Zander - The West Kingdom

Read book one or you will be very confused. Book one is Zander - The (NORTH) Kingdom. Thank you.

My name is Jewls Samantha Dane and I am the hybrid Princess of the Northern Kingdom of Zander. I'm not exactly the girly type of Princess. I prefer roughhousing with the boys instead of painting my face with muck and stressing over a broken claw.

No, that's not me...I'm not that kind of girl.

I'm the girl who will trade punches with the boys instead of putting on a dress and uncomfortable heels. I'm the girl who hunts for food and then sits with the castle staff to eat my catch and reminisce on old stories.

Just don't ask me to cook the food unless you want a burnt long-nosed bunny or an overly salted chunk of cave hog.

I'm also the girl who's told I am beautiful and is pursued by many men. I've been hit on by just about every hybrid in the North Kingdom. That's probably because I'm a royal that's not betrothed to anyone.

I honestly don't see what all the fuss is about. I'm kind of a bitch if I'm being honest...especially to the guys.

But they think I'm pretty...whatever! I guess it depends on what planet you're from but for Zander, I'm pretty ordinary with a bit of flair. Of course, I added most of the flair myself.

I have bright green eyes that glow as bright as poison, natural cherry-toned lips, and an olive skin tone that's smooth and clear.

Yet It's not my eyes or lips that I'm known for. I'm most complimented on my long black hair that nearly touches the top of my thighs.

The top half of my hair is perfectly straight and the bottom half is tiny little braids. I have blue strings and beads woven into some of the small braids to finish off my awesome tough girl look. I wear it up in a messy bun unless I'm in battle.

Today I'm looking extra awesome...I'm wearing my most comfortable battle attire. I've got my black leather tank top that stops at my belly button with a v hemline. My pants are low-waisted red leather that laces up instead of zip. My black boots come to below the knee and have buckles down the sides and silver spikes on the heels for hard roundhouse kicks.

Well, that explains me...let's talk about you? I'm kidding...I'm kidding!

Let me tell you a little bit about Zander...at least the important parts.

In Zander, there are four very different and unique kingdoms. Each kingdom is ruled by one of the dominant species that reside in our world.

We have the Eastern werewolves, the Southern vampires...yuck!, the Western witches, then there are the magnificent Northern hybrids...that's me!

Two out of the four of those kingdoms are in an active war as we speak. The Northern Kingdom is one of them...yup that's us.

So why are we at war you ask? Well, let me fill you in! Come on over and pop a squat because you may be here for a while.

The feud is between the hybrids and the witches plus let's not forget about the large group of asshole werewolves that's buddied up with the enemy. So we the North are at war with them...the West.

Meleace is the greedy Dark Queen of the Western witches and is a woman with the beautiful gift of magic but she still wants more.

She just couldn't take her blessings of magic and be satisfied! Nope! What does she want you ask? Well...

Each kingdom has its own amulet but we have yet to discover what their purpose is for. All we know is that they are important, they can be pieced together to make one big amulet, and they must be protected.

The West Queen is trying to take the amulets to all four kingdoms.

For what? We don't know because we have not made it that far yet.

The Northern amulet is the first that the Dark Queen decided to go after...stupid choice I know that much.

So protecting the North amulet leads us to today. We are fighting till the death of either the North or West Queens and the victor gets the North's amulet.

Where is the Western amulet...we don't know that either.

Now back to today...I was wounded and taken to the medical tent right outside the battlefield on the Northwest border

Our bloody battle had just kicked off into the really good stuff where they let...cough-cough...yours truly get out on the battlefield and kick some witch and werewolf ass...

However, I didn't make it that far. The greasy long-haired werewolf-mutt named Torren jammed his silver-clawed hand into my chest.

I would have been in a better mood about it but the claws were laced with dark magic therefore my hybrid body could not heal itself.

You don't want to mess with dark magic... that's a very important fact to remember.

hybrids and werewolves are highly allergic to silver, especially if it's shoved inside our bodies and dark magic is the worst kind of magic...you get my drift.

Note to self...silver-plus-dark magic- equals-bad mojo for Jewls.

Of course, my sister-in-law Cori was there to save my life with her newbrid blood. She is the only one in Zander that can defeat dark magic...that we know of.

She's also the only triple-threat adult tribrid in the whole wide world of Zander. She's a three-way hybrid. We call her a newbrid which is a witch, werewolf, and vampire all rolled up into one tiny little Corianna Dane the Queen of the North Kingdom and ruler of the hybrids and ally to the giants.

Cori is married and mated to my brother, the King of the North Kingdom. They recently had the second newbrid in Zander, a female pup named Aleksis and that's my niece...the only baby on any planet that I like...those things take your freedom and steal your youth.

