Wolf Queen: Perri's Story

Wolf Queen

Perri’s Story

D. J. Humphries

©2017 D.J. Humphries

This one is for my niece, Perri.

Enough said!

Chapter 1

Perri Elizabeth Deakin! That screeching voice brought my feet to a stop and made me flinch. I don’t care how old you are, when one of your parents calls you by your full name you know you’re in trouble. The problem was, that I really had no idea what I had done this time….

I waited as patiently as I could manage in the middle of the hallway because I heard her feet coming closer. My mom was usually a rather nice woman, but you did not want to make her angry. While I waited, I tried to figure out what in the world I had done… I’d done my chores, tended to my siblings, I hadn’t gotten into any fights recently even though Zachary had been begging for a fight last night… The only thing I could’ve done wasn’t new, so new anger made no sense.

I turned curiously to face her when she was close enough, but she didn’t actually look angry. As I found myself more concerned than curious, she finally stopped.

Liam has spoken, she started and I felt the chill run down my spine while I tried to figure out something from her dark brown eyes, but my mom had gotten too good at concealing her emotions over the years, and she’d had plenty of years to master the art….

Don’t get me wrong, my mom was still gorgeous—like most werewolves, she didn’t look her actual age at all—she had wavy brown hair that she kept pulled up into a ponytail so often I wasn’t sure how long it really was, skin that was perpetually tan because she spent so much time outside, and because that time outside was working on the farm, she was fit! She could still fight with the men, if they’d ever actually let her.

Did you hear me, Perri? she questioned and I realized I probably hadn’t heard a word she’d said beyond that first….

Liam has spoken… I murmured and she tilted her head to the side, her eyes narrowing.

That’s all you heard? Or you’re finally done arguing? she pressed and I felt my heart skip as my eyes widened.

Oh crap. This was all about that again?!

Of course that’s all you heard. I swear, sometimes I think your ears aren’t attached to your head! she exclaimed before she sighed, He has given you longer than anyone else, ever, and yet you still refuse to abide by our rules, our culture… At the next full moon, you will be presented, and there will be no more arguing.

I think I stopped breathing, I was absolutely certain that my heart skipped a beat, and I couldn’t at all reply to her.

Did you hear me that time? she pressed and I managed a single nod before she turned and headed back toward the kitchen.

When you grow up, when you’re raised with certain rules and traditions, you don’t really stop and think they’re odd unless something comes along to make you think differently. I had been a good little werewolf girl until I was about thirteen and a family of werewolves that were traveling the country stopped to visit with our pack during the full moon. That was just common courtesy, really, to stop and visit with a pack if you were passing through their territory, especially if it was the night of a full moon. Anyway… I saw how different that family was from the community I was growing up in, and I became the proverbial thorn in my pack’s side. You see, my pack was old-fashioned, like really old-fashioned, like women didn’t really have rights and couldn’t own land or fight or vote on those random things the pack actually voted on… that kind of old-fashioned. Not only was every member of that visiting family treated equally, but the little girl was actually allowed to run and play with her brother and they didn’t fuss at her when she beat him in wrestling…. I had always been told to tone it down, because I was naturally strong, and I liked wrestling with the boys, and I wanted the right to fight for the pack… Admittedly, most of the girls and women in the pack were perfectly happy to stay home and care for the family and the house, to do whatever job they had in the pack even though the only time they could actually own that house was if they had met the required five-child minimum when their husbands died an honorable death… Then, and only then, would the woman not be required to remarry and would be allowed to take control of the house—of course, the pack would be there to help with anything the family would need so that the family never went without.

I knew all of this not only because it was the law of the pack, but because my dad had been killed in a territorial tiff with a group of shapeshifters. I was seventeen when it happened, with six younger siblings and one older, so mom got the house, and since she’d always worked on the pack farm, she turned our yard into farmland, too.

That was three years ago…

In the span of a werewolf’s life, it was hardly enough time to mourn… my dad was too young, I was too young… Mom had done a great job taking care of us, and Thomas and I had helped with the younger kids, and even Uncle Liam had given me some leeway, because yes, he was really my uncle, my dad’s brother, the leader of our pack… And as a female werewolf, I was supposed to be presented at the first full moon after my eighteenth birthday, but Uncle Liam knew I was too distraught, he realized how much my family still needed me, he knew from my rebellious years that I wasn’t keen on the idea of being given off as property to whichever werewolf was alpha enough to claim me, so he gave me extra time.

