The Queen of Fire

Chapter 5

I settle into the comfortable leather seats as Zeke informs us it will be an 8 hour drive before we reach Grey Ridge. I look out the window and watch the familiar trees of the woods outside. This is the only place I have ever known. Not knowing my family as I grew up, these woods became my solstice. "What have we done?" I say to Nova as I begin to panic. "Calm down! I have a good feeling about this", She purrs in my mind. "Gosh, I hope you're right. All of the stories we've heard about alpha Kyle! We could be walking into a worse situation than what we're leaving!" Nova tries to calm me down by reminding me that at least we will be with Ellie. Soon, the smooth car rise lulls me to sleep and I drift off for the remainder of the ride. It's been a long day.

Ellie nudges me awake and tells me that we're almost home. Home, our new home. I look out the window and see the sun rising over a large lake. The light dances atop the water, causing it to shimmer and look alive. I smile. The view sure is pretty around here. We are surrounded by mountains and lakes on one side and a dense green forest on the other. I could get used to this.

The car slows and I notice a wolf running beside us. "warriors" says Zeke, noticing my worried look. "They guard this road and the front gates to the pack grounds. We pull up in front of two huge wrought iron gates. There are two more warriors in human form standing on guard. One of them approaches the vehicle and speaks to the driver. He gestures to the other guard to open the gates and they let us drive through.

I am like a child in a candy shop, my eyes go wide as I look at the huge mansion looming in front of us. It is a large white house with a porch wrapping around the whole lower level. There are people milling around outside of the mansion. Children are laughing and playing over to the side on a large patch of grass. Beyond the park behind some trees, I can see a line of houses where I assume families from the pack live. This is not what I expected the feared Alpha Kyle's pack to be like. Pack members smile and wave at us as we drive past. I am so confused by all of this. "Not too shabby, hey ladies" Zeke laughs. I look over at Ellie and we both begin giggling. I don't think either of us can believe our eyes. I could definitely get used to this. Zeke begins to explain the different areas we will have access to. He tells us that there are training grounds on the other side of the packhouse and even omegas have a right to train if they choose to. "We should train, we could get stronger". Novas's voice rings in my head. I have never even considered training. Alpha Edward forbade us.

Finally, we pull up at the end of the driveway. Zeke thanks the driver and helps Ellie out of the car. He helps us with our bags and leads us inside. The large foyer is bright and airy. Light filters through the large windows on either side of the door. A glass chandelier hangs above us and a huge staircase is situated in front of us leading to the upper levels. Zeke gives us a tour of the house. A large, luscious living space is on one side of the hall, pack members sit around reading books and chatting quietly. There is a huge fireplace on one side of the room and I imagine myself in winter curled up with a book or laughing with friends I might make here. The other side of the hall has two large doors that open up into a huge hall. Zeke explains that this is where they host events and pack meetings. The space is ginormous, at one end of the hall there are large windows and I gasp at the view. A huge lake sits right outside the windows. "When we host events we can open those windows up and the party leads out onto the grass in front of the lake. We start a fire and hang out all night, its wicked", Zeke grins at us.

The rest of the tour leaves me in awe. I can't believe I get to live here. I am waiting for Zeke to tell me there's a catch. I bet he will walk me down some dingy steps and tell me "haha, just kidding you have to live down here and cook in this crappy kitchen we have". Instead, he leads us to the back of the house. "Adelaide, I think you're going to like this" He winks and opens the wooden door in front of us. I audibly breathe out as I see what this room holds. It's a huge kitchen. It's all copper, marble and white and I am in awe. "I have never seen anything like this, I think I'm in love!" I squeak. Zeke and Ellie laugh at me. I find out I will be working with about 5 other chefs but I get to "run the show" as Zeke says. This makes me smile. "How about Ellie and I go and meet Alpha Kyle and do some introductions and I'll come back and grab you in 30 minutes to show you your room? You can familiarize yourself with the space and get to know the area?". I agree, Ellie gives my hand a small squeeze, it comforts me.

I walk around the huge space. I thought our kitchen at Blackwood pack was big, but this, this is what dreams are made of. There is one marble benchtop which will be perfect for chocolate and pastry work. There are huge commercial benches running through the middle of the space with equipment I've never even seen before. I start to get jittery and excited thinking of all of the exciting recipes I will be able to try here. I hope Alpha Kyle is happy to let me experiment with ingredients. I look out the window and see a large garden. I excitedly open the back door and walk out, breathing in the fresh smell of herbs and soil. There are two young women working in the garden and I smile at them. "Hey! you must be our new head chef?". One of the girls wanders over and pulls me into a hug. I freeze, i'm not used to so much friendliness. "Serena stop, you'll scare the poor girl". The other women wanders over. "Sorry about my sister", she sighs "Abigail", she says as she puts her hand out, I shake it enthusiastically.

"I'm Adelaide" I smile warmly at them.

"It's great to have you on board! We're soooo excited to have a new girl on the team!" Serena says, emphasising her 'o's.

"So you two are sisters?" I ask, wanting to find out some more information about these girls.

I learn that Serena is the chatty and loud sister and she's two years younger than Abigail. They give me the low down on the pack and how everything runs. We get two days off a week and work on a rotating schedule, something I'm definitely not used to. Serena and Abigail are in charge of growing fruit, veggies and herbs in the garden, which means we get to work closely together. They said they will plant anything I need if I just ask.

"What's Alpha Kyle like?" I'm curious, but I don't want to overstep. The girls are happy to fill me in.

"Hes so dreamy" Serena sighs.

Her sister slaps her on the arm "Omg, Serena you can not say that about our Alpha"

"So what? It's not like he can hear me? and you know it's true."

This makes Abigail laugh. "Okay fine, he's dreamy" Abigail rolls her eyes and agrees, "But he's also really kind, don't believe any of the stories you hear". She smiles at me and it comforts me to hear her say that.

"Dreamy? I think he's more muscly and godlike, don't you, Abigail?" Zeke emerges from the kitchen door behind us. Serena starts to laugh as Abigail's cheeks turn bright red.

"Sorry Gamma Zeke! Pretend you didn't hear that" Abigail squeaks and turns around and starts to pull weeds from the garden. I panic. I hope Abigail isn't going to get in any trouble. Zeke starts laughing along with Serena and I breathe a sigh of relief. He's just joking around with her. If Alpha Edward caught us joking around like that, we would've been punished. Maybe it won't be so bad here after all.