The Broken Queen

Chapter 21: Reno

Hulu's POV:

I have to admit, I'm caught off guard by the vulnerable sight of her. What's going on? I slowly walk up to her with my hands raised to show I mean no harm. The minute I come out of the cave; her head snaps in my direction. She says nothing, but her face says everything. Something is going through her head, and it isn't good. She is showing a lot of vulnerability for the first time since we met her. I have seen her scary side, her kind side, and now, I'm seeing her unguarded side.

I know she is feeling emotionally weak right now after gaining her Alpha status and her vampire surfacing. I silently sit down beside her on the cave's ledge for a moment deep in thought. I can't tell what she is thinking right now but I know she is confused by everything that has happened. Dani has had an intense and scary twenty four hours, plus I can only imagine what has been going through her mind since it was revealed that she is to be queen. It was a shock to us all, but I wouldn't blame her for being overwhelmed by the new information. It is a heavy responsibility to mentally prepare yourself to take on, especially if it is only a year away.

Out of the corner of my eye I see her hold the knife up by it's handle, with tip of the blade balancing on her leg. I slowly, gently reach over and take it from her, put it on the ledge on my left and put my right hand on her back as she begins to cry once more. I don't say anything, I don't ask any questions. I just sit on a stone ledge in the early hours of the morning listening to the birds sing with my Alpha.

Now isn't the time to speak as something big is obviously distressing her and I have no right to disturb her, only protect her. I'm doing for her what my older sister used to do for me to stop me from hurting myself before she found her mate and left home. I quietly guide her head onto my shoulder and rub her back, silently letting her know that I'm here and she is not alone. After a while like this, her sobs quieten to sniffles, and soon after that she drifts off to sleep on my shoulder.

A while later, I am disturbed from my thoughts when Alpha Brown sits up and sleepily turns to me. Her eyes are grey and upon closer inspection, they have silver speckles in them. I quickly realize it's her wolf, Kayla. She doesn't say anything, but I feel her pushing to open a link with me. I open the connection and all I hear is three words. 'Thank you Hulu' she whispers, with deep gratitude in her tone. My wolf Blake comes forward as I reply through the link.

'Of course, any time Alpha. You get to have pain too; you don't have to be strong 24/7. It's not for us to judge but I will be there for you and protect you, no matter what.' She smiles and sighs with a range of emotions on her face. 'You have no idea how long it's been since Dani wasn't punished for crying or having emotions. It's been years since we have felt that emotionally safe with anyone. Thank you Hulu, you will never truly understand how grateful I am' she wipes the lingering tears and stands up, closing the link. " Now shall we wake the others, and go have a lesson in hunting?" she asks, to which I nod, and we stroll back into the cave to wake the team. I smile at that thought, we are a team, I can already feel the bond between us all.

Later that day...

"Oh my gaaawd" I huff. "Alpha, this is too hard, they keep slipping out my hands, can we please just hunt something that has four legs so we can chase them in our wolf forms?" I beg.

Alpha Brown laughs at my frustration. "Nope, we won't always have that option, so we are staying here until each one of us catches a fish. You can try as many techniques you can think of." I turn back around and give it another shot. I wait for the right moment, then bring out my claws and stab them straight through the fish.

"AYYYYYY. Alpha I did it" I cheer as I drop it again and it flops out pf my grasp, right back into the water, swimming away. Oh for fuck sake. That's it, I'm done. I did catch one so that's it. I huff and sit down on a large rock, watching the other's fumble around with the slippery creatures, while our Alpha has a pile of ten fish beside her as she waits for all of us to succeed in our own catch. How did she catch that many??? After a full two hours of us all battling with the scaled beasts, Ethan is the only one of us who has yet to catch a fish. While he keeps trying and the lads are chatting with the girl and our new Beta, I look around for our Alpha.

I instinctively glance up at the cave but don't see her. Looking around, I spot her hunched over in pain by the looks of things, only a few yards away from me. I walk over to her. "Alpha?" I speak gently. She suddenly screams so loud it draws the attention of the others. I get such a fright I fall backwards, landing on my ass with a thud. "Uh, guys? I think her dragon is coming to the surface, HELP" I shout over her screams of pain.

They all run towards us and quickly lift me to my feet, pulling me back just in time as Alpha Brown suddenly shoots into the sky in a red mist. She disappears through the clouds before the mist clears enough for us to see through it. We wait patiently in anticipation of what a dragon will look like in real life. All of us have only read about them in history books and have never even met someone who has ever seen one because they went extinct centuries ago, though there are some stories that are passed down through generations.

As time draws out, it becomes more and more nerve wrecking. We are all worried, curious and totally helpless. It's five whole long minutes until we see her again. A large red creature bursts through the clouds at speed and soon takes the shape of a blood red dragon. It flies downward with its large wings tucked against it's body before it rears up its head, spreads it's wings and gracefully lands only a few feet in front of us. It. Is. MASSIVE.

Holy grapefruits, it's beautiful. We hear a male voice through the Alpha's link. 'Yo lads, I'm Reno. Nice to meetcha. Yes, I'm a dragon and yes, I will be able to breathe fire in the future. Now that I have surfaced, Dani will be less susceptible to heat or fire. She will now have a higher tolerance to it, because I'm immune. Do any of you want a ride guys? I need to spread my wings properly and I need to protect you for Kayla and Dani, you being the first members of her pack and all' he says. A ride, on a dragon?! Yes please! Who wouldn't?!