Faceless Queen 11

“You better be calling to tell me that you are done dragging out this Cullen situation and are coming home.”Athenodora said. Isabella smiled at the lack of greeting coming over the line. Her mate was definitely irritated and Isabella couldn’t blame her as she was right Isabella was dragging out this situation. It would have all been wrapped up after her first day spent with the Cullens if it hadn’t been for her mate bond with Rosalie. Something Isabella was very pleased about. Her species normally had two mates so finding the final piece of her soul made her very happy. It was her mate bond that was what was keeping Isabella from dealing with the newborns, arresting the Cullens and bringing them to the castle to stand trial.

“I am calling you to tell you the final part of the plan that needs to be put in place to end this.”Isabella told her.

“And what would that be?”Sulpicia asked.

“Hello Cia and as I’m sure she is there as well hello Di.”Isabella figured as soon as they knew it was her calling the queens all rushed to Athenodora’s side.

“Forget about the greetings. Let’s get to these plans.”Athenodora said.

“I emailed you the location the newborns are being kept and all the information I have about them. Originally I was going to suggest that we keep the woman alive to have her fight Edward to the death as it is he who she blames for her mate’s death but once I saw the state she is in it wouldn’t be humane to keep her alive. She is way to far gone in her madness and I doubt she would even recognize Edward if he was right in front of her.”It saddened Isabella greatly that Victoria would never get her revenge and find a bit of peace before she died.

Sulpicia growled.“Hearing that guarantees the Cullens are going to be punished harshly.”

“Well Carlisle and Edward. Isabella has already found proof the other ones were unable to do anything.”Didyme reminded her.

“Speaking of finding proof did you find the evidence you needed to prove Edward and Carlisle’s crimes against Rosalie?”Athenodora asked.

“That was what was taking me so long. I needed to travel to two of their other homes to get what I needed. I also took a couple days to set Rosalie, Jasper, Emmett, Fran and Alice up with new identities and bank accounts plus I bought them a new home in the wilderness.”Isabella explained.

Sulpicia chuckled.“That had to have pissed Carlisle off.”

“Oh it did. I’ve seen both him and Edward have numerous tantrums since I gave Rosalie not only my sword but my debit card. Now that they have their own money and he knows how much it’s driving him crazy. He keeps demanding that they transfer the money to his account and that they destroy the ids and go back to school. Edward keeps making threats but the others just ignore them. When they get to aggressive I step in.”Isabella enjoyed anytime she got to attack Carlisle and Edward.

“If she is your mate I have no doubt that Rosalie is quite formable with the sword.”Didyme said.

“With in fifteen minutes of having ownership of it she had taken Edward’s legs from him.”Isabella had been very proud that Rosalie hadn’t hesitated to use the weapon and took her warning to heart.

“She will make a fine queen.”Athenodora predicted.

“I don’t know if she will want to be a queen as she is very attached to her siblings. She might be willing to live in the castle part time and part time with her siblings but we won’t know for sure until everything is revealed.”Isabella would support Rosalie’s decision even if it meant she didn’t stay in the castle.

“And to get to that reveal we need to wrap this mission up. What is left for you to do?”Sulpicia asked.

“All I have left is to meet with the shifters and then I am done. That’s why I am calling now to tell you to send the guards for the newborns and then come get the Cullens. I’ll be with the Cullens in my cat form and travel with them to the castle that way. Then when I get to the castle I will break off from the group and come to the throne room for the trial in my vampire persona to present the evidence I collected.”Even though the Cullens knew about her body appearing human Isabella was going to make her eyes red and not touch any of them expect maybe Rosalie. That way they couldn’t confirm or deny the human body rumor.

“We will have Jane lead the mission as she is the one who is aware of your abilities.”Didyme said.

“That’s a good idea. It will give her something fun to do as she is still upset with me about talking care of the last batch of newborns.”Isabella was rather close to Jane. So close that Isabella had told Jane about her shifting abilities. Isabella had taken Jane under her wing when she was first turned because she recognized Jane was filled with all the same rage and hatred for the world that Isabella was.

