Becoming the Alpha Queen

Chapter 25

"Phantom!" I cried.

I threw myself into the fray without thinking twice about it. Phantom was my pack, my sister, my best friend. She was the only thing I had left in this world that tied me to my home, my past, somewhere far away. 

I reached for Phantom,  my arms outstretched. She had used her smaller body and quick reflexes to get on top of the black wolf and was biting the side of his face and his ear. Cristobal was growling fiercely and bucking as hard as he could to try in an attempt to get her off. As I ran toward them, he managed to get one of her paws in his mouth and bit down. There was a sickening crunch followed by a scream of pain from Phantom. He flung her off of him with all his might and I dove to catch her. She cried as we landed and immediately struggled to get to her feet to face our snarling attacker. I had never felt so furious in my life. How dare he attack me. How dare he attack Phantom, who was sick. How dare he. HOW DARE HE!

The black wolf growled and hunched his shoulders, ready to spring and land a final blow on his already weak prey. He lunged forward at the same time that I felt the rage take over my body. I jumped toward him, aiming for his jugular that he had left exposed. My hands wrapped around his neck and our bodies collided mid-air. I could feel him struggling to free himself, clawing in my general direction, but I held on with all my might, and he was losing air fast. We landed with a mighty thud and his weight fell on top of me, almost crushing me. I suddenly felt grateful for living in the forest for so long; having to do so much work for my survival built up my muscles, and that, combined with the superhuman strength I had long forgotten I had, allowed me to force him off of me.

He was still snarling and struggling fiercely, teeth completely bared in anger. I growled back at him, not ready to let go of the fury that was coursing through my veins. I pushed down as hard as I could on his throat, firmly cutting off his airways. His breathing became more labored and his movements weaker as I was suffocating him.

"Change back," I commanded, before he passed out from lack of air.

He continued to struggle against me as if he hadn't heard.

"Change back," I repeated.

His struggling weakened more.

"CHANGE BACK!" I thundered, my voice echoing around the room. The wolfs bright blue eyes suddenly locked into mine and I felt a sudden pull on my mind. I let off some pressure and opened my mental link a little, stunned at what he was trying to do.

"Help me," came a small whisper, in the back of my mind. "Remember what to say."

I was too stunned to move. How could he talk to me through his pack link? He wasn't part of my pack.

"Please help." Cristobal's hoarse whisper came through again. "Help."

Lupus ad lucem dirigas vias tuas omnique ante vos.

The words echoed through my head on their own accord. Over and over, the phrase repeated itself until I suddenly found myself repeating the phrase our loud.

The wolf I had pinned down underneath me started to shake and let out a small whine. His whole body shuddered and there was the most horrendous sound of bones breaking and reforming. I flinched and stepped away from the writing body on the ground. No matter how many times I had seemed people shift, it seemed as if Cristobal was having a hard time with it; it looked as if it was his first shift. 

Minutes passed and the wolf ceased to exist. The black-haired, blue-eyed boy that had rescued me was back, looking much worse for wear. His body was shaking and he had droplets of sweat running down his face. He was doubled over on the ground in obvious pain. I stepped closer to him, confused and wary, but wanting to help. A small whine from Phantom let me know she felt the same way. As I reached out to make sure he was okay, his hand darted out and grabbed my wrist, pulling me closer to him. I instinctively pulled away from him, but his grip on my wrist tightened to the point where I thought my wrist would break if he held on any tighter. Phantom growled at him sensing my pain and discomfort.

Cristobal's stunning blue eyes locked with mine and I felt a cold breeze run over my body, making me shiver.

"I'm so sorry," he whispered. " I- I just can't control him. I'm so sorry," he repeated.

I could see the guilt and sadness reflected in his eyes. I felt stunned at everything that had just happened and just shook my head in disbelief. 

"What are you?" I finally managed to get out.

Cristobal let out a short bark of laughter.

"Haven't you already figured that out?" He asked. "You know what I am, you just need to accept it." 

I blinked in disbelief.

"I'm just like you." He said. "I'm rogue."

"I don't understand." I gasped. "How are you able to talk to me using my pack link?"

I look a few steps back, placing myself between Cristobal and Phantom, readying against another possible attack.

"I'm not going to hurt you. Not while I'm in control." Cristobal said, eyeing the protective stance I took. "I'll answer all your questions but its a long story."

"I have time," I replied, still in disbelief.

His eyes widened in surprise and he blinked a few times. Finally, he nodded his head.

"Okay, but first, let's get Phantom back to the lab downstairs. She's not healthy enough to be off of her IV's yet."

I nodded gently, not taking my eyes off of him.

He had finally caught his breath and stood up, stumbling a little. I flinched away as he brushed against me and I saw his face crumple in sadness. I felt guilty but couldn't bring myself to apologize. Cristobal gathered Phantom up in his arms (she had fallen asleep during our short conversation out of sheer exhaustion) and together we headed towards the lab so he could tell his story and to let my friend rest.

Hello to any of you out there that have waited so patiently for me to update this book. It has been almost 3 years since I wrote my last chapter, and I am extremely sorry for that. I  lost all motivation to write for some reason. When I decided to write this new chapter, I realized that the notebook I had been writing down my ideas in was lost so I had to reread my own book to remember what this story was about and who my characters were (suuuuper embarrassing). I am going to try and continue writing here, though I can't make any promises that it will be consistent. I hope to one day actually finish this story. Thank you to all of you who have continued to vote and comment on these chapters. It means the world to me.

-Zodiac_Gate