Chapter 2

Queen Luna Aria

“Eric, you can’t do this,” I chase after him as he storms down the hallway, “it isn’t right!” I scream at him, grabbing his arm to drag him back. “You have no right to do this!” He turns and grabs me by the throat and lifts me up and throws me against the wall.

“You may be my Queen and Luna, but you do not tell me what to do!” He screams at me and heads down to the training grounds where the Alpha and Beta from one of the neighboring packs are being held.

“They are a peaceful community, Eric, what you are doing is wrong! You’re out of control!!” He ignores me and I stagger back up and chase behind him until we hit the training grounds. What I see breaks my heart. Alpha Jonathan just turned fifteen, his father died in a terrible car accident a few months ago and he became the new Alpha of the Southhill Pack. They are a small pack, but peaceful and very dedicated to one another. One of the oil mines is located on their land, and it is the primary source of their income, and Eric wants it for his own. He wants to control everything and he will kill anyone that is in his way. I'm losing the ability to protect other packs and Eric is getting more and more ruthless.

“Relinquish your pack to me, Alpha Jonathan!” Eric’s voice booms as he tries to exert his power over the poor boy, but Eric doesn't realize he is not the true Alpha of our pack, nor is he the rightful King. His voice has no power over the young Alpha, it only instills fear.

I watch as a battered young boy is being coached by his Beta, James. Both men have their arms bound behind them with silver rope, they are on their knees, and surrounded by Eric’s warriors.

Beta James was a good friend to my husband, Augusta. Augusta was a fair and kind ruler of the southern territories, an Alpha and King by birthright, and a noble man. He was my mate and when Eric decided that he wanted the power instead, he killed his brother in cold blood right in front of me.

Now I watch as Beta James tries to be calm and coach the young Alpha to maintain his dignity, even though he is terrified.

“Do it, turn your pack over to me at once!” Eric hits the boy hard, knocking him over, and Beta James jumps up to protect him.

“Enough!” he yells. “Alpha Eric, you have no right to force another pack to turn themselves over to you. Augusta would never have allowed this behavior.” Beta James looks at me and pleads with me. “You must stop him, Aria.” He says before Eric erupts in a fit of rage.

“I am so sick of hearing my brothers name! I am a King and you shall address me as one!” He grabs Beta James by the hair and stands him up and holds him above the ground.

“Aria, something is not right with him. Please, you must try and stop him. Jonathan is just a boy,” James pleads with me again before turning to Eric. “You will never be my King,” he says, and those are the final words needed before Eric loses control and shifts into the blackest of wolves and tears into Beta James’ neck, ripping it open and tearing out his spine before tossing his body into the surrounding woods.

Alpha Jonathan lets out a tortured howl and I rush to him and hold him tight before he can make another move that will seal his fate.

“Get away from the boy!” Eric’s wolf screams.

I grab Alpha Jonathan’s face in my hands and tears are flooding his eyes. “Do it. You must do it or you will be condemned to the same fate as James.”

“I can’t. My people, I’d be betraying my people and turning them over to a monster.” He swallows hard and turns to speak but I stop him.

“Would you rather your people lose you entirely? I’ll find a way to make this right, Jonathan. But I need you alive, your pack needs you alive. You need to trust me. Trust your Queen.”

The young boy shakes his head and I turn to find that Eric has shifted back to his human form.

“Eric, if you spare Alpha Jonathan’s life, he will relinquish the pack to you. But, you must not kill him. You need his people to do as you ask, and with him dead, they have no reason to do so. His people love him, and his family, they are loyal to him. With him dead, you only create more problems.”

Eric thinks this over as he grabs a pair of pants that someone hands him and puts them on after shifting. “He will live the rest of his days out of this territory. He will be forced into the North and he can live as a rouge there.”

Sentencing him to live as a rogue in the Northern Territory is almost as bad as killing him, but he will at least have a fighting chance versus dying right here on the spot. He agrees to the terms at my request and before I can say goodbye, the boy is dragged off and out of sight and the rest of our pack stands in shock at the brutality of their Alpha. But, no one says a word, and they simply disappear.

