The King's Queen

A Moment of Peace

♔ Eustacia (P.O.V)

Six years ago, Rushing River's packhouse.

“Eustacia!” A voice yells at me from far away.

“Eustacia!” The voice, I recognize as my father’s, yells at me again.

“What?” I grumble with my face still in my pillow.

“Stacy, Come on!” My father yells impatiently, I'm sure he's standing at the bottom of the stairs just to yell at me. Nothing new.

“Mmmnorf,” I mumble nonsense words as I roll over off my queen size bed that’s littered with downy pillows.

“Coming Pa!” I shout, a minuscule amount of annoyance lacing my words.

Yawning and stretching, I make my way across my room to my vanity mirror to get ready.

Sitting down on the small white Lark Manor Letellier Vanity Stool that sits carefully lined with my Ivory Frenchi Home Furnishing vanity. The vanity has an oval mirror, a smooth desk surface, and a small rectangular storage drawer on the front of the desk.

It was something my father thought I could use, although I never do. I’m not one for makeup, my appearance is practically flawless thanks to my werewolf blood.

I stare into the mirror at my reflection. It’s not easy to miss my heart-shaped face or my plump lips since they’re illuminated by my unusually vivid blue eyes and dark black hair.

Looking closer at my image, I notice I’m the basic teenager thin hourglass figure and relatively average height at 168 centimeters.

“ ’Kay Princess, I’ll be in the truck. Hurry up!” My father shouts from downstairs.

I’m not one for fancy clothing either. My arsenal of clothing includes only jeans, sweats, pajamas and various types of t-shirts. Something normal girly-girls would flee from, but I’m not them.

Nibbling my lip, I quickly decide on what to wear, I grab my white ripped skinny jeans and pair it with a basic solid black t-shirt. I leave my flowing black hair down, reaching the middle of my back.

Quickly, I slide my feet into some white tennis shoes and sprint down the stairs into the living room and out the front door to the truck my father is waiting in.

“There you are, Princess. You ready?” My father questions.

“No?” I answer, tilting my head at him in confusion.

Ready for what?

My father’s eyebrows turn into a scowl. “We’re supposed to meet the neighboring pack this morning. They’re having trouble with rogue attacks and as my daughter, you’re coming with me to observe the alpha way.

You will, after all, be turning sixteen soon, so you’ll have your first shift. Even though you won’t be an alpha male, you will more than likely be a Luna, and I’m not going to raise a naïve daughter.”

“Oh,” I say modestly, my cheeks burning in embarrassment.

How could I forget?

My father’s right next month, October, I’ll be turning sixteen, and shifting for me is inevitable. Although he pampers me since my Ma is gone, he still is grounding it into my head that I have to be a capable and independent woman.

My father starts the engine and starts driving toward our neighboring pack.

~

Forty Minutes Later

~

After arriving at our neighboring pack’s edge of their territory, my father’s eyes glaze over, indicating he’s in a pack link. Sitting in my seat of the car, waiting for my father to tell me when to get out, I play a matching game on my phone.

Fear rushes over my spine as my father carefully grasps me by the cheeks to bring my eyes level with his. “Eustacia, this is very important. Stay in this truck with the doors locked and your head down.”

“What’s going on?”

“Just do as you’re told,” he growls at me softly, warning me to obey.

“Yes, Pa,” I soberly reply, I want to know more, but I don’t want to vex him.

My father gives me a kiss on the forehead and gets out of the truck.

Within seconds my father’s clothing shreds and fly around in the air. His large solid black wolf, except for graying around his muzzle zips off towards the direction of the neighboring packhouse.

Only then do I realize something is terribly wrong.

Anxiety swells in my stomach, I wish I could be useful. Yet, all I can do is sit in the truck with the doors locked and my head crouched down. Just like my father said to.

It seems like forever, I tried to count, but I keep losing track. Trying again: one, two, three, four-

BAM! The entire truck shakes and groans as it shifts back into its sitting position, a small scream escaping my lips.

I shake in fear, what rammed into the truck?

I peak my head over the window and see two wolves fighting. One I recognize as my father, his big black wolf fighting with a gray smaller wolf.

The smell of musky woods assaults my senses.

The faint smell my undeveloped senses are picking up, the other wolf must be a rogue. My father’s fur is matted with blood, possibly his own and other victims, baring his teeth he latches onto the back of the gray wolf’s neck.

The gray wolf starts flailing his body around like a fish out of water and manages to shake my father’s grip loose. With the blink of an eye, it latches onto my father’s exposed stomach resulting in blood to begin oozing out of the wound.

As a loud ear-piercing howl fills the air from my father’s wolf he grabs onto the gray wolf’s throat and begins flailing wildly, breaking the rogue’s neck. Blood sprays everywhere, matting my father’s coat and the ground near them.

My weakened father looks back at me with his dull eyes and falls against the ground going motionless.

