Chapter 88

Lewis POV

""Dylan..." I couldn't stop my legs from moving forward on their own. I couldn't believe she sat in front of me and I knew I had to just touch her to prove she was real. For all I knew I could have been dreaming once again.

I had dreamt about her every single night since I left the palace, I'd dreamt of holding her in my arms and never letting go, of waking up to her beautiful face every morning, and having her wrap her arms around me in a tight embrace to return my affection. I dreamt of her accepting me for who I was and letting me learn everything there was to know about her, but as soon as every wonderful dream ended, the nightmare of reality would come crashing down on me and I would always wake up alone, haunted by her never ending screams of fear and pain, I would always wake up, and become powerless to do anything to help her.

But now, I was sure I wasn't dreaming, at that moment she had never looked more beautiful and more real, and so on instinct my hand reached out to gently cup her face, her cheek felt cold beneath my palm, but her eyes shone with curiosity as I breathed a sigh of relief.

"You're really here?" I was so happy to see her in person, to feel her with my own hands, the sparks that so faintly flowed through me every time we made contact before, had been amplified immensely, her scent enveloped my entire being and I wanted nothing more than to pull her into my chest so she could hear my heartbeat and know that it was beating for her and only her.

I wanted to fall to my knees and beg her for forgiveness for leaving her with him, I wanted to take every single minuscule of pain she had ever felt and make it vanish into thin air, leaving only good and genuine memories in its place, but that would never happen.

In true Dylan style she chuckled awkwardly and moved her beautiful face away from my hand, she cleared her throat and ran her hands through her knotted hair cutting the building tension between us instantly.

"How are you even here?" She asked while allowing her beautiful orbs to meet my own, causing my knees to buckle ever so slightly. Goddess, I really was quite taken by her.

"Ah, that... it was actually a lot easier than I thought it would be, you see I..." My voice was completely cut off and silenced by Vs presence. I knew I was only really a few minutes in front of her, and that was only due to my wolf speed but still I found myself extremely disappointed that I didn't get longer with Dylan.

"Queen Dylan?" V moved forwards and towards the beautiful girl sat in front of me causing me to move to the side. "It is a pleasure to finally meet you, you will never know how truly excited I am to have you in our borders." Everyone in the rebellion knew V was basically star struck by Dylan, she was constantly the topic of conversation and was even held in extreme high regard by most of the leaders here, myself included, but the way V spoke about her was on an entirely different level, in the few months that Dylan had been within the public eye she really had developed quite the fan base. "My name is Victoria, most people around here call me V, something about the name Victoria not suiting me very well."

Victoria was an extremely tall girl, her skin was a natural caramel due to her Hispanic roots, and her dark hair was always tied in a tight ponytail at the top of her head while the sides were shaven down. She was tough, she could even hold her own in a fight, however place a weapon like a gun in her hand and she was about as coordinated as a new born giraffe.

"Well, which do you prefer, Victoria or V?" Dylan just looked at her as V pondered the question before an unflattering girly giggle left her lips.

"You know, no one here has ever asked me that before. I guess I don't really mind." She looked at Dylan and the plate of food that lay in her lap, a smile made its way into her face and she gestured at my girl kindly. "Please eat, you really need food."

Dylan made me fight back a chuckle as she began shoving her food into her mouth in an unflattering, mannerless way. Not that I blamed her at all, the poor girl looked like she was on the brink of starvation.

"Has there been any news about Clarke..." The way she looked at V spoke volumes. Her desperation for information unquestionably came out in both her expression and her worried tone of voice.

"I'm sorry, I've just gotten back myself with news of your arrival. I haven't heard anything about anyone else. Did you get into trouble on the road?" Dylan nodded her head then allowed her eyes to widen as if she suddenly realized something extremely important.

"Shit, I didn't even think. You need to send someone back out in Ryan's van!" At first her words made no sense, why would someone need to drive Ryan's van when he himself was unable to? We had plenty of runners who could help deliver the requested contraband. "We were found by one of the kings men, it was after we crossed the border to this sector. If the van doesn't go back then the lycans Will know who has me and what to look for."

"I'm sure if that was the case, then the man has already given the plate details to his grace. We will need to act quickly."

"Not really, you Just need to send someone to take the van back across the boarder. He can't relay information to anyone, I killed him. He can't tell them who it was that had me." She said it so nonchalantly that it almost made me berate her, but I remembered everything she had been through, hell I practically stood to the side and allowed her treatment to worsen with every day that passed.

"How did you manage to kill a Lycan?" There wouldn't have been any weapons in the van that could have been used, so Vs question was one even I was curious about. This girl was just full of surprises.

"I shot him in the eye. Everyone has a weakness humans and lycans. No one is invincible." Our conversation was cut short when John walked back into the tent with his father in tow. Why they were there was beyond me, but they had obviously been summoned.

"Oh V, I didn't expect to see you here." He chuckled at the council member before turning to my dad and speaking directly to him. "I'm sorry I took so long, Elias, I had trouble finding my gear, my wife had put it somewhere 'safe'." Alan joked as he slowly walked up to Dylan holding his tool kit in his left hand, while his son followed behind him. Alan used to be a locksmith before the new world came into fruition, and so his skills were very handy to use in certain situations.

I hadn't even noticed how blue and swollen Dylan's hands were due to the metal cuffs that were extremely tightly clamped around her limbs until Alan made his appearance, I was too busy looking at her face, I had missed her more than words could say, not that i could ever tell her.

Upon second glance however I took her full state in, she was bruised and had a cut on the inside of her eyebrow which would most likely scar, she was skeletal which meant Josh had probably starved her even more than before. Her face was pale, and her eyes were bloodshot due to lack of sleep. She was a mess.

Upon really seeing her state my face paled, her wrists were even smaller and more delicate than when I left and she was skinny before so it only highlighted how neglected she really was.

"It's quite alright Alan, please make short work of it, the council has much to discuss." He nodded and moved over to Dylan. Could V not give her a little break before throwing her straight into work? I get that everyone here has to pay their way somehow, but the poor girl hadn't even had the chance to breathe.

"Fucking hell!" John couldn't contain his shock when his father turned Dylan's wrists round and showed her scarring to the little audience. They were bad, and you could tell just by the look on her face that she was ashamed of them. "The king really did a number on you."

I watched her swallow thickly and fight the urge to pull her hand away. Instead she just chuckled awkwardly and averted her eyes from the horrendous burn marks.

"Yeah, I guess he did." Every word in her short sentence was laced with pain and it made my own heart skip ever so slightly. She sounded so ashamed of herself and I couldn't for the life of me understand why. Everything that she had been through only heightened my respect for her.

The lock pick was inserted into the tight cuff and twisted around before a few clicks were heard and the cuff popped open, droppinn to the floor, and causing Dylan to wince at the welcome freedom.

She quickly began to massage her hand slightly but was stopped when the second cuff needed to be removed. I wanted nothing more than to take her hand and massage it myself. Just to let her know that there was someone who wanted to help her instead of hurting her.

The second one was taken off and then she made us all aware of the ones around her ankles which were also promptly removed. Eventually she breathed a large sigh of relief, and twisted her wrists painfully wincing with the movement.

“I’m sorry to ask this of you, especially when you most likely just need rest, but given your status we’re going to need some information from you.” Dylan looked truly broken as soon as her eyes met Vs. the problem was, now that she was in fact here she was going to be asked a lot. I had told them that Dylan would do anything to help the cause, and that she was the one that could maybe even lead us to victory.

However seeing my beautiful girl sat in front of me, I wasn’t so sure she had it in her!

**Question time... What is one thing you would love yo see happen?**