6. BLOODLINE WAR

HENRY'S POV

I don't need a mate. I always tell Cedric, but he has made it his purpose in life to ignore me. I stare out the window of the throne room as he rattles on about the eldest daughter of a Beta in the pack that just joined the alliance.

I prop my hand on the chair, holding my temple as his voice echoes in the empty room, about to hurl out curses in frustration when my own Beta's voice suddenly fills my head.

"The border has been breached." He announce in a fear filled voice. Eli, my Beta and friend was never one to be afraid, but this is the third breach this month and even I am worried.

"Level of threat?." I ask and Cedric finally stops talking to notice my eyes glazed as I communicate orders through the link.

"A level one, single crazed rogue." He says and I close off the link. They know what to do.

I stand from my throne and Cedric bows. I groan at the quiet smile on his lips as I anticipated another hour long rant as to why I need a mate.

"The pack is beginning to worry at the frequent breach." He voices, I cast him a glare, knowing fully well that when he says 'The pack' he means himself and the council of elders.

Cedric is our fifty-six year old butler, now sprouting a patch of white hair, served my father and has been by my side since I became Alpha at age 16. As annoying as he was, he saved my life during the usurping. He is also one of the ten members of the council of elders my father created.

"They don't need to worry, our front line warriors are more than capable to neutralize any breach." I tell him as a matter of fact. But I should have known better, Cedric is never one to back down. Not when the last mating moon of the year is near.

"The shield is weak, we need to power the fire p.…." A loud growl from me has him cowering, the rest of his words dies in his mouth. I was well aware of what was happening with the shield, he didn't need to remind me. Not when I spend every night at the pedestal a symbol of my father's treaty, watching the red glint that has kept our pack from hunters and rivals for years, go dim.

"I'm stressed as it is, I don't need you breathing down my neck on this matter Cedric, set the stupid meeting with Blue Ivy." I snarl and leave him, bowing under my aura, I don't release him till the door to my room closes. 

Cedric means well, I trust the man with my life, but he is too obsessed with the whole mate thing and the age long Prophecy. I punch the surveillance computers on my table, and sent them crashing to the ground.

"Calm the fuck down." I growl at my own wolf.

I turned twenty-six a week ago and I am yet to find my mate. Cedric says its what's making my wolf more on the edge. Unlike humans, we find our fated mates early, predestined by the moon goddess and settle down.

A wolf can only recognize his mate under the mating moon, when he is at his strongest and when she is near. A lot of factors goes with the mating process. One would think finding a mate is hard because of these rules, but the number of mating I've witness in my years as alpha proves other wise.

Most mates are members of the same pack, so once the mating moon comes, the bond snaps into place and they claim each other. The only exception is me. As an alpha and the last living line of royalty, I got my wolf earlier so since I turned 16, I've had to attend almost mating moon ceremonies with no luck.

This has opened room for many scandals especially with women. More than 10 women have come forth with the claim of carrying my child. I am not exactly known with celibacy. And werewolves in heat are very likely to get pregnant easily. With the monarchy, there is system to royal bloodline, an expecting mother's test that they all failed, so after a while I guess they all gave up trying to use a child as means to becoming Luna.

Four years ago, Cedric, after repeatedly asking if I was gay, said maybe my mate was in another pack. Since then, the mating moon became a joint celebrations in the alliance, each pack taking turns in hosting. But I barely attended, much to his dismay.

And every time, he rattles on, trying to convince me to go. I have held up so far, but with the recent happenings, Cedric's rattles non stop.

The weak shield, also translates that I'm weak, and a weak Alpha is not who my father was or who he raised me to be.

I had big shoes to fill. My father, King Howard II single handedly stopped the war between us and hunters, creating the shield as a sign of the treaty. He sent me to a human military boarding school during that time to protect his heir. But after the war, he changed, left me alone among the humans only to die in the hands of his brother, trying to save my mother.

The shield has changed much over the years, it used to be powered by a thin blue wall of fire, when I became king we started experimenting other technological methods mostly because our pack lands kept increasing. Currently it is mainly a magnetic electric field, powered by reflective solar systems concealed deep in the forests. But the heart of the power house is still run on pure fire. Occasionally when the power house is down, a crack opens in the shield, creating a portal door once opened, it take a few days to close it back up so Rouges use this portal door into the pack.

Cedric tells me that a mate will make me stronger, but all I have seen was how it ruined my father. A great king.

I was ten when he died, I had to become alpha at 16 or my uncle, Ray would kill the entire pack. Red Fire was in chaos when he died, a few members followed Ray to form the Black Lotus pack that had since tormented us.