The Lycan King's Rebellious Queen

The Southern Territory

We had been driving for a couple of hours, and not one of us had spoken a word. Archer had put the radio on to kill the silence and apart from tapping his fingers on the steering wheel to the song's beat, he remained stoic.

I felt surprisingly at ease, I wasn't nervous at all, that was until I read the first sign of many which read 'Five miles to southern territory' we were close to the border. I remained still in my seat as I felt a heavy weight in the pit of my stomach, nerves beginning to take over as we drove over a hill and suddenly the large brick wall came into view. A strange sensation washed over me and a shiver ran over my entire body.

King Aidan had the wall built when he was first crowned. It was around thirty feet high plus an extra ten feet of electrified barbed wire on top of that, all with silver spikes intertwined through it. There were large silver gates at the end of the road with several armed guards all walking back and forth across the road.

Were we going to be ok getting through the border? Or maybe they were waiting for Archer so they could trap him? I know the hate that was spread around about Lycan's and the reputation they held but I was never one to follow others' beliefs, despite the hate my mother drummed into me as a child about them, I like to make my own assumptions, I wasn't completely happy with the way Archer thought it was acceptable to order people around but I could see he had manners which are why I had decided it was best to apologise for earlier.

A warmness suddenly filled a space on my thigh where my dress had risen, my breathing became uneven as I looked down to see Archer's large hand resting a little too high up on my thigh. He tightened his grip to give it a gentle squeeze whilst the tips of his fingers gently grazed the skin between my legs. I cleared my throat and shifted in my seat moving his hand down to my knees.

I looked across at him to see he was smiling back at me. “Don't worry we will get through just fine” he reassured me as if he could sense my worry. Who was I kidding of course he could hear my heart pounding out of my chest at the sight of all the big guns about to be pointed at us. He returned his eyes to the road ahead. I was confused for a moment not knowing what he meant, then I looked ahead to see we were mere yards away from the armed men.

Archer slowed down as the men all turned to look at him, they kept their distance, some even taking a couple of steps back away from us as the large silver gates in front of us began to open. “See, no problems” he moved his hand back up my thigh giving it one last playful squeeze then returned his hand to the steering wheel not giving me a second glance.

We drove for a few more minutes, I played with the strap of my handbag as I calmed down, “So this is the southern territory” I heard Lee's voice coming from the back seat. “It's nice” she complimented as she wound down her window to get a better look. She wasn't wrong, I looked around us, I had never seen so much greenery in my life. The Northern Territory was all concrete, roads, buildings and more buildings, we didn't have open fields, and compared to this it was gloomy looking. The Southern territory was so colourful, trees with different coloured blossoms were planted and stretched as far as the eye could see, and the flowers were everywhere, all shapes colours and sizes that I had never seen before.

“Thanks, Leah, it's very different I know but we don't have a lot of pollution this side of the border. We take great pride in the land here,” he answered her. I listened but I too was more interested in the scenery.

Why didn't any of us know how beautiful it was on this side of the border, where were there broken buildings, the blood splatters, dead bodies or half-mutilated corpses where the Lycans had already reached their fill? I mean, sure we were told how bad it was and that if we were ever to cross the border we would suffer a torturous death but nobody mentioned this part.

We passed a large lake where hundreds of large coloured wild birds were lounging around, the different coloured flowers lining the edges and a small waterfall at the edge where a deer was drinking, it was quick to lift its head and watch us intently as we drove past. “It's beautiful” I whispered not talking to anyone specifically but it needed saying out loud.

“And come tomorrow it will be all yours” I looked at him about to laugh at what he said but I stopped myself when I saw the serious look on his face. He was right, once we marry this would be mine also.

“Well if we ever divorce I want this side of the land” I joked pointing back to the lake we just passed.

He laughed to himself as he turned the car down another road, “I'll be sure to keep note of that”

"This is like something out of a Disney book," Lee said as she began snapping pictures on her mobile. "Sorry I didn't ask" she quickly added, "Do you mind if I take some photos?" she asked Archer politely.

Looking back at her in the mirror, he said, "A budding journalist such as yourself, I would be disappointed if you didn't."

"Thankyou" I could hear the excitement in her voice as I heard the clicks on her phone start again.

"We should arrive in about an hour, I've instructed people to give you time to settle in, they are all quite excited to meet you, but don't worry, there won't be too many people around at first I've told them to let you get settled, you have a busy weekend ahead of you" he informed me.

"You didn't have to do that, I don't want people thinking I don't want to see them"

"I thought it was best, it can all be very overwhelming. We are a close-knit bunch out here and I know everyone is dying to meet you" he smiled.

"Why?" I blurted out before I realised I had said it out aloud.

He chuckled to himself, "Your kind of a big deal around here, not alot of people thought I would ever marry, so they are all desperate to meet the girl that made it happen" he looked back in his mirror to make sure Leah heard him. Which, by the 'awe' sound coming from the back seat she did. He looked at me with the same smirk and winked before turning his attention back to the road.

I rolled my eyes and turned my attention back to the outside of the car. Thinking things over in my head I began to wonder if I was going to be able to pull this off after all. if all his people believed this was real then how the hell was I going to fool them? fooling a human is one thing but a Lycan, they are like walking lie detectors.