The explosion

Nina bobbed her head to the delightful sound of the music as she watched the children dance around the bonfire in front of her. She sat at the edge of her seat as she yearned to join them.

“Now darling, remember what we taught you''. She heard her mother say and her father grunted from beside her. She groaned as she allowed for her body to slump back down into her chair.

“Princesses don't play around. We watch from the distance”. She said to her in a mutter under her breath. Sometimes she didn't want to be a princess. She just wanted to be herself. It wasn't her fault she was born into this world.

“And you aren't just any princess. Remember that you are the daughter of the Rogue king. You are his only Heir and you are trained to take over when I am gone”. Her father repeated. It was like an oath that he vowed at each waking moment that He got the chance.

“Yeah well I don't see any danger and what could you have done that had caused you so many enemies anyway," she said to him in a grumbling tone.

He tensed at her words and she watched as his eyes turned conflicted as he looked over her. “I am very powerful but never forget there are those who seek me out.” He said to her as he tried to reach out towards her and pull her close.

But she was tired of sitting around in the chair warming her seat. She was eighteen years old and yet even still her parents continued to treat her as though she was some type of porcelain doll but she was far from it.

Before he could stop her she found herself standing up To her feet as she made her way towards the dance floor. She watched as the crowds froze as they turned their gazes towards her. She sent her father a defiant glare and she gave him a small curtsey. She could see that he was already boiling at the sight of her.

“Let's dance.” She announced but before the people around her could make a comment in response she heard an explosive sound come from above her. She looked towards the sky and took notice of the large balls of fire that followed it. One moment she was dancing barefoot as the crowds praised her and the next thing she knew she was on the ground choking on her own blood with the smell of death thick in the air.

It was the last time that she had seen her parents alive and she could only wish that she could take that back.

….

Nina jolted up in her spot as she felt a sweat come over her. She groaned as she was pulled out of her thoughts by the sound of a  loud knock on her door.

She groaned as she pulled back her silk sheets and made her way towards the door before pulling it open. She found a trembling Alice standing on the other end and she grunted at her to get her to speak.

“Your uncle has called for a general meeting and he wants you to be there.” She said to her in a shaky voice. She groaned as she slammed the door shut and rushed to get ready. By the time she found herself slipping into the conference room, she found that they already seemed to be having a heated conversation.

“I say that we attack them now. They know we have been quiet for two years and they think we are weak. If we attack then now they will not know what hit them and they will have no choice but to stand down.”  She heard General Kane say.

She watched as her uncle Gray hummed as he paced the floor. “She will not like that.” She heard her uncle say.

“I think what I like or do not is up to me to decide”. She said as she paced the floor. They immediately bowed their heads as though kids had been caught with their hands in the cookie jar.

“We can't continue to act as though we are weak and pretend that we are not hurt by what they have done to us. They have destroyed us and you barely even seem to care”. He spat at her in disgust.

“I lost my mother, father and half of my pack,” she said. “Do not tell me what I do or do not feel.” Her words commended authority. The same one that her parents had wanted her to keep when they had raised her to become the next queen of her people.

“Well last I checked you have done nothing and you have wanted to do nothing,” Gray said. She stood before him staring at his eyes intently. She knew that this fight was long coming. He had wanted her to take action instantly. He didn't like the fact that she hadn’t avenged her parents immediately but although he had lost his brother that day his pain would never amount to the one that she felt in her every day and the nightmares which plagued her with every waking.

“I told you to have a plan and if you were to simply try and listen to me. I will show you that we aren't to attack but rather we must think through this logically. We are wolves of logic and that is why we have made it this far because we think with our heads and not our hearts``. She said to him and she watched as he gritted his teeth at her in response. He didn't like what she had planned and she knew that if he could he would have debunked her words that second.

“And so with that, this meeting is over. Next time you decide to hold a court you should remember that the queen should be present”. She said as she waved her hands before dismissing them. Gray was the last to leave as he gave her an intense glare.

“He should have given that throne to me. It was a mistake selecting you. He should have known that a woman would never be fit to do a man’s job”. He said to her and with that, she watched as he made his way towards the door before she could say anything she watched as he stormed off.

She found herself thinking over his words for the rest of the day. He was older and in some sense wiser than she was but she had to believe that her plan of thinking about it strategically would work. She shouldn't take on Alpha King until she was certain that they could win.

And she knew that wasn't now.

….

Nina was woken up by the sound of loud howling that broke through the forest. She felt her body shuffer as she felt a tugging against her heart and she realized that it was a wolf leaving the border.  She raced towards her window just in time to see her uncle shift into his wolf and he and a handful of her men disappeared into the tree line.

His message was clear without him having to say a single word.

“He would do it himself.”