The Abused and Rejected Tribrid Luna Queen

The Agreement

Slade

    I bolted upright in the bed, my body soaked in sweat, the buttery soft sheets tangled around my legs. It took a few moments to gain my bearings; the nightmare had been so realistic. The same nightmare I had been having since my parents were murdered. I knew it was only a manifestation of my guilt and feelings of inadequacy, but it didn't change the panic left behind when I woke.

    In my nightmare, I was always present when the attack happened. I would fight back only to find myself rooted in place by a witch's magic. My feet were glued to the hot pavement while I watched a mob of vampires tear my parents from their car. They had traveled with a motorcade that fateful day and the armored vehicles filled with royal warriors were a tangled mess of fire and steel. Someone had placed a bomb in the road, better to cut my parents off from any help.

    My father would fight bravely, determined to protect my mother. My lips formed the words to scream for them to run. If only they had run from the fight, they might still be alive. Instead, whatever magic held me captive silenced the words before they could pass my lips. I was forced to watch as vampires piled atop my father, holding him while their faceless leader stalked around my mother.

    My nightmare was always the same. My father was forced to watch the faceless ring leader feed on my mother before tearing her limb from limb while his minions cackled wildly. His anguish and rage would mingle with my own as I watched him shift into his wolf form. His captors would be stunned for only a moment before descending upon him to deliver the same fate my mother had met.

    You will never be able to find us. At least not before it's too late. The woman's voice was but a whisper in my ear. I knew instinctively that she was the witch that forced me to bear witness to my parents' final moments. Her faceless companion always turned toward me at the sound of her voice. Though I couldn't see his features, the wicked grin that spread across his lips was crystal clear in my mind. The vampire would stalk toward me, taunting me with his tortuously slow approach.

    I couldn't shift, couldn't move to fight back. I could only watch, my eyes glued on the horrific scene before me as he approached. I could feel the weight of his hand against my chest once he had closed the distance. His breath was hot against my ear as he leaned in close to give his final warning.

    "It is only a matter of time, Prince." He hissed. "We will find her, and your time will be up."

    Sharp, burning pain shot through my chest as the vampire tore my skin away, reaching for my heart. The feeling of his fingers closing around the rapidly beating organ jolting me back to reality, to my bedroom, where I always awoke from it in a panic.

    I felt my wolf stirring inside my mind. He was always as wound up as I was when the nightmare came. His desire to find someone, anyone, to sink his teeth into and tear to shreds left my body trembling with rage. Disentangling myself from my sheets, I stood from the bed.

    "It's just a dream, you know," I said to him. "I only see those things because we haven't found answers about what really happened to them."

    "Hrmph." Came his response.

    "We can't just go tearing apart every vampire and witch we find, Fang." I sighed. "We're the Alpha King; we have to abide by the treaties in place for the safety of our people."

    "Lot of good those treaties did." Fang snarled back.

    Ignoring him, I made my way to the door. We needed to shift and run. That was the only thing other than training that calmed him after the nightmares. Given the lack of light coming in my window, it was too deep into the night to wake someone to train, making our only option a run. Mentally running through the list of names on the patrol schedule, I made my way out of the palace.

    While my father had trained as hard as any of our warriors, he had given up patrolling with them when he was crowned King. According to my mother, it wasn't proper for a ruler to put themselves needlessly in danger by going on patrol. It undermined the point of having warriors guard the palace. As the prince, I was often put on patrol to learn the territory and forge a bond with the men. When I had been crowned, I broke protocol and continued to patrol with them from time to time.

    Finally recalling the names of the night patrol, I reached out to them through the mind link to let them know I would be joining the patrol. I didn't bother waiting to reach the edge of the grounds before I stripped my pajama bottoms and shifted. I knew someone would retrieve them for me if I didn't return before dawn, and it wasn't uncommon for wolves to wander in the nude. Letting Fang press to the front of our shared mind, we lost ourselves in the physical exertion of running the border.

    I gave myself over to the rhythmic thundering of paws against the mossy underbrush. The patrolling wolves paid me no mind other than to assign one of them to stay close by on the slight chance that an attack might occur. There hadn't been any border attacks since before my father's time, but nobody was willing to risk it after what happened to him. The sun was starting to crest over the horizon when I had finally spent the anxious energy of the dream. Slowing my pace, the warrior assigned to me nearly collided with my back end.

