Chapter 26: Chapter Twenty-Six: All Around the Mulberry Bush…Here We Go Again!

Park chuckled and pulled her feet onto his lap. He pulled her shoes off, then her socks, and startedmassaging her feet.

“Mm, that feels so good,” she said with a purr.

A baby raccoon jumped up onto the couch with her and laid at her side.

“Belly rub.”

She smiled as she rubbed his stomach.

“They really do love you,” Park said as he watched her with the raccoon.

She sighed, “I love them too. All animals, you know. It hurts when we have to kill one.”

He sighed as he switched feet and worked on the other one. “I know, love. I’m sorry you have to go through that.”

“I will protect you, my queen.”

Laila smiled at the baby raccoon. “Thank you, Tucker.”

“Well, look at that,” Paxton said as he walked into the living room.

“Hi Paxton,” she said with a smile.

Paxton grinned. “Hey there, sweets.”

Tucker started snoring, and Laila chuckled.

“How’s his mama coming along?” Paxton asked as he looked at the baby raccoon.

Laila sighed. Tucker and his mother had come to them just a few weeks ago. His mother is very sick. Riley wasn’t able to heal her, and Laila had done a check up on her and found that she had cancer all over her body.

“She’s comfortable but won’t be with us much longer,” Laila whispered.

Paxton and Park frowned.

“Poor guy,” Paxton said as he rubbed the baby raccoon’s head.

“I’m going to keep him,” she said as she cuddled the baby raccoon.

“Wouldn’t expect anything less,” Park said with a smile.

“Get some sleep,” Paxton said as he kissed her cheek, “you look exhausted.”

“Mm,” she said with a nod, “you two should go talk to my father. We have a Witch coven on our side now,” she said, then drifted off to sleep the little raccoon at her side.

Park looked at his brother. “Witches?”

Paxton shrugged, “let’s go talk to Vec.”

Park gently set Laila’s feet on the couch behind him, then got to his feet and leaned over and kissed her cheek.

Once outside, they found Vectore still training Riddle, but Riley was nowhere in sight.

“Vectore,” Paxton said when they got close enough to the Shaman.

Vectore looked at them and frowned. “Laila told you.”

The twins nodded, and Vectore sighed.

“Who is it?” Park asked.

Vectore snorted, “Annika Berrings and her coven.”

“Annika?” Park and Paxton asked at the same time, shocked.

Vectore nodded.

“Isn’t she the one who..." Park started, and Vectore interrupted him.

“The one and the same. But she pledged to Laila, and you know what happens if a Witch breaks their pledge.”

Both twins nodded their heads.

“Anyone care to explain what’s going on? Do you guys know this, Annika Witch?” Riddle asked.

Paxton snorted, “we know her but not as well as Vectore does.”

“Dad?” Riddle asked, looking at his father.

Vectore grunted, “Annika and I have been friends for over a thousand years. She came to me when she first came into her powers, and I trained her. She betrayed our friendship when she slept with my enemy.”

Riddle stared at his father, then burst into laughter.

“It’s not funny, Son,” Vectore said as he glowered at Riddle.

Riddle cleared his throat. “No, of course not, Father. Who was your enemy?”

“A rogue Witch who is now one of the Dark Wizards,” Vectore said with a growl.

“But she’s not with him now?” Riddle asked.

Vectore grunted, “no, she broke it off with him a year later. Said he was acting strange, then a year after that, he became a Dark Wizard.”

“Sounds to me like she escaped a bad situation and came back to you,” Riddle said.

Vectore snorted, “doesn’t change the fact that she screwed my best friend.”

Riddle paused, “ah, I see.”

“What do you see?!” Vectore demanded.

“Nothing,” Riddle said as he threw his hands into the air. “So, she left him before he turned evil?”

Vectore shrugged, “maybe, not sure. He could have been evil all along, we were all fooled..."

“But, you won’t forgive her?”

Vectore turned from his son. “Training is over,” he said, then disappeared.

Park and Paxton looked at their brother-in-law.

“What was that?” Paxton asked.

Riddle grinned at the twins. “He’s in love with her. That’s why he can’t forgive her.”

Park and Paxton looked at each other, then laughed.

“Explains a lot,” Paxton said.

“So how do we get them together?” Park asked.

Paxton snorted, “always a romantic at heart, aren’t you, Park.”

Park grinned, “you know it.”

“I think we should let them find each other again on their own,” Riddle said. “Her being here to help his children and grandchildren will help towards that, a lot.”

“Right,” the twins said at the same time.

“I’m fixing dinner,” Riddle said as he moved towards the house.

Park looked at his twin. “Things just keep getting weirder and weirder, don’t they?”

Paxton grinned. “Welcome to the world of the Supernatural.”

~🐾~

Ryce sat on a boulder at the creek and tossed rocks into the water. He has been watching over the Bearington land for a couple of months now. The foreseen kings were due any day, and they have an army to protect them. Plus, a coven of Witches. Only five but led by the powerful Annika Berrings.

A noise brought his attention to across the creek. A hyena stepped out of the woods, and Ryce jumped to his feet. Fuck, does he have enough time to warn everyone?

The Hyena jumped over the creek, and Ryce shifted just before it attacked him. He took it out quickly, then turned and ran towards the house.

They’re here, and their army is scattered.

~🐾~

“They’re here we need to gather the packs!”

Laila looked up as Ryce ran into the back yard.

“What’s going on?” Riley asked when she noticed the coyote.

Laila looked at her father. “He says they’re here,” she said as she looked over at her brother.

“Get your sister out of here,” Vectore ordered his son.

