Your Queen

Screams of agony filled the once peaceful air. The blue waters that the moon shined upon were now tainted red, healthy green grass that surrounded the land were now just burned patches of obsidian black, streets that held smiling pack members everywhere were now covered in bloody bodies both in human and wolf form. The children were roaming around wailing, yelling for their families, and looking for anyone to help them. While the rest of the survivors were on their knees patiently waiting for their end to come. They had been beaten and no longer were willing to fight. All that was left was to surrender.

After a few moments of sitting still and nothing happening it caused the survivors to turn nervous and confused. They slowly stood up from their position and as they looked around some could not help but fall once again to their knees. The pain of seeing their loved ones slaughtered and laying on the floor without life was too unbearable. The sobbing grew louder and the pain grew deeper.

Everyone was so distraught and in their heads that they were not aware of a man approaching the carnage until he spoke loudly catching all of their attention. “This was a genocide.” He paused to look around the shattering image of his pack. Ready to speak again he continued with a horrified expression settled on his face. “A cold inhumane plan to kill all of our pack and yet here we stand! The last survivors of Moonstruck Pack. We have lost our leaders, our families, and our friends but we will not lose our strength to keep fighting. It will be a painful time for us all however we will recover from this great loss we have endured today. All of you standing before me survived this massacre. You were strong and now as a pack, we will build ourselves up from this downfall. As your beta, I will make sure that absolutely nothing like this occurs ever again. I will bring justice to the ones we lost today, I will bring justice to our luna, and I will bring justice to out Alpha!” Just when the beta finished his speech, two pack warriors walked towards the crowd, each holding a lifeless body.

The remaining pack members unwillingly took a sharp intake of breath as they saw their dead alpha and luna. The luna’s eyes were still wide open showing everyone that her warm chocolate brown eyes once filled with so much joy and life were now dull and lifeless. And the all mighty alpha was no longer. If the slit across his throat was not the reason for his death then it was the gaping hole in his chest, a ripped-out heart.

“We are survivors so let us survive!” The beta yelled as he kneeled down to the pack. He was showing them his respect but he was also offering himself to anyone who would dare attack the Moonstruck Pack again. They would have to kill him first.

A man from the crowd stepped forward. He was stained in blood from head to toe, there was a large gash on his arm, and one of his eyes was bruised shut but the other held a glint. A glint of hope. The man looked at his beta with his one good eye and proudly said “Alpha Dariel.” Bowing his head in respect. More and more people joined in and started chanting the same words, they were giving their beta the title as their new alpha.

Dariel had given the pack hope and at the moment that was all they needed, to hope. Standing up from his place Dariel lifted up a hand to quiet down the people. As the chanting came to a stop Dariel cleared his throat ready to speak. “I will accept the alpha position to protect and lead you all, thank you for believing that I am worthy.” As Dariel accepted his new title he could not help but feel victorious through all of the pain and chaos around him. After all, he got what he wanted, what he fought for, what he thought he deserved after everything that had happened.

Dariel’s small victory came to a halt once he saw his best friend approach him with a sorrowful look on his face. As he got closer to his friend he met his gaze and saw red blotched eyes, a sign that he had been crying. Dariel panicked at whatever had his friend so torn up. “Gabriel, what is wrong?” Dariel asked his friend once they were within reach.

When Gabriel did not respond and instead leaned into Dariel to grasp onto him, it only frighted Dariel further. “Gabriel, where are the kids? Tell me my son is okay.” Dariel lowered his voice as he was demanding answers from the clinging man on him.

If something had happened to his son Dariel knew that it was going to be his fault and no one else’s. His son had to be okay, he was the only thing that Dariel had left of his mate. He would never be able to live with the burden of knowing he was at fault for his son’s death.

“Our sons are safe but I lost her Dariel. I lost my mate.” Gabriel sobbed as he kept clinging to his friend. Without meaning to Dariel let out a sigh of relief for his son’s safety. Though his chest tightened once again at the realization of what Gabriel had said. ‘This was not supposed to happen, not like this’ Dariel thought.

“Gabriel, I am so sorry. We are going to get through this, you and I, brother. I know it hurts right now but you have to be strong, be strong for Elliot.” Guilt seeped through Dariel’s body as he tried to comfort his best friend, who was more like a brother. It was his fault in the end.

“Alpha,” a voice interrupted Dariel and Gabriel’s embrace.

Before turning his attention to the newcomer, Dariel patted his friend on the back and said “Go get the kids from their hiding and afterward just go home, Gabe. I will meet you later today, you will be okay, okay?” Gabriel nodded to his friend and began to slowly walk away. A sway in every one of his steps as if he was about ready to collapse at any moment.

Dariel hesitantly turned back to the voice addressing him, not wanting to take his eyes off the broken man walking away. When Dariel faced the man calling to him, he recognized him as another one of the pack’s warriors. “What is it, Rick?” By the expression the warrior wore, Dariel knew more bad news was heading his way.

