Chapter 60

Cheyenne's POV

I was awoke by kids laughter outside. My eyes fluttered opened adjusting to the sunlight coming through the opening between the curtains. I reached across the bed for Gunner but the bed was empty. Instead there was single yellow rose with a note on his pillow.

Babe,

You looked so peaceful sleeping, I didn't want to wake you. I will be outside helping set up the fields for the little ones. Come on out when you wake up. I miss your face already.

XOXO,

Gunner

I felt a smile crawl across my face. I immediately threw off the blankets and ran to the closet to get changed. I grabbed a pair of shorts and a tank top along with my tennis shoes. I hurried to change and threw my hair up in a messy bun without even bothering to brush it. I was trying to slid my shoes on as I was walking out the bedroom door. Once both my shoes were on, I bolted towards the front door.

I threw it open and ran out looking everywhere for Gunner. Before I could find him, a group of kids had ambushed me. They were all wrapped around my legs thanking me for talking the Alpha into this. One of the kids asked me to play on their team which got the rest of them asking.

"I would love to, but we're going to need a team name." I said squatting down to get on their level.

"Oh I know!" One little girl raised her hand.

"Yes sweetie?" I asked.

"How about Queens & Alphas?" She asked.

"What do the rest of you think about that?" I looked around.

They all took a minute to think about it and then agreed. That's when Gunner walked up to us.

"What's going on over here?" He smiled.

"Oh you know. Just coming up with a team name." I shrugged.

"I see. So if you have your own team, then I need to find a team then huh?" He said looking around.

I stood up and pecked him on the cheek and wished him good luck before smacking his ass and telling the kids to follow me. I took them over to the registration table to sign us up.

"Everybody say hi to Beta Derek." I said loud enough that they all heard me.

In unison all nine of them said, "Hi Beta Derek!" all with cheeky grins on their faces.

"Well hello children! Did you get your team together already?" He asked looking at all of them.

"Yes sir. Cheyenne agreed to join our team which gives us ten players!" One little boy said.

"Oh she did, did she?" Beta Derek asked looking at me.

"Look at them, how can you say no to that?!" I gestured towards the group of kids.

Derek shook his head and chuckled, "Fair enough. Ok then just write your team name here and listen for it to be called for your first field assignment."

I wrote down our team name and then rounded the kids up. "We need to go stretch out guys. We don't want anybody getting hurt while they're playing do we?" I asked as we walked towards an opening.

"No we don't. That would be bad!" Bryan said. He was such a cute little boy. I would have never in a million years guess that he had any form of autism if his father wouldn't have told me.

After we stretched out and ran a couple slow laps, I sat the kids down in a huddle.

"Ok is everybody ok with kicking, running, everything we have to do to play this game?" I asked but nobody spoke up. "If you are not comfortable with doing a certain thing, then just tell me and I will not make you do that part. Deal?" I asked and everybody shook their heads.

We all jumped when we heard Alpha Nik's voice boom out with the first game match ups on each field. Once we knew where to go, I led the kids over and got us all into positions. We went against another team that was led by one of the warriors in the pack. My kids were really nervous, I had to find a way to calm them down.

"Kids, huddle up. Come on." They all formed a closed circle around me so they could all hear me.

"Ok I know they have one of the warriors on their team but it's going to be ok. You know how I know?" I asked and they all shook their heads. "Because I'm the Queen remember? And you and you and you are all queens, and all you boys are the alphas." I started to see smiles appear on across their faces. "Now last time I checked, Queens and Alphas outrank warriors right?"

"YEAH!" They all shouted together.

"That's more like it. Now let's get out there and have some fun." I said smiling.

"YEAH!!!" They cheered and headed towards their spots in the outfield and on the bases.

It was a fun game but we totally blew them out of the water. There was no denying it, the end score was 12-1. I felt bad for the kids on the other team but they were old enough to learn that you are not going to win everything in life. I call it life lesson 847. The fact that I bought both teams a round of popsicles is completely irrelevant.

