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 three 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 children?"

"It takes place when they turn eighteen."

"I'm not letting that happen."

So one lives for eighteen years and then their life is cut short? Wouldn't the other twin have survivor's guilt over that. . . 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.

I searched Ares's blue eyes but there was no room for negotiation or understanding or anything human.

And I didn't know if that scared me.

"We don't have to talk about this anymore." He squeezed my hand and turned to the door. "Let's think about it and discuss it later."

I sighed. "Okay. . . okay we'll talk about it later."

Ares was never one for giving hugs while he was stressed and thinking about a hundred different things but he stepped towards me and engulfed me in his strong arms.

He kissed my hair and I closed my eyes.

"We'll figure it all out. Together."

.•*•.

I had been excited to pick names for the twins. I was putting more thought into it than most people probably did but I wanted their names to complement each other. I wanted them to be perfect. Now that I knew that one was fated to die, what was the point?

All I wanted to do was hide in the library. I wasn't really in the mood to be productive or socialize for the rest of the day. I searched the stacks for a history book that might explain what was going on but didn't have any luck. Then I searched for the Fenrir pack in the family tree section and found something interesting. There was one survivor just like Ares had said—that wolf's name being Grayson Opal—and when I searched their family tree I found that their only living descendant was someone named Coral Ewing.

As in the exiled healer who saw something in my future.

I got up from my comfortable chair and approached the closest person to me.

"Hi Sam, how are you?"

"Luna," he bowed immediately, "I'm doing well. How are you?" Sam was one of the younger wolves and he mostly helped out in the kitchen.

"I'm doing good, thank you. Do you know where Ares is?"

"He's in his office. Would you like me to get him for you?"

"No, that's okay. I'll go to him."

When I got there, he was in the middle of organizing the pack's finances. He looked like he was deep in thought. I knocked on the door frame and he stopped what he was doing.

"Alex," he stood up to kiss me, "How are you doing?"

"Good," it had been about six hours since we last saw each other but it felt longer and like an entirely different day, "Well, good as in. . . I was thinking about the whole ceremony thing and how we really don't know a lot about it since it happened so long ago. . . and I really think we should ask someone who would know more about this. You know. . . someone outside the pack."

"Who did you have in mind?"

"Coral might know." As the last descendant of the pack and as a healer who could speak in prophecies, she would surely know more about this. "Maybe that prophecy she cornered me with has something to do with twins."

But Ares was instantly against it.

"We can't ask Coral."

"Why not?"

"Because she is not one to be trusted." I got the sense that talking about Coral was like talking about a black sheep relative that did something so bad that you had to cut off.

"I know she broke pack law and was exiled and everything but she said the word 'twins'. She obviously knows something. I'll go and find her if you won't—"

"No."

I opened my mouth to argue but he continued.

"You will stay here, I will go."

"Really?" He gave in just like that despite objecting a second ago? I'd never changed his mind that fast.

"I don't want to argue anymore and I know how stubborn you are so I will find her for you. Besides, Coral is a hard wolf to find and without our tracking abilities, you'd get nowhere."

"Why is she a hard wolf to find? Because she has no pack?"

"Yes and only those who know her will know where to look." He caressed my cheek. "I will leave at first light tomorrow."

"Thank you," I smiled and gave him a hug. "I'm just worried. I want to know what's happening."

"As do I." He gently put his hand over my stomach. "Everything will be okay, Alex."

It was hard to find hope when an ancient werewolf custom required your firstborn twins to fight to the death.

I buried my face in his chest and inhaled his woodsy scent.

"Just come back."