Warrior Princess
Chapter 15

Kasens POV

“Even better than apple pie?” she giggles.

“Oh darling, you put that apple pie to shame” I leave her there to shower. Going to my room I change into a pair of dark jeans and a white V Neck shirt. Deciding to leave the stubble I go to the kitchen to get the things she will need to the apple pie only to replace her already there working her magic. H**s swaying to music flowing through the Bluetooth speaker I have hooked up.

Coming up behind her I place my hands on her h**s and we dance there in the kitchen. If I could live every day like this I would. But things in the Wolf Kingdom are about to get crazy.

“Love before dinner, we need to talk about something. I don’t want you to be blindsided later by it.” She pauses the music but continues her cooking. I take that as my sign to continue.

“You know the bear you fought was a shifter, right?”

She nodded. “It had to have been with how large he was.”

I place my hands on her shoulder and sigh. “Yes, he also was so large due to the face he is a royal. He is the Bear Kings son. Well, one of his many sons. He was here to warn us. He apologized for attacking you. Though it is not an excuse. He has had a troubled life. He trusts no one and when he found you sleeping in the cave, he thought you were a threat. His father and brothers turned against him and banished him when he didn’t share the same views. The bear king has been attacking other kingdoms killing their rulers or forcing them into hiding. They have also apparently corrupted the Supernatural Council. There is no one we can trust besides the Wolf Kingdom and this One lone Bear shifter. I plan to send people to talk to other kingdoms and get allies as well in this. But we are the next kingdom due to be attacked. That is what I need to talk to my father about. See if he has any information or advice for me. I can’t go to the council since they are involved in this plot as well. I don’t know how or why but I plan to figure it out. I know we can trust this shifter. We gave him a lie detector test and it also helped we had given him a truth serum one of the witches we work closely with made. He is being 100% honest. He is here to help and warn us. He would also like to speak with you to apologize if you are feeling up for it.” This is a lot of information to process.

“Well if there is a war coming, we need to prepare, we need to warn all of the packs in the wolf kingdom, and we need to come up with a plan!” She never ceases to amaze me. Instead of freaking out she just jumps right into action. A true leader. I nod and k**s her temple affectionately.

An hour later the pie is done and we headed to my parent’s apartment for dinner. She is dressed in a pair of black high waist skinny jeans and a white oversized off the shoulder sweater with ankle boots. She looks perfect. I can feel the anxiousness rolling off her in waves.

I take her hand and squeeze it gently. “everything will be fine, love. Mom already loves you. The rest will adore you as well.” She takes a deep breath and I knock on the door.

My mom answers with a huge smile on her face. Takes the pie and we walk in. dad and Gemma are on the sofa shouting at the TV. They freeze at the new scent floating in the air and turn to me and sam. Before they can ask “Everyone, I want to introduce you to my mate. Samantha.”

Sam is tackled in a hug by Gemma and I almost growl at the thought of her getting hurt. Mom pries Gemma off sam and they’re both bursting in a fit of laughter.

My dad walks over and pats me on the back. “I’m happy for you, son.” I nod and we just look at all three women and chuckles. They’re acting as if they’ve known each other for years.

“They already seem like family.” There’s a knock at the door again. I tell them ill get it and I open the door and immediately slam it shut.

“What the f**k is he doing here on castle grounds?” I can feel my temper growing and Atlas rising to the surface. Sam comes over and latches onto me to calm me down. I sniff her hair and her neck and surprisingly it works. Everyone calms down after seeing my posture relax.

“I invited them, Kase. I think this feud has gone on long enough. I miss my whole family being together. I want us to work this out. What better time then now. Please Kasen for me?” my mom says bowing her head. She starts crying. She knows I hate seeing her tears.

“Kasen, love, I will be here the entire time. If it gets to be too much well leave. But I agree with your mom. I know he hurt you, but that’s the past. If I can forgive everyone else including you then it ought to be worth a shot to attempt to patch things with your brother.” She has a point. She did forgive me and everyone else who hurt her.

