Alpha Queen [1] ✓

xlv

Ares's POV

Fall was a lonely season. The sun took a step back as dead leaves were stripped from their trees and left the foliage colorless. Animals burrowed deep in the earth to hide from the indefinite cold snap. The air was stiff but peaceful.

The seasons moved expansively over our land and transformed it at a terse pace. One side of the earth was burning red while the other was crystallized in heavy ice. It was the way it had been for as long as I remembered.

Our territory remained untouched by the northern winds. It had been a healthy fall so far; our wolves had done a good job stocking up on meat to last the entire dead season. Beta had brought down three elk and Gamma had captured a large caribou. Both took their prizes back to the castle.

Yet while it was more effective to hunt in packs, I preferred to hunt on my own. Only in the deepest parts of the woods could I enjoy my solitude. I often tested the boundaries of our territory by venturing far from the castle and surveying every inch of land and water. It was dead silent, not even the leaves crunched under my feet.

I was deep into sector five when I caught a foreign scent. I was nearly taken aback as it wasn't prey—but a predator, in the form of a young she-wolf. Yet I could not determine any other information other than that.

I found the she-wolf following the tracks of a rather large deer. Unexpectedly enough, she was in human form, just as I was.

She didn't startle when I approached her.

"Didn't anyone tell you not to steal." I used a strong voice when addressing her but she didn't seem intimidated.

"How is it stealing when I haven't taken anything?" The girl snapped.

"Attempts still count." I observed her body language and tried to take away as much information as I could. She was skinny but not quite malnourished. "What is your name, thief?"

"Lima." She mumbled.

"What are you doing on my land, Lima?"

"My name is Lina." She corrected with a bit of sharpness in her tone.

"Then speak up when you address an Alpha."

"You aren't an Alpha. Not yet at least." She muttered that last part.

"Someday I will be and the next time I catch you here will be the last."

"I was tracking a deer." There it was again. Such attitude.

"Not anymore."

"Look you jackass, I've been following this thing for miles. It's mine. And I'll be damned if I let some wannabe Alpha take it from me."

She had guts. Nobody talked to me like that—except for my younger sister. If she were a wolf in my pack, Father and Mother would have punished her. But truthfully, it was refreshing. So many wolves had the same personality and while it was good to be respected as the Alpha's son, it also became mundane.

"How old are you?"

"Don't you know never to ask a girl her age?"

"And you should know that I don't give a shit."

"I'm eleven." She answered anyway.

"You're small for eleven."

"And you're dense for eleven." I was about to ask how she knew my age but she beat me to it. "Everyone in my pack knows who you are. Aren't you breaking the rules talking to me?"