Discovery of a Queen: Chapter 3

Just word vomit it out there, great strategy. But it’s out. I know I’ll need to explain further, but it’s in the open now. I feel oddly relieved. Hiding that secret for so long has weighed on me, and I hadn’t realized it until just now. It’s also mildly horrifying. While I trust these two women with my life, giving them this information shifts our relationship slightly. Trusting them with my life is one thing, trusting them with my secret is entirely different.

But their response isn’t quite what I thought it would be. They’re just…well…staring at me blankly. It’s making me fidgety and anxious as all hell. I want to scream at them to say something, anything! Are they shocked, scared, confused, what?

“A queen dragon?” I supply. They blink and glance at each other.

“Aren’t queens a myth?” Olivia looks at me as though I’ve lost my damn mind.

“Not myth exactly,” Kelly chimes in, “But I thought they had all been wiped out by the demons.”

“We’re certainly not a myth. And, if you’d like, I can prove I’m a queen. I’m the last one left.” I feel bad hiding the truth about my sisters, but I won’t risk their safety, not when I’m not even sure they’re still alive.

I let down the wall I have that blocks other shifters from sensing my dragon and witches from fully determining my power level. When mixed, it’s a pretty heady combination. If I push it, I could have these two flat on their stomachs without even lifting a finger. I can tell the moment they feel my power. Shudders run through them, their pupils dilate, and they gasp in shock. They struggle to remain in their seats, sweat breaking out along their foreheads.

“Holy shit,” Olivia whispers in awe when I rebuild my wall. “I can’t believe you’re real. Why have you been in hiding all this time? Why not let shifters and witches know you’re alive?”

“It’s not that easy. The Council would have snatched me up in a second. They still might if they find out what I am while they’re here. Not only that, but drawing attention to myself also paints a red flag on any community I’m in. Archdemons wouldn’t think twice about destroying an entire population to get to a queen.”

“Why step out now?” Ah, there’s the Kelly I love, her wheels always turning in her head.

“Because I couldn’t stand by and let Morgan continue to sell off female shifters. Not after getting to know the two of you, knowing you both didn’t want a war between witches and shifters, and especially not after my investigation.”

“Your protective instincts were triggered, it makes sense.” Olivia nods in agreement with Kelly’s deduction.

“I suppose you’re right. My dragon mentioned earlier that we are meant to live in communities like this. She reminded me that we’re meant to protect those around us. I had almost forgotten about that.” I go quiet and start to play with the ice cream that is melting in the bowl in front of me.

“There is no shame in survival,” Olivia states, firm and unyielding. “Don’t ever feel bad about surviving. For all you know, this is what was meant to happen. You were meant to survive until you found our community.”

“Olivia is right, Ayla. You survived to help us. Your resurgence into our world may mean the turn of the tide in the war against the demons and the reconnection of our communities.”

“I don’t think I would go quite that far. But I do feel like I’m where I’m supposed to be, doing what I’m meant to be doing.”

“But we can’t let the Council know what you are.” Kelly’s tone is calculating, as though she’s already formulating a plan. “We can’t be sure that the Council won’t just force you to mate with one of their members, or hide you away, or worse, use you as a weapon.”

“So you hide your power level like you’ve been doing. And we stick with you being latent.”

“But that won’t explain my magic.”

“But only the witches know about your magic,” Kelly points out, grinning broadly. “And we aren’t huge fans of the Council, not since they turned down my mother as a member. All I have to do is make mention of it to the elders and everyone in the coven will remain silent.”

I look between the two of them. It can’t be this easy, can it? It’s not unheard of for a latent shifter to be an alpha of a pack. So long as you’re strong and dominant, it doesn’t really matter if you can shift. I just worry that the Council will dig deeper. Not every leader is able to pull a community of shifters and witches together as I have. A community like this hasn’t been seen since the last of the queens. What if they question it?

“We’ll need to work on it. There’s so much that can go wrong here. Shifters and witches haven’t lived together like this in centuries. They’re going to ask questions about that. They’ll want to know why, now, the two species have decided to band together again,” I reason.

“That’s not as easy to explain, but we can give them a partial truth.” Olivia leans forward, a grin spreading across her face. “We admit that Kelly and I went to you for help. We explain what Morgan was doing, how the dominant shifter females were going missing and he was blaming the witches. We explain that after you challenged and killed Morgan, we realized that the best way to keep something like that from happening again was to put aside any differences we might have and learn to get along. What better way to do that than to agree that you are our community leader?”

