Chapter 23: All For The Pride

*The Chambers of the Luna Queen Elizabeth.*

Arriving back to her chambers, Elizabeth lounges on her fainting couch, one golden embroidered pillow pressed between her side and the arm of the sofa. While one hand absentmindedly strokes her long golden hair the other snaps her fingers, and a maid appears with a goblet of wine. The game is set. Now all that is left is for her husband's whore to show her hand.

Perhaps this would teach her ravenous husband, sh barked a demented laugh, startling her ladies maids. Leisurely, she sips her wine glass before she waves a hand to the guards beside the double door. The hinges creak as they widen and present the presumed Lady Pearl Harris. Elizabeth smiles at the shaken woman showing her white teeth. Let the game begin. She thinks.

Lady Harris practically falls to her knees when she gets in front of Elizabeth, her head hovering above the floorboards. Elizabeth rolls her eyes before speaking in a clear, authoritative tone. "I have done a meticulous investigation regarding your background Lady Harris." Elizabeth snaps her fingers, and the imposter lifts her head. "I presume you already know what crimes you have committed."

"I...I do not know, your majesty." The supposed Lady Pearl Harris stammers.

Elizabeth gives an exhausted sigh at Lady Harris's meek voice. "Are you planning to pretend to be innocent even now, Lady Pearl Harris?" Anger ripples through Elizabeth, her beautiful smile turning ominous, "Perhaps should I call you…Beta Polly Harris. Can you claim innocence now?"

"Your maj…your majesty!" Lady Harris's words trembled, tripping over each other as her eyes the size of saucers as she looked up at Elizabeth. "How..how do you know....have you always... have you always known that…?"

"So my sources are correct. That is your real name." Elizabeth leaned back into her pillow, picking at an invisible speck of dust on her flowing sleeve.

"I didn't kill her!" Lady Harris pleaded. "She…she got herself killed! We went hiking after she was chosen as a gift to the alpha king and…." She pulled at her hair as tears began to pour from her eyes. "She fell from the cliff!" Lady Harris, Polly, insisted, then collapsed before telling her story between sobs. "Almost 15 years ago on a late autumn day..." She began.

*Amidst all four seasons, I preferred autumn the most. The gentle cool breeze that settled upon the capital Mescus always reminds me of my hometown, Merton. A village seated between mountains and an ocean. The air smelled fresh and felt crip all year long, a place wonderfully embedded in the autumn season.*

*As a young girl, I was unaware of many things concerning my Pack, only knowing that our Pack, my Pack, was tasked with the secret protection of something precious for centuries. Thus the reason why we are called the Silent Maw Pack.

The treasure that my Pack was tasked to keep for centuries was a symbol of great pride to us. I was proud as well that we held such a secret that no other Pack knew, though I didn't know what that secret was.*

*Once, I asked our Alpha to share the Pack's secret with me, knowing that even inquiring about the Pack's mystery was forbidden, but I didn't care. I was a part of the Silent Maw Pack and deserved to know, but my Alpha disagreed. I was thrown into confinement as a punishment for my arrogance. No one but my sister Pearl dared to visit me, even risked bringing me food. My sweet, dearest sister. Pearl.*

*Growing up, my identical twin sister Pearl and I were inseparable, doing everything together, the type of twins that could feel what the other was feeling even if we were miles away from each other. She and I learned to hunt together. We trained with the same instructor teaching us the same fighting stances. We even sometimes dressed the same. No matter what, we were the other's mirror self. So much so that our Pack struggled with telling us apart, and then as we grew older, they started to compare me with Pearl in some way or another. *

*As we became older, I showed the most promise when it came to most things, and even though fellow werewolves compared me to her instead of her to me, I felt no hostility towards them because I always won. In any competition we took part in, I always beat her. I was the stronger fighter, the better archer, keener hunter, hell, I even danced lovelier than my twin did.*

*We often played this game, the 'who is who' contest where we would wear each other's clothes and pretend to be the other. I was even better at that too. I knew exactly how to imitate Pearl. Some fellow werewolves even commented that I looked even more beautiful than she had in her own dress. Whereas Pearl struggled to duplicate me correctly, letting her soft smile accidentally show when a male flirted with her.*

*Only our brother Jakobe could tell us apart instantly, waiting for the perfect moment to humiliate me by catching me off guard by shouting out my real name but then again, he always did like Pearl best. He often told me where my twin sister was gentle, I was fierce.*

*Pearl enjoyed nature. She would hike the mountains that bookend us with the roaring ocean any chance she could. Jakobe did too. They walked the mountain trails together often, leaving me behind to train, to be the best. Pearl would drag me with her a few times as she casually sauntered to the top of Tost Mountain. There we would have a picnic. Just the two of us, we were simply sisters on top of that Mountain*.

*I can not remember when my fellow werewolves started calling me "the pride of Silent Maw Pack." Only that the name became more and more frequent with every competition I won. I still remember one of the last Archey tournaments my sister participated in. Pearl hadn't even made the fourth round due to her wandering across the mountain peaks.*

*I had practiced till my fingers bled, and the hours of sweat, pain, and extra training had paid off when I beat not only my sister yet again but the Alpha's son. Pearl had practically tackled me to the ground when the tournament ended, squealing: "Oh my Goddess Poll, you won! I'm so happy for you!" She had said, smiling as she squeezed me so tight I thought she was going to crack a rib.*

*I didn't understand her. Why didn't she seem to care whether she won or lost. Why she didn't seem to have the burning desire to be the best to show that she was a full-fledged member of the Silent Maw Pack. We were twins, we were each other's mirror, but we were also two sides to a coin, different. Where I was eager and strong, she was not. Pearl was clumsy and naive. She was also frequently sick and had to stay in bed for days at a time, but Pearl always wore that soft smile and loved me, no matter what*.

*When the Alpha King Zachary visited Merton, everything changed for Pearl and me. All the young females of our Pack knew that the Silent Maw Pack Alpha planned to give the Alpha King a virgin female as a gift. The gesture was expected, regardless of the Luna Queen. A King had his appetite, and the best way to win favor was offering the Alpha King a new mistress.*

*I was positive that I would be selected by our Alpha, for I was the best out of all males and females, especially the females. I would bring more pride to my Pack as the King's new mistress and make sure I gained his favor so that fortune would smile down on the Silent Maw Pack. Only my Packs Alpha didn't choose. Alpha King Zachary did.*

*Every unmated female was called to our grand hall and lined along the perimeter of the great room. Each of us wore our best gown, my twin and I stood next to one another, clasping each other's hands behind our backs*.

*Regardless of the fact that now the Alpha King would choose his gift himself, I was confident he would pick me. I was the pride of the Silent Maw Pack. Certainly, my Alpha had told the King which female was the best.*

*My breath seemed to stop as King Zachary stopped in front of my sister and me, his piercing blue eyes full of hunger and delight. Reminding me of a male child in a sweets shop. His gaze swept over me before landing on my twin. A faint gleam of a white canine showed as he made his decision.*

*A bubble of pride foamed in my gut before exploding with a pop. As the Alpha King chose her instead of me. My clumsy, naive, sickly twin sister.*