The Dimitri Twins

Chapter 39

Queen Arabella Anderson

"We're no longer the Dimitri twins," I said randomly to Jason, as we were trotting through the woods on horses, on a cloudy Wednesday morning in April.

"No, we aren't," he agreed, shrugging his shoulders. "Queen Arabella Anderson and Beta Jason Gallagher, no hint of a Dimitri anywhere."

"I think if you didn't take Logan's last name he would've gone on another rampage," I chuckled, remembering the rollercoaster of events leading up to Jason and Logan's marriage which involved a lot of rampages and pained howling from Logan, and Jason constantly testing the limits.

"I made it up to him," he smiled coyly, and you and I both know exactly how. "Have you made up your mind yet?" Jason asked. He was referring to the Spring Trials, which happened in the month of April. It was a set of events, like different types of fighting, running and other activities, open to every warrior in the Werewolf kingdom, to see who the best is. It has been won so far, every year, by Jason, since he was old enough, and before that it was his dad winning it. Logan always got second place, the gamma got third and the deltas got fourth and fifth, depending on whether Chase or Obi was doing better that year. No, it wasn't rigged, it was because they won it fair and square.

Then there are a number of events on the following days where those five don't take part, to see who is the best warrior from each pack, the best night warrior, the best warrior overall etc, there are a load of different prizes. My decision is whether or not I will be taking place this year, and if I do, which categories I want to put myself in.

"I'm not sure," I started. "Nick obviously doesn't want me to... I don't know if I want to though."

"Why would you want to do it?" he asked.

"I want to prove myself, that I am worthy of being their Queen," I stated.

"Arabella, they have already accepted you as their Queen, they did a long time ago. We both know it isn't about their acceptance of you, it's about your acceptance of yourself," he explained, and he was so right, but I hated admitting it.

"Do you not think I should do it?" I asked.

"I know if you do you will kick a lot of ass," he chuckled. "If you want to do it, do it, but not because you have to prove anything, only because you simply want to do it."

"You're pretty good at advice you know," I commented.

"I know," he flicked back his imaginary long hair.

We trotted back to the stables and put our horses away, chatting the whole way to the castle doors, where we were greeted by a maid who said that everyone had gathered in the second dining room. "They shouldn't be allowed to be a pack anymore," I heard Nick growl as we walked in through the door, his hard expression softening when he saw me.

"What's this about?" I asked, walking over and taking a seat on his lap.

"We have suggested that the first, second and third who wins at the warrior trials should take the alpha, beta and gamma place in the Crescent Moon pack, respectively," one of the elders said.

"The pack with a gamma who raped their pack members, who constantly abused other pack members and tortured innocents, kept people imprisoned for no reason, tried to kill me and my brother, and your Delta and then declared war on us?" I asked, raising an eyebrow slightly.

"That's the thing," Skye started, "all of those people are dead, every abuser, torturer and all of the old warriors got killed in the war. Now it is a load of victims who have no pack, women, children and men, all innocents."

"Can we bring them into the royal pack?" I asked.

"We don't have enough space. We are expanding as we speak, but we can't expand overnight," another of the elders explained.

"Then yeah, I agree with the idea," I stated.

"Fine," Nick mumbled, then spoke clearer, "announce it today. Watch how many more warriors sign up now."

"I do believe this Spring Trials will be double the size of the last one," an elder declared.

"We barely fit them all last time," Logan said, rubbing a hand over his face.

"We will have to open the castle, for extra rooms," Skye said.

"No," Nick snapped, "the castle is a safe haven for my wife, I will not open it to anyone I don't know, they could be potential threats."

"Nick, we will be fine," I tried to calm him down.

"I said no," he slammed his fist on the table.

"Baby, what about if we move all the Night Warriors from their barracks into the castle, and then we have the barracks as spare space. You know the Night Warriors, you can trust them in the castle," I suggested.

"Fine," he kissed me softly. "Is that all?" he asked the floor, without taking his eyes off me.

The answer was given when we heard the shuffling of everyone getting up and leaving, till it was just Nicholas and I.

"Are you going to be competing still?" he asked me.

"Only the first day," I replied, which was the only day I was allowed to compete in anyway, as I was in the same league as the King, Beta and the others.

"I really wish you weren't."

"It's happening baby," I smiled at him, trying to lift his mood. Apparently my smile was contagious, because soon he had given in and was smiling right back at me.

***

The preparations for the Spring Trials were crazy, even crazier than my own bloody wedding and coronation. Werewolves from all over the globe had flown in, and almost all of the Night Warriors had moved into the castle, which was heaving with activity and people were literally everywhere, except of course our private quarter, which was the only place I had a chance to think.

Every morning there were people training all over the various training fields and in the different gyms, from tiny little puny werewolves to the scariest, foulest looking werewolves, and everything in between.

I was actually kind of glad when Nicholas told me they had reserved one of the gyms purely for Night Warriors and titled members, like the betas and deltas, so that I could exercise in a normal environment.