“Since I’m technically the voice of the coven both normally and while the Council is in town, I can simply state that the witches acknowledged that while you’re latent, you’re extremely powerful. That, plus your willingness to help us when you could have easily sided with Morgan and his ilk, means that we’ve decided to allow for a shifter leader for the community, taking a page out of their book.”

Olivia nods before stating, “We need to make this about the community. Stress that everyone has been integrating well. This isn’t a matter of shifter or witches, it’s a matter of our community. We don’t see ourselves as two separate species working together, we see ourselves as a family. Ass kissing doesn’t hurt either.”

“That’s a great point, Olivia.” Kelly smiles. “Stating we’re functioning as a family, instead of two separate entities who just happen to have a common interest, might just help sway them enough to get them to not dig too deep. They won’t want to ruin what we’ve built here. It’s one of their objectives, to see communities like this spring up around the world.”

I lean back in my chair. This feels way too easy. There has to be a catch. But we won’t know what it is until the Council is here. We’re going to need to be quick on our feet and able to improvise. Thankfully the majority of the community has been given a story along similar lines of what we’ve just discussed, so while there may be some differences, they won’t be blaring enough to raise eyebrows, I think. I hope.

Kelly and Olivia set off to discuss specifics with the community, leaving me to swirl my red wine and stare into the fire. The plan, as it now stands, is to tell the community what I am. Kelly and Olivia believe the community will rally around the fact that I’m a queen and want to protect me from being taken by the Council. While I want to believe them, I also know that when fear or money are involved, people do things they wouldn’t otherwise do. But I can’t exactly lead this community if I don’t trust them.

I’ll be addressing the community in the morning, answering any questions they may have, and reassuring them that everything is going to be fine. I just need to make myself believe that. I sip my wine, letting the earthy notes burst on my tongue, swishing it around in my mouth a bit before finally swallowing. Shifters can’t get drunk, not off normal alcohol. It needs to be made by witches. This is just normal wine, but it helps to settle my nerves. I have to believe that everything will play out the way it needs to. I’ve finally got a community and I’m starting to feel whole. It has to mean something. I don’t believe the gods would be so cruel as to let me have this only to rip it away from me.

. Even my dragon sounds exhausted. The emotional roller coaster I’ve been on since the alpha challenge seems to finally be catching up to me. I can feel all my limbs get heavy, almost numb. My thoughts are sluggish too. I finish my wine and head back to my room. I need to sleep.

The next morning dawns far too quickly for my liking. I lie in bed staring up at the ceiling. I still haven’t figured out exactly what I’m going to say to the community, but I didn’t get any frantic calls from Kelly or Olivia last night, so I’m assuming everything went well. I get out of bed and grab some clothes. Dress for the job you want, right? Since both the witches and shifters are fairly laid back, jeans and a tank top will do. I’m just tugging on my pants when I feel Olivia brush against the pack bond. I open up my end to see what she needs.

I try not to sound sarcastic.

Her tone is cheerily optimistic.

We disconnect. It does feel better knowing that the community is excited about having me around. I’m not sure if it’s because I’m a queen or because I killed Morgan, but I suppose it doesn’t really matter. I slip on some flip-flops and head off for the town center. It’s clear everyone in the community is there, since no one is running around the packhouse getting ready, and the houses along the main street leading to the center of town are all quiet. I can see the community gathered in the town center as I approach. There are almost fifteen hundred of us total, which is a low number considering we take up the entire New England area. Hopefully, now that Morgan is dead, more shifters and witches will come to the region.

Olivia and Kelly have everyone sitting around a wooden platform. Awesome. Because I want to stand on a literal soapbox. Great job, ladies. Rolling my eyes, I step up on top of the box and look out at the shifters and witches gathered around me. These are my people, my community. I now live to protect them. I feel a swell of pride as I gaze at them. I’m finally where I’m supposed to be.

“Good morning, everyone.” I smile awkwardly. They return my greeting softly, and I can practically feel the curiosity oozing out of the crowd. Kelly steps up next to me and puts her hand on my arm.

“As you all know by now, Ayla is a queen dragon shifter. Olivia and I have already explained everything to the community. Ayla will answer any questions you have this morning, and she’s going to give us some instructions for when the Council gets here. Okay?”

The silence that greets us is our answer. They’re waiting on me. No pressure.

“Thanks, Kelly.” She steps off the box and sits down. “I guess I’ll open the floor for comments and questions and go from there.”

