The Alpha King and His Rogue Queen

Winston sat in his usual place on the king's chair at the head of the long oak table in the meeting hall and silently watched the banter between the alphas he was supposed to be having this meeting with. As the king, he has an obligation to his subjects. They complain and he listens. He could not wait to end the meeting so that he could focus on other things. His second in command, Nickolas, sat quietly beside him, reviewing some of the paperwork for all the complaints most of the alphas brought, occasionally raising his head to watch in amusement as the alphas threatened each other. This always happens at every meeting because the king let them. Talking big but lacks the guts to carry out their threats because then, they would have to answer to the king. Winston is a great king, but ruthless and everyone fears him for that. The alphas acts like they were stronger and better than the next alpha, but when the time came to do something and prove their point, they took a big step back. Spineless and priggish bunch of spoilt brats. Although these meetings helped to create a friendliness among his subjects and lessen the intimidation, most of the alphas felt toward the king. Winston hated attending these meetings because it was a big waste of time. He could very well use this time to attend something more important. The only reason he attended was because it allowed him to take a break from his unending duty as the alpha king. This way, he gets to see each alpha for who they were. Contrary to their initial thought, all matters brought to the table got settled quickly, all but one. The most important and real purpose of the meeting was still pending. A notorious female rogue and her gang of thieves had been terrorizing packs and disturbing the peaceful existence of smaller packs. It got so bad that they were starting to get bolder and were slowly invading and encroaching on pack lands because no one could stop them. They keep getting away with their atrocious act. When the matter got to the table, he gave the alphas the chance to deliberate and delegate someone suitable enough to capture the 'vicious female' known only as Rain to be able to find out what she wanted and why she was doing all of those things, but there were a lot of disagreements. None of the alphas present wanted to face Rain alone and when he suggested they choose three strong alphas, they still wouldn't comply, because, according to them, they feared that she might take things up with them if everything went south, and were afraid their packs would bear the brunt. Winston realized too late that he had made a mistake by giving them the choice to choose when he could easily have just appointed those he knew would do a good job. That way, the meeting would end quickly. But, instead of reaching a suitable consensus and moving on like civilized people, they kept dragging and indirectly asking the king to take up the task himself. Their lack of enthusiasm in dealing with the matter piqued his curiosity about the rogue, and not very many things made Winston curious. He knew he had to step in and take charge of the little problem himself. He needed to see for himself what the notorious rogue was all about to make everyone scared of facing her alone. Watching the alphas mirthfully, it almost seemed as though they had forgotten he was a part of the meeting. He could hardly hear what they were saying now, scanning their faces one after another and made his plans. As his eyes roamed around the room, they soon settled on a particular arrogant one. Those eyes belonged to the only one in the room not participating in the banter, and they had been fixated on him this whole time, but Winston had tactically ignored them, Alpha Clyde of the Isle Mountain pack. The king was already getting bored, but now he found something interesting, a smug smile creeping its way to his thin lips. Clyde is supercilious and proud. Three years ago, he had challenged his father and predecessor for the alpha title and lost. He did the same again a year later and still lost, but somehow, the old alpha mysteriously died from an unknown illness a few days after making Clyde automatically the next alpha. But Clyde, like many greedy alpha is unsatisfied with his new position. He wanted more. He recently rejected his fated mate for being too plain and not measuring up to him in status. Looking at him now, Winston could practically hear all the wheels of his mind turning. Clyde was disgusted with the status quo of being in the same room as all these older alphas. He particularly despised the king's way of ruling and believed that, given the chance, he would be a better king than Winston. With this realization, Stark, his wolf, stirred from within, demanding to see who dared to be disgusted by him. Winston had to quickly pacify his beast, knowing what Stark would do if he felt slightly disrespected. He assured his wolf that he would deal with the situation before the beast got ahead of himself and murdered everyone at the table. A low growl escaped his throat, and the room became silent instantly. Everyone turned their attention back to their king, but he only had eyes on a certain alpha who suddenly began to fidget in his seat, as if he wasn't just disgusted a minute ago. Winston smirked and stood up, pushing his chair back so that it made a loud creaking noise. Everyone got to their feet immediately. "Gentlemen" he began, "Since you all can not agree, I have decided." he paused, looking at each of their faces one after the other, "Clyde here," he said, gesturing towards the now horrified alpha with a little smirk "just volunteered to go to the Icy Valley for you all." his smirk turning into a full-fledged smile now as he imagined what the mad dragon would do to the twerp. "Isn't that right, alpha?" he asked taking away his right to contradict his decree. "Er... N... I mean... I..." Clyde stammered but was cut short when Winston's smiling face suddenly turned hard "Yes sir, I mean your highness... I." he squeaked, which only earned him stares of bewilderment from the others. Who in their right mind would volunteer to go there? Is there even a reason to visit the Icy Valley? Everyone in the werewolf community knew that Marcus kills anyone on sight without asking questions, regardless of what their reason for trespass was. The big question now was, why would the king single out the young alpha among so many just to send him to his death? That too, with a smile on his face. "Splendid, That's settled then," Winston said more cheerfully, slowly making his way towards the now horrified Clyde with his beta Nickolas in tow. The others watched this movement in agitation. "I trust you would do a good job there then, alpha?" he said, readjusting the alpha's creased shirt's collar. "Yes," he whispered, "I didn't quite catch that, alpha" he replied, craning his neck towards the alpha's mouth. Everyone watched in awe because, although it was a whisper, they could all hear, thanks to their werewolf's hearing ability. "Yes, your highness," Clyde said more clearly. "Well then, that settles it. This concludes our meeting. Let's do this again sometime," he said, with a broad smile on his face, "And about Rain, I will take care of it," he added, before walking out of the room. As soon as the alpha king and his beta left, everyone turned and surrounded the now irritated Clyde with a series of questions, making him more miserable than he already was. He was indeed being disrespectful and deliberately made it obvious too, he had thought the king would want a one-on-one. He was confident in his ability and was certain he could win against the king. Never did he think the king would be petty enough to send him to his death. Well, he would have to prove to that bastard that he has just made a big mistake here. "Did you do something wrong?" one of the old alphas asked almost immediately once he was sure the alpha king was out of earshot. "Why do you want to go to the Icy Valley? Do you even know who Markus is?" asked another. "What do you want to go see Marcus for? He'd kill you on sight." Another chipped in. "What did you do?" asked another. Clyde suddenly slumped into the chair he was previously occupying, loosening the top button of his shirt. All eyes were fixated on him as they all wanted to know why the alpha king made such an announcement. Alpha Gregory, his late dad, used to say being contemptuous would get him in trouble one day. Now that he thinks about it, the old man might be right. Too bad he isn't alive to witness how he would defeat the king. He always gets away with virtually everything and this time won't be any different. Being contemptuous makes him alpha today. This was just the first day he would be in the presence of the alpha king and the king would do well to remember him because he planned to come back victorious. CLYDE Once I got back home, I couldn't stop wondering who the king thought he was to send me on stupid errands? He is just a little alpha himself, those old men turned him into their king. I believe I could do a better job at being king than the one they named king. He is no king to me. If given the opportunity to fight for that position, I would no doubt win. It doesn't matter how, winning is winning. I believe my ability is enough to tackle any situation. If I could defeat my father, the great alpha Gregory, I could very much do anything. I know I am stronger and, judging by the king's body frame and size, nothing could stand in my way to absolute success. I can only blame those gluttony elders that would do everything they were told to, no questions asked. If they asked me, those old geezers were simply too old and unfit to be making decisions. They were confused and foolish and wouldn't appreciate real strength even if it was staring them dead in the eye. One growl, and they were all cowering like fools. I can't believe my wolf was also cowering somewhere in the recess of my mind along with them all, pissing me off more than anything. That mutt is good for nothing. First, he kept whimpering like an injured animal because I merely rejected the stupid omega the moon goddess mated us with. I had my sight set on a special female, and I would get her once I returned from this stupid errand. I needed to acquire everything needed to overthrow the king. With a perfect luna by my side, we would be unstoppable. This new thought brought a smile to my face. The more I think about it, the more angry it made me. What was so special about the alpha king, anyway? The more I looked at him sitting and doing nothing but acting all-powerful, the more disgusted it made me feel. I would certainly do a better job as the alpha king. The whole meeting was annoying from start to finish and very unnecessary. I will show them all what a real alpha king could do. I am not afraid of facing a little dragon. All those scary tales about the dragon were probably just made up. Dealing with him might be tricky, but not entirely impossible. I had a few tricks up my sleeve, nothing would go wrong. I would go up the Icy Valley and bring back Marcus's head. Whoever said a dragon can't be slain is dead wrong. I am ready to prove them all wrong. I need to teach them to recognize who the holder of real power is.