Disguised Princess

Chapter 2

It would be 4 days before I could finally get off this horrible boat. Luckily it wasn't the old rickety thing I had expected. Alpha Blackdale sending his advisors to get me ended up being a blessing in disguise. The boat was still horrible, though; I hated being in the middle of the ocean.

After I stomped away from my dad's pretend show of missing me, I was met face to face with one of his angry guards. His sneer made my skin crawl and I started to wish I'd waited for the advisors.

"Aww, poor wittle pwincess Issy throwing a tantrum. You ungrateful little brat. King Mitus tells everyone how much he'll miss you and you repay him by being a toddler." He spit in my face, causing my claws to extend and him laugh when he saw. "Ah, ah. You know you can't fully shift until your birthday. Maybe you'll be some ugly dirt brown wolf so Alpha Blackdale will realize what a mistake he made."

Dirt brown was an average color for wolves. It usually meant they were nothing special and would be best as maids or butlers. Some had talents as chefs or entertainment, and at least it helped them pay their bills. The insult that I would also be one as a hybrid royal was enough to bring tears to my eyes. This caused the guard to let out a laugh.

"You pathetic thing. Soon you'll be back where you belong." He began to raise his hand to smack me when someone caught his wrist. I looked up to see one of the advisors glaring at the guard.

"This isn't how we treat the help around here." Did he say help? "Back on our lands, we take care of our brown wolves. Hello, Miss. I see you came with our awaited princess. May I ask your name?"

I gaped at him for a moment. Did he really think I wasn't the princess or was he screwing with me? Didn't he see my dad's big show of goodbye? That's when it hit me, the advisors weren't present for the speech. They were busy bringing all mine and Kennedy's luggage on board. Without a second thought, I mustered up enough courage to softly squeak out, "My name is Kennedy. Kennedy Paulsen. I'm a maid to Princess Isabella."

My dad's guard glared at me and spit "She's lying! She's-" He was cut off as the advisor smacked some sort of weird object I hadn't even seen him holding against the back of his head. His body dropped, flipping like a fish for a second, and went still.

"Did you kill him? What is that thing?"

"I'm sorry you had to see that, Miss. He's still alive, he will just be asleep for a few days. These are jelly zappers; all of the advisors, warriors, and guards have them. Alpha Blackdale made them with the bark of palm trees and jellyfish tentacles." He slid the object back into his belt. "Their zap is enough to knock out a bear for a week if you hit right. I just couldn't stand King Mitus's guard disrespecting a maid like that."

"Are we just going to leave him there?"

"No, Miss. We already have a plan in place to knock out all of the guards and drop them into lifeboats. One of us will stay behind and claim the storm took the ship while the rest of us arrive in the pack tomorrow."

"Excuse me, tomorrow? The storm is supposed to delay our travels by 4 days. I thought we were arriving the day before my- her birthday?" Something wasn't right. I left early to make it in time for my first shift. We were supposed to be fighting the storm for days. The advisor chuckled at me.

"We had to tell King Mitus that in order to get Princess Isabella off those lands and to safety. Wolves talk. Disgruntled wolves talk louder. We knew she was being mistreated and faked a storm to force his hand and let her leave early. You may tell her that if you wish, we'll be arriving tomorrow morning and I imagine she may be very tired."

With that he bowed to me, lifted the unconscious guard over his shoulders, and walked away. I kicked off my heels, picked them up, gathered my dress to my knees, and took off in a run to find Kennedy and tell her about the newest piece of information I was given; as well as tell her about how I've assumed her identity. For now, we would just have to let the advisors believe she was the princess and I was her maid.

I found her outside a door, pushing a suitcase into the room I was guessing was ours. She smiled when she saw me and pointed inside. For a bedroom on a boat, it was beautiful. There were two beds on either side of the room, with a window inbetween, and a chandelier hung from the middle of the ceiling. On the left side of the room was a dresser and a vanity, the right side had another door that led to a small bathroom.

"This is more than I expected for our journey," She chuckled, "I guess Alpha Blackdale has more money than anticipated."

"You have no idea. Shark guards, jellyfish zapper thingies, cunning advisors, and now a chandelier on a boat. If he wasn't such a geiser, I'd almost be happy to be taking over this pack." Kennedy was staring at me in shock. Woops, I knew I was forgetting to tell her something.

"Woa, woa. Rewind. What's this about sharks and jellyfish?" I walked over to one of the beds and sat down, patting the spot next to me. She eyed me suspiciously but followed suit and I spent the next hour explaining everything I'd learned since getting on the boat.

"So I get to play royalty, you're gonna pretend to be me to see if anything else comes up, and you're gonna find where they hide the zappers. And the advisors are betraying your dad? What about Alpha Blackdale? Hasn't he seen your picture? Won't he know I'm not you?

We couldn't have looked more different. Where I was pale and freckled, she was sun kissed without so much as a birthmark. Her dark black hair and brown eyes were also much different than my green eyes and auburn hair. But as long as no one had seen any pictures and I was bid on specifically because of my magic, our personalities were so in tune we'd be able to pull this off.

