The Protector (Complete)

Chapter 20

Because Alexander was Greta's protector, it was he who took charge over the care of Greta. Isaak, one of Cenek's clan members, was a doctor in the human world. Under Alexander's watchful eye, he examined Greta and pronounced that aside from massive bruising on her back, there would be no permanent damage from her toss into the stone wall. Her head had been bandaged again, as had her ribs.

Once she healed through the normal chain of human healing, she would be whole and undamaged, save for the wound just above her hairline that would leave a scar. Isaak gave her a shot to take away the pain and then a sleeping pill, which had knocked her out for the entire day, leaving the two fathers and Alexander without the story on how she, a human female, had managed to become a leader of two Lycan children.

Greta now sat upright for the first time in a day and a half. She had refused to tell her story lying down and went against Alexander's orders that she stay in bed for another day. Now she was regretting her very decision.

She sat in one of Cenek's high-back, comfortable chairs in his grand room. Her body was resting entirely against the side since she had lost the strength to sit up on her own. Her strength had slowly slipped from her body as she related the story of how she had become Patrick and Isabella's leader. She had fielded all the questions from both Edmund and William, as well as a few from Alexander, most of which focused on the clan who had kidnapped them.

"I only know two of their names," Greta said for the third time. "They called one of them Kal, and Joseph was the one at the convention center."

"Who was the leader?" William asked.

Greta attempted to shrug a shoulder but thought better of the wasted movement. "I'd guess Kal. Everyone listened to him."

"And you don't know where they held you?" Edmund asked. He tried to phrase his demands as questions, knowing he had to give Greta the same respect as leader as he would any other leader, if only because Cenek had demanded it for her.

"A house. I don't know where." She paused to catch her breath that was constantly stealing its way out of her lungs. "I wasn't trying to find a way to get back to the house. I just needed to get the children away."

"You were in the right," Cenek complimented her. "They are your clan members, and as their leader, it is your duty to keep them safe."

Greta closed her eyes for a brief second before flashing them open again. She was too afraid that she was going to fall asleep. "Well, now that you," she looked at William and Edmund, "are here, you can once more take over as leaders for your children. I only did it to keep them safe. I couldn't think of anything else to do."

It was Cenek who spoke again. "That's not how it works, Margaret. In the Lycan world, clan members aren't allowed to transfer leadership for six months. You will have to be their leader for the next six months."

This time Greta did waste the energy to shake her head. "No."

"It's how it is done," Alexander said. "It cannot be changed. For better or worse, you are part of the Lycan culture, although you are human. Patrick and Isabella will follow Lycan law because they are Lycans. This means that they may not transfer leadership for six months."

"I think an exception can be made here," Greta said.

All four men looked baffled at her statement. Alexander sighed and shook his head. "Lycans don't make exceptions when it comes to the law."

"Then why am I not dead?" Greta asked. "Patrick said that giving me information about his kind would ensure my death and possibly his." Suddenly her face grew white with fear. "Patrick won't be punished for telling me about your kind, will he?"