Hidden Queen: Hidden Queen, #1

By S.C. Cummins

All it took was one night to bring my world crashing down around me. Now, I´m the last of our royal line, I´m the new Queen of the Werewolves. But it´s not just as simple as taking the throne. To protect me, our world has to believe I died with my family until my guards find the threat.

So for now, I´ve got to stay hidden. For this to work, I have to enter a new pack under the guise of a royal warriors. From there everything changes.

Finding my mate was just the start.

Now love and betrayal is setting everything into motion.

• Language: English
• Publisher: S.C. Cummins
• Release date: Dec 18, 2014
• ISBN: 9781507012734

Book preview

Chapter One

Looking out my bedroom window, I couldn't help appreciate the beauty of my surroundings. An endless vibrant green forest and a beautiful crystal clear lake. It's a beautiful place for anyone to live even more so for a werewolf. Unlike most of our kind, we don't live with a pack. Why? It's because my parents are the King and Queen of Werewolves. I being their only child mean that I'm next in line to be future Queen. Unlike the usual stereotypes given to Royal families, my parents are down to earth. They have no airs or graces about themselves or with me.

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Instead of being cooped up inside the palace, I get to train with our top warriors who are part of our Royal Guards. Once they realised how serious I was about training with them. They didn't take it easy on me. They treated me the same as they would any other training warrior. After ten years of training with them, it's only now I can keep up with their strength, speed and techniques. The closer I get to turning eighteen the stronger I am becoming. At eighteen is when a Royal comes into their true strength and receive their true power. As I get close to my birthday, more of my Royal mark appears on my back.

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My mark started to appear after my first shift at sixteen, the same age as all werewolves. It starts at the top of my back. With each birthday more of the mark appears until my eighteenth birthday which is only a couple of months away. Then I'll know what power I will have. Each mark is different and unique, no two Queens or King will ever have the same mark. The marks at first glance look like any other tattoo, except for the unique shades of colours. So far the colour of my mark is midnight blue and silver, intertwined together in an intricate design.

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When I meet my mate and complete our bond he will have the same mark appear over his heart, marking him as King like my father. Our mates always tend to be stronger, faster and more aggressive than any other wolf until the bond calms their wolf. The reason they're like this is because their wolf has a strong urge to find and protect us, more so than the usual bond between mates.

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When I find him and we complete our bond, then at twenty one my parents will step down from the throne. That gives me more than a few years before I panic about the pressure that comes with such a big responsibility. Learning everything I need to know about ruling will start at eighteen. But for now I can concentrate on my training so I can help protect our kind. As a Queen, I need to be strong both in mind and body. Training to fight on our own helps to protect ourselves without relying on the warriors to protect us. We fight with our warriors, they don't fight alone.

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Looking at the clock in my room, I grab my towel and water before heading down to the training room. Walking inside I'm met with smiling faces. A quarter of our warriors are close to my age, so I'm lucky to have a lot of friends among them. Unfortunately, most of their mates and children tend to stay in their packs or become pack warriors while getting to start their own families. Most of the warriors here either haven't met their mates yet or are living with them in the estate on the outskirts of the grounds where they have their own privacy as well. The warriors that have mates and children that are living on the grounds, I have met but unfortunately they don't seem as comfortable being around me as their mates are. I being future Queen make them feel like they have to act a certain way around me.

Hey Kyra, are you ready to get your ass kicked today? Mason, my best friend asked pulling me out of my daze as he wraps his arms around me.

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I highly doubt that Mason Jessie smirked. If I remember clearly Kyra has kicked your ass repeatedly. So many times I can't even keep count anymore.

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Exactly what I was thinking Jessie.

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Hey, it's not that often he pouted. Anyway..... You have been training with the guys a lot longer than I've been. With the pout already looking ridiculous on him, I'm expecting him to stamp his foot next.

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The reason why he looks ridiculous is because he is six foot two with broad shoulders and an unnatural amount of muscle packed into his frame. Masons brown hair is short at the sides and longer at the top. He swears he styles it messily on top but I know he can't get it under control and he hates that. His personality shows in his face, he is so warm, friendly and funny. When he smiles his brown eyes sparkle with a cheeky grin to match. But if you get on the wrong side of him that can quickly change. That sparkle in his eyes turns into a death stare and you know you're in trouble and that you should look away. But it's like you're a rabbit caught in the headlight and unable to look away. His whole body language just screams danger, the kind of danger that makes you want to run as fast as you can and never look back. Mason isn't the only one that can't get the better of me but luckily they all take it in their stride and there aren't any man size tantrums or grudges.

