The Hybrid Queen Unedited
28

Faye

Elijah, Amilia and I rushed through the Manor. When I had been in my room, I had heard a familiar voice call out to me. I would know that voice anywhere. I would run straight into a pool of liquid silver for that voice. Apart from Elijah, that would be the only voice I would risk my life for. Never would I have thought I would hear that voice again. She was dead. Kat was dead. She had died weeks ago. I had never really found out what had become of her body. I had assumed The Haven had come together and put her to rest. Once Larson had finished with her. It was impossible that she was here. It was impossible that I was hearing her in my head. Yes I was rushing to the throne room because I had to see. I had to see with my own eyes. I was upset with myself when I realized I was hopeful. I heard Elijah grumble behind me. I sighed. I knew we did not have a full, clear read on each others minds yes, but I knew he could feel my emotions. He knew I was upset now, when we had just been talking about wedding plans not a moment ago. I felt bad for him. I wanted to turn and throw myself at him and tell him I loved him and not to worry. I was sure I would be wrong when we reached the throne room. I felt oddly under dressed. Everyone was in formal evening dresses and suits. And I was the only one in a knee length sundress. People were rushing to the throne room to get there before Elijah arrived. I knew what they were all thinking. I didn’t need any mind reading to know what was going on inside their heads. they were scared. They were worried. Wondering why the whole Kings guard was summoned just before dinner. Not that anyone would be eating much. Everyone was in mourning over Sophia. We rounded the last corner of the hall and the Throne Room came into view. Or at least the doorframe did. The hallway was crowded with people, spilling into the hallway. “Make way,” Elijah ordered and everyone parted. Amilia and I were still ahead of him and Collin so we were the first to set eyes on the scene in the middle of the gold glowing, candle lit room. Again, I knew what I was seeing was impossible. I had told myself that it was impossible when I had seen Reid. That he had been dead. And then a few days ago, he had let himself be captured on the Manor grounds. If he was alive, perhaps others from my pack were to.When the last person stepped aside for us, giving us a full view of the middle of the room, I felt like I may pass out. There were a total of eight guards, each wielding silver studded whips with leather bound grips. I hardly saw them. My focus was on the small girl in the middle, cowering in fear. I breathed in through my nose. I knew that smell. I knew this wolf. But how?I let Elijah’s hand fall from my fingers and I stepped forward. Elijah rumbled a warning growl behind me. Not for me. But for the girl in the middle of the room. The one person I thought I had lost for good. The one who could give me some answers. Possibly. “Kat?” I whispered. The figure slowly turned around and faced me. I felt the breath leave my body and my knees wobble. I was going to sink to the floor in shock. But Elijah was there. He was at my side in a flash and growled a warning when Kat moved. She froze immediately when one of the guards swung his whip at her. “Faye?” Kat asked me. “Is it really you? You are alive?”I nodded eagerly. “I am!” I whispered back. Elijah held me tighter. “But you died!” he said, his tone harsh. My mind went back to that night, The night of the Kwatee Hunt. It was true. I remembered her scent. Kat had been dead. Kat, upon hearing this news, shook her head, her face confused. “I am alive!” she argued. Elijah, his grip tightening around me, shook his head. “Wanna tell me how your half changed body wound up in my woods?” he demanded. Kat looked around the room, the wolves around her waiting to hear her answer. I glared at the guards who still held the whips at her. “Lower your weapons!” I ordered. They did as I commanded and Kat looked at me in shock. I had a lot of explaining to do. “I was never dead. I just escaped the pound a few days ago!” she argued. One of the guards grumbled. “She could be an imposter, Your Grace!” he hissed at me. I shake my head and free myself from Elijah’s grip. “No. I would know her voice and scent anywhere. She is not to be harmed,” I ordered. I lowered myself beside Kat and gripped her dirty hand. SHe was covered in dirt, sweat and blood and smelled like she had been crawling through a muddy swamp. Kat watched as the guard lowered the weapon further. “Yes, your Grace,” he said. I gripped Kat by the arms and made her stand. She was dressed in a pair of ripped up cut off jeans and a purple tank top. I realized she was still in the same outfit she had been in the last time I had seen her. She had a cord slung through her belt loops, keeping her shorts in place around her slim hips. I knew what would come next. She had just admitted she had escaped from the pound. Elijah was duty bound to have her transported back there. I shuddered again. I could not let him do that. If my sway as Queen had any power at all, now would be a good time to use it. I turned to face Elijah, who was watching us. “Elijah, I ask for your permission for her to stay!” I pleaded. He sighed and shook his head at me. “How do you explain her body in my backyard, almost the same day you arrive here? How do we know she is who she says she is?”I shake my head. “We don’t,” I answer. “I just know.”Elijah watched us for a moment. Collin was at his side, whispering in his ear. Elijah sighed and nodded. I did not try to make out what they were saying. I knew Collin would be on my side. Elijah should know I needed Kat here. He should know how good it would be for me. He sighed, looking back at Kat. “Garcia,” he called. I watched as a maid came over to him and bowed. “Please take our guest to a room and have her cleaned and dressed for dinner,” he instructed. I felt a wave of relief overcome me. I walked back to him, wrapping my arms around him, holding onto him. “Thank you,” I whispered.Elijah nodded and then took us back the way we came. “You need to dress for dinner,” he said. “Your friend will join us there when she is cleaned up,” he said when I tried to speak. “She has been in a Pound for a long time.”I felt my heart sink. Longer than I had been. I had been at the Manor for at least five months now. I had been free while Kat had sat in a cell, wondering if she was going to live or die. I shivered as I recalled having thought that many times in the year I had been there. I was not sure when Kat had been caught. I had so many questions to ask her. How long had she survived on her own, running from the Hunters and the The Pound. Did she come straight here when she found out I was here? How had she known to come here? Were there any other Pack Members alive? I looked up at Elijah and felt bad. I had been trying to let my past go. But it was coming back to haunt me in more ways than just one. Once in our room, I changed quickly in the bathroom and decided on a long sleeve, pine green dress. The sleeves were completely made from lace and the back was an open cut, beaded hem trim with a flowing skirt. I placed my hair in a loose knot and placed the heavy crown on my head. It made my head feel oddly off balance. I walked over to my dresser and started digging through the jewelry box Amilia had gotten me. Sure enough there would be at least one pair of earrings that would match this dress. I pulled out a pair of heavy jade earrings and put them in. When I exited the bathroom, Elijah was facing the fireplace, scrolling through his phone. “Elijah?” He turned to face me, the smile slipping from his face. “Faye... you look stunning,” he said as he walked toward me. “Beautiful!” I smiled and grabbed his hand. “Thank you-”He stood back and apariased me some more. “You look healthy again,” he noted. I looked at myself in the full size mirror. He was right. The dresses and clothes Amilia had gotten me, no longer sagged around my belly and chest. My skin glowed and my hair had its shine again. “I still have a long way to go,” I reminded him. He nodded. “You will be your old self before you know it,” he said and pulled me toward the hall. My stomach rumbled. I needed to eat. Dinner was like it always was. With the exception of Kat’s arrival. I wondered if this is what it had been like when I had first gotten here. Were people eager to gawk at me and wondered who the hell I was. Not just anyone was permitted into the Pack. There were exceptions. I was Elijah’s Mate. Kat was no one to him. But I was to be Queen. So she was allowed to stay, right?It was about an hour into dinner and I was forcing myself to eat at this point. Amilia had said the more I eat at this point, the better. So I shoved another grape in my mouth. That is when I spotted Kat by the door. Amilia was with her. She was talking to her. I sighed and got to my feet quickly. I knew Amilia meant well. However her bubbly personality was not what Kat needed right now. I walked over to them quickly and linked my arm through Kat. “You should eat,” I tell her. Amilia smiled. “I am gonna go replace Cal. I am sure you two have much to talk about,” she said. And with that she hurried off into the crowded room. Kat did not move. She looked terrified to even think of going into the dining hall. I tugged her arm.

