Warrior Princess
Chapter 46

5 Days until the war

Gemmas POV

There are 5 days until this war. I am feeling so conflicted. I am a fighter. I am a protector. I may not be one of the leaders, but I protect my pack and my family. I love my baby. I love being pregnant and I love my mate. But I cannot fight now. I feel like a part of me is being held back now because I’m growing a life.

This war is taking a lot from everyone, and I feel so selfish to complain about not being able to fight. But if I don’t have a part of me then how can I be whole? How can I give my all to someone if I’m not 100% whole and happy? See what I mean? Conflicted.

I lay with my head draped on Jakes chest.

“Can I at least jog the track? I don’t want to just be a bump on a log and gain all this weight. I want to fight. I know I can’t, but if I cannot then at let me do something. Im going crazy here.” I ask.

“I’ll tell you what. When we see the Doc today, we can ask him what is acceptable and what isn’t how about that?” He asks. I smile and nod my head. He’s not telling me no, but he is concerned enough about me and our future pup that he’s compromising.

“How do you feel about this war? Finding out that you and your sister are a part of this ancient prophecy?” I ask.

“I’m worried, Gems. I know I’m strong. I know Samantha is strong. But one wrong move can cost lives. I don’t want to leave you alone. But it is my duty to fight. I am one of the Betas in this pack. I am a part of Selene’s plans to try to save the world. But I am still scared. Does that make me less appealing? Does that make me any less masculine that I am admitting that I am afraid? That I am afraid to die? That I am afraid of losing anyone that I love?” He asks and I take in what he said. He is afraid. Everyone is. But being a guy that prides on being strong and protective.

“You are the strongest man I know. It takes true strength to admit your emotions. Own them. You are strong. You are loving. You are kind. You will be an amazing father. We will pull through this. I am with you. You belong here. Right next to me.” He wraps an arm around me.

“Say it again.” he demands.

“You belong here.” I repeat.

“Again.” he commands.

“You, Jake Layne, Belong here with me for the rest of your days. You brilliant, beautiful, strong man.” he chuckles.

“I’m beautiful, huh?” he asks.

I slap his chest lightly. “Oh, shut up and k**s me already.”

After a wonderful round of s*x, we showered and got ready for my appointment with Doc. We’re waiting in the ultrasound room. Werewolf pregnancies are shorter than that of a human. They were usually prengnat for 5 to 6 months. Those of royal or alpha b***d always have shorter pregnancies.

I was 5 weeks at my last appointment. I am sporting a small bump on my normally flat tummy. I replace myself subconsciously rubbing my belly and Jake takes his hand and places it on mine on my stomach.

“Mine.” he says. I know his words mean both me and the baby are his. I smile and nod.

“Yes, we’re yours.” I say and he smiles. The doc comes in and we start the ultrasound. Before the baby looked like an alien but today it’s crazy to see that he or she looks just like a little person.

“So you’re about 6 weeks now. We should be able to tell the gender if we look close enough. Would you all like to know?” I look at jake and we both nod.

“Yes.” he moves the wave around on my stomach slowly and he hums softly. “So it looks like this little beta will be a baby girl. Congratulations, Betas.” He says. I look at Jake and his eyes are watering slightly.

“I’m going to have a little girl. Im going to be a dad.” he smiles and k****s my forehead. “Thank you, baby.” I smile.

“Alright, so everything is looking good so far. Just make sure you’re taking your prenatal like we discussed.” I nod. “Any other questions for me today?”

Jake doesn’t wait he speaks. “So we know we’re keeping her out of the fight during the war, but we wanted to know it is okay if she trains with us? Not sparring but running/jogging, maybe some small weights?”

Doc chuckles. “It is perfectly fine. Exercise during pregnancy is actually recommended. Just know your limits. Another good thing to try would be Yoga and meditation. It would do wonders for stretching those muscles, reducing stress, and keeping fit. But exercise is fine.” I sigh in relief.

“What about s*x doc?” I choke on thin air. With another chuckle.

