Chapter 41: Aaron

Aaron's P.O.V.

I can't believe what I'm seeing. The entire Lycan Palace has been demolished. What happened here? I came to see King Harlan to see if he would consider letting me train as one of his warriors. I'm a panther, but I'm also a trained ninja. I pleaded my case to the Tiger King, but he said he had no use for someone like me. I thought I'd give the lycans a try. I wasn't expecting the palace and all the people to be gone. I run my fingers through my blonde hair in frustration. Where did everyone go?

"Can I help you?" I spin around and see a lycan guard behind me.

"I'm sorry. I didn't think anyone was here. I'm Aaron.  I came to speak with King Harlan, but it appears he's not in at the moment." The guard shakes his head at my attempt at humor.

"King Harlan and Queen Silvia were killed. King Drakon is staying at the Silver Lunar pack until a new palace is built." The guard explains.

"Wow. Okay, I will go there then. Thank you. Can I ask who killed the King and Queen?" The guard smiles slightly.

"King Drakon and Maverick. Maverick was a former trained assassin for the palace, and he's Alpha Sienna's Beta. If you had met King Harlan and Queen Silvia, you would have wanted to kill them, too. Looking at them was looking into the faces of pure evil. Most of the guards and warriors went with King Drakon to Silver Lunar, but a few of us stayed behind to watch over the grounds. King Drakon is a good man." I hold my hand out to him.

"Thank you. I will go to the pack and see if I can meet with him. What do you think the chances are that he'll find a panther who is trained as a ninja useful?" The guard smiles and pats my back.

"You may be more useful than you think. Alpha Sienna is preparing for a battle. One of the guards down there told me that two black magic witches and someone from the underworld are preparing to attack. I think the King and the Alpha would appreciate your help." This may be my chance to show my skills. I always like new challenges, and it looks like they have several of them.

"Thanks." I shake his hand and begin running in the direction of Silver Lunar. After a few miles, I remove my clothes and put them in my bag so I can shift into my panther Arson. He's a lot faster than I am.

It takes a few hours to get to the pack. When we reach the driveway, Arson shifts into me, and I get dressed. It's only a little after sunrise, so I hope I'm not too early. I hear wolves in the trees on either side of me, but I don't look at them. If they thought I was a threat they would have already stopped me. When I'm almost at the pack house, several people are waiting for me.

"Are you Aaron?" A man asks as he steps forward.

"Yes." The guard at the palace must have told them I was coming.

"I'm King Drakon, please call me Drake. This is Queen Mariela, Alpha Sienna, Beta Maverick, Eva, Zay, Troy, Zeida, Kierra, and Felix. I understand that you wanted to speak with us." I look around at everyone, and I'm in shock. The Alpha and Beta are the most impressive.

"Yes. I'm a panther, and I was trained to be a ninja. I'm a rogue, but I don't want to be. I went to the palace to speak with the former King about becoming one of the royal warriors. I understand you are now the King. Would you entertain having someone like me work for you?" I ask, looking at Drake. I've never met a King who didn't want people to use his title when addressing him and preferred to use a nickname.

"As you can see, we are not all wolves and lycans here. Most of the people standing behind me are hybrids. I think a panther ninja would be a great addition. What do you think, Sienna?"  Drake looks at the Alpha, and she smiles. I notice her teal eyes, and gasp. The teal eyes are a dead giveaway as the mark of the goddess Astraea.

"I think we can use all the help we can get. Please join us, Aaron. We were just getting ready to eat breakfast before Mav puts us to work with another training session." I look at the large man next to her and swallow. I'm six feet six, but he looks like a giant compared to me. He's not just tall. He's wide and pure muscle. He nods at me, but his expression doesn't change.

"Sounds good. Can I train with you?" I would love to see this man at work. Okay, I may have a little bromance going on here, but no one says anything. I have a feeling Sienna can fight, too, and I know she'll fight for her man. I'm not interested in him like that, anyway. I'm into women.

"The more people we have training with us, the better. Follow us. I'll show you where you can put your things." I follow Sienna and Maverick into the pack house. It's gorgeous inside. Even though it's massive, it feels comfortable. She leads me to a room and holds the door open. I take my bag inside and then follow them to the dining hall.

As soon as we enter, I take a deep breath, and Arson begins purring. My heart beats loudly in my ears while I look around. When my eyes meet those of a woman across the room, I freeze. She's so beautiful. She has long, dark brown hair and gorgeous, dark blue eyes. She's mine. We walk toward each other, and I can feel people watching me, but no one else matters except this goddess. When we're standing in front of each other, she smiles.

"Mate," we say at the same time.

"I'm Alisa," she says softly. I want to hug her and run my fingers through her hair. Don't even get me started on how I want to kiss her beautiful mouth.

"I'm Aaron, a panther," I reply.

"Actually, he's a panther ninja. He came here to help," Sienna says from behind me. I turn and see everyone smiling at us.

"Wow, a panther ninja. I can't wait to see your moves. I'm just a boring wolf." I have to touch her. I place my hand on her cheek, and her eyes widen as the sparks spread between us.

"There's nothing boring about you." Her eyes light up, and she smiles.

"See, Alisa, I told you your real mate would come. If you're a screamer like Zeida, we may have to start putting new couples in the houses around the pack lands rather than in the pack house." Alisa's face turns bright red at what Sienna said.  Everyone is staring at Zeida.

"What can I say? Troy has some secret weapons and knows how to use them." The man next to her looks like he would rather be anywhere else than here, having this conversation.  This is an interesting group of people.  I doubt I’ll ever get bored being around them.