The Ruby Wolf

Chapter 1

I'm sitting at my desk drawing a picture of a man from one of my recurring dreams. I typically don't have the same dream twice, but for some reason, this one is different. In the dream, there is a guy standing a distance away. He always tries to tell me something, but I'm never able to hear what he's saying. When I talk to him, he just tries to get louder to no avail. And just before I wake up, I hear him yell at me to run right before he turns into a wolf and pounces over me to attack whatever was behind me. I'm never able to see it, but I know something or someone is there.

I've tried talking to my sister about it, but she seems to think it's just a dream with no meaning caused by stress from school and being a warrior in our pack. My twin brother Nickolas thinks it may be a vision or a warning of what's to come. I don't know who to believe, but I do know that drawing this man may get me closer to the truth. As I begin to shade the mysterious man's eyes, I hear a knock on the door. I could already tell it was Nick just by the smell of him, he smells like cinnamon.

"Come on in Nick," I say with a grin.

"Hey Nikki, whatcha doing?" He says as he makes his way across the room towards my desk.

Nick is my fraternal twin, he has pale green eyes and red chestnut-colored hair. His hair is more on the brown side like my parents' compared to my deep red. It's strange how different we are, but at the same time, we have a very strong bond. No one dares to mess with either of us because they know they will face the wrath of the other.

"Drawing."

"What of?"

"A guy." I say plainly.

"What guy?" He asks as he peers over my shoulder.

"The one from my dream, the one I have been telling you about. But I'm not done yet. I still have the shading to do."

"Well, now that you have a picture of him, I may be able to help you find him!"

"Find him? You have got to be joking, he couldn't possibly exist. And if he did, why would I be dreaming of him?"

"Well I can tell you he does exist..."

"What do you mean?" I look down at my drawing. How can a man from a dream be real? I mean, I know that my drawings have always been very realistic, but this guy can't exist, it just can't be possible.

"Well, sis, he's an alpha. He goes by the name of Theo. At least that picture looks like him."

Alpha Theo? Why would I have a dream of him when I never met the guy? It doesn't make sense! I don't even know who he is!

"He's also a king... You know, since his father passed away."

This is just getting crazier by the second. Why would I be dreaming of a king? I'm nobody special. I'm just a warrior in my father's army. Yeah, I may be the strongest female, but that's expected.

"How do you know who he is?" I ask, my curiosity getting the best of me.

"I like to read up on the history of werewolves and the royal family. Just so happens, I got a glimpse of his picture today. Which begs the question. Why were you dreaming of a king Alpha?"

"I don't know Nick, your guess would be as good as mine." I sigh, doesn't he know how confused I am about this? I mean come on!

"Nick, Nikki come down here for breakfast!"

Nick and I share a look and laugh. After our mother died, our older sister has been trying to take her place as head of the house. Natalie tries her best, but she can't cook worth sh*t.

"Coming Nat!"

As Nick and I leave my room I glance back at the picture. Of course, he had to be a king. We go downstairs and see Nat and Blake. Blake is Nat's mate, and he has been a very good influence on her. Natalie went through this whole bad girl phase right after mom passed, and then she met Blake. He helped her get over mom's death. He explained to her how she needs to step up and be strong for her siblings. And luckily, he knows how to cook.

"So who made breakfast?" Nate asked.

"Yeah I wanna know if I'm going to get sick and die if I eat it." Tanner joins in on the joking.

"Hey, why not get Nikki to test it?" My evil twin pipes up.

"What why me?"

"Because you're the strong one. Nick wouldn't be able to warn us first. You were trained in dealing with poisons."

"That's very true, you have the highest survival rate out of all of us!"

"Ok guys, that's enough", Blake steps up. "You're gonna piss her off!"

I look over at Nat and see tears starting to fall. Ever since she calmed down she's been a bit more emotional. She tries to hide it, but sometimes she slips up. I can tell she tried very hard today and I know Blake's been given her lessons in cooking. I sigh, I can't stand to see people upset. I look down at the plate set in front of me. A small serving of waffles and a bunch of bacon. There is no way she could have messed this up. I take a fork full and shove it in my mouth. It wasn't bad, a bit heavy on the cinnamon, but it's edible.

I look back over to Nat and see a small smile on her lips. "How is it?"

I swallow the food. " Not bad, a bit too much cinnamon, but you did great Nat!"

"Thanks Nikki, it means a lot. "

"No problem"

"So where's dad this morning?" Nick asks.

"Probably in his study. Why?" Nate pipes up.

"Little Nikki here drew a picture of the king, without knowing who he was!"

"What!!"