CHAPTER 27
RYAN’S POV
I looked out through the window, and could see my Beta already assembling our troops.
“His royal highness would be here soon, I need to leave.” I muttered to Ralia, who looked very sombre.
“Does it have to be this way?”
“Do you support Desmond’s stand?” I shot back.
“No!” She yelled out in disbelief. “I am here right now, not so?”
“Then why….”
“He is my mate, in case you have forgotten, brother!” She cut me off, making me hiss in internal agony. I truly didn’t want to hurt her, but things were out of my control now. I already tried to give him as much chances as I could, prior to this moment.
“Well, you mate is preparing himself to become a rebel to this kingdom. What do you want me to do?”
“To spare him. That is all I ask.” She sighed, walking up to me and taking my hand in hers. I eyed her hand in clear discomfort, but couldn’t bring myself to push her away.
“You know these kinds of gestures do not move me.” I bit out.
“You wouldn’t stop me from trying to reconnect with you, Ryan.” She whispered, blinking back the tears in her eyes. Oh, goddess!
“Fine.” I sighed. “Do not cry.”
“No matter what, Ryan. Promise me that you would spare him if things escalates out of proportion.” She request, more tears falling from her eyes, making me annoyed. I had been away from the rest of the world for years. You wouldn’t blame me for losing my ability to feel these heartfelt emotions. The only emotion that easily came to me was anger.
What’s worse is that the annoying witches council, released me from my hellish prison when things were a bit out of place in the kingdom. Now, I was forced to relate with others in order to help put things in order.
“I do not want things to come to that.” I sighed. “Because if things escalates I might kill another innocent person.”
“Oh, please!” She groaned in reaction to my statement. “Nobody would die! And you have to stop blaming yourself about Brenda, you didn’t do it on purpose!”
“Whether or not I did it on purpose, she is dead! And she was my mate! I thought you understood a thing or two about having a mate.” I shook my head in disbelief as I walked out of my office. What was it with everyone and trying to relieve me off my guilt? I deserved to carry that guilt for as long as my memory can serve me. I could still hear Ralia’s footsteps behind me.
“What more do you want?” I lashed out.
“The prince.” She said, making me halt my steps. “You said you do not want him having an idea about the situation of things. What if he notices something is off?”
“Then tell him I went to deal with a minor inter-pack crisis.”
Okay.” She sighed, probably thinking it wouldn’t be enough to convince the prince. “What if he realizes he is in the wrong wing?”
“He wouldn’t, Ralia. It’s been a lot of years since he last visited.” I reasoned. “Are the women and children already lodged in safely?”
“Yes, they are.” She nodded. “Lily did a good job in ensuring that.” Lily was my Beta’s mate, and had always done her best in ensuring the pack was safe. But asides that, I was lucky to still have the love and respect of my pack, even after the whole ‘thing’ with my late mate.
“Great. I would be leaving now with our troops.” I informed. I was walking away when I suddenly remembered something, and turned back to her. “No matter what, do not give out any information to prince Logan, until I return.”
“But isn’t he supposed to know what is going on?” She asked worriedly, and I shrugged.
“We owe him our loyalty, and burdening him with allegations I am not yet certain about, before the coronation, isn’t right.” With that, I walked away and made my way down, where I joined my troop. It was still early in the afternoon, and we set out to our destination. The journey to the pack’s boundary had been a long one, but we made it after an hour.
The moment we neared the boundary of our pack, we could already spot the bastards at the other side, on the line that separated our pack from silver heights pack. Since Desmond had volunteered to use his pack for such a clear show of stupidity, why wasn’t he leading them?!
I could clearly make out Alpha Gillian, Alpha Ryker, and Alpha Adolphus. The moment we were close enough, I made a hand signal for my troops to halt, which they did immediately. Trying to bit down the great feeling of anger that was already beginning to grow inside me, I confidently crossed over the boundary, and noticed how the pussy Alphas shook within themselves. I could literally smell the fear off of them.
“I think that it is silly for you group of fools, to come for a fight that you are scared to have.”
“We didn’t come for a fight, Ryan.” Gillian dared to speak back to me.NôvelDrama.Org owns this text.
“Really? You came for peace then?” I asked, and some of the soldiers in my troop laughed loudly, eliciting an angry scowl from Gillian. “You sure did not sound that way in the bloodied note you sent to me. And the 3 women and 2 teenage girls you have abducted from my pack in the past week, was definitely a challenge to me. If I didn’t know better, I’d think that was a war cry.” I glared at none of them in particular, but it was enough to instill a great magnitude of fear in them. “Gillian, where are my subjects?!!” I suddenly roared, and he visibly flinched.
“We aren’t here to fight.” He repeated what he had already said before, further making me pissed.
“Are you trying to mock me?” I muttered. “Are your soldiers here for fun? And I repeat, where are my subjects?”
“They are here! Unharmed.” I looked to the right to see Desmond walking towards me with 5 females tagging along behind him. I pinned my gaze on the man, feeling pity for my sister who was mated to him. He wasn’t worthy of her. “We only took them, because they were the only reason you would come to see us.”
