FORBIDDEN LOVE ROMANCE

"Ouch! That's enough dad. You're being too hard." Angela Jones, a tall, beautiful teenager, screamed as she fell hard from her dad's hit.

She touched her lips and looked at her fingers to confirm her suspicious. She had been cut on her lips by that blow. She hit her hands on the floor in anger as she quickly stood up, staring down her father.

"If you're going to be my heir, you have to be stronger than this. I will have no weakling as my heir!" Her dad said.

Andrew, was the alpha of the Yellow Sky Park and was keen to have a very strong heir, worthy enough to take the throne when the time comes. It was an obsession and so he always took Angela with him to training as they trained as hard as he deemed fit.

He was relentless as he always claimed that tough training was for the tough and weak training, for the weak. He'll hit her as hard as she could without thinking twice about it.

She was to be ready for what was to come as people won't treat her with mercy if they could lay their hands on her. He knew he wouldn't always be around to protect her and she had to learn how to do that for herself.

Hard training was the only available means by which he could help her achieve that and he gave it his all, sometimes, much to the displeasure of Angela, his child.

"Let's go again, little one!" He screamed as he launched towards Angela with his sword who was ready for the attack.

She evaded the first and the second attacks and gave her father a wry smile.

"I'm not little, father." She replied as she also launched towards him, sword in hand.

They hit their swords together, each one trying to push the other back. It was a test of sheer strength and power and in no time, Angela was tripped, after being pushed back with great force.

Once again, she was on the floor, much to the disappointment of her father who dropped his sword in disgust and threw his hands up in the air in protest.

"You're too weak, child and I must say, unwise. You must fight smart. How would you try to beat a wolf, far stronger than you in a test of strength? Sometimes, the brain must be used, my child. That is exactly why you have it." Andrew said, with a look of contempt on his face.

He had expected Angela to be a much stronger opponent, a tough match, and not a weak wolf who was at his mercy, just like most of the other wolves. He had expected his own child to have the same toughness and skill that he possessed. Those qualities have served him well as alpha and if she wanted to be the leader someday, there should be no doubt that she was miles above others in terms of strength, skills and brute force, qualities that sadly seemed absent in Angela in his eyes.

He always wondered why for all her zeal, Angela just wasn't good enough for him. With her qualities, he didn't expect her to last long as the ruler of the park. He stamped his foot on the ground to express his disgust and said,

"You need more training, child. You need to give it your all." She bowed her head in shame and anger.

She wondered what she could do to please her father. She felt she was being judged by an unfair standard as it was literally impossible for her to win a fight against her father, the alpha of the park, the strongest of them all, a wolf who was feared by all the members of the park and the parks around.

Her eyes turned yellow as the rage began to consume her. She could see that his focus had shifted from her and he was a bit distracted by his own thoughts and so she thought it was the best time to attack. With one push, she launched at her dad with full force, hoping to land a telling blow to prove once and for all that she was indeed a worthy opponent, only to find herself in just a matter of seconds, on the floor with very little effort from her father.

He was just too strong and too fast for her and he was not pleased with that.

"Are you truly my child?" He asked, disdainfully looking down at her as he continued,

"Can strength birth weakness? Can bravery birth cowardice? Has life cursed me with such a fate and I am not able to change it?"

With that, she stood up and ran from him. She ran into the fields and sat there alone, thinking of what to do next. Life was just so unfair to her. How on Earth was she going to please her father? Will it ever be possible or was she simply not good enough?

These questions ran through her mind as she drew lines on the floor with her fingers. She imagined being made the ruler of the park with such little strength.

No one would fear her like they feared her father. She would have a lot of people seeking to challenge her and even kill her in a bid to overthrow her, especially since they felt they could do that.

She had trained with other wolves but she wasn't sure if she really won those fights or they just let her win. At least, not after the constant beatdowns she got from her father who made no mistake to tell her just how weak she was after each fight.

She knew she had to train more if she were to earn the fear and respect of the other wolves and most importantly, her father. Being a disappointment to him was never her intention. She longed for the day when her dad would smile at her for what she did right.

That day was not forthcoming and didn't even look close. She also wasn't unaware of the constant wars that had been fought as she had been with him to every war he fought since she came of age, only being able to participate once with no good memories of that.

She was nearly killed by one of the opposing wolves but the saving hands of her father pulled her out and his fangs did the rest. He was so angry that he kept biting and tearing the wolf apart until his neck was off his head. She had never seen her father with bright red eyes until that day. She knew why he was feared by everyone.

She took out her sword and began sparring with the wind. She tried to swing as fast and as hard as she could, at her opponent. Then, she went to a nearby tree and with all the strength she could muster, began to chop it with her sword.

