Chapter 19

Ysabella's POV

When they left, I lay down on my bed and tried to sleep, but clearly sleep wouldn't come, and I lay there staring into the darkness until dawn, my head a whirlwind of thoughts.

I continued with my tasks as if nothing had happened; it wouldn't be through me that they would discover Lady Samantha had run away.

And that didn't take long to happen.

"SAMANTHA! WHERE ARE YOU?"

I heard the king shouting through the corridors in the early hours of the morning, his voice booming, shaking the castle walls. I clasped my hands to my chest and closed my eyes tightly, afraid of gripping me.

The king clearly didn't need to search the entire castle to know she was far away. The mate's entourage already told him that; the king could sense that his fateful mate was very far. Unreachable.

"My king? Why are you so agitated? Has something happened?" I heard Beta Emrich's voice, always ready to attend to his alpha.

"Samantha, Emrich. She's not here!" The king's voice was altered; I could feel fear in those lines.

"Are you sure about that, my sovereign? Today is the day of your mating ritual, the long-awaited day. She may be absent to better prepare herself," Emrich tried.

"When I woke up, her side of the bed was as cold as a grave, Emrich," the king said, his voice heavy and choked. "Her clothes aren't in the room, her scent isn't anywhere. And I can feel the mate's connection lost, like a tangled ball of yarn."

I pressed my hands tighter against my chest. The king would start to freak out now. What if he turned into that monster he usually turned into? Clearly, he would kill anyone in front of him, and I honestly didn't want to be near him at a time like this.

I was so scared. It was Samantha who literally saved me from him, because if she hadn't been his soother, I would have had to be, and then I would have ended up dead so easily.

“I ask you to calm down, my king,” Emrich said in a composed voice. “I will have them search for her throughout the castle and all of Pack until they find her, although I believe she is not very far away, which you have assumed on purpose. She truly intended to marry you; there is no reason why she would want to disappear so suddenly.”

Emrich's naiveté touched me. If only he knew that his king was nothing like the person he believed him to be, and that Samantha had precisely fled from him after discovering that she would be kept prisoner in that castle as his soother forever. There was nothing noble in their union; it was just a cruel king wanting to imprison the only woman who could keep him sane.

I heard footsteps as they parted, then I could sigh with relief. But when I thought he would leave me out of this, I was very wrong, because moments later the guards came to get me to the throne room.

King Maddox was seated on his throne, his face contorted with fury and discomfort. I could feel his anger everywhere, and worst of all, Emrich wasn't around to defend me.

“It seems that Samantha and Tori packed their things and left,” he said. “And you, who were their closest friend, I'm sure you want to tell me something you know about this.” His gaze was scrutinizing.

I swallowed hard. I was sure he could feel the sweat on my back. “I’m sorry, my king, but I don’t know anything,” I lied, my voice dry. “When I woke up that morning, Tori’s bed was already empty.”

“And you really think I believe you? The three of you have always been very close. And you really think I’ll believe that if they left, they didn’t tell you anything?” His voice had a mocking tone.

I stared at the floor, feeling that my life was in danger. “I may very well not have seen anything, my king. For when a person decides to be invisible, they become invisible. But the question should be why did they choose to become that way? What could have happened to cause that?”

“You insolent girl! How dare you insult me?” He roared at me. I barely noticed how he closed the distance between us; his hand was already on my neck, his strong fingers gripping and squeezing so hard that I soon began to feel it hurting my lungs.

“Please…” I tried to plead, pulling his fingers away from me, but it was as if I were pulling steel. His eyes were such a strong gold that they bordered on red; he exuded danger, the will to kill blinding any lucidity in him.

I knew I wasn't going to escape this one. And I just wished I had had a little more time to love Emrich…

“Release my mate!” It was him, Beta Emrich.

He came running, crossing the throne room, his heart pounding.

“What did you say?” Maddox asked, but he was still gripping my neck.

“She is my mate, therefore it is my duty to protect her. And you saw, my beloved king, by touching her, you are touching me. By hurting her, you are hurting me. By killing her, you are killing me.” Profound words spoken at the decisive moment by his second-in-command.

King Maddox pondered while still holding my neck in his hand. He wanted to kill me to erase my words, because they had touched a wound he was avoiding looking at, because there was truth in my words and he knew that Samantha might very well have left because she discovered the rottenness he was.

Then he pushed me hard, my body colliding with Beta Emrich's, who caught me in his arms and didn't let me fall. King Maddox quickly transformed into a large, ferocious wolf and ran out of the throne room towards the forest, probably to look for her.

"Are you alright?" Emrich cared.

There was a purple bruise around my neck and my throat hurt, but I was alive. "I was so scared..." I cried, my voice hoarse.

Emrich hugged me tightly. "I'm sorry I didn't get here in time, but this will never happen again."

I laid my head on his chest and closed my eyes as I cried. At least with Emrich I could feel protected and, above all, loved.