The Queen Of Tricks

A Fox Journey

An hour later he didn't once get distracted.

He didn't get distracted when a group of young wolves ran onto our path. It took one icy look from the female wolf for the kids to turn on their heels and run like they saw a bloody ghost.

He also didn't get distracted when a squirrel almost ran over our feet. Which made me really disappointed because I thought dogs loved squirrels. And he was clearly a dog.

The four of us walked at a slow pace through dark trees for over an hour. We passed rivers, walked over creaks. Climbed up hills. The sun was just starting to set, the four of us barely speaking. Cassar's eyes lightened to a natural dark brown colour.

Once in awhile Cassar would look at me. Open his mouth like he was about to say something, but quickly snap it shut when he saw my glare. Good. I didn't want to speak to him anyways.

Every step we took he seemed to calm down more and more. Every step I took I became more and more anxious. I was running out of time to make my getaway.

I made sure to keep my emotions in check though, trying to calm myself down. The last thing I needed was to become panicky, and cloud my judgement. I had been in lots of worse situations before, but something about this felt different.

My instincts were telling me something was very very different.

The only person that didn't seem to have a problem with speaking was the Aaron Rodgers look alike. Him and the female were walking beside each other a couple of feet in front of Cassar Salvaterre and me.

He turned around, giving me a small wave. "I'm Gage by the way."

He put his arm out so I could shake it. I was contemplating on ignoring it when I heard the Alpha growl at Gage's hand. Of course I had to shake it. Only to be polite. Gage only rolled his eyes at the Alpha, while I shook his hand. A little longer than necessary too. When he realised I wasn't going to say anything back, he asked. "Your name?"

I gave him a sarcastic smile. "I don't have one."

The female snorted in response.

I recognised his name as soon as he said it. Every wolf pack hierarchy is the same. They have the Alpha on top, Beta who is the second, and a chosen Third. The Alpha and Beta are chosen by blood. The gene passed from parent to child. The Third is chosen by the Alpha.

They have no extra skills, not like the Alpha and Beta who are stronger, faster, and more powerful than the average wolf. The Third is chosen based purely on respect. Respect from the Alpha and the Pack. They were normally always the most liked wolf in the pack.

I'd heard of Gage Waters before. In my investigations and through the rumour mill. He was chosen by the Alpha because the Pack respected him so much, and he was known for his patience. That impressed me. Rumour had it, the Alpha and Third were very close friends. That disappointed me. It did explain how he could roll his eyes and not get decapitated.

Gage pointed to the female walking beside him. "And this is Harlen, one of the Packs best warriors."

She turned her head to the side and gave me a nod, I nodded back in recognition and admiration. She definitely deserved a nod. She came from a long line of warriors. A group of wolf shifters that dedicated their lives to protecting the Moon Goddess. When the Goddess disappeared she did not take the warriors with her. For a while the shifters went Rogue, sticking to themselves. Not causing trouble, but not stopping it either. Eventually as time passed the legends started to disappear. Every once in a while one of the children will pop up in some pack or some part of the world, proving the old stories true about the powerful warriors.

Harlen was one of those children. She did not disappoint.

Finally I opened my mouth to ask the million dollar question. "Where are we going?"

The Alpha looked at me. Surprised that I actually did something other than growl and glare at him. "To the packhouse."

I had to stop my jaw from dropping. The Viribus Pack house was on the side of a mountain in the heart of their territory. There was no way we were going to walk all the way there. It would take us days at this pace.

I definitely wasn't going to shift, giving up my true identity. Cassar would no doubt rip and shove my own eyeballs down my throat and feed the rest of me to his hounds.

If he caught me. Thinking about running, I glanced around the tree line. Cassar noticed my wandering eye, he growled at me. I bared my teeth at him.

"In a couple of minutes we'll be at a road and a car will pick us up to take us the rest of the way." Aaron Rodgers/Gage said trying to smooth out the tension. It didn't work. It only made my brain work harder. Once I got into that car my chances of escaping would drop drastically.

I waited for the perfect opportunity, but nothing came. In a few minutes we saw the road. Parked on the side of the dirt road was a clean white five seater Audi. It stood out against the dark green forest. I rolled my eyes thinking back to the simple red Volkswagen the Algoren Pack had.

Alpha Cassar turned his head to the female, still keeping his body facing me as if I might bolt. Smart boy. He nodded his head at her. "Harlen."