“Then it’s settled. We will send some guard members right away and hopefully you will be home in no more than two days. Then once you are home new mate or not you are staying at the castle for at least a week.”Athenodora told her.

“You also promised me that I would get to take you riding.”Didyme reminded her.

“I remember and we will see about staying in the castle. There will be many things to work out once the Cullens are put on trail.”Isabella wasn’t going to promise anything until the Cullens were taken care of.

Athenodora huffed.”Fine but just so you know the fact that they have kept you away for this long is going to make us give them harsh and serve punishments.”

“I have no doubt my love. Now then I need to go visit the wolves.”Isabella had already scouted the wolves’ territory and searched though their tribal council building reading all the books on what they thought was their shifter history. From what she found she knew that she couldn’t leave them in their isolation.

“I love you and be safe.”Athenodora said.

“See you soon.”Didyme said.

“Don’t kill Carlisle and Edward before we get the chance to punish them.”Sulpicia told her.

“Good bye.”Isabella replied before ending the call. Jumping down from the tree she was hiding in she put her phone in her pocket and transformed into a wolf. Setting off into a light jog it only took a few minutes before she heard the sound of many howls throughout the forest. Deciding to wait for them to come to her she took a seat. Seeing five wolves rushing towards her that began growling and snapping her teeth at her she stood making them look up at her as she was twice the size of the biggest one and growled louder and harsher than the others. That caused the wolves all to go wide eyes in fear and three of them to put their tails between their legs and whimper. The biggest one began shaking which led to him transforming into a naked Sam.

“Who are you and why are you on our land?”Sam had never seen this wolf before or any other wolf than the ones in his pack and that made him very nervous. He watched in fascination as the strange wolf stood on its hide legs and transformed into a middle aged, red headed white man with a neatly trimmed beard. The thing that surprised Sam the most was the fact that the man was wearing clothes. A three piece suit to be exact with what looked like freshly shined wingtip shoes.”You can shift with your clothes on?”

”You could to if you knew how to shift properly.”Isabella picked the appearance of a man because the tribe seemed to only respect males. She had seen how they treated the female shifter and it wasn’t right. That being something she was going to correct them on.

Sam bristled at the implication that he didn’t know how to shift.”We know how to shift.”

“How did you learn?”Isabella asked.

“I taught myself. Then I read all the diaries our ancestors wrote about shifting.”Sam told her.

“So no one taught you and I’m guessing you never practiced doing it.”Isabella said.

“We don’t need to practice something we already know.”Sam didn’t know why he was arguing with this man.

“I guess if you already know everything then I will take my leave and keep my knowledge to myself.”Isabella knew that Sam would swallow his pride to accept the help.

Same frowned. He didn’t want to deal with this stranger but it did seem he might have knowledge that would be useful to the pack. His decision was made when the other four wolves yipped at him.”Please don’t leave. We would like to invite you to speak with our tribal council.”

“That’s a good idea. They should be involved in these discussions.”Isabella wanted to correct these shifters and their tribal elders’ ideas of what it meant to be a shifter and their real purpose.

“Seth go get Billy and call the others to the fire pit.”Sam figured they could fight the wolf better in an open space instead of a cramped room. He grabbed the shorts off his leg and put them on knowing it wouldn’t be right to walk around the reservation with no clothes on.”If you will follow us we will take you to our elders.”

“Thank you.”Isabella ignored the looks she was getting from Sam and the wolves as she followed them out of the forest. Once the town was in sight the wolves broke off. By the time the made it to the burnt out fire pit that three older men, one in a wheelchair and a group of boys Isabella recognized from training were already seated on the various logs and other makeshift seats the wolves had returned in their human forms.

“Billy, Quill, Harry this is…”Sam looked to the strange man now realizing he never asked his name.

“My name is Ian.”Or at least it was the male name Isabella always used when she needed one.

“This is Ian a wolf shifter who can shift with his clothes on.”Sam told them.

Billy look over the man very carefully not missing an inch of his body. Nothing about him showed that he was a shifter. As a matter of fact he looked like a rich business man.”Welcome Ian. I am Billy these are my fellow council members Harry and Quill and the rest gathered around are members of the pack.”

