Prolog: Princess

Seventeen years ago:

Luna Bethany and Alpha Xavier child came into this world on a soft cry and beautiful smiles and tears of joy from both his parents.

For Fifteen minutes, they held high dreams and hopes with their first son.

Then a scream resonated from through the room. Xavier Read falls to the floor in tortured agony. His wife, Bethany screams in pain. And little Collin starts to scream at the top of his lungs.

         "Bethany!" Xavier yells, and looks over at his wife, who is on the floor, tears falling down her face swiftly.

        "There- Xavier! A-another one! Midwife! Now!"  She screams.

        Twenty three hours later, at midnight exactly, a wail sounds from the room. A new sound. The sound of new life. But the shrill screams of Bethany Read have long since vanished.

      "I-It's a little girl." The midwife says quietly, handing Xavier the child.

      "I don't want it." He cries, sobbing into his mates dead chest. "It killed my Bethany! I don't want it! Get it away from me!"

     The child instantly screams in agony at being rejected by her father.  The midwife cringes, and a tear rolls down her face. Poor child. She did nothing wrong, and already, she is unwanted. Bethany wouldn't stand for this. She'd give Xavier a good wack on the head for this.

     "Collin won't understand. He won't know why his sister is not with him! It would hurt him."

     "He will never know of his sister!  Kill it! I want it gone! Now!" His alpha wolf suddenly taking over his demeanor.

    "Yes Alpha Read." The midwife says.

     Then she takes the child away. And Xavier Read sobs, his son in arms. His heart breaking as he looks from his son to his dead wife. Knowing that it is the child's fault.  Bethany wasn't ready for this kind of things. His sweet mate, his precious Bethany.

        As soon as the door shuts behind the midwife, Collin let's out a shrill scream.

     "There, There, son." Xavier whispers looking down to his dark haired little boy. But he has no emotion as he cradles the boy. "It will soon pass."

      The midwife rushes down the stairs, the little girl screaming profusely in her arms, of which she is sure is from the blunt chill in the air.

     "Hush, little one." The midwife whispers, but not soothingly. There's no time. "It gets worse."

         Then the midwife wraps a cloak around her shoulders, trying desperately to tie it in the front while holding the child. She sits the baby on the table, then ties the cloak and wraps the baby in it, against her chest so that the warmth can keep the child quiet. With hurried steps, she runs into the outdoors, where snow has assaulted the ground in a frenzy. Cold, making the baby scream once more, then falling silent, as if accepting the death her father wants for her.

       "You will not die tonight, Little Luna. You are needed else where." Then the midwife crosses the Red Stars border, going directly into rogue territory. The midwife tucks the child's face so that no snow can reach her.

         Before too long, one of the Rogues find the midwife.

          "Nurse of Red Star. What have we here? Why are you out so late, roaming the property of my King?" A broad shouldered man with yellow hair demands, coming close to the midwife.

     "I need to see the Rogue King now." The woman says. She sounds angry, determined.

       "Ha! You want to see the Rogue King?" He ask, and she nods. "Alright, can you shift?"

        "Important cargo. Can't risk it."

       "Okay. But you try any thing shady,I won't hesitate to kill you myself."

         "I wouldn't hold it against you."  She says mater of factly. The baby is silent. Not that her little whimpers could be heard anyhow. The wind is howling enough to cover any small sound the child would make.

        The Rouge man leads the Midwife to the home of the Rogue King after many hours of silent trekking, they arrive at a large mansion. Every light in the house is on.

         The Rogue walks the midwife inside and leads her to the Kings office.

         "What is it, Madise?" The King demands, looking up from his paper work. As soon as he sees the woman in the blue ice wool cloak behind him, he stiffens.

         "This woman is the Midwife of Red Star, sir. She request to meet you. It is apparently important."

         "It'd better be."  The King says harshly.

         "Leave us, Omega." The Midwife demands. The Rogue looks to the King, and he nods, before dismissing the Omega Rogue man with a swift gustier of his hand.

          "What is it, woman? I haven't the time for Red Star whores."

          "Do you want me to leave?" She demands, clutching the bundle more tightly.

         "That depends on what you have in that cloak." The King says, seeing the protective movement.

          "I'm sure you have heard that the Alpha of Red Star's Luna had her baby." The midwife says, tilting her head.

         "Indeed. I also heard of your lovely Luna's passing during the birth of her son. Tsk, tsk, tsk. How tragic."

           "You have heard wrong, oh Rogue King. She did not die in the birthing of her son. But twenty three hours later, at midnight, with the birth of a now unwanted offspring. The King wants it to be killed. He wants the child that killed his mate dead. He wants little Collin to not have his sibling alive." The midwife says.

           "Little Future Alpha Collin has a sibling? Tell me; was it another male-"

          "She was born at midnight, drawing her first breathe as her mother drew her last."  And the midwife slowly unwraps the child, presenting the King with a tiny, pale white baby girl, deep in sleep.

         "I know of your wife's recent loss. This child has been cast away from her entire pack by her own father. I wonder if the two would be of use to one another." The midwife smiles sadly.

          "Is she alive? She is still as the dead." The King says.

           "She needs love. She is cold and has a broken heart, an empty stomach, and she has no one. She is alone."

           "Why would you bring her to us? To my grieving wife?"

