KING

CHAPTER EIGHT

AARON

The crowd fell into an abrupt silence. We stood there, with him smirking and me glaring. Though I couldn’t feel the tension in the air, I saw others shifting uncomfortably in their places from my peripheral vision.

“Come for treats Sharp?” Tristan said in a mocking voice.

Oh so he wants to play a game! Very well then, “Actually I’ve bought some for you.”

Tristan raised his brows amused, “Well then you shouldn’t keep me waiting.”

I reached into my pockets searching dramatically for something that was never there. Looking up I faked an apology, “Sorry. I think I left the dog food back home. I’ll bring it to you next time.”

Two people held onto Tristan as he was ready to pounce on me. “Get out of my Kingdom dog. How dare you insult me?”

“This isn’t your Kingdom and I’m sure you mistook me for the dog rather than you. You call yourself a werewolf? I heavily doubt that,” I was having my moment and to make it fun I had hit a nerve.

“You bastard! I’ll show you your place.” Tristan let out a fierce growl. Breaking free of the hold of the two men he ran towards me. I pushed Gavin away. He had no reason to get injured.

He threw a punch at my face which I avoided just in time. He swung his left fist at me; which again I dodged in time. While I was ricocheting he grabbed the rolled up part of my shirt on my hand. In my defense I tried to pull away my hand from him which resulted in the ripping of the right arm of my shirt.

“Proving to be the best dog ever. I think I can take you home,” I said in a sing song voice.

This seemed to break his limits as he snarled, baring his canines at me. I could hear ripping of each and every single thread of his clothes. The sound of bone cracking rippled through the air as he began to shift. His eyes went red while fur started ascending his elongating and enlarging limbs and body. And just in a few seconds stood a huge auburn wolf.

Werewolves are half human and half wolf. Of course you knew that. But what you may or may not know is that in human form the wolf is controlled totally by the human part, but when a werewolf shifts the animal part and the human part both have equal control on the body. The difference between a wolf and a werewolf is that the human part in the werewolf thinks rationally and has the advantage over the animalistic instincts, whereas a normal wolf just acts on its animalistic nature. Thus giving the upper hand to werewolves.

But in some cases the human part falls weak and submits to the wolf part. So when such a werewolf shifts, it becomes totally brainless and only tries to fulfill its animal urges. Such was the case with this fool Tristan. Not that I would admit that he was any better in his human form. He was always primal though he still was half human. I often found him bullying other wolves when I used to visit this pack frequently with my grandfather. Being the pack’s beta’s son, no one dared to say a word to him.

He gnarled way too loudly and advanced me challenging me to shift. To say I’d back away would be the understatement of the year. Being an alpha, it hurt my wolf’s pride too much. Ripping my already ripped shirt to shreds I let my wolf take control. In a fraction of a second I stood, my head held high, with a smug look on my face.

Blame him if he couldn’t tolerate my attitude as he came growling at me in full speed. In a split second I moved to the side in my defense. I was not going to put my claws on him first unless and until I got a scratch. I don’t want to start another dispute here when I came to settle one.

Each attack that he put out, I dodged it skillfully. Not being able to harm me let alone a scratch, his attacks started to become directionless, hoping one of them will get to me. But none did.

His pace was slowing down with time. As he was about to jump on me, I jumped ahead of time on him and placed my right foreleg on his neck. I towered high above him showcasing my teeth at his face. While being under me he tried to counterattack but I got his neck under my claws in time and growled loudly at him. He cowered at the intensity of my growl which made me feel proud.

Cheers and howls erupted from the crowd as I stepped down from his neck. He had already shifted back to his human form. Gavin came next to me wavering a pair of trousers at me. I took it in my mouth and hurried to a tree. Shifting back I pulled up the trousers to my waist and stepped out. Tristan was dressed by the time I came out.

“One day I’ll be the king and let’s see who wins,” Tristan said glaring at me.

“Yeah! One day! Which is…” I stood there pretending to think, “…never going to come.”

Tristan’s voice seethed with anger as he growl-shouted, “You bastard! I’ll show you who owns th-” Tristan’s voice was cut off when a booming voice cut through the air. “You sure do own your place here but not the crown. And as long as you want to stay in here Tristan you’ve to stay under my guidelines.”

I looked at the back door to see King Alpha Nicholas and Queen Luna Athena standing. Both of their eyes landed on me to which I bowed my head respectfully. Nodding his head at me King Nic turned his gaze to Tristan who stood there adamantly. From somewhere in the opposite direction the pack’s beta Matthew, who was also Tristan’s father, came running to greet the King.

“Your Highness, welcome back!” Matt bowed down to both of them. His eyes then travelled to Tristan and a hint of shame and hurt flashed through his eyes. Though he was more than a half decade old, he looked like a man in his thirties. But in this moment, he seemed to age a couple of decades for his son’s behavior.

“I see your son has again made an i***t of himself, Matthew,” the King said without turning his gaze still fixated on Tristan.

“It would be my fault Sir. I have not taught him proper manners,” Matt replied in a defeated tone.

“Don’t take this on you Matt. You don’t deserve this,” the Queen came down, placing her hand on Matt’s shoulder.

“I don’t know who deserves what, but I know what I deserve,” Tristan mocked the King.

The King really knew how to control his anger or something. The Queen sounded really annoyed at this, “Don’t start again Tristan. You know this is not going to end well.”

“Why not?” Tristan’s voice pitched a higher tone as he continued, “Being the beta’s son, I’m the rightful heir of the throne after the real one. But looking at the facts the real one doesn’t exist, so I’m the next in line.”

“Stop it Tristan,” Matt gave out a warning growl.

Tristan being the jerk he was kept pushing, “You don’t have a child to succeed the throne. And even if you do have, then he’s not worthy of the throne, he doesn’t know the people like I do.”

“Is this how you know your people? Is making them fight brutally,” the Queen gestured towards the small circle of crowd and then to me, “and bullying them seem like that?”

“I know better. Living in the twenty first century doesn’t mean that we changed into humans. We were werewolves and will still stay the same. Doing things the human way, is a shame to our kind,” Tristan spitted the last words out.

“Enough!” The Kings commanding voice rattled the air around. It was full of so much authority that I jumped my bones a little. “Being werewolves doesn’t mean to lose your morals and you talk about being a shame! Look at yourself, losing dignity over and over again.”

“Nic calm down. He’s just a kid. He’ll learn,” Queen Athena laced her fingers through King Nic’s hand, “And stop being so hard on your father Tristan. You’re a big boy now.” I could tell from her face that she was tense about what would happen once the King loses his cool.

All of a sudden Tristan laughed hysterically. “Hard you say. I’m not being hard on your old asses. You are!” He pointed to the King and Queen’s faces, “Give me the throne and I’ll take care of the rest.”

“You need a lesson for talking to the His Majesty like this.” Matt was advancing his son when King Nic stopped him on the way. “No need for that Matt. I’ve an important announcement to make,” he paused mid sentence. Queen Athena gave him a nod to which he continued, “My Blood is coming home soon. Your soon to be King.”