You Will Marry Vinnie

POV: Xander

Her name is Celia, and her wolf has the most beautiful name I’ve ever heard, Aurora. She is not my true mate, she is a lycan princess from another kingdom. We were friends from when we were cubs, and as we grew older, our parents saw it fit that we get mated to each other and create a lasting bond that would unite our two kingdoms forever.

It was the perfect idea, and it certainly worked!

We got together and fell deeply in love with each other. She may not be my true mate from the moon goddess, but she certainly filled that void in my heart with joy and laughter. She is a born warrior with a heart of gold. Even my true mate can never love me like she does. I doubt there is any kind of love that is greater than what we share. Mating with Celia is the best thing that has ever happened in my entire life. Ours was a bond that I thought would never be broken, I dreamt of growing old with her and having beautiful kids that would look just like us, mini versions of both of us that would forever put smiles on our faces.

I dreamt of watching her grow bigger with my seed growing in her womb, watching her glow in our unending love. But all my dreams were shattered by fate, my mate, my one true love was taken away from me. My heart broke into a thousand pieces when I felt that searing pain in my heart, I felt it as if our bond was broken like a tiny twig under the feet of a mighty man. She was dead, forever gone, and there was nothing I could do to save her. If only she had just listened to me when I told her to stay back and let me handle the rogues if only she wasn’t so stubborn about it.

You see, the rogues were giving us a hard time. It seems they recruited a master planner or an organizer. But we noticed that something seems to have changed in their strategy and attack format. Where the rogues would run and hide from us before, they became bolder to stand in our faces and challenge our right to rule. They began to multiply in number from their daily attacks. They attacked without mercy, and they leave no one alive, not even a single soul could ever be found around a pack that has just been attacked by the rogues.

Our population kept decreasing while theirs increased daily. I volunteered to be on the case because I want to get these rogues before I become the king. My father is long due for retirement, he always teased me that he was way younger than me when he took over from his father. I didn’t care about my age, and I still don’t. I simply wanted the records to state that the vicious attacks from the rogues ended in my father's regime. It would be an honor to him, and that would make his legacy so perfect for me to emulate. The plan was to put an end to the rogue attacks, then Celia and I could retire and let the general lead the army, while we live the rest of our lives in the comfort of our Palace, building our family and leading our two kingdoms to greatness.

I wanted to do this myself, we had just found out that she is expecting our first child. But Celia is a trained warrior who would never give up on a chance to take out the rogues. She fought so hard to be on this case and it hurt me so much because there is nothing I could do to stop her, nothing at all. Besides, she has a piece of vital information that I needed so urgently, and she wouldn’t tell me unless I let her join me in handling this case.

“We work better together, my love. Together we shall put an end to this menace, retire together and start our family together. This is how it should be, it makes perfect sense.” she let out in that perfect voice that I could never seem to resist. I found myself nodding and accepting her terms like a fucking idiot. She has me wrapped around her fingers, I can never refuse her, I can’t even think straight when she is around. That’s how fucked I was.

I mean, royally fucked!

I let her join the party as long as she promises to stay by my side always. She revealed to me that she has a lead on the case that may actually tell us exactly what we needed to know about the rogues and their plans and mode of operation. Apparently, she has a double agent that is just about to turn on the rogues and get them exposed. He was recruited from her kingdom, right under her nose. He is one of the warriors that trained with her when she was still a young princess, training to be a warrior princess. He left the pack when he wasn’t appointed as a general, he left in anger and never looked back.

It was said that he even sold us out to the rogues. He gave them our security strategies and even told them secrets about us that made us look weaker to the rogues. He is the reason why the rogues know all the weak points of each pack and how to break through their defenses without being caught. I don’t know what happened between him and the rogues. Maybe they too wouldn’t give him the treatment and rank he wants, so he decided to turn on them and try to get a full pardon from the king so he can return back to the pack with his family.

He couldn’t reach out to me because he is so scared of me and my crew. He reached out to Celia, and he told her he would tell us everything about the rogues and their plans. He was going to tell us how they managed to become so powerful and show us what they do with the rest of the packs that they always take as hostages. The deal was perfect, we were going to get everything we need to track down these guys and take them down for good. We would find out how they operate and how they manage to get confidential information about all the packs.

We were so excited to get rid of them that we forget to do a background check on this guy and find out why he chose to betray the rogues after so many years of living with them. We didn’t know about the inner conflicts within the camp of the rogues. They got to him before we got there, and they made him betray Celia and I. On the day we were supposed to meet him and get all the evidence we needed, we found him dead in the forest, along with his entire family and allies.

“Traitors!” was written on a board in their middle. They did not just kill our informants, they set up an ambush for us and they succeeded in killing my queen right in my presence. They attacked us without mercy, and since we didn’t go along with troops and warriors, we were outnumbered and defeated easily. I only survived because I ran away. I am a fierce warrior king, but when I saw her fall to the ground, lifeless and cold, I ran without looking back. I acted like a selfish bastard. My only thought was to save myself, so I ran away, abandoning my wife's corpse.

