“Someday my precious you will become the queen piece of this pack. It has been foretold. It is your destiny to lead and you should not settle for anything else.” Her father was always highly praising her even at an early age. He drilled it into her head that she was a prize worth fighting for. That she was above all else the best female of the pack. She was to be the queen, the alpha alongside the Boharian pack leader.

Ever since the day of her birth when it was prophesied that she would become a mighty pack leader and become queen she had been in an arranged marriage with the pack leader’s son. Aja was the only child with flaming red hair. Her mother had been a lycanthrope from the south and had died giving birth to her on the twin full moons. She was seen as a good omen.

Her father trained her day in and day out as soon as she could hold a sword. He prepared her for the day that she would become queen. On the fateful day of her first blood when she became a woman that was when she was told she would marry the pack leader’s son and they would lead. She was but fourteen and he was twenty. It was common for the tribes of Bohar to marry children off.

However, it was foolish to think that she was an ordinary child. She had the blood of a warrior and she had seen the man who would be her husband run from battle leaving their people to be killed. She stood up on the altar with her soon to be mate. Her amethyst eyes full of hatred and venom almost dripping out.

“I will not be the wife of a coward and a murderer. I will not be a trophy of a pathetic wolf who is not worthy of the title of alpha. I would sooner see one of the other men strike you down here and now to take your place. I would sooner gut my womb out than to bear your weak pups.” Her words had angered the pack leader’s son and he attacked her but she took the hilt of her sword and slammed it into his stomach. He dropped to his knees and the pack who was still in shock began to move towards her. With a heavy kick, she slammed her foot into his body and sent him flying into the crowd. The shaman of the tribe attempted to grab her but she shifted and fled.

Releasing a howl of a noble warrior she left her father in agony. She knew not his fate and honestly it didn’t matter. If he could not understand why she did what she did than he knew not the words he had taught her as a child. So she ran and she ran. She hid in the Highlands and worked the streets of Mamlak for many decades as a mercenary. The fairer races did not trust her but they did nothing to challenge her either as she would put even their larger men into a clinic bed with nasty wounds.

It was the summer of a her eightieth birthday when she was approached by a young Rosenite woman. “I want you to come with me. You are strong and noble and I think you would fit right in with us.” Aja had written her off but soon the younger female had Aja on the ground with a sword to her throat. “You are made for so much more… Let me give you the ability to be that.”

It was those words again and so when the Rosenite gave her a hand up she gracefully took it. “And just what is it that you would have a feral creature like myself do?”

“First, you are a lycanthrope not really feral… My husband is one as well.” The first thing shocked her but then came the next. “Second, I want you for my second in command. I want you to help me to victory should we need it. Let me give you a purpose once more Aja.”

Since then she had been in Sularia as a mighty commander. She had led victories and celebrations of said victories. She had laid the bodies of many beneath her with her sword. Aja would belong to no one unworthy and thus she had never found a mate either. Toya, now her longtime friend and queen, had told her to lower her standards just a bit but the werewolf declined.

“I will settle for no one but the highest quality mate. It is destined.” Which always got an eye roll from Toya. Maybe it was just an excuse to stay alone after what she did. She had avoided the Bohar Plains since she had left as a girl. She had avoided the man she left at the altar and he didn’t need to know she was alive. Though she wouldn’t be surprised if stories of the Red Wolf’s victories reached his ears.

Aja Duskmoon was a proud and noble lycanthrope that much was for certain.