Prince Justus and the Rogue

Gracia POV

I really can't believe my father has actually come back into my life and is a better person. The fact that he is a better person is so completely amazing. If you would have told me just a month ago that this would be happening now I would have laughed in your face but here we are. My father has actually stopped drinking, he wants to be a better man, and is reaching out to try to be a better father. My only concern is that Cecily doesn't seem to trust him yet but I'm sure she will in time.

I'm waiting for Cecily outside of her class like I do every day and I love the smile on her face when she comes running outside and sees me waiting. She runs up to me and gives me the biggest hug. "Hey, how was class today?" "It was great! I'm learning my ABCs and how to count!" She says as she excitedly shows me her worksheet.

As we walk back to the castle I have a question burning inside my mind that I have been wanting to ask but have been afraid to. "Cecily, why have you been afraid to get closer to Dad?"

"He hurt you." Cecily says as her tiny eyebrows knit together.

"Yes he did but he's apologized for that and he's trying to be a better man and dad." I explain hoping that she will understand. I've told her for so many years that if we ever saw him not to trust him because he was a bad man that hurt me and would hurt her so now I have to make her see that he's changed.

"Well, I still don't trust him. He just showed up out of nowhere. People don't do that. Besides, why should I believe what he says anyway?" Cecily says frowning.

"Tell you what you don't have to trust him until you're comfortable doing so. Don't worry about what anybody thinks. I'll always stand by you." I tell her as I lean down to kiss the top of her head. Justus POV

I'm watching Gracia and her father walk through the gardens from my study's window and I can see how happy she is but there's something about him that I don't trust. Cecily felt it too. She didn't want to sit next to him at dinner. I really believe that little ones have a sixth sense when it comes to spotting bad people. Mack and Jackin are meeting me soon to go over what he's been doing for the past few days when he hasn't been with Gracia. This should be interesting. This meeting will show whether or not my concerns are well founded. If no evidence is present that provides proof of my concerns I will have them continue to follow and investigate Gracia's father but probably only for the next month. By that time everything should have made its way into the light.

Mack and Jackin walk inside my office and take their seats in front of my desk. "What do you both have to report?" I ask them.

Mack and Jackin throw each other a quick glance. "I'll go first." Mack started. "I had my men follow him around the castle. He generally treats the staff okay; however, some of the female staff members have said that he makes them feel uncomfortable with looks and comments. I do not have additional information to expand on that unfortunately. I can confirm while he has been inside the castle he has not drank any alcohol. But if he isn't with Gracia and it's not meal time then he generally isn't meal time. Jackin, it's your turn." Mack smiles at his partner in the investigation.

"My men followed him every time he left the castle, which was quite often but he never went far. He generally went to The Green Gate, a tavern, in town. Most visits he sits at a table by himself and drinks beer, maybe one or two mugs. He doesn't ever leave intoxicated just with a slight buzz on. But once he met with a stranger in the evening. It was the only time he went out during the evening time. I couldn't see the man's face or much of his features because he was wearing a cloak with the hood covering his face. The stranger is tall and of muscular build." Jackin explained.

"Well, that's something. The next time he leaves the castle I want to be notified. Also, we need to try to take this cloaked man down to the dungeons. I want to know what he's hiding. When did he meet with him?" I'm leaning on my desk now in anticipation.

"He met with him on the first Friday of the month. That should be a week away assuming that they keep the same day. We can send some men beforehand to the tavern to be ready but to stay back and out of sight." Jackin said. "That sounds like a wonderful plan." I agreed

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The Trackers POV

Henry and Edward are getting ready to make their move. They slowly make their way into the enemy camp being careful to not make any noise. Each one is poised to attack their hooded figure.

Henry jumps on his enemy at the same time as he wakes up and two large claws dig into Henry's chest as Henry bites down on his enemy's shoulder. The enemy jumps up, throwing off their cloak, and reveals themselves to be a dragon shifter as he spits fire towards Henry.

Edward wasn't doing much better. He was able to grab onto his dragon's throat and tear away some of the flesh before being slung against a tree. The dragon then went roaring after him. Once Edward recovered from hitting the tree the dragon was almost right up on him and he barely escaped by jumping up and moving underneath the dragon. He was able to tear into the dragon's tender belly flesh and held on. He continued to tear away until he knew he was hitting organs and the dragon fell down on his right side dead. Edward turned to see if he could help Henry.

Henry was still trying to dodge the dragon's fire and hadn't been able to get close enough to attack. But Edward could sneak up on the dragon since he didn't know that he was there. Edward jumped at the dragon's throat from the side, catching on tightly. When the dragon was momentarily stunned by Edward's attack and couldn't breath any fire Henry took the opportunity and ran for the dragon's underbelly and ripped into its tender flesh. The dragon was able to successfully throw Edward off but couldn't get to Henry fast enough before he did lethal damage by cutting deeply into organs. Finally, the dragon dropped dead next to his companion. Edward and Henry searched the dragon's camp for the key and found it. They turned to leave and return home; however, they did not see the eyes watching them as they left the dragon's camp.

"I figure we are about a two-day journey to the castle. Do you agree?" Edward asks as he looks up at the sky trying to determine if they should make camp here or keep moving.

"Yeah that sounds about right. We should probably go ahead and make camp." Henry agreed, looking around for a good spot to settle down. They noticed the bat taking a restful spot on a tree and then hanging upside down. Not too far away from them two other men were also making camp while debating when they should attack to steal the key much like Edward and Henry did with the dragons. The two other men decided to put off the attack for now and chose to make camp instead.

The next day the two other men awake before Edward and Henry and decide after cleaning up their camp to go ahead and make their move. They want to kill Edward and Henry while they are still sleeping and steal the key. One of them goes for Edward clamps onto his neck slowly sucking the blood out of his body. The other goes for Henry but Henry awakens just in the nick of time and rolls out of the way. Henry sees Edward in the arms of a vampire while his lifeblood is being slowly sucked out of him. "Bloodsuckers!" He yells at the top of his lungs. He pulls out a knife from his boot and stabs it into the vampire's heart that was trying to attack him. The vampire is thrown off of him but the knife didn't go in far enough to kill him so Henry walks over calmly and slams his fist through the vampire's chest and rips his heart out and stabs the knife all the way through it to kill the vampire. The other vampire turned to Henry shrieking as he saw his friend killed but the bat flew behind him and latched on to the back of his neck biting him and successfully draining his blood from him.

A/N Please drop me a comment and let me know if you like the story or the chapter. I love all feedback both critical and complimentary. Also check out my other books Dragon Brothers - Completed

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