Ya...um...no! I don't do hairless thieving monkeys. No, thank you! I do love little Aleksis though, she's adorable.

So that's the gist of what happened. We were at war, Torren the evil werewolf put his filthy claws in my chest, Cori the newbrid gave me healing blood, and now I'm in the medical tent waiting to go back to war.

Now where should we kick off the first part of this story...Hhmmm...Oh, I know! The beginning of the impossible. The first half of how I figured out who I wanted to be.

This is where I regained consciousness on the battlefield.

I opened my eyes to see that I was lying on the ground of the battlefield. I could hear warriors fighting and falling all around me.

"What happened Raine? What did we miss?" I asked my wolf.

There was no answer from my wolf and that's strange because Raine is always quick on her feet. She is my dominant species so I don't understand how I'm awake but she's not.

I started to try and get off the ground but fell right back down. I was so weak that I could barely even lift my head. I looked down at my chest where it hurt and jumped at the site of deep claw marks. I grimaced at the sudden jerk I made at the surprise displayed across my chest.

I was right then reminded of what had happened.

Torren who is the Dark Queen's little werewolf puppy had stuck his dark magic-riddled talons into my chest.

He had tricked my brothers with a distraction long enough to grab me to use as leverage. He needed to get the North Queen to give him Beatrice who is his selfish and ignorant pup.

Which was stupid because the North Queen is loyal. You can smell Cori's loyalty from a mile away...literally! She would never give up anyone.

After Torren stuck his claws deep inside me, I watched him speed to Beatrice and take off with her. Lula, our kingdom's traitor was attached to Bea's arm like the scared little leach that she is so she went too.

"Now there's a grand pairing! Bea the bully and Lula the hybrid traitor...Good riddance to them both!" I thought to myself as I tried one more time to push myself up.

I managed to get into a sitting position and my Queen stopped fighting to turn around and look at me.

"MARCUS! GET JEWLS OUT OF HERE NOW! GET HER TO SADIE!" I heard Queen Cori yell to my little brother Marcus.

I looked up to see my little brother standing above me. He bent down and picked me up into his big strong arms.

"I'm gonna get you to help Jewls. Hang in there sister," Marcus assured me.

Normally I would give him shit for helping me but I was so weak that all I could do is lay my head on my brother's shoulder. His shaggy blonde hair was tickling my forehead but I didn't even care.

Marcus started to speed away at high speeds. I looked over his shoulder to see my King and oldest brother Aleks taking on a huge werewolf with two more closing in behind him.

I was not worried though. Aleks is the strongest hybrid I know and his wife is even stronger...she just doesn't know it yet. She thinks she does but she has no clue how powerful she really is. I don't think she will figure it out for years to come.

Marcus weaved in and out of fighting witches, werewolves, and hybrids. I could feel my long hair whipping in the wind behind us as he ran.

Suddenly he came to an abrupt stop that jerked my bobbling head forward with a snap. I looked up to see a large number of witches standing in a line directly in front of us.

We didn't have a way around them without getting hit with a spell. Marcus stood completely still and waited for one of them to let their guard down so he could make a move.

"Let me go, Marcus I can fight," I urged while kicking my feet.

"Jewls you can't even stand properly! We have to get you to blood right now!" Marcus said as he franticly looked around for a way out.

He was about to speed forward anyway until a woman with a raspy voice spoke.

"Well! Well! Well! What do we have here girls?" she said to her line of witch-bitch skanks while juggling a ball of red electricity between the palms of her hands.

The woman had shoulder-length dirty blonde hair that looked thin and stringy and eyes that were so brown that they were almost black.

Her body type was scrawny and she looked sickly. There was not a stitch of curve or meat on this woman's body. She has a spike sticking out of her eyebrow and black lipstick but it does not make her look tough or frightening in the slightest.

"Let me pass or I will take out every last one of you trashy-ass women!" Marcus warned.

"Hear that Raven!" sarcastically says the witch behind the dirty blonde with the spiked brow. "He's going to take out...all of us!"

The girl speaking had her hands up in front of her and pretended to shiver in fear.

"Oh! Really!" The dirty-blonde witch named Raven cackled. "Ladies, the quality of their clothes says we are in the presence of the Northern Royals. We will be praised into the head of the dark Queens army if we kill them! I may even be appointed the new general after Torren takes his leave with his kid!"

Every witch standing before us got a determined and thirsty look in their eyes. Some lit up their magic while others got into a spell-casting position.

Raven drew her ball of red electricity back to throw it which made Marcus tighten his arms around me. Raven took one step forward and went to fastball her magic but was stopped.

"Wait!!" The witch behind Raven stopped the long line of spells that were about to rain on me and my brother.

"What do you want Gabby!" Raven snapped.

