The Lost Lycan Princes: A Journey Home

Jessup Versus Lyle

Jonathan POV 

  I couldn’t wait to see what Jessup found out from the rogue. From what I’d seen of Jessup so far, I really liked him. He probably said the word ‘dude’ more than anyone I had ever heard in my life, but that didn’t bother me. He seemed like he was a free spirit who did what he wanted, when he wanted, and I liked that. I usually tended to be the same way. The past few weeks might have had me feeling a little quieter than normal, but normally I was the one bouncing off the walls, while Jameson tended to be a little more serious. 

  We all walked down the few steps from the small lobby into the cells. The two warriors that were standing guard bowed their heads respectfully in greeting as we walked by. As we continued down the corridor, I could see that all of the cells were empty, except for the one at the very end. Lyle was sitting on the small bunk. He hadn’t spotted us yet, and he obviously hadn’t caught our scents either. Alpha Terrance explained later that Jessup had put up a block that prevented the prisoners from accessing any of their werewolf abilities, and that included their enhanced senses of smell and hearing.  

  ‘Alpha Terrance, do you think it’s wise to let Lyle see the princes?’ Dave asked via mind link. He’d been pretty quiet up until now. 

  Alpha Terrance nodded. ‘The concern before was that he would somehow get word back to the king and queen that they were here, or worse, that he would get a message to Arthur. However, the king is now already aware and I know he’ll send reinforcements if we get wind that Arthur is going to try something.’ 

  That made sense, and his response made me feel a little bit better. I had actually been wondering the same thing myself. 

  We all approached Lyle’s cell, and he continued to ignore us.  

  “Hey, Lyle!” Alpha Terrance said loudly. “Look up here, I have something to show you.” 

  Finally, Lyle lifted his head to glare at us. “What do you want?” he growled.  

  “I think I have something here you’ve been looking for,” Alpha Terrance told him. “Too bad you’re stuck in there for the foreseeable future and won’t be able to do a thing about it.” 

  He stepped aside so that Lyle could see Jameson and I behind him. Lyle’s mouth dropped open before he lunged off of the bunk and flew to the front of the cell. I heard a slight sizzle as he grabbed the silver bars without thinking. He quickly snatched his hands back. 

  “I knew it!” he yelled. “I KNEW they were here! You just wait until I’m out of here! I’m gonna - “ 

  “You’ll what?” I cut him off, stepping closer until we were nose to nose with the bars between us. “First off, you’re not getting out anytime soon, and second, if you haven’t noticed, we’re bigger than you, there’s two of us, and we’re Lycans while you, sir, are just a werewolf.” 

  “I can get you reunited with your parents if you just get me out of here,” he begged. “Please! Your mother is my cousin, so we’re family. We’ll rule the kingdom together!“ 

  I raised an eyebrow, and I could guarantee that Jameson was smirking behind me. “How, exactly, were you planning on doing that? Did you think we would just willingly go along with some plan to kill our biological father? You know, the guy who’s already ruling the kingdom?” 

  Lyle looked flustered. “N-no, of course not. I-I just meant that we could - “ 

  “That’s exactly what he meant,” Jessup interrupted, shooting Lyle a sardonic grin before turning to Jameson and me. “He was planning to brainwash the two of you into thinking that he was some benevolent benefactor who only wanted to reunite you with your parents, then trick the two of you into helping him get into castle. Have I got it right so far, Lies? You don’t mind if I call you Lies, do you?” 

  “Who the h**l are you?” Lyle demanded.  

  Jessup grinned at him again. “I, sir, am your worst nightmare. A mind reading wizard who hates a liar and doesn’t have time for your bulls**t.” 

  Lyle stared at him, his mouth agape and his eyes big a saucers. He knew that he couldn’t lie to us anymore. Whatever the truth was, it was all about to come to light. 

