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Chapter 7 - Black Aid

Braeden

I glared down at the intruding leopard before me, incensed by his forwardness. I had hardly touched Nereyda and there were already guards running and pouncing to her rescue. I wondered what they'd think if they knew of the moments we had shared under the shelter of the woods.

Nereyda's skin tingled under mine, the sharp shocks compelling me to let go, even though all I wanted was to draw her nearer. The leopard guard nudged me with the front of his head, forcing me to take another step back into the shadows. I snarled down at him. Who did he think he was, telling me what to do?

My body vibrated with tension, my wolf scraping at my skin. It wanted to burst forth and attack this man who thought he could protect what was not his. The glare in the leopard's eyes spoke of fierce protectiveness and I was sure my own eyes were now glowing with a combination of anger and jealousy.

At my low growl, the leopard took a step forward. I welcomed him as my lips turned upwards. Suddenly his advance stopped. Halted by a pale, delicate hand clutching the golden fur at his nape, his big head swung back to look at Nereyda.

My wolf snarled. What connection did my mate have with this man? They stared into each other's eyes and the blood in my veins boiled to new temperatures. I was going to phase soon. Very soon.

They both turned their heads to look at me in unison. My fists clenched. What had transpired between them in their silent conversation?

"Braeden," her voice was as soft and musical as I remembered, if not more so.

"Nereyda," my greeting was gruff and hoarse, not nearly as lovely as hers had been.

She stayed silent, her violet eyes searching my face for Gods knew what. It killed me to say it but I had missed her like crazy. After seeing her two days in a row, when she'd suddenly disappeared I'd thought her a figment of my imagination. After all, I was the only one of my pack who had seen her and no one could possibly be so beautiful.

Her imposingly high cheekbones were sharp in her face as she regarded me with a blank expression. It was only my second time regarding her in full daylight and I realised that my night vision had done her no justice. Her hair cascaded over her shoulders in long white waves, camouflaging itself by blending with the colour of her cloak. If the most beautiful aspects of white could be personified you would surely have the angel in front of me.

I realised that she was not going to say anything until I did, because she was so polite and practiced in the Ryker convention. I wanted to tear those thoughts and drillings out of her forcefully. She was too pure and innocent to be soiled by something as disgusting as her father's idiotic ways.

"What are you doing here?" I asked. At seeing the leopard male's glare I hastily tagged on, "your highness." It was not so much for his benefit as it was for hers. I had wanted to fight this audacious leopard but Nereyda's restraint spoke of her aversion towards the idea of us fighting. I was sure that the leopard would be aggravated by my lack of convention so I would make an effort during this conversation, for Nereyda's sake.

"We were heading towards the town hall," Her sweet voice lilted as she spoke. "We are going to help the citizens." Her eyes smiled at me despite her lips refusing to submit to her heart's wishes.

For someone so pure and innocent, she was much too brain and not enough heart. I hoped to bring out the fiery heart in her.

I was surprised by her words, not because I expected anything less of her, but because I knew her father would not approve. My forehead creased in a frown as I contemplated this. Surely Ryker would not allow his daughter to traipse around town in the name of charity on Stymie day.

"Does your father know?" I voiced my concern out loud and watched as she blinked at me in response. It was obvious to me from her demeanor that her father in fact did not know and she was surprised that I had asked such a forward question. She was going to have to get used to my unconventional ways, I was surprised she had not learnt that lesson yet.

The leopard growled in warning, letting me know that I had indeed crossed the threshold of what was the acceptable way to talk to your superiors. My wolf snorted with indignation.

"Apologies," I raised my hands in a surrender motion and worked to make my voice softer and my face less expressive. How people did this all day I had no idea, I could barely conform to Ryker convention for five minutes before I felt like I wanted to phase and tear through the forest howling. Changelings were supposed to be wild and at one with nature, what the abominable Ryker had done to the city was dehumanising in the worst way. Not only had he taken away the city's every material possession but he had also taken away their animal rights. Phasing in the city was illegal and I knew a lot of people who wanted to move into the farming villages but, unfortunately for them, moving out of the city was illegal as well. Ryker was a sick bastard.

"I would be honoured if you would allow me to introduce you to a few people who could help with your mission." I didn't look at her as I spoke to her, forcing my eyes to stay fixed downwards, despite my wolf's strong protests.

I could see her face in my peripheral vision and watched as she nodded her head once. It felt so strange to be going through all these formalities with Nereyda seeing as we had never spoken to each other this way before. The way I thought of her was very familiar and I knew that it was because she was my mate. This was only my fifth conversation with her and yet I felt like I had known her for my whole life. I found it incredibly difficult to keep quiet about her around my pack. I knew that if they found out of my relation to her they would want me to use her to get information about the castle and I didn't think I could do that to her.

After she nodded, she turned on her heel and continued on her dignified walk towards the city hall. Her white skirts swept against the paved floor, dragging as she walked. I knew that the voluminous skirts must be very heavy for her and I also realised that it was a good thing that this city was so clean. If the floor had been in any state other than the sparkling, pristine one in was always in, her skirts would have been picking up dirt.

I noticed all of this as I glared at the floor whilst I followed her, hating that I was unable to look at her directly. If I had it my way we would both be in animal form racing each other through the forest right now, not parading silently down the promenade.

The leafless white trees swayed silently, implanted in their puddles of glass pebbles. The trees lined us on both sides at even intervals, pointing us towards the grand building at the end of the road.

The leopard guard prowled next to Nereyda, taking every opportunity he had to glare back at me. I rolled my eyes. The whole city of Paladu was so hopelessly pretentious it was really quite absurd. The aristocratic behaviour was pretty much the same wherever you went but no other city had such unwavering policies about aesthetics.

