Chapter 22

"You must be Princess Sylvia."

I came to a standstill in the hall as Cynthia slowly turned towards me, a warm smile spreading across her lips. My nerves suddenly vanished as I returned the smile and walked up to her, holding out my hand to introduce myself.

"Ah, no need for fancy greetings," she chuckled. "I'm a pretty laid-back type of girl. Obsidian has told me a lot about you. You're feisty, brave, stubborn, stupid sometimes..."

I couldn't help but laugh, "My, he really knows me." 

"He has never been this interested in a female, I can tell when my brother takes a liking to someone. You're intriguing to him."

"Just telling all his secrets?"

"Duh, I'm his sister, that's my job."

I chuckled before looking into Obsidian's room, frowning when I saw he had become paler and was sweating more. He would wince every now and then in his sleep, mumbling incoherent sentences and twitching. Cynthia followed my gaze, her eyes losing their sparkle, becoming dull with concern. 

"They're saying it got into his bloodstream, making it even harder for him to fight the infection," she whispered.

I nodded, "I had a feeling that would happen, we weren't exactly staying in great conditions."

"Damn hunters, I remember hearing of the first war your grandfather had with them. Everyone thought they were gone, I guess they just went into hiding."

"Or these guys are brand new to this and are following what they learned from their parents. They're such amateurs with it, the hunters my grandfather fought were way stronger."

Cynthia sighed, "Our brother found a group of hunters in Virginia. His pack destroyed them, didn't take any prisoners from what I've been told."

Frowning, I snapped my attention to her, shocked that there was another sibling. "How many of you are there?"

"Only us three, me, Obsidian, and our brother, Luthias."

"So, you're Obsidian's older sister?"

"Yes, they're both my younger brothers. Our mother managed to get pregnant while carrying me. He was born forty hours later, I forget what it's called but it's apparently extremely rare."

"Superfetation," I voiced. "I was bored while looking random stuff up on google." 

She raised an eyebrow, "You decided to check that out?"

"Yeah, there's a girl in my pack who has a double uterus and we decided to see if that can happen to her. Instead, we learned about superfetation and the fact she can be pregnant but still have a period."

"Damn, that stinks. I think no period is the one pro of being pregnant." 

"Yeah, she was a bit mad at mother nature." 

Cynthia laughed and pulled away from Obsidian's door, motioning for me to come with her. We silently walked down the hall for a few minutes, the silence giving us a sense of peace. Once we were outside, she stretched and released a sigh.

"So, I'm guessing you wanted to make sure all the trials and such are fair?" She questioned

I shrugged, "Not sure if I want that answer, considering you put people on trial because of food?"

"Hey, I claimed that food. Anyways, besides those...um...trials, we've only had two. One was for neglect, had a set of twins in foster care and the bastards had them act as personal maids. The second was for two warriors, apparently the one tried killing the other."

"And what were the outcomes?"

"Twins removed from their foster family and put them with a new one, these two actually might adopt them. They're my friends and such sweethearts, the wife has tried getting pregnant for years now. As for the warriors, the one guy was lying for whatever reason and he's now doing community service within the pack for three months."

I nodded, impressed with how she handled the situations, then again, she is far more experienced in leading than I am. "Out of curiosity, what would Obsidian have done?"

"The same thing I did with the foster parents, but probably rough them up a bit. For the warrior, he would have gotten his ass kicked, but I'm not into violence. Unless it involves food. So, have you met any of the female warriors in this pack?"

"Um, no..."

She smirked, "You got to, trust me none of them are your typical hoes you'll run into. Many or either in a relationship, mated already or enjoying the single life. But you have no idea how many times we prank the male warriors."

"I'm starting to think you're a bad influence."

"Oh, definitely." 

I quietly followed Cynthia as we stepped into the female warriors' training room, I almost stood frozen when I saw it. Unlike my pack, female and male warriors have their own training areas as well as one that is for everyone. It wasn't like this until Cynthia convinced Obsidian to build the separate gyms, claiming they wanted their privacy for girl talk. She knew he didn't believe her, but she was also his older sister and he knew if he didn't agree to the nice way, she would torment him until he gave in. I had cracked up when she told me the story, understanding the fear of torment that an older sister can put one through. Samantha had always done that to me if we got into a silly argument, being the younger sister though, I would get my revenge. 

Cynthia came to a standstill and greeted a large group of young women, without getting a chance to gather up my courage, she pulled me out from behind her. I gave her a dirty look as she held me beside her like some trophy, her face supporting a full grin.

"Everyone, meet Sylvia, Obsidian's crush!" She beamed.

I choked on air and yanked my hand away, "His what?"

"Oh, nothing," she sang as she plopped down on the floor.

"Damn, Malachi wasn't joking when he said you're gorgeous," a girl sounded. "Name is Kaylee." 

"Malachi said I was gorgeous?" I asked, surprised. 

I felt like I shouldn't be surprised though, considering he had flirted with me when we first met. It was hilarious to see how it annoyed Obsidian to no end, making me wonder if Obsidian had a crush on me then. 

Snap out of it, Sylvia, you know Obsidian doesn't have a crush on you. Cynthia is just being an older sister and trying to embarrass him.

"Yeah and he was totally right, then again royal werewolves are always stunning." 

"So, how did you convince stone cold Obsidian to fall for you?" another girl asked, seeking more juicy details that I sadly lack.

I didn't even know until now that he could possibly have feelings for me, I'm still not sure if he does. There may have been awkward moments where we blushed once or twice and joked around, but I highly doubt he could fall for me. While I appreciate these girls gushing about my looks, I'm not that attractive. I have seen many women who are far better looking than me, Lin for example. She has the dark brown hair, green eyes and olive skin, giving her an exotic look. She always had so many boys chasing her, I was always standing in the shadows, not wanting any attention. 

I barely dress up for people or put make up on, I don't do my hair every day and I don't flirt with random men. I have always been the more serious type, focusing on my studies and training, wanting to be the best queen I can be. I never considered finding myself a boyfriend or mate, especially after being bullied for so long. I've had enough rejection, I don't need anymore. 

I smiled shyly as they continued introducing themselves, their names cluttering my mind as I attempted to remember all of them. I was a little flustered by all the introductions, but I soon relaxed as they began talking about the pack and their pranks they pull. It made me miss my family and Lin, but at the same time, they helped me feel as if I fit in here. 

They eventually taught me a lot about the pack and territory, according to them, their territory stretches across the entire border. They have several different counties that Obsidian oversees, this is his main pack. The other counties are basically different packs, but there's no alpha or beta, he sends his best warriors to handle them. I was a little bewildered that he had it organized this way and that he managed it with ease, I would explode with the workloads. 

Day eventually melted into night as we all went our own ways, even Cynthia decided to retire for the night. Instead of going inside and hiding in my room, I decided to take a walk in the woods. Warm air surrounded me as little specks of light floated in the air, the urge to try and catch the fireflies had me feeling like a young girl again. I let out a quiet laugh when one landed on my nose, making me sneeze. Breathing in nature's scent, my muscles relaxed, and my mind stopped racing. A soft breeze flowed through the trees, causing them to sing into the night as the moon sent a silver glow throughout the forest. I eventually found a small clearing and sat on a rock, looking around at the land's beauty. My inner nature girl came out as I allowed the earth's lullaby to lull me to a relaxed state.