A witch from the coven elders stands. She casts a quick glance around the crowd as other people stand, waiting to ask their questions. Her eyes turn to me and take me in. I know the witches can see a person’s magical signature, that’s how they gauge where a person sits within the coven. I didn’t bother to mask anything about myself this morning, wanting to be completely open and honest with my family.

“It’s been many, many years since I last saw a queen.” Her voice is soft, hardly carrying across the crowd. Thank goodness for shifter hearing. “You feel the same as the last queen I knew, stronger, but your signatures are very similar. Yet how can we be sure? Can you shift for us?”

I knew someone was going to ask me to shift. It’s been a long time since I’ve shifted in front of other people. I’m nervous. Shifters don’t have any hang-ups about nudity, we all have to get naked to shift or we run the risk of completely ruining our clothes, so that’s not it. No, it’s been centuries since someone else has seen my dragon. These people don’t even know what to expect from a queen dragon, so will they even know what they’re looking at? I look so different compared to a typical dragon.

“I can shift. But first, I want to explain what I look like. I don’t look like a normal dragon.” A confused murmur goes through the crowd. “You all have this image of a dragon in your heads. Big, blocky heads? Large, stocky bodies? Huge wings? Spits fire? I don’t look like that at all.” More confusion pulses through the community.

“So what do you look like then?” a small shifter boy shouts from his seat on his mother’s lap. She goes to quiet him, but I shake my head, letting her know it’s alright.

“That’s a great question. I’m a lot smaller than that. My dragon is built for stealth and speed, not brute force.” I see a few shifters nod. There are other animals that are also built for speed, so they understand the concept. “Instead of my head being the size of a bus, it’s maybe about the size of my torso.” I gesture to my midsection. “And I’m white. Actually, dragons come in all different colors, we aren’t just green or anything like that.”

“So, you’re like a midget dragon?” a young teen witch asks, snickering.

“No.” I narrow my gaze on the teen, letting him know he’s not funny in the slightest. “Queens have an entirely different purpose, we also have an entirely different skillset, so we don’t need all that extra bulk.”

“What?” The teen looks perplexed.

“I can also use magic. I can harness all of the elements, not just fire, both in my human and dragon forms.” Shocked silence blankets the crowd. “We are able to sense demons, specifically archdemons. Together with the other dragons, and our communities similar to this one, we fought off and killed legions of demons and their archdemon leaders.” The teen’s eyes go wide in surprise. “That’s why I’m the only one left. Archdemons, instead of attacking humans, decided to use the humans to break our communities down and hunt queens. They didn’t want anyone standing in their way, and we’re damn good at killing demons.”

The witch elder nods in agreement. “I remember the raids. My mother lived in a community led by a queen, but we fled when I was a child when it became clear that no one was safe anymore because of the humans.” I see others nod in agreement.

“We can get into that more in a minute. You wanted me to prove that I’m a queen by shifting. So, okay.” I step down from the box and quickly shed my clothes. But that’s as far as I get before I hear a murmur go through the crowd. Shifters don’t have an issue with nudity, since you want to take your clothes off or you’re going to ruin them as you shift, and the witches have been around shifters long enough to not really let it faze them either. So they can’t be up in arms about my nakedness. I look over to Olivia and Kelly, both are fixated on a point at the back of the crowd.

Olivia starts forward, easily making her way through the crowd. “

She broadcasts this to Kelly as well. I quickly step back into my clothes and follow Olivia’s trail through those gathered around her.

My dragon rumbles a warning growl.

She’s not happy that there’s a trespasser, and frankly, neither am I.

“He’s hurt.” Kelly’s soft declaration pulls my attention away from my dragon. She’s crouched next to the shifter who isn’t moving. There’s blood all over him. Hell, he looks like he’s literally been to hell and back. What happened to this guy? Shifters heal fast, so whatever did this to him was trying to kill him, and they damn near succeeded too by the looks of it. Almost every inch of his body looks as though it’s been shredded. If I didn’t know any better, I’d assume he’d gone through a meatgrinder.

“I don’t want to do more damage to him.” Kelly looks up at me. “I’m going to heal him a bit here, but we’ll need to eventually move him to the infirmary. I’m worried whatever did this to him might not be too far behind.”

“Do what you need to.” I start scanning the area as Kelly begins healing the shifter. “Where the hell did this guy come from? Did anyone see?” Silence rings in my ears as the people gathered look at one another, hoping someone saw something useful. But it seems no one did. Weird.