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My features are the polar opposite of his and not at all intimidating on any level. The reason is not exactly tall for the werewolf. The average height is about six foot and I'm not exactly standing tall at five foot seven inches. Unlike some of the other female wolves who look like they have stepped out of a fashion magazine shoot, I'm slim and probably over toned from all the training, chest wise I have to say I have done better than the average wolf . My auburn hair has natural blonde streaks going through it and falls down my back in thick waves ending below my ribs. The one feature I do love is my eyes, they are a mix of blue and silver which stand out against my tanned skinned along with my full lips. All of this is exactly why I'm not intimidating. Which Mason proves by calling me baby girl?

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Every morning I train I start it off the same way by a quick warm up and then straight into fighting. There is nothing like a good fight to get your energy up for the rest of the day. Normally I have breakfast with my parents before training but today I got a little sidetracked this morning so breakfast is going to come after I finish here. When training is finished we a group of us run patrol around the perimeter of the grounds, then I spend some time with Mason.

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Whoever ends up with Mason being their mate is going to be a lucky girl. He is so easy to be around and he's very protective, he's like the big brother I have never had which is a role he fits into perfectly. Even my parents have a soft spot for him especially when they know how protective he is of me. The only thing I'm hoping for is that when he finds his mate he will stay here or live on the estate with her, I'm being greedy but I would hate to lose him. When I think of becoming Queen, I've always picture us staying here and having big families.

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After two hours of training and kicking Mason's ass numerous times, I ran back into the house to get some breakfast before doing the next patrol. Luckily my parents are still in the kitchen talking. Walking up behind them, I give both of them a hug.

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Uh honey, your all sweaty mom laughed as she tried to squirm out of my hold.

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I know, I'm sorry I apologised. I was running late this morning and missed breakfast. I'm too hungry to go get a shower and clean up especially when I still have patrol to run.

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Its okay squirt Dad smiled. Killian has been telling us that you're kicking ass during training he smiled proudly.

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Killian is my mom's personal guard. He is her constant guard that she chose when she turned eighteen. Our personal guards have a unique bond with us and bare the royal mark n their chest. He can sense mom's feelings and can track her down no matter where is the world she is.

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I'm trying. It's taken long enough to get this far. We do have some amazing warriors. It's still amazing to watch them even after all these years I beamed. Mason is already surpassing some of the older warrior I said proudly.

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You're not the only one to notice the change in his fighting. Killian and Jessie have mentioned it a couple of times. So... you know you get to choose your personal guard when you become Queen, have you any idea of who you would like to become your guard? he smiled knowing without a doubt I would pick Mason.

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Mason, definitely Mason if he has moved on by then

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He smiled Mason isn't going anywhere. He told me himself that becoming a royal warrior is all he has ever wanted along with the hope of being your personal guard when the time comes. He said he would be honoured

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Then that's sorted. It was always going to be Mason I smiled bouncing excitedly.

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Finishing off my breakfast in record time, I rushed down stairs to meet the rest of the warriors who are running patrol, Mason included. Just as I got outside I shifted into my large silver wolf. My wolf's eye colour is completely silver. The one difference about royal werewolves is that our colours are unique because they don't match our hair colour like the other wolves do and our wolves eye colour is different because it doesn't match our eye colour in human form.

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Running in wolf form has to be the biggest rush I have ever experienced. The speed we can run in our wolf form still completely amazes me. Every time we run through the forest I swear it becomes more and more beautiful especially when you see it through your wolves eyes. The tiniest details become so much clearer, the colour of the grass and leaves. I can even see the tiniest droplets of rain that linger on the petals of the smallest flowers.

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Running patrol always seems to fly by even though it takes an hour. It never seems long enough. At this point I can't even remember what it was like to see my surrounding before my first shift but I do know I never really appreciated the full beauty of what's around me. Shifting for the first time was worth the pain but for a royals first shift it's a thousand times more painful than the other wolf's first shift. For us, surviving our first shows we are strong enough to lead our kind because there is always the possibility were not strong enough and if that happens we normally don't live through it. It's going to be even worse when I turn eighteen, when I'm meant to receive my power. It's another test, we have to be worthy of our power and it has the same outcome as my first shift if I turn out not to be worthy but to top it off, if I survive I have to go through one more excruciating shift for my wolf to become stronger and grow to its full size. It's not exactly the magical moment others get when they turn eighteen but this is my reality. Just because I'm their only child doesn't mean the title of Queen is just passed down, it has to be earned by passing each test to show you are strong enough to do what needs to be done. To fight when you need to and make the hard decisions to keep our kind safe. 

