Alpha's Fallen Angel

The rest of lunch was nowhere near as intense. We made small talk, my father mostly asking about Roman’s upbringing and childhood, how he runs his pack, his family…and really just all details about his life. Nosy bastard my father was, but it still warmed my heart nonetheless that he was so interested. He was growing on me, I suppose. I had asked about Azrael, to which Aylin said he likes to spend time in town. She had said it was important for the royal family to be involved with town life, and Azrael took it upon himself most of the time. Afterwards, Aylin showed us to our rooms and told us to meet her back in the throne room in 15 minutes and she would show us to the training arena. That was 10 minutes ago.

I was unpacking my clothes and changing into my training attire-just a sports bra and high rise yoga pants that went to my knees, when Roman came up behind me and pulled my back to his chest. One of his hands went to my throat and the other circled my stomach right above the waistline to my pants. My breath hitched as he kissed down my neck and arousal flooded me.

“What…what are you doing?” I asked, a little too breathlessly

“Seeing if I can convince you to put a shirt on. It will be greatly frowned upon if I kill other demons before we’ve even been here for 3 hours because they ogle you” he says, just before he bites my mating mark and my body turns molten, my knees wobbling, and then his hand glides down and grabs the apex of my thighs through my pants.

“We don’t have time” I practically moan as I go to grind myself into his hand, but he pulls his hand away

“I know. Your answer will determine if I finish the job for you after training” he says before he kisses my mark and pulls away. I blink, before I throw my discarded shirt from lunch at him

“All you had to do was ask nicely, asshole!” I say, now I have to go down there all hot and bothered. Fucking possessive ass Alpha

“I know, but it was much more fun this way” he says before tossing me a tank top.

“I hope my father beats your ass!” I growl as I throw the tank top on and head for the door.

He laughs and just grabs my waist pulling me to him as we walk to the throne room together. Aylin had put us on the same floor and same quarters as her, my father, and Azrael. My other family was apparently on the same floor just in different quarters. I couldn’t imagine living in a castle, I have to say I missed the privacy of my little cottage in Red Moon, although that was the only thing I missed about Red Moon aside from Sophie. I just didn’t like all the space, I was more of a simple living kind of person. But I will admit, it is nice to live with everyone in the packhouse back home, but this? I mean there were like 20 different floors, at least according to the elevator we took 5 flights. On top of that, I don’t know much about castles but I would assume there’s tunnels, hidden floors, an attic, cells, a basement…I mean how do you even have enough people to clean all that?

When we enter the throne room, I see Aylin standing by the door. Despite her now casual attire, she still looks regal. Her long hair is now pulled back into a french braid, and her clothes are actually the same as mine, long yoga shorts and a tank top. She walks up to us and jerks her chin for us to follow. We do, walking through the castle, it might be the same way we walked before but fuck if I know. This is another reason I couldn’t live in a castle, I would get lost all the time.

‘You literally took a 3 day journey on foot to a territory several forests away, and you would get lost in a castle?’ Tamisra says to me

‘Might I remind you that you did all the work there? If we lived here I would have to shift just so you could get me back to my room from the kitchen’ I say back and she laughs at me

‘Well I can’t argue there, but seriously, this place is huge. And why is it so doom and gloom? These walls need some color’ she says, peering at our surroundings through my eyes

‘I can’t imagine the royal castle of the underworld being painted baby pink with pictures of rainbows and unicorns framed on the walls, can you?’

‘I guess not, but goddess this is just depressing.’ she says and I just internally shake my head at her. She barely talks to me for days and the first real conversation we have is on the interior design of a place that isn’t even our home?

‘Hey! Holding these damn angel powers for you is quite draining, I’m too busy preventing you from burning down the packhouse to carry on a conversation’ she says to me with a huff

‘Well, good news for you wolf breath, hopefully you can let go of them in a couple minutes’

‘Thank the goddess. You know I’ve barely even been able to talk to our mate? I did not sign up for that! You finally get a mate I actually like and as soon as we’re mated I can’t even fully appreciate him. You’ll be getting these damn powers back today, whether you like it or not!’

I would be lying if I said I wasn’t a little nervous to have my full potential at my fingertips, but that’s what I’m here for right? To learn how to control it? It’s a damn good thing this castle is spelled against destruction, because I’m sure it will need it.

It feels like we’ve been walking for a good 10 minutes before Aylin leads us out the doors to a very simple looking field. It is overall empty with the exception of 4 large stone black pillars that only look to be a couple feet shorter than the trees.

“The pillars are shadowstone and moonstone, no magic can destroy them or break through their wards. It is safe to practice any magic here, no matter how destructive.” Aylin says eyeing me before turning her gaze to Roman “my father will be here to collect you in a few minutes. You can have a seat there while Amara and I get started on our lesson” she says pointing to our left where a small cluster of chairs sit.

“Thank you, your majesty” Roman says before pulling me to him in a kiss “good luck, little Devil” he says to me as he runs his knuckles along my jawline

“You can call me Aylin. I suppose if we are family now there’s no need for such formalities.” she says before turning and heading towards the pillars “Come, Amara. You may feel a sting entering the arena, that’s normal”

I only feel a slight prickling sensation as we enter, and I look at her expectantly, not really knowing where to start.

