Prince Justus and the Rogue

Justus POV

As we leave the Blue Palace we all become aware that Mack is not with us. "Maybe we should go back to the trees that we slept under and see if he meets us there. It was the last place that we were all together before the soldiers came." Gracia offers as a suggestion. That sounds good to all of us and off we go.

When we get there Mack is already waiting with a beautiful she wolf and we quickly notice they are already both marked. "Guys, this is Amice. Amice, this is Prince Justus our alpha, Princess Gracia also our luna, Beta Emil, and Delta Jackin." Amice goes around the group shaking hands and so far she seems nice enough but I can tell Jackin isn't okay with this.

"Welcome to the group!" Gracia is the first to extend a greeting.

"Alright Mack, since you missed out on the meeting we're off to the Land of Brujah to meet with the king and queen of the vampires." I told Mack so everyone was on the same page.

"So Amice, I'm so glad to have another female traveling with us. Tell us about yourself." Gracia was grinning from ear to ear. It made me feel good to see her this happy.

"Hey, what about me?" Cecily asked, pouting her little face pouting.

"Oh baby I love you but I was talking about big girl stuff. But, you'll always be my best friend." Gracia smiled down at Cecily. Cecily continued to pout until she saw some wildflowers and went to pick them from the side of the road. Gracia braided them into her hair and she was happy from then on. "Go on Amice. I can't wait to hear your story." Gracia encouraged Amice to tell us about herself.

"Well, my father was a werewolf and my mother was a forest witch. So, I'm born with both. I have a wolf but I'm also a forest witch plus I'm an earth elemental as my grandmother was. But, I like taking care of my herbs which I will miss while we're traveling. I like healing with my herbs, reading and researching herbs, and finding new herbs and their uses." Amice said proudly.

"Wow. You really like herbs, huh? Well, even though you'll be missing out on taking care of herbal plants you'll get the chance to find and learn about all different kinds of herbs. For instance in the Land of Brujah they have Aloe Vera plants that you can cut open and the salve inside the plant helps with sunburns." Mack explains some of what she'll be finding on our travels.

"Also, when we go to the Isle of Demons we pass by the Dead Sea and you can gather minerals there that are great for skin health." Emil offers some more information.

I notice Jackin is being very silent, not commenting or agreeing at all but just walking alongside us with his head down looking at his feet. I slowed down and started walking next to him. "Jackin, why are you so quiet?" "You know I don't trust witches. A witch killed my grandmother. You know how I feel about them." He says quietly.

"Yeah but that was a long time ago during the great war between witches and werewolves. Things are at peace now. Plus that witch was a black witch. Forest witches are good witches and many have healing capabilities. Look, it can't hurt to just give her a chance can it?" I don't want there to be any friction in our group but I can see both sides too.

"I guess not. Since it's for Mack I'll at least do that. I'll give her a chance but as soon as I smell foul I'm saying something." Jackin agrees.

"That's all I can ask for." I'm happy with Jackin's compromise.

Gracia POV

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Amice and I start walking together ahead of the rest of the group."I'm so thrilled to have an adult female to talk to. It's just been Cecily and I for so long that I don't even know how to have a proper conversation." I laugh nervously. "Well, what happened to your family?" Amice asked curiously.

"Well, it's kind of a sad story but my father isn't a good man. He drinks too much and is violent and sometimes he's violent even without drinking. I think he just liked being mean. So, he was really harsh with mother while she was pregnant with Cecily. He would hit her, throw her down the stairs to the cellar and lock her in there, and dragged her around the house by her hair and that doesn't even cover the emotional or verbal abuse. So, anyway when Cecily was born mother's body just kind of gave out and she passed away during childbirth. I remember the midwife thought she was a stillborn at the time until Cecily finally opened her mouth and started crying. Dad wouldn't do anything for Cecily. He wouldn't feed her, change, or show her any love so I became her surrogate mother basically. I started feeding her and changing and I would carry her everywhere with me. We bonded very quickly and I just couldn't see her growing up with my father's temper. For the most part he just ignored her but I knew eventually he would turn his anger and violence against her. Then he started to make sexual advances on me, would rub up against me, and go out of his way to touch my skin on my thighs or my breasts if I was in my nightgown. It just got too much so I packed Cecily and I up and we left." I hadn't talked about this in so long I started crying. It was like a dam had been breached and the water just came flowing out of my

eyes.

