Chapter 3

~Axel~

I rubbed my forehead for the umpteenth time, trying to forget the woman I had met a few days ago. She was the same as Lyra. I have heard about reincarnation a thousand times but never expected Lyra to be reincarnated after a hundred years. Seeing her felt surreal; I had almost made a fool of myself when I saw her. She was vulnerable and needed a drinking partner, and being with her that night brought a lot of memories, but the following day, she disappeared, and I have not been able to see her ever since then.

‘’Remember she is not Lyra,’’ Leonara, my beta, told me when I informed her about meeting a girl who looked just like Lyra.‘’ She looks like her.’’ Her words resounded, but I couldn’t stop thinking about her and forget the night we shared.

" What a twist of fate!” I swerved my chair around and heaved a deep sigh. ” What a... ” I stopped talking to myself when someone barged into my office. I frowned as I turned my chair around to face my beta, knowing she was the only one with the guts to barge into my office without knocking.

" Your Highness,” she bowed and removed the strands of red hair from her face before talking. I folded my arms and waited for what she had to say, and then she began. “I bring a bad report concerning Annalise, the wolf that was picked as your surrogate,” she paused, waiting for my approval to continue.

‘’Go on,’’ I implored her, and she nodded in response.

" Your Highness,” she cleared her throat, hesitating to speak as if she was hiding something, and then she rubbed her forehead.

I frowned at her, getting impatience by her pause. ‘’what is it, Leonara?’’

‘’Miss Annalise and her family were found dead early this morning, and it was a gruesome sight as they had their hearts removed and their blood was completely drained from their body.’’

‘’Their blood drains?’’ I asked and placed my hands on the table. ‘’How is that possible? We haven’t had the vampires near our territory for years, so how did that happen?’’

Leonard placed a piece of paper on the table. I picked it up and saw that it was an autopsy report and then looked at her, demanding an explanation. ‘’The Autopsy had to be carried out since she was supposed to be your surrogate, and she was suddenly killed.’’

‘’Alright. What about the blood draining? If the vampires didn’t do it, then someone else did it?’’

She nodded in response. ‘’I believed that it might be the work of rogues, but I can’t explain why they needed the blood.’’

At the mention of rogues, I stood up and rubbed my hair. ‘’how could this have happened when I gave orders that she has to be protected at all cost!’’ I slammed my hand on the table.

‘’Your Highness, it suddenly happened, and even the guards around the perimeter didn’t notice that anyone had sneaked into the house and killed the family,‘’ she explained. ‘’Do you think this is done by your brother Ian?’’

I clenched my fists tightly at the mention of Ian’s name. I never expected that he would do something like that. I had not seen him in years, and he had not attempted to do anything against me, but now that they had mentioned Analisse’s death, it was all connected to him. The royal family was the only one who could teleport without getting noticed. As far as I can remember, Ian and I were the only remaining surviving family of the royals.

" Your Highness, that is not all. We also found a letter attached to Analisse’s body,” she announced, then took out a handkerchief from inside a ziplock and placed it on the table.

‘’I am coming for her,’’ I read the writing on the clothes. The smell of the dried blood was pungent, and I had to cover my nose as I read from the clothes. ‘’Analisse died because she thought that Ian was me, and now he is going after Lyra!’’ I yelled and slammed my hand on the table.

As soon as I said it, I regretted it. I had forgotten that the girl was not Lyra. Leonara gave me a questioning look, and I knew it was due to my mistake of calling the girl Lyra. ‘’Don’t give me that look,’’ I told her, then rubbed my face. ‘’How does he even know about her, and why is he going after her?’’

Leonara dropped the blue file in her hand on the table. That was the thing that I liked about her as my Female beta. She was always prepared for things like this and had everything prepared in case I needed it. ‘’ I have found the location of the girl. It is a popular restaurant, the Savor restaurant, and I believed that Ian might have seen her there, and that is why he sent you this letter,’’ she said.

I picked up the file and sat down as I looked through it. I found out the girl’s name was Tamara. When I saw her picture, it felt like I was seeing Lyra, and I couldn’t stop staring at her. ‘’She looks so much like her,’’ I muttered as I ran my hand over her picture.