"Do you feel that?" Gabby asks and stands very still while looking at the ground.

The ground began to shake and the witches were now looking around with concerned expressions that quickly turned to worry.

"It's just a spell someone cast you idiot," Raven snapped but her eyes stretched wide as teacups as the ground shook again almost knocking her over.

"What the hell is that?" Raven hollered.

Loud footsteps followed by more intense shaking of the ground were getting close. BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

I already knew what it was but the looks on these witches faces were worth the wait.

Two giants that looked identical walked up behind the line of witches. Before they even had time to react one of the twin giants reached down and picked up the witch standing next to Gabby and Raven.

Raven started screaming at the giant to put her down but the giant brought the girl up to his mouth and bit her head clean off. Blood was squirted to the ground peppering the witches and werewolves near the giant's ankles. Normally I would find this satisfying but I was in too much agony to crack a smile

This was our chance to get away and Marcus took it. He sped right past the distracted witches as more of them were grabbed up by giants.

The girl called Gabby was picked up when we passed by the Giants. I looked over Marcus's shoulder to see Raven shaking in both anger and devastation. She had red lightning shooting out of her body as she released mass emotions when the giant bit Gabby's head off.

The giants are in an alliance with Queen Corianna. I didn't think the Giants were going to honor the battle agreement with the Queen. I was surprised to see that they did and for our sake, I'm grateful they did because the Giants just saved our skin.

I felt proud of my young Queen. She has managed the impossible and brought the giants into our army.

Marcus made it to the medical tent and then entered. The medical tent was one great big open room filled with rows and rows of cots. My brother laid me on one of the cots closest to Sadie's small lab and surgery table.

"I will be back out there to save your life once I get my strength back," I said to Marcus.

Marcus looked down at me with a weird look on his face. He looked scared and I could feel he was worried about me.

"I know we fight a lot Jewls but that scared me out there. I thought you were dead," Marcus tells me.

"Don't get all mushy on me Marcus! Just kill that greasy-headed bastard!" I requested.

"I promise you big sister...if I come face to face with Torren I will remove his head from his shoulders just for you!" Marcus vowed.

I gave him a nod of approval then Marcus took off to rejoin the battle. I looked around at all the wounded. There had to of been fifty cots and they were all filled with critical patients.

There is one big tent for serious cases that need immediate mending. Then my brother the King had many small tents spread out for less serious wounds and recovering hybrids.

I laid my head back on the hard cot and looked up at the medical tent ceiling.

"What are you in for?" I heard from the cot next to me.

"None of your business," I snapped and then turned my head to the side to look at the man who spoke.

I didn't recognize the man so he wasn't a hybrid. I could smell that he wasn't a werewolf either. He had to of been one of the witches that turned on the Queen to fight with us.

The man had short blonde hair and dark sea-green eyes. He was quite large and muscular. He barely fit on the cot he was so tall. His feet were hanging off by a good two feet. I did a quick rundown and he didn't appear to be injured.

"Are you one of the witches that turned on the dark Queen on the battlefield?" I asked.

"No!" He said with scrunched eyebrows.

The look on his face was odd. It almost looked like he was offended that I even asked.

"You don't look hurt?" I questioned suspiciously.

"You can't see under my clothes now can you?" The man answered my question with a question.

"Where did you come from then? You were not in the group of witches that I brought...." I started but Sadie appeared in front of me.

Sadie was an absolute mess, she didn't look herself at all. Her short light brown pixie hairstyle was sticking straight up in the air. Her slate grey eyes looked stressed behind her small rectangle glasses, her olive skin tone was pale and her knee-length lab coat that used to be white was covered in blood.

"Marcus said that you need blood. My donors have almost been drained already but I have a couple of ounces left." Sadie said and handed me a small cup.

"Sadie I need more than that!" I said in shock. "Cori got the claws out but I'm still weak. I have to get back out there to my witches! I have to fight with our kingdom!"

"Your witches..." I heard the man next to me comment.

Sadie sighed deeply and had a here we go again look on her face.

"I will see what I can find Jewls, maybe I can pull a little out of each donor. I know that you do need to get back out there. We need all the warriors we can get," Sadie replied then looked at the man next to me.

"I will be with you soon Luther. The royals come first. It's the King's orders." Sadie told him then sped out of the tent to the blood donor station.

"So you're the Royal Princess...Jewls right?" The man named Luther asked.

"Why!" I asked skeptically and to be honest, irritated at how he said that.

"I heard that you got a large group of witches to commit treason against their kingdom," Luther mentioned the true rumor he had heard.

"Those witches don't belong to any Kingdom," I snapped.

The man had a scowl on his face. I could see that he was bitter and angry. I got the sudden sense that he was not friendly and I needed to take action. I'm far too weak to take on anyone so I brought the swallow of blood that Sadie gave me to my lips.

