Chapter 2: Chosen by the Queen

Akari Kingston stared sullenly out the huge windows in her father’s office. She was trying so hard to hold on to the rags of her temper as she watched the people in the room behind her, or rather, their reflections in the window glass. It was probably rude to keep her back to these important visitors, but it would have been far more impolite for her to turn and let them see the utter fury on her face.

For just under an hour her father, the President of the United Human Federation, had been trying unsuccessfully to apologize and salvage some of the important treaties they’d been about to negotiate until Allison pulled this stunt and ran away.

The truth is, Akari had been honestly shocked —she’d known she was having second thoughts, but these diplomatic marriages of state were still quite common especially if your part of the High Status. She knew that. And once she learned she’d be a princess and eventually queen, she had agreed to go through with it, damn it. If she’d had cold feet, then why hadn’t she come to their father in time for a suitable substitute to be found? For all his strength and determination, their father was kind and loved them both.

He would never have forced her.

Diplomatic marriages or unions were between two members of different nations—or in this case, two different races. Essentially it would have been a union between two power blocks, the Werewolves and the Humans.

Marriages of different kingdoms back then were used to gain peace or shore up alliances. And in this case, the marriage was sorely needed to end a devastating war that had lasted for over a century and a half.

The Werewolves had been known to the humans for the past one hundred and fifty-five years. Years of failed diplomacy between the two races and finally all-out war with a people who wanted only to be left alone.

Technologically, the Humans had felt itself to be far superior to the Werewolves, thinking they could easily subdue them and take whatever resources they pleased.

But Werewolves was easily six times the size of Humans, and with their fast reflexes and superhuman strength, humans are powerless against them.

And since their natural habitat which is found in the northern part of America was shrouded with clouds, they hadn’t even known of its existence for a long time, and when they finally learned of its presence and its rich diamond deposits, they campaigned heavily for trade agreements.

When the werewolves said no, the humans had attacked. Now all these years later, the war was still going on.

Now the Werewolf Queen and his son were here in his father’s office, expecting…what, exactly? For his father to fall on his sword to show his contrition? No matter what Akari's father had said so far, or how abjectly he’d apologized, the queen's seemed determined to ignore his apologies and his pleas and remain insulted and livid with anger.

The human woman, called Queen Beatrice, was wearing long, luxurious robes of some

blue, silky fabric that rustled every time she moved. She was a blond. A very stunning woman who had to be around forty, but looked younger. She was pacing angrily in front of the her father's desk.

Meanwhile one of the werewolf princes, Prince Nikolai, the intended groom, lounged

negligently in a chair, looking supremely, outrageously bored. The king had six sons, and this one was one of them. Akari never could keep all their names straight.

It irritated her to admit that the werewolf was gorgeous. And like all the werewolves he was also big. Maybe six feet six inches tall, but not in the least gangly or awkward with the height as some young men could be, and he was muscular, but not overly so. His hair was a golden shade of red. He looked exotic, and strangely beautiful. His green eyes, when he glanced over at Akari as he came into the room, had something cold and savage peeking out of them.

He was wearing a military uniform. And his chest was covered in medals that Akari was sure must be merely decorative. No way had this spoiled-looking royal scion earned all those medals. Did this pampered prince even realize how many men’s lives were at stake here? Truly, each and every one of them weighed heavily on Akari's soul.

A colonel in the Human Federation forces, Akari had lost most of her company in a recent battle on the borders of Canda. They had been overrun, and only a handful of her men had survived and escaped, along with Akari and one newly commissioned lieutenant. Her men had pulled her unconscious body from the field, and it was a miracle that any of them had survived. She was here in this house now because she was recovering from the wounds she’d suffered in that battle, and of course, because of Allison’s wedding.

Akari was mostly healed now and anxious to rejoin her unit, but her father had asked her to try to establish the peace agreement. These talks and treaties, not to mention this farce of a state marriage between her sister and the prince had been hard won—a diplomatic coup.

The peace negotiators had worked night and day for it. An alliance like this one would have gone a long way toward shoring up any kind of peace treaty that could be arranged before the summit coming up in the next quarter-cycle. If Allison could have gone through with the marriage, a lasting peace might have been successfully negotiated. Now Allison had ruined everything by running away. She had condemned them all with her actions, and her poor father had been left holding the bag.

The Queen of Werewolves banged her tiny fist on her father’s desk and raised her voice, startling Akari and drawing her attention back to the little drama unfolding behind her. “No!

"Absolutely not!” she replied to something her father had said in a wheedling, conciliatory tone that Akari hated. “Your daughter has dishonored us by rejecting our generous offer of marriage to the king’s son. She’s humiliated us by running away. The enormous diamond reserves we were willing to give you access to as a bride price are completely off the table. Finished!”

“But Your Highness Beatrice, please…those diamond reserves will fuel the entire planets for centuries to come. Without them, our inhabitants could be cast back into the Stone Age. Please. I beg you to reconsider.”

“Perhaps you should have thought of that before you offered us your worthless offspring as a bride for my son. My son is a high prince. Can you even fathom the honor he paid her by agreeing to make her his spouse?” The Queen slammed her fist down again, knocking a sheaf of documents to the floor. “We should simply walk away now and leave this wretched place. Once the king learns of this calculated insult, he’ll no doubt withdraw his agreement to meet in summit talks. Forget the peace treaties. We have no need of them! Obviously the humans can’t be trusted to honor their obligations.”

