Forbidden Queen

Alex

So far, our trip into town has been quiet, with no obvious signs that there are enemy wolves waiting to attack but I am on edge. My instincts tell me that something isn’t right. I make eye contact with the guards, trying to communicate my unease. I want them to be ready for an attack, but I don’t want to worry Katy with my concerns.

I can tell that they feel it to. Nathan the lead wolf nods, acknowledging my silent message.

As we walk towards the café, I curse whoever it was chose this route for us, the street is too quiet, we are the only people around. We are hidden from the market, and the main road so if we were to be attacked no one would see it. There are too many alleyways that our enemies could hide in and use to launch an ambush.

When we are halfway down the street, nine wolves jump out of from an alley way to my left.

I am ready for them and so are the guards. I push myself forward, half shift and howl loudly at our attackers. I try to push Katy behind me, but she refuses, stepping to my side, snarling at the wolves. She is determined to help us fight.

I love her for her bravery, but she has barely started warrior training and she will be no match for these wolves. It is clear that this is not a random attack. These wolves have been sent by Lucius. I don’t want her to get hurt fighting stronger better trained warriors

I try to grab hold of her arm, but she sidesteps me and moves quickly out of my reach. I don’t have time to do anything about it, before the largest wolf launches himself at me and I have to concentrate on overpowering him before he rips out my throat.

As he lunges for my neck, I punch him hard in the face breaking his nose. Moving quickly, I twist my body away from him, before ripping my claws down his left side, tearing through his flesh.

He doesn’t cry out although the wound must be causing him a lot of pain. Instead, he changes direction, and tries to claw through the tender flesh of my stomach. I am quicker than him though and manage to block his move. I grab his arm and twist it sharply. I can hear bones break, and I am sure I have also dislocated his shoulder. I use his injured arm to pull him towards me, he screams in pain. I bite down on his neck ripping out his throat.

I turn to see three of our attackers are now dead, but the remaining six are trying to get to Katy. Our guards are locked in battle with five of the enemy, preventing them from getting close to her, but that still leaves one who is unmarked and is trying to fight Katy.

He is stronger and obviously better trained than her, but she has still managed to land a few blows. He has deep scratches on his neck and stomach where she has managed to pierce his skin with her claws. However, he has been more successful in hurting her. There is a large gash on her shoulder, and bite marks on her arms. She is tiring and doesn’t have the stamina, or the training required to finish him off. He is gaining the upper hand, and I watch in horror as he launches himself at her neck. Fangs bared ready to rip her throat out.

I run forward, my claws tear into his side, I use my momentum to spin him round, and rip at his stomach. The wound is deep, and I can see his entrails. He howls in pain but moves round to face me. He is readying himself to attack me, but I am too quick for him and before he knows what is happening, I bite down hard on his neck ripping out his throat.

“Thank you,” Katy tells me. Exhaustion clear on her face.

I turn round and notice that the fight is almost over. We have won. All nine of our attackers lie dead, but so does one of our guards.

I look at Katy, she has realised that we have lost one of our wolves. I can see the pain in her face.

“I should never have insisted on coming. I am responsible for the death of that guard. He gave his life for me …., and I don’t even know his name.”

My heart bleeds for her, I want to take that pain away but there is nothing that I could say that would make this better.

“What is his name, I need to know his name!”

“Anthony” one of the other guards tells her. “His name is Anthony. He has been a warrior in the royal guard for the last five years. He has no family, they died during the war.”

………

We make our way back to the castle. I have already sent one of the warriors ahead to find Joseph and tell him what has happened. He will need to send a team to clear up after the attack and recover the body of our dead guard.

Katy still hasn’t said anything, I can feel her grief through our bond. I long to comfort her but she is distraught.

“It was stupid of me to insist on coming into town, if I hadn’t, he would still be alive” she says.

“He would still be alive if someone close to us hadn’t betrayed us. This was no random attack, they must have known we were there, and what route we were going to take. Once we get back to the castle we will meet with Joseph, and we can start to work out what went wrong here.”