Chapter Two

Screams made me jerk awake. Hearing nothing I put it down to a weird dream. Just as I was about to lie down again another scream made me jump? It took me a second to register that the scream belongs to my mom. Getting out of bed as fast as I can I pull the door open? Shocked, I stopped for a second to take everything in front of me in. Its complete chaos, the hallways is littered with vampires and rouge werewolves. There are only three of our guards here and that's nowhere near enough, we're completely outnumbered. Then moms scream ripped through the hallway. Running towards my parent's room, I weaved through the fighting and managed to get to my parents bedroom door. It's like everything around me slowed down as my heartbeat thumps loudly in my ears. All I can think is this isn't real, that I must be asleep because if this is real, how do I keep going.

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On the ground in front of me is my mom cradling my dad's lifeless body as she rock back and forth repeating no over and over again as if each word could bring him back to life. Then she stopped saying no. She screams again, a soul shattering scream that had me wanting to fall to my knees and shatter with her. The energy in the room started to change; she is building her kinetic power, dropping to the ground instinctively like she had always thought me. I waited for her to unleash it. Instead of building, I can feel the energy in the room start to fade. Confused, I tiled my head to the side to see why she stopped. Slowly getting up off the ground, I started to walk towards them as the other warriors arrived. My mom's slowly fell to the ground and it's at that moment I can see the vampire standing behind her. Looking at mom again I can see it now, to clearly. He has cut her throat and all I can do is watch the life drain from her body because there is nothing I can do to save her. The cut is too deep and she has already lost so much blood and now that's all I can see. Her blood and my dad's blood soaking the carpet underneath them. Then I heard her heart struggle to beat one last time.

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Hearing her heart beat for the last time, something inside of me broke and my wolf took control. Turning away from my parents bodies, I grab the closest vampire to me and wrap my hand around his throat and snapped it as easily as snapping a branch. Then I tossed his limp body to the ground.  Right now I can see past my blinding rage. I don't know how long I continued like this but I know I have killed any vampire and rouge that gets in breathing distance to me. Everything inside me is screaming at me to wipe them all off the face of the earth, make them regret ever thinking they could come here, that they could come into our home and kill my parents. They expected to leave here unharmed all because they thought they had the upper hand because they came in a larger number. The only thing stopping me from feeling the pain of every vampire slash is my lust for blood, their blood and how they all need to die, they have to pay.

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Then the fighting stopped. There isn't any more left to fight. Looking around there is nothing but bodies scattered across the length of the hallway. The only plus is that our warriors are still standing. Dead silence fell around us, except for my heart thumping hard against my chest as I take in deep breaths. Then Mason shifted back to him human form a couple of metres away from me.

Baby girl, there dead, it's over he said raising his hand in front of him as if I'm some feral animal he is trying to approach with caution. Come here.

Mason held his arms out but I couldn't find the energy to walk. It's like I have been completely drained. All I can manage is to turn and face my living nightmare. My legs started to shakes and I dropped to my knees as I face my new reality. This really happened... their gone and they left me behind. My heart feels like it has been ripped from my chest as my whole world came shattering down around me in a million fragile pieces that I don't think I will ever be able to put back together.  How can I still be breathing when they're not? How can I live in a world without them? How am I supposed to keep living after seeing this? I shouldn't be alive; surely I should have died with them. That's what was supposed to happen.

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Finally I manage to tear my eyes from the horror in front of me and look at Mason. Looking into his eyes he can see the change in me that the blood lust has gone.  Slowly he began to walk towards me and made the mistake of looking into their room. Now he knows why I lost myself. He tried to hide his pain but I know him and it's clear in his eyes when he turns to look at. Now we both have something stuck in our memories that we will see every time we close our eyes till the memory starts to fade enough that the pain of thinking about them won't feel like I have died the same time they did.

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Mason took another few steps towards me.  Before he got close to me an excruciating pain began to build in my chest.  Now it's my turn to scream as the pains gets worse. My veins feel like there on fire as it flows through every part of body. Just as the burning sensation hits my heart, a scream got caught in my throat as I dark shadows start to cloud my vision. Just as I'm about to lose consciousness, a blue light erupted from my chest as if something is breaking out of my body. The light hit Mason and the warriors, lifting them off the ground as they fly back and hit the far wall with a sickening thump. That's when I pass out.

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Opening my eyes, I found myself surrounded in complete darkness as it wraps itself around me, suspending me mid air. Lying here I feel peaceful, there is no pain or heartache. Nothing can hurt me and I'm praying for some guidance. A blue light lit up the dark and my mother appeared, walking towards me. Hope started to build inside me that she is okay and that it all was just a dream, Mom?

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Oh honey. I don't have much time. You're all that is left and you need to stay strong. Be the Queen I know you are destined to be and that starts now. You have both your power and mine now she said smiling sadly.

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But I'm not eighteen yet I said to her as I try to wrap my head around what's happening.

