Elemental Queen

Chapter 4: Wolves and Mates

Steel POV

My bones started to crack and morph into the form that I had seen and within minutes I found myself standing on all fours. Looking down, I saw the purest white fur covering my paws. Looking up, I saw a pond not far from where I was and walked over to it to see what I looked like, and I have to say I was amazing.

Staring back at me were not the brown eyes with golden flecks that I have in my human form, but the bluest eyes that almost looked like diamonds. My entire body was completely white except for three things that made me gasp in surprise. On my chest was a heart in midnight blue, across my side was a neon green sword and at my hip was the elemental sign for fire in orange. All of these things point to one thing that I had only heard of in stories. Growing up, our father always made sure that Crystal and I knew the stories of the brave elemental queen and her elemental warrior. It was said that the warrior was a person in the queen's life that would do anything to protect her, even if it meant giving up his life for her. It was also said that the queen would one day come back during times of need and that with her would be her warrior. You would know them from the distinct markings on their fur whenever they were in wolf form. The warrior will always have a sword on their ribcage in their favorite color and the queen's crown will always be on her brow in her favorite color.

Turning around quickly, I ran over to the tree where I had left Crystal behind. I knew that she had to be the next elemental queen and I needed to make sure that she was OK. When I reached the tree, I stopped gasping at the sight in front of me. Standing in front of me was my sister's wolf, and she was an amazing sight to see. Crystal's wolf was pure white, just like Colton, but her markings were those of a queen. Across her chest was a royal purple heart, across her forehead was a hot pink crown and on her hip was the elemental symbol of water in aqua blue. Her eyes trained on me and I found myself mesmerized by the hot pink eyes that were looking back at me. Even in wolf form, I found myself bowing in front of my beautiful sister letting her know that her form was one that I would always respect and protect for the rest of my days.

"Steel, what are you doing? Never bow to me Brother. I will always see you as an equal, no matter what happens to us. I can't believe that we are the elemental queen and warrior that father used to tell us about. Do you think that father may have had an idea that was going on? Maybe that is why he said that one day he would find us and was not angry when we revealed that we had 3 different colors in our hair." Crystal exclaimed, making me smile. Her mind was doing ok with all of this.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa speedy calm down. I don't know if dad knew about what we were. I certainly hope that we do get to see him again someday little one. OK, now I need to know something. What is your wolf's name? As we know, all the queens have a name that is similar to a gemstone. So what is yours?" I looked at her, actually excited to know the name of the queen wolf that I was to protect. "Her name is Saphira and she is a blessing brother. She was patient with me and helps so much and......."

Suddenly, she started to sniff the air and was looking at me with wide eyes. I started to sniff the air as well and all that I could smell was the loveliest smell, which was a mixture of hot chocolate and cinnamon. My mate was nearby, I could tell, and I was more than excited to see her. I looked over at Crystal, and she was still sniffing the air like she couldn't get enough of a certain scent.

"Little one, what do you smell? Are you ok?" I asked her, and she looked at me with wide eyes and I knew what she was about to say, "Steel, I think my mate is nearby, I smell a mixture of lillies and freshly printed books and all I want to do is find where it is coming from."

"I know what you mean. I can smell my mate too. Come on, let's go pack and hide the bikes and then go search for them, OK? Once we find them, we will come back for our stuff, OK?" Nodding, we both shift back and get our clothes back on. We headed back to our campsite and started to pack up. As we were almost done putting our stuff away, the smell started to get stronger, and soon it started to overpower our senses. Crystal and I both turned around to where the scents were coming from, and we were met with the faces of 3 people. Standing there was the prince and 2 women just staring at us. One of the women was in a protective stance in front of the prince as he stood there staring at my little sister as the other woman stood there staring at me like I was a piece of candy that she wanted more than anything. I looked into her eyes and as I did, Colton started to go crazy in my head.

