The Alpha Queen and Her Rogue Kingdom

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

ELINA

I feel the wind brushing through my fur and the leaves rustling under my feet, somehow I can appreciate each tiny piece of the forest in great detail, although I am running at an impressive speed, I feel the power in each step which comes from the muscles of my body, I feel the energy go through every cell of my body, the joy of being able to run freely and release so much accumulated frustration, I feel as if I could conquer the world right now, and I like it, I like it more than I would ever want to admit.

And then I hear it, the most heartbreaking howl I have ever heard in my life.

I stop immediately to try to find the source of the howl, my ears are moving in all directions trying to catch the slightest sound of the forest, while my muzzle is raised in the air, my whole body is on high alert working to reach wherever is the wolf that emitted that howl, but nothing seems to be heard again, so I start to walk slowly, trying not to make too much noise, and sniffing the area so that I can catch the slightest trace of whoever is in the surroundings.

I walk and walk for what seems like an eternity, watching every step I take and thinking about the thousands of possibilities about what may be happening here, but as I walk there is a voice in the back of my head that tells me this is not right, that there is something that I am not seeing, something important that I should be taking into account, but for some reason, I cannot find that something and I start to feel frustrated with myself, why does my mind feel like a thick fog was wrapping it? Why is it so difficult to think of that important something?

What is happening to me?

A second howl echoes through the air and runs through every inch of my body like a powerful electric current, I feel it in every fiber of my being, and I can almost swear I feel the way that heartbreaking sound begins to transform my body back to its human form, and it hurts, it hurts more than anything I have ever experienced before, it hurts so much that my gaze becomes blurry and my knees feel weak, I raise my hands to my face and I am surprised to feel the moisture on my cheeks, I am crying, thick tears roll down my face and fall to the ground, why am I crying?

A scream, as heartbreaking as the howl, can be heard throughout the forest, and although at first, I thought the howl belonged to a male wolf, in fact, I thought the howl belonged to Bastian's wolf, now that I hear that cry which has the same tone as the howl, it is when I notice that it belongs to a woman who is in agony, and I feel bad for her, I want to find her to be able to comfort her, I want to tell her that everything will be fine, but I cannot move, my body does not respond, and I am here paralyzed in this place, but the worst part comes when I look at my feet and see a bloody figure lying next to me.

I can't figure out who it is, but it seems strangely familiar, and I am surprised to notice the blood on my hands and in the rest of my body, running down my legs as if I had bathed in it, and then the person lying next to my feet turns, and I start to see Bastian's face covered by the same blood that covers my body.

I want to scream, but I can't, I want to ask him what happened, but the words do not leave my lips, as if they are permanently sealed, and then he raises his shaking hand and points to a spot in front of me, so my gaze follows the path of his finger and I almost faint at the image in front of me, I feel my stomach turn, and a fit of anger that I have never felt before takes control of my mind and body.

My babies.

They are ... are ...

No, it can not be.

My little babies are on the ground, inert, with their little bodies covered in blood, and I cannot move, not even when a huge black wolf snarls towards them and puts each one of its enormous paws on them; I hear the heartbreaking scream again, and then everything starts to make sense, the howl and the heartbreaking scream, the paralyzing pain in my body, everything has the same origin, it is me, the howls and screams came from my torn throat, and the pain that runs through my body is from having witnessed the loss of all of them and not have been able to do anything about it.

Then I scream, one more time, but this time I use all the energy that was left in me for it, and I feel someone shaking my shoulders, until I finally open my eyes and find a pair of brown eyes looking at me scared.

"Are you alright, Your Majesty?" Camille asks me worriedly as she helps me sit up on the bed.

Then she rushes to get a wet cloth and runs it over my forehead which is covered in sweat, I look to my right and see the babysitter trying to calm the babies who are awake and crying.

“We heard the screaming and came to see what had happened,” Camille explains to me.

"It was just a nightmare," I reply relieved, and she looks at me in confusion.

“Bring me my babies,” I add to the babysitter, who rushes to bring Alissa to me while Camille brings Aiden over.

They calm down within seconds of being in my arms, while I also feel my own heart calm down when I feel their warmth in my chest, and I repeat internally that it was only a dream, a horrible nightmare, and that they are fine, they are at safe and they are with me; and although I try to ignore the thoughts that come to my head about Bastian's bloody body, it is impossible to erase from my mind that image, or that of the huge black wolf on top of the lifeless bodies of my babies.

The black wolf, it resembled Zane's wolf, only it lacked the gray spots that he has.

This has to stop, since we had that conversation in his office a couple of days ago, I have not been able to stop thinking about that enigmatic phrase he told me before leaving the office, and after that, we have not spoken more than when he said goodbye to me before going on the trip he had planned; I couldn't ask him how he knew about my run in the woods, and more importantly, if he knew anything else about what had happened there; So I focused on finding answers about how he could have found out, and that has had me worried all this time, but I have not been able to find anything about it.

How did he know?

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