Chapter 16
Lydia's POV
"Sooooo, what kind of Hybrid are you?" I asked Leo.
"Werecat, vampire, and dragon," he replied.
Leo was sitting next to me, but he shouldn't try to pull anything, Hera and Shadow were still in the same room. Though, I could feel heat radiating from him in waves.
Would it be nice to have a mate? I guess it would, but I'm still wary.
"How old are you?" Leo snapped me out of my thinking.
Before I could speak, Hera answered, "We both just recently turned fourteen," she smirked and looked at me then him.
"Cool, I'm fifteen," he replied.
"Oooh, an older man. Lydia you lucky dog," Shadow teased.
"Oh shut up," I said as I threw another pillow at her.
"That's not gonna do you any good, ya know," Shadow then threw the pillow back and I nimbly caught it.
"Alright, lets just watch the movie," I told them.
They listened and stopped badgering me. Then Leo had the bright idea to put his arm around my waist. I stiffened at the touch, even though it sent electric sparks through me. Then, my body betrayed me, and so did my cat. My body leaned into him, it was like crashing into electric, it was just electric everywhere. I could tell that the panther in me was purring like a motorboat. Traitor. Then he just had to make the electric more noticeable by tracing patterns on my hip. Dammit.
The night passed into day, and Shadow and Hera left as soon as the sun came up.
"Tonight's the party, so make sure you're there, ok. Don't just hide out with your boyfriend."
Once again, I threw a pillow at her and she left.
"Well, what now?" I asked Leo.
He thought for a moment, and his face lit up, "How about we go into town? There's plenty to do there."
"Like what?"
"Shopping, for stuff like food, or ornamental stuff, just use your imagination," he told me.
"Alright, lead the way."
We exited the castle and went along a path until we reached a dock. A ferry took us across to the town that seemed to overflow with people. I had my money given to me by Elizabet, so I was well stocked. Leo, he didn't have that much money, he was on guard's pay.
"Where to first?" I asked him.
There were plenty of vendors, and Leo took my hand and led me through the people that milled around. He only stopped at a vendor that sold weapons. There were many types of weapons, mostly swords and daggers. My eyes finally landed on a bow and arrows. Without realizing it, I was walking towards it, until I was close enough to pick it up. It was very different than the ones that the natives gave us on the journey north. The one in front of me was expertly made. In my hands, it felt light, though I'm sure that the drawback is between fifty and eighty pounds, something that takes muscle to pull back.
"Lydia, I'm pretty sure that's too strong for you," Leo said as he tried to get the bow, but I kept it out of his reach.
"Nonsense," I scoffed.
I picked out an arrow and found a target that stood one-hundred yards away. I drew the arrow back so that the feathers tickled my face. I focused on the target, and let the arrow loose. It whistled through the air, and made a thud when it hit dead center. I smirked at Leo who looked pretty surprised.
"Vendor, I'll buy this, and two dozen arrows," the vendor got out the arrow and wrapped a string around them to keep them together and handed them to me when I payed him.
"You seem to know your way with bow and arrows," Leo fell in to step beside me as we strolled off.
"Yep, so know not to mess with my bow, it was expensive."
He nodded, and I smirked. I slung my bow on my shoulder. We continued until it was noon, then headed back to the castle. Inside, the castle staff were busily working for the party to be ready.
I felt a tap on my shoulder, and Hera was there.
"There's a meeting for the Alphas and Betas, along with their mates," Hera told me and led the way to the council chambers.
In the chambers, many people were milling around, and were dressed nicely. I looked shabby next to them, and then I still had my bow and arrows still with me. I all eyes fell on me and the friendly chatter started to become whispers. I could see some of the women looking at me scornfully like I wasn't supposed to be here. l ignored them all and sat down at the head of the table that was triple the size of the normal council meetings. Leo took the seat to right, and Hera sat to my left. Everyone else soon took suit and took their seats. Once sat down, everyone sat silent.
"So, what's the meeting about?" I asked to anyone who could answer.
An Alpha answered, "So that everyone can be acquainted with you, our new Alpha of Alphas," he said dryly.
Then, the introducing started. It went around in the circle, and everyone stated who they were and what they were. It was all really boring, and I bet many of them could tell I was bored.
Once the introducing was over, then many of the Luna's were having a heated discussion about me, and of course, they were all whispering, but I could hear them anyways, even though they were all gathered at the other end of the table which like forever away.
"She's just a child! She is unfit to be an Alpha, let alone be an Alpha of Alphas."
"But she must be strong, otherwise why would she even be an Alpha."
"She's a kid, she has no wisdom to properly lead a pack."
"Anyone can lead a pack. It depends on how loyal your pack mates are."
