Chapter 23
Chapter
Twenty-Three
Dad announced the winter hunt would be held this year during the first snow in the mountains.
My father, the werewolf King, didn't hold the challenge every year—only when he deemed it to be safe enough, depending on the tension between the werewolves and our enemies. The King also skipped a few years when the mountain animals were endangered, and their population was declining.
Dad’s driver slowed to a crawling speed as the hill our SUV climbed became slippery and steep. The car shook as the tire chains crunched over slick ice. The convoy of SUVs looked like marching ants up the hill.
About twenty of Dad’s warriors joined the winter hunt challenge. King Brendan gave out an award to the werewolf who killed the heaviest prey.
I joined the group under the pretense that I’d serve as the referee and keep score.
But all I wanted was to show Dad I could hike with the rest of the werewolves in harsh winter weather. Dad’s mood lifted when he heard my request to join him.
I had a semester left in high school, and I’d been thinking about my next life stage. Enduring the winter hunt of the supernaturals would be my validation that I could belong among them and walk next to them.
Hayden sat next to me in the back seat of the SUV, a permanent fixture to my side.
I turned away from the snowy blizzard out the window and looked at my bodyguard.
He’d been my protector for the last three years, and although he was always attached to me, he knew when to keep his distance.
He was so in tune with me in the way that he synchronized our schedules and movements that it baffled me.
I blinked repeatedly and switched my gaze to Dad in the passenger seat. His lips curved up in a warm smile, but he still looked at the road ahead.
“Are you excited, Anna?” Dad asked.
“You mean about the snowstorm? But of course,” I said in a mocking voice. “It’d be so much fun to freeze outside.”
The three men in the car chuckled, and I sighed. As a human, I didn’t run as hot as the werewolves.
Dad and the warriors were genuinely excited to climb the mountain in their human forms to build endurance and strength in severe winter conditions. Then, at the top, they’d shift into their wolves and hunt for mountain lions, black bears, or other small animals.
The King thought that werewolf life had become too modernized with technology and too comfortable. Their beasts still wanted to be with nature and do what wolves do—hunt and kill.
The idea of killing an animal terrified me, but the hunting of prey sounded like an exciting game that I wanted to win.
I yearned for the ability to shift into a magnificent wolf, to feel the power coursing through my veins as I raced through the snowy forest. How liberating would it feel to transform, my human form melting away and caving into a primal and wild animal form?
My eyes closed of their own accord, and images of a brown, slender wolf filled my mind.
The wolf was me. I could almost feel the snow beneath my paws, leaving delicate imprints in the powdery white blanket.
As my mind deceived me for a moment, I could feel the strength of my muscles propelling me forward, my wolf body gliding effortlessly through the woods.
The cold air filled my lungs and senses with the scent of pine mingled with the aroma of crisp winter.
I remembered Dad's words that his wolf was an extension of his very being, not bound by the limitations of the human form.
A surge of freedom traveled through me, and I could taste the thrill of the hunt.
But then a jolt from the car shook me out of my daydreaming, and I opened my eyes, sighed, and faced my reality.
When we arrived at the cottages, Dad was busy giving instructions to his men. Hayden, Dad, and I shared a two-bedroom cottage, with Hayden sleeping on the couch. Layla requested the larger and more luxurious royal cottage, and usually, she received what she asked for.
As soon as she heard that I was joining the group, she requested permission to come along.
Dad had told her it wasn’t a good idea, but Layla’s exact words were, “If the first princess who won’t be shifting can go, then I can go too.
” And then she had the audacity to add, “So I can shift and protect her.” Dad didn’t buy into my cousin’s concern over me, but he didn’t want to argue with her and cause a scene.
“Are you cold, sweetheart?” Hayden’s voice startled me out of my thoughts, and I fidgeted.
We had parked and now stood in the center of a small structure. I tried to give him a smile, but my lips trembled from the cold. I liked that Hayden always thought about my wellbeing. No one else did that besides Mom and Dad. I was lucky to have him around.
“No. I’ll be fine.”
My breath came out in steamy puffs. Behind the wooden cottages, the snow had piled high in shadowy spots at the first line of trees. We were going to hike there, and a pinch of worry infused my veins.
Below my heavy boots, the snow flattened, but looking at the forest, where the snow had swelled a few feet, my heart twisted and ached. Would I be able to keep up with the supernaturals?
