Chapter One.
Phoenix Colton the Princess Royal of the UK’s werewolves placed her hand on her forehead and squinted her eyes against the hot Catalunya mid-day sun as she stepped off the white private jet of Colton Enterprises. Her head was still pounding like a jack hammer had taken up residence, thanks to her uncle, Alpha Robin Black of the Silvermoon Pack, and his homemade whiskey. Phoenix smiled as she remembered the previous night, a 90s fancy dress party which her parents, the King and Queen, had held in her honour. As with most parties that were held at the Royal Crescent Moon pack, it had got a bit wild.
Phoenix sighed, as she stepped into the awaiting car, wondering, not for the first time, if she was doing the right thing. She loved her family, and her pack and in return she was loved. As the adopted omega daughter of the powerful King and Queen it could have been a lot worse. She had been rescued from a now disbanded pack which her parents had fought against, a pack that had treated Omegas as nothing but dispensable slaves. Her birth parents were Deltas of that pack, but when Phoenix was born and they recognised her as merely an Omega, they had left her to rot in the basement of the pack, along with the other mistreated wolves.
Looking out of the window at the beautiful Spanish scenery Phoenix sighed. She had been truly blessed, loved and accepted by all. Her siblings treated her like the older sister she was, and all three had begged last night for her to change her mind about leaving. But she had to do this, she did not know why, but deep inside her, she felt like something was missing, and she needed to know more about where she came from, who her birth parents were, did they have more family? Would any of her blood relatives if they lived, have loved her despite her low birth rank?
She knew her birth parents were dead, long ago killed during the great Freedom war, probably by one of those she loved so much now. She held no grief for them, their beliefs and practices were so abhorrent they did not deserve a second thought. But what about others? Would they feel as those Deltas had? She knew that a lot of survivors from the war had disbanded to other countries, not wanting to be under the authority of her parents, even though they offered everyone a fair and equal chance to change, to accept all ranks, to even welcome humans who were mated to wolves into the packs, just as her Aunty Nicki was accepted as both Luna and Mate to her father’s brother Alpha Joshua Colton of the Silverback pack. Or even her cousin Hannah, the first-born child of Josh and Nicki, who had Alpha blood, but was born human like her mother.
Phoenix looked up at the large apartment building of where she was staying. Her father had offered to house her in the best area of Barcelona, in the largest apartment, no expense spared for his oldest daughter, but she had refused, preferring to live modestly. Phoenix wanted to fit in, to experience the world as it is, not in a protected bubble that came with being the Omega Princess of the royal family, with the inflated title of The Princess Royal. The university she would attend to do her doctorate was predominantly human, although she had it on good authority that there were some higher ranked werewolves who attended, it would not be like the Academy ran by her father back home which taught werewolves or took in human mates to educate them until they learnt about their race and chose to accept their mate or reject them. Not that rejection happened all that often now, but still there were some cases where Humans just could not accept a werewolf as their lifelong partner, no matter how much their mate showered them with affection.
Getting out of the cab, she put a backpack on her back, then one on her front, and grabbed her suitcases, and walked up the stone steps, pulling out the set of keys the relator had sent to her, and entered the building.
Phoenix walked up the stone staircase, admiring the understated beauty of the iron railings as it circled up to the top floor. Reaching her apartment she opened the door, stepping inside.
The rooms were small, in comparison to the pack house back home, but still large enough to be classed as luxury living to a lot of people. The living space was open plan, split into three sections, kitchen, dining area and sitting area. A large TV stood in one corner of the room; two long windows looked out across the Barcelona skyline. A three-seater brown sofa sat against the wall facing the windows, two green chairs sat side-by-side with a dark oak table between them, faced towards the TV. The earthy tones, dark wood, with the brown and green colour scheme, made Phoenix relax, a reminder of the forest in this large built-up city.
Unpacking her things Phoenix looked at her pictures, one of her as a baby no more than 2 years old, sat on her mother’s knee, her dad looking adoringly down at her, as she wound some of her mams long purple hair around her finger smiling at it. Placing the framed photograph on the bedside table she pulled out another, of her with her two brothers and sister, it had been taken at one of the full moon pack bonfire nights, the four of them laughing, Phoenix was around 15 years old, what the camera didn’t capture was the fact Asher had pinched some of Uncle Robin’s home brew, Phoenix laughed at the memory, they got into trouble that night of their Dad, he had sat with his arm around them and asked why they had done it, making all four of them sob like babies and promise to never disappoint him again. She put more pictures with her, Rebecca, and Hannah in the living room, then she found some fresh pictures, not yet in frames, taken last night. Her absolute favourite: Uncle Josh, Robin, Luke, and Ethan all dressed as the telly tubbies. She let out another small laugh, as she pinned the picture to fridge with a magnet, then took the one of Aunties Nicki, Lacey, Faith and Ellie as the spice girls placing pride-of-place beside the other, the single magnet that had come with the apartment holding them both precariously by the corners. She grabbed the one of her parents, dressed in their matrix costumes of Neo and Trinity. She smiled thinking how her mother would wear something like that outfit normally, as she placed it on the small table, she would purchase a special frame for that one.