As the day went on, our team kept moving up the chart. We were unstoppable and the kids were having so much fun. Hell, I was even having fun. I might be 18 but I'm still a kid. I'm just a big kid now. It was time for the championship game teams to be announced. The kids and I were all huddled together waiting when Alpha Nik's voice rang out for all to hear.

"For our championship kickball game, we have team Queens and Alphas versus team Kings and Betas. Will both teams come up front and center for the coin toss." Alpha Nik said.

The kids and I headed towards the front when I looked over and saw Gunner and his team walking up also. I dropped my head to hide my laugh. What are the odds we would end up in the finals against each other? As both teams met up in front of everyone else, Gunner stood in front of his team with his arms crossed over his chest smirking.

I was about to step forward and do the same thing but all the kids beat me to it. They all gathered in front of me and mimicked his stance. I was trying so hard to refrain from laughing but it wasn't working out so well in my favor.

"What this? Hiding behind children?" He teased.

"You want the Queen, you have to go through us first!" One little boy said.

"You wouldn't dare hurt an innocent child just to get to me now would you?" I teased as I also copied his stance.

Before Gunner could get another word out Alpha Nik cut him off. "Ok you two." He said chuckling. "I need one child from each team to come up and call heads or tails."

Gunner and I both sent one kid from each of our teams up towards the Alpha. To my surprise, Bryan was the first to volunteer. Alpha Nik flipped the coin high in the air and Bryan shouted, "Heads!" The coin landed on the ground and Alpha Nik squatted down to look at it.

"Heads it is! Do you want to choose which field you want to play on or do you want to choose who gets to kick first?" Alpha Nik asked Bryan still squatted down.

Bryan looked back at me for help, "What you pick we are good with darlin. Just go with your instincts." I reassured him from the side.

"We want…that field!" he said pointing towards the first field we played on.

"Ok sonny. The game will take place on field one. That means you get to choose who gets to kick first sweetie." Alpha Nik looked at the little girl from Gunner's team.

"We want to kick first!" She shouted.

"Very well! Game will start on field one in ten minutes." Alpha Nik boomed for all to hear.

Everybody started to make their way towards the field when something caught my eye in the wood line. I told the kids to go on without me and that I would meet up with them. I made up an excuse that I had to use the potty really quick.

"Jax, you still on patrol duty?" I mind link Jax.

"Yes, what's up?" He asked.

"I saw something move in the woods over between the kickball fields. Maybe I'm going crazy, but can you get someone to check it out anyways?" I asked him.

"Sure thing. Also really quick, how's the house hunting going?" He sounded so giddy I couldn't help but chuckle to myself.

"Gunner and I have a plan. No worries. Just get Tora here for her trail run so we can move forward with our plan!" I said.

"Ok ok. I'm heading over that way now to check the woods. I will let you know if I find anything." Jax cut the link off after that and I made my way over to the field.

As I was walking over, I passed a few other warriors who were off duty. I told them what I saw and where, and that Jax was heading over to check it out. I just wanted them to keep an eye out and be the line of defense between whatever is in there and the kids. They all agreed and started heading over towards the woods themselves. They must have sent a mind link out because I saw a few more of the off-duty warriors head in that direction also.

I made it to the field and sent Gunner a mind link tell him what was going on. He said that he heard the call for backup but didn't want to leave the kids. He figured that the kids would be safer with us on the field than for him to leave them. We were getting our teams hyped up and ready to play when Jax linked me.

"False alarm. It's only Tora." Jax said.

"Tora!? You didn't know your own mate was in the territory!?" I asked

"I knew she was coming but I didn't think she was coming till later. I'm sorry." Jax pleaded.

"It's ok is she comfortable enough to come out and watch?" I asked.

"She said she wants to try." Jax replied.

"Good. Bring her over. Get someone to cover your patrol." I said before cutting the link and connecting to Gunner to give him the heads up.