I look to everyone in the room and mutter “I will try. But the first sign of trouble or argument. We’re leaving and he won’t be allowed on the grounds here again.” They all nod and sam goes to the door to open it. I growl and pull her back. “No” is all I say. She eyes me but nods in understanding.

I open the door and look at my brother who is bowing his head. He has Rose and Marcy with him.

Great. Breathe in, breathe out, breathe in, breathe out. I grip Sam’s hand and feel her squeeze back in reassurance. I stand to the side and let them all pass. Duke looks at sam confused trying to figure out who she is, Marcy treads slowly behind Duke holding Rose who is just looking around smiling.

“Daddy, why does he look like you?” she asks duke.

“Because he’s your uncle sweetheart.” I hear Marcy whisper and I feel a little jolted. Sam had said I pushed away an innocent pup for my anger at her parents and now I realize that she doesn’t even know who I am.

“Hi rose.” Sam says, “I am your Uncles mate. My name is Samantha but if you’d like you can call me Sam. I made some pie would you like to help me take it to the kitchen to give your daddy and mommy some time to talk to everyone?” she is seriously amazing. Taking the role of Luna and queen so fast. Mom and dad have a look of awe as well at Samantha’s gesture.

Duke’s eyes widen at the news of me replaceing my mate and Marcy looks down. Almost as if she’s hurt. Rose jumps out of Marcy’s arms and grabs Sam’s hand and they walk to the kitchen.

“Shell be okay with her, right?” Marcy asks.

“She wouldn’t ever hurt her. She’s my mate. She is the one who is pushing me to forgive you both, so I wouldn’t question her. She will be your Luna and Queen, I would tread carefully.” Marcy nods and doesn’t add anything else.

“Can we come in?” Duke asked.

“Yes.”

That is all I say and walk away. This is going to be a long night.

Samantha’s POV

Rose is a cute little kid. She helped me put the pie in the fridge and help set the table. For an almost 3-year-old she is smart! I found out her birthday is next week! I didn’t want her to hear any potential arguing the first 5 minutes of being here, so I figured it’d be best to give the adults some alone time.

Kasen’s mom Came in to help us set up everything. You can see from the look on her face that Rose is her world.

“How are things going out there?” she just sighed. You can see the toll that this rift in the family has taken. I don’t blame Kasen one bit, but I know how much holding on to the past can weigh a person down.

“About as expected.” she wipes a few stray tears and composes herself. “You know rose was named after me. I used to hate my name. Rosaline wasn’t very popular when I was born. But It grew on me. Especially after this stinker was born, the situation may not have been ideal and her parents may not be mates but we love her the same.” What is going to happen when his real mate comes along?

“Did they decide to mark each other despite not being bonded mates? Sorry if that is too personal of a question.”

She puts her hand on my shoulder. “Oh darling, don’t be sorry. You are just as much family now. But no, they haven’t marked or mated in that sense. Things are complicated and it’s not my place to say.” I nod.

“What do you think is going to happen when he happens to replace his mate? I couldn’t imagine meeting Kasen if I had already had another pup with someone else. He would probably lose his mind.”

She chuckles. “that he would deary.” we both chuckle. She told me to go inform the gang that dinner was served. I walk out and everyone is just sitting on the couch. The air is so thick with awkwardness and tension that you can hardly breathe. I saunter up to Kasen and plop myself on his knee. I run my fingers through his silky jet black hair. He rolls his head back and looks up at me as if I’m his saving grace. In this situation, I probably am.

“Oh, dinner is ready ya’ll!” I don’t think I’ve ever seen a group of wolves get up so fast.

Rosaline had made a feast. Literally. There is a whole chicken, potatoes both roasted and mashed, there is rolls, gravy, steamed carrots, some sort of artichoke thing which makes Akira gag. She’s not the healthiest eater. We all start making our plates when Andrew, Kasen’s dad starts the conversation.

“So Samantha, how did you and Kasen meet?” well, I guess no holding back. Kasen squeezes my hand to give me strength.

