Overlooked

Chapter 24

*Queen of the Bloodlust Clans Pov*

There was a quiet knock at my chambers door. "Come in." I brushed the tangles out of my long black hair, debating whether I should leave it down or put it in another bun for today. Minerva stepped in, eye's to the floor, but I could smell the salty water caked to her face instantly. "You've been crying." Minerva looked up to reveal red puffy eyes. "Yes. The werewolf scum, I mean, Ciara, told me how she killed my daughter." Her chin was trembling. I sighed, placing my hairbrush gently on the counter I walked over to her. "Minerva, I'm sorry for your daughter. And I'm sorry you have to go through this pain everyday, probably for the rest of your immortal life. Ciara will be punished for her crimes against us. With or without the help of her brother. Leave. Sleep. Rest." Minerva nodded and left. I closed the door behind her and sighed. Minerva, the strongest warrior I have. I sat down before my mirror, peering at my reflection I noticed the light from my eyes were fading. "Why." I said to myself, "Why does it have to be this way? Why can mortals live such short lives and still feel fulfilled? Why must we be cursed with the hunger to keep going, when what we really need to do is perish? Minerva," I picked up my hair brush and started at my locks again, "you won't feel the pain for your daughter much longer. After we make peace with the werewolves, I will give you the gift of death. Forgive me."

*Archers Pov*

"Did her nose really start bleeding?" I asked Lonnie. Lonnie shook her head, "I guess you guys are getting closer than I expected you to." She grimaced at her pizza dough. "What's wrong?" I moved closer to her, hushing my voice so Ash wouldn't hear. "It's just," Lonnie paused frowning at her flour covered hands, "Ciara treated Ash like garbage. I don't know where Damon is, if he's okay or in danger or dead even. How can we be preparing Ash for turning or even being queen with everything else that's going on? She deserves our full attention, she doesn't need to be stuck in the middle of a war within your family, the vampires, or whoever else. I just feel guilty." I sighed. Lonnie was right, there was a lot going on, without conditioning Ash for her future. "I know things are difficult but-" the connection with Damon snapped back on. Lonnie's head shot up realizing this too. Immediately I ordered Damon back to the house. I turned to leave the kitchen, "Please," Lonnie begged, "please, just, try to be forgiving." "I'll decide whether he deserves forgiveness or not." And with that I left the kitchen to wait by the front door. As soon as I reached it Damon stepped through, grimacing at the floor. "Damon, come to my office."

As we walked up the stairs I kept going through what I would say to him, how dare you kiss Ash, where were you?, have you been conspiring against us? I was so distracted by my own thoughts that I didn't notice Ash standing at the top of the stairs. I looked at her, but she didn't make eye contact with me, she was starring, instead, into Damon's eye's. At this my blood boiled. I reached the top of the stairs and stood right beside Ash, only then did she look into my eye's. I aggressively, instinctively, grabbed her face and forced her lips to mine. She tried to speak in protest, but I wouldn't let her spill a single word. She didn't melt into the kiss. This wasn't romantic. This wasn't  a display of love. This was me claiming my property. I knew it was wrong, but I couldn't help it. Damon needed to know boundaries, even if I had to draw them out right in front of him. When I released Ash she turned away from me and walked in the direction of her room. I guess she wasn't in the mood for pizza after that.

I shut my office door behind Damon with a smirk on my face I just couldn't waver. "Archer, that wasn't necessary. You shouldn't have done that to her." Damon's hands were clenched into fists. "She is my mate." I sat behind my desk, Damon looked slightly relieved to have an obstacle between us. "Why did you kiss Ash?" "I didn't think she was right for you. She was afraid of you, she was homesick. I was trying to comfort her." I straight back slammed the table, "comforting her is my job! Mine alone!" Damon was frozen with terror. I relaxed back into my seat. "Let's leave that subject for now. Where were you?" Damon sat in a chair across from me and mustered the courage to look me in the eye. "I was with the Bloodlust Clan." I stiffened. The mention of vampires was never welcomed. "Why?" "Because they want to be at peace with us." "Then why won't they sign the treaty?" I inquired, "They had the chance to do so many chances before but always turned it down. Why now?" "They're finally ready to forgive us of all the hate crimes we have committed against them." "All the crimes WE have committed against THEM?!" "Please listen," Damon pleaded. I took a deep breath and calmed down. "The attacks against us, the threats, they were all a ploy, the vampires never sent them." "Then who did?" Damon paused and squirmed in his seat, "Ciara. It was all set up by Ciara." Somehow this didn't surprise me. "Why?" "She...She hates them. She doesn't see them as people, and as long as you didn't either, she could treat them as poorly as she wanted. Conducting inhumane experiments on them. On their children. Just meet with the Queen of the clan. She's more understanding then you think." "I will. Thank you Damon. Please, next time, just tell me what's going on." "Okay, I will." "Damon, you wouldn't know where Ciara is, would you?" Damon looked to the floor, "She is with the Bloodlust Clan. She's safe, they won't kill her." I nodded, my wolf stirred, quietly suggesting we leave her their to rot. We made a compromise, "Let's give her time to think about bettering herself." Damon smiled, agreeing with my proposal. "Damon, I want to let you go, but I need to trust you, to not go sneaking off, to not let my siblings get kidnapped," I turned serious, "and to not kiss my mate." Damon nodded, "I can do that, you can trust me." I stood up and sighed, rubbing my eyes, I was tired already and I still had to apologize to Ash. "You're free to go." Damon said a quick thank you and left. I went downstairs to finish Ash's pizza, maybe the apology would be better accepted with a little bribery.