Rescuing His Captive Mate: Saving The Future Luna

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Star

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Acacia grabbed my hand and started to guide me out of the airport and toward the bright sunlight that lay beyond its doors. My nerves were still on overdrive since we were now getting close to our actual destination.

When I got out of the building there was a long line of busses and cars crowding the sidewalk. There were so many people everywhere that it overwhelmed me almost instantly. If I hadn\'t been able to feel Artem behind me, silently pulling our luggage behind him, then I probably would have panicked completely.

Acacia just pulled me along the long sidewalk that was full of people, luggage, busses,and cars until she got to the one that was at the end. It was a long black car that had more doors on it than a normal car. It looked like it was a normal car but just stretched to be longer.

"Oh cool, a limo." Artem laughed behind me. "You\'re giving us the royal treatment I see."

"This is courtesy of Reece. I was going to pick you up in my car which is nothing to sneeze at but he wanted you to arrive in style. So, just like he did with the plane he switched out the car as well. He can be a little domineering at times but in a good way." She was smiling at us as she talked about the man that was our King.

"Yeah, I am learning the way that he is." Artem laughed as a man stepped away from the car that I guess was called a limo.

The man went up to Artem and bowed his head respectfully before he spoke.

"Good day to you, Sir. My name is Hideki. I will be driving you today." The man was tall and pale with black hair and gray eyes that were partially hidden behind thin glasses. He also spoke with a slight accent that I found to be so unique but I didn\'t know what it was. "I am a member of the Luna Queen\'s guard and the Sentinelle. If there is anything you are uncertain of you may ask me for clarification."

"I have one." I raised my hand tentatively. "What is the Sentinelle?" I had tilted my head in confusion as I asked him this question.

"Yes, my dear." He smiled pleasantly at me. "The Sentinelle is an organization that has existed for close to two thousand years. It is our job to serve the Luna Queen. When there is no active Queen we search for the next Queen while also recording the history of the world so that she may have as much information at her disposal as possible. The only way to not repeat the mistakes of the past is to learn from them." He was speaking so calmly and politely that it was hard not to be entranced by what he was saying. I was just staring at him as he continued to speak. "I myself have been part of the Sentinelle for more than three hundred years. Once we joined the organization we froze in time until the Queen was found. Now, I have the privilege of serving her and being of use to her."

I could tell that Hideki was a kind man with a gentle nature. He also seemed to be very knowledgeable. I guess he would have to be if he was over three hundred years old. OK, this was starting to get to that whole crazy and scary part of stuff again.

I was fine. It was going to be OK. I wasn\'t going to panic just because the man in front of me who looked like he was maybe thirty was actually over three hundred. That was not a big issue right? I mean what was wrong with that? I had learned not long ago that Acacia was almost ninety and I didn\'t flip out. At least not that much.

UGH! Why did I have to be a half Fae? Things would be so much easier if I was just a wolf and not some crazy hybrid of some sort.

"Allow me to help you with your luggage." Hideki began taking the bags from Artem one by one and loading them into the trunk of the limo. Once they were in place he went to the back passenger door and opened it for us. "If you would." He gestured for us to get into the vehicle. 

Once we were all seated in the back Hideki shut the door and walked around to the driver\'s seat. And just like that we were off. It was now time to go to the compound for real.

I know that we talked on the way to the Fae compound. I know that I participated in the conversation and everything. But I don\'t remember a single minute of the drive. My memories literally go from pulling away from the curb at the airport to pulling up in front of a large set of shining gates.

There was a man standing guard in front of them and he was smiling at the limo like he thought something was funny. Instead of Hideki rolling down his window to speak to him, Acacia rolled down the window she was next to and talked to the man herself.

"Hello there Valoc, how are you doing today?" She was smiling at the man through the window.

"Doing good Casey. You know, for someone that is supposed to be living off of the compound you sure are coming back a lot. You brought your mate recently and now you\'re here again. Who are these two?" The man gestured toward me and Artem where we sat beside Acacia.

"These are some new friends. Actually, Star here is family. She is my cousin Aaron\'s daughter."

"Really?" The man named Valoc tilted his head in surprise. "I didn\'t know Aaron had any children."

"Yeah, neither did he." Acacia laughed loudly at that as if it were a joke. It must have been because Valoc laughed as well. "Anyway, I brought them here to meet my aunt. Since Star is a half Fae she needs to introduce herself."

"Star, huh? That\'s an interesting name." Valoc looked into the car and directly at me.

"It\'s a nickname. My real name is Astraia." I was nervous but I managed to not squeak or stutter so that was good.

"Oh, after the goddess of justice who became the constellation virgo. Your name means star so hence the nickname. I like it." He was smiling at me as he showed that he understood what it all meant.

"I didn\'t know all of that, I just knew that it meant star." I blushed since he knew more about my name than I did."

"Don\'t worry, Star. Valoc is really old, so he knows a lot of history." Acacia laughed.

"Rude much." Valoc laughed as well. "Anyway, head on in. I hope you two have a good visit." I watched as he winked at me like he was saying that I wasn\'t going to have a good visit at all.

Well, despite all my nervousness I made it here. I was at the Fae compound now. All that was left was meeting the Queen, Gloriana, and gaining her approval. That would all be happening today. And apparently we were not allowed to do anything but go to a changing room and get ready for our lunch before we met with the Queen.

This is really happening now. We were inside the compound and there was no turning back. I couldn\'t stop any of this now even if I wanted to. Oh Goddess, what was I going to do?

As my panic began to take over I felt Artem reach over and grab my hand. With his gentle squeezing pressure he was able to calm me down enough so that I wasn\'t about to flip out. There is no way I could be here doing this without him. He was the pillar of strength that was guiding me.

With Artem\'s comforting presence being reassured beside me I took a deep settling breath. Then I took half a dozen more just to be sure. By the time that I had settled my racing heart and gotten it so that it was beating normally again we were about to pull into the garage. I squeezed my eyes shut as well as Artem\'s hand as we passed through the threshold just so that I had a reason not to see that I was beyond the point of no return.

Oddly enough once we were inside the building all of my nerves seemed to just disappear. I felt better instantly. I was no longer nervous and my heart felt just fine. Perhaps I really can do this after all. I guess it would just take some time for us to know for sure but I definitely felt a lot more confident. It was almost like I felt at home in a way.