Related to the enemy princess

Chapter 1

Rogan

Lay in my bed, desperately trying to find a peace of mind that kept slipping away. Every night, for the past three days, my mind kept spiraling back to the tragic loss of my father and sister. I had buried them just three days ago, but it felt like an eternity. Their absence hung over me like a heavy, unshakable weight. The pain gnawed at me from the inside, but that wasn’t the worst part. No, the worst part was this constant, gnawing feeling that their spirits were calling out to me, lost somewhere in the ether, and I couldn’t reach them. Every time I closed my eyes, a wave of terror would engulf me. The insomnia clung to me like an old, unwelcome friend, offering no reprieve, no escape.

I knew why. I had lost my mother ten years ago. She had given her life to save a woman and her baby trapped in a burning house. I had watched the scene unfold with my own eyes, the flames licking the sky, the heat so intense that it burned my skin just standing near. Since that day, my sleep had been disrupted, haunted by the memory of that fire. Every night, I relived the tragedy in vivid detail, and every night, darkness closed in around me. Even today, after losing my father and sister, I found myself battling these inner demons, unable to find peace.

My sister — she had been everything to me. My wolf, my protector, my accomplice. I remembered the times we had hunted together, roaming the wild, untamed forests. We were inseparable, bound by a shared blood, united in our pack. But all that had changed the night of the Red Moon Pack’s attack. My father had known the battle would be brutal, but I didn’t know how prepared he truly was. He had made arrangements for his own end, and I had never even suspected. Mollard, the alpha of the Red Moon Pack, had infiltrated us, and everything had happened so quickly. They attacked us without warning. To protect me, my father had drugged me, locked me in a room, and kept me from the chaos of the battle. But in doing so, he had sacrificed himself — and my sister’s life along with his.

When I came to, everything was a blur. The pain throbbed in my head like the beating of a war drum. I was lying in my bed, and Rabed, my beta, was standing by the window, his gaze distant, lost. His eyes were dark, filled with sorrow. A dull fear washed over me.

"What happened... Why does my head hurt so much?" My voice trembled, and I knew already something was wrong.

He turned towards me, clearly shaken. He knelt, one knee on the ground, in a gesture of respect he usually reserved for the alpha on duty.

I stared at him, completely stunned. "Why are you acting like this? What’s going on, Rabed?" My heart raced. Why was he treating me like this, when I was... still me, the alpha of the pack? The situation made no sense.

I rushed to the window, my eyes scanning the courtyard below. I saw groups of people gathered, their faces grave. "Why is everyone outside… Where is my father?" My tone grew urgent. My whole body tensed, adrenaline surging. The war… I was supposed to be on the battlefield. Why was I lying in bed when I should have been there, fighting?

"I’m sorry, Alfa," Rabed whispered, his tears spilling freely.

I didn’t understand anymore. "Rabed… why are you talking to me like this? Why this respect, when I’m just… me?" I grabbed his shirt, pulling him up roughly to meet my gaze. "Tell me what happened. Why am I here and not on the battlefield?"

The words that finally left his mouth, broken and interrupted by sobs, struck me like a punch to the gut.

"The king is dead," he said, his breath ragged with tears.

I let go of his shirt as if my hands suddenly lacked the strength to hold it. A wave of dizziness hit me. The ground seemed to fall away beneath my feet. My father… Dead. The brutality of the thought overwhelmed me, and I rushed out of the room, my heart pounding violently in my chest. Each beat felt like it was choking me. My body trembled, my vision blurred. It was too much.

I found myself outside, barely able to stand on my shaking legs, unable to grasp the reality of what Rabed had just told me. My father was… gone. My sister too. Everything I had known, everything I had, had collapsed in an instant. And I couldn’t do anything to save them.

When I reached outside, I expected to find only my father’s lifeless body lying there, a symbol of the end of everything I knew. But seeing Jaden, my beloved little wolf, lying next to him, my heart shattered even more, as though another part of my soul had been ripped away.

"No… Not this…" I whispered, my voice broken, my throat tight with unbearable pain. I threw myself onto their bodies without a care for anything else. I was in complete shock, unable to process the reality of what was happening.

"Why did you do this to me, Amine? Who did this?" I tried to understand, but anger flooded me, and with it, Jaden, my wolf, began to take control. The beast within me was ready to destroy everything, ready to hunt down those who had destroyed my family. I could feel my muscles tighten, my teeth clench, and my eyes shift into those of a raging animal. I transformed instantly.

"Who killed my father and my sister?!" I roared, my voice turning into a primal cry, a call for vengeance. The wind howled around me, carrying my words and my pain away.

"It was Mollard. Amine died saving your father," Rabed said, having joined me, his words heavy with sorrow.