Alpha Queen [1]

xxxiii

In my dream, snow was falling.

Tiny delicate flakes fell from the clear cerulean sky and covered my red hair in white. Wind howled in my ears and the electric blue that I loved faded into a murky gray. Snow collected in a flurry and transformed the earth from spring to winter.

I reached a hand out and waited for the ice to melt on my skin. Yet when I curled my fingers into a fist and unfolded them to the world, there was no water.

Snow caught fire and burned two crescent moons into my palm.

I woke up and the dream was lost. Orange sunlight was already leaking through the curtains to signal that the day was here. Ares was sleeping soundly by my side. Unable to fall back asleep, I carefully crept out of bed so I wouldn't disturb him and walked out to the balcony.

It was another beautiful day—the air was warm and inviting, the sky clear and safe. I saw Blake and his younger cousin Conrad as pale colored wolves patrolling the perimeter. Since our biggest enemy was locked up underground and there wasn't really anyone to watch out for anymore, they spent their time playfully attacking each other now and then.

Ares stirred in bed and joined me outside on the balcony.

"You're up early," Ares kissed my cheek and wrapped his arms around me from behind, "I opened my eyes and you weren't there."

"Yeah. I kind of just woke up ready to start the day." I rarely woke up before sunset—believe me when I say I wasn't a morning person at all—yet here I was. It was because I finally had something to live for.

"It will be another beautiful day."

An entire season had gone by without an incident.

The Jackson pack had gone relatively quiet now that Troy was captured. I still braced for repercussions as wolves were loyal and were not known to forget the past so easily, but the others didn't worry. If they had called their allies to rally against us then they would've done it already, so says Blake.

"What are you thinking about?"

"Just. . . how lucky we are. To have all of this."

We had a huge comfortable castle with strong walls to protect us, acres of land to explore, good people to call family, and enough fresh food to feed a town. This was ours and both of us would rule it together.

He thought for a moment. "Are you in the mood for another training session?"

"Always." I smiled.

.•*•.

Ares always started me off on easy mode. I knew he was holding back whenever we trained together because I'd seen him fight and it was nowhere near what we were doing.

"You're going to get soft if you keep holding back." I said as he pulled one of his punches. He moved slower, too, when in reality he was so fast that he blurred sometimes.

"That's what Marvel is for." Marvel was the next best fighter after Ares. He was the only one who came close to defeating him in single hand-to-hand combat.

"I'm serious. How will I ever learn to fight if you don't give me the real thing?"

"Because you won't have to." He said stubbornly.

"You saw me at the evaluation. I took down fifteen people. I can do it."

"Your instincts are good, even for a human, but can you really say that you could fully defend yourself from wolves like Troy?"