The Alphas & The Heiress

Rohanor

The sun is up in all its glory, and soon we can hear the bustle of breakfast in the kitchen.

“I’m heading out.” I stand and say abruptly to Varian with no preamble.

“Where are you off to so early? Training isn’t for another two hours.” Varian asks from behind me.

“Training center, I want to check in on Syble’s progress with her group. Maybe we can steal her away after and take her somewhere. What do you think?”

At this point I’d make up any excuse just to watch her. She’s an incredible fighter; strong, agile, adaptive. The pull to her is becoming truly unbearable and I know Varian feels it too. Our wolves are constantly agitated, arguing with us about claiming her. Then Varian and I end up arguing over whether or not we should entertain getting to know her beyond her fighting skills.

We dissected our conversation with our dad, and we know we need to get to know her. We need to figure out who she is behind all her posturing, – her mask, literally.

He brushes his thumb and index finger over his chin like he’s deep in thought. “We could probably show her the lake, it’s private enough. Maybe tomorrow?”

“Maybe we can take her to lunch in town today then, to get away from prying eyes.” I offer.

“And him.” Varian says, clearly in reference to Incandis.

“You coming with me to the gym, or no?” I wouldn’t be surprised if he decided to finally get some sleep. He looks like shit, which probably means I do too.

He takes a steadying breath, we’re both about to embark on a journey we swore we’d never entertain. “Yeah, okay, let’s go.”

Five minutes later we’re standing outside the door to the training center. It’s just before the women’s group is due to arrive, I know Syble gets here early to warm up before they do. I’m not sure if it’s my heightened sense of hearing or if they’re really shouting that loudly but from outside the building Varian and I can hear Syble arguing with someone inside.

“Ma—” Incandis starts to say.

“Finish that sentence and I’ll snap your neck.”

“Syble, I can’t fight with you.”

“Can’t, or won’t?”

“Both. You know why.”

At this Varian and I look at each other with intrigue and slip silently inside the doors of the training center. Syble is on Incandis’ back with his head in a choke hold. Varian and I duck behind a pillar when Syble jumps off his back and Incandis turns around to face her. A minute passes with them staring at each other.

“Queen’s orders, and don’t you fucking hold back on me.” Her tone is bone-chilling.

Incandis looks defeated and enraged all at once, like he just got sucker punched in the gut. Slowly, white bat-like wings with sky blue edges unfold from behind him. I can’t see her reaction with her back turned to us, but slowly her wings unfold as well. Hers are a deep, royal purple color and tattered on the bottom, littered with what look like burn holes, like she’s been through war.

She makes the first move, literally flying over the floor ramming straight into Incandis. He takes a single step backwards upon impact to steady his balance before trying to punch her in the stomach. She uses her wings to propel her backwards, before flying into him again. They both wrestle like this for a while, mid air, fists flying. She moves so fast, faster than any wolf I’ve ever met, but she can only keep it up for short distances I’ve realized.

She-wolves from Syble’s group start showing up expecting training as usual. They mindlike Varian and me asking about the two dragons going at it, but we tell them to just be quiet and watch.

Incandis is able to catch her from time to time, and when he does there’s an audible snap of a bone each and every time; a few ribs, her jaw, shoulder. She snaps what she can back into place, the rest she leaves broken and grits through what must be tremendous pain. Most of our warriors would at the very least be slowed down by a few broken ribs, she acts like she got a paper cut.

The women standing around must have mindlinked the others about what’s happening because soon the room is filled with warriors and other pack members eager to catch a glimpse.

It’s amazing to watch her in full force, I realize now how much she holds back on me. They are in complete control of their wings, using them to propel them any which way they’d like. Incandis pushes off, hovering in the air several feet above the ground. Syble dashes to him and in a blur knocks him out of the air and into a pillar behind him. His back connects to the pillar first, then his head slams back into it sending a fracture up and down the length of the pillar.

They’re both panting, staring at each other. Finally Syble extends her hand out to Incandis and hauls him to his feet without a word between either of them. He checks over her injuries tenderly, lovingly, guilt swimming in his eyes. Several emotions are swarming within me. Rage that he hurt her, pride that she kicked his ass, more rage – or jealousy – that he’s the one standing there checking over her, caring for her.

Varian and I approach them and it’s only then that they’re aware that they’ve had an audience. Syble’s lips press together in a thin line before attempting to walk away from us.

“Hey, woah, where are you going?” Varian puts his arm out to stop her.

“I’m late for my class so if you’d excuse me…” she tries to push past us again, hissing in pain from the movement, but this time I step in front of her.

“Runidar will take over your class today. Incandis, would you mind spearheading the men’s class today?” I ask. Finally, this might be how I’m finally able to pull them apart.

“Why would Runidar take over class today, I’m here, I’m ready.” Syble protests.

Varian puts his hand gently on the small of her back, “you can resume your training once you get checked out by our medical staff in the infirmary.”

Her lips part just a fraction at the contact. I can feel her resisting him, resisting us. Reluctantly she nods her head.

“Fine, but once they clear me, and they will, you’ll train with me.”

“Fine.” My jaw ticks in annoyance. I’m not used to making compromises but I feel confident that they’ll put her on bed rest for at least a day while her ribs heal.

I mindlink the staff on our way over to notify them of our impending arrival. The walk to the infirmary is silent. Varian and I are eager to question her but she’s an actual flight risk until she’s inside an exam room.

When we arrive, a nurse greets us immediately.

“Good morning alphas, Syble, please make yourselves comfortable over here in our private suite. Dr. Logan will be right in.”

We nod our thanks to her and usher Syble into the room. She slumps down into one of the arm chairs, Varian sits in the one adjacent while I remain standing. I can hear the increase in her heartbeat the moment the door shuts, closing her in together with us. The air is thick with an electric hum between us, our wolves start pushing us to make a move.

“So, are you going to tell us what that was all about?” Varian asks gently.

“We were training, what else is there to say?” She shrugs, crossing her legs underneath her in the armchair.

“You just seemed angry, in fact you still do. Is something upsetting you?” He presses her for more.

Syble sighs and tilts her head back resting it on the chair. “It’s really not a big deal, just letting off steam. I haven’t been sleeping well so maybe that’s why I seem more…irritable.”

That makes three of us. I mindlink to Varian.

“If you’re not comfortable in your room we can make other accommodations.” Varian offers.

“No, the room is fine, I’ve just, I don’t know, been feeling impatient. Restless.” She whispers the last word and if it wasn’t for our increased hearing we would have missed it.

Varian leans over and places a gentle hand on her knee, “we’re going to find your friends, I promise.” His words are firm – resolute. He keeps his hand on her knee, thumbing it gently, and I can hear from her heart rate that she’s relaxing.

She feels the bond too, Varian, look at how her body responds to you.

I didn’t want to admit it but I don’t know how much longer I can hold back. She’s restless, our wolves are restless…we need to make a decision. He responds back through the mindlink.

We’ll need to figure out an excuse to get her away from Incandis for more than five seconds everyday.

We’ll figure something out, we’ve made it this far. He has a point, one day at a time.

This weekend then, we’ll make our final decision.

The more I entertain the idea of getting to know her and being near her, the more I have to fight the feeling that I already know what my answer is.

I’ve known it since I first saw her in the woods.