When my eyes parted I knew that I was not at the palace. But, though it was my first thought it was not my first concern. My hands were clutching at my stomach. It had been a normal part of my youth to have gut pains. it wasn't normal now. In fact, it had stopped completely since Ajax had taken me away from America. Now that it was back, it could only mean one thing.

I had been drugged again. And this time it had been paired with a sedative.

"Come on, Keiko, we must hurry," my mother coaxed, pulling open the passenger door. My head lolled towards her as the bitter cold from the outside penetrated my bubble of warmth. Moving was one of the last things I wanted to do right now. Through my blurry eyes I could see that she had the same coolness to her expression that she always did, however her hands were shaking when she reached across to undo my seatbelt. "We need to go before they catch us."

My gaze drifted away from her and I winced at a peculiar, shrill sound that filled the air. It was one I had heard before, but I wasn't able to identify it immediately. My vision began to clear bit by bit as I swiveled my head, trying to take my surroundings into account. The world was dark, night had fallen, but that didn't seem to matter here. Everything was lit up, not that there was much to see. It was just a bleak expanse of dark tarmac and small, roving vehicles. Somewhere in the distance a plane took off.

I was at an airport.

"Keiko, now is not the time for day dreaming," my mother grunted, grabbing my arm and attempting to pull me out of the car when it was clear I would not move on my own accord.

"Where are we?" I slurred, but I already knew. That didn't me I understood though.

"We are going back home. We are going back to Denver," she murmured, her voice sounding kind and sympathetic. "I just need you to get out of the car and board the plane. It's a private jet, isn't that nice?" she coaxed.

And it was her kindness that made me realize something was very wrong. My mother was strong and solid, facing on single parenthood with a vengeance. She was unbreakable and driven. I suppose she was loving in her own way too. But she wasn't sweet.

"I don't want to get on the plane," I groaned, worried that I would be sick all over my expensive dress.

My dress. The one I had picked out for the ball. My eyes widened. My mother had taken me away from my guests, for the king and queen. From Ajax. My mother had put me in this rental car and told me we would go out for food. She had been fiddling with my drink and now I had intense stomach pains and was feeling less than functional.

But she couldn't have done this to me. I was her daughter. She loved me. She would never override me like that.

"We need to go on the plane, and we need to go now," she ordered. Her face turned away from me for a moment and I saw several pairs of headlights coming towards us from the other side of the tarmac. The cars and SUVs were racing towards us, screaming down the landing strip.

"I won't go," I moaned, shoving her away as best as I could when she tried to pull me out of the car and onto my feet again.

"Come on Keiko, you don't know what you are taking about. We are going to go back home together. You can go back to school and get your degree. That's what you want, to be an educated young woman with a career and a life of her own."

"I don't feel well. I don't want to go. Where is Ajax?" I moaned.

The sound of tires screeching and brakes squealing cut her off before she could answer. The headlights illuminated the little rental car so intensely that it made me wince. Her jaw tightened when she glanced towards the now stopped vehicles. And that was a look I knew. Whatever flight response she had was gone now. We were no longer able to outrun whoever was tailing us. Her last option was to fight. There was no one in this world that could fight like my mother.

"Get away from the princess," someone shouted, a voice I didn't know. When I turned to face the person I recognized the uniform but not the woman wearing it. however, I did know some of the people that were leaping out of their vehicles.

The order only made my mother smirk. They were challenging her. They didn't know that she had never lost a battle in her life. She would certainly not go down now.

"Keiko, come with me. It's for the best."

"Get away from my mate!" Ajax bellowed, his voice filled with authority. He nearly threw himself out of his SUV. I thought he would run towards me and snatch me away from my mother. But he just stood there, acting like his words would be enough to stop her.

Now my mom blatantly tipped her head back and cackled like she had just been told a dark joke. Her eyes flashed towards the hoard of parked cars and all of the people crawling out of them. Many of them were guards. I saw them training on the palace grounds, I knew the strength they possessed. They could crush both of us with little effort. My mother didn't care. Her attention went straight to my tuxedo-wearing mate.

"You think your royal tone will work on me, pup?" she demanded, then laughed again, even louder this time. "My body is filled with silver and I had renounced you and your family as my rulers. You have no power over me."

