Rejected, Broken And Forgotten
Chapter 24

Walker’s POV

It is almost the end of the ball, and I again take Paris outside. I need another k**s and can not be without her much longer. Now that London is back and can play herself again, I am sure Paris can come with my men and me to the little town where we stay. I can claim her as my mate and Luna, and we can start our lives together. I want to protect her from John and Oliver, and I still do not trust the attack at the airport. Something is off. My men have already left as they will be busy tomorrow. I saw Lindsey taking Wallis with her, and I know the two of them will be busy tonight since they are mates now. I hope Lindsey does not get pregnant, as we will need her and her fighting skills. Jeffrey has taken Ben to his room, and only the Kings, Queen, Princes, Princesses, servants, and guards remain in the ballroom.

“Everyone take off your masks,” I hear Oliver’s voice. I feel Paris getting tense in my arms.

“What is going on?” She whispers.

“I do not know,” I whisper back.

“We had a peace treaty. How dare you break your word?” I hear King George’s voice.

“Hahaha, you promised to keep us safe. We promised nothing,” King John says.

“We have nothing to do with your war, so let us go, John,” King Joshua, my grandfather, says.

“No one is going anywhere. I am planning to take over all the kingdoms tonight, and you will give them to me, or I will kill your families,” King John laughs, and he sounds like a lunatic.

“How did you get the guards and my servants to work with you?” King George asks.

“Your servants and guards? Are you sure they are yours? I kept most of the rebels busy with the little fight at the airport and most of your army at the border. So I sent in my strongest warriors to take down your guards and servants and replace them with mine. Don’t worry. The rebels, guards, and servants are in your dungeon. I will deal with them later and make an example of them later. I want to show the rebels and their prince what happens if they rebel against me,” King John says. Jeffrey and Wallis were with us, or they would have warned us.

“Why did my guards not mind-link me? I do not believe you!” King George says.

“Oh, that is thanks to Cecelia, my son’s mate. She is a powerful shaman and knows who the rebel prince is. She will show me as we know he must be here. So, everyone, I will ask one more time to take off your masks. I also know about your other granddaughter, the true heir to the throne, George, old wolf,” King John says. I need to get my men here, but I know it will be too late, and we can do nothing as King John will kill the people he is holding hostage. I look through the window to see what is happening. King George sees Paris and me looking at him from the outside, and he smiles. Since Oliver, John, Cecelia, and their soldiers’ backs are turned to us, only King George sees us and nods his head slowly.

“Fine, I, King George of Essex, hand my throne to Princess Paris of Essex. The rightful heir to the throne of Essex,” King George says. He needs Paris’ b***d to finish the ritual and a high priest of the Moon Goddess. So I do not know what the hell the King is thinking. Jeffrey appears next to us and cuts Paris’ hand with a silver dagger. He has a golden goblet in his hand. I realized the King was not nodding to me but to Jeffrey.

“Get her out of here after she shouts, “I accept.” Wait until I am inside and hand the goblet to the King,” Jeffrey says.

“The high priest?” I whisper. Jeffrey smiles.

“I am a high priest, young Prince,” Jeffrey whispers as he walks inside. Prince Oliver and King Jeffrey laugh.

“Nice, try King, but you did not complete the b***d ritual, and she must accept. Come on, Princess Paris, show yourself and accept your throne,” King John jokes. He, Oliver, and Cecelia laugh, and his men join in. Jeffrey moves fast and stands next to the King. He cuts the King’s hand and drips his b***d into the old cup. I nod to Paris.

“Shout it. We need to get you out of here. They will not harm your family if you are Queen, and they will need you here so he can take all the kingdoms,” I whisper to Paris. As everyone is busy, they do not hear us whisper, although wolves’ hearing is excellent.

“I accept!” Paris shouts, and the two of us shift.

“Follow me. I know these grounds better than anyone,” We jump off the balcony, which is not as high as the balcony at Paris’ room. We land on the grass and run as fast as we can. We run into the trees, and I hear the guards and soldiers following us. Paris is fast, and her wolf is beautiful, but my wolf does not have the time to admire her. We need to get her to safety. I mind-link my men and tell them to meet us at the River Lea as we need to get Queen Paris to safety fast. They do not ask questions as they know I will tell them everything later. I take us onto the rocky parts and straight to the River Lea. The soldiers are not as fast as us. We are losing them quickly. I lead Paris straight to the river as I know my men will be there, and we will lose the soldiers there. I hope she is a strong swimmer. Since Paris is fast, I believe she can swim as fast as she runs. As we get to the river, we swim to the other side. We reach the other side and run into the trees before the soldiers even reach the river banks. We stand behind the trees and keep an eye out for the soldiers.

“Alpha, we are here,” Johnathan says behind me. The soldiers reach the river bank and start looking up and down the river for us, but since the banks are rocky, they can not see our paw prints, and I know they lost our scent when we went into the river.