"Loyalty has no effect, a tyrant can lead because he instills fear in everyone to follow him."
The discussion continued, and the one Luna I liked was the were cat, and the angel. It was them against a witch Luna and a demon. Other Luna's sat around them, listening to them, unsure of who to side with. They were unaware of me moving towards them because they were arguing. So I went behind the witch Luna and peered over her shoulder and my face was near her ear.
"So watcha talkin about?" I said loudly.
The witch Luna looked like she would have flown into the air and kept goin. I had to stifle a laugh, but the were cat Luna laughed freely, along with those who sided with her. Now, the witch looked furious at me.
"Nothing that concerns you," she said icily.
"Oh, but it does. You all are arguing about whether or not I'm fit to rule as an Alpha," I said.
She looked shocked, "How did you know that?"
"I could hear you all."
"Impossible."
"Not if you have ears like mine," I said.
I walked away from smirking, not caring whether or not they liked me. They couldn't effect my power as an Alpha. Leaving the room, Hera and Leo followed suit.
I was now in the courtyard with targets set up around me, all surrounding me with me at the center. I fired one arrow after another, all of them hitting center. There was a trainer watching from above, watching as I expertly used a bow and arrow. The trainer was a warlock, and was a pretty cool guy.
"Lydia, do you think I can put in some living hostiles?"
"Sure, it'll make it more interesting, let it rip."
Dark matter monsters appeared from the ground and took the form of shadow people, all of them looked like something from a nightmare. I fired off arrows at their eyes and once I ran out, time to go ninja on them. The shadow people came after me, and I made sure there were slits in the back of my shirt. There were, and I let my wings out. I shot into the air and grabbed as large a branch as I could and ripped it off the tree. I crashed down, smashing a shadow person in half. I tried to spear another, but instead it was ripped from my hands. I then let fire coil in my hands like a chain, but a chain of fire. The shadow people looked at me warily and I whipped the fire chain and it struck through the shadow people.
"Well done, Lydia. You are by far the best of the warriors starting out without me training them."
"I just got a few tricks up my sleeves," I said happily.
My wings were tucked to my back, and were about to go back in, but then Leo came out into the courtyard.
"I saw you fight the shadow people. That was pretty cool."
"Thanks, I improvised, a lot."
"You seemed to know what you were doing," he smiled.
The sun was setting, and it was about time to get ready for the party.
"Come on, lets go," he said and pulled me to him, wrapping his arm around my waist.
He walked me to my room, and at the door he kissed my cheek and left. My cheeks blushed scarlet red, and entered my room and grabbed stuff to take a shower.
After washing off, I dried my hair with my fire power. Still in my towel, I grabbed my dress from my closet. Putting it on, I sat at my desk to get my makeup stuff. Putting on black eyeliner, and red and orange eye shadow to signalize fire. Taking a look in the mirror, I looked at a girl very much different from my thirteenth birthday. Now, I had flame tattoos that framed my forehead and cheeks and trailed down my arms, fiery eyes, and red fire streaks through my hair.
There was a knock on the door, and Hera walked in. Her dress went well with her. A dress of snow color, she was definitely ice. Fire and Ice, seemingly they would destroy each other, but with Hera and I, we work well with each other.
"It's time to get to the party. You ready?"
"Yep. Ready as ever," I got up to go with her.
Upon exiting my room, lo and behold, Leo was there, in a tux.
"Well you dress up nicely," I told him.
"Anything for my lady," he said happily.
I raised an eyebrow, "Lady? In no way shape or form am I a lady."
"Well you look like one right now."
"Don't judge a book by its cover."
"Oh well, it doesn't matter now you two lovebirds," Hera told us.
I rolled my eyes and Hera led the way. Leo linked his arm through mine and again, the electricity was there, and it felt like it was getting stronger. Walking together, we arrived to the ballroom. It was by far the biggest room in the castle. It was massive and was lit by torches and a chandelier of crystal hung from the ceiling. The floor was in tiles fit for any type of dancing. Other people dressed for a fancy party milled around and it was slowly filling with people. Along with the room being huge, there was a staircase to go up and the hall wrapped around the room and people up there could look down at the people below. As the room filled more, I noticed more girls my age wearing dresses that could just barely be called dress. Many of them were wearing dresses that were strapless and had jacked up boobs. Many of those girls were most likely sluts. Then, trouble came. One girl, along with her friends were checking Leo out and sizing me up. A deep primal sense in me growled at them, wanting Leo for myself, no one else. The girls noticed, and they glared at me, staring daggers. If looks could kill, they'd all be dead, because they stepped closer. They finally walked up to Leo, taking no notice of me.
"Hey there, sexy," the one purred.
