POWER OF PROTECTION

©Emily McCormack 2010.

(Steal my story and more than Karma will fall upon you)

EDITED: 8/7/2010

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

The guards opened the intimidating sized doors and ushered Kya and Lucas in.

Kya's eyes wondered around the room as Lucas practically pulled her along. It was around two stories high with strange lights dangling from the roof and looked like firefly flowers. Werewolves were never the creatures to have overly expensive and gold rooms. Spirally black lines curved in between the lights on the roof and were painted down edges of the walls. There were paintings of all previous royal families in mahogany wooden frames. A giant, fairytale castle style table took up half the room. Two chairs had bigger back frames than the others and sat at one end that faced the door. Vines were carved into them. It was the King and Queen's seats (or thrones.) And they were comfortably sitting in their chairs.

Kya had never met the royal family before as she wasn't allowed to go the royal castle or anywhere when living with her father. She noticed the quite resemblance between Lucas and his parents. Lucas had the same golden eyes as his mother and his hair colour was a blend of both their honey brown and brunette colours. The queen was wearing a light navy top that was simple in design while still looking sophisticated. It would be considered a dress if not so short. She wore black pants with it and her brunette hair was in a braid to the side of her face. The king was wearing a dressy top like Lucas, except in navy matching his mate. He wore suit pants with his outfit.

Any human who met the couple would never gather they were royalty as they probably never wore overbearing classy clothes or had a crown to prove. Werewolves did things differently. When the heiring prince or princess was at the age of twenty one or someone needed to take the throne there was a ceremony. At the end of it, exotic marking would appear on their arms and one on their neck. It was like a whacked out picture of in black and white of a wolf looking at the moon mashed half together. So the markings were like a crown.

"So this is your chosen mate Lucas?" His royal majesty asked.

"Straight to the point there dad," Lucas mumbled underneath his breathe. Kya bit her lips to stop herself from bursting out in laughter. "Yes, this Kya."

"Nice to meet you, your royal majesties," She smiled at them with her hand on her heart. It was an old werewolf tradition that Kya had learnt in her etiquette lessons. She slightly bowed as she removed eye contact from them. Her other hand was leaning straight against her other side. Female werewolves never curtsied. It was a common mistake made by a shifter when meeting reining royalty.

Kya counted in her head to three before standing back up straight. Her eyes glanced over to Lucas who looked a little surprised on her knowledge. She rolled her eyes when she remembered that he thought she was a random wolf with no hint of nobility in her blood.

The King and Queen put their hands on their hearts and smiled. Kya noticed that her majesty had an almost suspicious look on her face.

"Nice to meet you too dear," The queen answered back. "And as you'll be family soon, be free to call us by our names: William and Selena."

Kya smiled again at them. She knew she had to impress these people a little but not go over the top to get Lucas' attention. Her future basically rode on this dinner.

Before anyone could ask Kya questions about herself, Lucas butted in. "So, what's for dinner?"

The queen laughed. "It's not all about food Lucas. Anyway you know that our chef likes to surprise us. Why don't both of you take a seat?"

Lucas stepped in front of Kya and pulled out the chair for her. She innocently smiled at him and took a seat. Around four chairs to either side of each person on the table were empty. Kya tried not to look down with dismissal under Selena and William's gazes. She knew that they were studying her. She wasn't nervous though. Maybe she would be if she was actually Lucas' mate to be.

"So Kya, what pack are you from?" Selena asked. "Lucas never mentioned it."

"Umm…" She started to say. She knew that Lucas' picked her because he thought she wasn't nobility so how could she lie to the king and queen? They were technically the overall alphas of all shifters and it would make Kya feel a little sick telling such a big lie.

"You were staying with a pack under Lord Oliver right?" Lucas asked.

Kya actually didn't know who ruled over Michael's pack. "Yeah," She agreed. Then she remembered that she wanted to stay here. "I'm a little bit of a traveller."

"A traveller?" The queen asked.

"You know dear, one of those wolves who move around a lot trying to find the right place to stay," The king prompted. "They make lots of ties to packs."

In Kya's head and in the King's as well, you were higher up the food chain if you were a traveller than to be a shifter in a low ranked pack. Traveller's made alliances with many packs so they had contacts to rely on.

"Have you been anywhere interesting?" Selena asked Kya.

"My favourite place was with my latest pack. I'm actually best friends with the alpha," Kya noted.

