Chapter 3

• Cielo POV.
• I pull my sleeve down after another departure. It will heal within a few hours.
• After I killed the Lycan, the pack doctor treated it. Lycans, like wolves, cannot function outside of a pack. Without a strong leader, they will become enraged. If that is the case, why was there someone waiting for me? I pause in my steps as I realize I am going upstairs.
• "He was not mad," I almost whisper. In my mind, I slow down the events. I was rummaging through the Moon Down Pack's wreckage. It was not a large gathering, only a few hundred people. I could smell the scents of the mutilated and broken pack members. I also detected a few Lycans, which was unusual, but it was not the first time I had detected them at one of these locations, so I was not concerned. I was inspecting this particular structure because it was the Alpha's pack-house. It had burned down, and only the bottom level walls remained, but it was crumbling.
• It had such a strong lycan scent that I assumed it was a lycan that took out the alpha. I was not too concerned because I was just photographing the damage. I would stepped behind a wall, just out of sight of the Guard Captain, who was directing their search to be more thorough. His primary responsibility was to keep me safe. A man lunged out from a wrecked armoire as I was raising my phone to photograph it.
• He would already shifted, becoming a perfect blend of beast and human. His body and elongated face were covered in silver fur. He was a wolf on two legs. When he scratched me and tried to grab me, I dropped my phone. Quickly.
• I shifted to my wolf and ripped through his neck, instantly killing him. It was a much easier fight than I had expected. Perhaps it was simply his surprise that caught him off guard.
• "How come he was not mad?" I wonder, rolling over the rail and back to the ground. I bolt for the meeting hall, ignoring the sound of someone entering the house.
• "Dad," I say as I open the door to reveal the Lycan King and Queen. They look at me, surprised, as I try to catch my breath. "I apologize for barging in, I was hoping to speak with my father," I said quickly.
• Exzel speaks once I have straightened up. "He accompanied your mother. They received a call from the Guard Captain about the incident you had with a lycan. They were to bring him back here."
• "I appreciate it," I say. "I will go look for him."
• "What happened, Cielo? You are acting as if a snake bit you." Melia inquires as she approaches my injured arm. She strokes it gently as I stare into her hypnotic eyes. I never noticed, but her eyes warmed to a cool liquid, hypnotizing me.
• She speaks softly, her voice like a warm hug around my worries. "What are you thinking, dear girl? What has frightened you?"
• I pull away slightly, shaking my head, aware of what she is attempting. "You only need to ask, your Highness." I shake my head again, trying to shake the strange warm feeling she is instilled in me. What made her do that?
• I move my feet away from her. "The lycan who attacked me. He was not insane like most rogues. Since he was there to capture me, he is been following a powerful lycan. The Wolfsbane's purpose was to paralyze me rather than kill me. He was waiting for me, for me to leave his sight. He had not counted on my presence. That is why it was such a simple kill."
• I put my hand on my arm. "The Wolfsbane was insufficient to kill me. If that had been their goal, they could have achieved it."
• "What went wrong?" Ezxel inquires.
• I give him a hard stare. "Despite my younger brother, I am the strongest wolf, aside from my father. It will take more than a standard dose of Wolfsbane to slow me down."
• "And you are rejecting the position of Alpha Queen?" He inquires, his brow furrowed.
• "Pack life is not what I want right now," I say, giving him a stern look. "To appease my father, I agreed to take over Xander's role if something happened to him."
• "I doubt his Beta is okay with that," Exzel says as he examines me.
• I sigh. "He is welcome to challenge me, but he will lose his life."
• Melia's eyes are wide with surprise as she looks at me. A female alpha who refuses to be an Alpha Queen is even more rare. To be honest, I have always wanted to fill my father's shoes. I trained for it my entire life, up until the age of eighteen. I have had little desire to stay in this world since that day.
• "Please excuse me," I say as I take a step back. I do not like the fact that the Lycan Queen tried to hypnotize me.
• "I wish you would stay, Cielo," King Exzel says quickly.
• I come to a halt. He is not ordering me, but it would be extremely impolite for the Alpha Princess to refuse the Lycan King's request. It could also be considered sufficient cause for war. I doubt that would be the outcome if I denied his request, but I am not one to risk my father's disapproval. With just one word from him, I am firmly entrenched as Alpha Queen.
• "What do you require of me, My Lord?" I inquire, my voice hollow.
• "I would like to know what happened to your mate," he says, sounding exactly like a psychiatrist would to a reluctant patient.
• My fists clench, forced to speak because he and his mate are both using their powerful auras on me. "Why do you want to know?" I ask gently, my gaze fixed on the door. I can not attack a Lycan King, so I have to comfort my wolf, calming her while I try to do the same for myself.
• "I like to learn as much as I can about the people I work with."
• With whom are you collaborating? Is he interested in assisting my father in sorting out this mess? My father is one step ahead of the Lycan King. My father's primary responsibility revolves around werewolves. Exzel's responsibilities include werewolf issues, property disputes, and anything else involving Lycans. The Lycan King must believe that these attacks interfere with his duties.
• Even so, now that I have realized this, I wish I did not have to reveal this information. The death of a friend is personal, and it is never forgotten. Still, it was a king to whom I could not say no. I speak after taking a deep breath to center myself. "Xander and I had moved for the first time on our eighteenth birthday. We were running around, learning more about border patrol and our wolves. Xander and I were divided. I chose my father's beta. Xander had chosen Gamma Lucious. We had only been shifted for about five minutes when we were separated to begin our training. Logan was showing me how to quickly transition into and out of wolf form. It was exhausting work, but I was prepared for it. We got a call about rogues an hour into our training. Beta Logan did his best to get me to safety, but we were ambushed by two wolves and one lycan. While Beta Logan went after the lycan, I handled the wolves. After finishing off the two male wolves, I turned around to lock eyes with the most precious set of silver eyes I would ever seen clamped through Beta Logan's neck. His scent and sheer terror overwhelmed my senses. He smelled like rain and redwood. Just thinking about it makes my mouth water and my heart break."
• Dutifully, I continue. "My shift nearly came to a halt as my wolf screamed for her mate. However, the blood dripping from his mouth belonged to my father's beta," I begin unbuttoning my long business suit jacket, "and it was enough to overpower my wolf's senses. I lunged for my mate's throat, and we both locked onto each other's necks; he was to mark me, and I was to mark him for blood. He was a lycan, and I could not beat him. I was a first-time shifter who was still untrained in this form. I was losing at the time, and the only thing keeping me going was my rage. I managed to wriggle free but," I say, dropping the jacket to reveal the long claw marks surrounding my shoulder, "I wasn't fast enough. He pinned me down and clamped his canines into my neck," I brush my hair, revealing the faint marks on my neck, "and his teeth found their marks. My eyes met Logan's vacant ones while he was enjoying his teeth in my mark. It gave me the strength I needed to make the transition. I transformed into a human and changed my hand into a claw. I ripped out his throat while he was distracted and then broke his neck when he let go."
• It's silent so I finish his thought for him. "Yes, King Exzel, I was the one who assassinated my own mate." I put on my shirt again. "Now, if that is what you want. I would like to retire and finish recovering from Wolfsbane's poisoning."