Chapter 5

Nathan:

I watched as Kiara walked away to her campsite only to notice her dagger on the forest floor where I had forced her to drop a while ago.

I kneeled down and picked it up, noticing a letter K, carved over the silver which was what the handle was made of, smiling, I took the dagger and grabbed a napkin from my pocket and slowly covered the blade with it before clearing my throat for my beta, Daniel, to come out of where he was hiding nearby, he and the other members of my pack had shifted earlier incase my mate got aggressive, which she did, but she didn’t go aggressive to the point where I couldn’t handle her myself, which was why they didn’t make a move, not that I would’ve allowed them to harm her anyway.

“Follow her, but don’t make yourself obvious, I want to find out exactly where she lives, and if who she lives with need anything, I’m assuming they’re a lot, but I want you to see and report back to me” I said looking at him, he waited for a second to see if I had any other orders, but when he found out that I had none, he turned around followed her scent to wherever she was going.

My second beta Joseph and two guards came out of their hide outs as well and stood in front of me waiting for my orders, but until Daniel was back, I had none, therefor it was time to go back to the palace.

Noticing that it was getting dark out, and the weather was getting colder, I wondered how my mate would be able to survive the cold night with her worn out dress, just the idea of what she would be bearing during the cold winter, her and whoever was with her, made me want to follow her and bring her back with me, but I knew that if we did go to her now, they would be thinking that I meant harm, especially since the sun has set and it was already almost nightfall, therefor I had no other options than to wait for Daniel to arrive then wait till morning to pay them a visit, but either way, I was taking my mate with me, this was the last night I planned on staying away from her.

Reaching the palace didn’t take much time through the forest, despite me being on foot as I didn’t want to shift, I knew the path by heart, plus the ability to catch the scent of the path, and my sensitive hearing, I could tell that it was a calm evening, one that I wished we had more of in this kingdom, but since the human king, King Midas, chose to let go of his kingdom, forcing his people to face whatever fate they would be facing, it had been hard to get them back into order, and even harder to bring safety back to the kingdom, it took time, a lot of it, but I was finally getting there, father having entrusted me with the human kingdom less than a year ago and put me as a ruler prince on it, making it a state that was following our kingdom, I had proved to him that I could be taking my responsibilities, not that he didn’t know that already, but I always saw the felt the distrust and doubt from his side toward me, but I’ve taught myself not to pay much mind to it, and just lived and learned to ignore it.

The maids and guards bowed upon seeing me reach the palace, and the doors were opened for me the second I reached the gate, though what surprised me was seeing the palace’s royal guards standing in front of the gate rather than mine.

“Is everything alright?” I asked the guard who stood at the door, Bartolomeo, he was my father’s right hand, his hard brown eyes looked at me, his jaw clenched as he stood with his head high, though he respected me, I knew that he saw himself as closer to father than I was, which he technically was despite me being father’s son, Bartolomeo was constantly by father’s side, he knew a lot more about father than I did.

“King Ned is inside waiting for you, your grace” he said bowing, I nodded and put a hand on his shoulder squeezing it, his eyes scanned the surrounding before he leaned and whispered in my ear “the queen just lost her child, therefor the king is furious, just try to keep away from trouble with him”

“Is mother okay?” I asked my voice as low as his, I had found out that mother was pregnant a week ago from my little sister who wrote to me, but mother was yet to tell me herself.

“She’s fine, a bit ill after the loss of her child, but other than that she is okay”

Nodding, I walked inside the castle to face the wrath of my father, despite having done nothing, I knew that he would be taking his anger out on me like he always did, it didn’t bother me any longer, well, it did, but I tried my best not to let it get to me, as I knew that he had no one to take his anger out on but me, and in my opinion, it’s better me than mother or my two younger sisters.

“Where have you been?” Father asked angrily the second I entered the throne room, reminding myself that he was hurting and probably angry, I stood my ground and controlled myself.

“I went to town to tend to the people’s needs, then went to the forest with the pack” I said calmly, not wanting to lie as I knew that he would’ve probably already asked where I was and knew, though there was really nothing to lie about.

“Who was the girl you saw at the forest?”

I stood corrected; he did indeed ask where I was.

“My mate, I’m bringing her here tomorrow or after tomorrow” I said calmly, father’s body stiffened, he hadn’t turned to face me yet, and I wished that he didn’t as I saw his golden eyes flare when he looked at me, his wolf making himself known.

“Your mother loses her child, and you are out here playing house and searching for your mate?” Father snapped.

“In my defense father, I was not aware of mother being pregnant in the first place” I said glaring at him, hiding the fact that my sister had already told me, but if they found out that she has written to me, then she would’ve been in a lot of trouble, and that was something that I did not want to make her go through.

Now, I know you’re confused, she wrote to her brother and not her lover, but it wasn’t all love and pink life when it came to being a wolf royalty, the second I left the palace, I was not allowed to have any contact with anyone of my family unless I visited or they visited me, which father never allowed to happen, they were never allowed to visit me, therefor even when I did go to the palace to see them, it was like we were strangers, as we were both of different packs now, I had my own, while father had his own, and mother and both my sisters were in his pack, cutting them from having any communication with me unless I saw them, but that didn’t mean that a few rules didn’t go unbroken by my sisters who tended to hide their messages as they sent them to me in secret.

“And yet you do not seem surprised of the news?” Father asked raising an eyebrow.

“Bartolomeo had informed me that mother had a miscarriage before I entered the castle, feel free to ask him if you want” I said looking at father holding my ground, if he sensed a bit of weakness then he would think that he had something to hold against me, which he technically didn’t but I wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of thinking that he did.

“I see”

“To what do I owe the honor father?” I asked, he rarely visited and when he did there was something that he wanted to tell me or needed to inform me of personally, otherwise he would just be sending a royal letter with the palace messenger.

“Your mother and sisters wish to see you” father said coldly, his brown eyes meeting my own in a glare which I did not return, I could not understand his disliking to me, and if I were being honest, as long as I was far away from him and his problems, I didn’t really care to understand.

“Let them come, they’re more than welcome to come and visit”

“You are to come to the palace with me”

“With all due respect father, I believe that mother has the right to visit her son, and my sisters their big brother in his own castle, I have my duties here which I cannot neglect” I said looking him dead in the eye, I knew that I was playing with fire when I talked back at him, but he needed to know that I would not be neglecting any of my responsibilities for whatever reason there was, and I wanted mother and my sisters to visit me here, it wasn’t logical that the only time they did come here was the day I came here the first time, and it was only to say goodbye.

“You will not be telling me what your mother and sisters have the right to do and what they do not do, you will do as I say, no questions asked”

“And when this land loses its order, which is yet to be established in the first place, you’ll come back here to yell at me for hours, telling me what an irresponsible disgrace I am, right?” I snapped, this time losing my self-control, I wanted to keep it, I swear I did, but his attitude toward me was too much to handle without talking back to defend myself.

“Excuse me? Who the hell do you think you are?” Father asked taking a threatening step toward me, normally I would’ve flinched, but father was forgetting that I was growing up, and being seven, ten, thirteen, and even sixteen, was not like being twenty-one and knowing that you were just as strong, probably stronger than he was, despite him having more experience in what he was doing, I had more energy.

“If there is nothing else to say father, I have work to tend to, and you are making me late” I said not answering to his threat, I bowed to him before turning to the door and walking out of the throne room leaving him alone to process what had happened.

I was met by Daniel, who had shifted back to human and was wearing pants and a shirt standing by the door waiting for me, he nodded and me making me smile and nod in approval.

He had done what I had asked.