Queen of the Beasts *Sample*

Chapter 1

My ears swiveled on top of my head as I ran, keeping track of the members of my clan as we moved swiftly through the forest. The only sound was our soft paws delicately hitting the decaying leaves and fallen branches; the rest of the world was quiet. The three of us wove through the thick forest, leaping over fallen trees, splashing through puddles that were left on the ground from the previous rain, and sprinting through the open areas to avoid detection. The threat of being exposed was exhilarating and alarming all at once. It made my heart pound with excitement was my tongue lolled out of my mouth.

We were dangerously close to the royal lands and it gave all of us a rush like no other.

The royals were all powerful and could do whatever they pleased to a small pack of wolves like myself and my teammates. I could be captured and beaten within an inch of my life everyday if they felt so inclined. Or they could kill us all without even blinking. There was always the possibility that we would never return home after one of our excursions and though we never talked about it we all knew it was true.

But the royals were weak.

Years ago the kingdom split off from the human realm, struggling to keep both under control with such conflicting interests. But the first queen had been human mated to a halfblooded prince and it had only gotten worse from there. The pair had brought Queen Athena into the world. And the current Queen of werewolves had hardly any werewolf blood in her and she was married to a human, unable to find a werewolf mate. Now, the prince was a useless human, a man who could never shift into a wolf, and he was ruling the kingdom.

It was pathetic and feeble, laughable even.

But that's all the other werewolves were doing. They were laughing at the dire irony of the situation while my team was exerting itself to the fullest in an effort to bring order back to our realm.

The grand black wolf that was sprinting beside me tilted his head back and let out a low yip, snapping my attention to him. I just gave him a wolfish grin. Some would've considered his actions brash and ignorant. We were on the brink of crossing onto royal land and he was drawing attention to us, alerting the guards who surrounded the area, always on vigilant. Or so they pretended to be.

But I knew that they were only protecting a frail little human. I knew that they had turned their back on their true nature for the sake of walking around on two legs and having lavish parties in massive gowns like the humans did. It was bizarre and irregular. I knew that they were not prepared to face a true werewolf.

But we were just having harmless fun.

For now.

So I willingly followed the midnight black wolf who made a sharp turn, breaching the boundary line- a small creek that nearly circled the palace grounds- panting hard with nervous excitement. Now the fun truly began, but so did the work.

Yes, we were infinitely more in touch with our wolves. We were faster and stronger on our four legs than they could ever be. Nonetheless there was always a risk. Fortunately, that was half the entertainment and all of the challenge. I adored pushing my stunning and small wolf to the absolute limit for the simple sake of annoying and inconveniencing the privileged few who were lucky enough to be guards for the king and queen.

I watched my troop as we progressed. Thorn, the dark black wolf who guided us the majority of the time, had his ears pricked upwards and his nose high, sniffing for any guards who might be nearby. Hunter was the opposite end of the spectrum, relying on his nose far more than his eyes and ears, trying to gather the scent of any guard who had been here in the last hour. He was the follower, the willing subject and the easily swayed companion. And my job was to be the eyes. To see gasp that would abolish our fear or to find well-worn trails that would undoubtedly guide us to the palace. And because of my small stature I was also the distraction if we gotten into a tangled mess. I was quick and tiny, hard to catch and so easy to lose.