“My wolf is holding a portion of my powers back…I was a little…uncontrolled to say the least when the seal on them broke.” I say hesitantly

“Tell her to release them, then. You have no reason to hold back here. She will not have to hold them back after today. This lesson will be on controlling them, not wielding them. You aren’t the first nor the last to lose control or be overwhelmed by your power. This is expected.” she says

Tamisra is forward with me, so I don’t have to call her forward to unleash them. I wait for a second as I can sense her trying to release her hold on them. The second she does, it’s like a rubber band that snaps back into place after being stretched. I’m thrown forward by an unseen force to my hands and knees. I gasp as I hit the ground and the power rather abruptly forces its way back into me. I can literally feel it shooting its way into my fingertips and then straight to my chest and the wind gets knocked out of me as it collides into the center of me along with my demon’s magic.

To say I feel out of control would be an understatement, I dig my nails into the ground and grit my teeth as the power beckons me to unleash. Everything feels like it’s on fire, but the worst is my back. Goddess, it feels like my back is being shredded. I bite my lip to hold back my scream as the pain in my back reaches a crescendo and suddenly all the pressure is released. I blink once, and the burning in my veins eases up and I go to stand up, only to immediately fall on my ass as my entire center of gravity is thrown off by a heaviness I don’t recognize in my back.

I reach behind me, trying to find the culprit and I’m met with…feathers? I look behind me and I see, yep, okay, literal huge ass wings. As black as a raven’s but as big as…I don’t know what but they were fucking huge. A cool wind blows, rustling the feathers and it sends an intense shiver down my spine. I touch them where I can reach, and I shudder, gods, it tickles, like someone running a light touch across the back of my neck.

‘Well. That was unexpected.’ Tamisra says in my head and I internally glare at her before I look at Aylin. Her head is cocked, but her face shows no emotion, although her hand is raised to her left as if to halt someone, and I look to see Roman standing, but he’s frozen with wide, awestruck eyes.

“Interesting. I expected you to have wings, all those in our royal bloodline do, but yours seem to resemble angel wings, well, aside from the black. That would definitely be the Allaneo blood running through you.” Allaneo? What is it with this damn family and A names? Also, Amara Alayna Allaneo would technically be my name if I wasn’t raised as a Dawson? Yikes

“You have wings too?” I ask Aylin and she nods before huge black wings appear behind her. Hers are membranous and resemble bat wings. Her wings seem to absorb what small light there is, and nothing shines off of them, like the blackness of them overpowers any kind of light. She flaps her wings once, before she jumps and lets them carry her upwards. She makes it look effortless.

I flap mine, the movement happens after a longer than normal delay as my muscles try to figure out what I’m asking them to do. It feels…awkward. My back muscles have completely rearranged themselves, and even moving my arms feels odd and unnatural. Bracing myself for the extra weight, I stand up. I wobble backwards for a second but steady myself as I give another flap. It comes a little easier this time, but I definitely don’t think I’ll be taking to the sky anytime soon.

Aylin lands in front of me before she looks behind me at them, and then walks around me. I assume she’s looking at them, and thankfully she doesn’t touch them. She comes back around to face me, and I swear I see a hint of a smile on her face.

“Ah…how do I get rid of them?” I say, still feeling a little unsteady on my feet

“Call them back to you. Imagine them folding up and receding” She says, and I do. I breathe a sigh of relief as I feel the extra weight go away. “You get used to them, and we will give you flying lessons as well. I’m sure Father would love to do that. He taught both Azrael and myself how to fly” I nod, I guess I’ll be learning quite a bit in my time here.

“What’s the point of the wings when we can levitate ourselves?” I ask her

“Levitation is very limited, in your case it would use less energy than shifting into your wolf to get somewhere faster, but you can only go so high, and it doesn’t allow you to move swiftly in between opponents in battle. With wings, you can swoop down from great distances, shoot back up, and glide through your opponents. You’ll see the difference when you get used to your wings.” she says and I nod.

With my wings gone, I suddenly feel the buzz of power at my fingertips, similar to that of my demon magic before I was able to pull it back…but it’s more of a hum? Exactly like Tamisra said. But not a gentle hum, it feels like it’s vibrating my whole body. I close my eyes and call it back to me, forcing it to obey like I did my demon magic when Roman showed me. It listens, and I breathe a sigh of relief as it recedes. When I open my eyes I see Aylin standing there with raised eyebrows

“You’re further along in your training than I suspected if you can call all that power back to you and not falter. That power along with your demon powers should have you buzzing with energy and ready to combust” she says. I look down at my hands and then at her

“I feel normal. I mean, I can feel all the power there…but it’s no different than my control on my demon magic” I say with a shrug

“Well. You just saved us a week’s worth of work. Most inexperienced magic wielders take quite a while to get just one species worth of magic under control, let alone two.” she says and her lips twitch up slightly. I’m slowly learning that’s as close to a smile as I’m going to get from her.

