The Alpha Queen's Journey

Focus

    The palace was built on a former arched bridge above the main river of the Royal lands. It was a three levelled building made of silvery grey stone and a black bluish slate roof. Lots of windows covered the high walls bringing loads of light indoors. On the west gate, the palace widened into a square with a beautiful garden on its centre. The royal family rooms were located around there and all of them had a little balcony to the outside. Elara loved the view from her balcony, a vast extension of wild forest made of beech, oak and giant redwoods with a magnificent mountain range behind, covered with snow all times of the year.

    Furthermore, the ground floor gave shelter to travellers, merchants or artists that visited the territory to show their products or abilities as well as to obtain the King’s permission pass to pass through the grounds safely. In fact, the palace served as a connection between the west and the east shore, an exceptional strategic point and a meeting point. That was the reason the royal village was full of bizarre products and also cultivated secret financial and technical issues.

    Elara run at full speed through the east door. The couple of warriors that were keeping the gate jolted, startled, and hurriedly opened the door to let her pass.

    “Good morning Gale! Good morning Bran!” Elara shouted while waving her hand at the twins from the distance.

    “Good morning Lady Elara” They both said in unison and chuckled as the young princess was too far already to hear their greeting. Soon after the funny meeting, they straightened their backs again and kept watching the gate.

    Elara followed the east shore and headed to the stoned streets of the royal village. All houses were placed neatly one beside another and they were painted in light red, baby blue, dark pink or orangey colours. Many planters covered with flowers leaned over the wooden window frames of the front walls. Small stalls displayed all along the streets where the merchants were trying to sell their best products, from the most terrifying weapons to the finest pastries could be found there. At that hour, the village looked quite busy with a mixture of loving couples wandering, children running among the stalls, merchants yelling about the wonders of their goods or people just laughing and chatting around. Everyone was happy and peaceful. A peace that was abruptly broken by Elara’s rushed run.

    “Excuse me!” “Please!” “Ouch!” She dropped some oranges from a huge basket on her way but she did not have time to stop. “Sorry! I’m sorry!” She said while running. The villagers couldn’t help but laughing except for the owner of the orange stall who raised his fist on the air, his furious complain couldn’t reach the princess’ ears. This was not the first time the royal pack saw their princess in such a hurry. People loved her kind heart and charming character, so different from her mother’s, who was more serious and reserved. Every pack member though Elara resembled much to her father, the wise and beloved king, and were looking forward to tonight’s ball, in which the princess might find her future husband and the next king. Everyone was putting their best efforts for tonight’s ball to be perfect.

    Elara left the centre village and finally reached her target, almost out of air. “Good morning Elara” She whispered to herself. The training grounds were located at one of the biggest forest glades, so that the sunlight could pass through the highest trees. There, there were several groups of werewolves gathered onto delimited squares. The younger ones were running in circles and training on a gymkhana, the intermediates were practising a new move with their trainer while the advanced ones were fighting with silver weapons. Further away, there was a reduced group of werewolves fondly talking to each other while waiting. A tall bulky figure was separated from the rest with his arms crossed on his chest. It was Oswald, the King’s Beta and her trainer.

    Elara gulped, regained her courage and walked towards them. This was going to be a tough day.

    “Excuse me, I’m sorry, I’m late” She said with a respectful tone.

    “I thought that maybe if one year was added to your account it will make you more responsible. I guess I was wrong” Oswald didn’t usually talk too much but his few words meant too much for Elara.  She lowered her eyes, embarrassed.

    “You need a red carpet to lead you the way, princess?” An irritating she-wolf asked out loud mockingly. The others chuckled at her question. I was Lillian, an excellent fighter, maybe the best of the female fighters, but a complete b***h. They always had just ignored each other until the day Alex began his flirting with Elara and she simply took the chance. Since then, Lillian had not stopped annoying the princess whenever she could.

    “Not really” Elara answered calmly. “I just need to follow your filthy smell” She was not going to be disturbed, not today. Her wolf lifted her chin in her mind, prideful as the princess she was. The audience laughed back at the comment and Lillian’s face went red with anger. She took one step towards Elara but a handsome blondie tower quickly walked in between them.

    “Show some respect, Lillian” – He said with a low growl.

    “Not here! Get out of my way, Alex!” – Her aura was growing menacing but Alex stood still. Elara walked out of his back.

    “I’m no damsel on distress, Alex, let her come closer”. Elara’s wolf was getting tired of this everyday situation. Maybe it was high time to put that b***h on her place.

    “Enough!” Oswald authoritative tone ended the discussion straight away, his beta aura smacked each member of the group who had no choice but to lower their heads. Except for Elara, whose alpha blood made her not affected by his wolf but she lowered her head as well in respect. On the training grounds, there were no titles. Everyone was equal to each other and the only hierarchy was obtained by your strength or your fighting skills. Elara was in the elite group, the best fighters of the royal pack, who were destined to protect the royal family and to be their most reliable members. That’s the reason why the Beta King itself was their trainer. Oswald contained his aura and the group eventually got relaxed.