She nodded back. She gave me one last look before she turned around and shifted into a giant black wolf. Her fur matching her hair. She took off into the trees heading in the direction of the packhouse.

Cassar and Gage watched as Harlen left. They were distracted. Quickly I took two steps back. Flinging my body in the other direction not making a sound.

Before I could even take another step a large hand grabbed the back of my jacket forcing me into his chest. I groaned at the impact. Apparently he wasn't as distracted as I thought. I pushed away from the Alpha who was glaring at me, his eyes black once again.

"Don't." He commanded.

"Or what?" I challenged. There was no way I was going to let this overgrown poodle take charge of me. He wasn't the boss of me. There was no way he was my mate, no matter what he thought.

"Or else I won't be so nice."

"You call this nice?" I appalled. Gesturing between the two of us.

"As a matter of fact I do." He growled, looking down at me. "Do you want to see me angry?"

I saw Gage shudder a bit when I said, "Actually yes. I would love too."

He glared at me again. I was getting under his skin. Just what I wanted. When shifters got angry, they were easily distracted. When they were angry, they didn't think smart. Which would give me the perfect opportunity I've been waiting for.

"Careful, last time you dared me, you changed your mind."

"Yeah when you were about to kill someone. Sorry I don't take death as a joke." I gave him a pointed look.

"He attacked you."

"Here we go again. He did not attack me, he tackled me." Every word I gritted out became louder than the last.

He growled, but before he could say anything else Gage let out a cough. Alpha Cassar gave him a look, but he stood up straight not falling for my trick. He put his arm around my shoulder pushing me toward the car, making me squirm out of his touch.

"Just get in the car." He struggled with the word. "Please."

"No." I said again, slamming my feet into the ground.

"What do you want?" He asked me.

"What?" I gave him a confused look. What does he mean what do I want?

"What do I have to do to get you in the car?" He looked serious, like he was actually contemplating making a deal.

"Let me go." I put my hands on my hips looking up at him.

"Other than that." He sighed.

He was serious. He was actually willing to bargain with me. Too bad he didn't know I was was called the Queen of Tricks. I stood there for a moment thinking.

"I want a meeting with Alpha Soren." I finally decided. I wasn't getting anywhere standing out here. If Cassar really wanted, he could easily force me into the car, but he was being civil. I would try to be civil back. For now.

Besides it wasn't about the game. It was about how you played it. You have to think in the short run, but the long run was even more important. Make moves available for your future.

He growled at the mention of another males name. Wolves.

"Why?"

"I don't have to answer that." I folded my arms across my chest.

After a long pause the Alpha gave a long painful sigh. "Fine."

"Unsupervised," I added.

"No way." He shot down.

"Then no deal."

"Then I will just throw you into the car." He took a couple of steps closer to me. My eyes widened, clearly showing I was afraid. I made a couple of steps backwards. It had him stopping. Taking a deep breath, Cassar breathed, "Fine."

I gave him an obvious fake smile, showing I had played him. I skipped over to the car. As he opened the car door for me I dropped my smile and glared at him, but crawled inside. Before he could close my door I slammed it shut for him. Take that you overgrown poodle.

Giving me another look he walked to the other side of the car sliding in beside me. Rodgers/Gage got into the passenger seat in front of me. The driver already moving the car forward. He was an older man, with greying hair at the top of his head. He smelt like a wolf.

"Put your seat belt on," Cassar mumbled to me as he put his on.

I didn't. I just sat in my seat, back rigid. I resorted to making the drive as uncomfortable as possible for the males in the car. I saw Gage already shifting awkwardly in the front seat. Good. The driver was trying his best to ignore us.

I almost felt bad, but it was his alphas fault.

Cassar Salvaterre looked over at me. He opened his mouth but shut it quickly. He did this a few times looking a little lost. Finally he choked out the words. "What's your name?"

I didn't even look at him, just stared out the window. Ignoring him.

"Where are you from?" Again I ignored him.

I wonder if I could open the door fast enough to jump out.

"Why were you with the Algoren Pack?" He tried again.

It wouldn't be that hard. I wasn't even wearing my seat-belt to slow me down.

"Do you have any family that lives nearby?" He was annoyed.

Good, me too.

I slowly inched my hand to the handle without him noticing. The bargain was to get in the car, not stay in the car.

"Can you shift?" He tried again, not getting the hint that I was not going to answer him. Or not caring.

