The Queen Alpha

New Years Eve

(Emma)

I stare out at all the dancing and laughing pack members below in the ballroom. The New Years Eve party has been a success so far and I’m glad Kara let me plan it, I’ve felt pretty useless lately and luckily I can plan most of a party from my couch. I watch as the younger girls giggle and huddle in one corner while the boys stand by the punch they most likely spiked and point subtly at the girls. It must be exciting to be their age and have so many friends to get into mischief with. My high school experience was very different. I had a couple friends but they were both omegas and just as undesirable as I was. Carter was untouchable then, he never even looked at me and usually pretended I didn’t exist.

“Hey Em, you enjoying the party?” Felix comes up to stand next to me and I half smile at him. He always looks so adorable in a tuxedo. Despite the gel in his hair, a single curl has managed to break loose and dangles above his eye.

I watch as a few of the older girls look up at the balcony and wave flirtatiously at Felix.

“Enjoying as much as I can, my feet are so swollen I took my heels off hours ago.” I lift the hem of my golden silk skirt to show off my puffy ankles.

He grimaces at my pain, then winks at the girls below, which causes an outburst of giggles “I’m really sorry my Queen.” He says absentmindedly, his eyes roaming over the eager prospects.

“Gods I forget how young you are sometimes.” I laugh, shaking my head. “It must be hard being such a handsome kid in a room full of desperate girls.”

He holds his chest. “Hey now, sometimes it is hard. I never know which girl I should make out with behind the stairwell at these events. You kiss the wrong one and suddenly half of them hate you for a week.”

I roll my eyes. “Yes must be very difficult being a single teenage boy with unlimited access to girls.”

We tease each other playfully for a minute before he takes off to go talk to the group.

I go downstairs to the lobby, desperate to find somewhere to rest my feet. I sink into a nice, comfortable couch and fight the urge to doze off as my baby twirls and moves inside of me. “Sweet boy, as much as I love being this close to you, I’m giving your eviction notice now. I need you to get out of me so everyone can meet you. And so you’ll stop making me miserable.” I say, patting a lump that’s either his butt or his head sticking out.

“Are your feet troubling you again?” Kara’s crisp voice pulls my gaze upright and I marvel briefly at her black satin gown. She looks stunning, as always. Her hair is pinned up around the crown she wears and the corset of her dress makes her breasts look like they’re levitating.

I sigh heavily and nod. “Yes, I wish midnight would hit already so I can go home and ice them.”

Kara sits next to me and rest my head on her shoulder. “I can have Felix drive you home if you’d like. I’m sure he’ll have plenty of other opportunities to flirt.”

I smile sleepily at her. “No it’s fine I can wait for-“ her work phone rings, interrupting my thought.

She pulls it out of her corset, mouthing an apology to me and I nod in understanding.

“Hello?” Her face goes rigid. “Oh, hello Mr. Balt. Is there a reason your calling me this late on a holiday?” She stands to walk away but I grab her arm. Why do the Balt’s even have her number?

“If there was an emergency why aren’t you calling the Vice President? He is in charge of-“ Kara pauses, her expression unreadable. “Excuse me but if you accusing me of blowing up one of my own ships because your men are on it, you must not be a very good businessmen. Those ships cost millions of dollars. Why would I blow up an investment of that magnitude simply because of a short term relationship you had with my wife? Even I am not that vengeful.” She waits again for him to answer and my stomach twists with anxiety. “Okay, give me just one moment to get up to my office and call a few people. Do you need search and rescue dispatched or have you already called the cost guard? Excellent, I’ll call you right back.”

She hangs up the phone and rubs her temple. “I’m going to have to go upstairs and make a few calls. One of the cargo ships that the Balt’s were renting from me has exploded, and it seems as if it was intentional. Luckily it was coming back from dropping off their supplies but it’s still a major loss of crew to them and an entire ship to my company. I have to call insurances and get an investigation started..”

“Why are you in business with them?” I question, irritation tangled in my words. She smirks at me, which makes my blood boil. I don’t see what’s so funny.