The city hall was a giant, symmetrical building spreading out across the breadth of Paladu square. The centre of the building consisted of a towering domed structure before spreading out as rectangular buildings on either side. The whole structure, like the rest of the city, had been hastily painted white and although there was some ornamentation, it was obvious that the decoration was new and incomplete.

The building had only been refurbished after the Quakes, after most of it was knocked down. What was now known as the city hall had once been the alpha wolf's home and a well populated pack house. It was a little known fact that the city of 'Paladu' had used to be called the land of 'Lithia' back before the Quakes. It was only when Ryker had stolen the city that it had been rebranded, 'Paladu'.

We took the final steps that brought them face to face with the towering building and Nereyda and the leopard stopped to gaze up at it. I shook my head at them and continued on, pushing ahead of them. My five minutes of being able to cope with the Ryker convention were up and now I wanted to punch something. My wolf itched at my skin, trying to convince me to turn back to Nereyda and pull her into my arms. My wolf was crazy. There was no way anything could ever transpire between myself and Nereyda. All the thought of Ryker had made me remember exactly who she was. She was the enemy part of the very family I had sworn to destroy. I would not get involved with her no matter what my wolf tried to convince me.

The metal gate was open and we passed through easily, making our way towards the building itself. I knew that there would be people inside. Many people worked in the building before us, mostly those in the corporate world, counting the King's money or sorting out the city's finances. The city's meagre finances. Aside from working people, I knew that the upper parts of the building would be full of squatters and the homeless, the people who had nowhere to go and nothing to do with their lives.

I hauled one of the huge double wooden doors open, holding it for Nereyda and the leopard. I was conscious of the fact that the leopard guard still saw me as a threat. If he did not then he would have changed back into his human form by now.

I dropped the door and it slammed behind us, the sound reverberating throughout the high ceilinged foyer. The many people occupying the first floor of the building looked up at our entrance, abruptly stopping whatever they were doing. The space was painfully incomplete, many of the walls were missing giving the building a gaping feel. The open plan offices on our left had no wall to separate them from the reception of the building and the closed offices on our right were made up of hastily erected wooden boards.

I had been in here before so I watched Nereyda's face as she took in the scene before her. She appeared to be taken aback by spectacle and I realised that this was probably a lot of people for her to deal with. After all, she did live alone in the mountains.

Her long dark eyelashes fluttered, and I was sure that she must be wearing makeup to give her eyelashes that colour. Her full dark pink lips parted slightly causing my blood to heat and my jaw to clench with restrained desire. I wanted her so much.

A few moments passed in which the working citizens stared in shock at us. Glancing around, I could see that at least three quarters of the crowd were active rebels so I was not sure how they were going to react to the corrupt royalty on their doorstep. I hoped Nereyda had a good plan for her charity or the rebels might attack her here and now, not that I would let anything happen to her.

"Good morning everyone," Nereyda soke now in her soft but clear and commanding voice. Everyone was listening to her.

"It has come to my attention that there are Paladian people who are struggling to afford materials that are essential to their livelihood."

Everyone glared at her in response to the obvious statement.

"As one of your leaders, I feel that it is my responsibility to ensure the happiness and well being of the citizens is maintained. This is why I have decided to set up a charity here in the Paladu city center."

We all stood awkwardly in the hallway as murmurs spread through the workers. I caught bits of phrases, most of them sceptical and some of them surprised.

Her voice had risen as she spoke and she lowered it now, despite the fact that the noise level had increased in the hall. "Please direct me to your leader so we can make further arrangements."

It was almost funny how I had offered to introduce her to people here and yet here she was in no need whatsoever of my aid.

Hawk rose from his desk at the back of the room and came forward. He was a short, stout man who was balding at the roof of his head and had sunken beady eyes. He squinted at us as he came closer.

I wasn't sure what these rebels thought I was doing here, but I supposed that my presence and apparent support did add credit to Nereyda's words. I was very well respected in the rebel circles.

Hawk arrived in front of us and glared up at Nereyda. I knew that he did not trust her in the slightest and was going to make her life exceedingly difficult. He had been part of the rebel campaign for far too long to suddenly be welcoming Royal scum with open arms.

Heavy moments passed and I half expected him to spit at her. I was preparing myself to pull her out of the volatile hall when Hawk moved his gaze from her to me. I stared straight back at him confidently, cocking my eyebrows in an arrogant challenge.

His eye twitched in annoyance but he turned and started towards a pair of double doors at the back of the foyer. I knew that they led to the office and meeting rooms beyond and I also knew that although he hadn't said anything, he had invited us to follow him.

I took Nereyda's elbow in my hand, my fingers twitching slightly at the fizzy warmth that sparked off of her. I urged her to follow Hawk and she did so without question, obviously knowing that I knew what I was doing here.

Hawk walked exceptionally fast for someone who didn't have a lot of places to be but we hurried after him nonetheless. We passed several doors on our way, one of which I knew hid the stairs which led to the basement.

Hawked whirled around a corner but I knew exactly where he was going. I did not want to push Nereyda to walk too fast, I knew that she was very hung up on her warped values and I did not want to cause another scene like the night she had left me.

We came to a swinging set of cracked wooden doors, flaking white paint like most of the rest of the city. Voices came from inside and I heard Hawk explaining the situation to the council inside. I wondered what Asher would think when he saw me swagger in, the Snow Princess on my arm. He'd give me a right verbal lashing for it later, that was for sure.

We walked in slowly, the leopard guard right on our heels. The lofty doors swished as we entered. 

--- A/N ---

Hello! Here is another one from Braeden's POV (I know, a long time coming), I hope you all enjoyed it! Not much happened in this chapter actually but there is a lot more background being written into things, so you can all understand Nereyda's world better. Thanks so much for reading, I love you all! - Zoe :)