Faster then lighting I grabbed the door handle and tried to whip the door opened. Key word is tried. I yanked the handle so hard it nearly broke off. The stupid door didn't move. Locked. Only the driver could unlock it. I thought about jumping to the front of the car to strangle the stupid driver for making this so difficult for me.

I let out a very loud cry of frustration as I slammed my body back into the seat. All three males cringed. Cassar gave me an incredulous look.

"You weren't actually planning on jumping out of a moving car, where you?" He shouted. This time I just turned to him, glowering. "Fine, you don't want to talk. That's fine."

Copying my movements, Cassar Salvaterre slammed his body into his own seat. Both of us glaring daggers out our own window. He was such a crybaby.

The driver sat still, tense as he guiding the car along the dirt road. Gage sat still with his hands folded on his lap. The look of pure patience on his face.

We all stayed in our positions for the four hour drive up the curvy mountain. The only thing to keep me busy was watching the trees pass by, watch the sky grow darker, and fiddling with my sister's ring that stayed on my right index finger. The ring was a collection of swirls that started just below the middle of my finger, and went to just above my knuckle.

When my family was living in France, we liked to take walks to the local markets. Taking what we wanted without anyone noticing. She fell in love with the golden ring the second she saw it. I was just about to steal it for her when she stopped me. She shook her head and bought it with her own money. She told me that someone had worked hard to make that ring, they might be depending on the money it would bring.

She didn't steal it, she didn't cheat for it, she didn't lie about it. The ring was honestly hers. From that moment she never took the ring off. She smiled every time she looked at it. To me it was just a ring, but to her, it meant something special. It showed that some things are worth working hard for.

Now every time I looked at the ring, I thought of her. She was one of the good ones.

The car started to slow, dragging me from my thoughts. I swore under my breath. I hadn't even noticed we were so close to the packhouse. I saw a random bright light through the trees. We drove closer to it, the dirt road turning into a paved driveway. We turned around the final curve and saw the Viribus packhouse. My eyes almost bugged out of my head.

If I thought the Algoren packhouse was big, this place was a castle. It had a bunch of different levels, all flat roofs. Modern style. Glass windows bigger than me lined the walls. Part of the castle was pitch black, the other parts dark wood. From outside I could see wolves walking inside the huge house, going about their business.

My jaw was on the ground. Why I hadn't robbed this pack yet was mind blowing.

I looked at the others in the car. They didn't seemed fazed at all. Only Cassar Salvaterre had a reaction, but that reaction was directed at me. He had a slight smile on his lips. Amusement in his eyes. That just made me glare at him. How dare he look at me when I wasn't paying attention.

"We can go inside." The Alpha said getting out of the car. Pack members started appearing out of nowhere to see who had arrived.

"Pardon?" I stepped out of the car, looking at him like he had three heads. He gave me a blank stare.

"We can" he gestured between us, "go inside." He gestured to the castle. Then he mumbled to himself. "Who's dense now?"

"Still you," I mumbled right back. "But why would I go inside? So you can finally kill me?"

He took a deep slow breath. "I'm not going to hurt you."

"I know that pup. I would like to see you try." I smirked at him. He growled at the pup comment. He probably could hurt me, but at this point I was willing to take the chance. "That doesn't mean I'm going inside your house of horrors."

His nostrils flared. "Does everything have to be a fight with you?"

"When I'm being kidnapped? Taken against my will? To an unknown area? With a dumb-ass psycho mutt? Yes it does!" I yelled. The panic was started to set in. There was no way I could be trapped here. I have places to go, people to meet, things to steal. He can't trap me here.

"You are not being kidnapped. I am your mate. I'm going to protect you and keep you safe." His once light brown eyes were getting darker.

"For the hundredth time," I yelled at him. "I am not your mate."

He clenched his jaw. "And for the hundredth time, stop ignoring the mating bond."

My blood started to boil. "Listen here Alpha-"

"Don't call me alpha."

"Why? That's your title isn't it?"

"Yes, but it is used out of respect. You use it to mock me."

I gasped dramatically, my words dripping in sarcasm. "I would never mock you."

He gave me a flat look. By now many of his pack members watched us as we fought. Some with wide eyes, others trying to hold back smiles, some just gave us blank stares. Others patiently waited for our exchange to be over. That was only one wolf.

"Let's just go inside." He said realising the people around at the same time I did.