The extra time might have had something to do with the werewolf who wanted to claim me… But whatever the reason, I was grateful for the time because I couldn’t stand the idea and I’d been working on figuring out when I could get away, how I could get away. My pack was well enough known that if I just ran and ever crossed the path of another pack, they would immediately return me. Liam was just that strong, our pack was just that strong… the other wolves almost never tried to fight us.

I couldn’t believe my time was up, though. As I managed to piece together the reality of my situation, I decided there was no other option—I was going to have to risk making a run for it. I’d already been considering it. My little siblings were old enough to fend for themselves, my mom was doing fine, even Thomas had finally picked a mate at the last full moon…. They would be fine without me.

With the decision made, I started toward my room and the bag that I had begun packing only days earlier. It was a good bag, a duffle that I had gotten from Thomas when he was done with it from his years training in the mandatory pack armed brigade—mandatory for the males, of course. It was one of those bags that has seen a lot and been through a lot, but is built to take the toughest beatings and keep going.

Okay… I was focusing on the bag too much… but can you blame me? I was seriously getting ready to run away from the only place I had ever lived, the only family I had ever known… Despite its faults, it was the only way of living I knew, too… Running away from everything familiar, although the only way out, was scary!

Going somewhere?

I spun around so quickly that my golden brown hair in its long ponytail actually hit me in the face. But my heart skipped in my chest again—of all the people….

What are you doing here, Paul? It came out as a squeak and caused his lips to curl into a grin.

Paul was my cousin, Liam’s son… The next packleader… Every young female pack member’s dream guy… I even liked him when we were little, I mean… We hung out all the time, he was always so nice to me, he’d actually wrestle with me and not just let me win or knock me down, he’d actually go hunting with me, taught me how to fight… He had manners that didn’t fit his looks because he was gorgeous and he could have been a playboy if he’d wanted to be, but instead, he was a gentleman. He had these striking honey brown eyes that turned gold when he was using his magic, and silky long auburn hair. It hadn’t always been long… that had been one of my warning signs, when he’d grown out his hair. Not to say it didn’t suit him, because it did. He had that perfect skin tone that was almost pale but like it was kissed by the sun and a face that was the precise balance of feminine and masculine to make him look like he belonged on the cover of a magazine. Combine that with the fact that he was one of the strongest males in the pack and kept himself fit, and you can understand that he was annoyingly perfect!

He was also the werewolf that was planning to stake his claim to me… which meant that if I stayed, I’d end up with him because no one would dare challenge the future packleader, not for an older female wolf that kept pushing all of the pack’s boundaries. And yes, he was my cousin, but that wasn’t an issue for werewolves like it was for humans, not biologically speaking at least. The fact that he was my cousin was only one of the many things that made me squeamish about the whole ‘being presented to the pack’ thing…. Sure, the wife of the packleader had more leeway that the other females in the pack, but only after she produced a male heir. Sure, if I was going to be stuck with anyone, the guy that had always treated me as equal, had always been there for me, would permit me the most freedom of any female in the pack… he would be the right choice… but I couldn’t actually imagine that kind of life with my cousin.

Da wants me to keep an eye on you, he answered with a shrug while he shifted himself into a more comfortable position leaning against my doorframe. I really should have heard him come in… even though he could be the quietest wolf on his human feet – I was just too distracted. But I wasn’t so distracted that I missed the fact that his eyes were gold – he was using his power….

Uncle Liam doesn’t trust me… I whispered and his eyes flashed brighter.

Doesn’t trust you not to run when he’s finally calling you up on your presentation at the full moon? No, Perri… for that, he doesn’t trust you, he admitted with a soft laugh, You’re stuck with me for a few days.

Why was I stuck with Paul? Not just because he planned on claiming me… His magic was a particularly useful skill for a packleader to have – he could keep anyone in the pack from changing into their wolf form, or force them into it. He was keeping me from turning wolf, because even though I’d worked really hard to conceal my own magic, I was still faster in my wolf form than anyone else in the pack. I’d managed to keep them from finding out that I was faster than a car, by convincing them that my strength was my magic. It was a common magic, heightened strength, it made me seem insignificant, it took attention away from me, which was good since I was drawing attention to myself by pushing against the pack rules.

Paul… you don’t really think… I started, but stopped when he tilted his head and lifted a single perfect eyebrow at me.

Perri… I know you better than anyone else… You’re scared enough to run, he reasoned while he pushed off of the doorframe and slowly crossed my room to stand right in front of me, which resulted in my going completely stiff again. I don’t get why you’re scared, Pear. No one’s going to challenge me… I’ll give you all the freedom you want.

Just as soon as I produce an heir, I hissed under my breath and he sighed while he let his forehead fall to rest against mine.

Pear-bear… His voice was barely audible, more a brush of air than actual sound.