“As long as it’s comfortable and you don’t feel pain s*x is completely fine.” You hear him release a breath he was holding and I roll my eyes dramatically.

“Alright, I want to see you back in about 2 weeks. If you have any concerns until then you know where to replace me darling.” he says and shakes Jake’s hand and leaves the room.

“So, want to do a little more exercising?” he says wiggling his eyebrows and winking at me. I love this goofball.

I still can’t help but be nervous about this war. There are 5 days. 5 days to go to defend everything we know. Our traditions, our people, our lives, our land, heck even people who don’t know we exist. There is so much at stake here. I know I shouldn’t stress, but who wouldn’t stress in a time like this?

Samanthas POV

Kasen and I were at the farm grounds shaking hands, observing everyone in their element. It truly was a wonder the way this pack functions. It’s like we have our own world here. We met with our agriculture lead discussing what crops we would plant next season, how our livestock was doing, how the workers were doing.

“We were wondering, with all of the added people here for the war, since there are more mouths to feed, can we have some more help your grace?” Ben asked. He was a sweet man. Roughly in his 60’s, he reminded me of my grandpa.

“We will definitely send some help your way. It is definitely not fair to have your workers working overtime to feed more mouths than usual. I will check with those who are not willing to fight or those who have knowledge in this area of expertise and send them your way.” I say and he bows and smiles.

“Thank you, my queen. Congratulations on your mating.” He said. We continued exploring the area and Kasen wrapped his arm around my shoulders while we walked.

“You truly are amazing woman. You have handled everything I’ve thrown at you with little to no training. You are doing an amazing job.” He says while kissing my temple.

“It’s nothing really. I’ve just done what felt right. What came naturally to me.” He smiles but then stiffens. His eyes turn black and I can feel the tension in his body. I take in my surroundings.

‘We’re being watched, little one.’ I heard atlas say in our link. He has taken control of Kasen.

I nod and shift. Clothes I’m wearing be damned. I shake out my fur after I land on my paws and lift my snout in the air. I follow it for a few steps and look back to see Kasen has shifted as well.

‘Bears.’ is all I say in the link. I felt pressure on my head telling me Kasen was sending out a pack wide link. Since Kasen has the ability to link any wolf in our kingdom that means all wolves on our territory would get this link.

‘Bears located southern border close to the farmlands. Follow protocol.’ He links. ‘Josh, Marcus, Jake, you three and a couple of warriors meet us at the border. Bring as many alphas as possible that would like to join. We aren’t sure how many bears there are, but I and Samantha are headed that way now.’ He growls out.

‘Yes, alpha.’ I hear them all reply in unison. We take off in a slow canter following the scent. We’re well out of the farmlands now, close to our borders.

‘Kasen, smoke.’ I bark out. We stop so he can look and assess. While assessing we see Josh’s chocolate wolf, Carson’s black and white wolf, Jake’s Grey wolf, a ball of white fur that is Marcus, Andrew, Duke, and even Theo has joined us. There are about 10 alphas following behind them with their Gammas and warriors. We may have come over prepared with about 60 people here, but this could be a preemptive attack. We just don’t know.

‘Andrew is Rosaline, Rosie, and Gemma okay?’ I ask, and he nods his the red furry head.

‘Jake, where is Shawn? Mom and dad?’ I ask, and he nuzzles me.

‘Shawn is with mom and Kasen’s family in the bunker, and dad is with the alphas relaying information.’ I relax visibly knowing that Shawn is safe and Kasen licks my snout and nips at my ears showing that he heard as well.

‘He will be okay, love.’ I huff in response and Kasen shifts standing in all of his naked glory with his arm resting on my furry back.

‘There is smoke ahead. My guess is a campfire. But it could also be a trap as a diversion. That is why I only asked for a portion of you all and wanted to leave the rest to defend everyone else. Now we will not attack first. I have trackers ahead of us. We will assess, then act accordingly. They could be allies but could also be a threat. All we know right now is we smell bears. Theo, do you recognize any of the scents?” he asks him.