Reaching into her case Phoenix pulled out two knitted dolls, one of a girl with light brown hair, the other of a boy with similar hair colour and the pale green eyes that resembled her own. She had often wondered what the significance of these dolls meant, all she knew was an elderly wolf who Hannah was named after had made them for her, there had been other gifts for all the children of the family. Her mother said they would be significant in some way, and to treasure them. Phoenix smiled, she had wondered throughout her years who the boy doll was, maybe it was a representation of her mate, or someone else important to her life. Smiling, she placed the pair together at the foot of her bed, where they had always lived from being a small pup.
Looking around her new home, Phoenix nodded to herself, happy with her work. She walked over to the fridge and opened it. She let out a sigh, of course, she was going it alone, there was no endless supply of food and drink, that seemed to just magically appear in the cupboards at the pack house. Looking at the clock, she saw the Catalunya sun dip behind the spires, and steeples of the city. Her stomach began to protest, demanding food, she was of course a werewolf, with a werewolf appetite even if just an omega.
“Come on Phoenix, let’s explore,” Ava her wolf whined.
It was the first time the other part of herself had spoken since arriving in Spain. Her voice did not sound excited, more resolute. Ava had, at first, wanted to find out more about their shared family, but when the reality hit the wolf that she would be living in a predominately human city, going to a human university, and no longer living in a pack, the wolf had taken the huff, only giving one word answers to Phoenix, and refused to relinquish control after the pack run last night, until her father and commanded the pouting wolf to shift.
It was not often either of Phoenix’s parents used their Royal tone on her or her siblings or their wolves, so Ava had instantly allowed Phoenix to come back, and had whimpered for a full three hours, not just because of the power, but because she felt Caesar her father’s wolf was unhappy with her. Ava had finally relaxed, when her father had come to see her after the party had finished, and held Phoenix so tight, then spoke directly to Ava, telling her that both him and Caesar were going to miss her.
Tears began to form in Phoenix’s eyes, it would have been easier to stay home, to be with her loving close-knit family, but still there was just something in her gut telling her she was making the right decision. Grabbing her purse, Phoenix walked out of her apartment, and wandered around the streets that were filled with tourists, in search of food. As she turned around one of the side streets, the smell of tapas filled the air and she walked into the small café style restaurant. She was guided to a small seat in the window, looking around the place she noticed the owners had many pictures behind the bar, she giggled, as she saw a couple of pictures of famous motorcycle championship riders from years gone by, her mother and father would flip to know she had dined in the same place as their favourite riders Sabino Antlia, Mark Johnstone and Molly Cornwall-Sutherland. She took out her phone and snapped a picture, sending it to her mother and father.
Phoenix sat enjoying the tapas, feeling contented, paying her bill, she asked the owner if there was a shop open somewhere so she could buy some basics for the morning, before finding a supermarket and filling the currently empty fridge freezer. Her rudimental Spanish understood that there was a place three streets down that she could use, and she thanked the waiter, before heading off to get some milk, tea, coffee, bread, and bacon.
Walking back into the apartment, Phoenix filled the fridge with her basics, as she stood up, she let out a loud yawn, so locked the door, and headed to her new bedroom, stripping down and climbing into bed.
“It’s just us Ava, we will be okay,” She sighed out.
“I suppose, well, so long as you find somewhere for me to go for a run we will, else I am going to b***h at you like crazy if I have to remain cooped up inside your crazy brain,” Ava huffed.
“I promise you; I will find you somewhere to run free,” Phoenix placated her wolf.
“Make sure you do, or I am going to be your worst nightmare. Now, goodnight,” Ava growled out, turning her back on Phoenix.
“You were just as excited as me at first Ava, why are you having a b***h-fit about it now?” Phoenix asked her moody wolf.
“Because I thought we would go somewhere in the forests, find other packs, find my mate, so I can get jiggy with it like some of our old friends,” Ava huffed
“I know, but there is something about this university that is calling me,” Phoenix explained to the wolf.
“I know, I feel it too, but still, I need a tree to c**k my leg against!” Ava sighed, but her tone became more jovial than before.
“You are not a male wolf, so why do you insist on doing that, it is embarrassing,” Phoenix argued.
“Because I don’t like getting pee all over my paws! Now let me sleep, so we can find a forest tomorrow.”
“Good night, Ava,” Phoenix sighed, before closing her eyes and letting sleep find her.