Stop it, Paul… you’re my cousin, I blurted and all I got in return was a laugh that rumbled his chest.

You sound human, he chuckled. He inhaled a deep breath and took a step backward while his hands fell back to his sides—again I had completely missed a movement that I should have seen, should have heard….

Ha… has your magic… gotten stronger…? I stammered, stumbling back a step when those gold eyes darted over to me.

You and Da… he murmured before his face lit with a smile and he barely shook his head, No one has noticed but you and Da.

I was literally shaking when I fell to sit on my bed and my forgotten duffle bag bounced off the bed onto the floor.

Gods, Paul! It’s not some sign! You haven’t used your powers on anyone else lately, have you? I exclaimed, shifting nervous eyes up to him only to find him staring at the contents of my bag that had strewn themselves across my floor. There was one thing, one thing that always got his attention… "I don’t even want kids."

Just like always when we somehow got on the bizarre topic of his claiming me at the full moon, I used the one fact I had in my arsenal that really seemed to startle him. His golden eyes jumped up to my face so suddenly that I actually flinched—somehow he kept thinking that I’d change my mind. It was like he could accept that I was ‘rowdy,’ that I wanted more freedom than any of the other wolves, that I was stronger than the other women… but not wanting to find a mate and start a family? That was apparently such a completely foreign concept to him that he thought I’d overcome it, or something.

How can you say that? he blanched, staring at me with wide eyes, You’re a werewolf… we’re pack animals… we’re all about family.

You’re my cousin… I’m too young… I’m not ready to settle down and start a family. I don’t want the responsibility, and… you’re my cousin… I muttered but his eyes only narrowed with confusion.

My being your cousin didn’t used to matter. Or do you conveniently forget that I’m an alpha and can sense attraction on female wolves? he pressed, and that was one of those annoying things about him… As an alpha werewolf, he had access to many more than the usual senses.

I didn’t forget, I whispered, twisting my fingers into knots in my lap. I inhaled a deep breath and forced myself to look up at him. You don’t have to stay in my room to keep me in my human form, Paul….

See… a normal person would’ve taken the opportunity to ask if I still sensed attraction from them….

You’re attractive, and you’re nice to me… I’d be stupid to ask that because I’m pretty sure you can’t differentiate between being able to admit that someone is attractive and actually feeling romantic attraction toward that person.

I don’t know, he admitted with a shrug, "What I get from you did change a bit… Not enough for me to really understand why though."

Paul… you really don’t have to stay in my room in order to keep me here… I reiterated and that time his face softened and he barely nodded.

All right. But I’m here if you want to talk or anything…. With that he finally turned and sauntered out of my room. I briefly wondered where he would go when I heard him in the kitchen talking to my mom.

I loved the pack, I loved my family, never doubt that. But this rule, the way my pack handled the stupidity that was being a female werewolf, I hated that. I hated it so much that I was still trying to figure out a way to run even though I knew Paul was in the house keeping me from turning wolf, which would make it immensely more difficult to get away.

Chapter 2

For days Paul was in the house, following me when I left, at least he was helping with my chores…. He was never in the way, but he was always there, keeping me from getting that split second I needed to escape. I had already decided I would run even without my bag, without my things, if I could just get the chance.

But Paul was a dutiful, attentive future packleader who didn’t ever give me a chance….

So four days later, just before the full moon rose in the sky, my mom helped me into a silver spaghetti-strap dress that fell just above my knees and she braided my long golden brown hair down my back. The dress was tradition… the hair was just because it was too long to do much of anything else with it.

But I was in for a bit of a surprise at the full moon pack meeting…

See, every full moon we would meet on pack land, in a clearing that surrounded a fire pit—we only lit the fire when it was cold outside (not that we really felt the cold)—there were stone benches that wrapped around the fire pit, almost like bleachers. Every member of the pack had to attend, it was the only night there was no guard around pack lands, but with all of us together in one space, no one dared to attack us on our strongest of nights.

However, it was also the best night for visitors, high-ranking visitors, at least.

As I trudged through the woods with my family toward the clearing, my bare feet silent against the underbrush, the distinct sound of laughter, voices I didn’t recognize, caused my eyebrows to pull down in confusion.

Usually we had a warning when we had visitors… And why did we have to have visitors on the night when I was being forced to be presented to the pack? Like the entire ordeal of being claimed by a male pack member wasn’t embarrassing enough in front of the entire pack, but now I got to be claimed by my cousin in front of visitors?

The second we entered the clearing, I stopped. I could feel the power on the complete opposite side of the meeting grounds. That was no mere werewolf sitting beside Liam, that was a packleader, stronger than our own packleader….

