The Lost Lycan Princes: A Journey Home

Who's Following Us?

Jameson POV 

  I really liked Chrissy’s parents. Once we got past their initial protectiveness of their daughter, they were actually nice and very funny. And I didn’t mind the protectiveness at all. I could understand where they were coming from. I may not have kids yet, but if I did have a daughter and two random guys showed up and wanted to take her with them on a cross country trip to become the queen of a species that she would become one of, I would have questions too.  

  I wasn’t sure what to make of what Jessup had told us. If those weren’t the guys Sebastien sent, then who were they?  

  Jessup had done exactly what he said, and, after saying goodbye to Chrissy’s parents, each of us walked into the restrooms, which, thankfully were empty. Chrissy later told us that the women’s room had one other woman in there, but she was blind and even had a guide dog. You know, it’s really disconcerting to watch yourself slowly vanish in a mirror. Once we were invisible, Jonathan and I walked out of the restroom together and I nearly bumped into Chrissy. If it weren’t for my heightened sense of smell, I would have bumped straight into her. But I would know that scent of roses and vanilla anywhere. Jessup had also done some kind of trickery on us to where the four men sitting at that table wouldn’t be able to detect our scent for a little while, since they were also Lycans. He had written his phone number on a napkin and given it to me so that we could text him later on and let him know when the four men showed up at the motel. 

  “Notice I didn’t say IF they show up,” he warned us. “I said WHEN. Because I’m 100% sure that the minute they realize you’ve left, they’ll likely head back to the motel because they know you have to go back there eventually.” 

  As we got back into the SUV and left the parking lot, we all slowly reappeared. This time, I was driving. Chris, as usual was riding shotgun.  

  “Do you guys really think it’s safe to go back to the motel?” she asked worriedly. “Maybe we should find somewhere else for the two of you to stay.” 

  “Where would we go?” I asked her. “You’re the only one we know in this town, besides the people we met today, and I wouldn’t dream of leading those men to your parents and brothers. Or you, for that matter. Somehow, we need to get you away from us without them seeing.” 

  She looked upset at that. “I don’t want to leave you guys!” she exclaimed. “I can help you. I know I can.” 

  Jonathan spoke up from where he sat in the backseat. “I agree with Jameson,” he told her. “We can’t take a chance of you getting hurt, or worse. If one of us gets hurt, that’s one thing. But if you get hurt, well, I don’t even want to think about that.” 

  Chris still looked upset. “But if I’m not with you guys, I’ll worry myself sick.” 

  I shook my head. “I would rather you be worried than get injured, or worse.” 

  Chris was silent for a couple minutes, and I could almost see the wheels turning in her head. “How about a compromise?” she suggested. 

  “Not if it involves you being in any sort of danger,” I insisted. 

  She shook her head. “It doesn’t. Well, not really. I was thinking I could ask Shadow if you guys could stay in the packhouse for a couple of days. Those men might be able to sneak onto pack territory, but chances are they wouldn’t be able to. Not without being detected anyway. And Shadow and his men are formidable warriors, and pretty much everyone in the supernatural world knows that. Those men might think twice before trying to follow you guys onto Shawanoe territory.” 

  I considered the idea, and I knew Jonathan was doing the same.  

  “While I think it could be beneficial to us to have a pack of werewolves around us, it seems kind of selfish to ask them to put themselves in danger just to protect us,” Jonathan pointed out. 

  I sighed. “I have to agree with you there. But who’s to say that they haven’t already figured out who Chris is and what she is to us? There’s nothing to stop them from tracking her down and using her to get to us. We already know that Shadow and his pack love her like one of their own. It could be that she’ll be safer there, and if we stay there too, we can make sure that she’s safe.” 

  “I already know that Shadow won’t mind,” she told us. “He’s done this sort of thing for people before, sometimes even complete strangers. That’s just who and how he is.” 

  “But what happens if the men attack and one or more of his warriors die as a result?” I asked.  

  “Every single warrior that I’ve ever asked similar questions has told me that they consider it an honor to die protecting their pack,” she told me. “And they consider me, and by extension, you guys, part of their pack. It doesn’t matter that they just met you. In their eyes, anyone that I love is considered part of the pack, and I know that goes double – no pun intended – for someone that I’m mated to. It’s just their way.” 

  “What do you think, bro?” I asked Jonathan, glancing at him in the rearview mirror. 

  “Well, for one thing, I think you need to watch the road instead of looking at me just because I’m prettier than you,” he joked, trying to lighten the mood. Chris giggled, so I’m assuming it worked. But then he turned serious. “Seriously, though, I think if Shadow and Nadie are on board, it’s probably not a bad idea. And another thing you two may not have considered. All of us are going to be going through our first shifts soon, and who better to help us through that than a pack of werewolves?” 

  He had a pretty valid point there. All of them that were of age would have already gone through a first shift of their own, and could probably give us some pointers to help us out. 

  ‘And honestly, a motel room is not exactly an ideal place for a Lycan to shift for the first time,’ Donovan piped up. 