We had decided not to tell anyone what she was until she was comfortable in doing so. It would also give her a chance from being judged based solely on the fact that she's a dragon.

The game started and the crowd was cheering for their chosen team. It was pretty much split right now the middle. Both teams were getting cheered on and the kids were having a blast! Gunner's team was up by 1 run and it was our last chance at kicking.

"Kids, huddle up real quick." I gathered them all up around me. "Ok we only need one point to tie them and 2 points to win. Do you think we can do it?!" I asked enthusiastically.

"I'm going to slam that ball all the way into town!" One little boy said.

"I think I can make it to at least the back fence." The little blonde girl that hugged me the first time said.

"Listen guys, it doesn't matter how far you can kick that ball. All that matters is you all have fun. I'm still getting y'all ice cream later regardless of if we win or lose. But you have to have fun! That's my only condition, ok?" I asked.

They all nodded and then the first kid went out to kick. He was able to make it to second base with his kick alone. Up next was one of the girls. Her kick sent the ball high but not very far, but it got the boy from second to third and her to first. Up next was Bryan. He was looking down the plate to the pitcher and checking the wind. The pitcher sent the ball and Bryan took a couple steps and then sent the ball over the back fence. The crowd went wild as the first boy hit home, the girl made it home and then Bryan brought up the rear. That was a three-point run! We won!

I looked over at Gunner and stuck my tongue out at him and laughed. The kids were all hugging me at the same time and almost knocked me over. I told them to head over to the ice cream booth and to get whatever they wanted and to tell the server that I would take care of the bill. They all thanked me and rushed off.

That's when I heard someone clear their throat. I turned around to see Jax walking towards me with one of the most beautiful women I've ever seen. She had long black hair with those big soft bouncy curls. The bluest eyes in the universe, holy hell. Skin tanned perfectly which made her eyes pop even more. She was a little taller than me, my guess was around five foot seven…ish. Give or take an inch or two. From what I could see, this woman was built like a shit brick house too.

"Holy hell Jax. Is this her? Is this Tora?!" I asked getting all excited like the kids did for ice cream.

Jax chuckled, "Alida, this is my mate Tora Maie. Tora this is my best friend, Alida. Queen Alida to be exact."

"Jax, what did I tell you about that shit?!" I glared. "Please just call me Cheyenne or Alida. It's a long story but I answer to both names. I do NOT answer to Queen or your highness or anything of the sort." I glared back at Jax.

"I was only playing. Calm yourself." Jax laughed.

"Anywho, what do you think of our territory so far Tora?" I asked sweetly.

"I actually really like it. There's so much open space and it looks like your whole pack gets along very well. You even have events for the pups. I love it!" She was smiling from ear to ear.

Just then Gunner had walked up behind me and placed his arm on my shoulders. "Hi babe. This is Tora, Jax's mate. The one we are not announcing just yet." I whispered the last part. "Tora this is my mate Gunner." I introduced the two of them.

"Hello." She waved.

"Hello. Had Jax been able to show you around yet?" Gunner asked.

"Dude, I just got off patrols! I haven't even showered yet!" Jax defended himself.

Tora and I just started laughing at the guys giving each other shit. I let them go and just grabbed Tora's hand and told her to follow me.

"I would like to introduce you to just a couple of people. They are the high-ranking wolves here so they will be the ones you will be in contact with the most. That is if you are ok with it? I don't want to push you." I said stopping in my tracks and turning towards her.

"Actually I would like that. I know us…" She looked around to see if anyone was listening before continuing, "my kind, have a rep for being mean and private but I'm not like that. I want to get out and see the world and meet people. I want friends, not just the few family members all stuck in the same cave all the time." She rolled her eyes.

"Enough said darlin." I smirked. I grabbed her hand and placed in my elbow and we continued to walk towards the pack house. "Also, you can count me as your friend." I wink and she smiled back.