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Jacin's POV:

Thinking

I'm on a standard castle patrol, which is good, since all I really have to do to avoid getting in trouble is walk around with my head upright, giving me plenty of room to think. And I have a lot of thinking to do, mostly about a certain werewolf that attacked the queen in the throne room.

I haven't thought about the old Alpha Intended in years. I was sad he was dead (or at least, I thought he was dead), but I had bigger things to worry about, which is why I never connected the dots and figured out that he was Wolf. And the annoying thing is, they were such easy dots to connect! Wolf was exactly the right age, he looked like the former Alpha Intended, and he was clearly suffering from bioelectric sickness. All clear signs that he hadn't died after all, just got shunted to a whole new dimension. How that happened, I couldn't even begin to guess, but it obviously did. And now, he was stuck back here, and was most likely going to be executed before the end of the week.

Some of the other guards think that The Queen will leave him alive. Some of the other guards have brains the size of peanuts. He nearly bit her hand off, of course she's going to kill him! It doesn't matter how big and strong he is, or how popular he is with the werewolves, she's not going to let him live after that. Really, the only real question is whether or not it will be a public execution. A public execution would set an example, sure, but the werewolf population would definitely not be happy that the Queen killed Ze'ev. She could always just say it was a rebel werewolf, but some idiot guard is going to get drunk and blab, so the public will find out who he was eventually, and they definitely won't be happy.

Ze'ev was very popular as Alpha Intended. He was everything a werewolf Alpha should be: strong, brave, and considerate towards his people. I met him once, as a squire. He and his family were paying a visit to the vampire palace. He seemed nice enough. Not overly friendly, but cordial. And he was under no illusions about the vampire reign, which I respected. A couple of times we've had Alphas who actually thought that the vampires were good leaders, or at least were extreme sycophants like Ran. It was reassuring to know that our next Alpha wouldn't be that kind. At least, that's what we all thought, until he suddenly "died". Now, we're stuck with what is basically an Omega with a supersized ego.

"Sir Clay."

I start and turn around. Kinney is standing behind me, his face in that carefully sculpted blank mask that all guards develop over time. Maybe it's because of the fact that I've seen it so often that I can pick out the worried glint in his eyes.

"The Queen wishes to see you in her throne room." He continues, "The… Alpha Intended has been apprehended."

Wolf doesn't bother playing dead this time, thrashing and twisting against his ropes as his captors struggle to drag him into the throne room. Levana watches all this with a satisfied smile. You can't see any marks on her hand from where Wolf bit her before, but with vampires, that doesn't mean much.

The guards toss him onto the floor in front of the throne. He huffs slightly and glares at the Queen in a menacing, vicious stare.

She meets his gaze calmly, completely unimpressed. "Would you care to transform into human shape for me, or do I have to make you?"

Wolf growled.

Levana shrugged. "Suit yourself."

I wait for Wolf's form to invariably shift into human. It would be hard for Levana to command him at the moment, but his mind should still be human enough for her to exact some control over him. The Stars know she's powerful enough. I wait for five seconds…. Ten seconds… fifteen seconds… half a minute… and Wolf still isn't human.

He narrows his eyes at the Queen and lifts his head a bit higher, a distinct arrogant air about him. Levana narrows her eyes, only her tightly clenched fists revealing her anger at having been thwarted.

A smile threatens to twitch across my face. This was turning out to be more fun than I expected.

Levana turns to the guards surrounding Wolf. "Shoot him in the leg."

Never mind.

One of the guards obliges so quickly, a part of me thinks that Levana's controlling him. One moment his pistol is safely tucked away into the holster at his belt, the next it's in his hand, smoke curling from the barrel, and Wolf is howling in pain as blood spills from a fresh hole in his thigh.

Levana smirks triumphantly. "Now unless you want that to happen again, I strongly suggest you cooperate and turn into your human form."

Wolf bares his teeth at her, but (with obvious reluctance) obeys, quickly shifting into his human form.

Levana studies him appreciatively. "My, my, you've grown into quite a handsome young man, haven't you?"

Wolf doesn't reply, only screwing his face up in a sneer.

"Now then, why did you attack me?" Levana asks, a slight edge to her voice.

Either Wolf doesn't hear it, or he doesn't care, because he just rolls his eyes and says, "How about the fact that you kidnapped me and threatened to make a slave out of my companion?"

Levana waved a hand nonchalantly. "Oh, that human? I don't see why you're so worked up about that. They are inferior creatures."

"You say the same thing about werewolves." Wolf remarks dryly, "And fairies, and elves. Any creature that isn't a vampire is an inferior creature."

"But humans are particularly low." Levana told him, "Anyway, on to the next question: why did you go to Earth."

"I wasn't planning on going. It was an accident. My brother and I were goofing off and ended up in your science labs where I got too close to one of your machines, end of story."

Levana frowned. "Then how are you still alive? It's impossible to survive in another dimension without the necessary safety equipment."

Wolf shrugged. "Well then, I guess you'll have to fire your scientists because I've managed just fine."

My eye gives an involuntary twitch. I know for a fact that that's not true. Wolf definitely suffers from bioelectric sickness. But the Queen doesn't need to know that.

"Maybe I will have to look into this further." She says, "For now, I'm afraid I've grown tired of your insolence. Sir Clay," she orders, turning to me, "take him down to the dungeons. Make sure you put him in a particularly nasty cell."

I bow, almost choking on my words. "Yes, My Queen."

"And Ze'ev," she tells Wolf sweetly, "I'd recommend you don't put up a fuss, or else someone might suffer for it. Now that I think of it, the former Alpha female has been causing a bit of trouble lately…"

Wolf bares his teeth, but doesn't struggle as I take his bindings and drag him out the door.

A/N:

Payton: To answer your question, we'll be catching up with Cress and Thorne next chapter, which will be from the viewpoint of everyone's favourite android (or, in this case, fairy) Iko!

Please review!

Edit: Sorry this is so late. Fanfiction died on me and I couldn't post anything.