The Wolf Queen (The Queen's Slave, Book 2)

Fifty: Queen's Gambit

The dream played over and over inside my head, and I could not escape it, or my melancholy thoughts. So here I am, out in the middle of nowhere, hoping to somehow lure out my mother to tell her that her crazy twin sister is dead.

"She may not be in the district anymore." Camille's warning rebounded annoyingly around in my skull.

I glared at the back of her head from where she climbed a tree three trees down from me, the large branch above her swaying slightly as she gracefully swung onto it.

"I can see that, you know." She turned and "one eye-browed" me and I chose to ignore it, surveying the area we surrounded. I breathed in the smell of damn soil and wet leaves, my chest rumbling with a deep purr of satisfaction. My wolf pushed, wanting out, and so I leapt down from my tree, somersaulting off of the limb with ease and landing deftly on my feet. Camille's exasperated sign and annoyed grumbles following me down.

"I just climbed that tree." She whined, a rather comical thing to see on a creature that has lived over five hundred years.

I shot her a look. "She's close. She wouldn't leave me."

"Suit yourself." Camille harrumphed, falling silent when I let my wolf magic free. The change rippled over me like the first fall of a leaf on a still lake, tediously and yet methodical. My consciousness fled at the pain of it, instead desperately trying to search every inch of my mind for Elizabeth and I's bond. I didn't understand how it was just.....gone, and so I refused to believe that it was. Though the pain gripped me tighter every day, and I feared the day it would break me entirely.

A breeze swept through my fur when I finally opened my eyes, settling into my skin with hardened ease. My eyesight gleamed in the soft light of early day, and as I stood atop the valley of rock that had been in front of us, I could see for miles longer than I ever knew. My paws felt heavier when they touched the ground, my fur felt thicker, more luscious. I turned my head to look at Camille, and the starstruck look on her face pleased my self-centered wolf counterpart. That bitch loves being the center of attention.

I shook my head and huffed, climbing down the rock-face towards her. She backed up when I neared, almost subconsciously, and for a moment a flash of fear crossed her eyes. So I stopped when I was a few feet away, and realized with slight surprise that my head was nearly level with hers.

I had grown exponentially.

"Well this is awkward. Hope you're into big girls."

My joke cracked the tension in the air and she laughed, sudden and loud. I wrinkled my nose up in a wolfish smile, showing teeth, and she paused, uncertain.

"I'm smiling Camille, relax. My wolf adores you and considers you pack. Neither her nor I mean you harm." I explained, my voice soft.

My wolf agreed with me and whined, flattening our ears to show our distress at the thought of her afraid of us. However, I could imagine her hesitation at living life as an immortal being yet coming face to face with the one thing that was created specifically to kill you.

She nodded and let out a breath, taking a tentative step forward, her hand outstretched. My wolf pushed our nose into her hand and licked her fingers, and a second later both her palms cradled our head. I allowed her to run her fingers through my fur for a moment.