“Madeline is missing.” All the color had drained from the new Alpha’s face but not because of what Rick had just said but because of the next few words that came out of his mouth. “And so is the baby.”

***

Meanwhile outside the skirts of the pack’s territory was a woman, Madeline, running for her life and the life of the infant in her arms. She knew of the danger inside the pack and of the monster who she imagined was now alpha. As Madeline ran the child in her arms was soundlessly asleep or at least that is what she wanted to hope for, considering she was one of the reasons Madeline kept running. The baby and the child Madeline had left back in the pack were her only reasons to continue her journey.

Unfortunately, the long claw marks deeply gashed on Madeline’s torso were preventing her from getting any further. The blood loss was too great for her to even think of being able to survive. As Madeline ran a wave of nausea came over her causing her to stop in her tracks. With one hand holding the small infant and another clutching her torso, Madeline could not hold herself up on anything and collapsed on the dirt ground.

Suddenly her body lurched forward and Madeline could not help the vomit escaping her. When she gazed at the remnants that came from her she observed all the blood that accompanied her food. With heavy breaths, Madeline steadily brought herself up to her feet. Ignoring the pain that passed through her body as she stood. Looking around the forest she realized she no longer knew where she was. Her blood loss had made her disoriented and lost. This was the end. Madeline was going to die with a child in her arms in the middle of nowhere.

Madeline’s vision began to become blurry and her body was caving in on the idea of giving up. However, the moment Madeline heard the baby in her arms take a small breath, almost like she was gasping for life itself, she felt her own heart physically break and it brought a wave of strength to Madeline. They were both about to die, there was no doubt. Still, Madeline knew that if she could somehow save the alpha bloodline Moonstruck pack would not be doomed to hell.

As if the moon goddess had heard her prayers Madeline heard the small sounds of soft crying coming from somewhere near. She blindly followed the sound of the crying child. Every step forward brought her closer to the wails until finally there she was standing in front of a child laying peacefully on the soft grass below, no longer crying.

There was a small cottage up ahead that Madeline had seen when she took a look at her surroundings. The smoke coming from the chimney told her there was someone home and the toys surrounding the infant on the ground made it clear to Madeline that she was not abandoned but left alone for maybe a minute or five.

In a hasty decision, Madeline carried the baby from the ground with her bloody hand that was clutching her torso. Madeline continued to walk a few feet deeper into the forest with two infants in her arms. Suddenly she stopped in her tracks and kneeled down on the dirt placing the babies on the ground in front of her.

“This is the only way I can try and save the pack, I am sorry,” Madeline whispered to not only herself but the two babies on the ground. The infant that Madeline had practically kidnapped was staring deeply into her eyes as she began to chant foreign words out loud. The other child that was already with Madeline remained with her eyes closed and shallow breathing, a sign that could only mean death was coming for her.

As Madeline continued her ritual to transfer the bloodline to the healthy baby looking up at her, she began to feel weaker by the second. Madeline knew she was using her last bit of strength to complete the ritual, even so, this was different. Her weakness was more than just her lack of blood or her disappearing strength, it was the draining of her magic.

Despite her losing her powers she continued the ritual. When Madeline completed the transfer of the alpha bloodline the child she had taken from Moonstruck pack had given her last breath and so did Madeline when she finally collapsed to the ground.

Now alone with two dead bodies around her, the child from the cottage remained silent, not a single cry coming out of her.

“I found her! Natalia, I found her!” A man yelled from a few feet away. He hurriedly made his way to the wide-eyed infant cradling her softly and ignoring the scene before him. He was only focused on the child in his arms, a relieved look on his face.

Followed by the man a woman came into view right behind him gasping at the dead woman and child on the ground. She was horrified and confused by what had happened, so many ideas running in her mind. “Your majesty, what happened?” The woman whispered to the man holding the baby.

As though broken from a spell the man, at last, took in the sight before him. He was silent for a moment until he turned to look back at the child in his arms and took in a deep breath. His eyes instantly changed into a deep red color. “What did she do to you?” He whispered to the baby.

“My king? Is Princess Ebony okay?” The woman asked her king, worried about the princess’s well being. The king looked at the woman asking questions, a sad look displayed on his face.

“It has begun, Natalia. It has not been long since, since-” The king could not say the words out loud and the woman, Natalia, noticed giving him a nod to signal her understanding. She knew what her king was going through.

The king looked at his daughter in his arms and held her closer to him almost afraid that if he let go then he would lose her once more. “What do we do with the bodies, my king?” Natalia interrupted the king’s thoughts.

“We give them a proper burial and afterward we leave immediately. Our time in Sosthènès is over, we need to head back to Ambrogio now before the people who did that to them find us.” The king finished telling Natalia as he walked away to the cottage with a now sleepy baby in his arms.

“You will be okay, my love. You are strong, your mother made sure of that, Velouette.” The king whispered to his sleeping daughter.