He was young, probably only in his early thirties, which was really young for a packleader considering werewolves can live for hundreds of years…. He had short black hair, that black that’s so black it’s almost blue, eyes that were some weird mix of green and yellow and looked like gemstones, and skin that was pale in the moonlight. He had others with him, strong, powerful werewolves… but he was clearly the leader and my eyes widened in surprise when he looked directly at me with his chin resting on his hand and his elbow on his knee—he looked straight at me and tilted his head to one side curiously.

It was only because my little brother and sister each grabbed one of my hands and pulled that I managed to move over to our family’s area of the clearing, of course… I didn’t get to actually sit down with them.

With my heart hammering so hard inside of my chest that I thought it was going to burst through my ribcage, I shuffled silently over to the other females that were being officially presented to the pack. We were all wearing our silver dresses, I knew it without looking up from inspecting my bare toes, they were mostly younger than me, aside from the couple who either hadn’t been claimed yet, or whose first mates had died before they met the minimum child requirements. Sometimes male pack members would court female pack members, so the fact that some weren’t yet claimed wasn’t actually surprising. I knew I wouldn’t be given that reprieve though. If for some reason Paul didn’t stake his claim instantly when I was presented, someone else would. I knew they liked me, I just didn’t like them back.

Good Eve my friends, my family, Liam greeted causing scattered greetings to pass through the lips of nearly every pack member, I am happy to report that in spite of some obvious setbacks, we have had a very beneficial month. He paused to let that really sink in because we had fought with a pack of werebears (that’s right, human meets bear) and lost two men of the pack, we had suffered from a drought for about a week followed by floods a few days later, and we can’t forget the fire that consumed part of our forest. But he was saying that despite all of that, we hadn’t suffered any significant losses. It was good news, I was glad to hear it, if only it wasn’t this night, it would have meant more to me. As you can see, we have visitors. This is Malachi and his elite. They’re visiting tonight from Ireland, on a tour of the states.

Ireland… I’d always wanted to go to Ireland… Really, anywhere outside of pack territory would be wonderful….

I swear I couldn’t control my feet as they shifted up and down; I just focused on keeping them silent and kept staring at the ground. Except there was this faint chuckle that floated across the wind and I darted my eyes up to find Malachi watching me again with a smile lighting up his face.

We’ll all have plenty of time to speak with our visitors before the run, but first, we have our presentations, Liam continued and my feet finally stopped as I froze and could only keep looking at Malachi for one extra second before my gaze fell back to the ground.

All I had to be thankful for at that moment was that Liam didn’t call my name first… He actually called the rest of the females from around me and they were actually all claimed for the first time in over a year….

Excuse me, Liam, Malachi interjected just after Mary had walked off into the stone benches with her new mate, Aaron. They were both way too young, in my opinion, but they both seemed perfectly happy with the match.

Yes, Malachi? Liam queried with genuine confusion marring his face.

You have offered a gift to keep… anything of my choosing… correct? Malachi asked and I know I wasn’t the only one who was confused, but I knew I was the only one staring at the ground.

That’s correct, Liam cautiously answered.

I’ve decided on what I want, Malachi stated with certainty. His feet crunched across the clearing, and I knew it was intentional because he was far too powerful to not know how to walk without making a sound. Even though I heard him walking toward me, where only I was, I still couldn’t believe it when he stopped in front of me and lifted my chin up until I was looking into his strange green-yellow eyes. I want this female.

You could feel the shock roll across the pack, the gasps and conversations that started up weren’t exactly quiet and my racing heart and wide eyes only seemed to make Malachi laugh.

Surely we can reach some other arrangement… She’s essentially already spoken for… tonight was to make it official, Liam actually sounded flustered and I wondered what in the world was going on.

"You’re a Wanderer… an explorer… your pack doesn’t know." The voice was inside my head and made my eyes widen further and a gasp catch in my throat. That was Malachi’s voice. I had heard that packleaders were able to communicate telepathically with their pack members, I’d heard rumor that Liam could do it with the armed forces, but I had never heard of a packleader communicating that way with a werewolf not of his pack, much less had I ever experienced it. You shouldn’t be trapped in such a backwards pack. Look at my elite group. You’re seconds away from running away from here, but I’m offering you an alternative.

"I’m not a thing," I muttered under my breath, trying to keep the werewolves closest to us from actually hearing what I said.

"Look at my elites," he reiterated inside my head and I flickered my gaze over his shoulder. Five females and only three males and they were all dressed in leather armor with weapons strapped to their bodies, they were all perched like they were ready to attack if things went wrong, they were equals. When I looked back at Malachi, I knew he could read the questions on my face. I’ll let you run, Wanderer, but if you want to stay here, take a single step backward and I’ll drop this.

