A Storm is Coming

"What the fuck did you do?" Penelope repeats, barging into the house as she pushes past me, grabbing Zion by his shirt as she tugs him down to her height. "You little bastard, how the hell could you be so foolish, so delusional, so - so," Penelope is at a loss of words, shaking her head as she looks back to me. Letting go of Zion, she approaches me with hesitation, reaching out her hand as her fingers lace through my hair, playing with the locks as she twirls them around her fingers. She places a hand delicately upon my cheek, fingers running over my skin as she presses gently, as if to see if her fingers will fall through my skin like a ghost. "What black magic did this?"

"That black magic was honored," Zion comments, defending his actions as Penelope shakes her head, laughing as she turns to him.

"Black magic is never honored. Did your mother teach you nothing about the ways of witches who practice this form of...darkness? Witches who dare sell their soul to the devil to practice magic of demons are never to be trusted."

"I knew what I was signing up for."

"Of course, because you were so blind. All you wanted was to hold your wife again because you missed her puppy love. You decided letting witches of dark magic raise your wife from the dead was much better than just accepting she was gone like a normal person would," Penelope snaps, her anger focused at Zion as I find myself in a situation I never wanted to be in. But I should have know that asking for Penelope to come here was not going to be a smooth ride. I know the woman Penelope has always been, I know she is someone who does not back down, even if they were once her king. "You thought the natural laws of life and death should not apply to you because you were an Alpha King."

"That is not-"

"That is what it was, Zion," Penelope interrupts, her voice raised as she glances over to me. "And poor Sybil here was once again just an observer in the world she was brought into."

"Sybil, did you want to be back here, alive?" Penelope asks, turning the conversation back to me, putting me on the spot.

Zion tells me I don't need to answer that, but I know I am not the Sybil I once was. I cannot just be an observer of my own life anymore. "I did not want to be brought back, hell, I did not even remember who I was at first," I reply, watch as Penelope nods, "but I have come to remember my past life, to learn of who I was and who Zion was. What has been done cannot be reversed without death, it is that simple."

"But Zion went against your will once more."

"He was wrong in doing so," I agree with Penelope, for I know he was wrong to bring me back, "but we have to move past that fact that he did what he did. I have had to move past that fact because, if I did not, I would be stuck in a loop of hating him and hating myself."

We walk into the living room, Penelope fulfilled with my answer for the time being as she takes a seat on the sofa and I stand by the fireplace, looking outside the window as I wonder where the conversations tonight will take us. I want to ask Penelope how she has been, how her pack has been, and the things you ask a friend when you have not seen them in years, but the tensions in the air tonight tell me that this is not the time for those sorts of questions.

"No place is safe," Penelope comments as those eyes stare at me. "Hunters will look for you, vampires will come for your blood, witches will come for your organs, dwarves will be after your eyes and hair, and enemies of Zion will be after your life." Keva warned me of this, but did not mention the specifics of what these species would want me for. "Why ask for me to come here?"

"It would be nice to have a friend, someone to offer help along the way, information, and perhaps even protection if it came to it," I reply, "and I know what I ask for is a lot, especially since Zion and I no longer hold titles and if word gets out of my existence then people will be after me."

"You still hold a title," Penelope comments, catching our attention as Zion perks up. "The rogues have never offered someone the title of royal over their kind. They recognized you as their Queen, Sybil, so if you were to need something serious, I would count of them willing to offer services." I can still remember the sound of the gun firing as Zion killed the Ring Leader helping me get answers. "I will always be a friend though. I can offer information, help, but protection may be hard to get from my pack."

Penelope looks to the ring on her finger, twirling the diamond band around her slender finger as she looks up to Zion. To think he would dare insult her mate and call him a disgrace. To mate with a rogue is held with the same regard in society, perhaps even worse in some packs, and Zion dared to think he was better than Penelope. Zion deciding to marry me was not something which went over well everywhere in the kingdom, there were even some magazines which called this a move backwards in society, but some praised it and saw it as werewolf society adapting with the times. To think Zion would call Penelope out for her own mate.

