The Alpha's Queen (The Alpha's Princess #2)

Chapter 1:

Alexia's POV:

After that night, my dreams were ripped apart by silver shafts of moonlight, piercing both the good and the bad like balloons. But this time, unlike previously, I woke up alone. 

Tonight was no different. It's been to weeks, and I had been dreaming in wolf form, feeling the breeze rushing through the silver fur along the length of my body, looking at the world through Rhea's eyes. When suddenly, the I was sent skidding to a stop by a pair of piercing silver eyes. Those eyes were connected to a willowy, regal body.

"Alexia," Celine, said. "It is time. It is time to fulfill your destiny." 

And without fail, like every other night, I was wrenched from sleep. 

I realized, after a few nights of this happening, along with other messages, that the Moon Goddess had more power than I had ever realized. She had the power to enter my dreams and share messages with me, and that was exactly what she was doing. She was reminding me of the deal I had made, the bargain I had struck. All to save the love of my life. 

As I slowly woke up, I turned over, my hand probing the mattress and finding nothing but cold silken sheets.

He was gone again. 

I had just enough time to sigh and start to wonder where he could be this time, when the sound of crying from down the hall pierced the silence. I groaned, reminding myself how much of a blessing it was to be a mother, as I pulled myself from my nest of sheets. 

I made my way down the hall to Kingston's room and scanned the dark rooms on the main floor for any signs of my husband. When I reached his room, I stepped inside, quietly shutting the door behind me and made my way to the edge of his crib. I peered down at the small, squabbling blankets where my son lay, his angry red face and his mouth curled in an angry 'O' as he screamed. 

I reached down into the crib, and picked him up, snuggling him against my chest. I shushed him and rocked him gently before carrying him to the changing table to put him in a fresh diaper. His cries turned to tormented moans, and before long we were back where we seemed to be every other hour: in the rocking chair, with him sucking greedily at my breast. I leaned my head against the back of my chair as he nursed, and closed my eyes with a sigh.

I just wish Beck were here to help me. 

Things had been rough since the battle. The Blood Moon pack had lost nearly a quarter of its fighting force, and their had been another two hundred or so civilian casualties. We had lost our Beta and our Gamma, for two very different reasons, and had lost other key figures like Reynolds, our lead investigator. Bella...Bella was purely devastated. Torn from the inside out. Lauren and Sia were trying their best to comfort her, but she was often inconsolable. Emma was struggling to accept that she had been betrayed, that the man she loved was not truly her destined. That he was no longer part of her life, or any of our lives, and that he was the biggest traitor the pack has seen in years. She grappled with the idea of being able to start over, and she had come to many a time in tears, saying that the Moon Goddess had cursed her by giving her a traitorous mate, and that there really wasn't anyone for her. Blood Moon was dying. Morale was low, and a sort of depressed cloud had settled over the packlands as we laid our lost loved ones to rest in a mass funeral and memorial service. 

It didn't help the pack, or the pack morale that the Alpha was not present. 

It didn't help my morale at all, when the Alpha was not present at the private ceremony to lay our lost son to rest. 

Beck had taken the hit of the battle worst than most of us. He had been betrayed by someone so close to him, practically a brother for years of his life. He lost a son. He then lost his best friend and closest companion in the entire world. He had lost huge numbers of his people. He himself had gone to the Other World for a time.