Hello

I was born into royalty and groomed to be a Queen. Little did I know the wars that would start because of my family, or the lives that would bind themselves to mine.

Other children have cats and dogs as pets, but not I. For my fifth birthday, my dad got me a bear. His name is Axle and although I didn't know it at the time, he was a shifter just like me. Axle was sent here to protect me, and quickly became my confidante, my best friend. I don't think I would have made it through everything and come out on the other side if Axle wasn't there encouraging me to put one foot in front of the other. But anyway, welcome to the start of my journey to become the Queen of the wolves...

"Axle no! I was only joking!" I couldn't help myself, I just started to laugh, knowing full well it wasn't proper or ladylike to entertain a giggling fit in front of guests. But how could I not?

Axle was dressed in a giant pink taffeta tutu, and ballet shoes, trying valiantly to dance among the guests, which in itself wasn't so funny, except that since he had lost the bet to me, he was having to do it in bear form-and he was doing it very badly.

His giant black grizzly form was standing on two tree trunk legs, making his height an intimidating eight feet plus, and he was trying to waltz in time to the music. All the while his dark brown eyes glared at me through his predators face promising me retribution later. As Axle turned, his mammoth-sized arms skittled the dessert cart sending it flying towards one of the older Alpha's in the room and if it wasn't for daddy's quick reflexes as he catapulted over other guests and used his own body as a shield, Alpha Warren may have needed to go to the royal doctor.

What sent me into hysterical giggles was the look on daddy's face as he stood in front of his guests, amongst splintered wood and ruined desserts with pavlova dribbling down his forehead.

"Alina Caroline Deveraux! Get your bear out of here right now!"

Uh oh, that blood vessel in the middle of Daddy's forehead was pulsing and his eyes were beginning to glow- a sure sign that his wolf was close to the surface it was time for Axle and me to make our exit...

"Hurry up 'Lina !" Axle whisper screamed in my ear as he ran past butt naked, using the tutu to hide what he could, and I hitched up my skirt to race after him, laughing uncontrollably. This is why the mountain of a man is my best friend. He makes royal life fun.

I found Axle flopped down on my bed, in the wing of the castle designated to me. By the time I reached him he was decent again, clad in his black dress pants and silky dress shirt, hands over face, ears bright red at the sound of my laughter travelling along the corridor.

"You suck 'Lina." He declared before leaping up, grabbing me in his muscled arms as he buried his tanned face in my hair, "I will never live it down! And I am pretty sure your Dad is going to demote me to the stable boy because of this latest stunt." He finished dramatically, sighing for effect.

"He would never put you in the stables Axle." I comforted him, hugging him back, then I ducked under his arms, smirking "The horses can smell your bear scent and it scares the shit out of them!"

"Language!"

I couldn't help but stick my tongue out at him then, knowing full well that it was far from ladylike for a seventeen-year-old royal to show such a lack of manners. Around Axle I didn't care, I wasn't a royal wolf, I didn't have responsibilities, I was just me. And I loved him for it.

Axle was twenty and in the prime of his life. Bears transitioned differently to wolves, claiming their beast forms before their fifth birthday. So by the time he came into my world he had already spent three years in his second skin. Simply put, he was my everything.

I sat down in my rocking chair, by the window overlooking the forest within our territory, ignoring the grumbling coming from my "protector" as he muttered about how much he has to put up with. I know he's joking, and the latest stunt was kind of mortifying for him. But he could never stay mad at me, he'd get over it soon enough, he always did.

For some reason, the woods were beckoning me more than usual today...

I always liked to run as my wolf but only managed to do so once a week, and even then it was with Axle hot on my heels, a lumbering bear did not a fast run make. At least daddy left me with only one guard and not twenty like my mother had when she was still with us...

"You're thinking about her aren't you?" His deep voice stated quietly, and I felt Axle's large hands on my shoulders as he came up behind me. Both of us stared out at the scene before us.

Pink peaks in the sky announced the beginning of the spring sunset, purple slowly chased it's way across the mountains, preparing for the night to sneak into the arms of our valley. The trees would forever hold the mysteries of the shifter world, and as the royal family, we owned a large expanse of woodland that eventually ended where the river split the territory, separating us from the wild no man's land. To the right of Deveraux land was bear country and deep in the south, the nightwalkers held a small pocket of caves for themselves. Everyone knew their boundaries and very few people challenged them.

"I still miss her Axle, the sound of her voice, the way she would hug me, and tuck me in at night, her scent I miss her so damn much it almost kills me. Daddy is worse though, he thinks I don't hear but sometimes, late at night he sits in their room and I can hear him sobbing like his heart's shattered without her, I hope I never find my mate if that's what it feels like to lose them."

Axle lifted me from my chair, enfolding me in his warm embrace, chasing away the shaking that always accompanies memories of my mother like he's done so many times before, and we stood that way, just looking out the window, passing time in the safety of each other's company. Little did I know that we were not alone that night.