    I let my tongue loll from my snout as the wolf scrambled to put space between us. The sound of my yipping laughter startled a flock of birds awake, sending them fluttering into the sky, a dark blot against the sunrise. I didn't bother linking the warrior as I turned in the direction of the palace. Another wolf would be coming to find him soon, to take his report and relieve him of patrol, but I had other responsibilities to attend to as King. So long as I wasn't on the border, he had no reason to stay by my side.

    I didn't bother looking for the pants I had left behind on the grounds. Palace omegas had begun to stir and set to their daily work, allowing me to move through the palace to my rooms without bothering to shift back to my human form. There was nobody to open the door to my rooms for me, however, so I shifted just outside my door to enter my rooms and head for the shower. It was still early, but I knew one of the advisers would be seeking an audience with me before long, causing me to rush through my shower. I stepped from the steamy bathroom, a towel slung low about my hips, to find myself face to face with my Beta.

    "Zeke, what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be running the morning training session?" I asked as I moved across the room to my closet.

    "I came to talk to you about the Yule ball. Or rather, my father has harangued me into coming to talk to you about it." He snorted.

    "Well, say your piece."

    "Father is concerned that you won't be attending this year. He's had the advisers crawling up his ass like he's still the royal Beta instead of me. They're pressuring him about you breaking traditions and not having a mate."

    I continued to dress while I listened to Zeke. His father had passed on the position of royal Beta to him after my coronation. He said it was only proper that the man meant to be my Beta become my Beta without his father standing in his way. That didn't stop my advisers from seeking him out. Zeke was twenty-five, only two years older than me, leaving them to seek out a more seasoned wolf to get what they wanted.

    "They're planning something, but I don't know what it is." Zeke continued.

    Buttoning the last few buttons on my shirt, I strolled from the closet. "Did your dad have any ideas about it?"

    "Only that they're planning to leverage the Yule Ball in some way." Zeke shrugged. "They did tell him they have about five females from powerful families that they've hand-selected for you to choose your Queen Luna from."

    "For f***s sake. I told them I wasn't interested in taking a mate right now. Our focus needs to be on finding the vampires that murdered my parents."

    "Between us, Slade, my father disagrees, and I think he might be right. The Alpha's are getting bold about ignoring the law. Rumor has it that they think you've broken enough traditions since taking the throne that they have no reason to remain loyal." I glared at my friend and Beta, causing him to throw his hands up in apology. "I'm not saying we stop looking for the vamps, but you have to give them something. We know how rumors work. They spread far and wide, getting twisted along the way, but they still have some truth to them. Father suggested whatever the advisers ask you to do about the ball; you do it."

    "Is that what you think I should do, Zeke?" I raised an eyebrow at him. "You're my Beta, not your father. I want your advice."

    "I agree with him, Slade. Whatever they're planning to suggest to you over it, give it to them. They may be old geezers, but they never steered your father wrong. They just want to protect your rule and the kingdom."

    Our conversation turned to more friendly topics while my mind worked over what he had said. He laid out plans to incorporate new training techniques that he had picked up during a visit to his mother's original pack. I regretted that I couldn't join him for the day's training session when we parted ways. Him toward the training grounds, myself toward my office to take an audience with whatever adviser waited for me. Training was more pleasurable, learning new techniques easier, than the balancing act of giving the advisers what they wanted while being true to myself as King.

    I struggled to conceal the frown that spread across my face when I saw that it was Gregory waiting for me at my office door. He was the most persistent and demanding of the advisers. I had also ordered him not to show his face again until he had a new lead on the vampires that murdered my parents. I could tell by the smug smile and slight tilt of his head that he had come without the information but instead had something up his sleeve to get his way.

    "Your majesty." He bowed his head slightly, waiting for me to enter my office.

    "What are you after now, Gregory?" I gruffed, taking my seat.

    "Sire, it's the Yule Ball." A growl rumbled in my chest at his words, but he continued. "We've reason to believe that a handful of Alpha's intend to rise against you if you break the tradition of attending the ball as King."

    "Who would these Alpha's be?" I demanded.

    "The most powerful families." He replied, producing a stack of documents and placing them before me.

He gave me a moment to skim the papers. They were bills of sale for silver bullets, weaponry, armor, and letters written between the most powerful families in the kingdom. It was clear from the scribbles on the notes that they had initially been written in code. None of that mattered, though; it was clear they were fed up with my shirking tradition and were preparing to replace me for the good of the kingdom if I didn't get in line soon.

    Satisfied that I was convinced by the documents produced, Gregory continued to speak. "The advisers have sent me to make an agreement with you, my liege. You attend the Yule Ball as tradition dictates. If you find your mate, so much the better. If you don't, you choose one of these family's daughters to take as your Queen Luna to appease them."