Chapter 143

Dylan POV.

It has been a strange day, baking with Lewis’s mom. I mean, I enjoyed myself and learnt I actually wasn’t that bad of a cook. Of course I had a lot of help from someone who obviously enjoyed it, I wouldn’t trust myself alone with making a full cake, known my luck I would burn it.

I was currently sat in Gilliards office at his desk, with a hand full of playing cards, while the alpha sat on the opposite side with cards matching my own, the rest of the deck sat in the center and we took turns swapping out cards we did want or need.

“Got any 8s?” He asked and I hugged pulling an 8 out of my hand and passing it over to him. “Ha, read it and wrap, your grace, I win again.”

“Well, I haven’t played in years. And the last time I did I was probably 10, maybe 11. So I am at an unfair advantage. Plus your old, so have more experience than I have.” I shrugged smiling smugly at the guy in front of me and watched as he face morphed into that of fake shock.

“Old! I’m 28!” I shrugged, throwing my cards down in defeat once again. “I’ve never been so insulted.”

“I think you’ll get over it.” I chuckled feeling more at ease in this pack than I had anywhere else in the last five years. Maybe I’d be able to stay here after the inevitable happens and The king is taken from the throne. I think I could be somewhat happy.

“Do you know what your going to say? To the Australian rebellion I mean?” I shook my head? I never thought previously about what I was going to say, I just usually let my word vomit take over.

“I never do. I’ll just wing it and hope for the best.” I wasn’t sure alpha Gilliard liked that answer because he hummed, yet it sounded hollow and disappointed.

“I’m not sure this is something you can just make up on the spot. If your going to try and get them to join their alliance with ours then it’s a huge ask, we’re going to need to be very persuasive about it.” I shrugged again, I wasn’t too worried about what I was going to say or do. I was more worried about their reaction to it.

“It’ll be fine. Besides this doesn’t connect me to the actual rebellion yet, it connects me to alpha Daltons grandparents. So I just need to set up an initial remote meeting with the rebels leader. It’ll be fine.” Even he knew I was right. This was just a casual conversation with a retired alpha about possibly working with the rebellious group.

So, We waited and waited. As soon as 9:00pm came I made my move towards the technological device. I had a vague idea about how to work it but I wasn’t at all a hundred percent sure. I pressed the main button and watched it whirl to life.

“Huh, that was actually easier than I thought.” I stated smiling slightly as it began to ring. I was even more shocked when an older gentleman became a holographic projection on the table.

“Dalton?!” He asked obviously confused by the whole thing, I mean clearly I was not alpha Dalton, and I doubt the alpha told the poor man that he had given this phone device to me.

“Erm, no. Dalton actually gave this to me last week.” His eyes widened drastically as he looked at me. I mean at this stage I really didn’t need to tell anyone my name. My face was practically a sign that told everyone who I was. I was far too well known.

“Your Grace…” His finger fumbled over the projector before his shouts were heard “Marianne, quick, the queens on the phone.” He looked off to the side to shout for who I’m guessing was his partner and mate. I let out a small chuckle at the man’s reaction, but even more so when his wife slightly muffled reply.

“There’s no way the queen called you, put your glasses on.” Typical old couple. “And come and help me put the laundry out.”

“Woman, my glasses are on, I am staring at queen Dylan.” His eyes rolled in his head before finally turning back to me muttering something about taking himself off of mute. “Sorry about that, can you hear me again?”

I chuckled even more already knowing he was convinced that he was on mute for that entire interaction with his partner.

“I can hear you just fine sir.” I didn’t have the heart to tell him. “Actually, I have something important to ask you…”

“Harold, I just said come and help m…” her muffled voice quickly became louder the closer she got until eventually she must have seen me. “Harold, that’s the queen!”

“I told you.” My chuckling was made much worse because Gilliard from behind the device was trying his hardest not to pee himself from laughing silently at the old couple. They were highly comical.

“Hi, dear. I am so sorry bout’ ya momma. I can’t imagine what you must have felt.” This lady had a deep southern accent unlike her partner and Alpha Dalton. It was shocking yet it suited her, even though I hated it when people said sorry for the loss of a loved one, at the end of the day, they didn’t do it. So why should they be sorry.

“Thank you.” I awkwardly stated as the older lady quickly huddled close to her partner so that they could both be seen on the projection, except there was probably lots of room for them both, and they truly didn’t have to look so squished.