“Please have a seat.”Harry motioned to the log across from them that would put Ian in their line of sight. He was very excited to hear what he had to say.

Isabella took the seat. It was very uncomfortable and not up to the standards of what a shifter should be using. That was just one more piece of evidence that Carlisle was neglecting the pack. Something Didyme was going to be very angry about.”Thank you.”

“So Ian you are a wolf shifter?”Quill like Harry was very excited to talk to the man.

“I am but unlike all of you I know my origins.”Isabella told them.

“We know our origins. The stories have been passed down from generation to generation since the events happened.”Jacob told her.

“Oh yes the wolf spirit that bound itself to your chieftain so that he could kill off the vampires that attacked your tribe.”Isabella knew that mortals loved to make up excuses for why things happened but that was one of the silliest stories she heard concerning shifting.

“How do you know that?”Billy asked. That was a secret that wasn’t shared with outsiders.

“I think you’ll find I know many things. However the most important thing I know pertaining you is that your history is very wrong.”Isabella could see she hit a nerve by the angry faces Quill, Billy and Harry were sporting.

“They are not wrong.”Billy was highly insulted that this man would say his ancestors lied to them.

“My job isn’t to make you believe me, it’s to inform you of the truth and set you up with the aide the Queen offers all shifter communities.”Isabella didn’t care if they thought she was a liar. She was just there to pull them out of poverty and raise them to their rightful place in society.

“What queen are you talking about?”Harry asked.

“That would be Queen Isabella.”Isabella smiled when she heard the group’s gasps of shock and murmurs of disbelief.

“What does Isabella have to do with shifters?”Jacob couldn’t think any good would come out of the sadistic queen’s interest in shifters.

“That’s Queen Isabella to you.”Isabella would never let one of her subjects not use her title.

Jacob held back a shiver seeing the glare he received from Ian“Sorry, I mean what does Queen Isabella have to do with shifters?”

“As you have learned from the Cullens Queen Isabella is an ancient being that lived during a time supernaturals and mortals lived together in harmony. She was born into a family of royals and had ascended to queen at a young age. She ruled over all species until a war started with the humans that lead to vampires and shifters going into hiding. Isabella used her resources to support and help shifters with all they needed to thrive in life and she has contuined that mission to this day. When she found out about your pack she was overwhelmed with guilt knowing that you have been so isolated and ignorant of your history.”Isabella wasn’t telling them the whole truth but it was enough of the truth that it explained why she was interested in the pack.

“So you have met the Queen?”Quill had heard about the queen from the pack and Angela.

“I know the queen very well. We are as close as two people can be without being soulmates.”Isabella told him.

“You said we are ignorant about our history. What do you mean?”Leah asked.

“The way you are treated is a perfect example of you being ignorant of your history.”Isabella took a deep breath to control her rage.”You have been blessed with a female shifter and you treat her like dirt. She gets no respect and is kept from taking her proper place in the hierarchy in the pack. If if it wasn’t for the fact that you know no better Queen Isabella herself would have come here and killed off all of your bloodlines for such a transgression.”

Billy flinched hearing the venom in Ian’s voice.”Our ancestors left no writings of female shifters before.”

“Regardless of that you should have basic human decency. You treat the girl like garbage yet you expect her to protect your tribe. The very tribe that makes no effort to hide the fact they think she is an abomination. The three of you are disgusting excuses for human beings and should step down from your roles because you aren’t morally responsible enough to be in charge of anyone. Let alone something as precious and special as a female shifter.”Isabella clenched her fists tightly trying to reign in her anger to stop herself from murdering the three council members.

“Wait just a minute. You can’t come on our land and start spewing nonsense and insults. We can kill..”Before Quill could finish his threat he suddenly found himself dangling in the air by the hand squeezing his throat.

Isabella position herself and Quill so that she could see the entire group all of which were on their feet except for Leah who was looking very smug.”I could snap every one of your necks before the first one of your bodies fell to the ground. I will not do that however if you refrain from insulting me or attacking me. Now then everyone have a seat and we will continue this discussion.”

