When Mia woke up the next day, she didn’t find Xavier in bed. He had left, and her eyes strained. She wondered how long she had been asleep while she turned around in his bed. The smell of Xavier lingered on the sheets and in the room and last night her senses were foggy, but now she could take in his manly smell along with his scent. She missed this, and it was just two days of being apart. She wanted to stay all day here, but she knew reality wouldn’t let her have that. She sighed and pulled herself up to sit down, the memories of the night before slipping into her head and she remembered why she came back to Xavier’s room. There was an intruder last night, an alpha, who tried to kill her. The images flashed back into her head and fear gripped her heart. She wrapped her arms around her body. She had held her own, yet she was scared. Xavier asked her into his room so he could keep her safe and she was grateful he did because she felt safe wrapped in his bed and arms

Xavier stepped into the inner courts where the now seven elders, Elliott and Robb, sat waiting for him. Behind him were Mia and Edward, and together they made their way up. While Edward and Mia stayed back, Xavier continued towards the stand to face the alpha of alphas. Unlike the last time they were here, they had one less person in the courtroom, Chike. The council of alphas in unison placed a curse on Alpha Chike as punishment for the betrayal of his duties to the throne a few days ago. The curse left the mark of betrayal, an engraved red scar on his forehead, which would tell everyone who he was and what he had done. And after that, they banished him from the kingdom of Wahala. He was told never to return or will die at the hands of the elders and his soul would end up in Inferno, every living being’s nightmare. Heeding Mia’s advice, the king spared Chike’s family from his fate after discovering that they had no hand in it. Alpha Chike’s act of betrayal a

Xavier sat in the courtroom, listening to the report of the supervisors of the Capital 3 in the last few months. According to their report, the project should reach its completion in another four months and in a year’s time, these institutions would become fully functioning. Xavier, however, didn’t listen to their case or take anything they say into consideration. His mind was far away on the ship leaving for the kingdom of Reading, the ship which had the love of his life and mate. It left shores three days ago according to the reports he received and his heart had been bleeding ever since. He made a promise to Mia to carry on in her absence, and that was what he had done so far. Still, it hurt, waking up every day without her beside him. Going about his duties as king without having her laugh and tease him didn’t sit well. He missed her; he missed her laughter, her grace, her rebellion and everything that made her who she was. He couldn’t accept the fact that she had gone, accepting