Mate To The Queen

Maia

"Daerius something's wrong," my mother growls. 

My father looks at her with wide eyes. "What?"

She shakes her head. "Mitalonys smells blood, wolf blood."

His eyes fly wide and in a split second both of them disappear out the door. 

Do you smell blood? I ask my wolf.

No, you can sense everything I do. Remember your mother's dragon is much more powerful than I am so do not be surprised when you find that there are many things your mother can do that you cannot, she tells me.

So even with my wolf I'm still the weakest in my family? I growl.

If you become queen of the wolves then you will be more powerful than your father, but dragons are stronger than wolves, they always have been and always will be.

I growl. That's not fair! With you, they were finally supposed to stop treating me like a helpless pup! 

With me you can train to become stronger, more powerful. And you are still stronger and more powerful than the other wolves in your pack, she says.

Whatever, I growl. 

"Having trouble?" A voice asks. 

I snap out of my conversation with my wolf and see Angel standing in the doorway, a smirk on her face. "Why would you care?" I spit.

She laughs. "Yeah you're definitely having trouble, is it with your wolf? Cause you know I had problems with mine too," she says.

"Doesn't everyone have problems with their wolves?" 

She shrugs. "Not everyone has problems with the fact that they're still the weakest in their family even after shifting."

My eyes widen. "Can you like read minds or something?"

She snorts. "I wish. No you were talking out loud. I was trying to pretend I didn't hear everything you said but you're being a pain in the ass and refusing to talk to me."

I frown. "I didn't know I was saying that stuff out loud."

She shrugs again and plops down on the couch across from me. "It's probably just cause you're still pretty tipsy."

"Are you sure you can't read minds?" I ask, narrowing my eyes at her.

"Dude you smell like a minibar and you don't even seem to realize that you're laying naked on the couch with a blanket in your lap," she snickers.

I glance down at myself and see that she's right. I pull the blanket over me, ignoring the burning in my cheeks.

She sighs.  "So, what's the deal? You don't like being the weakest shifter in your family, is that right?" She asks.

"My mother is queen of the wolves and dragons. My father is king of the wolves. Jax is already strong enough to be king of the dragons. And Kaine is―" I hesitate for moment, swallowing hard. "Kaine is another thing altogether but he is definitely powerful enough to be king of dragons and wolves. And then there's me. I'm stronger than the Beta. My parents are shifter royalty, my brothers are practically legends, and I'm stronger than the Beta." My head falls back onto the couch and I let out a heavy breath.

"You sound like such a whiny, spoiled brat right now," Angel sneers, "who fucking cares if you're the weakest shifter in your family? Your wolf can't do the same things that your mother's dragon can do, so what! You aren't born strong, you train yourself to become strong. You learn how to be tougher, and smarter. Your mother and I have been training your brothers since they were toddlers. We would have trained you too but you refused, you would rather hang out with your friends and break the rules and go to parties," she fumes.

I roll my eyes with a huff. She suddenly stands and puts her face close to mine. I flinch away from her and push myself deeper into the couch. I can feel the anger radiating off of her. Her nose is centimeters from mine. "It's your own damn fault that you're weak. If you want power, you better fucking work for it," she snarls.

She suddenly disappears and I feel tears run down my face. A shuddering breath escapes my lips. I swallow the lump in my throat and wrap the blanket around my body. I stand on shaking legs and use the wall to walk myself towards the stairs.

"Maia are you okay?" Jax walks to my side, peering at me cautiously.

I nod. "Yeah I'm fine," I grit out, my voice quivering. I clear my throat and try to sound normal. "What happened?"

He shakes his head. "Don't worry about it, we can talk about it tomorrow. Right now though you should come into the kitchen, we got a cake for you." He gives me a twitchy half smile and looks toward the kitchen.

I follow his gaze and see Angel standing there, glaring at me with her arms crossed. I take a deep breath. "No thanks Jax, I'll see you tomorrow," I mumble.

He grabs my arm. "Wait! Where are you going?"

I glance at my aunt who watches me with a hard gaze. "I―uh, I'm gonna take a shower and go to bed, and uh, try to start fresh tomorrow," I mutter. 

Jaxon frowns but releases my arm with a slow nod. I swear I see Angel smile for a split second but then it's gone and so is she. I slowly make my way up to my room, gritting my teeth against the pounding in my skull. 

I grimace at the sight of myself in the mirror. My face is sweaty and pale and my hair is a sticky mess. My makeup is smeared; I have lipstick on my cheek. I feel my stomach flip  and I start hurling into the sink. My whole body is shaking and sweaty and I can feel the regret weighing on me like a mountain. 

This is definitely not the first time I have done this to myself, but I have never been this disappointed with my own decisions. Lily, make sure I remember every word Angel said to me. I am not going to destroy myself again. This is the last time.

**********

"What do you think?"

"I think the whole 'I'm a new person now' transformation-thing is a bit much but whatever gets you to stop being a royal bitch I guess," Angel mutters with a shrug.

I purse my lips and snatch the scissors out of her hand. I shove them in the drawer and sweep the hair on the counter into the trash can that is already full of charred cloth. I look in the mirror, running my hand through my hair. The brown curls end at my chin. My face looks rounder and I look older than 16.

My new hair combined with my cargo pants and tank top actually looks pretty badass. "I like it," I mutter. 

Angel rolls her eyes. "Whatever, are we done now? Or are you going to burn your makeup and shoes too?" she snorts.

"I probably should but the smell from my dresses gave me a headache."

"Then let's go," she growls, stalking out of my bathroom.

I sigh. "Yeah, okay. Why is this so important to you anyway?" I ask.

She pauses, then sighs. "You and I are a lot alike Maia. And I wish I had gotten a reality check when I was your age because I would have made a lot fewer mistakes and a lot of people would be alive today if your mother had come along a few years sooner. Your mother can't seem to get through to you though so I decided to do it myself. I need to make sure you don't repeat my mistakes."

*********

Hey guys!!!! Just out of curiosity do you guys still hate Angel? I know she was your guys' least favorite character in the first book so I decided to let her redeem herself. What do you think now???????