I was filled with rage, I couldn’t face the word and I certainly couldn’t lead a kingdom. I ran into hiding to mourn my mate. I could not take over the throne, I even refused to look at my father or mother because there is this burning anger within me that seems to be eating me up. It’s like a monster within me that is begging to be set free. I feel ashamed of myself for running away like a chicken, I feel weak and useless. If I cannot defend and protect my wife, how can I lead a kingdom?

I’ve been hiding in shame for the past twelve years. I do not step out in public for any reason whatsoever. I focused on my plans for revenge, and I dedicated my days and nights to searching for these bastards and avenging my queen. My father had to take up my duties as well as his. He was supposed to hand over the throne to me after that mission, but when things went south, he knew he had to let me moan my wife as long as I wanted to. Everyone knew about my bond with Celia, they knew I was in pain and they respected my wishes to be left alone.

But it’s been twelve years already, and my family won’t let me hide in shame anymore. Apart from the fact that I share a special bond with Celia, our relationship was approved by our parents because she is a princess from another lycan kingdom and it was believed that our union would unite both families and make us stronger. The arrangement was perfect, but now that she is gone, they are proposing another alliance with her family, and it sounds so absurd and ludicrous.

“Tap… tap… tap...” The soft knock on my door distracted me from my thoughts. I was going to ignore whoever it was and act like I wasn’t inside. But the tapping continued, and it was becoming annoyingly noisy and irritating. Whoever it was knows I am in here, and they are determined to keep banging on my door until I respond. I’m guessing that is an order from my father, so I have no fucking choice, I had to answer the damn door.

“What?” I bellowed from inside the room.

“I’m sorry my prince, the king requires your presence immediately.” a young omega stood outside my door, dressed in a flimsy skirt and crop top that made her look like a fucking whore. This would be my moms doing, I’m pretty sure of that. She makes the omega that comes to my room dress like whores just to get my attention. I have no idea what is wrong with everyone around me these days.

It’s either my father is trying to get me involved in running the kingdom, or my mom is trying to set me up with some girl I don’t even know. They must think that I have no plans for Life anymore. Like, why would screwing one of these girls make me feel better?

“He said to tell you that he has some new information about the rogues and that…” I didn’t wait for her to finish that statement, I pushed her out of the way and ran down the stairs with lightning speed, letting my wolf, Perseus, out for the first time in twelve years. I’ve been waiting for this news for so long, for twelve solid years. It was as if the rogues fell off the surface of the earth, we couldn’t find them anymore.

Ok, wait…

Let me take you back a little. So after I ran away from the ambush, I let Perseus out and I was able to run faster and put some distance between me and my pursuers. When I thought I was safe enough, I put a call across to my father, and the general was informed of my predicament, and warriors were sent to my location immediately.

I lingerie around, waiting for their arrival, and when they finally arrived, we launched an attack, breaking everything in our path as we invaded their camp that is just a few miles from the location we were ambushed. But we were too late, they have cleared out their camp and disappeared into thin air. We tried to pick up tracks and follow them, but these guys are just too good. They left no tracks behind, none at all.

The next few months were pure torture for me. I kept trying to figure out these guys, trying to understand how they think. But so far, I keep coming up empty because I keep hitting a dead end. It’s as if they know I’m watching, and they keep feeding me crumbs of information, forcing me to run after them like a lunatic. At one point, I fell into depression because I felt so useless. I would track and investigate these guys to a point where I think that I have finally caught them. Then boom, I’m facing an empty camp with a note that says,

“Better luck next time, dummy!”

It took me almost a year to realize that these guys are the ones feeding me with wrong information, sabotaging all my efforts, and making me look so fucking dumb and stupid. I had to take a break and study their patterns carefully. The next time I go after these guys, it would be my turn to make them look stupid and dumb.

“What do we have, Dad?

Did you do a background check, can we trust the source?

Does it make any reference to the packs I pointed out to you?

No wait, I would like to speak with the informant myself, I have a lot of questions I need him to answer before I can believe whatever he has to say. I’ve been doing my research Dad, and I think I know what to look for, and I know where to begin my investigations this time. I just need to…”

“Shut the fuck up and sit down!” my father yelled at me, forcing me to keep mute as I stare at him, bewildered by his reaction. For the first time, I noticed that we weren’t alone in his office. Mom was here and so was Celia’s family. I felt sad to see them, because of guilt I haven’t visited them since my wife's death, and seeing the looks in their eyes made me look even more guilty.

“I respect your decisions son, and that is why I let you run after the rogues all these years, neglecting your duties. But this has gone on for twelve years, and now it has to stop. You are a prince and my only son. You have an obligation to your family and the kingdom. No more adventures, son, and no more goofing around and grieving as if it is the end of the world. This ends right now!” Dad bellowed angrily, using his kingly aura to subdue everyone in the room.

“What are you saying dad, I thought you were on my side, I thought you understood me?” I wanted to say, but before I could say a word, he stood up and walked toward Celia’s family. I followed his movement with my eyes, as I try to come up with a reasonable explanation for his behavior. He stood in front of Vinnie, Celia’s sister. He took her hand and led her towards me as they both smiled like two fucking idiots.

“We had a meeting son, and we came to an agreement. To restore the bond between both families, you will marry Vinnie and take over the throne.” He voiced out authoritatively.