Discovery of a Queen: Resurrection of Queens Book 1
Discovery of a Queen: Chapter 16

The next morning dawns too soon. I’m confused by the images I saw in my dream last night and what I heard echoing through the stillness of my sleep. My mother’s voice is still clear in my head. She was to be the sacrifice? Sacrifice for what? Why?

Does that make us a sacrifice? My dragon rumbles. I’m worried she has a point. Was my mother only talking about me or all three of us? My sisters and I are triplets, and the limited memories I’ve regained suggest that the three of us were meant to be some sort of sacrifice to the Fates. But mother bargained for us in exchange for her own life? Is that why we were to be put to sleep? How did that tie in with the archdemons?

I think our memories were taken because Mother didn’t have time to put us to sleep. My dragon stills at my thought and something deep inside me tells me I’m right. That was the only other option my mother would have had.

The heat radiating from Caleb’s body, which is molded against my own, turns my thoughts from Fates and sacrifices back to sleep. I bury my head into my pillow, determined to take a few extra minutes to not think about visions, memories, and demons, and just be. Knowing it’s only June, six months after Kelly and Olivia first knocked on my door, feels off. So does knowing I’ve only been alpha here for a little over a week. It feels as though years have passed.

And we haven’t even started the truly challenging tasks, my dragon, ever the optimist, reminds me. Which causes the last few days to come flooding back. I take a minute to try to inventory my new memories. It’s strange because they don’t feel new or as if they were ever missing in the first place.

Any individual, regardless of species, that has been tainted by a demon, will appear to a queen as being smudged or fuzzy. That’s the clear indicator of demonic interference.

Our mother told us where she would be hiding all three of us. Sorcha is in France. Isobel is somewhere in Africa. I was to be hidden…I can’t remember.

Mother found something out when we were young. It made her more paranoid than ever. She became obsessed with keeping the three of us safe.

Three women in hooded robes stand over my sisters and me, chanting in a language I don’t understand. Lightning flashes, and I catch a glimpse of the face of a young woman with wildly curly red hair under one of the hoods.

My mother whispering the key to waking us all up. But I can’t hear her words.

Caleb’s arm, which has been draped limply around my waist, tightens. His hand reaches up to cup my breast as he nuzzles his face into my neck. I arch teasingly into him, feeling him harden against my ass. His fingers start playing with my nipples and heat pools between my legs. My arm comes up and loops behind his neck, my nails digging into it. He groans and nips my shoulder, then moves his hand to lift my leg before sliding smoothly into me.

He hooks my leg around his arm as he slowly drags his cock out of me, forcing me to feel every delicious inch of him. My moan echoes in the silence around us and he groans in response. As he thrusts into me, I purposely clench down around him, causing a soft snarl to erupt from his lips.

“Touch your clit.” His sleep roughened voice has me shivering and clenching around him again. I quickly do as he asks. But I lazily stroke myself, keeping pace with his easy, unhurried thrusts.

We’re in no hurry to finish, simply taking this moment to be together and enjoy each other’s body. He feels so damn good, and I can’t focus on anything other than the sensation of his cock dragging slowly inside my pussy over and over again. His breathing rings in my ears, mixed with soft groans and growls. All I can feel is him, everywhere, surrounding every inch of me. Our minds are linked, bouncing our pleasure back and forth until we both shatter. I’ve never experienced anything so intimate, so beautiful in my life.

“Neither have I.” While I would normally be irritated by Caleb picking up on my thoughts, I’m too drunk on pleasure to care.

He stays inside me for a few more moments before getting out of bed. I hear rummaging in the bathroom, the faucet turning on and off, and then I feel him move me to my back. My eyes crack open as he cleans me, which is far more intimate than what just happened. My heart does a little flip in my chest, and I do my best to push it aside. But damn it, I think I’m falling in love with him.

After breakfast, I pull Caleb and Kelly aside. I need more training under my belt. My magic needs more fine-tuning in an offensive capacity, and my fighting skills were clearly lacking during the battle with Malick. If I want any chance at all of killing him, I’m going to need to be on my A-game.

“Do you two mind doing some training with me? I know I still need to meet with the injured Rocky Mountain Pack members, but I figure giving them another day or so to rest isn’t a bad thing.”

“Of course! A day or two to heal won’t cost us anything. Even if there is a tainted member among them, none of the injured are in any condition to leave,” Kelly reasons. Caleb nods in agreement.

