“Silence!” I shouted.
It took a few minutes, and some pushing of my power, but eventually I could be heard again. “Ineed you to go and find Violet,” I said to Seamus, ignoring the council. “I will deal with your lack of respect later. You do not run this world, that’s my job. But I agree that the magic born will be instrumental in our preparations. You’re going to be on the front line of this war.”
He bowed his head low, especially for a magic born. “No disrespect intended at all. I just know that what we are told and what is truth are not always the same. I wanted truth this time.”
Before I could say anything more, he turned and in a flash was gone from the room. Damn magic born.
4
I am queen. Hear me roar
THE ALPHAS FILEDinto the room. First were the two who ruled the other boroughs: the current queen heirs Selene and Chelsea. Selene was technically the spare queen, but I liked to think of her as an heir. Still, she was alpha of the Bronx. Chelsea was alpha of Queens.
Chelsea of the yellow clan had turned sixteen last week, and as was her birthright was now an heir and alpha of that borough. I had not spent much time with her, only the brief meeting when she came of age. But from what I had observed, the tall, willowy brunette was mature beyond her years. She did not speak without thinking, and her dark brown eyes were always assessing,keeping an eye on the shifters she ruled. She was a fit queen heir.
Selene was still a bitch. Just looking into her smug, overly made-up face was enough to send my mood into the pits.
I focused on the rest of the alphas filling the room. There were about fifty in here now, those who ran smaller packs within the boroughs and outside of New York City. Some I knew well from my time in the Bronx and Manhattan, others I had never met before. Calista had given me a large dossier on all leaders, with their names, photos, and other basic information. So for the most part all their faces were familiar.
I took a seat upon my throne. It had been moved here for this meeting. A queen needs her throne if she is to impose the right level of authority. My throne was littered with small chips of mecca stone; much larger ones made up my crown. I was literally thrumming with energy.
My skin even had a slightly purple sheen to it, which all helped to ensure no one would doubt my power.
Finn was still at my side, his head height well above the arm of my chair even though he was seated on the ground. Standing back a little and on either side were my dominants. Blaine was closest, the black and red uniform emphasizinghis strong physique. His auburn hair was military-short over most of his head now, with just a little length on top for style; his focus was sharp as he observed the room.
The fierce way he protected me had a hot lurching sensation hitting me in the chest. He’d been like that for most of my life, looking out for me and Violet. But now that I was queen – and especially after losing Derek to the fae – his focus and protective instincts had increased dramatically. I prayed every day that wasn’t the thing that got him killed. His was not a death I could live with.
Monica was on my other side, her wise eyes just as focused as Blaine’s, but with a little less fierceness in her gaze. She was my assessing dominant, always calculating odds and anticipating events. Jen, Ben, and Victor were back further again, off to the left. Blaine and Monica were on point. I hadn’t replaced Derek yet, so we were at five. I just couldn’t bring myself to fill his spot in my inner six dominants just yet. I wasn’t ready.
I felt the stares of the council, even though they were across the other side of the room. When I glanced at them, I was hit with a wall of grim expressions. It had taken me some time to calm them down after learning that Seamus could just stroll in like that. Oh, and they stillweren’t on-board with the unsealing of the fae magic room for the magic born to delve into. I had no idea if they would come around anytime soon, and really I had far too much else to worry about to dwell on their ire for long. Either way, it would happen. I had ordered it, and Violet could break in at my command if needed. I could only do what I thought was best for my people – trusting that I wasn’t a megalomaniac yet – and I hoped to always see reason if it was presented to me.
“Your Highness…” A petite female alpha from outside of the boroughs captured my attention. She bowed to me. I took a long look at her, impressed that she’d been the first to find the courage to approach me. The dossier popped into my mind and I placed her immediately: Katy of the yellow shifter line. She ran a small pack in California, which explained the bleached blonde hair and casual beach dress she was wearing.
“Welcome, Katy. Thank you for coming on such short notice,” I said.
She straightened from her bow. “We’re most interested to hear your news, Queen Arianna. Thank you for the invite.”
She left, and made her way across to join whomever she had brought from her pack. Others followed her lead then, each seeking to greet and bow to me. Some of their actions wereabout respect, but for the most part it was more to do with cementing their favor with the queen. I knew it, I’d been there before when I was an alpha. Just never thought I’d be the queen to which it would happen.
Eventually, the seats in the room were all filled; a few of the males stood in the back. Only females are heirs and alphas, but some males do run the smaller packs if they are dominant enough. They have the strength to lead the wolves, but if a female alpha moves into that pack, she would fight and take over. Female wolf shifters are just born with something extra, an extra toughness needed to survive.
Sitting straighter in my chair, Finn followed my movements by standing. I knew more than one eye was on my giant familiar; he was a legend in our world, but to me he was so much more than that. He was the other half to my soul. We had been bonded when I was five years old and my life would be nothing without him.
At that thought, I shot a dark look toward Selene. The spare heir was looking a little too smug in her spot, front and center. Red curls artfully pinned atop her head, her deep brown eyes glinted as they locked onto me. She wore her purple silk shirt with its large symbol of her house on the front. Thankfully, Larak was nowhere to be seen. Her snake familiar had triedto kill Finn, and if he was seen in my vicinity again, I would figure out a way to have him destroyed. She knew that, which is why she was keeping him hidden away.
I wished there was an easy way for me to strip her of her heir and spare queen rights, but for now I had no options. There were old laws that even the queen was bound to, and nothing in my power could change this unless Selene screwed up. No one wanted a sixteen-year-old, just-appointed queen heir running the wolf-shifter world if I died, no matter how mature she was.
Calista had spies in all the boroughs trying to dig up dirt on Selene, and I had a lot of loyal shifters in the Bronx pack. But so far there had been nothing I could use against her. She’d screw up eventually, though. I had to believe it. She was as slimy as her snake.
Dismissing her with a cold throwaway glance, I focused on the rest of the room. The mild chattering faded away immediately. Mecca swirled in arcs around me, I could feel it, and judging from the expressions of the others here, they could too.
“Thank you all for coming on such short notice,” I said, my voice low and steady. “I would not have called for you in this manner unless it was of incredible importance. What I am going to say to you in this room cannot be shared withany others. Not yet. This is the reason you all signed the spelled confidentiality papers on the way in, so that our magic born will know if you reveal this, and we will punish you accordingly. There is no wavering on this order. I will not have anarchy in my kingdom, not when there are other ways to go about this.”
Telling the general shifter population of a suspected impending fae war would cause chaos, which would only make it easier for them to divide and conquer us.
A mixture of confusion and anger spilled across the faces before me. They didn’t like their rights being stripped from them, but they knew better than to argue. Not with their queen.
How they’d feel once they knew everything … well, we were about to find out.
