Chapter 4

I let out a groan as I came back to reality, grabbing my head I opened my eyes and allowed them to adjust for a moment. I scanned my room as I recollect my memories, as soon as I remembered my mother, I looked over for the Advil. 

"Oh, thank gods," I sighed in relief, at least I can get rid of this splitting headache. 

I released a breath and laid back down, exhaustion starting to take over again. However, I refused to fall back asleep, knowing that wouldn't help me. I'll be far too restless now that I'm remembering everything, too many questions were swimming around in my mind. 

"Syl?" 

My door slowly opened as my sister poked her head in, I offered a tired smile. "Morning," I mumbled.

She laughed, "Good morning, how are you feeling?"

"My head is killing me, I feel sick to my stomach but hungry at the same time...could be doing better."

"Well, at least you now know what to expect if you ever get drunk."

"Ha. Ha."

She shrugged before plopping down on my bed, "So....Kaden's hair is blue."

"Yeah...how did that happen?"

"Him and some other pups decided to explore the castle and found the hairdresser's wing. She passed out when she walked in on rainbow children."

I laughed, "Oh, poor Cassidy."

"Yeah, I told her I would buy new dye for her, but she refused. You know her, always claiming she can do it herself. I'm still getting her some today." 

"That's good. Did mom and dad say anything about the hunter from last night?"

She nodded, "Yep...Obsidian took care of that. He got the answers within five minutes and surprisingly, didn't kill the guy. He's with dad right now in his office, you know.... if they could put their differences aside forever, we would have a great ally." 

"Yeah, I know but.... they did a lot to us."

"His father did a lot to us, not Obsidian. I'm close friends with his cousin, apparently, Obsidian is trying to reverse everything his father has done."

"Then why does he hate us?"

"I'm not sure, that guy is full of secrets. Not even his cousin knows what's bothering him most of the time." 

I frowned, "I feel like I should thank him from last night."

"About that, you two should totally hook up."

"Sam!"

"I'm just saying! There is some chemistry between you two."

"No, I'm far from being interested in him and I'm sure, he feels the same way. If anything, we annoy each other."

She smirked, "And that is what makes the chemistry between you two. You do realize, you're the only girl to ever talk back to him?"

"Damn, the females in his pack need to grow a pair then."

She shook her head and gently nudged me, "Come on. You need to eat something, it'll help your headache. And you need some water."

I quickly grabbed my robe and followed her downstairs, as the smell of pancakes wafted through the air my stomach made itself known. Sam couldn't keep her giggles in as my stomach continued making dying whale sounds, causing me to eventually laugh too. I stopped laughing as soon as I entered the kitchen to see Obsidian sitting in one of the chairs, sipping on some coffee.

"Oh, you're awake! How are you feeling sweetie?" my mother questioned as she gently grabbed my face and began checking me over.

I sighed, "Mooom."

"Sorry, you know I tend to worry. By the way, do you know who has been stealing my ice cream?" 

I glanced over at my dad as he slowly hid behind his newspaper, "Nope."

"Damn, I have to buy some more, I guess. Oh, here's some breakfast for you."

"Thank you."

I awkwardly sat across from Obsidian, relieved that he seemed to completely ignore me. I pondered over how to thank him as I chewed on a piece of bacon, my nerves causing me to lose my appetite. I sucked in a shaky breath, what is wrong with me? I'm normally a girl who doesn't give a shit and can thank anyone, except for the guy who saved me. I ran a hand through my hair and chose to not say anything at all, besides, he would pay no heed to me anyway. 

"I'm going to plan a meeting with my general later this afternoon, I'm going to up the patrols in case hunters decide to try again," my father spoke up, earning our attention.

Obsidian shrugged, "My patrols are always overly done anyway, comes in handy for times like these where I don't need to worry about trivial things." 

"Well, it's not exactly trivial."

"It is when you look at the bigger picture, they'll find a way to get into the kingdom no matter what. You need to have your guards in the castle prepared, they already got close to your daughter."

I swallowed my bacon as I saw the tension between the two grow, deciding I should intervene, so they don't kill each other in the kitchen. "Well, Obsidian if you can quit being a jerk for a few seconds, maybe we could work on a better plan. We can't work separately right now, either way, if they get into one of the kingdoms, they can get a lot of information. Every kingdom has documents regarding each country's packs, I'm sure. What we need to do is keep in contact with the other kings and come up with a plan. The hunters aren't only in Canada and North America. I'm sure there are hunters in South America, Russia, Europe and so on."

He narrowed his eyes, "I wasn't a jerk when I decided to not allow that hunter to take your blood last night."

"No and thank you for that. But don't think it's going to make me kiss your ass." 

"You should if you don't want to risk an attack on your people."

I raised an eyebrow, "You would be a fool to start another war right now when we have hunters trying to kill us off. I thought you were smarter than that, apparently I was wrong."

"Are you done being a bitch?" He sighed. 

"I'm never done, I am a female werewolf after all."

"Okay! So, who wants eggs?" My mother quickly interjected, causing me to smile.

Obsidian watched me the entire time as I ate my breakfast, his angry stare never leaving me. I knew I was pushing his buttons, but he needs to learn to let the past go during a time like this. We can't afford a war, none of us can. I know he believes his kingdom is immune to a downfall, but I also know that he has his weaknesses too. If he's going to work with my father on this, then he's going to have to get used to me challenging him. Unlike my mother, sister and other females, I don't back down from a man. I will go against every single guy if it means I'll be a respected queen someday. 

I wiped my forehead and placed the weights back in their spot, my arms shaking from reaching their limits for today. I smiled in satisfaction as I stared at the pounds I lifted, showing the improvement I've been making. I took a sip of my water and turned to start on my cardio, enjoying the feel of the adrenaline pumping through my veins. The anger from this morning seemed to melt away as I focused on working my body, using it as fuel. 