  “Anyway,” Jessup continued, looking back towards where we were now standing by Alpha Terrance, “Lies here was planning on slipping King Sebastien a wolfsbane smoothie, then stabbing him in the back – literally – while he was in a weakened state. Too bad somebody forgot to tell Einstein over here that Lycans aren’t affected by wolfsbane, and that the king’s guards would’ve killed his dumb a** before he even got to look at the throne.” Jessup looked back at Lyle. “Did you really think Queen Havannah would look twice at your ugly face, let alone marry you? Besides, aren’t you, like, her cousin or something? That’s pretty disgusting even for you, dude.” 

Lyle snarled at him. “Distant cousins, and Lycans are affected by wolfsbane if you give them enough!” 

Jessup laughed in his face, which only served to make Lyle’s face turn even more red with anger. “Dude, you’re what, 28 years old? I’m 387 years old and have been working with werewolves and Lycans for well over three centuries. The witch who told you that wolfsbane would affect Lycans was my scheming sister, Bethany and she was just telling you whatever you wanted to hear so you’d keep paying her. Didn’t think I’d see that little bit of information, did ya? You could give a Lycan a few gallons of wolfsbane and they’d just get an upset stomach to add to the nausea of having to look at you.” Jessup turned to Alpha Terrance. “Oh yeah, add this to your notes on this genius. He was dumb enough to fall for my sister’s lies. One can only hope that the Witch’s Council will finally do something about her when they find out she was helping someone conspiring against King Sebastien. Well, pretending to help anyway. She always has managed to fool the idiots.” 

By this point, I could practically see steam coming out of Lyle’s ears. “Who’re you calling an i***t?!” he demanded, once again grabbing at the bars and immediately yanking his hands back as the silver singed his skin again. 

Jessup rolled his eyes. “The guy who was stupid enough to burn himself with the same silver bars twice in the span of less than five minutes.” Jessup turned to Alpha Terrance again and asked, “Is there anything else you’d like to know about His Ugliness before we move on?” 

I snorted with laughter. I couldn’t help it. Alpha Terrance shook his head, his own amusement showing in his eyes as he grinned. We turned to walk away, leaving Lyle spluttering in anger behind us.  

It didn’t take Jessup long to check the other shields he was there to look at. With about thirty minutes, we were done. After checking the last one, he turned to look at all of us with a grin on his face.  

“Well, my dudes and dudettes, my mate is now mind linking me to inform me that a certain body part of mine is at risk of amputation if I’m not home to help her with the pup in the next two minutes, so I’m afraid I must take my leave now,” he told us. “Your Royal Highnesses, it’s been a pleasure meeting you both. I’m sure I’ll be seeing you again.” 

We shook hands with him, then, with a snap of his fingers, he was gone. 

“Wait,” Jameson spoke up. “Did he just call us - ?” 

“Your Royal Highnesses,” I finished for him. “Yup.” 

Jameson shook his head. “That’s going to take some getting used to.” 

“Definitely,” I agreed. 

Alpha Terrance, who’d been listening to our exchange along with the rest of the group, said, “I bet it will. It took a long time for me to get used to being called Alpha Terrance, and I’d known my whole life that I would eventually become the Alpha. I can’t imagine how much weirder it would have been if I hadn’t been expecting it.” 

Luna Ana nodded in agreement. “I never expected to become Luna, and the first few times someone called me Luna, I looked around for Laura for a few seconds before it dawned on me that they were talking to me.” 

I hadn’t thought of that. While it wasn’t exactly the same situation, Luna Ana would have a pretty good idea of what it was like to be thrust into a role of authority that you weren’t expecting.  

“Was it a big adjustment for you, going from an omega to being Luna?” I asked her. 

She nodded. “Definitely. But I had Laura to show me the ropes, and a great support system with Terrance, Anthony, my brothers, and Terrance’s siblings. But don’t worry, guys. I’m sure that when you get to the castle, King Sebasten and Queen Havannah will make sure you two get all the support and advice you need. I know you’ll be fine.” 

Jameson and I both nodded. I could only hope that she was right.