"No." Before he could answer. If I embarrassed him enough in front of his pack, maybe he would let me go.

"Yes." He glowered at me.

"For curiosities sake, how long do you expect me to stay here for?"

"Well considering you're my mate..." He trailed off.

My eyes widened at the realisation of what he was saying. He would never let me leave. I would be stuck here forever. Panic started to flood my stomach. I started taking a couple of steps behind me. "No no. That's not necessary."

He took a few steps closer to me. "We are bonded for a reason. You are not going to be a prisoner. You are here as my mate."

"I think I would rather be a prisoner." I muttered. Hurt flashed in his eyes, but I ignored it. I don't have time to deal with a love sick puppy. I have my own issues.

I did the last thing I could think of to get out of the situation. Some very small part of me knew that I wasn't thinking clearly, that I was letting my emotions get the best of me, that I didn't have clear judgement, but it was a very small part.

Now in my years of experience of dealing with overbearing, narrow minded, quick tempered, pompous asshole alphas, they are two things you never do. One, attack them. Two, run from them.

And that's exactly what I did.

Shaking with anger, glaring into the alphas eyes, I took three quick steps so I was directly in front of him. Before anyone could stop me, I raised my fist and connected with his face. Hitting his jaw close to his chin, his head swung to the side from the power of my punch, but that's it.

He didn't crumble to the ground. He didn't stumble back. He didn't even move his hand to his face. That just made me madder because that was a good punch. It would have had most males falling to the ground, tears streaming down their faces.

But this wasn't just some normal dude.

This was Cassar Salvaterre, Alpha to the vicious Viribus Pack. The Insane Alpha's Son. Warrior before Alpha.

Most people wouldn't have been able to land a punch.

And that's when my brain clicked and I realised that punching Cassar Salvaterre, the Alpha of the Viribus Pack, was not my best option.

No one moved, not me, not the Alpha, none of the pack members. We all just stared at each other, shocked. One second passed, two seconds passed, three seconds passed, then one minute passed.

The spot where I punched him started to bleed from the sharp edge of my sisters ring. I was almost frozen to the ground watching the blood. He stared at me with wide eyes, lips slightly open.

His once light brown eyes, turned black. Blacker than the caves where the bat shifters' slept. And that was my cue to leave.

Faster then the speed of light I turned around and did the second stupidest decision of the hour, I hightailed it out of there. They called me the Queen of Tricks, not the Queen of Witts for a reason.

Not letting myself get distracted by the wide eyed, jaw dropped expressions of the members of the pack. I ran out of their line of sight. They were still frozen in place, shocked by what they had just witnessed.

100 yards away, 200 yards, 300 yards and I heard the gut clenching, tear bringing roar of pissed off alpha.

"GET BACK HERE." The Alpha yelled, while the birds flew from their perched positions from their trees and flew from the storm that was surely coming. "BRING HER BACK."

It took less than a full second to hear the feet and paws crunching on the ground behind me. I ran faster then I had ever run before.

Running through the dark lush forest, huge trees growing everywhere, their trunks bigger than me, some even bigger than the alpha who was surely chasing me to my death.

I knew the chances of me getting out of this were very slim.

The Alpha would not be happy that I had just punched him in front of his entire pack. He would send every warrior, fighter, father, mother, child after me, just so he could seek his vengeance to rip me apart.

He would do it too. He was psychotic and dense after all.

I hurdled over moss-covered rocks, jumping over fallen trees. Every step I took the wolves behind me took two.

I knew there was only a small chance of me getting out of here alive. I may be fast, but wolves were known for their speed and strength. I wasn't one to overestimate my abilities. Agility would only get me so far at a time like this.

My talents were at their finest when no one knew I was around. When I was a spy or a thief. Or at least when I was further away and had time to set some traps. Plus, I wasn't thinking clearly. The way they were running, they would be caught up in seconds.

I wouldn't even be able to shift to help me escape. If I was further away I would be tempted, but if they saw me shift into the silver fox, it would not end well. It would end worse if they caught me and brought me back to their bastard of an alpha.

I wasn't even close to the border yet, and crossing the border gave me no guarantee they would let me go. I knew I had little to no chance of getting out of here. I knew what I had to do. If they were going to catch me, I mine as well give them a run for their money.

