"This is not a time for amusing acts of defiance, Sin. You are not in any position to refuse a command from a Lycan. Even if you could refuse, it would make no difference. I had originally planned for the other Alpha to activate ALL of the Glacier crystals themselves while Bastian toyed with you in his chambers. Your role is insignificant, but still demanded." The princess didn't move, but the situation felt completely different.

The mist swirling around her body began to pick up more violent speeds and the air temperature dropped once again. This would be the second Lycan I had angered in a single day, but it was having a different effect on me now. As I looked at the unnaturally beautiful face of my princess, I felt no sense of love or loyalty. All I could hear as she spoke was the words of condemnation for my family. The royals were brought here to save us, but now this woman planned to kill us off in the process?

My body was burning, and I didn't bother to try settling it. Princess Elisiana's eyes shot opened wide all of a sudden and surprise entered her expression. Then I realized that my shoulders had caught fire somehow. It only lasted a moment before an icy wind snuffed out the flame, but the skin still felt like it was burning.

"If my role is insignificant to you and your family, then consider it over. As the sole Alpha of the Viridian pack, I rescind my request for your help. I will stop the other Alpha from activating the last Glacier crystal. And I humbly request that your family leaves my territory as soon as possible." I can't deny that it felt good to finally stand up proudly again. I became aware of fire sliding down my right hand until reaching the glass ball and shattering it.

"Insolence!" Elisiana screamed. She slammed a palm on the hard frozen table and a spiderweb of cracks rippled from the contact. The clouds forming her dress dissipated as she shifted right in front of me. He transformation was so sudden that I couldn't even register it happening. At least not until an enormous silver wolf half the size of the chamber raised a giant paw and swatted me across the room. "Did your brain melt first as soon as those flames reached your head? You have forgotten your place, Alpha."

Her comment about my brain didn't seem so far-fetched as I tried shaking off the dizziness of that hit. It hit harder than the realization that our levels of strength and power were on entirely different scales. My chest ached where her paw slammed into me and my back stung from when it crashed into the wall. I stared at the furious 15-foot tall fully formed silver wolf and wondered what kind of frozen hell I put myself into.

As I stood and started shifting, I noticed the same cloudy mist from her dress spreading out across the smooth floor like a fog carpet. As it reached my bare feet and swirled over my legs, everything began to go white. It was just like the last time I stood near the queen; my mind was about to be hijacked.

Before it could, his voice broke through the trance. Hunter, I'm taking Fen to an address on Collins street. I'll meet up with you later. 

His message carried some uncertainty, but overall he seemed calm. I could still sense him clearly and see him getting into a driver's seat.

Then a moment later Jake added...

I love you.

The room that I was in suddenly came back into focus. We were still in the frozen Lycan fortress. And there was still a giant angry she-wolf glaring down at me with big neon eyes.

I decided to do what any sane person would do now. I turned tail and ran out the door. The roar of the indignant princess echoes behind me into the hall, but I didn't stop to look back. As my two feet broke away from the fog, I shifted onto all fours and sprinted like my life depended on it. Never mind the fact that it probably did. I somehow made it out of the fortress and into the open space without anyone catching up to me.

But just as I was about to glance back, a falcon's cry shrieked far above me. I got a quick look at a flurry of white feathers as a pair of sharp talons latched onto my fur. Somehow the much smaller bird managed to effortlessly lift a two-hundred-pound gray wolf and swept me up into the air.

In just a heartbeat I was being whisked unbearably high above the ground by the large bird. Soon I could see the entire forest and castle growing smaller below me. I could make out the town not too far in the distance. My eyes drifted in search of Jake before returning to ground directly below me.

"Let us see if you can use that fire to fly as well," the princess' voice came from the falcon. My heart dropped at her words right before she let go of me, and then my body dropped as well.

An unintelligible scream tore out from my lungs as my paws flailed pointlessly in search of something to latch onto. I didn't have the ability to fly the way Clay could, and the princess knew it. The fall was meant to kill me, and my panic-stricken mind couldn't think of anything to do to stop it.

So Hunter may have bitten off a lot more than he can chew, but what do you think? Was challenging the Lycan authority a mistake?