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Rika
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“Rika?” Clovio whispered behind me. “Where are we going?” Clovio asked as we entered the gated community that was home to so many of our people. This place and the city of Trinity Falls were entirely nonhuman communities.
“W..we're going to my house.” I stuttered a little as I looked up at the mountain covered in trees that hid the family home.
That family home used to be nothing more than a house. A really big house that was considered an estate. It was huge and was castle-like in its own way. I have seen pictures of it and things along those lines. When I was little though, my mom and Athair mòr converted it. Now it was a massive castle that was one of the largest buildings in the world. However, we couldn't register it with the world around us, and it was completely hidden from the humans. They weren't allowed to know that there was this massive castle in the middle of the United States. If they did know, they would wonder how it was that we had built this place and it would just raise more questions than it would answer.
“Y..your house is in here?” Clovio was looking around the community as if he wasn't sure how to process that. There were normal sized houses in this place, but a lot of them were like mansions compared to most homes. This place was home to a variety of people with different financial situations. The only requirement that this place had when it was made was that the residents were wolves that were part of the Red Springs pack. That was the pack that my dad was the alpha of. Now though, with the entire shifter world united, there was less focus put on just the pack and more put on the whole world.
.....
I was trying to think of so many different things at the moment. Anything that wasn't the fact that Clovio and Warrick were about to get a dose of reality, my reality. They were about to dive head first into the deep end of the world of shifters and magic users. And I was afraid that he was going to reject me for it. So very scared.
“Why are we going up here?” Warrick asked as soon as the SUV started to wind its way up the extremely long driveway that led to the castle.
“This is where my house is.” I adamantly refused to call it a castle right now. I don't need to deal with that right now.
“You live hidden in the woods?” Clovio's eyes were filled with surprise when he asked me that. “Hidden away from the world like I was when I was growing up.” He looked back out the window and I wasn't sure how to interpret that last part of what he had said. Did he mean that he wasn't allowed to leave the orphanage when he was growing up? Not for school or anything? That would suck.
“WHAT THE HELL!?” Warrick's words were loud when he saw the castle on the other side of the massive fence.
“THAT IS CASTLE, NOT A HOUSE!” Clovio was just as shocked. “Rika, why does your family have a castle?” He was so confused about what was going on that I just wanted to cry. I was the reason this was happening. I should have just ignored him when he asked me out. I should have just known that my wolf was telling me that I was not meant to be with Clovio and left it at that. I was stupid. I had wrapped him up in this and now it was all my fault that my parents were going to have to deal with this. I felt so bad. Why had I been so stupid?
“Yeah, it's a castle. And this is where Rika grew up. Deal with it and shut up, you moron.” Westin snapped at Clovio in an angry voice.
“Excuse me Sir, but why do you hate me so much?”
“Why do I hate you? Hmm, let me see, you are the reason that Rika was put in danger. You don't think that I didn't see how that scene was unfolding? You think I don't know that those other guys, those friends of yours, weren't trying to cause trouble. And think about it, if you can put her in danger like that, then you would be able to put her in danger in many other ways. You are not worthy of the princess, and I will have no problem telling you to.”
“WESTIN!” I snapped at him for having used my title.
“Princess?” Clovio's voice sounded confused. “Is that what you call her? Then I see that she means a lot to you, Mr. Westin.” OH GODDESS NO! Clovio thought that Westin and I were a thing. This wasn't good at all.
“I care for her the way that any bodyguard would. She is my responsibility and I will protect her. And if that means that I need to keep you out of the picture, then I will.” There was more anger and heat in Westin's eyes than I thought was possible. “Now shut up and get out.” At that moment, Lucas had pulled into the underground garage and parked near the elevator. This was it. My life was literally about to end.
Westin pulled the door open for Lyssa and I to get out. After that, Clovio and Warrick climbed out of the back seat and stood next to the two guards.
“Rika, lead the way to your mom's office. And do not even think about getting us sidetracked or delayed. We are heading straight there. If I need to call in backup, I will.”
“I know.” I sighed as I spoke. My heart was beating a mile a minute and I could practically taste the fear that was coursing through me. I was terrified of what was to come, but I wasn't about to let it get worse by trying to fight it. I wouldn't survive if that were the case. “I am going to go straight there, Westin. I am sorry that this happened. I didn't mean to cause problems.”
“It's too late for that now, Rika. We just need to try and fix things from here on out. Let this be a lesson to you though. You need to grow the fuck up and stop acting like a petulant child. Rules are in place to keep you safe, whether you like them or not. Now, get walking, please.” He softened his tone just a little bit at the end of that. I knew that he was a good man and that he didn't like being this mean to me. He didn't want me to get in trouble or anything like that. It was my fault though, and he wasn't going to let me off the hook. Firm yet fair, that was a good way to describe Westin.
I led the way to the elevator and pressed the button for the offices. The only rooms that were on this floor of the royal tower were my parents' offices. My mom's office was the biggest one since she was the one that was in charge, but my dad needed his. And so did those that had official positions like Uncle Vincent and Uncle Gabriel. They were all part of this whole political world that my parents lived in. Heh, maybe I should study politics more than business. Then I could learn how this whole thing worked.
When I got onto the elevator with everyone else, I turned to look at Clovio and Warrick. They were shocked by what was happening, but something in their eyes told me that they weren't feeling completely blown away by it all. They had handled all of this better than I thought that they would. That was good.
“Clovio, Warrick, I want to apologize. This is all my fault. You are here and in trouble like this because of me. There is a lot about me that you don't know. I am sorry that I never explained things to you completely, but I am not just a normal college girl. I hope that at a later time, you will allow me to explain things to you. I want to make this up to you both. You don't deserve to be treated like this.” My heart was feeling heavy. I had tears that were stinging my eyes. My throat was tight and stiff. It was so hard for me to process all of this and still maintain my composure. As it was, I thought that I would end up losing that composure very soon. I would probably lose my cool the moment that my parents started to yell at me. I hated when they did that. I hated when I disappointed them. I didn't like that I was going to be seen as a failure in their eyes.
Finally, the elevator came to a stop, dinging to let us know that we had reached our floor. There was a lot of noise coming from the door that led to my mom's office. She was in a meeting at the moment. This could go good or bad. I could get reamed in front of everyone, or the whole thing can be thrown out because it wasn't as important as the case that they were working on. I was hoping for the latter of the two.
'PLEASE GODDESS! LET MY PARENTS SAY THAT THEY DON'T WANT TO DEAL WITH THIS RIGHT NOW!' I screamed the prayer inside of my head, hoping that it would help me before things got out of hand.