‘’she is not her,’’ Leonara quickly said. ‘’Her name is Tamara Leonardo, and she is 23 years old. She works at Savour restaurant and does other jobs, such as house cleaning. She graduated from Kingstown University at the top of her class in business planning, but since she couldn’t get a job, she settled for the restaurant. She has a brother who had been sick for years,’’ she pointed to the picture of the brother on the table. ’’he has a heart disease and needs surgery, but Tamara has been unable to pay because she is struggling with debts. Her mate cheated on her with her best friend and…….’’I groaned at the mention of her mate and remembered how I had met her that night; it was all because of her mate. Although I hated that she had a mate, I was also glad that he had cheated on her because, without that, I wouldn’t have been able to meet her that night.

" Wow, Leonara, your investigation skills are top-notch. ” I gave her a thumbs up, but her facial expression remained the same—severe and calculating.

‘’what are you going to do about her?’’ leonara asked.

I sighed as I dropped the pictures in my hand to the table and then let out a sigh. ‘’Now that Ian knows about her, I have to protect her and bring her here.’’

‘’And do what?’’ she inquired, shock evident in her eyes. ‘’I thought you said you wanted to find her because you wanted to see her from afar, so why are you bringing her to the royal home?’’

‘’Because my brother is targeting her, and also, I am going to make her my surrogate!’’ I declared.

Leonara scoffed and rubbed her forehead. ” Have you gone crazy, Axel?” she dropped the honorifics and scoffed. ” Have you gone crazy?” she asked again. ” Remember that she is not Lyra, and you can’t change that!”

‘’I believe that I am not crazy, Leonara,’’ I told her, standing up from the chair and heading towards the door. ‘’The council of elders wants me to have an heir right, and then, I found a surrogate, and Ian went after her. What makes you think he wouldn’t go after that girl since he had already seen her?’’ I asked her, hoping that she would give me the correct answers to my enquires. ‘’what makes you think that he wouldn’t go crazy enough to go after the girl and kill her.’’

" Why do you care about what Ian does?” Leonard asked the obvious question. She knew I would do anything to protect the girl since she looked like Lyra and was also targeted by my brother. “This girl is not your dead mate. She is someone different and…..”

I stopped her before she could finish talking. I rubbed my hands together and sighed. ‘’she had seen me that night, and Ian could suddenly reveal himself to her, and you know what would happen after that.’’

Ian and I were identical twins, which remarkably made me hate him. He had my face and used it for bad things. No one could differentiate us except for me. I only knew that Ian was not me. Leonara could distinguish between us if we wore different clothes, but aside from that, there was no difference.

‘’Ian could be planning something terrible, and we have to avoid it, so I need to go after the girl and make her my surrogate,’’ I told him.

‘’Your Highness. You can’t approach anyone and try to make them your surrogate. What if she doesn’t accept?’’

I chuckled. “Leonara, the girl is struggling with debt. Once I promise to clear her debts, she will agree in the blink of an eye.” I snapped my fingers and chuckled again. ” Inform Ryan that I want the car ready while I get ready to meet her.”

‘’Alright, your Highness,’’ she bowed and walked behind me as we headed out of my office. ‘’since you are making the girl your surrogate, what about your Luna queen? The council of elders had been talking about it for years and ….’’

‘’ I am not making her bride, and besides, Alyssa would always be my bride and queen forever,’’ I stated.

‘’But you need a queen to keep the balance of the realm. You can’t remain single forever; a surrogate can only do much. You…….’’

I shook my head, disagreeing with her opinion. ‘’There is no way I am agreeing to make anyone my bride,’’ I told her, and she nodded in response without saying anything else. Once we parted ways, I went to my room while she prepared the car with Ryan, my driver.

~~~~~~~

We reached the front of the restaurant three hours later, and I waited in the back of the car for a few minutes, watching her from outside. I had watched her serve for thirty minutes but couldn’t summon the courage to leave my vehicle. She was just like Lyra. Her movement and everything she was doing was just like her.

The way Lyra usually rolled her hair in a messy bun was how She did with her dark hair, and each time she smiled at the customers, I was reminded of Lyra.

‘’your Highness, are we entering?’’ Leonara impatiently asked beside me.

I blinked and nodded In response. ‘’I think that it is time we meet the girl,’’ I muttered and opened the door. ‘’she is not Lyra,’’ I reminded myself as I adjusted my tie and walked into the restaurant.

“Welcome,” her calming and soft voice said as we walked in. Just as our eyes met, her heart thumping sounded like music to my ear; it wasn’t just her heartbeat, but there was another, which certainly didn’t belong to her.