"Looks like you've got a bit of competition Lucas," His father said with a smile.

Lucas gave his father a look. He secretly kicked Kya signalling this was a point where she had to convince them that she loved him. Kya laughed. "There's no competition. Michael is like my brother."

Two people entered the room with two plates each and one of them had a plate with cutlery. They acted like perfect balanced waiters and quietly placed an entrée down onto the table. Kya raised an eyebrow at the sight. At first, she had no idea what it was. She took in the vibrant scent of the food and it sort of smelt familiar to her. She instantly recognised the scent of duck. She looked at the food again with a puzzled expression. There was something strange that smelt like duck but was not duck breast.

The waiters placed the cutlery down with a napkin and the shifters began to eat. Kya smiled at Lucas who was also looking confused at his meal. She carefully used the manners she learnt through torturous hours of etiquette and took small mouthfuls of the food. She then realised she had eaten this dish on numerous occasions. It was the chef at Lord Remington's estate's specialty; tea smoked duck breast with duck liver ravioli.

"Mum, what is this?" Lucas asked after taking one mouthful. "I know its duck but…"

"I thought the same thing. There's duck liver in there as well," Kya said. "Its tea smoked duck breast with duck liver ravioli right?"

Werewolves loved their meat. Basically the entrée was a modern and more attractive form of food compared to what they ate on a hunt. Humans could eat this but not many would want to dare to eat at the thought of 'liver.'

Kya looked up to the queen who had a huge smile on her face. "Do you like to cook Kya?" Selena asked.

Kya swallowed another mouthful and then began to laugh. "No, I have extremely bad luck in the kitchen."

"Just like mum," Lucas innocently murmured.

The queen gave Lucas a deadly glare. The king tried to hold his laughter in but failed to. "Do remember my son; I have over five photo albums filled with embarrassing photos that I would love to share. I'm sure your soon to be mate would love to see them," His mother jokingly threatened him.

Lucas gulped and nodded.

When Kya wasn't looking, the queen Selena took note on her only son's future mate. She was going to keep her thoughts to herself until they clicked together. Selena had chosen tonight's meal without anyone knowing. She had certain dishes prepared to see if her assumptions were correct.

Soon enough, the entrée was taken away and a main was brought forward.

"Presenting Steak Sandwich with Kidney and Pommes Soufflé," A waiter said as two others came out with the food and cutlery. Kya instantly looked up. For as long as she'd known, steak sandwiches were her favourite food. When she was a child, she'd sneak into the kitchen and one of the chefs would make her a sandwich while she talked to them.

When the plate was put down in front of her, she almost had to grab her hands to stop herself instantly scoffing it down. It didn't occur to Kya yet that all the food that was prepared, were dishes that she, Lady Remington would definitely like.

"So Kya, tell us about your family, your parents," The king asked her.

Kya swallowed the small mouth bite too quickly. She started to cough and Lucas quickly passed her a drink. She took a sip and cheeks were a little red.

"Are you ok?" Lucas whispered so low that only she would hear.

She grasped his hand and tried to think of a way to dodge the subject of family. "My family aren't that close."

"Why not?" William asked.

"Will…" Selena warned her mate. When he wanted answers, he never took the thought of people's emotions been hurt. "Stop being so nosey."

"No, it's ok," Kya said. "I'm an only child. And my father and I don't get along. I have a few cousins that I keep in contact every now and then, but no one too close."

"And your mother?" William asked.

"Will!" Selena warned slapping him underneath the table.

"My mother was killed by hunters," Kya sighed. Lucas grabbed her hand tighter.

"Oh," The king said softly. "I'm sorry to bring up bad memories."

"It's ok."

Silence occurred on the table for a few minutes. Kya had struggled to get Lucas to let go of her hand so she could eat. He had a smirk on his face the whole time. Once they'd finished, Selena jumped out of her daze.

"I'm sorry, but did you say your mother was killed by hunters?" The queen asked double checking what she thought she'd heard.

"Yes."

"By hunters?" Selena confirmed again. "As in blood thirsty humans who have their brains wired backwards and go everywhere with shotguns?"

Kya looked at her majesty with confusion written all over. "I thought there was only one type of hunters? But yes, my mother was killed by blood thirsty humans who have their brains wired backwards and go everywhere with shotguns."

The waiters came back into the room and took away the plates and cutlery. They moved like shadows, trying to blend in with the backgrounds. Kya thanked them with a big smile on her face.

