PAWN OR QUEEN
Morrigan has always been an outsider in her own pack, known for living in the snow-capped mountains of the north and their “survival of the fittest” mentality. Her parents passed soon after she was born, and so she was raised by two very different uncles. Idris, her mother’s brother and Gamma of the pack, has nourished her intelligence and strength, training her almost daily. Oskar, her fathers brother, who temporarily holds the Beta position until Anders, her older brother, is of age, could care less about her, banishing her to the basement of his home and isolating her from the rest of the pack.
When she turned eighteen and didn’t meet her mate in the pack, she knew that she had to leave, and she knew just how to do it. Every year, the Royal Guard comes to packs across the kingdom to watch and train the warriors, and if someone impresses them enough, they may be invited to attend Royal Guard training at the capital. Being so difficult to get to, they only go to The Summit Keepers every ten years, and this is the year.
When Morrigan gets recruited, it feels like a dream come true, but as she arrives in the capital, she realizes things may not be as they seem. Will this new world truly be like she thought? Or will she run into trouble?
Read
Chapter: ThirteenShe swallows harshly. Her heart starts to race as she wonders what is going to happen, but she knows that there’s nothing she can do about it.“Yes, Commander,” she says softly.Without further prompting, she pulls off her t-shirt, folds it, and places it on the ground. Then, she reaches for her long-sleeve underneath. She keeps her eyes on the ground, avoiding the reactions of the two guards. Pulling the hem of the shirt up, the bruises littering her ribs are immediately visible. She continues, pulling the shirt above her head and wincing as she slides her right arm out of the sleeve. Again, she folds it and places it on the ground with her t-shirt before reaching for her leggings.Nicholas holds up a hand to stop her, causing her to look up. She feels sick at the sight of concern, or maybe pity, in the two guards' eyes.“What happened, Morrigan?” Nicholas asks.“I fell down the stairs, Commander,” Morrigan answers. She swallows harshly, trying to stop the bile rising up from her th
Last Updated: 2024-12-11
Chapter: TwelveEveryone is well into their warm ups by the time Morrigan makes it to the clearing, which luckily means that most of them are too focused on themselves to notice her sneak in with her tail tucked between her legs. Unfortunately, Takota and Nicholas are not warming up, and she can feel their burning gazes on her as she’s obviously the last one to arrive. She makes her way over to Amira, who looks her up and down with concerned eyes. Morrigan does her best to hold her head high, but she can’t hide the defeated look behind her eyes. Amira goes to open her mouth, but Morrigan shakes her head before she can. She doesn’t want to talk about it.Morrigan begins her warm ups, as everyone was given the same warm ups to complete but can do in their own time. She tries to stretch, but there’s not much she can do without agonizing pain from her ribs or arm. She pushes through the pain as she does a sit up and does her pushups with only her left arm. She does squats and lunges without much issue,
Last Updated: 2024-12-10
Chapter: ElevenMorrigan is awoken by her internal clock, meaning it should be around four o’clock in the morning, but still sitting in the dark stairwell, she has no way to confirm this. She could go back down the stairs to check her clock, but the moment she tries to move, her muscles cramp up. Her overall pain has greatly decreased since the night before–there’s almost definitely still a bruise on her cheek, though the swelling has gone down, there’s definitely still bruising around her ribs, considering they’re fractured, and her right arm still can’t hold any weight.Her heart pangs in her chest as she imagines Takota waiting for her in the clearing. She wants nothing more than to break the door down and run the entire way there, but she’s far from her full strength and the door is reinforced. If she wanted to break it down, she’d have to break it off its hinges. Tears sting her eyes and the feeling of powerlessness fills her entire being.The house is silent, so it can’t be any later than 5:30 A
Last Updated: 2024-12-06
Chapter: TenThe one who had been kicking her backs up, and as Morrigan coughs out blood and focuses her vision, she sees her brother and uncle. Ander had been the one kicking her, and Oskar was the one to call him off.Oskar approaches her slowly, his figure blocking out the light from the room behind him, making him look like a shadow. He crouches down and grabs Morrigan’s hair. Before she can protest, he takes out the bonds holding her hair in place and roughly undoes the braids Jasira had taken such care to do. As her hair falls around her face and she realizes what her uncle just did, tears begin to prick her eyes. “What were you thinking, trying to upstage your brother in front of the entire pack? Have you forgotten your place?” Oskar asks, his voice deep and low, barely above a whisper. When Morrigan doesn’t respond, he grabs a fistful of her hair and grabs the back of her shirt with his other hand. He picks her up, Morrigan reaching for his hand pulling out her scalp, and throws her down
Last Updated: 2024-12-05
Chapter: NineIn less than two minutes, Morrigan stands tall, breathing heavily, while Kaya lays on her back on the ground, a look of confusion on her face. Morrigan enters her vision, holding her hand out for the older warrior. Kaya takes it, letting herself be pulled to her feet, and she looks down at the young woman in front of her with newfound respect. Morrigan looks around to see the crowd is silent, clearly not having expected her victory.They knew that she was a warrior and had Beta blood, but no one outside the Gamma family saw her train. Oskar has spent her entire life telling lies that she’s weak and unfit in little ways that slowly crept into people's subconscious perceptions of her. Today, she shattered that idea of her.Takota is the first to break the silence, clapping as she walks towards Morrigan. Hesitantly, the other warriors start clapping as well, and they’re quickly spurred on by the Gamma family. Morrigan searches for yellow eyes in the crowd, but she can’t find any. Even as
Last Updated: 2024-12-05
Chapter: EightMorrigan and Amira get through a few more ‘warm up rounds’ before Nicholas calls everyone's attention again. Amira is experiencing aches in places she has never ached before from falling on her behind so many times while Morrigan hasn’t broken a sweat. “As this is our first day together, we’d like to do a little tournament to see how each of you rank, so that on our last day, we can see how far you’ve come. Face your partner again, and whichever one of you is on the ground first will go take a seat at the edge of the clearing. Whoever wins will be paired with another winner, until there is only one,” he explains.Morrigan turns to her cousin, giving an apologetic look.“Don’t be sorry,” Amira says. “I’m perfectly content with sitting out and not being beaten around anymore.”And that is exactly what happens, as Morrigan takes Amira down yet again with ease. She feels a twinge of guilt. Amira is by no means a bad warrior–she’s one of the top female warriors in the pack. She could have
Last Updated: 2024-12-03
LOGIN