“Hayden, do you want to win the hunt?” I asked. “You could ask Dad for anything. He’ll grant it to you.”
I didn’t know what Hayden wanted. He seemed happy living in the kingdom, doing his job. He said he didn’t have a family to go back to, and the kingdom was his home. A mysterious air surrounded him, and he had an aura of a powerful man.
“As tempting as the reward sounds, the King has already granted my wish.”
I snapped my eyes to his sky-blue ones. What had Dad given him to put this smile on Hayden’s face?
As if he read my mind, he added, “He made me your bodyguard, sweetheart.”
I gaped, and he winked at me. Then Hayden nodded, and I followed his gaze.
“I guess the second princess is ready,” he said and chuckled.
I sighed as Layla walked out of her cottage in her fleece leggings. I wore the same ones under my winter pants, which made my legs look like those of a fluffy panda.
“Thank goodness.” I wiggled my frozen fingers wrapped in thermal, waterproof gloves. “Let’s go.” I headed toward the rest of the group.
I pulled down my winter hat, desperately trying to cover my frosty ears. Hayden’s chuckle came from behind me, and I turned abruptly, narrowing my eyes at him. He gave me a charming smile, disarming me.
“You know werewolves are warm creatures, and none of us need so many layers. We’ll be shifting anyway,” he said, stepping closer.
I tilted my chin down to hide the frown on my face.
Dad said running in the snowy mountain or the quiet forest in his wolf form was the second best feeling for a werewolf after the touch of a mate.
And the Fates knew I’d tried shifting on several occasions during the transformation ritual held at the kingdom.
Obviously, I was a human, lacking a wolf spirit and a fated mate. And I would stay one for the rest of my days.
Hayden’s bare hands lifted and grabbed the thick woolen scarf hanging around my neck. He twisted it one more time and tied it into a knot at my chest, his face beaming, like that of a parent who cared for his toddler. I rolled my eyes at him, earning me another smile.
When the crisp wind blew, my nose and the uncovered skin on my cheeks burned from the sharp bite of coldness. Ahead of us, the top of the mountain stood like a giant. Snow-capped boulders dotted the landscape, and low-hanging clouds covered the steep slopes in gray mist.
We hiked in a single line with Dad at the front, Hayden behind me, and Layla not too far away. My stomach churned, but I didn’t know what caused me more anxiety—the harsh winter conditions or Layla’s presence.
She was always up to something. She used every opportunity to spread rumors and emphasize how different the King’s daughter was, undermining my authority and reputation. Most of the werewolves in the kingdom liked me, but a few believed my place wasn’t on the throne.
A human couldn’t possibly lead an entire kingdom of werewolves in the middle of turmoil with the vampires and the hunters. A human Queen couldn’t possibly win a war against the vicious, unbeatable vampire Queen.
And the war was as inevitable as the brewing fog in the distance, only a hill away from us.
I ignored Layla most of the time, but she made it her life’s purpose to remind me of my place.
My breath formed little clouds in front of me.
We now hiked on the higher ground with deeper snow and lower temperatures.
Some trees were bare, with branches sticking to the sides like arms. When the sharp wind blew again, the pines and evergreen trees rustled, powder dispersing and falling to the ground.
Dad trekked with powerful strides in front of me as if he wasn’t shoving snow only with his feet. There was no path in front of him, but he created one for all of us to follow.
The wind picked up and howled, slicing at my exposed, chapped skin. I tasted something acidic in my mouth and winced when my tongue swiped over my bleeding bottom lip.
“Are you okay, Princess?” Hayden’s voice came from somewhere behind me.
Before I could answer, my dad twisted his head around to scan me up and down, checking for injuries.
I fought the urge to roll my eyes at him.
He did so out of concern for me, but it didn’t help my situation.
I didn’t want him to order us to stop hiking and take a break because the princess had a bleeding lip.
“I’m fine,” I said, slouching my shoulders, as if the action could help me become invisible.
But when my ears started ringing, I knew differently. Every muscle spasmed and trembled from being forced to slog through deep drifts.
Why had I thought I could climb to the top with supernatural creatures?
The farther we hiked, the more I questioned my sanity and decision to be here. I wouldn’t make it to the top, but Dad wouldn’t have let me join if he didn’t think I could, right?