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Chapter 1

Have you ever been woken up from sleep with a shrill cry as if a ferret was being strangled and was giving out its last cry for help? That was just how I felt when I woke up on the morning only to hear the sound increasing in pitch and intensity and then falling silent for once.

No..it is not what you think!! No one was murdering a ferret!!!

It was the last call of help from the Alpha Queen as she died. And I felt an immense loss of power in my bones just as soon as the sound stopped. This could only mean one thing, the Queen was distressed and she had passed away without any help at all. She had been killed, that I knew for sure. And this meant that I had to travel to the Capital immediately.

It was now time to choose the next Queen.

“Luke? Where are you?” I asked as I opened my mind link to my familiar.

“Am in the gardens, taking a run and patrolling,” said my familiar. My familiar was a huge black wolf who looked more or less like the size of a pony and no one except me knew that he could change into human form as well which made it easier for us to converse with him.

“Did you feel it too?” I asked as I rubbed my eyes and tried to make sure that I was not hallucinating.

“I feel every thing you feel Sin. You know I did. I am going to be there in a few minutes,” said Luke as I closed off the mental link.

The doors to my room burst open and a woman holding a tablet entered my room and found me sitting up on the bed and I looked at her and nodded. It was Drima, she was my counsellor-guardian. That was her official capacity.

“You felt it too, right?” she asked as I pulled back the covers and immediately descended from my bed and rushed in to the bathroom to brush my teeth and get myself a quick shower.

“I have initiated Protocol 26, and the whole team will be ready to move within ten,” she announced as I finished cleaning up myself as best as possible and then wrapping myself in the towel robe.

“How many guards are we taking to the Capital?” I asked as I opened the closet.

“Fifteen, according to the protocol,” replied Drima. But I turned towards and said no.

“It may be the protocol under normal circumstances Drima, but this is not a normal circumstance. The Queen was murdered and I have heard her cry out for help and no one did that. Either this was a very well-planned operation or something done in haste. So we cannot leave our home unattended and unguarded. It is very possible that we are going to be the next ones to be attacked and my sisters are too young to defend themselves from any kind of mercenary attack. So we will only take five, my core team,” I told her as I took out the ceremonial uniform which I was supposed to wear as the mark of honour in respect to the Dead Queen and also not to mention the fact to show that I am the next Heiress in line for the Summit Selection, representing the Read Hearts Pack.

“But is it not going to be too less for your protection detail, Synthia? I mean, I do understand your concern but at this point of time you are the maximum priority and there is no one who can actually protect you if any harm befalls on you,” reminded Drima while I nodded but I was going to stick to my choice.

“I am not the kind of Queen who is going to hide in her palace and send her soldiers as pawns to be killed in the war. If I am going to be the Queen then my people are my children and I am going to protect them with my last breath,” I replied as I took out the red silk shirt which I was going to wear as the mark of the house and also a black jeans which was going to help me get better access to all my weapons in case I needed them.

Drima just smiled at me and nodded her head.

“What happened?” I asked.

“I have been waiting for this day from a long time, Synthia. I did not want it to come in this way but I am today glad that it did come because I have been successful in my purpose of staying here. You are going to make a great Queen,” said Drima and I chuckled. She had been the closest thing I had to a mother when my mom passed away at thirteen giving birth to my twin sisters. Twin pregnancies were very rare in werewolves and also was a very risky affair which could only mean that it took a great toll on the mother’s body.

She had not been able to sustain the blood loss from the internal injuries that had happened while she was giving birth.

“Selene and Wilmena are still sleeping right? I mean, they should not have felt this loss of power from the death of the Queen?” I enquired Drima and she said,” Before coming here I checked upon them and they are both fast asleep. They will be safe.”

There was a knock on the door and I had finished dressing by then.