On my way back to my chambers I overhear Eric and several of his council talking in the library. I know that I should not be listening, if they catch me the punishment would be brutal, but I can’t help myself.

“I want to expand beyond the Southern Territory,” Eric says. I slide into the room behind one of the stacks and shift one of the books over to get a better view of him. He is pointing to a map on the wall.

“I want to claim this land here as well, it is rich in minerals and will make me a fortune.”

“That’s the human territory, King Eric, we can’t break the treaty there.” Omar, one of his council responds. He served my father years ago.

“Why not? That treaty is old news. Think about it, we could rule the human territories with little to no effort. They would be slaves to us and our kind, and their women bring a nice price tag as well.” Eric says and laughs.

“What you will bring on is war. The humans will fight back, they w--”

Eric cuts his other council member off and slams his hand on the table.

“The humans will die in droves at our hands, and the ones that are left will bow to us. We can start with that isolated town, test our theory.” He points to a small town that is less than an hour from our lands.

“King Eric, I do not recommend we do this. The human territories have always remained neutral between our kind. The Covens, Packs, Fay’s, and Vampire have a signed treaty on this. To take on your own kind is one thing. To take on the neutral territories of our realm is entirely different. What you ask for are war and destruction.” Omar says with some angst in his voice.

“What I ask for is loyalty and power. I can rule all of the realms and you can join me or be removed. Permanently.”

I sit as still as possible as his council members nod in agreement and disperse.

Eric is going to start a war with not only all of the sects in our realm, but he is going to attack the humans. I can’t let him do this. He has already destroyed so much and killed so many, but I can’t let it continue. I know what I have to do and it pains me, but it is the only way. I wait until they have all left, including Eric, and I rush out of the room through the back door that leads to a staircase down to the kitchen, and eventually, I get to the tunnels that will take me to the prisons that hold Alpha Jonathan until he is to be transported.

“Queen Aria, I am surprised to see you here.” Warrior Andrew stands quickly at attention. He served my family before Eric took over and has always been loyal to me.

“Andrew, I need to see Jonathan before they take him to the North.”

“You know I’m not supposed to let anyone near him. If Eric finds out it would be certain death for me.”

“I wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t important. Please.” I beg and Andrew sighs and lets me through.

I travel down the long tunnel and find Jonathan at the end of it, he’s sitting on the filthy ground and his arms are strung up over his head, chains holding him in place. I can see tear stains down his dirty cheeks and my heart aches for him. I drop beside him and he looks at me defeated. He’s just a boy, he was never ready for this kind of treatment. He wasn’t ready to lead his people, and now he is forced to leave all those he loves and those who love him just as much.

“I failed my people. I betrayed my family.” He says and I grab his hand.

“No Jonathan, you did what had to be done to stay alive. I need to tell you something and you need to listen very carefully. All of our lives depend on it.” He nods and his dark brown eyes stare at me.

“Jonathan, Eric is not the true heir to the Southern realm. He is not the Alpha. Have you ever noticed he can’t command those around him? It’s because he is not the rightful King. Jonathan, I have a son.” With those words, his eyes fly wide open and he goes to speak but I shush him quickly.

“Let me finish, I don’t have much time. I had the baby in secret and went to a Coven to have them hide him far away from here. I knew Eric would never allow him to live. Eric plans to take over all of the territories, including the human ones. It is certain death for all involved, so many will fall at his hands. A war will break out between all of the realms. I can’t allow that to happen. You must find my son. Get word to the King and Queen in the north. Tell them to find the child with two different colored eyes. One electric green eye and one electric blue. I gave him the name of Leo, but he could go by anything now.”

“How, how are we to find him? Does he even know who he is?” Jonathan asks and I shake my head.

“No, he has no idea who he is. I’m not sure he even knows what he is. But, he turns 18 in a few months, and he is the true King of our lands. I pray you are able to get word to the North.”

“Aria, you need to go, they are on their way to get him,” Andrew calls down the corridor.

I hug Jonathan and squeeze his hand once more. “Be brave son, I will do my best to watch over your people. Stay alive!” I turn and run out of the tunnel, praying that he survives long enough to get my message to the North.