Save Me Mr. Alpha

The staff opened up the front doors and quickly scurried away before I could thank them. I turn to Tyson who is already opening his mouth to answer my unspoken question.

“It is tradition for the King to give the Queen a tour before she meets the staff officially. Are you ready to tour the castle or would you like to clean up first?”

I look at Tyson and notice his exhausted appearance and I realize he’s been up all night driving us here.

“Why don’t we take some time to freshen up first and take a nap?”

Tyson grunts in approval before guiding me up the grand staircase in the castle foyer and leading me to one of the towers.

“This is the Queen’s tower. You can make yourself comfortable here while I go over to my wing. Let me know if you have any questions via the link.”

“The what?”

Tyson shakes his head, “oh, sorry. I forgot that that hasn’t been established yet.”

“Is that the thing that causes me to hear your thoughts when I get upset?” I ask, thinking back to my return arrival to Northbrooke.

He nods, slightly surprised. “I forgot that you had access to it even though the mating bond--”

“Yeah, yeah. I know. But why don’t you just come and get me when you’re ready?”

Tyson shuffles uncomfortably, “I can’t.”

“Why not?”

Tyson sighs, “I’m not allowed in your part of the castle. And honestly, I’m not sure if you’ll be able to go in since we’re not mated, but I wanted you to be able to try.”

Now it was my turn to be surprised.

“But you’re the king?”

“And in the werewolf community, the queen is equal to the king. But in mateships, the woman is always above the man which means that the boundaries surrounding your tower view you as the most important and me as a threat. Only people approved by the Queen are allowed to enter. Well that and her children until they turn 16. I haven’t been in the North tower in years, not since my mother and father were in power.”

“Oh,” I mumble.

“Just grab a member of the staff and they can come and fetch me whenever you’re ready.”

“Why don’t we just plan to meet at 4?”

“That’s fine. I will see you then, Cassie. Have fun exploring and if you need anything, just call a member of the staff and they’ll help you as much as they can.”

“Thanks, Tyson.” I murmur.

Tyson was quick to leave, the exhaustion written on his face extending to his entire body as he slowly trudged off down some stairs to where his bedroom must be. As I started walking up the stairs to the ‘Queen’s Tower’ that awaited me, trembles and small surges of energy tickled up my body and I realized it must be the barrier’s way of acknowledging me. Even though I wasn’t the “official” Queen according to the Barrier, just the King’s Mate according to Tyson, I was still being allowed to walk up the creamy marble steps until I finally arrived at a landing with two mahogany doors with a intricate crest waiting for me.

I try and push the doors open, but they don’t budge. I stare at them in confusion before taking a closer look at the crest’s inscription. I was expecting some gaudy version of werewolf soul mates to be intertwined in the metal, but rather I saw a lone wolf sitting in front of a willow tree with branches hanging down and surrounding the wolf, almost making a crown around the wolf’d head.

It was mesmerizing. It was beautiful. I just couldn’t believe how ethereally beautiful the image was. I couldn’t help it, I raised my hand and placed it on the enchanting tree. Quickly the tree became warm and my hand began to burn, yet I couldn’t pull away. It burned, hotter and hotter and while my body wanted to cry out in pain, I wouldn’t release the door. Suddenly a wave of heat rolls over my body, similar to the pains I had experienced when Tyson had first brought me back to Northbrooke. But something tells me not to back down.

After what feels like hours, the heat subsides and the crest cools off and I’m able to pull my hand back. I look at my hand and see that the emblem had been burned into my hand, the beautiful tree and the wolf intertwined. I’m surprised to find myself unfazed by the unwanted branding as I hear the click of the lock and the door swings open.

Tyson’s words flood into my mind from earlier as the doors glide open and I enter my new room, “Welcome home, My Queen.”

The room was beautiful, the walls painted a light cream and the floors a beautiful marble with veins of gold interlacing a soft cream and white color. White pillars line the hallway and windows with billowing white curtains that let in a soft breeze through the window. Paintings of elegant women line the entry to the hallway and I recognize Tyson’s mom as a familiar face. She was the last photo in the line with an empty frame next to her. I realize that these must be queens of years past. A name, year, lineage, and origin was listed on a small golden plaque at the bottom of each frame and I noticed that the word human was listed on several of the plaques, including the portrait of the first queen, a beautiful woman with dew colored eyes.

I smile at the thought before moving on down the hallway to a second set of double doors. Once I reach the doors, they open softly and welcome me into a large round room with a vaulted ceiling. The room was gorgeous. Soft, golden light filled the room, a large King-sized bed sat against one of the walls with a canopy of intricate white embroidery hanging above. The wall opposite is full of books with a rolling ladder that slides halfway around the large circular room.

Green plants with long vines trailing down the front of the bookcases bring a sense of life into the room and hidden next to the shelves are two doors that practically blend into the walls. I open them and find a large bathroom with what can only be described as a full-sized pool for the bath tub. The other door leads to a large closet with windows above on the top of a loft where two overstuffed chairs sit nestled with a stack of soft-looking blankets.