I went to tip the cup and saw a flash of blue. My eyes immediately closed and I struggled to try and open them. I managed to get them to slightly crack and I could see men flooding into the tent.

The last thing I remember before my eyes closed the rest of the way was Sadie struggling against someone...then my head went blank.

My head was pounding and my back was stiff. I could smell mildew, urine, and blood in the damp air.

"Sadie needs to invest in more comfortable cots and clean this tent up...It reaks in here," I thought to myself.

I moved my arm that was underneath my head and could feel that I wasn't on the cot. It felt like dirt and tiny little pebbles of rock scraping against my skin as I moved.

"Wait...am I on the ground again?" Surfaced threw my mind.

I flipped my eyes open to see that I was in fact, lying on the ground but I was not on the battlefield.

I jumped to my feet and was not at all impressed with what I saw. I was in a dungeon with no windows or well...anything.

It was an empty two-celled room that was separated by a wall of small square bars between them. Other than that there was nothing in here but iron walls and a thick iron door with a food slot. There was a single torch located high on the wall were I couldn't reach.

Oh, did I mention there are piss stains in the corners...the smell was revolting.

"Raine! What happened? Where are we? " I asked my wolf.

I quickly walked up to the iron door and fumbled around but there was no handle or latch. I tried to put my small hand into the food slot and felt around but nope...nothing.

"RAINE! WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU?! I NEED YOU!" I screamed threw my head.

I could not figure out why my wolf was so silent. She's never disappeared like this before. One time she got pissed and ignored me for a week but I could still feel her presence.

"Damn, what the hell am I supposed to do now?" I said and my voice echoed threw the room.

I'm too weak to use my abilities but I'm going to try. I need to get threw this damn door. My family needs me to fight with them.

I walked to the back of the cell and took a few deep breaths. I crouched and dug down deep for the tiny bit of energy that I had left. I put one foot in front of the other and started to speed run towards the door.

That was a wasted effort! I did nothing but lazily jog halfway to the door. I'm so weak that I can't even pull off a short-distance speed ability. I leaned forward and put my hands on my knees. I felt like I was about to faint and hit the nasty ground.

Suddenly I saw something move out of the corner of my eye. I looked over to see a shadow in the dark corner of the other cell.

My arms broke out in goosebumps when I came to the realization that someone had been privately watching me.

"I know you're there so you may as well come out," I spoke aloud to the shadow.

The shadow started to edge into the firelight and revealed a person.

The guy from the medical tent named Luther walked out of the darkness. His blonde hair was disheveled, he had dry blood on his nose, and a bruise on his cheek.

"Why did you bring me here Luther?" I asked viciously as I threw myself up against the square bars separating the cells.

I wasn't sure what the point of that was... I'm too frail to kick the bars down to beat his tall blonde ass. He even looked at me like I was stupid in the process. Then he spoke and made me feel very stupid

"Open them green eyes and look around! We were captured and brought here together you know!" he sarcastically stated.

I looked around and realized that he was right.

"Where is here?" I asked.

"I have no idea. I was put to sleep or drugged," Luther tells me. "I assumed your kind did it!"

"You assumed wrong...You arrogant hog!" I yelled. "We believe in mercy not abducting people without giving them cause!"

"Well excuse the hell out of me Princess! The last time I checked your kind declared a fucking war against my people!" Luther snapped.

"Princess?" I said insulted. "Don't call me that asshole! My brothers are the only ones allowed and even they say it with caution!"

"Or what! Are you gonna bust threw these bars and pound me?" he taunted facetiously. "You go right on ahead your majesty. Before you get to stomping you should probably know that abilities don't work in this dungeon."

"So you do know where we are? How else would you know that?" I asked.

"My magic abilities don't work in this place either, genius! You think I haven't tried getting out yet?" he said making me feel dumb as fuck yet again.

I was thinking of a rebuttal to throw at him when I heard a heavy iron door open. It sounded like the door was in a long hallway.

Without Raine or my abilities, I can't hear the correct location of the door.

Several sets of footsteps could be heard after the loud creaky iron door. I listened the best I could till they approached the outside of my cell.

I stepped to the back of the iron wall furthest from the door. I didn't know what to expect but I needed to be as far away as I could. You never know when you will need two extra seconds think so you can react.

My cell door popped open and a man stepped in followed by four guards. The man stood a few feet away and looked me up and down.

"You look like a dirty mop...I expected more for a Princess's appearance." The man threw insults at me.

"Excuse me!" I scoffed. "That's rich coming from a man that looks like he hasn't showered in months! Have you ever seen a razor blade in your life...You look like a mountain goat!" I came back at him with a look of disgust.