Chapter 39

He barely resembled his father but I knew he was the new Alpha. I could smell his aura of power and authority like a strong perfume.
Rowan was taller than his father and ruggedly handsome with a chiselled face and broad shoulders. He had wavy tan hair with streaks of blond in it. His eyes were grey like his father’s but with icy blue flecks.
He was standing more than six feet away from me but I could see every detail of his physical features clearly. We stared at each other in silence, studying ourselves from head to toe. My initial fear soon gave way to desire.
I had heard so much about Alpha Rowan but nobody had bothered to mention his unearthly beauty. I could tell that he was attracted to me too by the way his eyes began t darken and his nostrils flared as he inhaled deeply.
The air between us seemed to sizzle as we continued to admire each other. It was only a matter of time before one of us made the first move and –
“My lord, the scouts are back,” said a guard who appeared from somewhere beside him, breaking the tense moment.
Alpha Rowan broke eye contact with me to look at his guard. I saw my golden opportunity and took it immediately. I dashed down the stairs and burst into the corridor like an escaping fugitive.
Once I reached the nursery door, I knocked on it frantically, praying that Ebbie or any other adult inside would open the door quickly. I was so sure that Alpha Rowan would send his guard to come downstairs to look for me.
When Ebbie opened the door and saw me, she nearly fainted with shock.
“I must be dreaming!” She gasped. “Luna Jade?”
“Yes, yes. Let me in, Ebbie,” I said and pushed past her. “Shut the door quickly!”
She obeyed me and turned around to look at me. Her facial expression was somewhere between shock and happiness.
“What are you doing here?” She asked excitedly. “What happened to your hair?”
“Listen, it’s a long story but the main point is that I am here to take Lola’s daughter out of this place.”
Ebbie’s jaw dropped. “What?”
“Cherise told me the child is here,” I said.
She gasped. “You’ve met Cherise? Did she tell you everything that happened to us?”
“Yes, Ebbie,” I answered impatiently. “Where is he child? Are you the only one here?”
“Yes, it’s just me with the kids,” she replied, coming back to her senses. “Little Mariah is over there, sharing a crib with another toddler. It’s their nap time right now.”
I looked around the small room with seven beds cramped in one corner and a tiny space that was supposed to be the play area. It contained a handful of playthings that had seen better days.
“Bring her to me,” I said to Ebbie. “I am taking her to the east to be reunited with her family.”
“How will you do that?” Ebbie wondered. “Getting out of the Highlands without Alpha Rowan’s permission is impossible.”
“Let me worry about that, Ebbie. Please, bring me the child.”
She hesitated. “But what do I say when the supervisors show up and notice that a child is missing?”
“Do they count them every day?” I asked.
She shrugged. “Not really. But these Highland guards always seem to notice what you don’t expect them to.”
“You’re a smart girl, Ebbie. I’m sure you can figure out a believable answer. Now bring the child,” I said in a tone that forbade further arguments from her.
She rushed to one of the cribs and carried a sleeping child that fit the description that Cherise had given me. She was dressed in a brown bodysuit and clung to a tiny pink blanket.
When Ebbie placed her in my arms, I felt as if I was holding Domarius all over again. My maternal instincts kicked in and I adjusted the adorable toddler in my arms to make her comfortable.
“Thank you,” I said to Ebbie. “I hope that one day, I can return here and set you all free. You Gypsies were very kind to me and I will repay that kindness one day. I promise.”
Tears gathered in Ebbie’s eyes. “You’re very brave, Luna Jade. Thank you for doing this.”
She leaned forward and planted a soft kiss on Mariah’s forehead. “I wish you good luck,” she whispered.
With her help, I hung my shoulder bag across my body, covered my hair with my scarf again and nestled Mariah comfortably in my arms.
She let us out into the corridor and shut the nursery door immediately. Now, I was on my own again and I had no clue about how to escape from this palace with a child in my arms.
I kept on walking while my mind buzzed with different ideas on how to explain away my situation. I could put Mariah inside an empty crate and cover her with a sack and tell the guards that I was taking bad apples back to the farm.
Would they believe me or would they tell me to show them the apples? What if Mariah woke up and started fussing?
I was so absorbed in my thinking that I nearly ran into a man that suddenly showed up from the same steps I had climbed up to not too long ago.