“I figured you could help with magic, and Caleb can assist me with the physical stuff.” Kelly snickers a soft, “I’m sure he’ll help you with the physical,” through the bond.

“That’s enough out of you.” I giggle quietly.

“I have a few Council related things I need to take care of. Why don’t you start with Kelly? I can step in later in the day,” Caleb offers.

“Perfect! Thank you both so much!”

Caleb leaves to do Council business, and Kelly and I head off to the gym. The gym isn’t set up like a normal gym. There are several levels, each for a very specific type of training. This ensures no one gets injured from something they shouldn’t be around. Spells can often go a bit haywire, especially with young witches, so they’re best performed on a warded level without anyone who can’t magically defend themselves around. Similarly, some shifters have difficulty with their shifts, so it’s safer for everyone if they aren’t shifting around witches or vampires who could be accidentally hurt during an unpredictable shift. There are several levels that allow for cross training, which will come in handy while we prepare to take on the legion.

“Dante said the vampires should be here later today. They made better time than they initially thought.” I glance over at Kelly and can practically see her rubbing her hands together in glee. “I haven’t had the chance to train with a vampire. It’ll be exciting! Dante said that most of the members of their nest are warriors. We’ll need all the help we can get if we’re going to take down Malick’s legion.”

She’s not wrong. Far from it. We will need all the help we can get. And I hate to admit that I should have a talk with Caleb about bringing even more of the Council over here. I know he called for reinforcements recently, but the more forces he can muster, the better off we’ll be. I have a bad feeling that we’ll need more than we have here currently if we’re going to stand a fighting chance. Maybe it’s just my insecurity over my current fighting abilities talking. Gods, I sure hope so.

As we head to a level that’s warded to contain spell work, I recall that Kelly has blocked my bonds after I passed out upon seeing Sean’s body. Embarrassing. “Do you think you can unblock my bonds? My head is fine, and it feels weird not being connected to everyone.”

“Sure.” Kelly comes over and places her hands on the sides of my head. I feel a warm tingling start at my temples that slowly spreads out to encompass the rest of my head and down my neck. “All set.”

Tentatively, I poke at the bonds, pleased when Olivia instantly responds. I hadn’t realized how much I would miss the weight of the pack and coven in my mind. What I had once thought of as loud and annoying now seems comforting, a fortifying weight that steadies me and gives me purpose.

The room we’re in has a single door, a wall of windows opposite the door, and LED lights overhead. It’s large, taking up the entire floor of the building. The door is in the center of the room, leading to the staircase in the middle of the building. The room also has various objects that can be used during spell casting along the wall, such as knives to be thrown using only magic, various armor and weapons, blindfolds, healing balms for all sorts of injuries, and a stretcher just in case.

“Let’s start with defensive magic,” Kelly suggests. While I had mainly wanted to focus on offensive magic, testing my defensive capabilities is a good call. I admit I have a tendency to sit squarely in the mindset of a good defense is a good offense, which doesn’t always work out well. Setting a stronger foundation for my defensive magic may help the next time Malick decides to stab me with a rock spear coated in his essence.

That sounds too rapey. My dragon has a point. And leaving his essence behind is such an extreme violation. It’s gross.

I know. I’ll make a note for my villain school. You can be a bad guy without taking it to that level. Let’s all be civilized here.

Kelly and I practice defensive magic for a few hours before switching to offensive. Typically, I prefer fighting with an energy whip. It’s fast, effective, and doesn’t use up a lot of magic. It also has the added bonus of keeping unwanted douche canoes away. But my fight with Malick has made me realize that I can’t only rely on my whip. I opened up the ground beneath him, but I need to be able to harness the other elements effectively for a better follow-through.

I take a moment to center myself, closing my eyes and inhaling deeply, knowing that I won’t be able to do this on the battlefield. My eyes snap open at the same time my hands come up in front of me. Bright red flames dance around my right hand while water shimmers around my left. It’s go time.

Taking another deep inhale, I slam my foot against the floor, flick my wrists, and then release my breath. Kelly throws up a shield, but it’s not enough to defend her from the air, water, and fire that fly her way. The floor beneath her feet quakes, throwing her off balance. I follow up with my energy whip, lashing it out to wrap around her arm and drag her closer to me. I make sure it isn’t harmful, merely intending to practice the moves.

Kelly is able to break my whip and lashes out with a blast of air, sending me skidding across the room. Neither of us pause. Kelly attacks with a stream of fire, while I surround myself with a sphere of water. Freezing several small droplets, I send them hurtling toward her like bullets, turning them to water at the last minute to avoid serious damage. She’s able to block a few but most hit her.