“I see.” I glared, making a signal for some soldiers from my troop to come to me. Their soldiers must have thought I wanted to get into a fight, and all positioned themselves, fear oozing off of them. Brats.
“Alpha.” They gave a slight bow.
“Please escort them back into our territory.” I ordered, pointing at the women who looked happy to be rescued. When I was sure they had safely made it into my territory, I turned back to Desmond. “What you did to them, would have never been done by real men. You all are cowards, and I wouldn’t spend an extra minute speaking with you.” I eyed them in disdain, before turning to leave.
I was about walking away when I heard a vaguely familiar voice call my name. Immediately, I turned to see the troop of soldiers, making a pathway for whoever it was to emerge from behind. I was surprised to see Sebastian walking towards me.
“Alpha Ryan!” He grinned at me. “Long time, no see.” Personally, I wondered why he was trying to act so familiar, when we clearly never had that sort of rapport.
“Prince Sebastian.” I muttered, trying to keep an indifferent expression. “Surprised, seeing you.”
“I have come for us to talk.”
“I’m all ears.” I responded blandly.
“Oh no, not here.” He shook his head, trying so hard to maintain the smile on his face. “A little form of accommodation has been put together for us to talk.” He pointed at a black steel container that could contain atleast 7 people. “And we would be accompanied by the Alphas.” He pointed at Gillian, Desmond, Ryker, and Adolphus.
“And why should I give you my time?”
“Because it would be worth it.”
“And if it’s not?” I shot back immediately, eliciting a grunt from the funny looking Adolphus.
***
***
LATER THAT AFTERNOON.
It was already so late in the day, when my troop and I made our way back to the castle. We were already close by when my Beta struck a conversation.
“Do you think they’d try to retaliate due to your refusal to join prince Sebastian’s plan to oust his brother?”
“They would be stupid to, Phil. It would take me nothing to end their goddess forsaken lives for good. Moreover, Sebastian is a very crafty person. He knows conquering me would be an extremely tough one, so he’d rather try to convince me to join him.”
“Whatever the case is, I’m glad it all didn’t come to a point of war. Our pack is safe. I can only imagine how agitated they had all been in the castle.”
“It still comes as a shock to me, seeing the other Alphas being so willing to be on a wrong side.”
“You should know by now. Money turns the world around.” I shrugged, really not interested in reliving the irritating minutes I spent with those power hungry fools. I was no coward, and was going to stand for what was right.
We approached the castle and I released a sigh of relief. All I really wanted was a good rest after the scorching sun had kissed my face all day. What I just had not seen coming, was that I was about to have a much longer day. The moment we walked in through the castle gates, I sighted an agitated Ralia walking towards me in such haste that made me realize all wasn’t well.
“Ralia?” I called out.
“The prince knows.” She rushed out. The prince had arrived already? But first, what was she talking about? “I told you he was going to notice something was off.” Shoot!
“What happened?”
“He noticed the difference in wings, and queried me. One of the soldiers had also made the mistake of telling him you were away to address the issue of a rogue attack. Of course, he didn’t believe you would take more than half your army, just to address a rogue attack. I guess that was where he figured something was off. He headed to the west wing and ordered some guards to remove the bars holding the doors.” Oh wow. This was more serious than I thought. “He’s already seen the children and women, and he knows something is off. Do not lie to him.” She rushed out.
Without wasting any more time, I rushed off towards the west wing, and met up with him just when he was stepping out.
“Your highness!” I called out, opening my arms for a brotherly hug. He seemed reluctant to hug me, but eventually did.
“It is lovely to see you too, Ryan.” He forced a smile, as we both made our way out of the west wing. I was truly not okay with his countenance, but tried to shove it aside.
“It’s so nice to have you here. I’m sorry, I wasn’t around when you got here.” I managed an apology. He just gave a small nod and continued to walk with me. When we had covered quite a distance, he finally spoke up.
“Ryan….” I had an idea what he was about to say, so I quickly cut him off.
“I’m sorry, your highness.” I apologized for interjecting. “But I suggest you wash up and have some rest.” I was hopeful that by the time he would be done with all that, I would have thought of a reasonable explanation to what he saw in the west wing.
“That’s great.” He nodded, suddenly looking so serious. “No matter how long we may have been apart, Ryan, I still consider you…. my brother.” I hated the way his words made me feel. Most especially, I hated how powerless he was, to deal with his enemies.
“But before I am your brother, I am your prince.” He continued. “If you wouldn’t show me the loyalty of being your brother, then atleast, accord me the respect of being your prince.”
“Your highness….” I began, he signaled me to remain quiet. “I would have a wash and take a rest. I expect you would tell me all I need to know during dinner.” He demanded and without waiting for me to give a response, he left. Just great! Now he had put me in a spot where I couldn’t lie to him. But then again, I just figured out that the best way to protect him, was by showing him his enemies.