She heard a sound; a different sound from the one she made and she sensed that there was danger lurking. She could smell strange wolves approaching from afar at a very horrifying speed. There was something different about these strange wolves, their heartbeats were different from what she was familiar with.

She didn't need anyone to tell her that there was trouble on the way and something had to be done about it. She ran as fast as her legs could carry her, back to her dad, screaming all the way.

"They're coming. Father, they're coming!" She stopped running as soon as she saw her dad and pointed in the direction of the intruders.

"Who is coming?" Her dad asked, surprised that any park would dare try to fight them in their own lands.

They had conquered most of the neighbouring parks and forced them to submit to the Yellow Sky Park. They were feared by the parks and for good reason too.

Andrew could not understand why any park would decide to choose death.

"Who is coming, I do not know father. What I do know is that they're coming and they do not smell like us. I could tell that they were from afar by the sound of their heartbeats which sounded very different from ours. They must be quite close. We must be ready"

Angela said, as she drew closer to her father.

"Child, I do not hear anything. What is this news that you bring?"

"But you will hear something soon, father. I heard them when I was in the fields. You will hear something and if we are not prepared, it is the sound of death that you will hear." Angela was afraid and she wasn't afraid to show it.

She wasn't always afraid but something about these wolves frightened her, although she hadn't even seen them. She sat on the floor and stared at her dad to see what he'll do next.

Her lips had healed and she felt no pain anymore. After a bit of thinking, he blew the summoning trumpet, summoning the rest of the park with it and in no time, they were all gathered, right in front of his house, ready to follow any instructions given by their alpha.

"My daughter, Angela went to the fields to have some time alone but came back running as fast as her legs could carry her. In her words, some wolves approach, strange wolves whose smell was nothing like what she has ever known.

We know that all the wolves around us are familiar to us and none of them dares challenge us, unless they're willing to face certain death.

Yet, we must be prepared to defend our park from any intruders if it is true that wolves approached us indeed and not some silly child talk.

It's likely that we're about to receive intruders from distant lands.

All the wolves howled in unison, beating their chests in a show of bravery. Their eyes turned yellow and their fangs were very visible. With a nod from their alpha, they went back home to get their weapons. The battle line had been drawn and since the park hadn't fought any battles in two years, they were more than pleased to have one. Their bloods boiled with range and lust for blood that only the death of opposing wolves could satisfy.

Angela stood there, clueless, having no idea whatsoever on what exactly to do. Andrew motioned for her to come closer and she did.

"You're sure of what you heard, right?"

"Yes, father." This time Andrew's eyes lit up. It was as though he remembered something. He paced around and stopped to take a hard look at Angela.

I know these men now. I can hear their hearts beat. This is the blue eyed park. I thought they were all killed many years ago but it looks like they're coming back for us.

"You've been trained all your life as a warrior for moments like this my child. Yet, you will not go up with us like other times, lest you meet your end when I am not looking."

"I'll fight with you Father. I will make you proud. One day, I will be queen and I'll prove on the battlefield that I am truly worthy." She replied with a defiant look on her face. She was not afraid anymore.

All she could think about was how she would prove to her father for once in her life that she was not the weakling that he always saw her as. He said to her,

"stay here." As he left, Angela quickly took out her sword and smiled.

She was ready to take lives and she knew it. What she didn't know was that she couldn't do it with what she held. The other members of the pack returned with their arms, chanting warrior chants and howling loudly.

They could feel that the time for battle was near. Just then, Andrew stepped out of the house, holding a box. He dropped the box and asked Angela to open it and she did. She saw an armour and a weapon close to it.

She took out the armour and put it on, as she thought,

"he must have reserved this for me all these years." She tried to take the sword but she noticed that she wasn't supposed to.

"Father, this is death. How am I to touch death with my hands?"

"Yes, my child, this is death but it is on you to choose whose death it is, yours or our enemies. Hold it by the handle, very carefully, lest your hand comes in contact with the blade." She picked it up gently, swinging it in both directions as she tried to test it out.

"Alas, I have death in my hands," she said, still surprised she was allowed to touch the sword.

"I'll make you proud father." It was a sword whose blade was made of silver, a metal that caused severe pain to a wolf by mere contact. It was strong enough to kill any wolf with just a swipe, even an alpha.

Andrew had always warned Angela to avoid silver swords for fear that she'll get injured due to her carelessness. This time, he had to trust her.

The blue eyed wolves were too dangerous to fight without the strongest of weapons. With a raise of the hands, the entire park screamed, raring to fight as alpha Andrew gave the last battle speech.

They ran in unison, in the direction of the invading wolves, seeking to fight them on neutral territory. This was the fight of a lifetime, yet, not everyone would be alive to tell the story.

As they drew closer to the invading wolves, about fifty spears appeared from the skies and fell on the fighters from the Yellow Sky Park, killing about twelve wolves while others evaded the sudden attack. Angela picked up one of the spears and she found that the blade was made of silver.

