Chapter 17

DAY 3

Another funeral in less than two weeks. Only this time, I didn’t have a brother to tell me it was okay and that he had my back. My sister was there, but she didn’t get me like Zayne did. He knew what ticked me off and what would make me smile like a fool for hours. He knew everything about me. Hell, there was no better soul mate than Zayne.

“Your majesty,” Logan looked in my direction. “Do you have something to say?”

Yes.

Would I like to say them in front of hundreds of people? No.

Instead of speaking, I walked to where Zayne’s casket was. His eyes were shut and his face, expressionless. His body was still and so was his heart. My brother was indeed dead.

“We will meet again. Rest well.” I kissed his forehead and walked away.

It wasn’t a lie, though. We would meet again.

I wasn’t certain we would survive the goddess’ curse, so we definitely would meet again. Perhaps in a few months or years. As I walked away from my brother and the rest of the pack, I couldn’t help but feel as if everyone had left me.

I sauntered to my room without a care in the world because; I had no care. One of the people who motivated gave me a reason to fight was gone, and I had lost that fire. I shut the door behind me and went straight for my bed. Standing felt like a chore. I took off my shoes and got under the sheets to try to get some sleep. I really needed to sleep this day off.

“This is not the time to sleep, Valeria.”

Aspro had somehow appeared in my room and was watching me from the corner.

“Please leave me alone.” I turned to lie on my side, looking away from him. He was a reminder of how Zayne had died. “I want to be alone.”

“You think it’s fun for me? I don’t like it when my brother tortures and kills people.” He said, “It’s not fun for me to watch people die. Especially the people I watch over. I don’t find that fun, but I know someone who does. Valeria, you have two people who want your kind dead and as queen, don’t you think it is your duty to protect them?”

“I couldn’t protect my brother.” A tear rolled down my cheek and fell on my pillow. “What makes you think I can protect those families?”

“Valeria, you have that fire in you. You need to fight for them.”

I inhaled deeply and closed my eyes. “Why can’t they fight for themselves?”

“I cannot answer that question, but I know they look up to you. Whether or not you admit it, you are their queen and your duty is to protect them.”

The room suddenly became cold, and when I looked over my shoulder, he was gone. It pained me because he was right. Father would be pissed if he got to know I wasn’t performing my duties. He cared for all of us, and I was supposed to do the same.

It was my duty to protect them, and I would do just that.

<<<>>>

Logan sat across from me, Melody sat by me, and Carter stood behind his mate. Rhea and Azura flanked Logan in front of me. Hannah stood behind Azura with her arms crossed over her chest, pushing up her tits.

“Are you feeling okay?” Melody sent through the link, looking at me worriedly.

“I’m fine.” I responded.

I had called them so we could make plans. Plans on how to get rid of the easier pain in my ass—the griffins. I was told they killed my pack members, not only my father, and I wanted to make them pay for it. Also, since Kieran and his clan were framed, he wanted in and I was more than happy to let him take part in the annihilation of griffins.

“Are you okay with this?” I looked up at Hannah who had pulled her lower lip between her teeth.

“I’m cool as long as you don’t wipe out my entire kingdom. We should keep mothers and their children out of this. I don’t want the future of my kind to be on thin ice.”

“Understood.” I said before reaching for the map on the table behind me. “This is a griffin map my grandfather had acquired years ago, and it has everything we will need for this battle.”

“You’ve had that map the whole time, and you never attacked us?” Hannah’s jaw hung loose as she stared at the map in my hand.

“Why would we attack your kind for no reason?” I answered, opening the map. “We don’t kill for fun.”

She nodded. “That’s cool, I guess.”

I averted my gaze from her and to the map in my hands. The griffins used a kind of shield to protect themselves, but on this map, I could see that there was another entrance that not everyone knew of. It was supposed to be a secret.

“I won’t be saying much today because my brain feels stiff, but here’s what we’ll do.” I pointed to a brown spot on the map. “Because of the shield protecting them, we’ll be going in there following another entrance. This brown spot is where we’ll go in from.”

“How many men are there?” Melody asked, looking at Hannah for a response.

“Since few people know about that place, there are only three guards there. My father doesn’t know I’m with you guys, so he definitely didn’t add more men.” She answered, placing her hand under her chin.

“Excellent. Melody and few warriors will go in first while the rest of us hang around until it’s time to attack. If things become too much to handle, that’s where our recent addition, Rhea comes in even though I doubt it won’t be that hard.”

Hannah shook her head, “Don’t underestimate my people, Valeria. If we are under attack, we can take the form of our attackers, making it difficult for them to know who to kill. It’s our greatest defense.”

“I can see through it.” Rhea spoke up, her eyes lighting up with something I could not quite make out.

“So can I.” Azura said, a look of pride on her face.

I turned to Hannah, “See? We’ve got this.”

She shrugged in response before Logan spoke. “What about Vladimir? What do we do to him?”

“We kill him on the spot.” I answered, facing Hannah. “Won’t your people hate you for this?”

Hannah responded by changing her appearance. I found it creepy, but also cool. Instead of black hair and green eyes, she had blonde hair and hazel eyes. “They won’t know who I am because I will have the scent of a werewolf.”

“You seem to like blonde hair, Hannah.” Azura pointed out, a smile tugging at her lips.

“Blonde hair is hot. I love it so much.”

“Same here.” Logan said, leaning into his chair with his arms crossed.

I raised a brow at Logan, and he shrugged. Here I was, thinking he didn’t even look at girls, but he noticed things about them. Very nice.

“Since we set everything, you all know what you’re supposed to do. Meet me at the pack border tonight.”

“But it’s a blood moon tonight. We celebrate the blood moon, remember?” Carter said, letting his hands fall on his mate’s shoulder.

“We get stronger at that time and we can celebrate after our victory.”

He grinned at me. “I like the sound of that.”

<<<>>>

The blood moon shone down, illuminating me and everyone with me. We were all dressed in black so that spotting us wouldn’t be that easy. The minor problem we had were the really bright hair colors we had around. Azura and Hannah, for example.

“Hold hands.” Rhea instructed, and we obeyed. I held her hand and Logan held the other hand. In that manner, we formed a circle. “Ready?” She asked, looking at us.

“Yes.” We chorused and almost immediately, we were in front of the entrance I had told them about.

“Is there a way I can learn this instant teleportation thing you just did?” Carter questioned, following Rhea to go hide in a tree. “I’m asking because moving around can be really stressful and you just make it look so easy. Teach me, wise Sensei.”

“This is not the time for jokes.” Rhea scowled at him.

“You think instant teleportation is a joke?” He asked, “I won’t be satisfied with technology until I can do what you did.”

“Carter, we are about to go fight, so can you not talk about my abilities?” She said, moving away from him.

“Yeah, whatever.”

From where I was crouched, I rolled my eyes. He didn’t even care that she could mute him without even trying. The woman was powerful. Makes me want to be a deity in my next life.

“How do we go in?” Melody asked, looking over my shoulder to where Hannah was.

“Just walk right through it. It seems like a waterfall, but there’s nothing there.” She explained and Melody nodded before signaling the men and women with her.

Here goes nothing.