“Everyone sit down.”Sam ordered. He was under no illusions that Ian wouldn’t make good on his threat as Sam had never seen anyone even a vampire move that fast.

“Where was I?”Isabella dropped Quill and retook her seat.”Oh yes we were talking about how incompetent the council was. As I was saying you are very lucky to have a female shifter. They are incredible rare in shifter communities and those that do exist are considered a blessing from Artemis herself. Artemis being the goddess who created shifters. I would actually fear for whatever afterlife you will receive if I were you.”

“A goddess created shifters?”Seth asked.

“She did. Something that Queen Isabella has confirmed.”Isabella held up a hand to stop the questions.”No I will not be telling you how she confirmed it as that is between Isabella and the goddess.”

“If a goddess created us why did our ancestors pass on the wolf spirit story?”Jacob believed Ian based on everything he and the Cullens told them about Isabella.

Isabella shrugged.”If I had to guess the very shifter that everyone sees as the ultimate hero is the one who wrote the story. He likely did something shameful and embarrassing that he wanted to hide.”

“That makes sense.”Seth could easily see someone creating such an elaborate lie to cover up something shameful.

“You can’t honestly think he is telling the truth?”Billy didn’t believe a word Ian was saying.

“The wolf spirit story only works if we were the only wolf shifters. Ian proves we aren’t.”Sam always thought the story didn’t make sense because he and his wolf were one and the same. They didn’t have separate personalities.

“I agree it does make sense.”Paul said.

“It it makes sense what does it mean for us. Are we really supposed to live on the reservation and protect the tribe for the rest of our lives?”Leah hoped not because she always wanted to travel.

“Goddess no, shifters aren’t meant to stay in one place for long. Packs usually have a home base they gather at for meetings and celebrations but most are nomads who travel around the world with their other pack members as you are all linked through your bloodlines and serving the same alpha. With the progress of civilization some settle down when they have children so they can get proper schooling but most just travel with their families.”Isabella explained.

“If they leave who will protect the tribe?”Quill asked.

“Protect the tribe from what?”Isabella didn’t know what danger the tribe was in.

“From vampires of course.”Harry said.

“First off wolf shifters shouldn’t be fighting vampires. They should be befriending them. Second how many times have the tribe actually come in contact with vampires other than the Cullens?”Isabella didn’t count the Cullens as they were no threat to anyone.

“We have many stories of vampires.”Billy started only to be cut off from Isabella.

“Stories that were likely documented by the same person who lied about your origins. That means there is no real threat from vampires. So the only reason you are keeping the pack here is so you can have complete control over them.”Isabella knew that the wolves didn’t need to stay on the reservation.

“Does this mean I can actually go to college?”Jared had been extremely disappointed that he was stuck staying on the reservation where he would never be able to get a proper job to support himself and his imprint.

“And I can go to New York comic con?”Colin asked.

“Even if you could which you can’t we don’t have the money to send you.”Billy wasn’t going to let the pack leave the reservation.

“Actually you do.”Isabella took a folder out of the inside of her jack pocket and handed it to Leah.

Leah took the folder from her, opened it and pulled out some papers. Reading through them her head snapped to Isabella.”Is this for real?”

“I told you Queen Isabella takes care of shifter communities. That includes paying for everything you need and want.”Isabella gave every shifter communities money because she knew with their nomadic lifestyle it was hard to keep a job.

“What is it?”Sam asked.

“Queen Isabella set up a bank account for us with over a billion dollars in it.”Leah still couldn’t believe what she was seeing.

“What the fuck?!”Jacob exclaimed in shock.

“Seriously?”Seth had never met a billionaire before.

“Yes seriously and she will monitor the account to make sure the funds never run out.”Isabella told them.

“Why would she do this?”Sam didn’t know why anyone would give away so much money.

“She takes her role as Queen of the shifters very seriously. Plus she knows it will be hard to get good jobs without staying in one place for a while and doesn’t want you to have to worry about anything.”Isabella explained.

“This money will help the tribe a lot.”Quill was already making plans for what to do with the money.

“The money is not for the tribe. It’s for the shifters.”Isabella wasn’t going to support a bunch of lazy humans who refused to put in the effort to better their own lives.