“The night we met, I had signed an agreement with Jeremy for a three year lease of two cargo ships, don’t you remember? They had a buyer for their furniture in Russia but couldn’t find a shipping company that would loan to them. You were too caught up in our kiss to have listened to anything that was said.”

I frown, embarrassed at my tone. “That’s right, I’m sorry I just hate the idea that I could ever see them again, that my son-“

“Emma, the lease is only for another 2 years or so, and I won’t renew with them. We won’t have to deal with them after that, neither will our son. But I have to get to the bottom of this, someone is using the strained relationship between us to make it look like I blew up my own ship. I’ll have Felix take you home and hopefully this won’t take hours.” She kisses me and disappears up the stairwell to a private office.

I sigh and pull out my phone to text Felix that he needs to take me home really quick, then he can come back to the party afterwards.

It doesn’t take long before he appears, holding my coat and snow boots. I slip them on and we head out the back entrance to where my van is waiting. Felix gets in the drivers seat and I get comfortable in the passenger side.

“I hope everything’s alright with Kara.” He tries making conversation but I’m so tired I can barely keep my eyes open. We drive further into the woods and I’m almost asleep when the vehicle stops suddenly, sliding a bit on the icy road.

“What’s wrong?” I mumble, stretching and trying to see clearly through the snowfall. A women is running towards the car, waving her hands frantically.

Felix rolls his window down slightly and I see a car in the ditch in front of us, the back door open and a baby’s cry echos. “Please help me, I’ve been in an accident. My baby, she’s bleeding and I can’t get her car seat out. Please don’t let my baby die!” She sobs and immediately I open my passenger door and hop out.

“Your Grace, wait for me!” Felix shouts as I follow the mother back to her car.

“Quick, grab the first aid kit!” I holler back.

The woman is taller than I am, and I don’t recognize her as a member of our pack. Her golden hair is tucked carefully under a pink wool hat and her tan skin lets me know she’s not from around here. “Thank you so much, I was coming up here to visit my brother and show him my daughter but then I hit a patch of ice and..”

I pat her shoulder. “It’s alright, we’re going to help you two.” I assure her and I can hear Felix digging through the backseat for a first aid kit.

I lean into the back seat to take a look at her child’s injuries. I pull the blanket down and find a fake baby with a recorder playing the cry. I hear Felix scream something from our vehicle. Just as I turn around, the women stabs a needle into my neck, and a burning sensation radiates down my chest.

“What are.. you.. doing..” I mumble, my mouth not seeming to work correctly. I try to call out for Felix but my eyes drift shut and everything fades to black.

(Amber)

“Emma watch out!” The Gamma shouts and tries to run towards us. I shove the needle into Emma’s neck before she can use her dark magic on me. I support her body as she slumps down, and Carter’s Beta, Monty, leaps from the bushes and slams the Gamma’s head against their SUV, knocking him out.

“Help me get her in the backseat.” I grunt, trying to lift Emma’s dead weight. Monty yanks the fake baby and car seat out and tosses it into the woods, making room for the pregnant woman. I look over her curiously and Monty carefully lays her down in the back seat. She looks nothing like what I expected, her face is puffy and even if she wasn’t pregnant something tells me her cheeks are always fat. She isn’t obese, but she definitely doesn’t work out or try to look appealing for her mate. It’s a shame the queen has such a lazy wife.

“Okay, give me the shackles.” I instruct and Monty hands me a velvet bag, I carefully clip the chains onto her wrists.

“What if she’s able to break out of them?” Monty questions and I sigh angrily. We don’t have time to sit here and ponder. We need to get out of here before anyone sees us.

“Go grab the Gamma, Emma is probably attached to him and wouldn’t want anything to happen to him.” Minty does as he’s told, effortlessly tossing the young boy over his shoulder and putting him in the trunk, tightly binding his hands and feet with silver laced rope while wearing gloves in order to do so.

I crawl into the passenger seat, eager to get my prisoners home and show Carter what an excellent Luna I am. He’ll be so proud that I successfully captured Emma and am bringing our son home.