           "Because she has been cast out by her pack. By her father, Red Star's Alpha. All Rogues are here. And now this infant is one of you."

            "If your Alpha finds out about this, he will kill you for disobedience."

       "My loyalty does not lie with Xavier. It lay with my dead Luna. She would not want her daughter dead. No mater what. Bethany, may she Rest In Peace,  was the best of our pack. Her heart was golden. She would want this."

            "And what will become of you if I take the child?"

             "I go back to my pack. I'll need some of the baby's blood; to make it seem dead."

             "So the child will become Willa's? No attachments to your pack?"

             "She will become your child, King."

            The Rogue King takes a slow step forwards, brushing his thumb along the tiny baby's cheek. It is cold as ice. Yet the child stirs, opening her eyes, presenting the King with a nearly undoing sight.

             They were sad, sad, little black eyes, framed by lengthy lashes. They looked, undeniably, like the Luna Bethany's eyes had looked on the last meeting held between the two rivaling groups of wolves.

             "The child does not cry. Why is this?" The King ask, a look of awl on his dark face.

             "Her heart is broken. She has nothing left in her to cry for."

             "Give her to me." The King says quietly, holding his arms out. His chest bare, the tattoos look like a dangerous thing to let one so pure and untainted around. Yet the midwife hands the child to the man. He cradles her to himself. And the child curls into his warm embrace.

            "What to do... what to do." The midwife mutters, looking at the two in pure wonder.

            The baby starts to wriggle, as if impatience is strengthening her. The King try's to hand the child back, but it lets loose a blood curling scream of denial, struggling.

           "What-"

            "Put her back to your chest, hold her to your warmth." The midwife advises. As soon as he does, the baby falls silent.

             "Leave." The King tells the woman, looking up to her. "This child belongs to me now. Use the smell of her mothers blood to mask your lies. You will not lay blade to the child. Nor will any other."

             The midwife nods. Then she turns, just as Madise comes back into the room.

             "I want you to take this woman back to her home: quickly. I don't want her in any harm what so ever. Is that understood, Madise?" The King ask, glairing into the Omegas eyes. He bows his head, grabs the arm of the woman and walks out.

            "Thank you." She calls.

            "No, thank you for this, woman. If you are ever in need of anything, do not hesitate to come to the Rogues."

           Then she disappears.

           The King looks at the bare baby in his arms, so tiny, before picking up his shirt and wrapping the child with surplus material to hide her in.

          "Willa," he calls, walking down the halls, to the nursery that his wife had been in for the past week, grieving their lost son.

           "What is it, Riddler? I told you to leave me be."

           "I have a gift from you, from your former pack." He says, kneeling beside the rocker that she sways in. The same eyes that lay in the child's head lay also in Willa's. She was the Luna Bethany's second cousin.

          "I don't want any gift." She cried, running her hands through her blond hair, frustrated. "How many time-"

         Suddenly, the baby lets out a cry,  and Willa freezes. Slowly her eyes drift to her husbands.

         "What-"

          The shrill sound lets loose again.

          "Bethany had her baby. And died giving birth to the second, which Alpha Xavier wants dead, because he blames the baby for the death of his mate. The child was exiled. Very near dead. Your cousin, from Red Star came to me with the second child. She wants her to be ours. Only ours."

           "I want to see her." The Luna Rogue whispers, and  the King lifts the white material from the child's delicate face.

          Instantly, tears stream down Willa's face.

         "Oh, Riddler, she's so still."

         "She is broken." He whispers. "She needs you. She needs us ."

          Willa reaches to take the baby from Riddlers hand, but she screams.

          "She doesn't want to leave your arms." Willa hesitates, starting to back away shyly.

          Slowly, though, Riddler hands over the child. As soon as she is in Willa's arms, she looks for food.

          "My goodness." Willa whispers sharply, "she-"

          "She recognizes you as her mother now, Willa. Will you have the child? Or do you want her to leave as well?" But the Rogue King knows his wife. He can feel her love instantly, and knows that the bond has been made.

          "Does my daughter have a name?" Willa whispers, pressing the child more closely to her chest.

            "She has no name. All I know is that she was the second child of Bethany, born at midnight and exiled."

            "She needs a name. She is the princess of a pack now. She needs a strong name." Willa strokes the baby's hands with her fingertips, being ever so gentle.

            "She is the Princess of Rogues.... your child. Name her,"

             "Reign. Reign." Willa whispers suddenly. A light coming into her once dull eyes.

              "Rain?" The King ask curiously.

              "Reign as in 'of her reign'."The woman presses her thumb to the middle of the babies forehead.

               The baby lets out a loud scream, moving around wildly.

              "She is truly alive now. We need to feed her,"  Willa looks up to her husband. He smiles brightly, finally seeing his wife again after all her tormented days, happy.

              He bends, pressing his lips to her forehead. "I missed you, Willa." He says quietly, then leaves the room, going after something for the child to eat.

             "Hello, baby." Willa whispers, nuzzling the whining baby, before  standing and going to one of the shelves, grabbing bottle, and plugging  the warmer in. Willa mixes the formula into a bottle of water, before placing the bottle into the warmer.

          Soon, the child is sucking furiously on the bottle, as Willa rocks in the rocker. Murmuring;

           "My Princess Reign."