“Cool, so can I blow shit up now?” I say with a smile and she snorts

“Now you sound like Azrael. No, blowing shit up can come later. You may be able to control your powers to not destroy the world right now, but let’s see if you can control them to bend to your will.” she says before she waves her hand.

In front of us, what I can only describe as a goblin with 4 heads manifests and starts charging right at me. I yelp, and my basic instincts take over and gray haze shoots from my hands and obliterates it into nothing. I breathe a sigh of relief but 3 more manifest where the previous one was, still coming right at me. I shoot one hand out in front of me, internally begging them to stop and to my surprise they do. I again rely on basic instinct, and put my other hand in front of me, willing them to turn to dust like the previous one. Again they do. I hold my breath for a second, waiting for 6 more to come charging at me, but they don’t.

“Did you feel how your magic bended to your will? Outside of learning to not let it consume you, your biggest hurdle will be not letting it control you. You control your own magic, and that’s all there is to it. As we continue our lessons, you’ll find that it’s easier said than done, especially when you’re dealing with large armies, such as the one you’ll have to face when the vampires come for you. But considering your inexperience, you already show a considerable amount of control.” Aylin says and I bristle at her calling me inexperienced, feeling the blackness creeping into my eyes. It’s true, but she doesn’t need to throw it in my face.

Noticing my bristle, she raises an eyebrow. “Do you claim you’re experienced?” she asks

“No. I don’t. But it’s a sore subject. I wasn’t allowed to train in hand to hand combat growing up” I say

“And this warrants you to get angry at me?” she asks

“I’m not angry at you!” I say defensively

“Your black eyes and the gray dust surrounding you says otherwise” she says and I notice what she means and pull it back

“No, don’t pull it back. Direct it at me. Let’s see what your anger does for you. Although, it’s not my fault you don’t know how to handle your own strength, but let’s see how you fare against the Queen of demons” she says and I see black again

I call all my power forward, and throw it at her with one hand. She easily dodges, so I shoot it at her again, this time from both hands so it surrounds her. She puts both hands up, surrounding herself in a shield of her own magic. I anticipate her next move, throwing up my own shield, as she blasts my power back at me. I will it to dissipate before it hits my shield, and I send another wave at her, this time from below. I watch as it covers the ground below us and it almost grabs her feet before I see her wings come forth and she shoots up into the air. Ok, unfair advantage, but whatever.

I sense her land behind me and I whirl, finding her instantly. I will myself to turn invisible, and then I feel myself travel through that golden kissed black wind and I end up behind her. I tackle her from behind, focusing now on the hand to hand combat I learned back at home. Not expecting it, she falls when I tackle her, but right before we hit the ground she turns, ending up on top of me. She pulls a dagger from her thigh but I’ve already used my legs to flip her off of me and I’m instantly back on my feet, and same with her. I hold her gaze as we circle each other, looking for an opening. Before I can react, she flicks her wrist, and I feel my legs give out. Knowing she will use that opportunity to jump on me, I roll out of the way and I flick my own wrist, leaving a cloud of my magic in my place. Her eyes widen before she abruptly lands right in front of it and pivots to where I am now. I’m ready though, and I grab her arm and twist it behind her back. She goes down, but instantly she disappears, using my own trick, she manifests behind me, and I whirl, but she still jumps me and pins me down on the ground with her dagger at my throat.

We’re both breathing heavily when she rolls off me and stands. Offering me her hand, I take it and she pulls me up. I blink, and replay that battle in my head. Well, I didn’t even know I could do half of that. I look at Aylin’s dagger before she secures it back at her thigh. That’s badass, I want one!

“You’re trained with a dagger?” I say after I catch my breath

“Of course, all demons are. You brute werewolves use your fists and teeth as weapons, we use magic and sharper objects” Aylin says “well done by the way, I have 290 years of training on you, and you fared well. You must learn fast if you weren’t able to train until you left your previous pack.”

“I assume it’s the tribrid genes” I respond, trying not to sound bitter

“Regardless, you would be lethal if you were able to train your whole life. But not to worry, you have an eternity to rectify that. We will do as much training as possible here, and by the time we’re done, the vampires won’t have a shot at you” she says.

I don’t respond, I know she was baiting me earlier and it worked, but I still feel robbed when she says I could be lethal by now. Maybe this wouldn’t feel like the end of the world if my parents had decided to stay at my mother’s pack where women could train. It wouldn’t have helped me with my magic, no, but I would be able to hold my own in hand to hand combat.

“You’re still upset, why?” Aylin says in response to my silence.

“I would rather be lethal now” I respond

“But you’re not. Your past is out of your hands but your future isn’t, and you can do hand to hand combat with your mate once we’re finished with our magic lesson. Moping about it won’t help you.” she says. I have half a mind to say ‘ok mom’ but then I remember she has almost 280 years of life on me and bite my tongue.

“Okay. You’re right. What else can we do?” I respond and the twitch of her lips tells me I’m in for a lot more than what we just did.