Royal shuffle: Vampire's mate

ANDREA

To say that my relations with Leo was awkward would be making light of the situation. He had moved into the palace temporarily and immersed himself on the search for Will, and in comforting and training Adela. However, there hasn't been any progress finding Will. The tension in the palace was becoming unbearable and in all of it, I worried for Adela. She wasn't taking it very well.

"Mom..."

I and Leo look up to see Adela standing at the door with fear in her eyes.

"What's wrong, love?" Leo asks, waving her into the office.

She took slow, unsure steps in, her gaze wavering, and even from the distance I could see the wheels turning in her head.

"They're in my head..." she said and sat cross-legged on the floor.

"Who?" I asked, moving to sit next to her on the floor.

"The people who took Will..." she replied. She gasped and tears flowed down her cheek. "They're hurting him..."

Her voice cracked and her eyes widened even further. Panic and fear rose inside me. I thanked providence as Stacy walked into my office at that moment.

"What's going on?" She asked, looking at the unlikely scene in my office.

"They're hurting him..." Adela said, chanting the statement over and over and over again.

"Do you know who they are?" Leo asked, and sat on the other side of her.

Adela shook her head. Stacy, realizing what was going on, moved to sit right in front of her. "Can you see their faces?" Stacy asked, placing her index fingers on Adela's temples. Adela shook her head.

"Have they said what they want?" I asked, hoping at this point for some sort of breakthrough. "Me...they want me..."

Deafening silence permeated the room and for a moment I forgot to breathe. I looked over at Leo and caught the fear that was hidden in his eyes.

"Stacy, send a message to the head warrior. Tell him to beef up security. No one is allowed in or out of the territory, and double the guards around the palace."

Stacy nodded and raced out of the room to carry out my orders. I pulled Adela closer to me, and hugged her to my chest.

"Don't worry, my love," I said. "I won't let them take you from me..."

"They're hurting him so much...he's in pain..." she said, fresh tears rolling down her cheeks.

"It's okay. He's strong...we'll get him, and then we'll make them pay. Okay?"

Adela looked at me with doubt and fear contorting her normally relaxed facial features. She sighed and nodded, standing to her feet.

"Where are you going?" I asked.

"Back to my room...I want to be alone..."

Both I and Leo stood to our feet's and watched our child walk out of the room with her head hanging low and her shoulders fallen. I waited till she was out of earshot to have a breakdown of my own.

"Oh, Leo...what are we going to do?!" I asked, covering my eyes with my hands as sobs wracked my body.

Leo pulled me closer and wrapped his hands around me. It felt safe, it felt pure...it felt familiar. I leaned in to his embrace and buried my nose in his chart, breathing in the scent that was all him and immediately feeling some sense of calm. That made me remember that our mate bond was still very much alive...and rejection more or less meant death for us. I attempted to pull away from him but he only held me tighter and buried his nose in my hair. "No." he said firmly, breathing in deeply the sweet Aloe Vera smell of my hair.

I looked up at him and felt some sort of strange pull to him, and as though my hands had a mind of its own, they reached up and my fingers traced his face. From the soft lines that curved around his lips to the harder lines beside his eyes and on his forehead.

"Andrea..."

The way he called my name sounded like a caress and took me back to the time we had just met, to the times when things were simpler. His head leaned in and his lips parted, and in a split second I found myself accosted with a decision. Stop or cross the boundary. And as though if it's own will, my eyes fluttered close, and I leaned up into the kiss. Just as our lips met, Savannah burst through the door, her noisy entrance forcing us apart. Savannah gasped loudly, and turned around to leave the office. "I'll come back later."

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"No, it's fine," I said, waving her in. "Come in."

I could feel Leo's gaze burning a hole in my back but I simply avoided his gaze and sat on my table.

"You came to tell me something?" I asked.

Savannah's curious eyes wandered from me to Leo and ten finally settled on me.

"Um...yes...you won't believe what just happened..." Savannah said, excitedly.

"What? Will has been found?" I asked, springing up from my place on the table. "No."

"Oh," I replied, disappointment heavy in my voice.

"William is at reception. He wants an audience with you," Savannah said.

"William?!"

Both I and Leo shouted simultaneously, our jaws dropping in shock. My shock soon gave way for anger as I wondered what he wanted. "Where is he?"

"The guards are holding him at the security posts. They're waiting for your order on what to do with him," Savannah replied.

I barely spared a glance at Leo and marched out of my office and headed for the cells, vaguely aware of Leo and Savannah following behind me. It seemed that news of William's return had already spread through the palace because with every turn I made, whispers and murmurs followed. I ran through the gates of the security outpost located a good distance behind the palace and barricaded by a tall concrete wall and heavy steel gates. A guard on the other side opened the steel door and bowed his head as I walked into the cold air of the building.

"Where is he?" I asked.

A young wolf sprung into action and led me down a hallway into an office that served as a makeshift holding cell for my son's father. William smiled as I entered the room, seeming somewhat happy to see me. He bruised and somewhat battered face told me that he had already been showed that he wasn't welcomed here, and that he had already been pressed for information. His hands and feet were chained to the chair and the chair chained to the window. "What are you doing here?" I asked.

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William smiled, exposing a bloodied mouth. "Not even a good morning first?"

His question was immediately followed by two harsh blows to his face.

"Where's my son?!" I asked.

William cocked his brow. "You mean 'our son'?" He replied.

"Listen very carefully. I'm not here to play games with you. You will either answer my questions or this is where you die," Leo said, entering the conversation. William scoffed, and turned his eyes back to me.

"I'm here to help find him. Will."

"Why?" I asked.

"He's my son," he replied rather simply, as though it was the most obvious answer in the world.

"And you're just coming to that realization after four years?" I asked, moving closer to William. "Did you take him?"

William shook his head. "No. But I have a good idea of the people who did. Or at least, of who is leading the operation." Hope sprung up inside me. "Where is he?"

William shrugged. "I don't know."

My shoulders slumped in defeat and o turned to leave.

"But Leo does," he continued.

All eyes turned to Leo, including those of the security personnel.

"Oh, not this Leo," William continued. "The other one."