"Do tell our special guest chef that we enjoyed our meal," Selena told them.

"Special guest?" Lucas asked. "Since when do you hire outsider chefs?"

"Yes Selena, do tell," Her mate said. "Where did our chef go? He cooked me breakfast this morning; I remember talking to him."

The queen tried to look as innocent as possible. She quickly glanced over at Kya and held her eye contact. "Well our chef wanted to go on see his family in England so I let him have a holiday. No one was staying at the Remington Manor House so I asked to borrow their chef. He's such a great cook don't you reckon? He was telling me all about the mysterious Lady Remington who's currently on the run."

Kya felt her heart stop. The queen was looking directly into her eyes when she said 'Remington.' Panic began to pound against her head. She could feel her body drop degrees. Her throat became dry and her fingers began to shake. Somehow, Selena knew who she really was. Kya was starting to feel faint.

"Are you alright dear?" Selena asked innocently. "You look a little pale."

Lucas quickly flipped his attention to Kya. She was extremely pale in the face. "Kya?"

She quickly snapped out of it and faked a smile. Lucas could see it wasn't real. "I think I need to go to the bathroom."

He stood up to get ready to lead her to the bathroom. He really wanted to know what had her in this state. Lucas was trying to figure out what was wrong with her. She looked nervous. He offered his arm and Kya was about to take it when the queen interrupted.

"Lucas, I'll take her. I need to freshen up anyway," Selena sweetly smiled at her son. The prince knew this look. She was up to something but he couldn't disagree with her or something would look fishy. "You can just stay here with your father."

Lucas hesitantly sat back down and half shoved Kya towards his mother. Kya took on a cool façade and tried to stop her nerves getting control of herself again. She gave a half reassuring smile to Lucas and followed the queen to the door at the back of the room. Her majesty pushed open the door and let Kya out of the room. Kya followed Selena down a hallway that looked nothing like the other ones she'd already seen. When they turned a corner Selena pulled her into an empty room.

"You don't really need to go to the bathroom do you?" She asked Kya. Kya shook her head. "Good, now take a seat."

Kya looked around the room. It was a small private sitting room with a door that probably went towards a bedroom. A flat screen TV and a couple game consoles were set up on one side of the room. She took a seat on a comfy sofa and looked back at Selena.

"You know don't you?" Kya asked in a whisper.

Her majesty avoided her question. "You almost had me for a couple of minutes KYASIA." Kya jumped on how she said her proper name. Selena sighed and grabbed her hand in reassurance. "I was a close friend with your mother. You look so alike her."

"How did you know?"

"You gave subtle hints at the dinner table. I had a small feeling it was you from how you knew what was served at dinner and you liked it, not many wolves do. Then the clues about your family and basically you like your parents.

"Do the others know?" Kya asked.

"No, my mate or my son has no clue. William won't remember you unless he sees a picture when you were little with your mother put in front of his face," Selena said with amusement in her eyes. "And I don't think Lucas will figure it out for a while unless you give more clues."

Kya relaxed into the couch for a minute before the nerves came back. "Wait, what happens now?"

The queen laughed. "I know what Lucas was planning on doing with you. He has a mission, doesn't he? Let me think… He tried to find a girl that would immediately get the disapproval of his parents so he wouldn't have to find a mate, didn't he?"

Kya had a blank look on her face. And Lucas seriously had no idea that his parent's knew his plan.

"I'm his mother. He always tried to find a way around things," Selena said. "To be truthful, it was his father that pointed out his sudden mood changed. And he did take one of the hunting teams with him in secret gives off the notion of 'secret.'"

"Oh. So what happens to me? You're not sending me back to my father are you? I swear I'll do anything if you don't hand me over," Kya begged.

The queen pondered to herself. "You will stay Lucas' future mate till I figure something out. Don't mention that we know his plan to him or unfortunately I'll have to mention you who really are."

Kya agreed to the deal. "So basically now I'm really his future mate, but he doesn't know it's not a game?"

The queen nodded back.

'Well, isn't this a nice change in plans,' Kya sarcastically thought to herself.

AN:

Just letting everyone know that I'm not a chef so if there's something not right about those dishes I'm sorry. They were actually of the show 'Masterchef Australia.'

So it's edible.

Sorry i took so long to update :)

Thanks for y'all reviews and i hope i'll get more...