I ran faster, faster than a bat out of hell. I zigzagged between trees, jumped over creaks. I moved as fast as my human legs could carry me. My hair whipping in the wind, legs pumping, feet kicking up dirt behind me. It didn't stop the wolves from catching up to me.

When shifter's are in their human form, they look a little different than regular humans. They're fitter, prettier, healthier.

The same goes for their animal form, and their animal form tends to be a lot bigger than the average animal. For wolves, their wolf form is pretty much twice the size of a regular wolf. So when fifty, six foot wolves are chasing you back to hell, it can be a little intimidating.

I could feel the heat of their breath on the back of my legs. I didn't let it scare me. Just like in the football game, I jumped, dodged, leapt, and moved. I even did a couple of quick steps to get out of the way of the snarling wolves.

As snarling and big as they were, none of them dared to harm me.

One wolf was almost on top of me, but he made the fatal mistake of not looking at the ground. He tripped over his legs. He had the choice of either plowing me into me or a three foot wide boulder. He chose the boulder instead of his Alpha's 'mate'.

Jokes on him, he wouldn't have touched me either way.

One wolf with rich brown fur started running almost beside me. His eyes full of patience, asking me to stop. I had a feeling he may have been Gage Waters. I easily ignored his look giving him a smirk before I dug my left foot into the dirt forcing a sharp right turn. Shooting away I left him in my dust.

I ran for a long time, avoiding any wolf that got too close. Turning my body at odd angles to avoid their sharp teeth that called for me.

Until a large black wolf stepped in front of me. She came from the other direction, so I wasn't expecting her. She started to hurtle her body to the right, but this time I knew her tricks.

I made my own motion of turning to the left. At the same time she dug her paws into the ground sending her hurtling to the left.

That's when I dug my legs into the ground, continuing on the path to the right.

By the time she realised I had faked her out this time it was too late. I was already gone.

The longer I ran the more wolves couldn't catch up. I almost started to get my hopes up that maybe I might make it out after all. Then I heard the howl.

It was not like the sound of howls I'd been hearing all night. It was the howl of an Alpha. Directly behind me.

Chills ran down my spine -from fear- it motivated me to run harder.

Cassar Salvaterre ran behind me in wolf form. He lunged at me, but before he could touch me I threw myself on the ground. The dark grey wolf flew right over the top of my head. Doing a roll I jumped back on my feet and continued to run. The Alpha growled as he landed on his feet, quickly turning around to chase me again.

With five long steps he was almost on top of me. If I was in fox form I would have had a better shot, but there was still a chance he would catch me. I couldn't take the chance of him skinning me alive.

So I ran even faster. I chose a route that had more trees, more bushes that he would have a harder time getting through. It didn't hinder him in the slightest. Any tree or bush he couldn't get around he just trampled over. What had those trees ever done to him?

A four foot tall rock was right in front of me, instead of going around it I decided to jump over it. That was a mistake. As I lunged over the rock, Cassar the giant ass wolf lunged for me. Just as I passed over the rock, I felt his body collide with mine.

With no grace I fell to the ground. With Cassar Salvaterre on top of me. And another large boulder underneath me.

Talk about stuck between a rock and a hard place. That was my final thought. Then my head collided with the rock.

The last thing I remembered was hearing a pained howl from across the forest. Then everything went black.

First I felt cozy. Like I was being kissed by a calm flame. It smelt like a campfire too.

Then it felt like a jackhammer was trying to break open my head.

My eyes fluttered open just a crack, big enough for me to look at my surroundings.

I was in a bedroom. A very nice bedroom. I was on a bed. A very comfy bed. I was looking out a window. A very large window. I could see the moon. It was a full moon.

Whenever I saw the moon like that, I understood why the wolf shifters worshipped it.

My eyes snapped fully open, remembering the wolves. One wolf in particular.

I flung my body out of the cozy campfire as fast as I could manage with the hammering in my head. I tried to stand up too fast, and between my lightheadedness, and the boa constricting blankets I fell off the bed hitting my face off the ground. Again.

The memories from earlier flooded my brain. Me refusing to enter a psychos house. Me punching the biggest baddest Alpha in the world. The chase between a wolf and a fox, or a wolf and a female. The overgrown poodle attacking me, slamming my head into a rock.

And like no time had passed, no sleeping ever happened, the rage came rushing back full force.

I tore off the blankets and went for the door. Judging from the moon, it had only been a couple of hours since the dumb-ass Alpha hit me.