25. Finley
Finley
Staring at the men for a moment, I then looked behind to see all my men standing guard, none too pleased with the situation.
Returning my gaze to the three men, I cocked my head to the side, looking at them curiously.
“Are you the elders I’ve heard about who are going to potentially reject me like they did my mother and steal my magic? ”
One of them chuckled and shook his head.
“Goddess, no, we don’t have the power to do that.
We can reject a queen, but that has nothing to do with her magic.
That is all based on the person’s own worthiness.
If the fates don’t agree with their actions, they can remove the gift they’ve given them.
It is one thing we look for when we meet the potential queen. ”
“You, my young child, have been blessed well beyond anything we have seen in millennia. Then again, I suppose desperate times call for desperate measures,” another commented.
“With the battle you must face soon, I understand its need, but as you’ve experienced yourself, there is only so much magic one can control at a time before it could kill them. ”
Taking in everything they were telling me, I just nodded dumbly, watching them speak.
My body ached and I knew it would take more than a day to recover from what I went through.
Glancing down at myself, I could see the wounds were sealed, but they weren’t even close to being fully healed under the skin.
I wasn’t in danger of dying, but it would take a few days until I was back in fighting form.
“Your Guide told us you were able to heal the damage from the lead poisoning. Is this true?” the voice I remembered being irritatingly formal inquired.
Just by his voice alone, I knew I wasn’t going to like this elder.
I’d had my fill of pompous people like him, and most of the time, they were my targets.
Interesting how that worked out. It seemed no one liked a know-it-all.
The sound of gravel crunching under tires could be heard as a vehicle flew down the road and skidded to a halt.
Eli burst out of the car and raced over to my men. “Where is she? Is she alright?”
Mason just pointed over to where I was sitting in the midst of the elders. Eli’s eyes went wide with horror as he recognized who they were. “Get the fuck away from my daughter. You bastards already took my wife from me. I’m not going to let you take her too.”
My brows shot up at the venom in his tone as he spoke to the elders. While I might not enjoy the one man, the others seemed fine for a bunch of old men. Then there was the fact they couldn’t have done anything to mother’s magic and since they were elves, I knew they couldn’t lie.
“Ellisor, it has been a long time,” one stood and greeted. “I’m sorry to hear of your mate’s passing and the nature of what caused it. While we might have rejected her as queen, we didn’t reject her as an elf, and we mourn the loss of all our kind that is taken from us too soon.”
The snooty elder stood and shook out his robe. “Don’t bother, Druindar. He’s blackened his heart toward his own people. He won’t believe a word you have to say.”
“Purtham, it is our duty as elders to nurture those who are lost. Ellisor is still grieving the loss of his family. We must offer grace in times of mourning,” Druindar countered, then looked down at me, offering a hand.
“I hope you don’t think of us as the boogie man like your father does.
Unfortunately, we haven’t had the chance to meet under welcoming circumstances. ”
I allowed him to help me to my feet, but I almost crashed back down with how my muscles screamed at me. Derven appeared, scooping me up into a bridal hold. “I’ve got you, sangele mue.”
“It’s absolutely fascinating how you and your mother have called such diverse mates. One might think it’s a sign for us old doddering fools to realize as the world changes, so must we,” the third elder admitted.
“Couldn’t have said it better myself, Mirthal,” Druindar added with a nod.
“Yes, that we should be overjoyed at the fact we soon won’t have any pure light elves on the earth,” Purtham muttered. “Who listens to me? I’m just the oldest elder of the group.”
“Who pissed in his Cheerios?” Mason asked. I had to try as hard as I could not to snort at his comment.
When the sound of many vehicles making their way up the drive caught my attention, I froze. I reached out to the forest, trying to assess what was coming but couldn’t sense any danger from the nature around me. Then I saw the first van with a national news station name written on the side.
“Derven, what the hell is going on?” I demanded in a low whisper.
He glanced down at me with a guilty expression. “Ah, about that… Colt decided that tonight was going to be better for the press conference. That way, we could ensure the Senate won’t come after you anymore. Well, for now, that is until they make a smarter plan.”
“We would have been fine for the night. I already took out the group of werewolves that Zander’s father sent after us,” I explained.
Derven narrowed his eyes. “What did you just say? How the hell did that happen if you never left our sight?”
“Perks of needing to dispel so much magic,” I answered with a shrug. “The forest took care of them and made sure all the evidence was gone as well.”
Derven let out an impressed whistle. “Just when I didn’t think you could get scarier.” He pressed a kiss to my forehead. “I have to admit, though, I absolutely love the fact that the most terrifying woman is also in my bed. That’s a thrill of the likes no one will ever know but us.”
I couldn’t help but laugh at that, letting my head fall to his shoulder as he carried me over to the others.
“What’s so funny?” Noah asked as he ran a hand down my leg before gently gripping my ankle. “It’s not nice to keep secrets from your mates.”
“Trust me, it’s not a secret, but I’ll have to tell you later when we don’t have so many prying ears,” I assured him. “Someone care to tell me what the plan is?”
Colt walked over to me, grabbed my face and kissed the hell out of me. “Little one, don’t you dare scare me like that. You’re gonna give me gray hair far too early and we haven’t even had kids yet.”
Smiling at him, I returned his kiss and nuzzled my nose against his. “I think you’d look dashing with salt and pepper hair.”
He growled in response. “Don’t even think about trying to pull shit, so it happens.”