    “Warm up” It was all he had to say for everyone to stop hanging around and start the workout.

    Some group members approached Elara to wish her a happy birthday while stretching. They talked about tonight’s ball which also meant an opportunity for them to find their mates or simply get to know someone to whom spend a good time. That night, people from every pack of the kingdom were coming to meet the royal werewolf princess. Not only the Alphas and their heirs, but major figures of each pack like warriors, counsellors or merchants were invited as well. It was going to be the first time the kingdom would hold such an important event since the Great War.

    Oswald wandered among the wolves, supervising each one closely and rectifying the wrong moves. When he approached Elara’s group, he abruptly interrupted their chat. “We’re not here to gossip. Focus”. Elara clearly noticed that he was in a worse mood than ever. Oswald usually had rough manners but he was a good man, a loving husband and father and a great warrior. Elara had only seen him smile a few times in her life and always for a really good reason. However, today she saw him hyperalert, giving glances to the forest every now and then. Her wolf felt uneasy again, as if she was being watched. She looked around and tried to catch any strange movement or any smell from the woods but she found nothing. Easy girl. She tried to ease her inner wolf.

    When she stood up after her push-ups sequence, she glared at Alex. His wonderful grey eyes were shamelessly scanning her body from head to toe, filled with lust. He realized Elara’s glare and smiled widely. There was something more in his eyes that looked like…admiration? love? Sometimes he was so cute. Elara blushed a bit and smiled back, hearing him through the mindlink.

    Happy birthday blue rose! Did you like my present this morning?

    I did. It was unexpectedly considered, coming from you. She teased him.

    Was it? Maybe I didn’t choose it right.

    i***t. She heard him laugh in her head. Suddenly, he sounded serious.

    Elara, I would like to talk to you before tonight. I…have to tell you something.

    Ok. What is…?

    “Elara” She jumped on her place at Oswald’s call for attention. He had took her aback. The group had formed a circle around the huge trainer and were listening to him at full attention. s**t!

    “Focus. I won’t tell you anymore”. The beta reminder her for a second time. Elara caught Lillian’s grinning with pleasure.

    “Sorry, trainer, it won’t happen again” Today it was not her day, that was for sure.

    Oswald silently nodded and resumed the explanation. “Today we are going to train our fighting skills on our human form. Sometimes the few seconds that the shapeshifting takes could cost our lives. You have to learn how to survive without your wolf’s help”. A low murmur spread among the group but Oswald continued. “It’ll be a combat in pairs, I’ll choose your opponent myself. The rest will take a seat around and analyse the mistakes. I won’t allow you to repeat the same defects so stay focused” He made a pause and watched the trees once more. Then he changed his sight onto the group again. “No shapeshifting. If you do, I will personally choose the punishment”. Everyone gulped at these last words, cold sweat running through their backs. “Dylan and Ronan. You start”

    The named warriors walked to where the trainer stood while the remaining werewolves got seated on a big circle around them. Both opponents saluted each other with a handshake and a smile. They were childhood friends who had trained together their whole lives so they thoroughly knew their strengths and their weaknesses.

    “How clever” Elara said to the female wolf beside her but her partner seemed terrified so she turned his eyes back to the couple.

    The two werewolves began the exercise. First, it began like a joke, each one taunting the other. But after a couple of minutes, they started a serious fight and it seemed clear they knew when to hit and when to retreat. It was really matched. After ten minutes, Ronan threw Dylan over his shoulder, turned around in half a second and hit him hard in his stomach, beating him. Everyone applauded cheerfully and Ronan helped his opponent stand up and patted his shoulder laughing.

    One by one, pairs of wolves were called to prove their skills on the battlefield. Everybody stuck to the rules and nobody shapeshifted. The younger wolves on the training grounds approached to see their seniors fighting so the training became soon a crowded spectacle. Another match ended and the Beta chose the next couple.

    “Elara and Lillian”

    Everyone was so silent that one could have cut the atmosphere with a knife. Elara’s face went white but her wolf was on all fours, angry and ready to fight. Elara quickly recovered from the shock, clenched her fists and walked towards the trainer. Lillian rubbed her hands and stretched her neck on her way. When they reached the marked spot, they shook their hands. Elara noticed Lillian’s strong handshake but it didn’t intimidate the determined princess.

    “No shapeshifting” warned Oswald next to them.

    The duo parted and took their positions in front of each other. Elara distributed her weight in both of her feet and looked into Lillian’s eyes, focusing. She was going to wipe that stupid grin off her face.

    “Let’s go” Oswald thereby gave the signal both women were willing to hear.