“Would someone do my hair please? It needs to be perfect and out of my reach or anyone else’s,” I whined as one of my Guards named Felicity came forward and smiled at me. She was the one who usually helped me with my hair and my dresses, it was not like that she did only that. She was a skilled assassin as well, none of my Guards were with me because of their families, but because they had proved their loyalties to me.

They were going to go to any level in order to keep me protected.

“Deke, we are going to leave as soon as possible and you make sure that all other guards know what the protocol means when I am gone. No harm shall befall my sisters and if it does I am going to personally hunt every single one of them down and then make sure that they do not come back in any form back to this land,” I said in a cold voice as Felicity finished braiding my hair and then put it up in an updo.

Deke grinned at me and said,” You are so pretty when you are blood-thirsty, Sin. Don’t worry!! I have made sure that the protocol is going to be followed exactly. The houseis going to be under lock down or the entire time period that we are not here.”

“Stock the house with pizza and all kind of junk food and tell the chef to make sure that he has a lot of cheese in the pantry,” said Drima with a grim face and I could not help but snort. Everyone was afraid of my twin sisters. They were terrible twins, as everyone liked to call them. Everyone knew that they were even fiercer than me at six and I loved them more than anyone else in the world.

“You are spoiling them,” I said as I stood up from the stool in front of my mirror and then looked at myself. I looked good, there was nothing amiss and now all I needed to do was to gather all the weapons and reach the Capital as soon as possible.

Felicity kept handing me all the knives and the blades that I would need for protecting myself and then she gave me the kinsale blades. They were a gift from the Queen when I was sixteen years old. And three years later I was strapping them to my hips. I put on my thigh high boots and put some blades in them also for extra measure and then pulled on my black long jacket. It was also assign of mourning for us and the emblem had been stitched for our pack.

Finally when we were done and all of us were ready to head out Luke reached inside and there was blood on his jaws. Immediately I crouched down with a shout and checked if the wound was his.

He smelled like he had dragged something out of gutter and it was stinking badly.

“Who is it?” I asked curtly.

“I don’t know Sin. I tried to capture one alive but that one sliced his own throat and I could not stop him,” said Luke as Deke handed me some tissues and a warm towel to help Luke get cleaned up as soon as possible.

“This only means that they were all waiting for the power to be weaker in the links. And as soon as it was done it would mean, that they could attack the heirs,” I said and as I stood up I looked at Drima and said,” Inform this to the other packs and make sure that there are no other casualties in any of the other packs. I would not want any more deaths today before we reach the Capital.”

Drima was already tapping in the tab and then she said,” Done!”

“Is there any kind of notification from the Council of Guardians yet?” I asked as we all went inside the lift. It was precisely made quite large so that in case of such circumstances we could all travel together.

“There has been an official mail sent to all the Pack Heads as of now that the Queen is now no more. And until the Summit is held and the new Queen is chosen, the power of Queen will be in the control of the Guardian Council so that it is not misused in any way,” said Drima with a grim face and I nodded my head saying no.

“This is not what is supposed to be happening, Drima. The power of the Queen has to be sent down to the heirs who will be up for the Summit so that the power of the pack wolves are not weakened. Who the hell gave those bastards the control of the Alpha power? And the body of our Queen is not cold yet and those old codgy leeches have already started gathering all the power they can!!” I seethed with rage as I looked at Drima. All my Guards were grim and nodded at me.

“You know the drill, Synthia. Say it,” said Drima and I looked at her and then looked at all my guards along with Luke and then she said,” No, you know it works and we have trained you for today from the last sixteen years. I am going to have anything happen to your resolve now. SAY IT!”

Drima could be frightening and domineering when she wanted to be.

“I am strong. I am going to win the Summit. I am going to be the Queen,” I said out aloud. And just like always I immediately felt a lot better. She was right, saying the words really helped me calm down and understand that I was going to win.

This may not be as bad as it seems at the moment but none of us knew what we were going to face at the Summit. That was the worst part of it.

But whatever might be thrown in my way I knew that I had to win.

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