“Well, I was a rogue. Not always. My twin brother and I were betas. The position was officially his, but I have Beta B***d. I was one of the top warriors we had and I was proud of that fact. I never really had it easy in that pack and one day all of the issues and everything just exploded in a sense with my pack and family and I decided to leave. After 2 years of living as a rogue, I was chased onto this territory. I had managed to fight off 2, but the 3rd was being a pain. That is when Beta Josh showed up and I sensed they were from a pack. I tried hard to avoid them out of respect and fear of getting in trouble. I had no idea I had crossed the border. Well, he asked me to shift back and submit. I did no questions asked. I was placed in cuffs and they were busy trying to subdue the other guy. He was a real piece of work. After he thought the warriors with him had subdued him, I saw the other rogue acting off. Before he was placed in cuffs, he pulled out a silver blade and threw it for Josh’s back. Cheap shot going for someone who has their back turned. I tried to push him out of the way and I did, but I wasn’t quick enough and I took the knife instead. It hurt like crazy, but at my old pack, I had gone through silver tolerance training so it wasn’t as bad as it could have been. I can say if I hadn’t I probably would be dead or still in the hospital. Well after surgery I woke up and Kasen was in the room…” I pause looking at him. Should I tell them the truth. As if sensing my dilemma, he looks at me and nods giving me permission. “no one knew I was awake yet. I wasn’t able to open my eyes, but I could hear everything. Josh had been saying how his wolf felt protective of me and the Doctor explained why after they saw Kasen show up. I don’t know how he looked but it was enough for the wolves in the room to realize we were mates. Then he and josh got into a fight…”Everyone is staring at me. It’s slightly uncomfortable.

“Why did they fight?” Gemma asks quirking her brow at Kasen.

“Well, josh had sort of challenged the King by mistake.” Everyone gasped. “He didn’t mean too; it was to look out for me. Kasen started shouting about how I wasn’t his mate and I would never be his mate and he would reject me when I woke up.” His dad slapped him on the back of his head and he g*****d rubbing his head.

“I understand why though. He was hurting inside. I was too. Surprisingly, he went to my apartment and got my things. Well more like going through my belongings like a creep…” he places his arm around me and pulls me tight. “He had called my old pack. Instructing them to come to get me. They are actually here now.”

Everyone is quiet. It’s so quiet I’m sure everyone can hear my heart beating. Andrew speaks first. “But you aren’t leaving, right? You are his mate. The rightful queen.”

I smile at him. “no, I’m not leaving. My family still came, When I was able to open my eyes, he told me he called my family. I freaked out and we argued. I told him that my life and what goes on in my life should be my decision not his and he didn’t like that too much. Well, after he left, I bolted. I didn’t want to go home afraid of my past. I managed to replace an abandoned cave, well what I thought was abandoned, and slept there for the night. I woke up the next morning to a bear shifter hovering over me. I tried to fight it off as long as I could, but he was easily twice my wolf’s size. Which that gave away the fact that he was a bear shifter, not an actual bear.” everyone stiffened except Kasen and me at the thought of bear shifters on the territory.

“Well towards the end of my fight with Mr Bear, I was exhausted and was almost ready to give up. He had lacerated my h*p and bitten so deep into my shoulder that he almost ripped it off. That is when Kasen, Josh, my old alpha Aaron Marks, my mom, dad and twin brother showed up with a handful of warriors and took over the fight. I had collapsed and Beta Josh stood over my wolf protecting her and then Kasen took over. And his wolf connected with mine and that was the real turning point in his accepting me. I finally passed out and that was how I ended up in the hospital for a second time and rushed into emergency surgery again for the second time in a week… When I woke up a second time me and Kasen decided to accept each other, and my family came, and we actually set aside all of the past. Deciding to start from scratch. That’s a story for another day. But I and Kasen had talked. He showed me why he was the way he is and why he wanted to push me away. He knows things won’t be easy and that we will both have to work on things. But I’m here for the long haul.”

Everyone takes time to process what I said. Truthfully, I still feel a little whiplash from everything that happened.

“You poor thing. I’m glad my son finally came to his senses. You said your family is here? I would love to meet them” I nod, and we agree to set something up.