Thinking that I was going to vomit, I pushed my mom aside and moved to get out of the car. I stumbled and immediately wished I wasn't wearing these awful heels anymore, or this tight dress. As I wobbled on my feet everyone was silent. I thought everyone was waiting for me to speak up, to say who I would go with. That was not the case.

Ajax watched me move for a moment, his eyes wide with concern and surprise. He looked like he wanted to come to my side and hold me, afraid I might fall apart at any given moment. That fell away in a matter of seconds. Then his hands were clenched at his sides and his teeth were grinding together. When he took slow steps towards us all the men and women who had accompanied him moved as well.

"You drugged her again," he seethed.

The lights all over the airport casted haunting shadows across his face. His tuxedo was rumpled and his body expelled some kind of aura that would've burned red with rage. If I didn't know him as well as I did, if I hadn't seen him be soft and tender I would've been terrified.

And with those bitter words leaving his lips, some of his guards shifted. I hadn't been around werewolves long, but I knew the difference between a called upon shift and one that was forced by the animals within. These shifts were all uncontrolled. Each one of my guards lost the battle to the beast. One moment we were being pursued by a large group of humans in uniforms and suits. The next half of them were standing on paws, lips curled back and animalistic teeth revealed in an ugly snarl. The ones who stayed unshifted were struggling to keep themselves contained.

All I could see was bared teeth and sharp claws coming closer and closer.

Ajax held up one hand, keeping them back.

"I did what was best for my daughter!" My mother moved around me, closing the distance between herself and my mate. "You have no idea what I have done to keep her safe."

"You obviously don't know what is best for her! She needs to be with me. She needs to embrace her wolf, not keep it at bay with poison! Look at how sick she is," he thundered. "What the hell were you thinking? Did you assume that you could just take the royal jet and we would never know about it? The staff onboard that aircraft are trained to only serve the royals, which you are not. Did you think that I wouldn't come looking for her in Denver if you even managed to make it that far?"

"She is my child. You have no right to invade."

"She is not a little kid anymore, she's an adult."

"I don't care!"

I took a step back from the scene before me. I felt every word they said was scorching me. My dazed eyes struggled to keep up with their animated hand gestures, but my ear rung with every word. I turned away from them for a moment, stunned and appalled. And there before me was the jet my mother was talking about. It was just waiting for a royal to embark on a flight.

"Keiko needs her wolf! It's part of her. And the werewolf community needs a queen. You can't keep her away from her duty just because you feel like it."

"ah, there you go again, acting like the rest of your kind. Everything is excusable because you are wolves."

I still felt sick and I wobbled when I took the first step up the moveable staircase, but I pushed on towards the open door. The flight attendant said nothing, but watched me approach while airport personnel moved in. Both Ajax and my mother were absurd and childish if they thought I was just going to stand by and let this happen. I was drugged and in pain, but I wasn't dead or deaf. My heels clicked against the metal with every step and I had to take small, shallow breaths to keep the vomit at bay, but soon enough I made it up the stairs and into the jet. Even when I was standing in the bloody plane neither of them were paying any attention to me, just arguing back and forth with one another.

It was Noah who jabbed Ajax with his elbow, finally bringing the prince's attention to me. His face clouded with dread. My mother was forgotten in a second.

"Keiko, what are you doing?" he demanded. "Come down here."

And when he leapt towards the stairs I gestured to the attendants to take them away. That made my mother just as perplexed as Ajax.

"Where are you going?" my mother interrogated, seeming angry and worried all at once. I wondered if she was worried for me or if she was just terrified of being left alone with Ajax and his loyal wolves.

"Keiko, please don't leave me," Ajax begged, running a hand through his hair. He had been so powerful facing off against my mother. Now that he had to deal with my silent decision he was panicking.

"While you two try and figure out which choice I should make I'm taking this jet home and making my own decision," I announced.

"Keiko, please!" Ajax shouted.

I gestured to the stewardess to shut the door. The rest of the staff on the plane just stared at me.

"Once they clear off the tarmac I would like to start the flight to Denver, please."

"Of course, princess," a flight attendant replied.

      ~~~~Distraction Section~~~~

So that was one hell of a roller coaster and the bumps will keep on coming. Do I feel bad for stringing you all along? Not even a little bit ;)

Question of the Day: What is your favorite beverage to order from your local cafe? 

I love vanilla steamers or maple steamers (like a true Canadian).