The Lost Lycan Princes: A Journey Home

A Family Meeting And A Startling Discovery

Chrissy POV

As soon as I told the guys I would accept the bond, I felt this weird feeling course through me. It wasn't painful, or even uncomfortable. It was just weird. Kind of like a surge of power, if that makes sense. Mixed in with that was some nerves about the guys meeting my parents, so my stomach was full of butterflies. I had a strong hunch that my parents would like Jay and Jon, but I was still nervous.

Speaking of Jay and Jon, I was secretly relieved and happy that the two of them liked the nicknames I’d given them. Jameson and Jonathan just seemed like such formal names to me, and if we were going to be in a relationship, I felt like we shouldn’t be so formal with each other all the time. And I loved that they wanted to call me Chris. Everyone in my family called me that, as did the friends that I was close enough to that I considered family, like Daya, Shadow, Nadie, and most of my friends from the pack. Anyone else – casual acquaintances, coworkers, etc. – all called me Chrissy.

Once the guys were ready, I checked the time and realize we still had another ten minutes before we needed to leave. I still needed to ask them about Daya coming with us, so I figured this was as good a time as any.

“So, guys, since we have a few minutes, I have an important question to ask you,” I told them.

Both of them instantly got a worried expression on their face. I had to giggle inwardly. If they were always like this, it was going to be super easy to prank them in the future. But I put that thought aside for now.

“We’re all ears,” Jon replied.

“So Daya and I were talking, and she’d like to travel a bit to see if she can find her mate, and honestly, I’ve been a little nervous about going on a trip with you guys since we just met yesterday,” I told them.

“Yes, Daya can come,” Jay told me, answering my question before I could even ask it.

“Really?!” I squealed. When he nodded, I leapt into his arms and threw my arms around his neck. “Thank you!”

He laughed. “If telling you yes gets this reaction every time, I have a feeling you’re very rarely going to hear no from me.”

I laughed and kissed his cheek with a resounding, “Mwah!”

Jon cleared his throat. “Ahem? I have to agree to this too, you know. Who says I want someone else along on the trip? Jay over there might have said yes....”

I turned to look at him, wide eyed, instantly worried. Surely he wouldn’t say no after Jay had already said -

“And I say yes too,” he continued with a grin.

I squealed again and jumped from Jay’s arms into Jon’s. He also got a squeeze around the neck and a resounding kiss on the cheek. “Thank you!”

He laughed again and said, “I have a confession to make.”

“What’s that?” I asked.

“I would never think of saying no,” he admitted. “I just wanted the same hug and kiss he got.”

I laughed as I put my feet back on the floor and swatted his arm. “Brat,” I said teasingly.

Jay rolled his eyes. “You can say that again.”

Jon gave us both an innocent look. “I have no idea what the two of you are talking about.”

We all laughed, then Jay reminded us that it was time to leave. This time, Jon got behind the wheel and Jay climbed into the backseat. I directed Jon on which way to turn out of the parking lot, and I noticed Jay looking behind us. I turned to see what he was looking at, and noticed that the yellow mini van was once again keeping pace with us, about three cars behind us. I didn’t like the idea of someone always watching us, but I suppose it couldn’t be avoided when you’re with the royal crown princes of the Lycan kingdom.

As we pulled into the steakhouse parking lot, I sent my mom a text letting her know that we were there. I got an almost immediate response telling me that they were already there and seated, waiting for us to arrive to order. As we pulled into a parking space, I looked over and saw the van pulling into the lot as well, parking just a few rows away from us.

“Those guys don’t give up, do they?” Jon remarked.

Jay shook his head. “I guess they don’t, since they’ve been ordered by the king to keep an eye on us.”

“True,” Jon replied, locking the SUV after we all climbed out.

As we walked towards the restaurant, I reached for both guys’ hands, holding Jay’s hand with my left and Jon’s with my right. We got a couple of strange looks from people as we passed them with me holding both of their hands, but I just ignored them. Jay seemed to ignore them too, but Jon couldn’t resist.

“Hey everybody! Sorry, we ran away earlier and now she has to make sure we don’t get away again. Oof!”

That last part was because I elbowed him in the ribs. I heard a couple of guys in the line snicker.

Once we got inside, I let the maître d’ know that my parents were already seated and waiting on us, so he escorted us back to where my parents sat in a back corner. They both stood up as we approached the table, and I let go of the guys’ hands to hug them both.

