Huntress and The Alpha King

Responsibilities

Quinn

The iridescent white scales on my right paw glinted in the light from the window. They felt cool like the inside of an oyster shell, they were far harder than the pads on the underside of my paw. The fur surrounding them looked unkempt in comparison with their beauty. With my unshifted hand I rubbed them, absently. This was all that remained of Irina’s dragon. The dragon she sacrificed to keep me alive. Her beast tethered me to life by my right paw, she had left her mark on me.

“Hold on my mate.” A guttural female voice says urgently.

“I’m trying.”

I can smell the ferrous heavy air, tainted with the blood Demetri is draining from me. Everything is distant as if coming to me down a tunnel.

“Take my hand,” the voice says.

I’m detached as I watch my wolf dying on the internal landscape of my mind. I am too weak to help. My wolf is laying on his side, his gums pale as his chest heaves in uncoordinated pants.

A rush of power hits me as a huge pearly white dragon lands next to him. Her golden tipped vertebral spines glint as she folds her graceful wings into her sides. I marvel at her beauty. She takes hold of my wolf’s paw in her clawed fingers. Her giant head bends to his, he nuzzles against her, and she lets out a rumble of affection.

The dragon turns her huge aquamarine eyes on me. “Look after Irina. Make her whole again.”

Her form dissolves like she is blowing away on the wind, pixelating before me.

“Wait!” I try to move to reach her.

“You are stronger together.” Her voice fades.

She is gone. Only a patch of scales on my wolfs paw remains. He stands shakily to his feet and lets out a low mournful whine. I feel a rushing of air as I push forward to the front of my mind and blackness engulfs me.

Did I deserve to live at her expense?

Guilt swarmed me at the memory. I pushed it down. Whether or not was academic really. She was gone and I was here. My priority was the keep the promise I made to Irina’s dragon and bring us back together. Irina had barely moved hundred yards from me since everything happened and yet she seemed a million miles away. I curled my paw and the scales rustled together. The only way now was forward. Whether her crumbling into grief on the cliff was progress, I don’t know. I guess she didn’t throw things at me this time. Unfortunately, the icy emotionless shutters seemed to have come back down.

Distant shouts and grunts reached my ears from the training ground. Her ‘how to kill vampire-hybrids 101’ was in full session. It entered its third hour a short time ago. My guys would be exhausted. My muscles bore the fatigue of her training. She moved like a machine and demanded exact execution of moves. Brian was stunned and he was a notorious hardass trainer. I left (muscles shaking) for a prearranged call with my grandfather. King Amos wasn’t a man to keep waiting. I’d put him off for as long as I could. The Royal Ball approached and represented a dark spot on my imminent horizon.

On cue, the phone’s ringing pierced the calm of my office. I winced and gathered my wits. “Alpha Quinn,” I answered.

“Quinn, you’ve been avoiding me. I’ve had lesser wolves’ heads for such behaviour.” His deep authoritative voice filled the line.

You can’t take my head without causing yourself a lot of trouble though, can you, old man?

Once upon a time, I revered my grandfather. His stoical and powerful presence had impressed me as a boy. He favored me and spent a lot of time with me. Over the years, I noticed how poorly he treated others, especially those I held dear. The respect I once had for him became irreversibly eroded. My father always said, ‘You got the measure of a man by how he treated those beneath him’. This was quite a statement from a former tyrant alpha, but it fit Alpha King Amos well.

“You can’t avoid this forever. It is your responsibility, your birth right.”

I grunted

“Speak Quinn. A king must be heard, he must be decisive.”

“Yes, grandfather.”

“Good, good. We need to talk about the royal ball. It’s time to announce your ascension. The supernatural world is looking to its leaders to bring us out of chaos.”

In other words, it was time he retired and passed the s**t show over to me.

“Chaos brought about by your former mate, I might add.” He said in an aggressive tone.

I clenched my jaw. “She is still my mate and I’ve told you repeatedly she is not guilty of what she is accused.”

He made a low noise in his throat. “She didn’t kill the head of the hunter council then?”

“Yes, but – “

“I fail to see how you can defend her then,” he interrupted.

“He deserved to die.”

“That remains to be determined. What about Alecto?”

“She did not kill the wolf elder.”

“She left a message to the council!” He spluttered.

He was worse than the humans and their tabloids, believing everything at face value.

“She was framed!” My fist shook in rage.

“Well, we shall see at her trial.”

“They won’t give her a fair trial.” I realised I had ground my pen into the surface of the desk and left a jagged groove in the surface.

“Well, you will stay out of it. You told us she ran off from your pack. I hope for your sake you aren’t harbouring her.” His tone searched for answers.

“I’m not.” I evened my tone.

I used my alpha command to prevent any of the pack divulging Irina’s whereabouts. The pack was warded and so far, I had prevented any visits from the elders. I had eyes and ears in the palace and various other places to give us warning. It couldn’t go on forever, but it was a solution while we pieced together our next moves.

“And piece our bond back together,” my wolf said, miserably.

I jumped. I hadn’t heard from him in weeks.

“Good thing that your bond is severed then,” he said, matter-of-factly.

The pen in my hand snapped and I breathed deeply through my noise. It seemed he knew some of the story but not all of it. I didn’t surprise me that he had his own spies.

“I have drawn up a list of suitable she-wolves and invited them to meet you at the ball. They are all excellent breeding stock and luna material,” he went on.

“Breeding stock!” Holy s**t! It was the 21st century.

“Yes, Quinn, breeding. You need heirs, and you need a strong luna.”

My eyes tugged to the window and the training field beyond.

I have a strong luna already.

“Your grandmother was chosen from healthy stock and my line is strong.”

I didn’t know my grandmother was non-fated. Maybe that’s why he only ever had one female heir.

