Alpha Queen

Unexpected

Cullen fell to his knees. Seeing Kathlene there pale and spread out like that pulls something within him. His usual man-pride knocked him to the floor. A pain shot through him like someone was kicking his balls square into his throat. Nausea teases his Adam's Apple each time he attempted to swallow the foul smells of the sterile alcohol and her fresh blood. Blood never bothered him, but for some reason,... hers did. Cullen could not breathe. 

What in the hell was wrong with me? f**k!

"Get them out of here. Now!" The doctor orders.

With every bit of strength he has, Cullen pulls himself to his knees. The room sways back and forth. Never wavering from the view of the nurse, Alpha Broderick catches Cullen by the arm just before he falls. 

"Thanks, man," he says gratefully.

"Let's go," Broderick ignores Cullen and drags him by his forearm out of the room.

"Hey! What the f**k, man? Broderick, let me go!" Cullen rants and pulls away, but was no use fighting his mighty Alpha's strength.

The nurse with caramel skin nods and slams the door. Broderick lets Cullen go. He silently stands by the door with his fist clenched by his side while Cullen runs back to the door and props his ear against the frame and listens for anything out the ordinary.

"What in the hell are you doing?" Broderick snarls through his clamped teeth.

"Listening," Cullen says in a hushed tone with his finger across his lips. 

"For what? This is the birth of my family, Cullen. Get off the door." Broderick warns.

From within, the Cullen could hear the muffled sounds of chanting from the nurse and his Kathlene's screams. For a werewolf, he knew it was odd that he could not hear what was going on inside.

"Come on, Broderick. What's wrong with you?" His voice deepens. "We can't just stand out here like this!" 

"We can and we will." Broderick's upper lip curls as he warns, "I suggest you do as you're told, Cullen. You are acting out of order." 

Cullen stares at the odd manner of his Alpha. The way the tiny sweat beads drip from Broderick's temples and his labored breathing move in and out with his chest. He always has this look right before he is ready to attack. 

"Broderick," Cullen pleads. "Please, we need to be inside the hospital room with Kathlene."

The mighty Alpha King's  Cullen hissed through his teeth. "We need to be inside!"

"The nurse ordered for us to stay, Cullen. If we go in there now, we could really f**k it up. We are staying. End of f*****g. STORY." The last words boomed down the long, empty hallway.

Tiny white hairs spread across Cullen's arm like a snake. Thicker and thicker, the patches of hair grow on his bare skin as his wolf became restless. Salt and pepper hair spike on his knuckles and the back of his long neck. His wolf howls within, warning him. "Be ready to fight or get the hell out of there!" 

"But that's your wife!" Ignoring his wolf, Cullen paces back and forth, not understanding how Broderick had gone from so crazy insane to calm in a matter of seconds. There was no way he could flee his Alpha at a time like this, and he sure as hell didn't want to fight him, but for the love of God with all his might and soul... he needed to be in that delivery room... "And-and come on, Man! Your child is there!" 

"They will be fine. The nurse said so." The Alpha King's eyes shifted to a deep yellow. 

Not once had his friend ever turned on him like this. Never. They respected each other. They were best friends. Alpha and Beta. They were family... until now.

The two men's boots clanked together as they came toe to toe and stared each other down with their golden eyes. Cullen's Roman nose reaches the mighty Alpha because he is shorter by a foot, but doesn't care. The pull was too strong. Not once did he blink. He stared and stared.

"Are you challenging me, Cullen?"  Cullen heard the King's wolf, Saku, growl from within, but his growl was distant. He knew even that seemed off...

His wolf, Colt, pleads, "Not now. Please wait. I smell something is off!"

Cullen listens to his cry and shifts his eyes away."Fine. Have it your f*****g way." 

The Alpha thought he gave into submission."That's what I thought." 

Moments pass by as the two men keep their distance and the silence between one another until they hear the comforting sound of a newborn's cry. The Alpha King whips his head to the door, then back to Cullen. "You stay here." He orders.

"But you said you wanted me with you-"

Broderick snips off his words and wraps his long fingers around the cold metal doorknob. "I changed my mind." and enters, leaving him and his wolf alone.

Colt growls, "This is bullshit! I should be in there!"

"You? You mean we should be in there." Cullen reminds him.

"Yeah, yeah." He huffs. 

"After everything we have done together. Battles, war, hunts, women... Do you know how many times we stuck up for Broderick when he cheated on Kathlene."

"I know, Colt." He snarls, remembering too.

"I would never do that shit." 

"They all say that." Colt teases.

"I'm serious. For the right woman, I would lay down my life. f**k all this! Come on, man. Look how quick Broderick turned on us."

Colt challenges, "Hmm, and you think finding the right woman would make that all the better for us?"

"Yeah, I do,"  Cullen answers with a sense of pride.

"How so? Women are trouble. Lots of lots of trouble." Colt laughs. 

"Yeah, maybe they are, but at least we would have our own family."

"You are really serious about this." 

"Yes, I am, Colt. They would be mine, and I would take care of them right. Not like this bullshit!" Cullen's hand waves silently at the door.

The door hinges creak. Cullen whips his head up and sees a small crack in the door. "Colt, he didn't shut the door." 

"Are you going to go inside?" Colt asks excitedly.

Before he could answer, through the crack, he saw Kathlene pulling herself up in the center of the bed. The nurse adjusts her overstuffed white pillow and grey stained comforter. Swishing her hips from side to side, the caramel skin nurse approaches Kathleen with a sweet and calm smile plastered across her plump, rosy lips.

Colt growls as we stare at her bloodstained white apron. From within her arms for the first time, Cullen lay eyes on a raven black hair newborn baby girl with golden eyes that had seen a thousand souls. 

The nurse reaches forward and lays the baby in Kathlene's hands. Cullen watches in awe as the baby turns her head and looks towards him. 

"Can babies see that far?" Colt asks.

"I don't think so." Cullen had never heard of such a thing.

The baby smiles and blinks before a shadow cast in front of them,  blocking the way. "So, my love. What shall we call her?" 

"Dammit!" Cullen fusses and whips back away from the door, but Colt still listens.

"I think we will call her, Victoria," Kathlene said with pride.

"Victoria"...the name rolled off his tongue as he leaned against the cold wall.

 "Victoria Clidan, you are a strong little one. Don't worry. I promise whatever is going on here, I will protect you from this...no matter what."