“How did y’all get our sons phone thing? He quite protective over that usually.” Now it was time to activate my word vomit.

“Well, actually he gave me this to contact you, he said you knew how to get in touch with the rebellion?” Two large gasps sounded out loudly as they thought about it.

“You mean Jacky? She means Jacky. Quick Harold go and get the boy.” She practically pushed her mate off the bench they were sat on so he could go and get this Jacky guy, who I’m guessing is the Jack Anderson who Dalton told me about. I looked up at Gilliard who was still trying to fight back his tears of amusement at the situation, I mean this was supposed to be a serious conversation and yet it was slightly like talking to a comedy act.

“Alright, alright I’m going…” the old lady’s eyes lit up at what was obviously the guy who they had mentioned. He very slowly came into view and my jaw dropped open slightly. The boy was ripped, he had arms that looked like they could just wrap around you and squeeze you for days, not to mention his kind smile which lit up his face. The thing that slightly drew my attention though was the obvious claw mark scar that rested over his milk colored left eye, there was no way he could see out of it. Eve still, I hadn’t realized my hand had made its way to my tied up hair, instantly releasing it from its high bun. Gilliard frowned at my actions before beginning to mind link someone. I paid no mind to it. “Good day your grace…” he stated slipping on a pair of thick sunglasses as he sat down. “You asked for me?”

I could clearly see he hated wearing those glasses, I could practically feel his discomfort through the phone.

“I did, I need to ask you about the rebellion…” he cleared his throat slightly as he went to respond to it, but with his eyes covered I had no idea of what his true feelings were.

“Ahhh, the rebellion disbanded, your grace.” Disbanded?! As in not active any more. “It’s time to just accept things the way they are.”

“Except where is the justice in that? If we keep things exactly how they are, then more and more people will get beat on, and abused. We need to fight.” He sighed fiddling with the rims of his glasses. I think his eyes met mine again but I couldn’t be sure.

“We fought, and we lost. We lost 36 people to the king and his men. I lead them straight into a massacre, I won’t ask them to lay their lives down for nothing again.” His head shook and he went to stand, there was no way I could end the conversation like that though so I blurted out my next sentence which had looking at me with a raised eyebrow.

“It won’t happen again…” I took a deep breath as the good looking man sat back down and stared at me. “Be honest with me… would you have succeeded if the king hadn’t have shown up?”

I was that all sure how I was going to word this but I had to give it a shot. We needed to unite everyone.

“Look, I’ve been getting people on my side for years, I’ve been encouraging everyone to fight for their lively hoods almost since day one, what have you been doing? Playing dress up until the day you were claimed by the king?” Ok… now I was mad, my fists clenched into tight balls and I rose slightly from my seat.

“I was single-handedly inventing a lucrative smuggling trade that has been active for over three years over here. I was standing up against anyone who tried to tear me down. I actively rejected the king on live television resulting in one of the worst public punishments to date. I have gathered more people in the space of 6 months over to the rebellion than anyone else had in 5 years. You might not agree with fight back anymore but I’ll be damned if I listen to the likes of you talk about my experiences as if they were nothing.” I rambled and rambled causing Gilliard eyes to widen as he listened to me.

“All I’m saying is the king will just shoot you down as soon as you think you have any chance of actually winning.” He too was shocked at my confessions. I actually had never stated them out loud properly before. It made me feel a bit big headed actually, to take claim for everything even though I had loads of help.

“We do have a chance, and so do you. I strongly believe you would have won if the king hadn’t of interfered. So we should co ordinate our attacks. The king and his men cannot stop both countries and if we get more rebellions to fight along side us then we can take the world back in the name of equality. You just got to have faith in your people, that they can do this. Death is inevitable, if it’s coming then you can’t stop it. But you sure as hell can give it a show before you go. I’ve got this phone thing, for another week, and I’m trying to come up with my own plan of action, just give me a call if you change your mind. The only thing I will say is that you have to let everyone make their own decisions. If they want to fight the. You should let them.” You callously see Jack mulling it over before agreeing.

“I’ll call you in a week with a majority decision.” I suppose I could cope with that. He wasn’t completely shutting the idea down. “Just remember the king is not going to take any of this lying down.” I chucked sarcastically as I looked at the young man in front of me, in hologram form.

“Yeah, I really hope he doesn’t… I want nothing more than to stick a bullet right between his fucking eyes.”