“I will not mate another,” my wolf said.

“Don’t worry buddy, we aren’t mating anyone other than Irina.”

“Good.” He huffed and laid back down.

“Grandfather, with all due respect- “

“No, you listen to me, Quinn. You need a luna and heirs. You will do as you are told or there will be consequences.”

Consequences? He’d never threated me before. A shiver of nervousness slid down my spine. What was he speaking of? Did he have sway over Irina’s judgement?

He took my silence for acquiescence. “As I was saying there is a lot to go over. I will need you here the day before the ball.” He droned on about responsibilities and duties.

I zoned out and strained my ears, the outside seemed quiet. They must have finished.

“Do you understand, Quinn?” His tone was irritated.

“Yes grandfather.”

“I will see you next week.” He hung up.

I leaned back in my chair and groaned. It had been relentless since we left hunter headquarters. Between the business and the pack, there had been issue after issue to solve. I promoted various staff at Ryan Industries and delegated many of my roles. We had to refuse a few new contracts. If we’d been public like we planned last year, our stock would probably have tanked with all the upper-level management shuffling. Luckily, despite a good potential IPO, we’d decided to remain private. That meant I could do what I damn well wanted, within reason.

“Quinn?” Lan, my twin brother’s voice came through our twin link. He sounded subdued.

“What’s up brother?”

“Is Irina with you?”

“No, she’s training the warriors how to fight vamp-hybrids.”

“Oh, I thought she was still struggling.” He knew how she’d been since we got back.

“She is, but we visited the cliff, and something shifted. She wants to prepare the pack.”

“Maybe we should all train together.” He mused.

“Sure, we can make that happen.” I knew my brother; this wasn’t what he’d linked about.

“Do you think she’s ready to meet Nina?”

“Er, maybe. I’ll ask her.”

“Nina’s struggling,” Lan’s voice cracked.

I’d never heard my brother emotional. He had found his mate in Demetri’s dungeon; she’d been the hunter Irina had been searching for when we first met. I wondered how Lan was doing as he’d always been ambivalent about finding his mate.

“I’m not surprised. Goddess knows what that scum put her through.”

Lan growled loudly over the link. “She won’t tell me; I don’t know how to help her. Maybe Irina can.”

I didn’t like to say I wasn’t sure Irina was even helping herself much at the minute, but I’d ask her. It might help for her to reconnect with her old friend. She was better at helping others than herself.

“I’ll speak to her later and we’ll set something up.”

“Thanks Quinn.” He sounded relieved.

I shifted my right hand again and stroked the scales. It calmed me, I felt closer to her.

What a mess.

“Quinn, my boy,” my father’s voice came from the doorway.

“Hi, Dad.”

“Your luna has been putting the warriors through their paces. I doubt they’ll be able to walk tomorrow!”

I chuckled. “You didn’t join in?”

“Oh no, I’m an old man now.” He winked.

The was nothing much old about my dad. His huge frame and gnarled appearance still held much of the power he wielded when he was Alpha.

“Speaking of old men, I’m assuming that tormented look on your face is from the call with our beloved king.”

I grunted in response. My grandfather was just the tip of the s**t pile at the present time.

“What’s he said to get you so riled up?”

“He wants to announce my accension at the ball.”

“I thought he might.” Dad walked around and fixed himself a scotch. “You’ll make a fine king, son, but that’s not what’s upset you.”

I sighed ruefully. “He’s lined up potential lunas from good breeding stock for me.”

Dad made a noise of disgust. “What did you tell him?”

“I said no, but like always he didn’t listen.”

Dad paused and turned from the liquor cabinet. “He threaten you?”

“In an ill-defined way.” I hedged.

“He is master of manipulation, just watch yourself. I’m behind you one hundred percent.”

“I know dad, I’m grateful for your support. Did he threaten you when you met mom?”

“There’s not much he didn’t try to do to keep us apart.” His face held a grim look.

“Like what?”

“A story for another time. Let’s put it this way: if I hadn’t thought your mother would be upset, I would have ripped his head off years ago.” He tossed back his scotch.

“You’d have been King then.”

“Nah, politics and paperwork weren’t for me.” He laughed. “He say anything about Mike?”

“No, although I zoned out for a while.”

Dad laughed again.

Mike, my cousin, had been transferred to the royal jail as lots of she-wolves had come forward after the attack Irina caught him in the act of. They reported similar crimes. It seemed they had been fearful of retribution. Mike had made out that he was untouchable because of his relationship to me. He was lucky I was incapacitated at the time, else I’d have snapped his neck, cousin or not. Dad transferred him to the royal jail. The king had insisted central transfer of wolves who harmed females, he was making examples. Personally, I thought it seemed out of character for Amos and smacked of a PR campaign. I forgot to ask about Mike’s sentencing with my grandfather’s insistence about a new luna.

“Well, one less thing to deal with here.”

“Unless he’s still languishing in jail when I become king.” I snorted.

“Well then, you can decide what to do after all.” Dad smirked.

“Your mate is a killer! I’m dying!” Grady said through the mind link.

I laughed out loud. “Grady’s back from training and he’s moaning.” I told my dad.

“Suck it up, buttercup,” I replied.

“f**k you, I noticed you ran off halfway through!”

“Bullshit, I did two hours. I had to speak to the king.”

“Convenient ‘royal duties’, eh?”

“Nothing convenient about them.” I sighed. “When you’ve regained your ability to walk, bring Duncan to the office and I’ll fill you in.”

“Need food, dying here.”

“I’ll get food brought up, just make sure you don’t smell like a jock strap!”

“The guys are coming up; we need a plan.” I told my dad. He settled his big frame into one of the visitors’ chairs and grasped his second scotch.

After this, I’d go and find my mate and see if the training had helped her work through some of her grief. Slow and steady wins the race.