"Tell me what happened when you escaped." Amice prompted me to keep telling my story.

"Ten years ago, when Cecily was two and I was 10 I found the opportunity for us to escape. I already had Cecily wrapped up with a bag ready to go filled with clothes and food. Father was supposed to be gone all day at a job but he came home early because he got into an argument with the foreman and caught me trying to leave. I really thought he was going to kill me. He had me down on the ground and was hitting me over and over again. I turned over on my stomach to protect my face and my hand touched a cast iron skillet. I grabbed the skillet and I hit father across the face with it. Then I jumped up and I hit him again and again and again until he was laying on the floor unconscious. Then, I grabbed Cecily, our bag of supplies, and fled." I said while trying to wipe away the tears from my cheeks.

"Why didn't you go to your pack's alpha? He should have helped you. Normally, from what I understand, they take in children like you to live at the pack house unless someone is willing to adopt you. Then your father should have been punished and I don't know how many but I believe the punishment is the whip. I'm just not sure how many lashes." Amice says, while she is deeply disturbed by my story.

"I know I could have gone to the alpha about the abuse but he was one of dad's good drinking buddies and always helped him find day jobs here and there. He would just have taken me right back to dad. All I knew was that I wasn't going to let Cecily become a victim to his abuse. I had suffered enough in my ten years of life. The problem is Father won't stop searching for us. He hated us and abused me while we lived with him but now he's searching for us like he can't live without us. It makes no sense." I shrug my shoulders with a deep sigh.

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Justus walked up to me. "Wow Gracia. I never heard your full story before. I think it's pretty amazing that you're here standing and look at how good of a job you've done with Cecily, you're so much more than just a sister to her." "Thank you! That really means a lot to me." I said as new tears glistened in my eyes.

"Well Prince Justus, tell me your story." Amice asked eagerly.

"Okay. Before my father met my mother he fell in love with a vampire. He knew she wasn't his mate but he couldn't stop what his heart felt. He was completely enamored with her. She was a cousin to the king of vampires and through the king is how they met. Well, when my father refused to make her queen of the werewolves and Luna over all there was a huge argument because the vampires felt that they had been snubbed. So, the king of werewolves, my father, and his grandfather, the former king of werewolves, even though he did not wear the crown he was still very much involved and still carried a great amount of power, decided it would be best to end the relationship. So my dad stopped seeing the vampire; however, unbeknownst to him the vampire gave birth to his child, a boy named Achard, and she died during childbirth. For the first several years of his life he was raised in secret by the king and queen vampires. My father had gone to the vampire palace to work out a peace treaty between the two species and accidentally ran into Achard so he became very suspicious. After much back and forth arguing the king and queen vampires finally admitted to my dad that Achard was his child. I think he was about nine at the time and I was four. My father had met his fated mate and she had given birth to me. So, my father decided way back then to give me the crown since I was a full blooded werewolf. My brother has hated my father and has acted jealous of me ever since that day..

So, fast forward to now I meet Gracia and realize that she's my mate only at the time she was a rogue so I help her join a pack and I help her get a good job at the castle. Well, when my mother found out that I was interested in the "kitchen help” she lost her shit and my dad unofficially offered the crown to Achard. As far as I know it's not official yet. So, I'm out here wandering around, going on these amazing quests, and I'm doing it all with the love of my life. I couldn't be happier." He throws his arm around me and plants a kiss on my cheek. I can't help but giggle and my face has to be tomato red.

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Cyprian and the Slave

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