Chapter 51

Chapter 15:

Trisha’s P.O.V

Lucas whistled as he watched Damien disappear, before turning to face me. “You got a minute?”

“Yes, of course.” I frowned. “Is something the matter?”

“Yes actually.” Lucas’s frown deepened. “You have any idea why Damien wants to involve you in a case where there is probably a…1% chance of you making out alive? And, please don’t take this as an insult but he has access to far older lawyers with much more experience.”

“None taken,” I reassured Lucas before answering his question. “It’s because I…and now you guys, are the only ones who know that Damien isn’t King Dominic’s son and he can’t risk more people finding out. The older and more experienced a lawyer, the more set in their ways they are and more likely to agree with the Elders jurisdiction rather than wanting to save Damien.”

“And as far as my involvement goes, I have to be a part of the trial because the one, who told the Elders the truth about Damien’s birth, after Vandal died, was none other than his adopted daughter, Sabrina Rudolf. So if she’s told the elders about Damien…”

“She must have told them about Neema.” Lucas weaved a hand through his hair in frustration. “Shit.”

“Do me a favor?” I asked Lucas.

“Anything,” was his instant answer.

“Look after Neema for the time being? I have some things to discuss with Rose and Neema could really use your company. He’s been learning some very colorful words recently.”

Lucas threw back his head in a throaty laugh that I realized I had missed. I should have kept in touch with him these past year, but I was afraid that he would team up with Damien to find me, just like they had done eventually.

“Don’t worry,” Lucas said with a grin. “I’ll look after him and have a beer or two with the guys on deck. You do what you have to do.”

“Thank you.”

“Before I present Damien’s case if front of the Elder Court, I’ll need research material.” I told Rosanna as soon as the doors shut behind Lucas.

“What kind of research?” Rose frowned. “I thought Damien would teleport us to that ruined castle and we would go look for clues like some old time detective movie.”

“No, I wasn’t talking about clues for Damien.” I shook my head. “The Elders.”

“The Elders? Why?” Rose’s frown deepened.

“I’ll tell you in a second, but first we need to head to your office to catch the satellite.” I told her, making my way to the door. “I need internet and a computer.”

Rose wasn’t a very patient person, which is why she turned to me as soon as we were alone in her office, the doors locked shut and soundproof. “Alright girl, spill. What’s your big plan?”

“Big plan?” I raised my eyebrows at her as I made my way to the computer at her desk.

“Yes. And I know you’re planning something so no need to act all coy.” She rolled her eyes. “I know that look because I’m a woman too and a few hundred years older than you. You don’t trust the Elders judgment.”

“Can anyone trust those prehistoric fools?” A humorless laugh escaped my lips before I turned to Rose. “If we’re entering the Lion’s den, we’ll need a Plan B, and a solid one at that. And if that fails too, a plan C. And the Elders have fishy written all over them.”

“Well, as they say,” Rose spoke as she took a seat and turned on her laptop and typed in a code. “Always know thy enemies.”

But after about an hour or so of sitting in front of the screen, all our searches provided fruitless.

“Any special archives that might have only supernatural information?” Rose asked when I got frustrated.

“I’ve been searching on all possible archives on supernatural that I could get my hands on.” I told her. “I even accessed some of our secure data using my codes when I was still in the Castle ranks. Thankfully Damien hadn’t revoked my rights or my place in his inner circle, but there’s absolutely nothing here! Only thing I got was that the Elder Council has at least four members at all times and that they have a Death Squad. All facts we already know.”

“No hidden websites or computer stuff like the FBI used to have back in the day?” She raised her eyebrows.

“The bombs and nuclear weapons had destroyed a hell lot of valuable information during the Wipeout,” I sighed, rubbing at my eyes. “I doubt there will be much on the internet now that so much data had just been blown away.”

“If we can’t find on the internet, then there must be something that might still have survived the Wipeout. Hand written records or books?” Rose suggested.

“The only place I could find those are at the Castle Library.” I told her while leaning back on the chair and stretching. “I’ll need to wait till Damien returns to find them.”

“Whoa! What’s that?” Rose leaned closer to me and I realized too late that my shirt had risen up when I had stretched and some of the marks from last night were now visible. Rose smirked wide. “Someone’s been doing all kinds of sexy. Damn, my baby is all grown up now!”

“Oh, shush!” I blushed a deep red, pulling down the top over the bite marks. “As if you haven’t seen worse.”

“Oh, I have. Done a lot worse too, some of them I deeply regret.” She shook her head, her mischievous smirk turning into a smile. “But I’m glad that you are happy. You finally got your man.”

“Yeah…but…,” I shook my head. “The circumstances aren’t all that ideal, I know, but I’m trying to make the most of it, trying to make up for all the time we had lost.”

“Patience always bears the sweetest fruits.” Rose told me, getting up from the chair she was on. “Speaking of, let’s go grab a bite. It’s past lunchtime and I’m famished.”

“Yes, you’re right.” It was past three in the afternoon. “Let’s head to the kitchen.”

Interestingly, when we reached the kitchen/cafeteria, it was to find Neema, Lucas and Damien, along with Carig, all in one single table, having lunch while silently sizing each other up. At least the men were…Neema looked like he was enjoying the show.

“Now that’s a sight you don’t see often.” Rose gave a bark of laughter, startling the three adults into looking away while Neema gave a big smile and came running towards me.

“Mommy!”

I picked up my little tornado of joy into my arms and rested him on my hips as he placed a big kiss on my cheek. “Hey, Champ.” I nuzzled his nose. “Having fun with the boys?”

“Yes!” Neema gave me a joyous smile, bouncing in my arms in excitement. “Lucas was playing with me on the deck and then suddenly, Damien appeared out of nowhere! I asked him to make me disappear too! But you know what he did?”

“What?” I smiled back. Damien would never harm Neema or take him away from me. If he had wanted to then he would have done so an year ago when I first came in contact with Neema. He had always known where he was, but had never harmed him.

“He took me to this beautiful garden with black roses and there were so many pretty lights too!” Neema laughed, describing the castle gardens. “But then we had to come back and uncle Carig and Lucas have been grumpy ever since.”

Neema made a sour face at the two men and it caused Rose and me to burst out laughing. No wonder the men were pissed. Damien had just become Neema’s hero and the attention was no longer on Carig or Lucas. It was indeed funny to see how Neema had them all wrapped around his little fingers.

“Did you have lunch, munchkin?” I kissed his on his plump cheeks. “What did you eat?”

“Beef stew and white rice.” He said excitedly. “It was so, so yummy! There’s more too! You both should eat.”

“Yes, love. We will.” I placed him down on the ground once he started to wiggle away and it didn’t take him a second to run straight to Damien, climb up onto the chair next to him and place a big, fat kiss on his cheek before bounding out of the room with Carig behind him, chasing him down for an afternoon nap.

The scene made my heart clench for an instant, looking at Damien’s startled expression as his eyes followed Neema. It was a look of surprise and…longing. Damien had never taken a mate or had children and even though I understood the reason why, he was still a man over nine hundred years in age. He must want a family of his own.

But the question was…will we have enough time?