The Alpha Princess

Celina

Numbly, we all stand still in a moment of silence; trying to absorb what had just transpired. That’s all it took before the radio calls for help started coming in one by one; each of the fallen council members’ families being reported in the same state and condition as Leopold.

“Go,” I tell them when they look at me. “Make them reject Andras. It’s the only way.” The guard holding me nods and then radios it while he and the others race out of the room. When I hear the sound of blood dripping, I look down; just remembering the wound I had received from Leo. It’s now long and goes from mid-forearm to my wrist. I didn’t even notice it. Did he do this when he was telling me about Andras? When he was screaming in agony? Probably both.

With that, I remember what he told me. Four years ago. That was the same year that I had killed what I thought was my only mate; who I now know was Danny. I was with Randaul when it happened when I nearly killed Andras.

I stiffen when I remember something: My family was on vacation a month or so after the attack. My father was trying to give us a break from the death of our beta, and me some privacy from the public. When I killed my mate, there was nonstop gossip and disgusting rumors. I was dealing with the sheer agony of my mate’s death and was unable to find a moment’s peace, so my parents thought it was necessary; I agreed wholeheartedly.

We went on vacation at our summer home in the Southern Forest, so I would have privacy to properly grieve, and we’d be able to shift whenever, and however long, we desired. One evening, we were out at a human restaurant and we ran into Randaul and his family, and I met Declan for the first time. They joined us for dinner, and Dad invited them over to our summer home the next night. That morning Randaul volunteered Xander and me to go hiking with him and Declan. I honestly thought it was just a feeble attempt to fix me up with his son; who was in a relationship at that time but it was widely known that Randaul didn’t care for her.

Reluctantly, I agreed so I could get away from my parents. I was also confident we wouldn’t be followed since my brother and I would be with two top-tier lycan beasts. Randaul had always been good about giving me my space, which is what I was counting on. Oh how wrong I was. Randaul spent the entire time talking Declan up. Xander would try to intervene but Randaul would still steer the conversation back to Declan’s qualities.

In an attempt to get away from him, I excused myself to walk off the trail with the guise that I had to relieve myself. I just wanted a moment to sit by myself. Mara was hurting and more or less no longer moving. My chest was filled with agonizing pain, and I desperately lacked the will to live. The moment I sat down on a log, Mara was lazily watching me to make sure I didn’t give up. We both wanted to escape the pain and despairing loneliness we both felt. However, we had both gone through too much just to stop trying.

I put my head in my hands and tried to breathe and hold back any desperate screams that were trying to break me. The hollow feeling living in my heart was nearly unbearable, and holding in my anguish felt downright masochistic. I wanted death. I deserved death for destroying something so sacred. It was a crime against the Moon Goddess, and I deserved every ounce of pain this sin caused me. I didn’t deserve love in my life, and I certainly didn’t deserve the title of Alpha Queen in my lifetime. Not after what I had just done.

I was wallowing in my thoughts while Mara growled at me. In retrospect, she was likely trying to warn me, but in that moment I didn’t care that she was upset. I just wanted to breathe without a weight on my chest. It wasn’t until I heard a stick breaking that I managed to rein my dark thoughts in and wrap myself in a confident façade once again.

When I looked up, I didn’t see anything, but every nerve I had was tingling a warning that I was being watched. I couldn’t smell anything, which was unnerving, to say the least. Mara was with me, weakly but there, so I knew I hadn’t lost my wolf. Why was I sensing danger, but nothing was confirming it?

Cautiously, I stood as I focused on listening to my surroundings. No birds. No chatter. Nothing, just dead silence. That’s not a good sign. Mara lifted her head for the first time in days, and the moment she stood up I knew I was in trouble.

Slowly, I take a step back, and in that time a white lycan steps out of the woods. I remember sensing his power, but it was less than half of what it is now. Then again, I was significantly weaker back then as well.

“What are you doing out here,” the lycan had asked as he stepped closer, “and all by yourself, Princess?” There was a terrifying undercurrent to his tone that had sent my stomach straight down to my feet.

“Who,” I asked, playing dumb. I wasn’t sure if I could shift, let alone maintain one long enough to fight. Not with Mara and I both like this. If we were going to live, we were going to have to fight together and to do that we had to agree to move past our almost instinctual desire to die.

“Don’t be coy with me, little miss Alpha Princess,” the beast snarls; sending fear-spiked shards to my heart. “You are the Alpha Princess, and about to take your last breath. You deserve death for what you did to our lycan army. They will know the loss I feel.”

Well, I’m dead. I take a step back while Mara still shakily remains standing. She’s given so much of her strength to keep us going, and yet she’s still going to fight for me. For us. I want this death, but she desperately wants to live.

Clenching my fists together, I take a step forward; deciding right there and then, that if I am to die, it’ll be for a warrior’s death; I owe that much to Mara. My death will not be delivered by a pathetic rogue who was part of the battle that caused my mate’s demise.

“Who are you to tell me what I deserve?” I snap, reaching my breaking point. “You don’t know the hell I’ve been through, or have even breathed one of my breaths after what I have done. Don’t you dare call for justice when I’m already begging for death.”

He barks a hard laugh. “Then, trust me, Princess, for you, this will be a merciful death then.” He moves to attack, but I drop to the ground, my body fully shifted before my paw touches the ground. The lycan crashes into the woods, missing me by a hair width.

I turned around to face him while Mara tried to lend me her strength. I attacked him the moment he fully turned to face me. I remembered his weak points, and I put as much strength as I can into my weakened wolf. Mara doesn’t have the strength to fight, but I sure as hell was not losing to that beast.

With every fiber of my being, I latched on to his throat and tried to pull him down, while his claws and mouth dug into my shoulder blades. The pain was extreme and, ordinarily, would be enough to make me let go. However, it was nothing compared to what I was going through. In fact, feeling something new was a complete relief to me. I was living in that pain since it was something tangible and real.

When I felt him getting ready to try to shake me loose, I hooked up my paw and swiftly swiped at his neck just below my jaw; lacerating his windpipe and carotid artery. Deaftly, I shook him until he let go of my body, and I dropped him like the piece of trash he is. That was the last time I saw him. Lying on the ground, clutching at his throat and staring at me with widening eyes while I had just stepped over him, and left him to die.

I didn’t shift back after the fight, since my clothing is now torn and it felt good to be in my wolf once more. After the monumental battle, Mara slumped back to the ground and had fallen asleep while I ran through the woods to get back to my brother. When I found the waiting trio, they were shocked to see me covered in blood and sporting battle wounds that were clearly from a lycan and not a wolf. Xander was overly concerned and gave me his shirt so I could shift back to my human form and he could thoroughly inspect my wounds.

Now that I think about it, Randaul was more than surprised when he saw me, he was petrified. He excused himself with the guise to make sure that the beast was dead, and to check for others. Both Xander and Declan took me straight to the house and left Randaul behind.

My head snaps up with realization. I know Andras’s true name. I remember it. Randaul had returned to the house to check on me a few hours after the fight and told me who it was that attacked me; showing me the dead beast’s human ID from a nearby pile of clothes he had found. Randaul took the identification back and told me he’d notify the family of their loss. He didn’t mention that he was part of that family.

I didn’t think about this memory since I was confident he was dead, and he isn’t the only white lycan I have had a run-in with. Just like wolves, lycans come in all different colors and sizes. The strongest ones tend to be gold, bronze, or silver. White-colored lycans are in an average class, while in wolves they’re one of the strongest. I guess Andras is proof that coat color doesn’t always equal strength.