Louisa's POV
"Where are you going, little girl?"
When I was trying to get out of the tent and rescue Darren, I bumped into Zackery.
"You can't go out, Miss Louisa. It's Alpha's order," Mick stopped me and said.
"And Your Excellency, I'm afraid that you can't get into Alpha's Tent," Lynel said.
Zackery smiled at me and said, "Little girl, your new guards are on fire."
"I'm sorry, Zackery. They're just doing their jobs," I said.
"I'm not blaming them. I feel happy for you that you can find such dutiful personal guards," Zackery said. "But at the same time, I do have to take you for a check-up in my tent."
Mick and Lynel had an incredible look on their face.
My face started burning and I lowered my head.
"Well, that sounds really weird when I say it out loud." Zackery's voice sounded amused. "But anyway, I have to find a way to take you out of the tent. Should I try digging a tunnel?"
"What's going on here?" I heard a familiar mellow voice.
I looked up and saw Lucian standing in front of me, together with Jafar.
"Well, look at that! Everyone is here. Are we having a party tonight?" Zackery asked with a broad smile on his face. "I was just about to look for you. Come to my tent and we can have some bubble bath together!"
"Beta, we have a situation here," Mick reported.
"We can't let anyone get in Alpha's tent and we can't let anyone go out," Lynel added.
Lucian looked at the duet and asked, "Who are you?"
"I'm sorry, Beta." Mick straightened up and said. "I mean, I'm Mick, this is Lynel."
"We're new personal guards Miss Louisa hired today."
Lucian looked at me and said, "I do hope Miss Louisa will keep me informed when it comes to changes of personnel."
"Sorry, Lucian. But I really need to go to rescue Darren now. Lucas is going to kill him..."
"He's not going to kill that warlock. He needs his company now," Lucian said.
I frowned. Then, I felt it, the exasperating pain in my chest.
Lucas was doing it again.
Whenever he had sex with other people, I would feel the pain.
Darren...
I bent down and gripped my chest.
"Are you alright, little girl?" Zackery held me in his arms and asked.
"She needs to lie down, Your Excellency," Jafar said.
"She needs to lie down in my tent," Zackery held me up and walked towards his tent.
Mick and Lynel chased behind him and said, "But Your Excellency, there's a bed right there in the Luna Tent..."
"Yeah, I know, but I can't get into that tent," Zackery tilted his head towards them and said. "You've heard what the good doctor has just said, she needs to lie down."
"Your Excellency..."
"You two, come here." I heard Lucian's voice.
I lifted my head to look behind and saw Lucian walking behind us.
As soon as I got inside Zackery's arms, my pain was somehow relieved. It was so strange as if he drained my pain away from my chest. So, I was able to eavesdrop on their conversation.
"Yes, Beta." Mick and Lynel approached him.
"Mick and Lynel, right?" Lucian asked.
"Yes, Beta."
Lucian said, "How long have you been the guards?"
"Over 10 years, Beta."
"Great. So, for every line of work, there's a ladder. You've got people who are at the bottom of the ladder, and people who land on top." Lucian raised his hands. One on top and one at the bottom.
"Yes, Beta," Mick and Lynel nodded. They looked very confused but flattered.
"So where are you right now?" Lucian asked.
Mick pointed at the bottom hand and said, "We're here Beta."
"Not really," Lucian said.
"But we can't possibly be at the top, either," Lynel said.
"No, you are not," Lucian said.
"So where are we?"
"You two are not even on the ladder. This is the ladder. This is fifty floors below the ladder and you two are fifty floors below that," Lucian pointed at the ground.
"Wow, phew. That's over a hundred floors, Beta," Mick looked a bit awkward and said.
"And plus a ladder. It must be a very long ladder. It seems that we're very lousy," Lynel added.
"We never use the word 'lousy' here. We say that you've got a long way to go," Lucian said.
"Yes, Beta. We've got a long way to go." Both Mick nodded.
"Please tell us which way to go," Lynel said.
"Personal guards 101. Always obey your Alpha's order, but never say no to a Lycan," Lucian said.
"But... You've lost me, Beta." Mick looked puzzled.
"We might need some time to process it," Lynel added.
"Take your time to digest it," Lucian said. "It's very important for you to figure it out yourself."
Mick and Lynel looked at each other and started to discuss -
"Alpha said no one is allowed to get into the tent."
"And he said no one should take Miss Louisa out of the tent."
"But His Excellency came. He wanted to get in the tent and wanted to take Miss Louisa out of the tent."
"And that violation of Alpha's order... Twice."
"We should always obey Alpha order..."
"...but never say no to a Lycan."
"Which means that we should try to stop His Excellency from getting into the tent and taking away Miss Louisa..."
"Because we have to do our jobs to follow Alpha's order."
"And then, we have to let His Excellency take Miss Louisa away..."
"Because we should never say no to a Lycan."
"And what's next?"
"Alpha will get angry at us because Miss Louisa's gone with another man..."
"And we'll be punished."
Lucian nodded and concluded, "Yes, you will. And everyone will be happy."
Both Mick and Lynel looked at each other for a while, lost in confusion.
Then, Mick said with doubt, "Well, it sounds like... that every time His Excellency has a disagreement with Alpha, we'll be the fuckers who get our asses kicked."
"Wow, that's tough," Lynel commented.
"Very tough, indeed," Lucian patted their shoulders and said. "No job in this world is easy. We've all got a long way to go."
"Thank you, Beta. This conversation with you is mind-blowing." Mick said.
"No one has ever talked to us like that," Lynel added.
"It's because they want to prevent you from getting on top of the ladder," Lucian said. "From now on, you report to me every day and I'll tell you which floor are you at."
"Yes, Beta."
"Thank you, Beta!"
"Now go back to your post and wait there, so after Alpha has done with that warlock, he'll go out and shout at you."
"Yes, Beta!" Mick and Lynel answered cheerfully, and quickly walked back to the Luna Tent.