  ‘You have a point,’ I told him. 

  “Donovan has a good point,” I told Chris and Jonathan. “We would have more room to shift at the packhouse than we do in the motel room.” 

  “And we wouldn’t have to repair it again,” Chris joked. 

  Jonathan and I laughed, remembering how she’d told us the first night we checked in that the previous guest had destroyed the room by shifting.  

  “Well, Chris, I guess it’s time to call Shadow and ask if he has any vacancies at Hotel Shawanoe,” Jonathan told her. 

  She laughed. “They always have plenty of room. I’ll shoot him a text and let him know what’s going on.” 

  As she did that, Jonathan pulled his phone out. “I guess we need to call Sebastien and tell him what’s going on,” he told me. “Jessup did ask us to do that.” 

  I nodded. “And in the meantime, I need somewhere to go besides the motel,” I replied. “I only want to go back there long enough to grab our stuff. The longer we’re there, the more of a chance there is that those men will see us leave and follow us to Shawanoe territory.” 

  “Go to those fields we went to last night,” Chris suggested. “There’s hardly ever anyone there.” 

  I nodded, keeping my eyes on the road and constantly checking the mirrors for any sign of that yellow van. “Why don’t you see if Daya can meet us there?” I suggested. “If she’s going to go on this trip with us, we need to make sure she’s aware of what’s going on.” 

  She nodded. “Plus, with her being head warrior, she may have some ideas that we haven’t thought of.” 

  “I guess we’ll just wait until we get to the fields to call Sebastien,” Jonathan said. “That way, it’ll be easier for him to see all of us.” 

  Chris’s phone dinged, indicating a text message. “Shadow says that’s fine, and he’ll put his warriors on alert. They already followed us to the pack borders earlier, so they might figure out that’s where we went.” 

  I hadn’t even considered that. I was trying to process a lot of information at once, and I guess that detail had just slipped my mind. “S**t,” I muttered, then quickly glanced at Chris. “Sorry, that slipped.”  

  She raised a brow. “I have three older brothers and my best friend is a head warrior of a werewolf pack. Do you really think a d**n curse word is going to offend me?”  

  I had to laugh at that, and Jonathan was snickering in the backseat. “Dude, you just got owned,” he told me.  

  Chris reached back and playfully punched his leg.  

  “Ouch!” he yelped. “What was that for?” 

  “Just for general purposes,” she informed him. “And to remind you you can get owned too.” 

  “Oh really?” he asked mischievously. “You promise?” 

  She giggled and reached back and punched his leg again. “Behave yourself.” 

  “I make no promises,” he informed her, and in the mirror I could see his eyes twinkling with mischief.  

  She narrowed her eyes at him. “No kisses for you if you don’t behave,” she joked. 

  He put an angelic expression on his face. “Yes, ma’am. I’ll behave, ma’am.” 

  We all laughed. It was good to joke around for a minute. It took our minds off of the seriousness of the situation we found ourselves in.  

  Chris’s phone dinged again, and she checked it then informed us that Daya would meet us at the fields. “Apparently she already knows something is up, since Shadow sent a mind link to all the warriors. I’m telling her we’ll explain everything once we see her.” 

  The mood in the SUV turned serious again. “That’ll work,” I told Chris, just as we pulled up to the same spot we’d parked in the night before and I brought the SUV to a stop. After we got out, I took a good look around to make sure that we were completely alone, sniffing the air to see if I detected any scents other than ours. I noticed Jonathan doing the same thing. It struck me that so much of this supernatural stuff had quickly become second nature to us.  

‘It’s always been part of your instincts, you’ve just never noticed before,’ Donovan told me.  

We hiked the half mile or so back to the field, and all three of us took a seat on the same boulder Chris had sat on the last time. I pulled my phone out of my pocket and within a few seconds, we were video chatting with Sebastien and Havannah. 

After the initial greetings, I immediately launched into our reason for calling. “Well, it turns out that we have something even more serious to talk to you about than we originally thought,” I told them. 

They both immediately looked concerned. “What’s going on?” Sebastien asked. “My men haven’t reported anything unusual back to me.” 

“Have they reported anything back?” I asked him. 

He nodded. “They’ve been texting me updates every so often.” 

“That’s not your men you’ve been texting,” Jonathan said flatly. “Your men are dead, and we’re trying to figure out who the four Lycans following us actually are.” 

Both Sebastien and Havannah looked shocked and horrified. “Are you sure about this?” Havannah finally managed to ask. 

I nodded. “We saw Jessup and his mate tonight, and he’s the one that told us.” 

“Jessup, the wizard?” Sebastien asked.  

We all nodded.  

“He’s been a friend of my family for a long time,” Chris told them. “He and Riley came tonight to help the guys’ meeting with my parents. Jessup was there to form a shield so that no one overheard our conversation, and Riley came with him. He’s the one that realized those men aren’t who we thought they were, and he was able to read their minds enough to see that they killed the four men you sent. But he said that there’s been a mental block placed in all of their minds to keep him from seeing much more than that. And he also said that he only knows of one witch strong enough to do that.” 