"Which coven helped you?" Penelope asks, curious as to my resurrection. Zion answers her, saying the formal name of the coven in a language I cannot understand. Penelope's skin pales and her eyes widen as she hears the name of the coven. Immediately I know something is wrong, waiting for her to explain why as I think back to the threats Fiona made against me. "When did you last see them?"

"About a week ago when I lifted the curse on their coven," Zion replies, only for Penelope to shake her head.

Something is very wrong.

"Tell me what they did," Zion demands, standing up from the couch as his eyes begin to darken.

"They made a deal with Lily Maxwell to aid her pack."

<><>

Arguments go on through the night, voices raised over and over again as Penelope and Zion argue strategies of war and allies. Lily Maxwell has an army growing of the warriors from her pack and a few others, the witches of Fiona's coven who are now free of the curse which restrained their magic, and even a few rogues. Together, she has an army large enough to attack the palace and perhaps even tear down the palace. Penelope has heard rumors of a plan to reform the kingdom, to reshape the government itself and leave no king in charge but let the packs rule their own territories.

"Lily has something of Nixon's too," Penelope comments as I sit on the staircase, leaning against the wall as my eyelids become heavy. Zion and Penelope are in the kitchen, talking over a bottle of wine as they still keep up their conversation. "Word is Elijah and her are planning to release this document to the newspapers."

"I already know what this document is," Zion informs, getting my attention as I know what it is too. Lillian made Zion and Nixon keep tabs of their misdeeds. Lily has Nixon's book and may plan on releasing these to the werewolf kingdom.

"If she does, it could incriminate Nixon and you. That's the rumor going around in the palace."

If the book gets released to the public, everyone would know the massacres of Zion and the late Nixon. What would this mean for Zion? Silence in the other room is all that occurs for the next few minutes, my brain pulsing in my head as I try and think of what everything that is happening means. It is all happening so fast.

"The people loved me as their King. Nixon's own pack feared him. Nixon was hated in the palace and around the kingdom following his death because he murdered Sybil. They will see this as Lily trying to get even without proof," Zion defends himself. It sounds like he is lying to himself in his last sentence, his words sounding false.

<><>

Penelope spends the night in the guest room and I spend the night laying awake in my bed, tossing and turning as I am unable to fall asleep. My mind is flooded with endless questions about what could happen. Soon enough, I am leaving the room and heading for the back door as I am carefully walking on my toes. Opening the door, I look out to the forest before me, seeing a figure standing with her back turned to me as she stares ahead. Closing the door, I walk towards the figure basked in the moonlight, my steps soft as I approach her.

"A storm is coming... It is hard to sleep when the world stirs," Penelope comments, her voice soft as she stares up at the moon. "You should not have returned to the territory of this kingdom. One whisper spoken to the wrong person or spoken too loud and then you will find unwanted guests at your door."

"I have to take risks," I comment, "Zion does not understand why I wanted you to come here, he still struggles to understand me."

"He understands you have changed," Penelope remarks, looking over to me as her fingers press lightly under my chin. "He is afraid of the future, Sybil, afraid of losing more of what he has lost."

She's right, for Zion has not only lost me, but his title of King, his power, his allies, friends, and so much of what made him feel secured. "I once found Zion praying to the Moon Goddess in the ancient temples too, something no Alpha King has been seen going without press around for decades. So desperate that he had turned to a dying religion." I cannot remember ever hearing of Zion visiting the Temple of the Goddess to visit, much less pray.

"I do not know what to do next."

Penelope cocks her head to the side, lowering her hand from my chin as she stares into my eyes. "No one will until Lily Maxwell takes her next step," Penelope explains. "I doubt you were unable to stay with the elves, seeing how you are here and asking for my help."