She nods but I can tell my words haven’t made her feel any better. She still blames herself.

As we approach the grounds, ten warrior wolves join us from the palace, Joseph has decided to strengthen our protection. He is obviously worried that they may try to attack again.

“Where is Joseph?” I ask one of them.

“He has gone to the palace. He is waiting for you there.

Good. I quicken our pace. We need to discuss what happened and take steps to identify and neutralise the traitor. There is no time to waste.

When we reach the palace, I finally relax, Katy is safe.

Joseph is waiting for us in the queen’s office.

“What happened?” he asks.

“We were attacked by nine wolves. They weren’t rogues, they were pack warriors. I can only assume that they were from the Black Moon Pack. It wasn’t a random attack. It was planned. They were waiting for us, they had picked the quietest point on our route, and had hidden in a side street ready to ambush us.

They had to know that Katy planned to enter town in disguise with limited protection. They knew the route we planned to take and were able to choose the best place for an ambush. If we had any doubts before that Lucius had spies and traitors in our ranks then they are gone now,”

“And his informant has to be a senior member of the royal household. We kept the details of her trip confined to the senior advisors, even the guards that I had assigned to protect you didn’t know in advance who they were protecting and where they were going.” Joseph observes.

“Neither did the guide that Adrian assigned. Adrian didn’t tell him that he was going to be our guide until an hour before we left. I saw his face when they attacked, he was terrified. Anyway, one of the enemy wolves tried to attack him, but he managed to get away and flee before he could do any real damage” I tell them.

“Do you think it could be one of the advisors?”

“I don’t want to, but it is the only explanation that makes sense. They could even be the person who betrayed the royal family eighteen years ago. They were all working for the royal family at court at the time” Joseph says.

“Which one though?”

Let us look at the facts. “Karen helped plan the trip, not only could she have given Lucius the route that you were going to take, but they could also have chosen to direct you through streets that were ideal for launching an ambush.

Adrian also knew about the route and assigned a member of the household who knew those parts of the capital well to be your guide.

Ruth knew of the plans; she was supposed to be accompanying you until she backed out at the last minute. What if that was an excuse? If she knew that there was going to be a fight she could have chosen to stay away.”

“So, all of them, had the opportunity. Only Kirsty was unaware of the plans.”

“Yes, now we just have work out which one is responsible. It won’t be easy, if this is the same people who betrayed Katy’s parents they have managed to avoid suspicion for eighteen years.” Joseph warns.

“We should set a trap.” I suggest. “We should give them an opportunity to attack that will be so good they won’t be able to resist passing the information on to the Black Moon Pack. We just need to make sure that the story we tell each of them is different so that when Lucius’ warriors attack us, we know which one betrayed us.

Katy has been silent up until now. Refusing to engage in our discussion, instead she stares into space, but my suggestion seems to break through to her.

“No, no more putting wolves in danger, to protect me” she protests.

“Katy, that is their job. They have sworn to protect you. It is their duty to try and bring down traitors and defeat the Black Moon Pack” I say gently.

“I don’t want to be responsible for anyone else’s death” she continues stubbornly.

“You are the queen. You will always face danger; you will have to make decisions which could have terrible consequences if you make the wrong choice. Even the right decision could lead to bloodshed. It can’t stop you from making difficult choices” Joseph tells her solemnly.

“I didn’t realise how terrible the guilt and pain would feel. I don’t know if I am capable of doing this. If I am strong enough to make these kind of decisions knowing what the consequences could be.”

“It is better to feel the pain and guilt you are feeling than to make these life and death decisions without caring about the impact on your people. I know that for every decision you take, you will do your best to make sure that it results in the minimum possible loss of life, or pain for the wolves who are your subjects, and no monarch can do better than that.”

I can see that Joseph’s words have hit home, and Katy has started to feel a little better.

“Enough for today. You are tired and need to rest. I will take you upstairs to bed. We can start planning how we expose the traitor tomorrow.”

“There is no more that we can do today” Joseph agrees.

I escort Katy up to our rooms. I am going to spend the night holding her close and trying to do my best to comfort her.