"Father, it is raining death. There is death in this place. They have death in their hands! We must be wary" I said

"It's the blue eyed park, the only park that possesses arrows of death and they're here for their fathers. We must be wary." Andrew screamed to the hearing of all the members of the park and they all responded,

"Aye!" The ground shook hard from the quick, hard stomps of their feets as they got closer to their assailants. Their eyes turned yellow and they ran even faster.

In a few minutes, another set of arrows were thrown, but this time, they were more prepared and only five were hit, with three dead and two, seriously injured as it struck their legs.

They finally saw the intruders; huge, quick wolves with very bright blue eyes. On seeing them, there was panic amongst the members of the Yellow Sky Park and alpha Andrew's eyes immediately turned red. Angela, in a bid to impress her father and prove her bravery, immediately ran after one of them and cut him with her sword.

Then she jumped on the next and cut him too as the intensity of the fight grew. It was a slaughter of both parties as each struggled to gain the upper hand. Angela looked across to her father who was slaying wolves as if it was nothing.

He made fighting look so easy as his sheer power was too much for the wolves to handle. She rushed towards him so he could notice her. She longed to fight side by side with him, even though he fought much stronger opponents than the ones she was fighting.

Andrew wasn't pleased and he growled at her, signifying that she should back off but she wasn't having it. She was determined to show him that she could also slay some wolves, some very powerful wolves.

She had been trained for years, escorted her father to countless wars, and she held a silver sword in her hands. She felt more than ready for the task at hand. As the fight continued, the Yellow Sky Park gained the upper hand as Andrew kept slaying the other wolves in their numbers.

Then something unexpected happen. As Angela fought some of the wolves, she looked towards her right to see her father launched up in the air by a very gigantic wolf. He was the alpha of the Blue eyed Park and he looked so fierce that Andrew didn't look so scary anymore.

As he raised his sword to stab Andrew, Angela dived in with her sword and stabbed him from behind, leading to a large scream from him, drawing the attention of his park to Angela.

He fell to the ground and died but Angela's victory was short-lived as she was surrounded by five wolves who were very eager to slay her.

They took turns to hit her as they intended to torture her first before killing her, seeing that her father lay weak on the floor. Two wolves from her park ran to help her but were easily dispatched by these determined wolves who finally had both the alpha and his child at their mercy.

They tossed her around, hitting her sword off her hands as she lay on the floor, resigned to her impending doom. In a flash, they were all on the floor.

Alpha Andrew had transformed to a full blown wolf with the last strength be could muster and he slew them all. Angela faded as she was overwhelmed by the beating she had received. She knew what was to come. When she opened her eyes, she found herself on her bed with her father by her side.

"Thank you father." She said as she smiled at her dad. He nodded.

She knew they had won the war as the victory songs, sang by the members of the park could be heard by her. They stomped their feet and screamed, beating their chests to showcase their strength.

Indeed, it was a fight worth celebrating and their victory was well deserved, thanks to Andrew and Angela.

"You could have been killed." Andrew said as his countenance changed from that of concern to that of annoyance.

"You too, dad. I saved your life." Angela said in defense. For the first time, she felt she had earned the respect of her father as he owed her his life.

She felt like she deserved some respect, some recognition for her bravery and the part she played in the battle.

Andrew thought differently and it was so clear that he did.

"You caused the death of many warriors today who tried to keep you safe after you lost consciousness. I told you that those wolves were too powerful for you but you chose to fight them still. You..."

"You're alive because I didn't listen to you dad. How could you...?"

"You don't interrupt your alpha, child! You should learn your place. You put the lives of others in danger and no leader should do that, no matter what. Death is a fate that we must all meet but a leader must be the strength of his people and not a weakness. What leader passes out in the thick of a battle? You're not fit to lead, Angela. You do have a long way to go." Angela understood what she failed to understand for a very long time.

She cursed herself for not seeing it earlier. She was so keen on being a Luna that she didn't see what was right before her. Nothing she did pleased her dad.

There was nothing she could do that would be enough for him. She had spent the entirety of her life, trying to impress her father, to get on his good side, to make him happy and proud, all to no avail.

The more she tried, the more she failed. He was always on the lookout for something negative, something he could hold onto as proof that she was as incapable as he felt she was.

He was more keen on seeing her fail than seeing her thrive and she had only just realized that. She looked back at the trainings she had received and how her dad judged her based on unrealistic standards.

She had seen, after the war that she was indeed as strong as she thought and that the members of the park didn't let her win.

She just killed the alpha of another park, yet she got no praise from her father. Maybe he meant well. Perhaps, he was trying to push her to the limits to bring out the best in her.

"Yet," she thought, "the best was nothing if it meant nothing to him."