Chapter 88: 89: Warrior Queen

ARIEL

While Secret Service agents swarm the stage and surround Alex, dozens of human soldiers disperse throughout the crowd.

The pack is in absolute chaos, but all I’m focused on is making my way to Alex.

“I have to get on that stage,” I growl.

“Go,” Vivian says. “Don’t worry about me.”

I nod gratefully and then push into the crowd, attempting to find a path to the stage.

My wolf is disoriented, retreating to the edge of my mind.

I can barely move. It’s like trying to swim through a mass of body parts.

Too many people.

So much screaming.

I can’t shift in these conditions.

I’m being tossed around in waves of confusion.

The crowd is like a swelling tide—just as I get closer to Alex, I’m pulled back out to sea again.

~Goddess—Selene—please, help me find my way!~

Suddenly, it’s as if the crowd parts for a moment, and I can see a clear path ahead of me.

I don’t have any time to waste. I tear toward the stage, my feet digging into the ground.

But just as I make it through the crowd, my heart sinks.

There’s a blockade of soldiers completely surrounding the stage. There’s no way that I can break through on my own.

Six agents have tackled Alex, roughly pinning him down, while the president shouts at the top of his lungs: “Animals! Filthy animals!”

My mission seems impossible, until—

~ARR-RRR-OOO-OOO!~

A deafening howl pierces the air. But it’s not just any old howl…

~It’s a battle cry.~

Dozens of wolves descend on the stage from all directions, and I recognize them immediately.

~The warriors!~

Dom’s wolf is leading the charge. The human soldiers start to scatter as the warrior wolves toss them around like chew toys.

Dom’s wolf turns to me and his voice enters my mind: ~“What are you waiting for? Go get your man!”~

My inner wolf howls along with the rest of the warriors, and her determination catapults me toward the stage.

I make the six-foot leap onto the platform like it’s nothing, and draw my sword.

“Ariel!” Alex lifts his head and tries to reach out to me as the agents use all their strength to hold him down.

If he tries to shift, he’ll be too vulnerable. And so will I. They’ll shoot me between the eyes before I even sprout a patch of fur.

The Secret Service men start to charge at me, and I hold my ground.

~Don’t kill anyone,~ I say to my wolf. ~Only disarm them.~

As an agent points his gun at me, I use my moonstone blade to slice clean through the barrel before he can even get a shot out.

I dodge the bullets of another agent by tucking and rolling, then I use my sword to slice his leg. As he doubles over in pain, I knock the gun from his hand.

One of his friends tries to tackle me, but I use both my legs to donkey kick him off the stage.

I bounce back to my feet and casually spin my sword in my hand.

“Who’s next? I’m just getting warmed up.”

Another agent lunges toward me and I sidestep him. I use the flat edge of my blade to knock him off balance, then send him hurtling toward one of his fellow agents. They both tumble off the stage in a heap.

I can’t help but smile as I dispatch the president’s men. It feels amazing to be in the heat of battle again.

This is where I thrive. This is what I’m meant to do.

But as I turn around, my exhilaration turns to dread.

An agent holds a gun to Alex’s head, his shaky finger on the trigger.

It only takes a second for me to lose my edge. Within moments, we’re surrounded again.

The president steps through the ring of Secret Service men, staring at me with an evil glint in his eye. He turns back to the cameras, and my stomach clenches.

~They’re still recording…~

~We’ve been live this whole time.~

“Do you see this?” the president shouts at the slightly off-kilter camera. “Just like I said—werewolves are savages! This just proves my point!”

My blood is boiling, but there’s nothing I can do. Alex is being held at gunpoint, and if I attack the president on live TV, I’ll just make things worse.

He continues his demented rant: “I came here to offer peace, but these dogs were intent on biting the hand that feeds them. If they want a war, then I’ll give them a war!”

“You never wanted peace!” A voice shouts from the other side of the stage.

Vivian climbs onto the platform, her heels in hand. She walks directly in front of the camera and stands face-to-face with her father.

“You didn’t want to unite werewolves and humans. You just wanted to control them!” Vivian’s voice is unwavering as she confronts the president. “You took something that could’ve been beautiful and you twisted it for power!”

The president’s face turns bright red, and he looks like a volcano about to blow its top.

“Vivian, don’t say another word, or I’ll—”

“No, Dad, I’m done staying quiet! I’m done hiding who I really am!”

My jaw drops open as Vivian’s claws extend from her fingers, and she grows patches of fur. When she opens her mouth again to speak, it’s accented by sharp fangs.

“I’m proud to be part werewolf!”

Vivian just exposed her father’s hypocrisy to the world.

He immediately bears down on her and strikes her across the face. ~Hard.~

“You filthy, ungrateful bitch! I should’ve put you down a long time ago, just like I did your mother.”