“Hey, Mom! Hey, Dad!” I greeted them.

“Hello, sweetheart,” Dad replied, giving me a kiss on the cheek.

“Hey, sweetie,” Mom said, also giving me a kiss on the cheek as I hugged her.

“Mom, Dad, I’d like you both to meet Jameson and Jonathan Canton,” I told them, pointing to the guys as I said their names. “Jay, Jon, I’d like you guys to meet my parents, Connor and Casey Matkins.”

They all smiled and shook hands, and we were about to sit down when I saw Jay look at someone off to our left with a puzzled expression. I followed his gaze and there I saw some of my parents’ good friends, whom we’d met when they visited the Shawanoe Pack several years ago.

“Jessup!” I called, running over to their table as he stood up to hug me. Then I turned to the pretty blonde headed woman beside him. She was tiny, but I knew that, in this case, dynamite definitely came in small packages. “Riley!” I exclaimed, hugging Jessup’s mate as well. “I didn’t know you guys would be here. This is - “

I started to introduce them to the guys, but Jessup stopped me. “No need for introductions for me,” he said with a grin. “Hey, guys, it’s good to see you dudes again. This is my mate, Riley. Babe, these are the twins I told you about, Jameson and Jonathan.”

They both grinned. “Good seeing you too, Jessup.” They both shook Riley’s hand. “It’s nice meeting you, Riley,” they both said in unison. I had to giggle a little at that. I’d noticed that they tried to avoid speaking in unison like that.

“Nice to meet you guys,” Riley replied.

“Where’s the baby?” I asked.

“With my mom,” Riley replied. “Your parents asked Jessup to come down and help them out tonight, so I figured I’d come along and we could make a date night out of it.”

I laughed. “That sounds good to me.”

I knew my parents well enough that I already knew why they’d asked Jessup to come. He confirmed it when Jay asked, “So I’m guessing no one around us can hear what we’re saying? Alpha Terrance mentioned that you do that sometimes.”

Jessup grinned. “They think we’re talking about an upcoming family reunion. Howdy, cousin!”

We all laughed, then Jessup and Riley sat back down at their table and the guys and I returned to our table with my parents.

“Sorry about that,” Jon apologized to them. “We just didn’t expect to see someone we knew here.”

My mom laughed. “That seems to happen every time we’ve been somewhere with Jessup. The man can’t go anywhere without seeing someone he knows.”

Once we were all seated, we all looked over the menu and picked what we wanted to eat. Once we’d ordered, my parents started peppering the guys with questions. Where they’d grown up, what their family was like, etc. The guys had already discussed it beforehand and decided that my parents could be on the list of people who knew who they really were, since they’d already told my brothers, but no one else after that unless it was absolutely necessary. So Jon launched into the story of how they’d been kidnapped at three years old, only recently found out they weren’t completely human, and that they were actually Lycan royalty on their way back to their kingdom to reclaim their place in line for the throne. Jay would interject here and there, adding a detail or two. Once they were finished talking, my parents sat there for a couple minutes in shocked silence.

“So you’re telling me that my daughter is not only going to turn into a Lycan, she’s going to be the queen of them all one day?” my dad asked finally.

Jay nodded. “Yes, sir. I’m sorry, I know it’s a lot to take in, but please rest assured that we will do everything possible to protect Chrissy and keep her safe. You have our word on that.”

“I have no doubt that you will do everything possible to protect her,” Dad replied. “But it’s a high likelihood, from what you’re saying, that there’s going to be a war when you get back to the kingdom. This Arthur guy is most likely going to get wind of you being back and from the sounds of it, he will do anything and everything to get his hands on the throne. If it means killing you two and my Chrissy, he will. How can you guys protect her if you’re dead? And not only that, even if you do survive the war, you can’t be with her 24/7. As a Lycan queen, she’s going to have a bull’s eye on her back. People with evil agendas will be trying to hurt her. I wouldn’t be much of a father if I just let her go off all willy nilly with you and don’t even think about her safety.”

“Yes, sir, I completely understand your concern,” Jon told him. “But I assure you, she will be protected at all costs. As a matter of fact, some of my father’s guards are watching us even now.”

He nodded his head in the direction of the four men who had come in after us and were sitting in the opposite corner where they had a direct line of sight to our table. I was impressed – I hadn’t even seen them come in, much less had any idea where they were sitting.