“I know it looks scary. However, you are welcome here,” I promised her. She shook her head. “Reid was here, wasn’t he?” she asked me.I stop, dropping her arm. “Why would you ask about him?” I asked her. I wondered if this is what Elijah and Collin had been talking about. Perhaps they were worried that Kat was a spy for Reid. Could she be? “Because I know he is still alive,” she said. I nodded. “Yes, he is. But he can’t hurt you here!”Kat shook her head. “He has people all over the place. He came looking for you. He came to the pound I was in. He asked me if I knew where you were. I told him I had no idea. I was happy to see him. I was sure he had come to save me from that hell hole-”I grabbed her arm again and pulled her into the deserted hallway. I could see the panic attack coming on. The PTSD she now had because of that place. “Kat, I know you were scared before, but you can tell me. How did your ‘body’ end up in the woods?” I asked her. I waited for her breathing to slow. She was under a lot of pressure and I was trying my best not to stress her out. She gulped for some air and folded and unfolded her hand. “He took things from me. Pieces of me,” she said, her face going white. I shook my head, not understanding. “How do you mean?” I asked her. “Pieces of you how?”Kat held up her hand to show me her missing fingernails. “My nails. Hair. Blood. A tooth,” she said. I raised my eyebrows at her. “A tooth?” I repeated. Kat nodded and opened her mouth. Clearly she had more than one tooth missing. Her kanines were missing as well. Even after she shifted, she would have no way of defending herself now. I growled. Reid had mutilated her. Had he also... I cleared my throat. “Kat... when Reid came to see you... did he-...did he touch you?” I asked in a low voice.

