into the darkness surrounding us as we drove in complete silence. Jess was already asleep in the back, peacefully lying in between David's arms as he gently held her, tenderly peering down at her from time to time as if making himself sure that she was real and there, resting close to his heart.

I was pretty damn positive that his arms must've hurt by now from staying in that same position for hours, no matter how strong he was. But he didn't move an inch. He didn't even express the faintest trace of discomfort as I sat there and peeked at them through the rearview mirror for a little while as I was obviously bored out of my mind and with nothing else better to do. There was no music, no scenery to gaze upon as it was pitch black outside anyway and I was too tired to strike up a conversation at that point.
So I made myself more comfortable under Nathan's jacket and finally let myself fall asleep, lulled by that barely audible whizzing sound of the car darting forward through the chilly night air, my lips spreading into a tiny smile as the last thing I could feel before I fell asleep was the warm touch of Nathan's hand over my thigh.

But the moment that absolutely terrifying howl suddenly rung in my ears, loud and clear I suddenly jolted in my seat as if being slapped awake, my heart pounding and my eyes wide, struggling to comprehend where I was and what just happened.

"Shh, it's okay. You're safe. They're only announcing the pack that we're here,"

"W-what? W-who?" I turned my head to stare at Nathan with confusion, barely aware of that hand still caressing my thigh as I blinked and then looked outside, lastly realizing that it was already early morning, judging by the faint light peeking from between the dense conglomeration of trees.

We were in a forest? Why the hell were we driving through a forest?

"The pack scouts. They're soldiers who are constantly patrolling our lands, making sure that there are no threats or uninvited guests,"

Threats? What kind of threats?

I sat up straighter in my seat, rubbing the sleep from my eyes before taking another look outside, staring at the dense and green scenery surrounding the car. Hell, even the path we were currently driving on was barely visible, as if it'd been rarely used.

Where the hell were we going? Into another fucking realm?

My gaze darted into the rearview mirror to check on Jess, not surprised at all to notice that visibly terrified look marring her features, even though she was trying to appear as calm as possible.

Oh my god! Dre! I suddenly remembered, immediately turning around in my seat to check if their car was still following ours.

"She's okay. She got a little scared too but she's okay now," I snapped my head back to look at Nathan, blankly staring at the side of his calm-looking face. But that anxiousness still got the best of me -even though I had just seen their car still tailing ours- so I fully turned back in my seat and searched for my phone, again not surprised at all to notice that it had no service.
It mean, we were in the middle of a forest after all. Why did I even bother expecting anything else?

I awkwardly cleared out my throat, absently staring straight ahead as I calmly asked,
"Uhm, why are we driving through a forest? Is this like a, like a shortcut or something?"

I frowned at the sound of Nathan's small chuckle, followed by his sarcastic reply,
"What, did you think that we'd be living in the middle of a big fancy city? A whole army of supernatural bitches?"

My gaze narrowed, however relaxing a little as soon as I heard Jess burst into a fit of barely-restrained giggles, clearly amused by what he just said.

I rolled my eyes and gave his arm a mild shove, sinking back in my seat and allowing myself to smile a little at the sound of him feigning hurt.