Chapter Two: Maia

I jerk awake to banging on my door. I sit up with a growl. "Whoever woke me up is going to die!" I yell, throwing off the silk sheets.

The door opens and Kaine smirks at me. "Dad says you have training today," he says quickly then slams the door shut.

I stalk to my connected bathroom, muttering curse words under my breath. I strip down and take a cold shower to wake me up. While I dry myself off, I stare at my reflection in the mirror.

I look a lot like my mom, everything but my eyes and hair are the same. My hair is curly like hers but it's brown instead of red, and my eyes are also green but generously flecked with gold making them appear hazel.

My brothers look like almost identical copies of my dad, all except for Jaxon's red hair and Kaine's dark demeanor.

I hear harsh knocking on my door. "Maia get out of there!" Jaxon yells.

I roll my eyes. "I'll be there in a minute!"

I quickly pull on a tank top and shorts over my lacy black undergarments. I pull my waist-length hair up into a ponytail as I walk downstairs.

At the kitchen counter, Kaine and Jaxon are both stuffing their faces with food. My mom is shaking her head at them, her face twisted in disgust. Dad is nowhere in sight.

"Where's dad?" I ask, sitting down on the stool between my brothers.

"He's in the pack hospital, why?" Jaxon asks.

My eyes widen in shock. "Oh gods, what happened?" I ask.

"He did something stupid again—I swear he is maturing backwards!" my mom growls in annoyance and my brothers and I laugh.

"Dad doesn't seem to realize that there is a reason mom normally does interrogations and punishment for prisoners," Jaxon says.

"Has he been in there since yesterday?" I ask. 

He nods and I turn towards Kaine with a glare. "You lied to me! Dad's not training with me today!" I growl.

He smirks. "Took you long enough to figure it out."

I lift my fist but my mom growls at me. I glance over and she gives me a warning look that makes me put my fist down immediately.

Honestly my mom is the most terrifying person I've ever seen when she is angry. Both of my brothers are scared of seeing her when she's mad, even Kaine.

My dad on the other hand, it's difficult to just take him seriously since he's always doing stupid stuff or getting himself hurt—I think that's where my brothers get their stupidity from.

According to aunt Angel he wasn't always this foolish, but after Jaxon was born, I guess he just lost all common sense. My theory is he became Alpha at too young an age that he is trying to make up for his lost childhood now that his responsibilities are less burdening.

"Maia!" I snap out of my thoughts when Jaxon yells my name.

"Huh―what?" I ask, looking around.

My mom rolls her eyes. "You are going to spend the day with Mykael and I," she says.

"What! Why?" I demand. Kaine and I are still in school and today is Sunday, and the last thing I want is to waste it hanging out with my mom and Gamma.

"Because when you turn 16 you will become the Luna and the Werewolf Queen," she says, and I gape at her.

"Are you kidding me? We don't even know if I'm going to shift yet and besides, I don't want that kind of responsibility!" I shriek.

My mom sighs. "Maia things in the Devil's Circle have gotten out of control lately and I will have to give it my full attention if I want to fix the problems. Your dad can't run all of the werewolf's territory on his own."

"Then make them help!" I growl, pointing to my brothers.

"They are already helping me with the dragons," she says.

"You need both of them to help you?"

She nods. "For almost 20 years now the Fire Dragons aren't being hunted and as a result the population is growing at a really fast rate. And right now, a lot of them are shifting for the first time meaning they can't control their dragons yet," she tells me.

"And how the hell are you and Kaine and Jaxon going to fix that?"

"They basically need an 'alpha' to make their dragon submit. That will make them less aggressive and easier to control. And since Jaxon and Kaine are strong enough to make them submit, they are coming with me—otherwise it would take months for me to get them all to submit," she explains.

I see the pleading look in her eyes and growl under my breath. "Fine," I mutter grudgingly.

My mom sighs in relief. "Thank you, now eat something and then meet me in your dad's office. We have a lot of training to get through."

***

"I can't do this!" I scream, throwing the stupid book across the room. It shatters the window and sends shards of glass flying everywhere.

Gamma Mykael stares at me, his eyes wide. "You know, she's almost as scary as you when she's angry," he whispers to my mom.

She takes a deep breath and I can tell she is fighting to control her anger. She stands up from behind the desk to walk over to me.

"Maia, I know you don't think they will accept you but to be honest, neither did I. I became Werewolf Queen after destroying three packs; everyone hated me," she says.

My eyes widen in shock. My mom and dad never talk about how they met or what happened up until the point Jaxon was born. They don't even let our teachers tell us in school.

"You destroyed three packs?" I repeat.

She nods. "Yeah, it's a very long story but let's just say I didn't remember meeting your father and I thought dragons were at war with werewolves."

"But they love you now?" I say in confusion.

"They do now, but they hated me for a very long time. It took years before they finally trusted me enough to not walk around with a weapon of some kind."

"How did you get them to like you?"

"I made the Fire Dragons help rebuild the packs and then I talked to them. I spent time with pups. I trained warriors. I travelled to other packs. You could do the same thing and they will like you in no time," she says, shrugging her shoulders.

"Mom, even if they do start liking me, every single werewolf in this pack and others thinks I'm a temperamental delinquent, how the fuck am I going to get them to take me seriously?" I growl.

She narrows her eyes at my profanity but doesn't say anything about it. "If you stop acting like a temperamental delinquent then they will stop thinking it. That means you need to stop sneaking into the Ring, stop pulling pranks on Mykael—"

"—Wait YOU'RE the bitch who keeps putting smoke bombs in my office—"

"—AND you need to learn to control your temper. Throwing shit out the window every time you get mad makes you look like a pouting child," she finishes, growling lowly at Mykael. He shifts uncomfortably in his chair and scoots away from her.

I cross my arms over my chest with an indignant huff. "I'll work on it," I mutter with a growl.

Mykael glances at me then suddenly looks worriedly at my mother. "Just in case this whole queen-thing goes south, please tell me you have a backup?"

My mom sighs and I feel my skin start to crawl under her gaze. "If Maia can't take my place as Queen then werewolves are going to be taken over by feral dragons," she says.

My face screws up in annoyance. "So, no pressure then?"