"They did not want someone in their walls who was brought back to life with dark magic," I add, twirling the ring around my finger which Keva gifted me with. "What if Lily takes her book and calls for Zion to answer for crimes?"

"There are too many possibilities of what could happen," Penelope informs, "Lily could take her power and influence any way she wishes. We cannot spend time pondering what she does for hours and hours."

"She will lead an attack on the palace. Is anything being done? Will you do anything?" I ask, demanding answers. If Penelope sees that Lily will go after the palace, then will she decide to fight and protect her kingdom? Or will she decide to stay back and protect her pack? "You know if she succeeds, then she will turn on the packs who stay loyal to the crown."

"The crown was created so men desperate for more power could have that control. You are a werewolf, you understand how how instincts work, how we are loyal to our packs and we do not need a King to lead them. My pack will always hold respect for me as long as I protect them, each pack functioned this way until Zion's ancestors wanted a wider range of power."

"So you believe Lily getting what she wants is doing right?" I question, crossing my arms as I try and imagine a world without the rule of an Alpha King. Kings keep the peace between packs, offer smaller packs protection from rogues, hold treaties with other species, and make rules which all packs may benefit from.

Penelope takes a step towards the forest, gazing up into the moon as the wind blows across my skin. "Lily is doing what she wants not because she believes the world of werewolves will better from one of no central authority. Lily Maxwell has no concrete understanding of how our world functions, but she understands that she feels pain and she believes that pain to be focused from the central authority of this kingdom." Looking over her shoulder to me, Penelope offers me a lopsided smile. "Besides, did you not throw yourself in front of Nixon's bullet because you believed that if Zion was the one to die, then the kingdom would collapse into uproar and war over treason and a cry for justice?"

Penelope's words sting, a bitter taste forming in my mouth as I try and wrap my head around what Lily Maxwell could believe her actions to do in a positive light. "You and Lily are very much alike, both taken into a dark world you never asked to belong to, given a man to tame whose demons tempter your own, and both reborn into a better version of who you once were. Lily was timid and afraid, scared to speak her mind, only to be reborn into a strong Alpha who challenged much of tradition when Nixon died and she was left alone, a human and mother, to rule one of the strongest packs. You were just as naive, always asking questions - yet never the right ones, and constantly doubting yourself, and you were reborn literally into who you are now."

"I would never dare start a war against an entire kingdom due to revenge," I comment, my tone sharp as I cannot imagine comparing myself to this human alpha.

"You helped continue a war, you got rogues to join in on a war your husband believed was right to take part in beginning. You were so loved by those rogues they decided to practically worship you."

"I am not like Lily Maxwell," I insist, looking back to the house as I see the light in Zion's room turn on.

"She is willing to lose her life in this war, to find herself in a dead end just to get revenge. You were willing to lose your own life as well. You two are similar. As one of your oldest friends from the palace, I have a right to tell you what I believe and what I have observed."

Penelope is right, for she has every right to comment and tell me a truth I may find hard to swallow. But this is not my future, I will no longer be the woman who is willing to die the same way just because I think I can change history. Zion would lose me again if I did, perhaps this time actually throwing himself from a tower like he tried to years ago.

Taking in a deep breath, I spot Zion on the porch, looking over to where we stand. "Go back to lover boy, Sybil, and try to get some sleep. Something in the moonlight tells me that tomorrow will bring news."

I head back to the house, leaving Penelope alone as she begins to pray to the Moon Goddess, something I never thought would be in her personality. Walking up to Zion, I take his hand and lead him back into the house, telling him Penelope needs some time to pray. I head back up to my room, Zion wishing me a goodnight at my door as he places a soft kiss upon my temple. Penelope's last words ring in my head as I lay under the covers, wondering what she meant by tomorrow would bring news. Drifting off into the night, I try and dream of a world where nothing like this ever happened, where Nixon never came after Zion, and where I got my happily ever after. Will I ever get my happily ever after? Perhaps time will tell.