End of Flashback

~

Grumbling as my alarm wakes me up from my nightmare, I groggily get up and proceed to head out my door before being stopped by a familiar face, Gedeon.

“What can I do for you, Beta Gedeon?” I ask bowing my head in respect. I am, after all, nothing but a lowly servant now, so I must speak to my superiors with titles.

“Good evenin’ miss Eustacia. Alpha Flynn has a request for you. He wants you to visit Emma to have her tell you what to do for his and miss Emma’s courting ceremony,” he instructs.

My stomach immediately drops at that bastard’s name. He’s the reason why I’m in this mess, and I still don’t understand why.

Courting ceremony?

Emma is to become the pack’s Luna?

Well, guess now, I’m f****d.

Elevating my head, I beam a bland smile. “Yes, Beta Gedeon, inform Alpha Flynn I will get to it at once.”

♔ Gedeon (P.O.V)

Reaching the sad excuse for a room, Eustacia has to endure, Gedeon puts his hand to the door, but before he can even knock the door is opened. Thankfully the door opens inward, or he would’ve been hit with the door. Eustacia stands in the doorway as a look of recognition flashed across her face, and she promptly bows her head.

“What can I do for you, Beta Gedeon?” She promptly asks.

The fact the previous Alpha’s daughter is bowing her head to him slightly upsets his stomach, and he wants to tell her to stop. However, he bites his tongue, Flynn wouldn’t take fondly to that.

“Good evenin’ miss Eustacia. Alpha Flynn has a request for you. He wants you to visit Emma to have her tell you what to do for his and miss Emma’s courting ceremony. ”

She lifts her head and smiles, but he could tell it was forced. “Yes, Beta Gedeon, inform Alpha Flynn I will get to it at once.”

After delivering the orders to Eustacia, Gedeon takes his precious time getting back to Flynn’s office.

Flynn is an unstable time bomb, and it’s only a matter of time before he explodes. Sadly being his second in command means he has to be around his bomb-ish personality often. It’s almost like stepping on eggshells around him.

To the outside world, Gedeon who is a towering 198-centimeter tall brute who always has his short black hair sleeked back and the constant resting b***h face could, and would, destroy Flynn in a fight.

Flynn is, after all, a 182-centimeter stout guy who constantly has his medium-length brown hair covered by the bland black beanie he constantly sports. He simply just seems like a poor match against Gedeon.

However, there is just one problem with that. Flynn has alpha blood, and Gedeon does not. Although Gedeon is one of the strongest in the pack ranking system, he is still under the alpha. Their wolves even vary in size, Flynn’s being lager.

The strength difference is a problem, but an Alpha’s wolf is the biggest size of them all, so Gideon’s slightly above average sized wolf would still face a size difference. Sure all of that adds to the reasons Flynn would win, but the matter of fact is that Flynn is simply a ruthless bastard.

Gedeon silently shakes his head, clearing his thoughts, and makes his way to his room. Luckily not having to go far.

As he opens the door to his room, he’s greeted by a woman, “Gedeon.” The woman smiles when she sees him and the room instantly has a lighter feeling to it.

“Leah,” Gedeon picks the small 168-centimeter tall woman up and holds her close in a warm embrace and inhales deeply. “I love you.”

The warmth mixed with the electricity from holding his mate, no doubt coursing through his body. Nuzzling his face into her blonde hair that is cut into a medium length bob cut, he slowly kisses their mate mark.

The beautiful indigo tattoo-like markings form the shape of two wolves howling together in a moon. Which is barely covering the scar the canine-like bite to create the mark caused. Small lines trail around the bottom of the moon, carefully forming into the capital letters L and G.

“I love you too.” Leah hugs him tightly and begins using their mate bond so no one else can hear them. After all, the walls have ears.

“What’s wrong, my love?” She questions.

Gedeon wasn’t surprised that she knew something was bothering him. After all, they are mates, so she knows everything he feels, even more so when they’re together.

“Flynn has decided to take the forgotten as his luna.” The shock rushed through his body as he felt her reaction to it.

“He’s taking Emma as his mate when he has a mate out there.” She growls softly. It wasn’t a question it was a statement, one filled with anger and pity.

“She’s a w***e! Not to mention her attitude, let alone the fact she’s an omega!” She exclaims. “Gedeon you know I didn’t want to stay after he started treating Stacy the way he did, and I would’ve left the pack after I turned eighteen. Except I found out you were my mate when I went to tell you I was leaving.”

"I know,” Gedeon whispers.

“Gedeon if he goes through with this I’m leaving. I won’t be a beta to that whore.”

She’s right if Emma becomes the luna, she’ll be forced to be her beta.

The male beta normally helps the alpha while the female helps the luna. It’s simply easier for them not to clash that way.

He gently sits Leah back on the floor and kisses her on the forehead. “I’ll see you later honey, we’ll talk then,” he says smiling, love filling his heart.