“But I’m the Soldier..."

“You are the Soldier for the upcoming wars, this is an ambush. Get your sister and the future kings out of here!” Vectore yelled.

Riddle nodded, then walked over to Laila. “Ready Sis?”

Laila looked up at him with panic in her eyes. “What about Park and Paxton?”

“You are our first priority,” Vectore said as he turned to Ryce. “Go warn the others. Tell them that they’re here for the kings.”

Ryce made a sound then took off away from the house.

Riddle lifted his sister into his arms. “Let’s get out of here,” he said, then ran away from the house and into the woods.

“Where are we going?” She whispered.

“Dad told me what to do if I ever needed to get you to a safe place.”

She looked up at him, and he peeked down at her and smiled. “We’re going to Dad’s cave.”

She nodded as she held onto her brother.

~🐾~

“What’s going on?” Paxton demanded as he and Park ran outside.

“They’re here for your sons,” Vectore said, looking at the twins.

“Where’s Laila?” Park asked.

“Riddle has her. He’s taking her to my cave where they will be safe,” Vectore said.

“I want to go with her,” Park said.

“We need to keep them from following your mate,” Vectore said.

“Where’s Mark?” Riley asked as she looked at the twins.

“He’ll be here soon. He’s helping Ryce contact the others,” Paxton said.

Riley nodded. “What do we do when they show up?”

“Defend ourselves,” Paxton said.

“Do you remember the protection spell?” Vectore asked, looking at Riley.

Riley nodded, “yes.”

“Put it around the house.”

She nodded, then turned and ran to the east side of the house to start the spell.

“What now?” Park asked.

“Now, you shift and get ready to defend your clan.”

“Are we a clan now?” Paxton whispered to Park.

Park laughed, “I don’t think the old man knows what we are.”

“I heard that.”

Park and Paxton laughed as they shifted into their bears.

~🐾~

Riddle ran through the woods towards their father’s cave. It felt like he’d been running forever, but he knew it has only been maybe fifteen minutes.

“You okay?” Laila asked as she watched his face.

He chuckled, “I should be asking you that question.”

She sighed, “I’m not the one running through the woods carrying my very pregnant sister.”

He smirked, “I’m fine.”

A growl had him skidding to a stop. Several hyenas came out of the trees and surrounded them.

“Fuck,” he mumbled as he spun in a circle. “What are they thinking?” He whispered in her ear.

“That we’re an easy target,” she whispered back.

He snorted, “so, they think.”

One of the hyenas jumped onto Riddle’s back and knocked him to the ground. Laila tumbled out of his arms and screamed as she held her stomach. A thick liquid ran down her legs, and she whimpered.

“Riddle!” She cried out.

Riddle used a spell to throw the hyena off his back then scrambled over to his sister. When he noticed the wetness on her legs, he grunted.

She’s in labor.

Laila screamed as a pain shot through her abdomen.

“We’ve got to get you out of here,” he said as he lifted her into his arms.

“You’re not going anywhere,” a wolf said with a growl.

“They’re not going to let us leave,” Laila said with a moan.

“We’ll just see about that,” Riddle said as he set her back on the ground then stood up over her.

Before he could say a single word of a spell, every hyena and wolf attacked him.

Laila screamed when her brother went down.

“Help!” She cried out then screamed again when another contraction tore her insides apart.

~🐾~

Vectore cast spell after spell as hyenas, wolves, and a few other shifters attacked them. What was taking Riley so long putting up the protection border?

Park and Paxton roared as they shifted to their human forms and held up their left hands their rings and fingers glowing red hot.

“Laila!” They screamed at the same time.

“No,” Vectore whispered as he felt two jolts in his body. He knew it was his children; something happened to them before they got to the cave.

I should have gone with them!

A wolf took Park down, and Paxton roared as he shifted and took out the wolf breaking his neck and throwing him across the yard.

“Where’s Riley and that damn shield?!” Park shouted.

“I’ll go find her,” Mark said, then took off in the direction Riley had gone to cast the spell of protection.

“Laila can’t be dead!” Park cried out.

“We need to find them,” Vectore said.

“There’s no way we can make it out of here alive to find them!” Park yelled.

Howls and cries came from the front of the house, they turned as over a hundred shifters came around the corner of the house and started attacking the shifters that were attacking them.

“Park shift, we need to get to Laila and Riddle!” Vectore yelled.

Park shifted into his bear, and as they were about to jump over the fighting shifters, Mark came back into the yard, screaming.

“Riley is gone! They took her!”

“How do you know?” Vectore asked, turning to Mark.

Mark held up a piece of paper. “This was where she had been standing.”

Vectore took the letter and read it out loud. “We have your healer, give up the fight.”

Park and Paxton growled loudly.

“We need to rescue her!” Mark thundered.

“We need to get to Laila and Riddle first,” Vectore said.

“Just because they’re your kids..." Mark’s voice dropped off as his eyes opened wide.

Vectore hissed, “it has nothing to do with them being my kids. It has to do with them being in danger. Your ring isn’t glowing, which means they haven’t hurt her. They will probably try to trade her for something they want more. But Laila and Riddle are in trouble. You saw the red glow of the twin’s rings. Which means one thing..."

“Laila is dying,” Mark whispered.

Vectore nodded. “Now shift and save your queen!”

Mark nodded, then shifted into his black bear.

They leaped over the fighting shifters and ran in the direction of Vectore’s cave.

They could only hope they will make it in time.

-PLEASE LOOK FOR BOOK TWO - I HAVE LOVED YOU FOR A THOUSAND YEARS-