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She smiled again You had to come into power early. No queen has died before their child has turns eighteen. That's why you have both my power and your own she explained as she is slowly starting to fade. You are destined to be a powerful Queen and you need to be strong enough to protect our kind and you are the key to saving them.  Be brave and know that your father and I love you so very much. Then she completely disappeared leaving me alone again in the dark as another body breaking pain ripped through me and I closed my eyes.

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The darkness started to loosen its grip on me as I start to drift in and out of consciousness. All around me I can hear voices some loud and some hushed but I can't match a face to the voices. Each time I'm staying conscious for longer and that's when I really start to fight. It's taken hours and all my energy but finally when I open my eyes they stay open. Blinking a few times I managed to clear my vision giving me a chance to look around me. But I'm in a room I don't recognise and I'm lying on a hospital bed in a very white and sterile looking room but I do recognise the person asleep in the chair beside me.

Mason I said but my voice is hoarse and it's not loud enough to wake Mason. Clearing my throat, I called his name again. This time it worked. Mason jumped up from his seat and got into a fighting stance as he examines the room for intruders before his eyes land on my smiling face as I laugh hoarsely. Only Mason would wake that way along with his hair sticking in all directions. Looking at him, he has dark circles under his eyes showing he hasn't slept properly. His eyes light up as his body sags with relief.

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Kyra? he asked as if he expected me to say no. He grabs my hand, holding it tightly in his I thought I lost you.

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You won't get rid of me that easily I winked.

How are you feeling? he questioned still looking worried.

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It really happened, didn't it? I don't know why I asked because I already know the answer but I think I need to hear it from Mason.

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I'm sorry baby girl. I wish I could tell you that it didn't happen. You have been unconscious for three days. You came into power early and ended up knocking us on our asses he joked trying to lighten the mood.

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I know, mom told me I have her power as well I didn't want to repeat what he has just told me so I added the part he didn't mention.

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I was thinking that when I saw your mark. It's beautiful, the perfect mix of your mark and your mothers. They wrap around each other perfectly like it was always suppose to look like that. So I have mom's kinetic energy. Do you know what power I have from my mark?

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I do. Its electro kinesis that's why the outlines of your mark are in midnight blue and silver with your mother's power you have her light blue and darker silver he explained.

Electro kinesis wow, it's not a power I thought I would get but it's a power no Queen has had yet. So what happens now?

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That's where gets is a bit complicated. All the warriors have been split up and sent to other packs to protect them in case of any more attacks happen. Another  group will be staying at the castle holding up my hand, I interrupted him because I'm confused right now, Why is there only a small group staying at the castle when that's where they attacked, do they not think they're going to attack again?

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Yeah that's the part that's complicated. As far as all the packs know, you died that night with your parents. They think they have wiped out the royal line. That's our best option of keeping you alive while Jessie finds out who is behind the attack. So that means we're going to another pack as well. All they know is that a group of warriors are coming to their pack and I and you are brother and sister. Also, I'm your personal guard he said as he kissed my forehead.

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After a couple of days staying here for the doctor to keep an eye on the worst slashes I got from the attack. Vampires take weeks to heal and are extremely painful but I don't have weeks and finally he gave us the go ahead to leave. Leaving the castle feels wrong, it's my home and on top of that I'm Queen now and I have let our king think I'm dead. But I understand their reasons, either they find the threat or I won't be Queen for long. For the last few years, I imagined the day of my coronation when my mom would hand down the title. It was never suppose to be like this, getting the title because my parents have been killed and going into hiding to stay alive.

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We have finally arrived, driving down the long driveway I couldn't help but feel like getting sick.

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Don't look so worried baby girl he smiled. Their interest will wear off soon

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I know, it just all new to me. I'll get use to it and ill keep to myself

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You know its okay to make new friends but you'll always be stuck with me baby girl he

Said and winked at me.

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You could end up finding your mate here and if you do I don't want you to feel like you can't spend time with her because your too busy looking after me

Reaching his hand across he took mine and gave it a squeeze, Even if I do you will always come first. I know what being your personal guard means and I intend to do everything and anything to keep you safe

Squeezing his hand back, I lucky to have him but I won't be the one to stand in his way of happiness " No Mason, she comes first above all else. You can't make her second in your life and

Reviews for Hidden Queen

[Balqees Olanrewaju · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

its so fascinating and exciting I love it so much

[Elizabeth Gibbs · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

This was poorly written childish no real plot no editing awful book

[Giselle Chavez · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is one of the best books I have ever read!!!!!

[Alaxza · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

awesone

[Chinenye Orajaka · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

exciting read. cant wait for the next installment

[JayRd · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

i thought it was an excellent book and very good reading and also, credit to the authour fantastic writing ;) x

[robynphilhower · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Editing, what's editing? lol good story but be prepared to get very frustrated trying to read it.