Theos massive brown bear steps forward and sniffs. He growls lowly and the fur along his neck and back raises up. Well, that answers that question.

“How bad of a situation are we looking at?”

Theo shifts back. “I smell 2 of my brothers, and I’m picking up a few warrior’s scents as well. There’s a lot of bears there. The 60 we have here may not be enough. Call re-enforcements. That would be my advice。” Kasen nods and his eyes Haze over.

“We will wait here until more come. Until then prepare yourselves and your men for a fight should we have one.” He says with finality and shifts back into his magnificent wolf. I look to jake.

“Ready to show some twin terror?” I link and he bares his teeth and growls as a sign that he’s ready. My dad comes up and bumps his head with mine.

“Please be careful, baby girl. You may be a Queen, and you are strong, but you’re my baby girl.” He says with a whimper. I paw at him. Kasen sits next to me and rests his head on top of mine.

‘Really, I’m not your head rest, mister!’ I say and I hear him chuckle in the link. I heard a twig snap and turned my head ready for whoever came out of the woods. I saw the trackers we sent had returned.

“My king, Luna queen.” they said in unison and bowed.

“Well?”

One stepped forward and looked at us. “It’s a good thing you called for backup. There are well over 150 bears there that we could see, maybe more. They have a whole camp set up. They look to be staying there for the long haul.”

I look to Kasen. We still have 5 days. Hopefully. This can’t be the full war. He shares my concern and licks my muzzle. Shortly after the others have arrived. I look and see Alpha Aaron, about 20 more Alphas, their gammas and warriors. A couple of vampires, Shari and a couple of witches, my Uncle Has come up as well with some of his rogue army. Rowan looks like us, but his fur is a slate grey. Borderline black. I walk up to him and he bows his head.

‘You are family, Rowan. I may not know you very well yet, but I would like to. Thank you for coming to help. The word is there are about 150 bear shifters ahead. Up for the fight?” I ask and his wolf growls lowly and nods his head. Josh and Marcus come up to Kasen and me, and we talk strategy.

“This could be either them preparing for the war, or it could be an attack waiting to happen.” I say.

“They’re not waiting. That’s not like my brother to wait. If he is here there is going to be an attack” Theo says walking up to us. I growl in frustration.

“What do you suggest we do?” Josh asks.

“We attack first. They won’t be expecting it. They are expecting us to be blindsided. They are thinking we are all continuing our normal lives. They won’t be expecting a hit. This hit could be a turning point. We send them a message that we aren’t playing games. That we are prepared.” I say.

Kasen nods, but then he says. “Yes, that could be the case but if we attack now before they do that could alert the council. Then we have 2 battles going on at one time versus the original plan of fighting the bear king then the council.” he’s right.

“While I agree, I have to say, does everything always go 100% according to plan? How do we know Jenson isn’t there with these shifters now helping plan? I Agree with my queen. Attack now. Take them by surprise, diminish the numbers we can while we can. The less we have to fight during the main battle the better.” Josh says. Marcus agrees. There are a few murmurs of agreement from everyone in our circle.

“So we attack now. Are we all in agreement?” I ask and receive a nod from everyone. Kasen gives a low howl to get the attention of everyone here. He linked everyone the plan.

I then added, ‘We will meet back at the castle afterwards. Look out for one another, and look out for yourself. Thank you all for fighting with us today.” I link everyone and I see tons of furry heads bowing. Theo shifted back into his bear. Standing so tall he easily towers over us all. I step up next to the onyx-colored fur of my mate.

“Be careful, love. I cannot lose you.” I link and place my head against his.

“You won’t lose me, little one. You underestimate me. I know you are a capable fighter, but please take care of yourself. Don’t take on more than you can handle. I keep thinking back to the time I saw you had taken on Theo. You were so close to death. My love, you are my world and I love you.” he says.

“I love you too. Now let’s go kick some a*s.”