If I want to stay with my family, my pack, and be mated to my cousin and become his property and be forced to bear and raise children…. I was staring at the ground again while I was thinking it through. It may seem like an obvious choice, but it goes back to that issue I was facing before… A life completely different from the one I knew seemed like a good idea, scary though, and what if it all went wrong? What if it ended up worse?

I inhaled a steadying breath and solidly met those green-yellow eyes. I swear he couldn’t stop the smile that slid onto his lips as his fingers slid across my chin and he turned back to face Liam.

Something had been going on while Malachi and I had been having our little conversation… I can’t be sure of what, exactly, but Malachi’s elite group seemed even more on edge.

This female, Malachi asserted calmly, I want this female.

I could just barely see Liam because Malachi was almost completely in front of me, and beside Liam, looking absolutely frantic, was my dear cousin, Paul.

Had I seriously just given my okay for a complete stranger to take me away from my pack?

Surely there’s something… Liam still sounded flustered.

I gasped when a sudden rush of power flared up around Malachi and spread around the clearing where my gasp was echoed back to me.

Didn’t we have an agreement, Liam? Malachi pressed coldly, I’d hate to think that you were backing out of our agreement.

I had never felt so much power coming from a werewolf before… Of course, Liam was the strongest wolf in our pack, so he was the strongest wolf I knew.

I could see Liam’s gaze darting between Paul and Malachi, could see Paul seriously considering running at Malachi, but Malachi wasn’t budging and that extra power was still rolling off of him. Liam finally actually looked at me and then he sighed so heavily that I saw his shoulders shift.

I would never renege on our agreement, Malachi… Perri is yours… do you wish me to perform the mate ceremony? Liam begrudgingly asked.

Da! Paul blurted, trying to push past Liam who held his son back, I challe….

I don’t know who was more shocked when Liam backhanded Paul to silence him: Liam, that he had hit his son, Paul that his dad had actually struck him, the entire rest of the pack because Liam was usually a very gentle leader, or our visitors.

No, Liam hissed, No, lad… Not this time….

I won’t be taking her as my mate just yet, but thank you for offering, Malachi answered the original question, completely overlooking Paul’s outburst, and he just pulled that excess power back inside of him, like it had never been there. Then he turned back to face me, still speaking loudly enough for the entire pack to hear him. I’d like for you to sit with us, but take the run with your family, take the night with them and collect your things. We leave tomorrow.

I was just staring at him, completely shocked, but he lightly took hold of my arm and led me back over to his elite group. The group had clearly settled down a bit when Malachi had pulled his powers back in, but they were still on alert for trouble.

What did I just get myself into? Why was Liam even making agreements to give Malachi a gift? The words the two of them had exchanged were vague… But it was almost… It couldn’t have been that Malachi was threatening to take the pack… Clearly he was the stronger werewolf, but that couldn’t be what was going on! …right?

Christian, Malachi called when we were inside the safety of the elite group. He had waited a few minutes until conversations had started up around the pack first, but at his call, one of the male wolves shifted silvery-blue eyes away from scanning the crowd back to his packleader. Come meet your new partner.

The silvery-blue eyes widened before they shifted to me and then he smiled, and it was like a little kid’s smile, full of life and joy and not tinged with even the slightest ulterior motives. Looking at that face, you would think this guy had never seen anything bad before in his life, but having seen the entire group on alert only moments earlier, I knew better. He maneuvered his way over in front of me and only then did I glance up to see he had wavy brown hair pulled back into a ponytail. He was taller than me, but not by a lot, of course, I was on the ‘tall’ side for a girl. When he held his hand out to me, I flinched and he laughed.

I’m Christian, he stated patiently, hand still hanging in the air between us. I hesitantly reached toward that hand twice before I actually managed to get myself to clasp it. A jolt darted between us and I blinked startled eyes at him. That kind of jolt happened when two werewolves with the same magic touched for the first time. It was just like a signal, or a sign, that was saying ‘this wolf is like you’ and there was nothing anyone could do to make it not happen. What that meant was, Christian was ridiculously fast in his wolf form, like faster than a speeding car… Christian was like me, and he wasn’t surprised by the jolt, so he had expected me to be like him. Was that why Malachi had said we were partners? What did that even mean?

I think Perri is a little shell-shocked right now, Malachi interjected since I was still holding Christian’s hand and just staring at him, Would you introduce her to the others? I need to talk to her packleader and her family…. When I looked at him again he