3. Betrayed Alliance.

3. THE WOLVES

"Thank you, my Alpha" Philipa took a bow in front of her spouse, her very own Ragnar, the King of the Wolves. "I cannot explain the delight that is bubbling in me" She proceeded to his bed.

Alpha Ragnar's lips spread to his cheeks as Philipa approached him. A familiar bubbling in his belly when she was near him. As she came close to him, he stood up and acknowledged her. "All I do, Philipa is my expression of love for you."

"No. This…this is too much" Phillipa played with her fingers. "There has been a feast outside the palace for the past three days…"

"And it would continue until you birth this bundle of joy" Alpha Ragnar rubbed Philipa's belly which was as big as a ripe melon. "Tomorrow is your birth date and when that child comes, the whole town will not get enough of my celebration" he laughed and Philipa joined him. "I will be sending the invitation to all humans too, tonight. They have to celebrate with us"

Philipa's smile fell when he said that and Ragnar noticed her change of countenance. "The humans?" Philipa repeated just to make sure, "Ragnar, I do not think that is a good suggestion."

"Why?" His brief furrowed, walking back to his bed to sit. "The humans have been good to us, and we share a cordial relationship"

"I know that" his wife responded, "but the Queen has no child yet, I do not think she might be happy for us."

"Fool's talk" Ragnar stomped his feet. "How can you say that about them. Not having a child does not mean they are not happy for others. We've known the humans forever, this is a social celebration."

Philipa nodded agreeing to whatever her husband said. After all, King Godric and Queen Daphne were good friends of theirs.

"Not inviting them means we are holding a grudge and that is false," Ragnar said again.

"I understand" Philipa responded. " I apologize for speaking like a fool" Philipa proceeded to sleep on the well-furnished bed beside her husband and he nuzzled her. She let him touch her hair and her body as she was tired from the extravagant festivity he had organized for the sake of their unborn child, but he was caring enough to ease her exhaustion.

Tomorrow, she was to give birth to their first child and the thought excited her. Ragnar was the happiest, getting an heir to the wolf pack he had built his entire life was the most fascinating news to him.

At midnight, Philipa turned in her sleep. "No…" she muttered. "Don't…please" she said in her sleep.

"Philipa?" Ragnar tapped her gently. "Philipa!" He tapped her harder and she jumped up from her sleep, like a terrified cat, her eyes shot up and roamed around the room.

"Ragnar" She clutched him very tightly. "A bad dream." Her breathing increased in pace. "It was bad, very bad. I do not know what to make of it."

"Be calm" Alpha Ragnar held onto his wife and patted her back. "You're with me, you're safe," he said.

Philipa nodded and as they shared a hug, there was a knock on their door. Philipa panicked, It was midnight, why should anyone knock on the door? Yet, Ragnar stood up to answer the door.

"King Godric sent some gifts to you, Alpha," the guard wolf at the door said.

"At this hour?" Philipa started to move from her bed, toward her husband. "Why so late?" She asked the guard.

"He asked that you see it immediately it is received." The guard wolf responded.

Philipa maintained a frown. "It must be good news," Ragnar said, trying to cheer her up. "They must have received our invitations and decided to send some gifts. Come, let's see it together"

Hand in hand, they walked out of their room to the main house. When they reached, the guard wolf pointed to four gifts oddly packaged and spread out on the floor.

Philipa's heart pounded at the sight, it looked like… "Don't touch it" she warned Ragnar, but he kept moving closer, his brow furrowed curiously.

He bent to one of the gifts and tore off the wrapper with his claws. Philipa's breath choked when she gasped. "No…no" her palm spread over her mouth.

Ragnar tore the wrapper further, but nothing could change the sight of what he saw. His eyes reddened as he stared at the blood drooling from the wolf's mouth.

He moved to the next gift and tore the wrapper, but it was the same corpse of his favorite guard wolves - four of them, in their wolf form.

Trying to ignore his wife's cries, he tried to study the mark on the wolf's skin. "Silver…" he muttered when he found it. "Someone has betrayed us," he said in the loudest voice. He stood to his feet and looked around, he was only with some other guard wolves and his wife. "No human knows our weakness. A wolf has betrayed us."

"There's a letter, Alpha, " The guard wolf beside him said. Ragnar snatched it and tore the seal, From the texture of the paper, he knew this letter was from the royal palace. When he opened it, he could see that it was handwritten by King Godric himself.

'The harmony between the humans and wolves has succeeded for too long. The humans feel oppressed and terrorized by the presence of creatures like you and as their King, I stand for their peace. We found out a way to eradicate your lots after several years of scheming. Silver is that secret you've kept from us too long and we have made swords for your death and equipped our arrows with it. So Dearest Alpha Ragnar, what shall you do with the little gifts I brought you?'

The paper crumpled under Ragnar's fist as he growled out loud. "Prepare the wolves!" He ordered and some guards rushed out of the room.

"Ragnar…" Philipa ran to him. "No, don't do that. It wouldn't end well." She let out shallow breaths.

"Our kind has been killed, we will not sit back and watch" he blurted to his wife.