Chapter 17 LeeAca's POV I walk into the living room to find Amara sitting on the couch looking through my sketchbook. Fen growls at her and she looks up with a smile on her face. "She must be a psycho if she thinks those pictures bring joy." Fen comments in my head. "There you are. I was waiting for you to come out so we could start the tour and I saw this laying on the coffee table. These are really good. Are you working on a comic book? It looks like you have most of the main storyline here." Arora asks in an excited voice. "Um. Yes." I drag out. I scratch the back of my head and give her a worried look. "That is so cool. What is it about? I mean I can gather some of the main information, but what are the details?" She asks. "All I have right now is the main point. I don't know the details yet." She just looks back at the book and starts flipping through the pages. "Isn't there a tour you are supposed to be giving me?" I ask, trying to get her to put the book down before Fen rips her throat out for going through our stuff. "Oh right. Sorry, lets go." As we walk outside the smell of fresh air hit me. I miss walking around in the day time. "We will have to be around people. I don't miss it." Fen argues. "Look at it this way. We have all the recon we need for night, but we don;t have any for the day. Keep and eye out and do recon during the tour. That will keep you busy." I say. "Don't act like I am a child. "Keep you busy" that is something you would say when thinking of something to do to get a kid out of your hair." She answers. "Well then stop acting like a pup and I wouldn't say it like that." I argue. "Whatever." Fen says and retreats back observing our surroundings. "This area is our main square. It has all of the main buildings for pack members. To our right is the highschool and right next to it is the training gym for pack members. Next to that is the hospital. Now to the left we have the warrior only gym and the warrior training grounds." She says almost robotically. I can feel her bored emotions from here. I wonder why she is giving me this tour if she doesn't really want to do it. I am sure somebody else could have done it. "It's been two weeks and nobody has done it yet." Fen argues in my head. "That building on the other edge of the square is the grade school." I look to it and see that it is more singled out and more towards the forest. "Why is it more towards the forest isn't that a safety measure that should have been addressed." I ask Amara. "Yes. and apparently I am the only one that sees it as such. They say that since the main town is right across the way and since the forest is our land, it is less likely to have rogues. I mean how stupid is that? The last grade school was burnt down during the rogue invasion and it was in the center of town. They seem to think that since it is closer to the warrior training that the kids will be safer. I don't know. It is weird, but maybe they are right and I am just paranoid. Lets keep going." We walk down a road that connects the town to the main square. I see all sorts of small shops and many people walking around. I wouldn't think many people are out based on the fact that it is 10:30 on a thursday. We walk to a bakery and Amara orders us a coffee and some food and we sit down. "This is the town. It has everything you can imagine. And that is pretty much the tour." She says as she takes a bite of her doughnut. I look around and take a bite of my doughnut as well. "I appreciate you taking me for a tour, but why did you?" I ask. "Nobody else was going to. And I didnt want you ripping anybody's head off because your wolf feels caged in. And it gives me a chance to see why my brother picked you. Of all people." She responds. Why don't you ask your brother that? I ask slightly irritated. "He won't tell me. I know that he only chose somebody because the elder council forced him to. He has no wish for a mate or Queen. Says that he is fine doing it alone. If my hunch is right, he chose you because you did something to show him that you did not want to be queen." She says in between bites. "Why would he choose me if I did something like that?" I ask, even though I pretty much know the answer. "Because if he chose somebody who shared his desire then he would be able to technically have a queen the elders want and still have his way with anything." Fen rolls her eyes. "I knew we should have tried to act like all we wanted was to be queen." "You did not. You were the one who took over and disrespected him." She rolled her eyes and retreated. "So I am right." She says as she looks out to the streets. I feel the little disappointment she feels. "You were hoping that he would find his second chance." She looks at me bewildered. "I didn't say that." "No but I could feel the disappointment you had after you said that." I say looking at her. "You're an empath." She states. "Yes." I answer. "Well since you figured it out. Yes. I was hoping he would find his second chance. Even though he says he would have rejected them, I doubt he would have. I just wished he would go back to being his old happy self. Not this person that is cold hearted and robotic." She huffs in sadness. "I understand. I am sorry that it didn't work out how you wanted." I say. Not really sure of what to say. "It is what it is. Lets go. There is one more store I want to show you before we leave." We get up and go across the way to a comic book store. "Great. Look at what you got us into." Fen grumbles in my head. We walk in and the store is empty. A woman around our age walks out from the back. "Amara it's been so long." She says running up and hugging her. "Mel. This is LeeAca. LeeAca this is Mel, my cousin." "This is Alarick's chosen mate?" Mel asks with big brown eyes and a skeptical look on her face. "Yes." Amara says. "It is nice to meet you." I say trying to be polite. The girls start talking and I look around for detective comic books. I find the area and start looking at them when the bell to the door chimes. Beta Markus is here. "I told you he is a nerd for this sh*t. I just knew it." Fen says. I keep looking through the books when I hear footsteps behind me. "I didn't know you liked comics." He says from behind me. I turn around and see he is looking at me skeptically. "I don't know much about them, but I like to read them. I like that the pictures give me something to look at so I don't have to try and imagine what the author wanted me to envision." I say. It isn't too much of a lie. "Nice. I am guessing you like the mystery ones." He says looking at the sign above our heads. Before I could answer, Mel and Amara walk up. "Obviously Markus. She is actually needing help on her book, so I brought her here for inspiration." Amara says. "Your book?" He asks, then it clicks and I feel the wash of relief he has. "I told you it would work." Fen says smugly. "Yes, her book. Now leave us alone. You were one of the dumba*ses that didn't think that she needed a tour so I don't want you here." Amara says. Beta Markus gives her a hateful look and walks out. Mel Amara and I spent the rest of the day sitting in the bookstore reading and talking. On the way home Amara and I are talking about one of the books I bought when a wave of pain hits me and I fall to my knees. She instantly stops and calls out to me. I only hold up my hand to tell her it will be okay. After five minutes I can breathe again and I get up. "The king can only last five minutes. Can you imagine being one of the most powerful beings in the world and only lasting for five minutes?" Fen says laughing in my head. After that I start laughing so hard I can barely breathe. Amara just stared at me in disbelief. After I calm down she asks "Why are you laughing at your mate cheating on you?" I look at her confused. "I know what that was. I have experienced it before LeeAca. That is the worst pain one could feel. Why are you laughing? Who is your mate? Does he know he is hurting you?" She fires question after question. "Slow down. My mate is exactly that. My mate. He does not know about me and I will keep it that way. I am laughing because he only lasted five minutes." I say chuckling again. "Does Alarick know?" She asks in an accusatory tone. "He knows that I have no intention of having a mate and that is all he will know." I say looking at her with one eyebrow raised. "But what about your mate then? It isn't fair to them." She says. "No it isn't. But I know this person and I know that they feel the same way I do. They will reject me and I will not risk him losing his wolf because we both don't want a bond." I say a little more irritated now. This is none of her business. "Okay." Is all she says. I feel the understanding from her. She must have been through something similar. After another five minuets we reach the front of the castle. We walk in the castle to somebody yelling. In Addicted to You movie, Audrey's biggest regret? A one-night stand with Floyd, her secret love for eight years. Despite his arranged marriage and his family's troubles, he kept rescuing her. She tho...