Alpha Queen [1]

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Claire arrived in the early morning and joined us for breakfast. Tasha and Milla skipped out to do training instead since they couldn't help themselves. Hopefully Milla and Marvel wouldn't try to kill each other when I wasn't there.

"The great thing about being back home is getting away from humans. I can't even remember the last time I was around wolves." Claire was telling Blake. She was usually so bubbly but was more moody today. I wondered if there was something going on in her life that was bothering her.

"How's school going for you, Claire?" I asked from across the table.

"It's boring."

How could school be boring? There was so much going on in every class and in all of my after school activities that I always went to bed exhausted. Of course I was the exception since almost any other teenager wished they could drop out.

"Are you in any sports or clubs? That could make it more fun."

She shot her brother a look. "I'm not allowed to do anything fun because Ares doesn't want me to make friends. He's afraid someone will find out about me and kill me in my sleep."

Nobody at the table responded. They waited for Ares.

"You know why."

"You're so paranoid. Hunters haven't tried anything in nine years. In fact, there are two here at this very table and they haven't tried anything on me."

Ares's voice turned to ice. "We aren't talking about this anymore."

"Fine." Claire threw her fork on her plate and pushed her chair back, "We're going for a walk."

She grabbed my hand and pulled me out of the room before I could protest.

"What about Ares?" I asked when we got to the hallway. I was half-expecting him to chase after us.

To my surprise she went right outside.

Claire led us down a path around the castle and into the woods. Ares had told me it led to more training grounds and that it wasn't that much to look at so I didn't bother.

"Where are we going?" I struggled to keep up since she walked pretty fast.

"Ares never took you here?" She asked and I shook my head. "I'm not surprised, he never comes down here. The last time he did was when we buried our parents."

We walked underneath a black arch and it was then that I realized we were at a cemetery. I'd been with the pack for almost a year now but was never told we had one. Maybe Ares thought it was too morbid.

The grounds were empty with only the sound of some birds in the air. A few tombstones had tokens on them or spare flowers but those were rare. There must have been thousands and thousands of graves.

She stopped at a black tombstone under a giant sycamore. It was bigger than most in the cemetery with dark green vines growing up the sides of the smooth stone.

"Here they are," Claire sat down on the ground. The surrounding grass was flat which indicated she'd done this many times. "Sometimes I come here and talk to them. You know, when he lets me come home."