Chapter Four: The Princess Is Coming and So Is My Problem

~Axel’s POV~

“I do not care!” 

My growl exploded, rustling the leaves on the trees. “Find her or everyone will be wondering where you disappeared to.”

The head of my security swallowed hard, taking a step backwards. The lividity was so blinding I couldn’t even recall his name.

He bowed his head slightly. “Alpha Edgewood—”

I cut him off with a subtler but more gravelly growl. “I wouldn’t be scurrying the land looking for her if you had done your job in the first place so I do not care for anything you have to say unless it correlates with the words ‘your mate has been found.’ 

My aura pulsed around us with so much force that for a second, I thought I might lose control, but I pulled it back with effort. “You are dismissed.”

He bowed and disappeared. Immediately a voice followed like the person had been waiting. 

 And it was one I would always recognize. My Beta’s.

“For the first time I am glad to have been relieved of my duties as head of security. Jameson looked like he was going to piss himself.”

The drawl laced with amusement in his voice made me turn my glare on him. “I am not in the mood, Zane.”

His hands went up in mock peace, but I had known him long enough to know he was enjoying my irritation. “I just came to air my opinion that we have made enough stops. It is time we pack up and leave for the reason we came to this city. The Alpha Gathering.”

“I am not leaving until I—”

“Until you find your mate.” He interrupted and he was lucky he was the only one  in existence who could then his eyes turned serious. “I have searched everywhere. Every perimeter, every pack around us. There has been no news of any recently marked female.”

He paused, letting that sink in.

“The pull of the mating bond cannot be fought. The marking mark is even more irrevocable. She will find her way back to you but for now, you have a duty to fulfill to the King of the realm. One you traveled all the way out here for. We need to get moving.”

Silence followed his words.

“Thirty one years, Zane.” I sighed, running a hand through my hair in frustration I finally let show. “Thirty one whole years of existence and I thought I would never find her.”

He reached out, placing a hand on my shoulder. “I know that more than anyone else, Axel. I know.”

Another wave of silence followed as he backed away, already reading my mind. Sometimes I hated that he could do that. Sometimes, like now, I appreciated it.

“I will give the order by your command. Most of the men will be left behind to continue the search. We will find her. I promise you.”

Then with a more distinct air of departure, he was gone.

I stood there for a moment longer and like it had been happening, she flashed in my head.

Except I had barely seen her face through the heat that had consumed me the moment I sensed her under the force of the full moon, overwhelming everything until all I could process was her scent, the way she felt, the desperate need to mark her before I lost control completely.

When it finally released me, when the bond snapped into place and rational thought returned, the first thing I registered was anger. 

Anger at the Rogues that had dared touch her. Even though I had torn them apart, the fury still burned.

Then she went limp in my arms and the anger shifted instantly.

Into the need to protect. 

So I  carried her back carefully, my wolf snarling at anything that got too close. Found a simple dress and slipped it over her, then wrapped one of my jackets around her completely. My scent would calm her when she woke. We would talk then.

Then Zane burst in with news of another rogue attack.

Four hours.

That was how long I had been gone and how long it had taken for her to disappear without a trace.

My wolf let out a growl echoing the frustration burning through me, but just as fast he rose, letting out a harder one at the scent that drifted through my senses making me turn my head.

There were little things in the world I appreciated and even fewer people that I tolerated. Victor Declan, the Alpha of the Cambridge Pack, did not and would never make that list.

I pushed my wolf back from beneath the surface, but he stayed alert from the suddenness of Victor’s presence and even more so from the younger man carrying his exact features standing behind him.

The two of them stared silently. I broke it with an edge to my tone. “I suppose you have a reason for bypassing my security and entering my camp without calling on me first.”

A noncommittal smile took over Victor’s face. He bowed his head a little in respect to ranks despite being an Alpha himself. “My apologies, Alpha Edgewood. I was just amazed by how much you have grown. The last time I saw you was at your grandfather’s funeral and you were—”

“Do you have a purpose for being here?” I cut in, my agitation growing.

