Chapter 38
“What is he?” Seb whispered into my ear.
I leaned back on him. “I don’t think you need to whisper. The man can hear you no matter what.”
“Can he hear me now?”
“No,” Zeke answered, “but I can.”
“Stay out of my head,” Seb and I snapped at him.
Zeke let out a laugh. “I would if I could. Sometimes you project your thoughts so much that I can’t stay out. Now, forget that. What I want to talk about is what Vincent is. I think he has some snow leopard in him.”
I watched Vince’s eyes widen in shock before he covered his emotions. He needed to learn to keep his face blank. If he was going to work with me, he couldn’t let people know when he was shocked. He could not let people see his emotions.
“Why is that?” I asked Zeke.
He sent a glare towards Vince before he answered, “I can’t read his mind.”
“You can’t read his mind,” I echoed, “and that means that he has snow leopard in him. Why?”
Zeke let out a sigh and plopped down in the chair across from me and Seb. We had arrived back at the cabin minutes earlier only to find that Blake, Marcus, and Sydney were gone, and Korbin was playing with one of Zeke’s guards. So, it was just Zeke, Seb, Vince, and me. For once, I was glad the other three were gone. I didn’t know what was going on between Blake and Sydney, but I did not want to deal with it at the moment. I had bigger things to worry about. One included what Vince was and why he wouldn’t just tell us.
“All snow leopards have a power. Some are minor like being able to change their eye color on will, while others are major powers. Either Vincent has a power that allows him to put a block in his mind, or that is what his power is.”
“Why can’t things be easy for once?” I asked with an exaggerated sigh. “Okay, let me get this straight. Either his power is that he can block people who try to read his mind or his power is more complicated and he can do that plus something else.”
Zeke looked at me for a minute before nodding his head. “Something like that. Ally-Cat, why don’t you just order him to tell you? Whatever he is, you can still command him.”
I turned towards Vince. “If I commanded you to tell me what you know, what kind of start would that be to our relationship? You would hate me while I just want you to work with me. I need to know who this girl is that you worked for, and I want to know what you are. If you won’t tell me the latter, just tell me the former.”
“That isn’t a very queenly thing to do,” Vince replied with a straight face. “You should just order me. I may hate you, but at least you would have the upper hand.”
Laughing, I told him, “You forget. I always have the upper hand. What if I told you that I could reach out and touch you and with that one touch I would know what you desire the most. With that one touch, I would know what to destroy. How would you feel if the one thing you wanted the most was unattainable?”
Anger flashed in his eyes. “You wouldn’t do that.”
“I would, but I don’t want to. I honestly would rather you like me than fear me, but I read once that both emotions will get me where I want to be. You can either fear me or respect me, in the end, it doesn’t matter.”
“If he feared you, he would be least likely to betray you,” Zeke said. “Think about it. He is or will be betraying the last person he followed, and he must have liked her.”
“That was different!” Vince screamed as he jumped to his feet. “I thought she was the Queen. She said I was unique. That she had never saw a black leopard and snow leopard mixed. She wanted me to be her King, but she lied.”
I looked over at Zeke and smiled; he sent me a smile in return before he turned his eyes back to the man pacing in our kitchen.
“Now we know what you are, the only question I still have is where this woman is?” I called out to him.
His motions stopped and he pivoted towards me with a small smile on his face.
“You did that on purpose. You tricked me. Everything that you just said was just to make me mad, huh?”
Nodding my head, I said, “You really gave us no choice. I was just hoping you would tell us where she was instead of what you are, but I find what you are interesting. Why do you have blonde hair? The blue eyes are understandable, but why blonde hair?”
He stepped closer to me. “Just watch.”
His eyes changed to brown; his hair grew longer and slowly changed to brown before my eyes. As his skin darkened, I bit my lip to keep the questions in. I was guessing that he couldn’t change his features, but for some reason, he could only change colors.
“You’re right, Ally-Cat. I have seen this before from my people, but that still doesn’t tell us how he can block me from his mind.”
Vincent turned towards Zeke, “Someone taught me. You know that with a little magic in you, you can learn a couple things. It seems that I was one of those who could learn. I have a wall that keeps you from reading my thoughts. I have a feeling that our Queen has one too. She just doesn’t let you know. I bet she can keep thoughts from you if she tries hard enough. Don’t get me wrong, you can still read her mind, but you can’t read her like you used to can you? You can’t delve into her head and find all the little secrets she keeps.”
Zeke balled his hands up and took a step towards Vince. “You think I don’t know that? I know she can keep things from me, but I like it. I don’t want to know her deepest thoughts. You have no idea what it feels like to be me. Don’t assume you do.”
“Boys,” I screamed while jumping to my feet, “this may be a great way to get your frustrations out of the way, but it is pointless. I need to know where this imposter is so I can do something about her. I don’t know if you have noticed, but I get bigger every damn day. I would appreciate it if I can get rid of this problem before I pop.”
Zeke and Vince looked at each other before glancing at me and letting out a laugh. Looking behind me, I realized that Seb was biting his lip to keep his own laugh in. Gritting my teeth, I stepped towards Zeke and Vince. My claws elongated while my teeth cut into my lower lip.
“Quit laughing,” I snarled.
They sobered up and looked at me with wide eyes. Vince took a step back while Zeke took one forward.
“We weren’t laughing at you, Ally-Cat. We were laughing at the situation. You need to calm down though. It’s the hormones that have you acting crazy, and it’s not good for the baby.”
Hands wrapped around my stomach as Seb whispered in my ear, “He’s right, Alex. You need to calm down. I think your scaring the men. Makes me laugh when I think about how they will handle their mates being pregnant.”
My body relaxed as I tried picturing Zeke calming his mate down. It was my turn to let out a laugh at that thought. Poor Zeke wouldn’t know how to handle it. He was always good at killing people, but when it came to handling emotions, he was awkward.
“Sorry, guys. Can’t help it, little things seem to just make me mad lately. A couple more months and I won’t have to worry about that,” I told them before turning to Vince, “Now, take me to your former leader?”
“You’ve wanted to say that for a while now, haven’t you?” Seb asked.
Letting out a laugh, I nodded my head, but kept my eyes on Vince. He stared at me for a minute before saying, “I’ll take you, but you have to promise that you will let me work for you. I know we don’t trust one another, but I want to try to trust you. I think I can become an asset if you let me.”
“You have my word. Now, lead on.”
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Their Pride
FantasyAlexandria was on her own when her parents died, but thankfully she was taken in. She thought she was like the others growing up, but the only problem she had was that she didn't shift when everyone else did. When she does though, everyone finds out...