At his vicious words, I see something change behind Vivian’s eyes. Her pupils turn to narrow slits and there’s an unmistakable feral energy emanating from her body.

She’s fully connected with her wolf.

VIVIAN

At first my mind is hazy and my motor skills feel impaired.

But then—like a spotlight cutting through the fog—everything becomes clear.

My father killed my mother.

He finally admitted it.

He despised her for being different. Just like he’s despised me all these years. Trying to force me to conform to his idea of normal.

But I’m done taking shit from this pathetic excuse for a man.

I won’t let him control me any longer.

I’m the one in control now.

I pull back my arm and swipe my claws across my father’s face in one swift motion, leaving behind a deep, three-pronged wound.

He screams in agony as he holds his bloody face. “Fucking bitch!”

“You can wear that scar as your mark of shame,” I growl. “Like the way you made me carry around my shame for who I am all these years. But I’m not ashamed anymore. I know ~exactly~ who I am.”

My inner wolf howls in approval.

And I howl along with her.

ALEX

As Vivian swipes her claws across the president’s face, it gives me just the opening I need. The agent who’s been holding his gun to my head points the gun toward her, and I quickly shift my teeth into fangs, sinking them into his arm.

The agent screams. “Motherfu—”

I elbow him in the temple, knocking him out cold.

In the ensuing chaos, Ariel jumps back into action, taking on the Secret Service one by one.

When she’s in the thick of a battle, she moves with such grace and precision.

Her fighting technique is an art form, and her skill with a blade is unparalleled.

I can’t help but think to myself, ~That’s my queen.~

My ~warrior~ queen.

Ariel may not be the most even-tempered diplomat.

Or the most gracious host.

In fact, she’s not really a conventional queen in any sense of the word.

~But I wouldn’t have it any other way.~

Fuck convention.

We’ll forge our own path—together.

I dig my claws into an agent’s shoulders and fling him off the stage, joining Ariel in the fray.

“I’m glad you made it,” I say as we fight back-to-back. “You almost missed all the fun.”

Ariel flips an agent over her shoulder, then whips around to face me.

Her lips crash into mine, and the whole world fades away for a moment.

Then she pulls back and gives me a smirk. “I’ll always show up to save your ass.”

ARIEL

The president’s agents are all but defeated. They’re running away with their tails between their legs, and the warriors have pushed the human soldiers back past the border.

There’s just one more person I’d really love to get my claws into…

President Cooper is running across the open field next to the stage, cell phone in hand.

~I’m game for a chase if he is.~

My bones crack and my clothes rip as I shift and land on all fours.

I leap off the stage and pursue the president, my paws thumping furiously on the soft ground.

He looks over his shoulder, his eyes filled with terror.

I pick up my pace, closing in fast.

I’m almost at his heels when—

A blast of wind nearly knocks me off-balance. A mechanical whirring sound is earsplitting to my heightened hearing.

A helicopter descends upon the field. Two men pull the president into the cockpit, but he turns to face me before it lifts back into the air.

His eyes are barely visible behind the massive, bloody scar…

But they’re still teeming with hatred.

The helicopter gets smaller and smaller, fading into the distance. I thought I’d be disappointed that he got away, but I’m not.

His reckoning will come.

~The whole world saw your true colors.~

~Now they know who the real monster is.~

***

After making sure that we’ve run all of the remaining military out of pack lands, I return to the palace, shifting back into human form and donning my armor.

Vivian is sitting on the steps, looking disheveled but relieved. I sit down next to her and sigh. “Not quite the unification ceremony we expected.”

“No, but maybe it’s the one that we needed,” she replies.

“Thank you for helping us,” I say. “I know it can’t have been easy for you.”

“No, I’m the one who should be thanking you, Ariel,” she says, taking my hand. “You helped me to accept myself for who I am. I finally feel like I’m being true to myself, and I owe that to you.”

“What will you do now?” I ask. “I’m assuming you can’t go back to your old life.”

“Honestly, I don’t want to. I want to open a new path forward. I want to be a bridge between werewolves and humans. Fight for ~real~ peace and unity.”

Vivian’s words echo in my mind. ~A new path forward.~ The same words that Selene spoke to me.

~That clever bitch.~ I guess it wasn’t just my family who was in need of healing. Vivian needed my help too.

“I never thought I could stand up to my father like that,” Vivian says. “But it was long overdue.”

Past Vivian’s shoulder, I see Dianne talking to a group of reporters, playing up the dramatics for the camera.

I stand up, feeling a surge of inspiration. If Vivian can confront her abusive father, then I have no excuse.

I start marching toward my mother and the camera crew.

“I think it’s finally time that I did the same.”