He bowed his head lower. “My apologies again. My son and I, Ian.” He gestured to his lookalike with pride. “We heard that you had made camp on three different locations around the borders of our pack and wanted to invite you to travel together to the Alpha Gathering. Which I suppose is your intention gracing our city with your presence.”

It took only one moment or in my case, one word for me to decide that I disliked Victor Declan when I met him during my grandfather’s funeral.

Right now that dislike gave way to anger at the realization that snapped through me. I pushed my aura out. “This land stretches beyond the borders of your pack, which means you were meant to be responsible for the patrols supposed to control and contain the Rogues.”

“Alpha Edgewood—”

“Do. Not. Interrupt me when I speak.”

Victor clamped his mouth shut but I caught the anger in his son’s eyes. Anger I didn’t care for.

“My mate was almost mauled to death by those Rogues you failed to keep in check. To make your incompetence more apparent, there was another attack the next day. One which forced me to leave her side.”

I stopped because if I said the next words ‘and now she is gone and I cannot find her’, I would explode.

I forced my aura back. “See yourself out and never appear in front of me unless I permit it. Which I never will.”

Then I walked past them without another glance, making a mental note to have a serious reexamination of my security.

I let my instinct guide me to my tent because unfortunately, this path did not have the luxury of buildings we could accommodate like the last one where I found my mate. As soon as I arrived, because the universe decided that today was the day for me to engage with everyone, Cassandra’s scent filled my nose.

Her purr followed. “You look stressed, Axel.”

My eyes found her and one thought registered: Mistake.

One which I kept making because I kept sleeping with her over the years and it was many years as we grew up together.

She walked towards me, swaying her hips slightly in a way that used to entice me but didn’t anymore. Hadn’t in the last five years.

“I can help you relieve the stress.”

“Cassandra.” I kept my tone firm. “I have told you more times than I care to count. I am not interested and  I need you to leave. I have important things to take care of.”

Her face fell before it brightened just as fast. “Okay. I just wanted to tell you that I placed your outfit out for the Alpha Gathering.”

My eyes went behind her to the outfit laid out in the makeshift tent. I looked back at her, offering a forced smile. “It is much appreciated.”

She waited a second longer, then the smile fell again before she lowered her head like she had finally accepted what everyone assumed, that she would be my Luna. What would never happen.

Just as fast it shot back up then her sultry voice followed. “I will see you later, Axel.”

I let out a sigh of frustration. With a forced numbness not to think of my mate, knowing I would leave, I got dressed in another outfit, hoping that would make my point more clearer to her. 

By the time I emerged, everything was packed up and the cars were ready.

I walked forward, heads bowing as I passed, subtle conversations still happening  around me but one stuck in particular.

“The Princess will be making her first public appearance and her father will be choosing a mate.”

The Princess.

The tiresome thought clicked  in my head just as I got in the car and my phone rang.

I picked it up without waiting for him to speak knowing exactly who it was. “I am already on my way, Father.”

The expected pause followed before he spoke. Without even needing to see them, I knew my mother was right beside him.

“I need not remind you of your duties to the pack. To the realm. When you meet her, be polite. Treat her with the respect that is a foreign concept to you. Ensure nothing hinders the finalizing of your marriage to her.”

I took a pause of my own. “Unfortunately the marriage will not be happening because I found my mate and I have every intention of making her my Luna.”

My mother’s presence became more apparent from her gasp, but my father went on without giving her a chance to speak. “I do not care that you found your mate. I do not care if she is a woman of high rank.” He paused. “Is she?”

I knew I would regret my next words, but I said it anyway. “I do not know for sure but I intend to find out.”

“You intend to  find out?” He scoffed. “You want to go against your duty for someone unknown?”

The anger started to rise, but I caught myself. There was a time I feared my father, but now he couldn’t make me do anything unless I wished it.

Unfortunately, my duty was my biggest drive in life. I had gone to great lengths to fulfill what I was responsible for, so I kept quiet. 

And because my father knew, he went on. 

“The contract has existed between our family and the Royal line for centuries. If you do not marry the Princess, you know what will happen.” His signature pause followed before he finished. 

“The Moon Goddess will bring down a punishment far worse than death and none of us will survive it.”