Forbidden Queen

Katy

I have wanted to face Lucius to kill him myself for so long, and even though he is stronger than me, better trained than me, I am not going to give in.

I partially shift, and growl. As he moves quickly towards me, my training kicks in. This is the bigger stronger wolf that my training has been designed to overcome.

He grabs at my shoulder, trying to hold me still so that he can rip out my throat. At the last moment, I step to the side, out of his reach. He has overreached and stumbles forward. I swing round and draw my claws down his back, making the cut as deep as I can before he starts to turn around and I have to jump away.

He snarls, but pauses for a moment, he is in no rush to attack me again. He stares at me I have surprised him with my ability to fight. One of his wolves starts to move towards me. He notices and shouts “DO NOT interfere. She is mine.”

The warrior moves back to stand at the door.

“Well, you have managed to learn some skills. Not quite the little omega anymore. A few months training with the royal guard though won’t be enough to save you from me.”

“We will see, you are the one bleeding, not me” I answer back bravely.

“I may have underestimated you, but that is a mistake that is easily rectifiable. You will still die.”

Suddenly he moves, he is much quicker than the last time. He tries to drag his claws through my chest, I desperately jump back and try to turn away from him, but I feel a sharp stinging pain as his claws rip into my flesh. I have managed to protect my chest, but he was still able to inflict a deep cut down my left arm.

I don’t have time to reflect on my injury before he is charging at me again. His claws grabbing for my neck. I twist away and bring my leg up, kicking out hard at his knee as I go. He groans, as his leg weakens. I think he is going to fall but he manages to right himself.

He is growling now, angry that he hasn’t managed to defeat me as easily as he thought he would. I see the determination in his face as he moves to grab my right side, I move to the left, but too late I realise that his attack was only a feint. Instead, he manages to swing himself round until he is facing me and pushes his claw into my left shoulder.

I scream with pain, but I grab his arm trying to release myself from his grasp.

He laughs at my efforts. I try desperately to pull his claws away, but I can’t move his arm. He buries his claws deeper; the pain is excruciating.

He smiles at me. He knows he has beaten me it is only a matter of time now before I weaken enough for him to finish me off. I am determined not to make it easy. I snarl at him and continue to pull at his arm while I kick out aiming for his leg. I can tell that he is enjoying playing with me, stringing this out. He is in no rush to end this, to kill me.

Suddenly there is a shout from the doorway. Joseph appears. Hope surges through me, the guards are going to rescue me. Then I realise that he is alone.

“I am here for you your majesty, I won’t let Lucius kill you” he shouts, at me. He tries to take on the guards at the door. He is a strong fighter, but he is no match for three of Lucius’ men. He manages to injure one of them, his teeth have ripped into one of the guard’s shoulders which pours with blood, but it only takes a few minutes for the rest to overpower him.

Lucius laughs, he has stopped trying to kill me, as he watches his guards wrestle Joseph to the floor.

“Fight me” Joseph screams desperately at Lucius, “fight me now one on one.”

“And why would I do that?” Lucius asks him.

“This is between you and me. Fight me warrior to warrior.”

“Why on earth would I when I can just get one of my warriors to rip out your throat? You are not important enough old man for me to kill you myself.” He nods at the warriors holding Joseph. One of them acknowledges Lucius’ command and bites down hard on Joseph’s neck and rips out this throat.

I am horrified. I can’t believe that Joseph is dead, that he has been killed in such a cruel way. Lucius just throws his head back and laughs. For a moment, his grip on me loosens, as he revels in his triumph at defeating his old enemy, my protector.

And that is when I go for him. Hatred courses through me as I manage to wrest his arm away. I lift my knee up and kick it brutally into his groin. He gasps, and bends over, for a moment he lowers his defences and that is all the time I need. I clench my hand into a fist and punch him in the neck. He starts to wheeze and gasp struggling to breathe.

I can hear his warriors at the door shout, and I know that they are moving to his aid, and that I need to finish Lucius of quick before they get to us.

I hear a familiar snarl, and I realise that Alex is here, but I can’t let that stop me I need to finish what I started. I latch onto Lucius’ shoulder to keep him steady while I use my claws to tear through his stomach, and up into his chest. I slash deeply, cutting through flesh, until his stomach and heart are visible. I tear my claws into his heart, making brutal cuts that can never be repaired.

He falls to the ground, groaning, and I watch him bleed out. I can see clearly in his face that he knows that he is dying.

I feel an arm curl round my shoulder. Alex.

I turn to look back and see behind him Lucius warriors lie dead. Their bodies close to Joseph. I sob as I think of him, my protector and my friend. The first person that I met from the Royal pack, dead.

Alex wraps his arms around me and holds me close.

“There has been too much death, too many losses” I say to him.

“Yes, but it is finally over now.