** Ten years later.........**
Ava's POV
The clashing of swords, and shields against shields echoed around the training ground as every man and female warrior swung their swords against each other for superiority.
I clashed my sword against my opponent sending his flying to the other side of the training ground.
I grinned. "Not so tough now, Fernandez," I mocked.
He raised a brow. "Always leaving your opponent defenseless I see," he said reaching into the scabbard on his back for another weapon.
"Good thing I always carry an extra," he said and swung his sword toward me.
I leaped aside as the swords clashed again pushing him backward.
He succeeded in placing the sword underneath my chin few inches close to my neck, my back against him.
"You have been defeated, Ava," he said with a sound of victory in his voice.
"You seem to forget, I don't accept defeat easily," I said and with a backward kick, I had him staggering on his feet.
In a blink of an eye, I spun around giving him a double kick on his chest and he fell to the ground.
I placed my sword a few inches in between his brows and grinned.
"You're no match for me, Fernandez," I chuckled.
"That's enough for today," I heard uncle Phil say. Everyone stopped training and picked their opponents from the ground, congratulating him on a good fight.
Heaving, I pulled away from Fernandez placing my sword in its sheath.
"A new technique?" Uncle asked as he walked towards me. I beamed a smile as we walked along sides.
"Been working on it," I replied.
He smiled. "Very impressive. Your mother will be proud of you," he said with a pat on my shoulder and walked away.
I stopped and looked into the heavens and muttered. "She will be proud of me."
••••• ••••• ••••• ••••• •••••
The crescent pack wasn't known for violence and had been the weakest among other packs in this part of the North side.
But since the death of the Queen my mother, it had changed history.
We were no longer submissive and weak to our enemies.
War and fights were only done when there was no choice but now, any slight threat from any pack war was taken to them.
These few years we've emerged among the strongest. Gone was our fear of other packs and it was all thanks to uncle Phil.
After the war ten years ago, many of the crescent pack had gone into hiding for fear for their lives.
Uncle had been able to trace them and brought them together. He united the pack and gave them the morale to stay and conquer all that stands against us. That also had an impact on me.
After watching my mother die, I had nothing but hatred in my heart. All I seek was vengeance. Mother was too loving and kindhearted to have died that way.
And my father? I didn't even know him. Never seen him before.
I remembered as a child growing up, I had asked my questions about him from mother and she had just held me tight to herself, kissed my forehead, and said she was my mother and at the same time my father.
She made me promise never to bring up the topic again and I didn't.
The water ran down my back as I stroked my hair letting it run down my shoulders. Uncle had been managing the pack till I was old enough and now that I am, he was ready to ordain me as the Queen.
The crescent pack has been ruled by women centuries ago. No man, either married to the Queen was to lead the pack. It had always been women as alphas.
I was nineteen and already a warrior and the next Alpha Queen.
I've won over five wars since I turned seventeen.
Mother didn't train me for this. I was usually dressed up for fancy teacup parties and ballet classes. The ballet classes had come in handy when nailing a perfect two point two kick.
She wanted a normal life for me, attending human schools forgetting that we were never normal from the start.
I got out of the shower wiping my hair with a towel as it was dripping of water.
Circumstances had changed everything. A few years back, I won't have imagined or believed myself holding a sword and slaying both men and women.
The blood moon pack was responsible for this. It was all their fault. Using the crescent pack for slavery wasn't enough for them, they decided to go for murder.
And this was all because a man from the crescent pack had decided to protect the honor of his mate.
I've heard about the blood moon alpha. A man seen as a demi god before men. I've not seen him in person, but I hoped to and on the battlefield to show him a woman could beat him up to a pulp.
I didn't just want to beat him up, I wanted to murder him. I had found out from my uncle that his father was responsible for mother's death.
His father was who I saw tearing my mother to pieces.
~~~~~~~
I was there again in that fire. Mother's voice echoed through the forest and urged me to run.
The smell of burnt trees and blood was still fresh in my nostrils.
I fell on my knees beside her and saw her smile for the last time with my name on her lips.
Her eyes closed and her hand fell beside her.
"Mother!" I screamed.
I screamed out of my sleep panting. I raked my fingers through my hair trying to control my breathing.
Ten years. It's been ten years and I couldn't forget that day. Many of my pack died including my mother.
Innocent lives were fallen that day. In a rage, I threw the glass of water on my table stand away.
The anger, the rage. This wasn't me, but it was what I had become and it was all because of the blood moon pack and I swore with my life they would all pay for it.
