Love Isn't Torture

Coronation Day pt 2

Upon seeing me, the beaten and bloody Regent and Pope spoke up.

“Alpha!”

“My King!”

Aprilia smirked with amusement as she watched the two traitors trip over their feet to beg for their safety while licking my feet. She even took a seat and crossed her legs to enjoy the show! Oh, this child had some nerve! I couldn't help the laugh that came forth from my chest and past my lips. I hadn’t laughed so hard in ages. It felt good. Nice even. I walked through the images and approached the steps of the imperial royal palace. I stared Aprilia in the eyes more directly.

“Kneel or die, child.”

She merely blinked at me before speaking, in a bored tone no less.

“This war was orchestrated by the traitors behind you. Even a few of your kind.” She stated for everyone to hear. “But you couldn't care less, huh?”

“Correct,” I smirked. Amused by her astute observation of-

“Kill them.”

At her order, the traitors were slaughtered without hesitation before the entire pack. The cameras focused on them again. Aprilia hadn’t stopped smiling this entire time. I have noticed that now. She smirked earlier, but that didn’t count. Her smiling face was irritating me.

“But-”

I blocked out my wolf as she stood up to face off with me. The treasures merged with the swords, which shrank to be more accommodating for her size and arm length. Instead of swords, she held daggers in her baby hands. I laughed once again. It was almost my last. I didn’t see her move, but my neck stung along my jugular. One of her blades was colored with my blood. My blood. I touched my neck and verified that I had indeed been cut and bleeding.

“Alpha!”

“You wench!”

“You’re nothing without those treasures of yours!”

The gamma that charged at her without my order wasn’t wrong. I didn’t stop him from attacking the child Empress either. Her eyes didn’t leave mine as she hit the wolf off of his pelt. Literally. His pelt of fur landed beside my feet intact while said gamma himself crashed into a far-off building where he lay dead. I took a step forward and my entire pack charged at the child.

Aprilia’s POV

I kept the wolves from overwhelming me with their numbers by erecting an invisible barrier made of air. It was just to keep them at a distance. I didn’t want them to ruin the dress my mother had made me. I made sure to remove it, fold it, and put it away in my magic bag along with my jewelry and crown. I kept my gold locket around my neck. It held a portrait of my parents, older brothers, and myself within it. Our last portrait together before the war took them away from me. Once I stood in only my heels, black shorts, and matching sleeveless top. I armed myself once more with my dagger, then dropped the barrier.

An explosion of force burst forth like a balloon pop. The wolves were all pushed back from me. Disorientated, deafened by the loud ringing in their ears, and their vision impaired by the blurriness. This opportunity allowed me to use the dust and smoke as cover to reduce their numbers. I took out his generals and ranked members first and foremost.

“Thank you for your time of service to the Black Moon pack,” I said to each of them before their deaths.

Gregorio’s enraged and mournful howl filled the air as he felt each of their deaths. I appeared from the smoke and cover just in time to see his wolf take over. It was a beautiful creature. Its black fur reminded me of a clear night sky and its silver eyes were stars. It was rare for wolves and their human counterparts to share similar traits like eye color and hair color. These two did. A shame and a waste, I’d say.

We clashed. Blades versus claws and teeth. The occasional hand-to-hand mixed into it as well. ‘Keep your opponent guessing,’ is what my mother taught me. ‘Keep them unbalanced.’ Despite the other pack members charging at me and jumping in the way of my kill strikes. It was clear who would be the victor here.

“Are you ready to give up yet, kid?” Gregorio smirked.

The daggers were knocked out of my hands by two wolves coordinating together. I avoided losing my hands, but they didn’t take the treasures either. They vanished into gold particles along with my magic bag and the sheaths too. I grabbed the two wolves by their tails as used them to smack Gregorio across the face. I swung them like nun chucks to continue my assault against Gregorio. I smacked any wolves that tried to fight me in this way as well. I was running out of steam and quickly. I tossed aside the wolves I used as weapons as I stood on Gregorio’s chest. He growled at me.

“Are you?” I retorted.

That pissed him off even more. I stripped another of his pack members of their pelt while jumping off him to evade Gregorio’s attack.

“Look around you, Gregorio.” I said while motioning to the pelts of his fallen pack members that littered the ground beneath our feet. “What point is there to continuing this foolishness? We were never at war with each other, but those are now dead traitors. Killing me will resolve nothing.”

He smirked with a scoff, “Then I’ll make you my slave.”

“You're f*****g what?” I questioned in disbelief.

He laughed at the sound of me cursing. “My sla-”

I kicked him in the snout with all I had. I fully intended to kill him now. If it wasn’t for the rest of the pack getting in my way, I would have beaten that disgusting bastard to death. But the magic I had left was waning quickly. My body was slowly going down due to the mounting exhaustion. I forced everyone away from me with another blast of air pressure. I collapsed to my knees momentarily while panting. I stood back up to see Gregorio walking toward me while wearing my cloak once more. I smirked at this,

“Taken quite a liking to it, I see.”

He grabbed me by my face and lifted me up to his eye level.

“You lost today,” I said to his face before letting myself pass out.

The victorious howls and roars of the Black Moon pack faded away into the background of my subconscious.