CHAPTER TWO: From Rogue To Princess

There was a Dragon. Silvia had seen him. She watched him land in front of her. His mountain of a body loomed over her. Silvia had been surprised that she wasn't afraid. When he bent his head to hers and felt him gently comfort her shaken body. She had only felt something she had never felt before. Safe. His breath had still lingered, wrapping her in a warm blanket before her strength wavered. She only knew he had flown away by the voices that stirred her from the darkness.

"Imp...possible, a... a Dragon!" A gruff voice called out.

"Unbelievable!" Said a second. "The witch was right. Maybe the legend of The Sun God is true after all..." amazement coated his voice.

"Neo, Robert. Look." The third voice said, louder than the others. "It seems the priestess's oracles were right about a lot of things." Silvia listened as men drew closer. "There's no mistake, this is the lost Princess. Look at her silver coat."

"I suppose this wasn't a ridiculous quest after all." The gruff voice added. "His Majesty will be pleased."

"Not so fast, Neo." The second voice said. "We still haven't seen her eyes."

"Roberts right. We have to check before bringing her back to Mescus."

When she heard their steps draw near, Silvia opened her eyes. In an instance she rose baring her teeth. The men froze at the sight of her aggressive presence, arms outstretched in sign of surrender. Silva lowered her stance growling through clenched teeth. One man dared a step closer and Silvia snapped at the air between them. If they were another pack of rouges she would at least kill one, maybe two. Hopefully the third would retreat after he saw that she would not be an easy prey.

Sivlia widened her icy blue eyes and perforated the three men. Her stanced softened when she took in their shiny armor, the swords strapped to their sides, along with their extravagant capes embroidered with the royal family's crest. Knights. She thought and wave of relief swept over her. Not rouges. Saliva relaxed her body quickly standing up straight then winced from her broken ribs.

Confusion painted her expression as she watched the knights instantly kneel down before her. "Your highness." They said in unison.

"I am Neo, my princess." He placed a fist over his heart, keeping his head bent as he stood. Princess? "Please come with us back to Mescus. His Majesty has been searching for you." Silvia looked down at her mother before looking back at the Knights. "Princess, come to the capital so we may begin the Rite of Dawn."

Dolores pulled the inner string connecting her and Silvia. This was their silent request to take over control. Silvia arched her head towards the sky and shifted back into Dolores. The knights bowed once more.

"Please stand up," Dolores beged. “You must be mistaken. I am not a Princess.” Dolores presented herself with a sweep of her hand indicating that she was most definitely not a Princess. They must have the wrong girl. The knight Neo came closer, removing his cloak and wrapping the heavy material around Dolores's naked body.

"If you come with me, Princess I will explain everything once we get you into the carriage.." He gestured towards the unmarked road past the clearing.

"My mother..." Dolores said and then turned to see one of the knights lifting her into his arms.

"Robert will bring her," Neo answered. "Can you walk?" Dolores nodded her head before following Neo towards what she found to be a glorious carriage. Her mother was laid across a velvet-covered seat. Dolores sat opposite, taking in the beautiful designs that covered the inside of the carriage door.

Her mother awoke when the carriage began to move. "Dolly?"

"Mom!" Dolores had practically fallen out of her seat when she heard her mother's voice. "Mom, are you hurt?" Dolores helped her mother into a seated position.

"Dolores, where are we? Where are the rouges?" Her mother asked anxiously, looking around the carriage.

"It's alright, mom, you're safe. We're safe." Dolores hugged her mother, taking in her jasmine scent, and then told her everything that had happened.

"Are you sure you saw a Dragon, Dolly?"

Dolores's mother's voice was laced with skepticism.

"I swear I saw a red Dragon. If it wasn't for him, we would be..." Dolores's mother placed her frail hand on Dolores's cheek.

"Shh, I know." Dolores gazed at her mother. She was skin and bones with fresh bruises all over her body. Her mother coughed violently, and Dolores softly patted her back.

"Lay down, mother, you're still quite sick." Her mother, Diana, did as Dolores suggested using Dolores's lap as a pillow.

After a long moment of silence, Dolores asked. "So... everything you said was…”

"True," Diana finished.

"So my father wasn't a nobleman, he was the..."

"King." Dolores couldn't believe what her mother had said. King. As if sensing Dolores's confusion Diana told her whole story for the first time. "As you know, I was an Omega in the Grey Tail Pack, and also being female meant my choice of partners, or life was limited."