“Damn! They must have crossed the river somewhere,” One of the wolves says.

“We need to find her!” Another one shouts.

“Get the Queen to the village and protect her with your lives,” I order Jonathan. I will fight these soldiers if they dare to cross the river.

“I am not going anywhere. I can fight,” Paris growls. I can see in her eyes she will not leave, and I have no time to fight with her as the soldiers have started swimming to this side of the river.

“Watch her like a hawk,” I order Jonathan, as I know it will not help to argue with her. I don’t have the time, as the first wolves reach the shore. I run to attack and see my mate’s wolf next to me. She jumps the first wolf before he can even get his footing. We are upon them, and I take down a general and rip his throat out. I see my mate covered in the b***d of the wolf she is fighting. She kills him quickly and attacks the next. I do the same, and my wolves attack mercilessly. Paris fights alongside me. She and her wolf are well-trained. I have only seen her fight in human form before, and seeing her in her wolf form fighting makes me proud. We kill the last wolf and look at the bodies lying along the riverbed. They have returned to their human form as the wolf spirit has left them. Not all are dead yet, and my men go around killing the wounded. We do not leave any wolves alive except for one. The least hurt one and sent him with a message to King John.

“Tell your coward of a King that if one hair of my family is missing, I will come for him and kill him personally. I will not give him my Kingdom if any of my family is hurt,” Paris says. The wolf nods and runs into the river. He swims to the other side, and we watch him disappear into the woods.

I see my mate cleaning herself in the water and follow her example. The moon is red in the sky, and I think it is because of all the wolves’ b***d that was spilled tonight.

“Shout it. We need to get you out of here. They will not harm your family if you are Queen, and they will need you here so he can take all the kingdoms,” I whisper to Paris. As everyone is busy, they do not hear us whisper, although wolves’ hearing is excellent.

“Let’s go,” I say. I am a little pissed off at Paris for not listening to me.

“You can be angry, but I am not going to let you fight my fights,” She says.

“I know. You are stubborn! Next time do not question me! What if something happened to you tonight? If you die, London becomes Queen, and she is pregnant! You were selfish,” I say. Paris looks at me in her wolf form, and I can see she is not proud of herself. My heart softens, and I push my snout into her neck.

“I am sorry. I only wanted to kill the bloody soldiers and teach Oliver and John a lesson. They have my family, and we need to rescue everyone!” Paris says.

“I am proud of you, my warrior Queen,” I say.

“Thank you. You don’t know how much that means to me,” Paris says.

“Well, Queen of Essex, what do we do now?” I ask.

“We need to think. I am so glad Jeffrey made me memorize the whole palace’s layout. Even the secret passages. We will need to sneak into the castle and save the hostages. John will not move them as it will be too risky to take them into the open with us on the loose,” Paris says.

“I think you are right. I know he is not going to move them. John will also not leave the palace and will keep as many men with him as possible,” I say.

“Well, we know now why the fight at the airport was so easy,” Paris says.

“Yes, the bloody sneaky a*****e! Coward!” I say. I am furious with John and Oliver.

“Well, my grandfather saved the rest of our family’s asses by thinking on his feet,” Paris says. I notice it is the first time she calls King George her grandfather.

“Yes, I told you I have great respect for him. Your grandfather is not a stupid wolf, that much I can tell you,” I say.

“Well, we need to find a way in, and I need to draw a map of the castle from memory,” Paris says.

“I can help you, Queen,” Wallis says from behind us.

“Wally! I am so glad to see you. How did you escape?” Paris asks. I smile. He was with Lindsey, not at the castle.

“I was with my mate, Queen. I am sorry I let the others down. I should have been there,” Wallis says.

“There was nothing you could do, Wallis. There were too many, and the sneaky old bastard of a King John kept all of us busy while he planned everything. That Cecelia he was talking about. She was your mate, right?” Paris asks. I nod.

“Did you know she was a shaman?” Paris asks.

“Yeah, but she was never a good shaman. I don’t believe she is strong enough to do the mind-link spell independently. She must have had help,” I say.

“We need to find who helped her and get them out of the way. I need to mind-link my family, make sure they are okay, and find out where they are held,” Paris says.

“We also need to take her out,” I say. I hate Cecelia, but not because she hurt me. I used to hate her because she rejected me, but not anymore. Now, I hate her because she is helping John and Oliver and putting my mate’s family at risk.

“We need to seal our bond. Since I am Queen of the Kingdom, you will become my King Consort,” Paris says. I am surprised she knows that term. The royal consort is the most important supporter of their spouse, the reigning monarch, and Jeffrey must have taught her that.

“Yes, I will, and we do need to get married and do the mating ritual as well. It would be best if you became my Luna, and we will need to be able to mind-link,” I say. We walk into the village, and I take her to my house. We change into human form, and I can not take my eyes off Paris, standing naked in front of me.