“His sister Bethany,” Sebastien said with a sigh. “I’ve more dealings with her over the years than I care to remember. If she is indeed involved with the deaths of my men, I’ll hopefully finally have what I need to get rid of her once and for all.” He rubbed his temples. “D**n it, those were four good men. They all had families. Now I have to inform their families that those men are dead because of a decision I made.” 

I could see the grief and guilt forming in his eyes. Havannah reached over and laid a hand on his arm in an attempt to comfort him.  

“It was not because of you,” Chris said fiercely. “It wasn’t. It wasn’t your fault that some jack**s sent these four to kill them. That’s not on you. That’s on them.” 

I was touched and a little surprise to hear my sweet mate speak up so fiercely in defense of my father, the Lycan king. And I saw Jonathan looking at her with pride too. 

Sebastien managed to smile at her through the screen. “Thank you for that. I don’t know if the guilt will ever completely go away, but thank you for the reminder that it’s not completely my fault.” 

Havannah smiled at Chris too, although the smile didn’t erase the sadness I saw in her eyes. “You’re going to make a fine queen someday, young lady.” 

Chris smiled, blushing a little. “Thank you, Havannah. That means a lot, coming from you.” 

I decided we needed to go ahead and broach the other subject at hand. “I’m sorry, Sebastien, I know this probably isn’t the best time, but I need to know what you know about a suspected kidnapping ring that Arthur may be involved in. One that our kidnapping may have been a part of.” 

Sebastien sighed again, and I saw him reach over and squeeze Havannah’s hand. “We’ve long suspected that your kidnapping was the beginning of a series of kidnapping involving supernatural children,” he told us. “While we strongly believe that Arthur is involved, we haven’t managed to garner the evidence we need to catch everyone involved. We’ve tried sending people in undercover, but they’ve either been murdered or were unable to infiltrate it every time. We get tips on where the ring may be operating out of, but every time, we go there and they’re already gone. Arthur is evil, we all know that, but unfortunately he isn’t stupid. He’s smart enough to know when to move the ring and, besides the papers you boys have, he’s never left a paper trail of any sort. Until now, none of the children have been located. We suspect that they were adopted out to human families like the two of you were. Many of them, particularly the first ones taken, would have either just come of age for their beasts – wolves, Lycans, bears, whatever – to wake up and for them to be able to shift, or they’re about to come of age. We expect most if not all of them to eventually turn up, looking for answers. We’re hopeful that at that point we can finally get the evidence we need to go after the ones involved. There’s more to it, but you get the gist. I can tell you all more about the investigation when you’re here in person.” 

We all nodded in agreement. “That sounds like a plan,” I told them. “Also, just to let you know, we’ll be staying at the Shawanoe pack for the next couple of days. It seemed like that would be a safer option than staying in the motel. Oh, and Jessup said to expect him and Riley at the castle in the morning.” 

Sebastien gave a tired smile. “Shadow and Nadie are good people. They’ll take good care of you. And thank you. I’ll let the staff know to expect Jessup and Riley’s visit. Last time he dropped in, I forgot to warn the staff and he scared one of our kitchen staff so bad when he suddenly appeared that she fainted.” 

I had to laugh at that last part. Then, in the distance, we heard the rumble of an engine approaching, and tires screeching to a halt. Chris gave a little laugh. “That’ll be Daya.” 

Sebastien and Havannah both managed to smile. “Please,” Havannah told us, “tell Daya we said hello. But now, I suppose we need to get to work notifying these poor families about the men we’ve lost. We love you all. Please, be safe. Call us if you need anything at all.” 

After promising that we would contact them with any new developments, we ended the call, just in time to see Daya coming out of the woods.  

“What is going on?” she demanded as she ran over to us. “Shadow said something about four Lycans that might possibly try to invade, and let us know that you three will be staying there for a couple of days and that you’ll need to be protected. What the h**l, Chris?” 

As briefly as possible, we explained to her what was going on and why we would be staying at the packhouse. When we got done, she was shaking her head in disbelief. 

“Wow,” she said after a few minutes. “Just wow. I can’t believe this. So those four Lycans murdered four of the king’s guards, and now they’ve been following you all around? And Jessup can’t see who they are or what they want?” 

I nodded. “That’s the gist of it.” 

“No wonder you guys are coming to stay at the pack,” she replied. “You’ll be a million times safer there.” 

“Now we just have to go back to the motel and gather up our things before leaving for the packhouse,” Jonathan said. 

“No need for that,” she told us. “Jessup teleported all of your stuff to the packhouse already. No need to go back to the motel. I linked Shadow and let him know I was coming to meet you guys. He asked me bring you back to the packhouse with me. And they’re waiting for you. So, are you guys ready to head to the packhouse?” 

“Well, I guess since we don’t have to get our stuff, we can just follow you back to the packhouse,” I replied.  

She grinned at us. “Well, come on then. Let’s go home.”