The carriage stopped suddenly, interrupting her mother's story. Neo then appeared at the door. "I beg your pardon, Princess, we have made it back to the camp and will be heading to the capital with the rest of the party momentarily." As he had down before he bowed, he placed a fist over his chest then lowered his head. Dolores gave him a light thank you and then looked behind Neo at the Royal camp.

She had expected a soldiers camp. Small fires scattered along with small pitched tents, but she saw elegant silver and blue tents lined with the Royal flag carefully taken down and placed in hand-carved wagons pulled by well-groomed horses. It was going to be a parade. Dolores's thoughts. She attempted to count the number of knights but lost count when she reached 32. This was a show of wealth and power. This was the Royal family, her family. She looked at her mom who had sat up to see the camp as well.

"Thank goodness the trip to the Capital is short." Diana absent-mindedly said. Dolores only nodded, still shocked at the scale of the quest to find the lost Princess.

"At the time..." Diana began, speaking as if she was far away from where they were. "I was, but a gift from the Grey Tail Pack offered to a member of the royal family who knew nothing about me...I was a token used to keep the Pack safe." She released a huff then scanned the sky through the carriage window. "The date..." Diana chuckled. "If you can even call it one... I was drugged before they gifted me, and I was in his bed chambers when I woke."

Diana paused, and Dolores realized she was holding her breath. She had always thought her mother chose to be mated. "He was also drugged, only his was an aphrodisiac type of drug." Diane had wrapped her arms around herself. "Things happened pretty quickly, and… It was only the time, but still I got..."

“Pregnant." Dolores finished. Diana nodded.

“In the morning, the King's drugs had worn off and I was… I he left without a word and then suddenly I was sent back to the Grey Tail Pack.” Dolores noticed her mother circling her hand over her admonon. “A month later I found out was pregnant, but when I told the Alpha of our pack. He called me a liar and a whore.”

"I'm so sorry, mom. I can't imagine the burden and dishonor I have brought you...

“...Sometimes I wish I was never born. At least then you wouldn't have suffered and lived as you have." Tears fell from Dolores.

"Oh no, my sweet Dolly, don't say that." Diana pulled Dolores into her brushing her hair in soothing strokes. "I love you more than the moon, and this is not your fault." Dolores hugged her mother tighter, letting the tears run. Dolores wanted to scream, Why! Why was life so unfair towards women? Why must we be mated because we are female? Why were women pawns in a man's twisted game of life? Why were battered women like us shunned when it was no fault of their own? Why!

The tears fell harder, and only her mother's soft "Shhh my dolly, shh" eased Dolores's heartache. "Besides.." Diana lilted. "it doesn't matter anymore because we are no longer rouges." Dolores lifted her head from Diana's chest. "You are a princess by blood, and all the bad things won't happen anymore." She lightly flicked at Dolores's nose, a trick that always cheered Dolores up.

You're right." Dolores wiped at her eyes and sat up in time to see the Grey Tail Pack village. Werewolves lined the main road in awe of the royal carriages. Dolores moved closer to the window and saw Heather's mouth open in shock and a fraction of terror in her eyes. She watched as Heather pushed past the guards and grabbed hold of the carriage, followed by her pose.

"Please! We didn't know," Heather begged. "Have mercy, Princess!" Her shadows echoed. At the sound of their once cruel nickname for her, Dolores leaned close to Heather. With a cold as stone expression, she peeled Heather's hand from the carriage. Dolores gave her a devious smile, then caught sight of Dora, who ran in fear when their eyes met.

Males of the Pack that had once despised them now bragged out loud to the knights walking aside the carriages. "That's one of our women who had an Alpha King's child." Dolores backed away from the window; she was never coming back to this shit-hole again. Dolores should be overjoyed. Happy even that she was free from that life. She was a Princess, but she wasn't.

“Neo?” Dolores didn’t look at him as she spoke. "Why now? If the King wanted nothing to do with my mother then why search for a maybe Princess?"

“I do not know.”

“Just following orders.” Dolores cited.

“Actually,” Neo cleared his throat. “I did hear that someone else requested the search for you Princess.”

Dolores looked at him then. “Someone else? Who?”

“I’m not sure.” He stiffly shrugged. “All I heard was that they wanted to make sure all the Razamas children were present at this years Rite”

The Rite? Silvia silently asked. "What do you think that means? And if the King wasn’t the one who sent for us, then who?"