I can feel my dragon surge inside of me as my magic floods my system. With a flick of my wrist, the water around me dissipates. Kelly pants lightly as she stares me down in an attempt to determine my next move. Feeling the need to test myself, I stay still for this next bit of magic. Technically a truly talented and powerful witch doesn’t need body movements or spells to perform magic. It helps me focus my power and intent. Magic is always more formidable when the intent is clear. But I want to be able to perform powerful attacks without giving away what I’m doing. Panting slightly, I visualize what I want to do in my mind.

I release my magic with a palpable wave of energy. It instantly circles Kelly before binding tightly around her, forcing her arms snugly against her body. Her legs pin together, and she topples to the floor, a grin spreading across her face.

“How did you do that?” She sounds excited.

I chuckle. “I just visualized what I wanted to happen. I can still feel the energy that’s around you. In theory, I would be able to cut off your air supply, maybe sever a limb.”

“Awesome.” I roll my eyes before releasing my hold on her. “I can typically cast like that too, but never with that much force.” There’s a glint in her eye I know all too well. Kelly loves a good challenge, and now she wants to do casting with that much force.

“I’ll let you practice on me,” I offer, knowing I’m a little more indestructible than many of the others in the community and that Kelly will take me up on the suggestion.

“You’re such an awesome friend.” She claps and bats her eyes at me. I laugh.

“Likewise.” We grin at each other. “Now why don’t we take a bit of a break? I’m starving, and we’ve been at this for hours. I’m sure there’s lunch back at the house.”

After lunch, I track down Caleb. I want to get some hand-to-hand training in before the end of the day. I can’t fixate on what happened with Malick and how he’s been haunting my dreams despite the fact that my mind always circles back to him. Instead, I need to focus on getting stronger and becoming the queen my community deserves. I notice Dante across the street and raise my hand in greeting. He smiles and jogs over to me.

“Xin just arrived with our nest. They’re getting settled in their new homes.” He sounds excited which warms my heart.

“Oh, great!” I beam at him. “I was just about to track down Caleb to get some hand-to-hand combat training in, but that can wait if they need additional help.” He shakes his head.

“They’re all fine, we’ve got plenty of other community members assisting. I know how the threat of the legion is weighing on you, Ayla. I’m sure getting some training done will help ease some of that weight. Would you like for me to join you?” He’s got an eager twinkle in his eyes, as though the thought of kicking my ass appeals to him. It probably does.

“If you think you can spare the time. You said you’re part of the elite warriors of your nest, right?” At his nod, I continue, “Maybe you can help me brush up on my fighting skills? I’m very rusty.”

He mock bows before me, dramatically sweeping his arm out behind him and almost touching his head to the sidewalk. I struggle to suppress a grin as I shake my head when he straightens.

“It would be my pleasure, milady.”

“You are the absolute worst. Don’t do that again.” I can’t keep the laughter from my tone, which seems to encourage him as he starts to bow in different ways, causing a laugh to slip past my tight control.

“Who has you in such a good mood? I’ll need to punch him in the face,” Caleb booms through the bond, startling me out of my laughter.

“It’s just Dante. Calm yourself down several notches, sir.” I make sure to bleed as much sass through the bond as possible. “He’s going to be training with us, being some sort of super vampire warrior and all. Are you on your way to the gym?”

“Yes. I needed to finish up the paperwork to make the merger of the Rocky Mountain Pack and the New England Pack official.” Aw, how sweet. “I’ll be there in five minutes.”

“Roger that.” I realize Dante is staring at me. Ah shit, I stopped laughing and then must have just stared blankly off into space like a bloody idiot while having my little touch base with Caleb. “Sorry about that, Dante. I was just speaking with Caleb.”

He simply shrugs his shoulders and extends his arm, indicating that I am to lead the way. “It’s a mate thing. You get this gooey look in your eyes when you talk to him.” He rolls his eyes. “I seriously hope I’m not quite that pathetic when I replace my mate.” I can tell he’s teasing me by the tone of his voice, so I stick my tongue out at him.

“You’ll be worse. A lot worse.” I grin and give him a gentle shove to the shoulder. “The males are always worse than the females. Always.”

“You realize I’m going to kick your ass, right?” Dante states, changing the topic. While I’d love to tease him more, my competitive side kicks in. Oh, it’s on alright.