"MATE! THAT IS OUR MATE! CAN WE GO TO HER PLEASE? I WANT TO HOLD HER SO BADLY!" Colton started to yell in my head. I told him to calm down and to give us a minute. We needed to make sure that Crystal was ok first before we go to our mate. After he agreed and calmed down, I turned to Crystal and placed my hand on her shoulder. As she looked at me, I heard 2 growls. My mate and the prince were not happy with that move, but I was more worried about Crystal. I have to admit that hearing my mate's growl made me hard, but I can't focus on that now. Knowing that I was about to put their jealousy to rest, I looked at Crystal and said, "Little sis, are you ok? I am right here with you no matter what, OK? If you are scared, tell me and I will help you no matter what. That is what brothers and protectors are for, am I right?" Nodding while looking at me, Crystal turns to look at the prince, "I'm ok bubba. I will always need you near me, because with you, I will always be safe. However, I know that my mate will never hurt me, so go bubba and claim your mate because I want to do the same." Nodding, I turned to the 3 that were waiting for us to finish our conversation. The prince and my mate had sheepish looks on their faces as they had realized that their worries were for nothing.

"Stand down Kaylee. I think we are all good. Plus, I really wanna go to my mate." The prince said as he placed a hand on the woman who was protecting him. Kaylee, who had been the woman that was standing in front of him, stood up and stepped behind the prince and my mate. As soon as she did, I rushed over to my mate and stood there taking her in. She was shorter then me with golden-brown hair with sea foam green and deep forest-green streaks throughout it. She looked at me with the most lovely deep green eyes and in a loud clear voice, "Mate!" Softly growling, I took her into my arms and held her while taking in her scent. Seeing that she was doing the same thing, I held her closer and asked her what her name was. She looked up at me and answered that her name was Izabella. "That is a beautiful name for a beautiful wolf. I promise to always love you, my little pixie stick."

As I held her, I looked over to my little sister to make sure that she was ok. I could see her and the prince standing there staring at each other. He had his hand on her cheek and she was leaning into it. "What is your name, little one?" He asked her in a soft voice that I knew she would grow to love.

"Crystal, my name is Crystal," she responded in a voice that caused the prince to purr out of love, "Well, Crystal, I cannot tell you how happy I am to find you. My name is Apollo and I promise to love you always." With that Crystal jumped up into his arms and clung to him like she was never going to let him go. As soon as she jumped down to stand next to him, I led Iza over to them and held out my hand to the prince.

"Hi, I am Crystal's twin brother and guardian warrior. My name is Steel." Shaking my hand, Apollo chuckled softly, "Sorry for growling earlier. I didn't know that you were siblings, but now that I do, it is good to know that my queen has a good guardian watching after her. Kaylee, come here. This is Kaylee, my beta. She is very protective of me and Iza. We were told that there were 2 unknown wolves in the woods and my father sent us to look for them. Imagine what a surprise he will have when he finds out that it was our mates out here. Go ahead and finish packing up your stuff, and we will take you guys to the castle."

Nodding, both me and Crystal turned to finish packing when Kaylee cleared her throat at us. Turning to her, we waited to see what she had to say.

"How long have you guys had your wolves? Just wondering." She said with a sad and soft smile on her face.

Crystal turned to her with a knowing smile, "Today was our first shift. Today is our 16th birthday and when we revealed ourselves to our pack we had to take off right away. They thought that we were sirens and were ashamed of us. Well, everyone except our father, who is the alpha of our pack. He has always had our backs no matter what and I miss him so much."

"Who is your father, Angel? I will have him come to the castle so you can see him again," Apollo asked as he pulled Crystal close to him.

"Our father is John Silvermist of the Silvermist Cove Pack. We are his middle children after Raylynn and right before Godric our little brother." I responded knowing that my sister missed dad more than anything. Apollo looked at me sharply after hearing, "Wait, you guys are Uncle John's kids that he is looking for?! Oh my Goddess, we definitely need to get you guys to the castle right away. Your father is at the castle looking for you guys. Kaylee, go and run ahead and warn the guards that me and Iza are coming in hot. Iza and I will ride with Crystal and Steel on their bikes."

Crystal and I collected our bikes and mounted them. Crystal started to panic about the fact that we didn't have extra helmets for our mates, but Apollo assured her that it was fine. This would allow the guards to see him and Iza and make sure that we would be able to just glide right past. With that, we took off and headed to the castle,