03. Say Your Goodbyes.

Dario’s POV

This was it.

The worst fuvking mistake of my life.

Nothing could have prepared me for this; now that it already happened, it was done.

Alfred was gone.

“Take me to him,” I ordered as I stormed to where some of my men were, moving things around.

“Your Majesty,” they made their customary bow before leading the way inside one of the few buildings that was still standing.

I could tell that the battle here had been hard. It was hard enough that Alfred knew he wasn’t going to make it.

And he had used the last method of survival that could have housed about ten of them till I got here for his only daughter.

His princess.

She was one hell of a mouthy princess and definitely the bane of my existence.

I had gone from buying her toys to buying her dresses.

But, from the day she turned sixteen, I had noticed the difference that my Principessa was growing into one of the most beautiful and alluring females ever.

Two months before her 18th birthday, she decided to let me know she wasn’t a girl anymore.

That my little Principessa was now a lady.

I did what any sane man should have done.

I turned her down and made a vow to Alfred, so I would never be tempted to return here.

Because I knew very much that there was no possible way I could keep myself from her.

“No fucking way.”

One of my men turned from hearing my outburst and then kept leading the way as soon as they realised I was talking to myself.

As they opened the door to a room at the innermost part of the house, the three of them stepped aside, allowing me to see Alfred’s body.

“Leave.”

Three bows, and I was alone.

I entered, closed the door behind me, and fell to my knees beside Alfred.

“I made that promise to her.”

“Fucking promised her that I would protect you with my own life,” even though she didn’t deserve a vow like that from me.

I had done it, promised her that I would protect the man that she chose and then ended up becoming best friends with him after she died in childbirth.

A part of me had felt genuinely sorry for him.

She had chosen him, but their time together had barely amounted to anything.

But, at the very least, he got Isla. Who had quickly grown into an even more tempting version of her mother?

“I should have never made that vow,” I added as one teardrop fell from my eyes to the floor.

I didn’t realise that Alfred might have taken the vow on a more personal level when, in reality, I made the vow to keep myself away from him.

From his little Princess.

Because I wasn’t sure, I could hold back if I kept seeing her.

And now, he is gone.

I bowed, allowing my forehead to touch the ground. The same ground that Alfred laid.

“Let my bow escort you to the afterlife, and I pray to the moon goddess to unite you with your beloved, Elena.”

Another tear.

This time, for how much I was going to miss Alfred. He was the one person I could come to without having to be the Lycan King without watching my back for any plot or schemes.

I stepped out, my eyes falling on Isla.

Even with reddened eyes and tears streaking down her face, she still managed to look like the best thing that the heavens ever made.

Whatever it was that the moon goddess had in mind when she created Isla, I doubt it was anything good.

She was too beautiful to be good.

She hissed under her breath as I passed, and I held back, resisting the urge to turn her around and spank her ass and teach her some good manners that Alfred didn’t.

If I had to be fair, though, I had spoilt her even more than he had. Perhaps it was before she was eighteen. From the moment she was born and I met those sparkling blue eyes, she already had wrapped me around her fingers.

“Say your goodbyes; we leave in twenty,” I told her, and she turned sharply.

“What are you talking about? Leave where?” she asked sharply, and I took a deep breath before replying.

“We are going to my city. There’s no reason why you should stay here,” I shot a pointed glare at the room where Alfred’s body lay, cold and lifeless.

“And why do you think I want to follow you? I’d rather become a rogue wolf than leave with you, Dario.”

“Isla.”

It’s one word, but I know very well that she can feel the threat and warning in it as her shoulders slumped.

“I want to spend some more time with Papa; you can leave some men behind for me,” she said resignedly, and at that moment, she was back to being my angel.

I was tempted to step forward and pull her into a hug.

“Alfred left me a message in his last moments..” I started, and I saw how her attention perked up.

“Can I see?”

“He asked me to bury him beside your mother, in my kingdom and to take you back home.”

Isla sucked in the air.

“Home?”

“I’ll explain on our way. Spend some time with your dad and allow the men to come in and do what they can to keep him till we are back in my kingdom.”

Her gaze stayed on the floor, and after some minutes, she nodded numbly, and I walked away.

“Your Majesty, we have combed the entire pack. No one is alive here, but we picked a few clues.”

“Assign a team of three to chase these clues. I want conclusive evidence in two days.”

Every single person that had dared to come here and got involved in this attack had to pay with their lives.

I was going to make sure that I made every single of those fuckers pay up this debt.