Love Athena

Chapter One

Evangeline Allard was getting married to the prince, and Camila, as her sister and the kingdom's knowledge keeper was expected at the palace in two minutes and fifty-five seconds for the celebratory dinner between her family and the royal family. The Epsilon trainess' workout had to end in eighteen seconds.

"Please, Camila, I can't go any further," Lorena Hearthstone cried out from her place at the battle ropes. Her hands were already on the verge of bleeding.

"You shall stop when you are told to," Camila replied.

There was a loud thud and three of the men rushed to pick up another who had collapsed. That was the fifth one in the past half hour.

"Come on, Camila. Quit it!" Adrien Adams growled, anger in his bright silver eyes.

She turned her cold eyes his way. Barely moving her lips, Camila said, "Stop if you dare."

He visibly gulped. Some of his friends called him stupid, but he wasn't dense enough to go against Camila Athena Allard, the youngest archivist of the shifter kingdom since its official inception roughly 7,000 years ago.

She did not look particularly terrifying; she was small compared to other female wolves, but the things she knew about people could make grown wolves weep like pups. Having been in the position for five years, she took the phrase 'knowledge is power' to new heights. The details and secrets she knew about her kingdom's citizens made everyone steer clear of her to avoid upsetting her.

Hence, the Epsilon defense warrior trainees ignored the pain in their muscles and continued under the watchful stare of her dead eyes.

"Training is over. You are dismissed," she said and walked in the direction of the palace at her even regular pace, her mind running wild with the secrets of the citizens of the shifter kingdom in Sueret, the paranormal world that had been created after the great war 1500 years ago.

Her ponytail swished thrice every two seconds. In the right pocket of her cargo pants was a flattened Rubik's, one of her creations. The other five were filled with tools, paper, and stationery that were set carefully so as not to make a sound. She wore no jewelry; her face was set in stone. She unconsciously numbered her steps, counted the number of seconds she was walking, and stored them away in the compartment of her brain. She was good at everything, but keeping knowledge she was best at.

"I thought I would run into you," a voice said to her right.

Camila didn't need to turn to see who it was. Her assistant Freda was the only one in the royal wolf pack who did not actively avoid her. Freda also took it upon herself to learn all of Camila's schedules, down to the number of steps she took each day. Freda saw Camila as a person, and if Camila knew how to be grateful, she was sure she would be.

At exactly 6:00 PM, Camila and Freda got to the royal family's private dining room. Camila opened the grand mahogany door without knocking; they were expecting her.

"There you are, sister," Eva said, coming to hug her.

Camila knew it was for show. Evangeline wanted to seem nice and family-oriented in front of the royal family. Camila wrapped her hands around her sister to help her. She didn't think Eva's acting would work if Camila wasn't co-operative.

After separating from the quick hug, Camila stepped further into the room to bow before the king and queen.

However, before she could speak, a plethora of smells slammed into her: jasmine, sandalwood, and the ocean. She quickly looked around, noticing no one else was doing the same. Were they not smelling what she did?

The smell seemed foreign and was not far away. The owner was in the room. What intrigued her was that she found it particularly pleasant.

Were they under attack, or did she just find her...