Skye's POV Walking down the street of the town, my mind wandered through a lot of things. The death of my father and Natasha leaving for New York a few weeks ago and I couldn't get it off my mind. Maybe Natasha leaving for New York was a good thing. At least I'll get to concentrate on things like my role as the Alpha since the passing away of Father. Father's death had occurred right after he banished Andrew from the pack. Andrew was my best friend, but still yet betrayed the pack. His loyalty was to someone else whom we did not know. Andrew joined the rogue pack and it looked like he was the leader of the pack. Since then, the rogue pack has made us know no peace. They were quite undefeatable. My mind wandered off course, going into the long hatred between my pack and the crescents. Centuries ago, the son of a blood moon alpha was trying to take advantage of a girl from the crescent pack in a drunken state. The said girl already had a mate and in an attempt to save her, her mate end
Ava's POV The next morning, Fernandez and I trained together. Swords clashing against each other. "You've gotten better," I jeered at him. "I must say, training with the Queen has definitely rubbed off qualities," he said, grinning and swinging his sword side to side. He swung his sword to my waistline and I jabbed him in his ribs with my elbow. "Still not as good as me," I grinned as he held his side in a mocking defeat and suddenly charged toward me. I missed the slash of his sword by the tiniest chance. The bloody hell of a friend almost had me wounded. "Swords up!" Uncle Phil's voice rang out in the field as every person lowered their swords. I gave Fernandez a hard glare and he smirked. I felt my cheek, what if the bastard had given me a cut? "I'll so get you," I said through gritted teeth. He rolled his eyes, the smirk still plastered on his face. Uncle cleared his throat. "News has come to me that a few members of the blood moon pack have been spotted behind the ri
Skye's POV She is the one. The most feared that I had often heard about and I had no idea she was in the crescent pack. Her beauty was no denial and way more exquisite than I have heard. The raindrops on her clothes clung to every contour of her body. When my wolf had taken charge, I knew I was in trouble. "Mate." He echoed in my head. Unwillingly, I found myself lowering my sword. My wolf didn't want to go heads with her, he wanted her close. But, she was indifferent. She swung her sword sharply, but I was able to averse from the cut in a nick of time. She fought well, but wasn't making proper calculations of her moves. Having scolded and kept my wolf in check, I had control of myself again and could tell her next move. She had this fire to kill in her. Something raw was driving her to that point. In an attempt to behead me, I flung her sword aside and trapped her to a tree, both hands held tightly in mine and my sword placed underneath her jawline. "Let go of me," her voic
Ava's POV I searched the training field for Fernandez, but I couldn't find him. I asked my uncle and a few warriors about him but no one had seen him.I blamed myself. Maybe I was too harsh on him that's why he skipped training.I walked towards the river giving up hope of seeing him for the rest of the day, till I saw him throwing rocks into the river. "Fernandez," I called out, hurrying towards him. "Fernandez," I called him again. He turned in my direction. "At your service, my queen," he said so formally and I hated myself more. I punched him lightly on his arm. "Why the formality?" I asked. He looked away. "Nothing," he said. "C'mon, Fernandez, I'm sorry," I apologized. He shook his head. "You shouldn't apologize, you're the queen and have every right to yell at someone inconveniencing your space," "Stop that, Fernandez. What I did was wrong. You've been my best friend for so long and I shouldn't have reacted that way to you. I'm just so tensed up," I said and shrugged at
Ava's POV I rubbed my hands on my shoulders feeling the air more chillier than usual. Daniel had paid for the supplies and we were heading back to camp. Uncle was planning on getting a house in town and I couldn't wait. I didn't want us to keep staying in shabby cabins in the forest. We arrived back to the woods and saw uncle pacing about. "What took you so long?"Uncle barked at Daniel. He shivered. "The Queen was hassled by the alpha of the blood moon pack," he said. Uncle's face hardened as he turned in my direction throwing questions at once. "Did he hurt you? did he say anything to you?" "He said the queen.." Daniel began but I interrupted him knowing what he had to say. "He called me a weakling. The usual taunts of the blood moons." I said signaling for Daniel to leave. He walked away. "I warned you not to leave the camp," he said."I'm glad I did, "I said shrugging off. "Ava," uncle's voice sounded low in a warning. I shrugged off again. "I wasn't hurt, was I ?"I ques
Ava's POV A week had gone by and I haven't come across the mighty alpha of the blood moon pack. Not like I cared, but mainly because I stayed around the camp training and doing things to get him off my head. Uncle stuck to his words about me staying with the pack and I couldn't do anything about it.But today, I didn't obey. I wandered off the side of the river where the pack was. The snow that fell the previous night became too steep for my feet to bear. My wolf was eager to come out.For years, I've kept her hidden inside of me, but today, I couldn't. She loved the snow and being the only pure white wolf of the pack, she blended well with it. Falling to my knees, my bones cracked with a howl escaping my lips. It was more painful than I remembered and I was quite sure it was because I never transform into my wolf form often. The hairs on my body stood out and grew out more, and sharp claws sprung out of my fingers and toes. Longer canines sprouted from my mouth and in an instant
Ava's POV "Finish him!" Fernandez yelled out, but I couldn't bring myself to do it. With one look into those red eyes, I felt lost. My wolf couldn't bring it upon herself to kill her mate but rather, had ordered him to leave.They all looked surprised seeing me in my wolf form.I retreated into the forest where I had pulled off my clothes and shifted back to human and returned back to the cabin. Here I stood now, facing the wrath of my people for letting the alpha go. Their surprised look at my wolf form was gone and replaced by the anger of not shredding their arch enemy to pieces. Fernandez's voice came the loudest. "How could you have let such an enemy go free! You had the upper hand and should have killed him!" He vented. "He spared my own life on the first fight. It felt right to do the same and be even," I tried justifying my actions. Why was he so mad anyways? "To be even? Oh, please spare me that," he said with a continual raising of his voice. "Fernandez, what's wrong w
Skye's POV The mind link we shared since we became mates wasn't strong yet, but I could feel her presence around. Just then, I saw her having a conversation with Phil.I walked down to the corner of the street knowing fully well she was going to take that lane. Was I stalking her? I asked myself countlessly, but my wolf, Eros kept saying I was only looking after our mate.A little correction there, his mate cause I wasn't ready to accept her. neither was I sure I was going to reject her.Just like I predicted, she walked towards the narrow street and I pulled her into the darkness. She wriggled in my arms in a futile attempt to escape me. I chuckled. "Stop struggling," I said. She realized it was me and said in a muffled voice. "Let go of me." I took away my hand from her mouth and she started ranting. "You bastard, how dare you..." I placed my hand on her mouth shutting her up before she continued her rants. "If you don't stop your foul words, I'll keep you in this position ti