The only thing left to do now was snuggle comfortably into our beds and wait until morning. An advisor stopped by a few times to leave us trays of food and drinks, but we were mostly left alone to relax. I was going to need all the energy I could hold in order to explore these new pack lands.

When morning came the horn was loud enough to startle me awake. The sound of the shower was coming from the small bathroom showing Kennedy had somehow already woken up before me. Hopefully I'd be able to get a quick one in as well before we debarked. The squeak of the faucet rang out as she turned off the shower and she emerged moments later with a towel wrapped around her body and hair.

"I've never been so thankful that we fit the same size clothing, otherwise I would probably not be able to pull this off. Which gown and tiara would you like me to wear to meet your- I guess my new husband?"

We settled on a sleek ivory gown with half sleeves and a white gold tiara. Something not too flashy, but flashy enough to signify royalty. I wiggled into a tan skater dress to show my fake status while also matching her as best as I could. Today would prove just how well I could pretend to be the help.

A knock at the door broke me from my thoughts and I hurried over to open it. On the other side was the advisor I had met yesterday, an older gentleman in the same uniform, and many more men dressed as guards. The guards immediately rushed into the room and started gathering all mine and Kennedy's luggage.

The advisor I met yesterday smiled at me and took in a breath when Kennedy stepped forward. He stiffened slightly and shook his head, returning back to his smile.

"Good morning, Miss. And you must be our awaited princess. My name is Allen Holster. I am one of Alpha Blackdale's head advisors. Don't let my youth fool you, I may be 23, but I proved my worth when I joined a tournament the day after I turned 18 and gained my wolf." He smiled with pride. It really was impressive to find out he'd won a tournament only a day after receiving his wolf. I made it my mission to learn more about him.

"This older gentleman next to me is Jerald Holster, my father. He is Alpha Blackdale's right-hand man and lead advisor. You could say he is the betta." Jerald clapped his hand on Allen's shoulder.

"Who said nepotism isn't alive and well?" I scoffed, earning a sad smile from Allen. "It's not my fault you bragged about your skills just to find out it was really your dad to get you in." I shrugged, so much for wanting to learn more about him.

In that instant, Allen shifted into a large gray wolf with black paws. It happened so fast I would have missed it if I hadn't been staring right at him. He let out an angry growl causing Kennedy to step back. When he saw that his head bowed and he shifted back just as quick; his dad handing him a towel from the shelf next to him.

"Thanks, Father. I may have saved you last night, Miss, but I will not have my skills insulted. As you can see, I did earn my place in the advisors as I am the fastest shifter in the pack." I gulped and nodded. Kennedy was still trembling in the doorway and Allen bowed his head again. "I'm sorry, your majesty. I didn't mean to scare you." Kennedy nodded and stepped forward, grabbing my hand.

It was a tense few moments as Kennedy calmed down. Seeing an angry wolf shift that fast wasn't something any of us were used to. In the kingdom, wolves shifted slowly in a way to trick our enemies into thinking we were weak. Maybe I did need to learn more about Allen.

"Now if you would excuse us. We need to get you two safely into the pack house. This dock isn't the safest of places when your scent hasn't been passed along to the sharks."

I quirked an eyebrow when sharks were mentioned again. Did this pack really have sharks guarding the land? Allen just shrugged and turned around to lead us off the boat with his dad. When we walked down the ramp into the sand, Kennedy and I gasped in unison. This place was gorgeous!

Along the sand were palm trees of various sizes, some even had coconuts hanging from the tops. The pack house itself was the size of a mansion with ground to roof windows that glittered in the sunlight. I couldn't wait to see the inside.

As I stood staring in awe at the mansion before me, I realized we were actually in the back yard. What did the front of this beautiful place look like? Kennedy nudged me out of my thoughts and pointed to a group coming toward us; some were in wolf form.

In the front of the group was a tall man with shaggy black hair and icy blue eyes. He had some facial hair that just looked as though he hadn't shaved in a couple days. When he was a couple feet in front of us he held up a hand and the group came to a halt.

"Good morning, Majesty. Good morning, I'm assuming help. Welcome to Dark Lunar Pack. My name is Sebastian, I'll be guiding you to your rooms. Tonight we will have a wonderful dinner to give our greetings and thanks for joining our pack." He took a breath and smiled; a dimple just barely present on his right cheek. "The night after tomorrow we will hold a ball, a masquerade if you will, as a birthday party to you. Then you will have a day to relax before your birthday. I look forward to helping you along with all of this."

"It's lovely to meet you, Sebastian, but I'm afraid I'm confused. Wasn't my soon-to-be husband the one that was supposed to greet us today?" Kennedy was playing my role splendidly; I'd almost believe she was royalty. Sebastian let out a laugh and shook his head.

"I'm afraid not, Majesty. It seems Alpha Blackdale has decided to take a last minute hunting trip before your birthday. He will return, soon." Wait, what? Did he say hunting trip until my birthday? Maybe Kennedy and I won't have to worry about our identities being found out. But who was this man whose eyes were staring into my soul?