Then one had the audacity to stroke Leo's arm and question, "So what is a guy like you with Her," that's it. These bitches are about to cross the lines.
The one walked to face me, and she thought she could be stronger than me just because she was slightly taller than. She pushed me back a step, "Bitch, you don't deserve him."
Anger boiling, I back handed her and she was flung backwards and crashed into her whore friends, knocking them down like bowling pins. I walked to her and came face to face, nearly touching nose. I let the fire in my eyes burn, and whispered to her, "If you, or any of your other bitch friends dare to take my mate from me again, I will make sure all of you suffer."
She had fear in her eyes and as I was backing away, she spat in my face. I wiped the spit off, and with the same hand, I punched her face. Upon contact, her nose cracked, and instantly she started bleeding.
"Looks like your gonna have to get your nose fixed. Maybe that'll teach you all not to mess with the Alpha of Alphas," I sneered at her.
Upon hearing what I told her, her eyes widened in fear. She got up, and she and her friends left hurriedly. Returning to Leo, I realized that everyone was watching. Dead silence. Then whispering. Whispering of how I was cruel to those good girls. Good girls my ass. I left the ballroom. It was obvious I was not welcome.
I found myself space outside out on a terrace. It was a quiet night, with a slight ocean breeze. It was nice, being all alone to collect my thoughts. A lot better than a stuffy ball room. I leaned against the railing, peering over a cliff that was hugged up next to the sea. I watched as wave after wave crashed on the cliff. Then, warm arms encircled my waist, causing electric to run through me. Leo.
"You know you can't just run away from your problems," he whispered to me.
"Maybe I just don't want to think about it right now."
"Well, we gotta go back anyways. They need the Alpha of Alphas to greet all of the castle's people."
"What's so great about living in a castle. There's way to many people, and many you don't even know. Any of them can just turn you out to hunters and you wouldn't even know they did it."
"I can understand. I was never that fond with my job. But I needed the money to support myself. I was all alone. But now I have you, and that's all that matters to me right now. Now, come on, lets go back."
"Alright."
We went back and went to where they raised a platform and stood there for everyone to gawk at us. I guess the majority of them didn't realize it was an Alpha of Alphas that broke the nose of a whore. But they do now. With the whole introducing over, we all were released to go off to find ourselves entertainment, food, or watch a movie at the cinemas. I snuck myself some food and blood spiked wine for both Leo and I. I was beginning to like him more and more. Maybe it was a good thing. I took his hand and let him out the front way out the gate. We headed to the shore.
"Do you ever sneak out at night?"
"Ya. Sometimes I just need to think. And out here is perfect to do just that," he smiled down at me.
I smiled back, and before I knew what was happening, he leaned nearer to my face and he stole a kiss. Sparks flew and my head was dizzy. I slowly spun to face him all the while he kissed me, and he rose his hand to cup my face. The kiss deepened, and it felt like I was glued to him, like I would never let go. In fact, I liked this feeling, the feeling of warmness, closeness, to him. It felt......right, in a way. We finally broke away from each other, panting for air while staring at each other. He smiled and I smirked. I dashed away and hid behind a tree to take my dress off and I shifted. I could tell Leo took his clothes off and shifted too. Peering around the tree, a could see a ginormous lion. It seemed right for him to be a lion. I walked to him, and he stood the same height as I did. Normally, I towered over other shifters, but this time, we stood the same height.
'How bout I race you to the other side of the beach?'
'You're on!'
I took off like a bullet and he raced after. Pounding my legs in the sand, I dug my claws out to pick up the pace. Sand was flying from my paws, then I was tackled by Leo and I rolled but got caught under him. I faced him and he stared at me with his lion face. He still had his blue eyes in lion form. I licked his face, which caught him off guard and he backed up a bit. I sprung to my feet and with my claws sheathed, I pushed him to the ground, pinning him.
'No fair! You licked me!'
'Doesn't matter, whatever advantage you have, you gotta use it, no exceptions.'
I could see the wheels in his brain turn, and he shifted to his dragon, which was even bigger than his lion. Like, twice as big. His scales were red and his neck was long. I could see his face which I could see powerful jaws with long, sharp teeth. At the other end, his tail was spiked. Then his wings were massive, twice as big as my angel wings.
'Wow, you're big,' I say in awe.
'Of course I am. I have dragon blood in my veins.'
I decided to grow my angel wings out, and flew up into the sky. My wings made no noise in the air, but Leo was a different story. His huge leathery wings could be heard from a mile away. I flew back to the spot where my dress was. I shifted back and slipped it on, and Leo did the same with the tux.
"That was fun, do you think we can do that again?"
"Anything for you."