My breath ceased when I recognized him. He had aged a bit but his dressing was still the same.
“Tarik,” I gasped.
“Who are you?” He asked me with a frown.
“Jade. I used to be a… I was once a concubine in Alpha Jaxon’s harem.”
He looked me up and down and his eyes rounded when he recognized me.
“Aren’t you the one that had a baby?” He looked at the child in my arms and asked, “That’s not the same baby, is it?”
I smiled. “No, it’s not. This one is my… niece. Her mother died here recently.”
He scratched his head. “If I remember correctly, you were banished from the Highlands after Alpha Jaxon freed you from prison.”
“Yes, that’s true,” I admitted. “I came here because of this child. Please, Tarik. Let me take her away from here. She doesn’t belong in this place. Please.”
“Do you have any idea what you’re risking? If Alpha Rowan gets wind of this, he will kill you on the spot.”
“Then let’s make sure he doesn’t know about it,” I begged him. “Please, Tarik. I am begging you. Help me save this baby. I don’t want to lose another child.”
He was silent, watching me. It dawned on him then that I lost my precious Domarius and he could see why I was determined to save this child. It almost felt as if I was trying to save my son again by saving Mariah.
Tarik sighed. “Ok, I’ll help you but if we are caught, I’ll gladly throw you under the wagon and save myself.”
“Fair enough,” I said. “Thank you.”
“Come with me,” he said and turned toward the stairs.
“Are we going upstairs?” I asked fearfully.
“No,” he replied. There’s a door under the steps that lead outside.”
I followed him while praying silently that I wasn’t about to be betrayed again as Lattie did to me six years ago. He opened the door hidden beneath the stairs and we stepped outside.
He walked purposefully toward the palace gates and my heart began to pound in my chest. Was he really going to help me?
“I’ll do the talking when we get to the gates, ok?” He said.
“Sure,” I replied, keeping my fingers crossed.
When we reached the gates, he nodded at me to keep going.
“She’s taking the child to the pack hospital,” he said to the guards casually. “Let her through.”
“Wait, isn’t this the same woman that came with the farmer earlier?” One of the guards asked. He was staring at me curiously.
Tarik looked at me with a raised eyebrow. I shook my head and maintained a straight face. I wasn’t going to let this stupid guard ruin my escape from this hellhole.
“Not me,” I said. “I work in the servants’ nursery.”
“You heard the woman,” said Tarik sternly. “Let her pass.”
To my relief, they opened the gates and let me go. As I passed, I looked back and gave a nod of gratitude to Tarik for helping me. Maybe it was my imagination, but I could’ve sworn that I saw tears shining in his eyes as he watched me leave.
I hurried off before he would change his mind and called me back. Mariah was still sound asleep in my arms, snoring softly too.
Within a few minutes, we were on a boat, heading to the south village where we would catch a ride to the east. When Mariah woke up I fed her a couple of dried fruits that Lattie had given me for my journey.
She was such a sweet child who didn’t cry and gladly played with anyone who smiled in her direction. We reached the village by nightfall and I immediately hopped on the next available wagon heading east.
It was going to be a long, rough ride and I was already exhausted before it even began. There were eight of us sitting in the horse-drawn wagon. We were five women and three men altogether.
None of the passengers looked remarkable in any way and that was fine with me. They were probably hustlers travelling to the east with hopes of finding work in the Lycan territory. I wondered what drew everyone there these days.
The ride was silent until the woman beside me spoke to me. She was sitting very close to me and her mouth was practically in my ear. I was already dozing but her voice brought me back to reality.
“What?” I asked her sleepily. I rubbed my eyes and stifled a yawn.
“I said, how did you come by this necklace?”
I looked down and saw Mariah playing with the pendant of my necklace which had slipped out from under my blouse.
“It’s a gift,” I said, smiling politely at the woman.
“A gift from whom?” She asked curiously.
I frowned. What a rude woman! Why was she being so nosey? What was her business with my necklace anyway?
“My mates,” I replied tartly. “So?”
“Were you by any chance mated to the triplet Alphas of the Mountain Pack?”
Now, she had my full attention. “Who are you?” I asked her cautiously.
“You may not know me but I’ve heard about you,” she said quietly. “I am Brianna’s daughter.”