Biting my lip, I nodded and relaxed into Derven’s arms, trying not to push him too far after today’s events. “So I’m going live tonight?”
“No sense in waiting for them to try something else to keep you silent. Figured it would be better to beat them to the punch,” Colt answered. “Come on. They’re being directed to the living room of the pack house. I want this to take place in the center of everything and where it all started.”
“Thank God the elders clothed me or else these reporters would be getting an eyeful,” I chuckled.
“No, they’d all be dead,” Zander grumbled.
With that announcement, we all entered the house, and I was placed in the middle of the loveseat while my mates surrounded me. The twins sat on the floor one on either side of me, as the rest made a semi-circle behind the couch.
Eli seemed to have put himself in charge of wrangling the reporters and he did a good job of it. The staff of one of the news stations came over and tried to put makeup on me, but none of my men let her get close.
“She needs something on her or she’ll look like death on camera. Everyone knows they do nothing helpful for people’s images,” she argued.
Eli stepped up and drew her away. “Why don’t we see how it looks in the test shot? Elves tend to have the ability to shine no matter how they are viewed. I think we’ll be fine.”
Within twenty minutes, the whole room was filled with lights, cameras, and so many strangers it was overwhelming.
Still hurt, my wolf wasn’t at all feeling like this was a safe experience for us.
All she wanted to do was slink back to our nest and sleep for the next two days.
I promised her we would do just that when this was finished.
The main person interviewing me, Abby Riley, took her seat in an armchair across from me, looking at all my mates with a wary expression.
I supposed I couldn’t blame her with how grumpy they’d been when anyone got too close.
It wasn’t their fault they didn’t know I’d almost died a few hours ago.
The elders and Eli stood off to the side since they were to be added to the interview after they’d gotten my story.
“Now, this isn’t going to be live since it’s past the seven o’clock news, but we’ll be sharing this everywhere tomorrow at each major news hour. Your father has made it clear this needs to be front and center, shared with the world… would you care to tell us all why that is?” Abby asked.
I nodded, keeping a light smile on my face knowing I tended to come across as cold most of the time.
“That story is the whole reason you are here tonight instead of waiting to do this tomorrow like we planned. You see, three hours ago, the United Senate sent their soldiers to come and kill me before I could speak the truth to the world.”
Abby sat up straighter, her expression surprised. “What truth would that be?”
“Elves are still alive and in hiding, because there is a group called the Dark Ring hunting them down along with other supernaturals, and the Senate isn’t doing a damn thing to stop it,” I stated bluntly.
“Excuse me?” Abby blurted, then just as quickly collected herself. “Those are some heavy allegations there. What proof do you have about all of this?”
“For one, I myself am an elf, the queen of the Light Elves to be exact. I’m also an assassin that had been hired to help take out the Dark Ring.
It’s where I first learned of the underground criminal empire that thrives on the abuse and mistreatment of supernaturals.
I’ve managed to rescue many of their prisoners, two of which happen to be my mates.
” I paused to let that information sink in before continuing.
“As for the Senate’s part of this, that is harder to prove, but as an assassin, I do my ground work, and I’ve been investigating the Dark Ring, and time and time again, I come back to a connection to the Senate. ”
I could see the thrill of the hunt in Abby’s eyes as she realized what had just landed in her lap. “Queen of the Light Elves, so that must mean your father Ellisor Beinorin is one as well. Wait a moment, are you the child that supposedly died in childbirth along with his wife?”
Nodding my head, I glanced over at Eli, but there was nothing in his expression to reveal how he was feeling.
When I looked deeper, reaching for his emotions, it became clear that he was nervous but also relieved that the truth would be coming out.
This gave me what I was looking for since I wasn’t sure how much to tell.
“Tell me, Abby, what do you know about elves?” I asked, folding my hands in my lap.
“I suppose just the general information about the war and that they sacrificed themselves for all of humankind when they destroyed the Dark Elves,” she answered.
“There is a lot to explain, but I’m only going to touch on the important parts that tie into the problem that is going on currently,” I said, taking a deep breath and launching into what a nos was, how it worked and clearing up how I had so many men as mates.
Abby asked so many questions, and occasionally, I would have to bring her back on track.
The elders and Eli were brought in to explain about James, though we left out his name.
Altogether, the tale of my parents was a sad one and hit hard when you saw the man left behind shed tears for his lost mate.
I couldn’t help but reach out and take his hand.
When we ventured back into the topic of the Senate, I had to tread carefully to make sure I didn’t out Morwyn, leading them to believe a senator was giving me information.
By the time we were done, it was midnight, and I was barely able to stay awake.
“This was amazing,” Abby gushed, shaking my hand.
“We will do our best to make sure this information gets out there. Who knew the Senate could be so corrupt, lying to our faces about things? It’s just wrong.
It’s stories like this, I became a reporter, holding big government accountable for its actions. ”
From our contact, I knew she was telling the truth. This was going to be her big break, so she wasn’t going to fuck it up. I’d just handed her a golden ticket to a promotion and possibly more, depending on if this made the waves she thought it would.
Once they all left the pack lands, I melted into the couch completely and utterly wiped. There was no more fighting the fatigue, and I was more than happy to surrender to the rest my body was crying out for. “Please tell me there isn’t anything more I need to do?” I pleaded.
“No, sweetheart, you’ve done more than enough today. Sleep now,” Lane murmured, cupping my cheek and kissing me on the forehead. “We’ll handle everything from here. You just rest.”
With that assurance, I trusted my mates to do as they promised and slept.