“The shifters belong to the tribe.”Billy fell out of his chair when Ian loudly growled at him.

“If the shifters belong to anyone it’s the goddess Artemis. Not a bunch of despicable humans who pretend to be more important than they truly are.”Isabella wasn’t going to let the shifters use the money for the tribe.

“We as the council should decide how the wolves spend the money as we make all decisions for them.”Harry wasn’t going to miss out on making updates to the reservations. He was already picturing the new home he was going to build for himself.

“How the money is distributed will be decided by Leah as the account is in her name.”Isabella told them.

“I’m alright with that.”Jacob knew that Leah would be fair with the money.

“She is the most trustworthy out of us.”Sam agreed. Leah would make sure everyone got a share of the money.

“I don’t mind being in charge of it.”Leah was the most responsible out of the pack and would happily manage their account. It wasn’t hard to push past hurt feeling because it wasn’t the pack that treated her badly. It was the council and the orders they gave them.

“Is there a way for us to thank Queen Isabella?”Sam asked.

“Yes there is. You can thank her by stop believing that you were born to destroy vampires. That isn’t true at all as there are many shifters and vampires that are not only friends but some that have even become bonded.”Isabella and her two bonds being the perfect example.

“Wait are you saying that we could possibly imprint on a vampire?”Paul had never heard of such a thing.

“It is possible and more common than you think.”Isabella told them.

“That’s not true vampires are our enemy the wolves can’t imprint on them. Plus they are the reason we shift in the first place.”Billy said when he finished settling himself back into his chair.

Isabella rolled her eyes.”Vampires aren’t the reason you shift and the fact that you have gone so many generations without doing it proves that you angered the goddess somehow. You likely started back up when the Cullens showed up because they brought danger with them. I mean they are a bunch of weak pansies but they attract trouble everywhere they go.”

“Do you think the next generations will continue to shift?”Sam wondered if his children would be shifters as well.

“I think there is a very good chance if you embrace your true nature and stop caging your wolves they will.”Isabella thought that the wolves had been punished because they were going against their nature and that by doing what they were supposed to their children would be blessed with the ability.”Alright so I’ve given you your real history, explained Queen Isabella’s role, gave you all the information you need to access your bank account and told you about your real purpose. Is there anything else you need from me before I leave.”

“Is there a way for us to contact you in the future?”Leah knew there would be many questions she and the other members of the pack would have in the future for Ian.

“There is a card in the folder with a number on it. The number belongs to a man named Ted who is the alpha of a wolf pack. He has agreed to sponsor you so contact him soon and he will explain everything about shifting to you. Including keeping your clothes on when you shift.” Isabella was the only one who could turn with anything she carried with clothes for some reason for which she was very thankful for. Turning her attention to the three council members she glared at them.”If you try in anyway to influence the pack I will find out and I will come for you.”

“The pack are part of the tribe.”Billy told her.

“That would be true if they were human but they are not. They are better than anything humanity has to offer. You have kept them chained long enough. Your control on them ends today so get it out of your head that you can force them to do anything.”Isabella wasn’t going to put up with the council messing with the wolves.

“You can’t..”Billy began to bluster only to be cut off by Sam.

“Enough Billy. You three aren’t in charge of the pack. I’m the alpha and I say that the pack no longer takes orders from the council.”Sam was very happy to no longer have to deal with the council and their many demands.

“Good luck all of you and don’t be afraid to reach out to Ted.”Isabella said before changing into a wolf and running towards the woods not waiting for their replies. She was happy that she took the time to set the wolves straight. They were so out of touch with everything that she was surprised they actually didn’t fight her harder on if she was telling the truth. Then again it seemed they all already had doubts. Isabella expected to have to come back to deal with the council but wasn’t to worried about them. The wolves seemed excited by the prospect of being able to be free of the future that was set out for them and being able to actually choose how they lived their lives. It did make her feel guilty that she hadn’t found them sooner. They shouldn’t have been existing on their own without any help and because they did Isabella was going to make sure they would never be alone again. It was after all her duty as Queen to take care of her subjects.