The whole area was practically built for me. I go back out into the main room and sit on the bed and lay back and look at the tapestry above me. It was white with hints of gold, but if I squinted I could see the picture embroidered in the cloth.

It was of a woman’s face placed in a tree staring lovingly at a wolf laying at her feet. And if I didn’t know any better, that woman looked like me and the wolf like Tyson.

“How was your nap?” I ask Tyson as I walk down the stairs to meet him.

He yawns and smiles, running his hand through his messy hair.

“Much needed. Are you ready to tour the castle?”

“As ready as I’ll ever be. First, should we start with the barrier and protections that it has instead of what Northbrooke offers? And housing for everyone. If this is the better option for us with a bar brewing, I want to make sure that the space is as ready as it can be so we can move sooner rather than later.”

“Of course, My Queen.”

“Please don’t call me that.”

“While we are in view of the staff I must. Just as you must call me My King, Your Royal Highness, or King Alpha.”

“Oh.”

“But in private you can keep calling me Mr. Alpha,” Tyson teases.

I roll my eyes at his flirting, but let out a small smile.

“How’d you find the suite?” Tyson asks.

“It’s beautiful. Full of light and color, there were shelves of vintage books and plants everywhere.”

“Really? A lot changed then from my mother’s modern taste.”

“Did you--?”

“No. Like I said before, the barrier is alive. It has its own mind and when you did whatever process it wanted to do to establish a bond with you, it redid the room to what it saw in your heart. I will be curious to see what it looks like if you ever allow me inside.”

“Is it a one-time permission or an every time permission?”

“Every time.”

“Well then maybe if you behave you’ll get to see inside my bedroom,” Tyson chuckles, “THAT IS NOT WHAT I MEANT!” I blurt out embarrassed.

“I know, My Queen. But for the record, that is technically not your bedroom, just your suite for private matters. If a Queen ever wanted to sleep apart from her mate, usually due to a fight or illness, they would stay in the tower. But the tower’s bedrooms were hardly ever used except in times of war or if we are under siege.”

“Oh, well I still sleep alone--”

“I know. But why don’t we go and look at the border walls so we can start planning what to do with the upcoming war and start making plans for the pack.”

“Fine,” I huff, still slightly embarrassed.

“By the way, what did the barrier do to test you?”

“What do you mean?”

“Every Queen is tested for their worth and is left with a special mark to signify their status as Queen. It’s a unique mark that no one can copy and it is individual to the Queen. Sometimes it’s representative of her mate or a moment in our history that they barrier associates with the Queen. My Mother’s was on her feet. It was a scar made up of stars and her and my father’s wolves howling at the moon. It disappeared when I became King.” Tyson explains.

My right hand tingles as he talks about the Barrier and I look down at it. I raise my hand and show it to him and he takes it in his hand, carefully examining it. As he holds my hand, rivets of fire run up and down my arm and as he holds his breath, I know he feels the same.

“It’s beautiful. It’s my favorite story about our lineage.”

I look at him and motion for him to explain.

“The first Queen Luna was actually a human.”

“I know, I saw her portrait hanging in the entry way to my room.”

“Would you like to hear about her story?”

“Of course.”

“It’s probably the greatest love story known to our kind...”

“She was a human who fell in love with a man who was cursed by a witch to be a wolf all the time. The story goes that she loved him so much that she asked the witch to take her instead and punish her for the crimes the witch accused the man of. Seeing her pure and clean heart, the witch said she reminded her of her willow tree, weighed down by the burden of every one’s sins. The witch had a tree in which everyone in the village would come and confess their secrets to. For every secret that they had, a new leaf would form and pull the tree down further. The witch said that she would lift the man’s curse, but only if the girl would tell the willow her deepest and darkest secrets as a test of her love. If she passed, they would live happily ever after, if she didn’t she would receive the curse for all time and forget the man she loved.

“So the girl did what the witch asked. And she passed the test. However, once the curse was lifted, the man ran off with another woman and forgot about her. In her sadness, she went to the tree and cried and cried and cried. Her tears were pulled up into the tree and healed the tree of all of it’s pain and the other people’s sin. The tree was able to stand tall once again and as a gift, she would fall in love with her soulmate. The tree told her that the man would be cursed like the first man, except he would only shift during the full moon. After she met the man and fell in love with him, her love was so strong that he was able to control his shifts and do them on command. One night in their old age, they were visiting the witch and the willow tree. Suddenly, a rabid animal attacked. He bit the woman and nearly killed her. Her lover was able to shift and subdue the animal, but it was too late for her. In one final act of love, the girl told the dying, rabid animal that she forgave him for hurting her and upon seeing her unforgettable compassion, the witch and the willow gathered her and made her one with the tree forever. That is the story of the first Queen Luna.”

I pause and take his story in, warming at the thought of the beautiful love story.

“What was her name? I didn’t even look when I was upstairs.”

Tyson pauses.

"Cassandra... her name was Cassandra."

A/N: I am a person who loves fairy tales and believes in true love, so writing this was SOOO much fun and warmed my heart, and I hope yours as well!