Obsidian and I had gotten into another name calling match, because I had apparently hurt his ego. He can curse me out all he wants, but in the end, I know I'm right. He can't keep threatening me with war or else I'll easily plan to end his reign. I'm not as weak and tiny as everyone seems to think of me, everyone except for the warriors within my kingdom. Everyone here knows I can take anyone down, but everyone outside of our walls seems to believe that I'm just a girl who believes she has bigger balls than them. Which is partially true, I won't deny that. But I'm more strategic than aggressive when it comes to fights, someone like Obsidian wouldn't be able to keep up.

"I wouldn't be too cocky." 

I sighed as I ignored my wolf, knowing she had a point. I popped my headphones back in and began walking on the treadmill, the music bringing me to a different world. By the time I made it through twenty different songs, I was running and soaked in sweat. I smiled in triumph, I had successfully ran ten miles on the treadmill without falling this time. 

For someone who's as graceful and agile as a wolf, I'm the clumsiest on the treadmill. I can run perfectly outside in any weather, but I could never win over the dang machine. I pulled the headphones out and grabbed my water, downing it till I almost threw up. I took a deep breath, reminding myself to pace when it came to drink after running. I looked up and almost yelped in surprise to see Obsidian leaning against the wall, glaring at me.

"Can I help you?" I snapped.

He titled his head, "You and I need to talk about a little thing known as respect." 

"No thanks, if you want my respect then you need to earn it. Just because your father was a tyrant doesn't make me fear you." 

"You think you're tough shit, don't you?" He sneered.

I shrugged, "Yeah, but I know when I reach my limits." 

"Apparently you don't."

"Is this about when I killed your one warrior?" 

He scoffed, "Ryder was barely a warrior, I purposefully sent him onto your land so he would get killed. He was causing issues within my pack and I can't just kill one of my members without a good reason. Annoying me isn't good enough. But no, this is about you being far too cocky and deciding to challenge me because you think I won't do anything about it."

"It's not that I don't think you'll do anything about it, I challenge everyone. Don't think you're special," I retorted. "I don't even see how you call yourself an alpha or even a king when you can't even handle one of your own pack members. Instead, you make us do your dirty work." 

He clenched his jaw, his eyes darkening as I continued pushing his limits. He can't come into my home and bad mouth me. It isn't my fault that he can't take it when a girl challenges him, it's also not my fault that his ego is this fragile. I folded my arms and stared back at him, refusing to look away. He has another thing coming if he thinks I'll submit to him.

I didn't have time to register what he was doing before being slammed against a wall, his face inches from mine. Anger exploded within my chest as I let out a soft growl, my nails turned to claws as I shoved them into his chest, earning a grunt of pain from him. He slowly looked down before looking back up, his lips curling into a snarl. He grabbed my wrist and easily snapped it, causing me to bite my tongue to keep my screams back. Ripping my claws from his chest, I ignored the pain and headbutted him, causing him to stumble backwards. I didn't give him a chance to recover before tackling him to the ground and landing a fist on his face. Blood flowed from his now broken nose, but it didn't seem to faze him. 

He easily kicked me off and threw me into the gym's mirror, causing glass to shatter everywhere. I quickly grabbed a piece and dodged him as he attempted to land another attack. With ease, I sliced the back of his knee, causing it to give out from his weight. Shock grabbed me when it didn't seem to slow him down, before my mind could kick back into gear, I was being pinned to the ground. I clawed with my good hand at his hand, trying to loosen his grip so I could pull oxygen into my lungs. 

"Don't underestimate me, Princess," he snarled.

I glared up at him and managed a smile, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion right as I grabbed a sixty-pound weight and hit him over the head with it. I quickly shoved him off me before putting him into a sleep hold.

"And don't underestimate me either," I sneered.

He laughed and flipped me over him, slamming my back onto the ground below. We were both sweaty and bloody, our chests rising and falling quickly. We stare at each other, our vexation filling the air. He nodded silently, his lips tugging into a smirk. 

"You're going to be fun to deal with some day, when I do attack," he voiced.

I sucked in a deep breath, "If I don't kill you first." 

"Good luck."

He stood up and walked out, as if we didn't just destroy the gym trying to murder each other. Once I was sure he was gone, I cried out in pain as I snapped my wrist back into the correct position so it wouldn't heal wrong. Breathing through the agony, I pulled myself to my feet and began cleaning everything up the best I could. 

The gym door suddenly burst open as my dad ran in, "Why did you attack Obsidian? Are you stupid, Syl?"

I frowned, "He started it!" 

"He came in here to talk to you, to try and figure out why you hate him so much. Which, I mean isn't too hard to figure out but whatever. And you just attacked him."

"You have got to be kidding me, you believe him?" I cried out, exasperated. 

My father groaned, "No, I know the shit that man pulls. Are you okay?" 

"Yeah, my wrist just needs to heal, and I'll be bruised up for the rest of the day. He better get his leg fixed before he bleeds out."

He laughed and shook his head as he pulled me into a hug, "Please stop challenging alphas that are far more experienced than you. He could have killed you, you realize that, right?"

"I was handling it."

"Sylvia, he was taking it easy on you. I have seen what he does to wolves, you're strong, but you wouldn't stand a chance." 

I frowned, I wanted to argue with him but deep down, I knew he was right. I could feel it, Obsidian was barely using any of his strength, he was only giving me a taste of how he fights. Nodding, I gave in and hugged my dad back. 

"Now, go take a shower you smell," he joked.

I stuck my tongue out and left, wincing as the bruises began to make themselves known.