If I would have been paying closer attention, I would have seen Jessup turn and narrow his eyes at the men then look back at us with concern. But my attention was focused solely on the conversation between the guys and my parents.

Finally, my mom spoke up. “While I do share my husband’s concerns about our daughter’s safety, I do have to say that I’ve been a witness to how protective werewolves are over their mates. I even once witnessed a male take a silver bullet to the gut when it was aimed at his mate. Luckily, he survived, but the fact was that he was willing to give his own life to save hers. I could tell other stories, but that’s the one that sticks out the most in my mind.”

“From what we’ve been told, there’s a very high likelihood that, once the bond is accepted, if Chrissy dies, we could both die too,” Jay told my mom. “And honestly, I’ve already started to fall in love with her, and I know my brother feels the same way. It would be almost impossible not to, seeing that she’s not only beautiful, she’s smart and sweet to boot.”

Mom grinned at him, mischief sparkling in her eyes. “Oh, you think she’s sweet? Wait until she puts purple Kool-Aid in the shower head for you.”

We all laughed.

“I already told them about that and they still want me around,” I told her with a giggle.

“Well, you’ve been duly warned,” Mom joked to them. She turned to my dad. “Well, Connor, what do you think now that you’ve gotten answers to some of our questions?”

“Actually, Dad,” I interrupted, “I need to tell you guys one other thing that may help ease your mind a little bit. Daya is going to come on the trip with us. Not only to help me feel more comfortable, but she’s also hoping to find her mate along the way.”

I saw the relief on my parent’s faces. They’d known Daya since she was a pup, and they knew what a fierce fighter she was and how completely loyal she was to me as my best friend.

“That does make me feel better about things,” Dad admitted. “If anyone can take down two Lycans if she needed to, Daya would be the one.”

I laughed. “That she would, but she’s met them, and she likes them. She also said that neither she nor Laniah picked up any bad vibes from them.”

Dad heaved a sigh. “Well, this is not an easy decision to make, and honestly, it’s going against my best judgement, but I’m going to say that you have my blessings to go on this trip and find out if these guys are really your mates or not.” He turned to my mom. “Casey, what do you think?”

Mom nodded her head. “I agree with you,” she told him. “I think it’s important that she takes this chance and goes with them. If she doesn’t, she’ll always wonder ‘what if,’ and I don’t want that for her.” She looked at the guys and me. “So, you three have my blessings too.”

I jumped up and, dropping to my knees between their chairs, I threw my arms around both of their necks. “Thank you so much! I can’t tell you how much this means to me!” I looked back over at the guys, and I could feel myself starting to tear up, something that rarely happened. “Well, you guys, it’s official. I’m accepting the bond.”

They both stood up and opened their arms to me, and I ran back over to them, throwing myself into both of their arms in a group hug.

We spent the rest of our dinner chatting and laughing with my parents, letting the guys get to know them better and vice versa. My heart was full of happiness as I watching the four of them getting along so well.

As we got done about an hour and a half later, Dad, who insisted on paying for everyone’s meals, was looking over the ticket to make sure everything was correct, so the guys and I excused ourselves to go say goodbye to Jessup and Riley, who were still sitting at their table, talking.

Before we could say anything to them, Jessup looked up at us with a serious expression, which is an extremely rare thing for him. “You guys say that those four men were sent by the king to watch you?” he asked, jerking his head in the men’s direction.

“Yeah, apparently Sebastien is worried about us being attacked or hassled or something if anyone finds out who and what we are,” Jon told him.

“And well he should be,” Jessup said somberly. “Because those four men are not from your dad’s guards. I’m trying to break through the mental wall they have in place, but it’s strong, almost too strong for me to get through, which is something that almost never happens. That tells me that there’s a witch helping them, and there is only one witch that I know of with the power to put up a block that strong in someone else’s mind. My twin sister, Bethany.”

We all stared at him.

“So you’re saying that those guys aren’t the actual guards that Sebastien sent?” Jay asked him.

Jessup shook his head. “No. They’re not. From what I’ve been able to see, they ambushed and killed your father’s guards before they could get to you. You need to do everything you can to ditch them, and try to help me find out who they are. I’ll make you three invisible for a few minutes, just long enough to get out to your vehicle and leave. As soon as you’re out of the parking lot, you need to call Sebastien. Tell him Riley and I will be at the castle first thing in the morning. We’re going to find out who those bozos really are.”