I watched the blood drain from her face and I knew I was right. I knew what Kat was thinking. How could I tell by just looking at her? How did I guess it so easily? I felt sick to my stomach. Had Reid been looking to do the same to me when he had come looking for me at the Pound I had been in? Before I could speak, Kat’s knees buckled and she slid along the wall, sinking to the floor. I gripped her arms and slid to sit next to her. We were a heape of silk, satin and tulle on the floor, just outside the dining hall. “Kat, it’s OK. You are safe now,” I reminded her. what else was I supposed to say? “I know. I understand!” She looked up at me and shook her head. “How?” she asked me, resting her head on my shoulder. I sighed. “because the Pound Guards did the same thing to me before Amilia came and found me,” I said. I remembered the second I had stepped outside of that hell hole. I had been sure I would spend the rest of my life there. I shook the thoughts away and made Kat stand with me. “Come now. You need to eat,” I reminded her. Kar shook her head. “I am not sure I can,” she admitted. I sighed. I knew I would have to be the one to push her, the same way Amilia and Elijah had pushed me. “I can’t stop thinking about the others. They are still in there,” she mumbled. I was ready to go get her some food myself but I stopped. “What do you mean by that?” I asked her. Hope was building inside of me. Could the rest of my former Pack still be alive? Could my mother, even though she had lied to me my whole life, still be alive?“There are other females locked in that Pound, Faye!” Kat reminded me. I nodded, a plan already forming in my head. I would be Queen in a few short days. I would have command over factions and guards. “We will get them out, Kat! I promise!” I assured her. She shook her head. “How?”

I smiled at her. “I am Queen to the Alpha. You came just in time, too. I will get you a position of power as soon as I am able. Then, we will bust every Pound in the area,” I said, in a low voice. Elijah cleared this throat behind me. “Quite the plan you have there Faye,” he said. I turned to face him, my face pink. I had wanted to tell him myself and now have him replace out about this plan like this. Kat bowed her head and inches away from me. “Elijah-” I began but he turned to look at Kat. “Kat, would you please join the rest of us in the dining hall? Faye will be there in a moment,” he said softly a welcoming smile on his face. I watched his face. He didn’t seem angry. However I knew what was coming next for I had already thought of it myself. “Thank you.”We both waited for Kat to leave and then Elijah faced me once more. “I know you are happy to see your friend and I know it means a lot to you, however, we do not know the details yet of how she got out of the pound. We have no idea-”I shook my head and cut him off. “Reid is a killer. And a rapist!” I told him. Elijah raised an eyebrow at me, surprised. “He was looking for me. He had no idea where I was. He had no clue what pound I was in. And by the sounds of it, the Vamp that was here that night, the one who tried to kill me, she was not working for Reid either. She was working for someone else,” I answered. Elijah nodded, his face still confused. “Wanna clear up that first bit where you said he was a rapist?” he asked me. I sighed and pointed after Kat. “She just told me as much. She said he had been looking for me and that he came to her Pound before she was able to leave. He took pieces of her when he was done. And I think that is how that thing, whatever it was, wound up on our land,” I said. Elijah was fuming now. “He raped her?” he demanded.I nodded. “Her story fits. She showed me the lost tooth. Her nails are still healing and growing back. She said-”

“He had been there, looking for you.” Elijah nodded, more to himself than to me. “I am going to kill him!” he hissed at me. I was shocked. He was defensive over Kat but why? He didn’t know her. And I was sure he was thinking she was a spy or something. And it shouldn’t bother him that Reid had been looking for me. “Elijah, Reid won’t get to me. I am here. With you!” I reminded him. I reached and took his hand, holding his fingers to my face. “And I am not leaving. Ever!” But the anger in his eyes was still there. Nothing I could say right now would clear the tangled web of horrors he had in his mind right now. He pulled his hand away from me. “It is the fact that he was looking for you!” he told him in a low voice. “He was looking for you because he... wanted you. He said as much when he was here! He said he came to collect what was his!” He reminded me. I swallowed hard. “I know,” I said. “But I am stronger now. And more powerful. I may not be able to face him yet but I am not afraid of him anymore!”I watched the anger and rage fade slowly from his face, replaced by love and humor. Elijah brushed my cheek with the back of his hand. He leaned in and placed his lips to my forehead. “I know, Love. And you will become more powerful yet! I know you will. You will be a strong Queen and a loving new sister to Amilia once we get married,” he mused. I sighed and nodded. I had not been thinking about the wedding much but now, like Elijah had said, things were about to move very quickly. Was I ready? Was I really ready for all the decision making? Was I able to make it as Queen and Mate? Would I be allowed to remain me? Or was I expected to agree with Elijah on all things even when I did not agree with him? “Please tell me what you are thinking?” he asked me, as he guided me back to the dining hall. Many people stood from their seats and bowed at us as we walked through the room. I had not realized how much it bothered me till now, how formal and forced everyone was around me. I spent a lot of my time with Amilia and Cal so I was used to them being casual. However, right now, in this crowded room, I felt like I was unable to breath.

“Are you okay, Faye?” Elijah said in my ear as we sat at our table. I nodded. “Yes. Just a little tired. It has been a long day. Tomorrow should be better,” I say and fold my hand over his. Elijah smiled and I looked over the room again, my eyes falling on Kat, sitting by herself in a corner, looking out of place. I sighed. Yes. Tomorrow should be better.