President Donnelly leaped to his feet. “Please Your Highness Beatrice, there must be something we can do—some way to make this up to you. Please tell me what we can do! I’ll do anything. Anything!”

Akari, who had just about had enough, whirled around to face them. “Don’t bother, sir. And don’t grovel to her! Her mind is obviously made up.” Turning to look at the Queen of the werewolves, a human who had once years ago been a highly decorated officer of the Federation forces before she was captured and turned into some kind of love-slave for the fucking Werewolf king, Akari made one last appeal to what was left of her humanity.

“Surely, Your Highness, you’re aware of how tirelessly the President has worked to bring about peace over the three years since he took office. We’ve made one concession after another to the Elders and finally, in an act of desperation and selflessness, he offered up his daughter as a hostage and a pawn in this game. You were human… once.” She paused to let the insult sink in. The Queen's blue eyes glittered at her dangerously, but Akari rushed on with what she needed to say.

“You should know that our children aren’t slaves—he couldn’t force Allison to marry. He thought he had her convinced, but she took one look at this…this son of yours…”

“Akari!” President Kingston shouted, his voice tinged with shock and despair. “That’s enough!”

Akari whirled around to face her father. “I’m done begging them, sir! Look at him!

He’s an uncivilized brute, and neither of them even cares about the treaty.” She knew she’d gone too far, but no matter what she said, she knew they’d already made up their minds. They were only toying with them now.

“Arguing with this woman who has renounced her humanity and aligned herself with savages is useless, sir.” Akari continued, lifting her chin defiantly. Then she turned to focus her attention on the werewolf king’s queen, who was staring at her with her haughty eyebrows raised.

She looked completely incredulous and outraged. If she’d been wearing pearls, she’d no doubt have been clutching them. “I respectfully submit that the queen obviously made up her mind and then snapped it shut.”

The Queen flushed hotly and opened her mouth to speak, but before she could, the big werewolf prince surged to his feet and pulled his mother behind him. The prince crossed the space between the colonel and himself so quickly, he was only a blur of motion, and he seized Akari by her jacket front and held her aloft. Akari gasped as she looked up into his eyes and her blood ran cold. How could Akari have miscalculated so badly as to think this prince is soft and spoiled?

With the tips of her toes dangling inches above the floor, the huge Werewolf's face loomed close to her, and his breath gusted hotly against her skin. His green eyes, so disturbingly cat-like, narrowed fiercely. “How dare you speak to the Queen in such a manner, you human bitch?”

Akari pulled frantically at the werewolf's hands but couldn’t budge them. She kicked ineffectually at his legs, but the prince simply held her out at arm’s length. When Akari tried to kick him in the balls, he turned so that Akari's kicks landed on his hip and he laughed at Akari tauntingly. The problem was that this new hold twisted Akari's uniform jacket so that it bunched up under her chin, choking her. As she gasped for breath, she could see the Queen smirking and leaning her hip against the desk, her arms folded over her chest. There would obviously be no help from that woman.

Akari forced herself to go limp, half-closing her eyes, as if she’d surrendered. From under her lashes, she saw a smile of satisfaction bloom on the big werewolf's face. He relaxed his hold on Akari, bringing her in closer and allowing her to sag to her feet. He kept his hand wrapped in Akari's uniform jacket, though, keeping her close enough that Akari could smell his warm, musky scent. This was her chance. Using the last of her strength, Akari brought both hands up and clapped them as hard as she could against the prince’s ears.

The reaction would have been comical under any other circumstances. He looked like a bear stung by bees. The prince yelped, dropped his hands and clutched his ears with both hands. He opened his mouth and howled his rage, as Akari stepped back, straightening her clothes and smiling evilly at him. She could almost see plumes of steam spiral up from each of the werewolf's ears and through his fingers like in a cartoon.

Akari's father rushed to his daughter’s aid, jostling the prince’s arm to pass by him and stand beside his daughter. Akari had a feeling that might have been a mistake. One shouldn’t touch a Werewolf royal, and she wondered vaguely if her father would be chastised for that.

There was no telling what they would do to Akari for striking the high prince. Now that the excitement had passed, she was beginning to feel a little weak-kneed, and she looked around for a place to sit down.

“Akari my dear, are you all right? Your highness… Beatrice, please! Put a stop to this now—my daughter is injured!”

“I’m fine, Father,” Akari said, embarrassed and trying to gently push him off.

“Your daughter is injured?” the Queen said, her eyebrows lifting in outrage. “What about my son? Your daughter indeed!”

Then as the words sunk in, Beatrice suddenly straightened up and tilted her head, one eyebrow quirking upward. “Did you say your daughter?”

“Yes, of course she is! And your son just attacked her!” the president said, casting a wounded, outraged look back over his shoulder.

Beatrice smiled then and rubbed her hands together, as eager as a cat who’d just spied a big bowl of tasty cream. “You mean to tell me this young woman… Your unmarried other daughter? Well, why didn’t you say so? Who needs the runaway? This one will do fine. In fact, she’ll do even better!” She stepped forward and laid a hand on Prince Nikolai's arm. “Stop playing with her, Niko. You’ll have plenty of time to do that after the wedding. This young woman,” she said, gesturing grandly toward Akari, “is your new mate and royal consort.” She got a speculative look in her eyes. “And the future bearer of your children.”

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