Alpha Queen [1] ✓

xliii

I was in denial immediately.

"No. . . That can't be right."

"It's tradition. It's been practiced for centuries. Firstborn twins sired to the Alpha line must fight to the death." Ares repeated.

"I don't care if it's tradition! I know that sounds dismissive of your culture but I'm not letting one of my—one of our children die." I argued vehemently.

"Alex, this is not something you can change."

That was all he had to say?

There had to be another way. I wasn't going to accept this.

"Are you saying this is going to happen? So you would be perfectly fine with one of our children dying?" I challenged just to get a reaction out of him.

"No but this is the way it has to be."

Why wasn't he budging?

Of course he was choosing duty. Of course.

"No it doesn't. Twins aren't born at the same exact time, sometimes they're minutes apart and sometimes they're hours apart, so why can't the older one be Alpha?"

"Because that isn't how it works."

Why was he being short with me? He was the one who said this had to happen. He was remarkably calm during this whole ordeal while I was freaking out about my future children—you know, the children that I didn't even know I was keeping until a few months ago.

I rubbed circles on my stomach to try and calm myself.

"What happens if we do nothing? Will they both live?"

"Wolves have tried to cheat the Moon Goddess but it never ends well for them. She wants her sacrifice and if she does not receive it, she will curse the entire pack."

"How will she curse them? Has it ever happened before?" I had so many questions.

"A long time ago there was an ancient pack called Fenrir after the Norse wolf. They were extremely powerful and had been alive since the Middle Ages. But one day, twins were born to the Alpha line—one boy and one girl. The reigning Alpha and Luna didn't go through with the ceremony because they didn't think anything could touch them. A year later their whole pack was wiped out by a disease that killed all but one."

"And how long ago was that?"

"Around three hundred years ago."

"Exactly. That was so many generations ago. How do you know it will even happen again?"

"This is not just a legend or a story, Alex, this is our reality. The ceremony must happen or our pack will be doomed."

Ares was normally right about everything so I had to take his word for it no matter how outrageous it sounded.

"Then let's say it will." I didn't even want to entertain the idea but I had to know when this tragedy would occur. "When would this fight to the death take place? When they're adults?"

"It takes place when they turn eighteen."

"I'm not letting that happen."

So one lived for eighteen years and then their life was cut short? Wouldn't the other twin have survivor's guilt and trauma among so many other bad things?

Eighteen was the age I was taken to Ares's pack. It was too young to experience any real life and then to kill your sibling—but not just any sibling, your twin? Twins always shared a special connection, it would be like them killing their best friend.