Sold To The Alpha
A Lost Princess Chapter 14

Waking up the next morning, Riley stretched contentedly under the sheets his eyes still filled with sleep as he swung his legs over the side of the bed yawning. As the room came into focus he was momentarily confused by the pale blue walls before remembering he was at Silver Cross with Daniel and they had been given bedrooms next door to each other for the night. As if hearing his thoughts, the bedroom door crashed open and Daniel came tumbling into the room fully dressed and grinning from ear to ear.

'Come on lazy' he chided, 'You need to get your a*s moving so we can talk to Bella's friends and get on the road'.

'Ugh, why are you so chipper?' Riley groaned, glaring at the clock that read 6:30am, 'what the hell mate? it's still the middle of the night, how are you up and dressed all ready?'

Daniel scoffed, 'while some of us were lounging around in their bed, others of us have gotten up, had a morning run, showered, dressed and packed ready to leave' he teased.

'I have nooooo idea why we are friends, you are such a weirdo' Riley grumbled as he tugged a shirt over his head and donned a pair of jeans, pulling a brush quickly through his hair before standing up and following his overly perky Beta out of his room and down the stairs to the dining room.

Steeping inside, the pair lined up with the other pack members, waving and greeting people as they waited to reach the buffet. Packing their plates high, they made their way over to a nearby table where Marcus was sat playing with his food. 'Alright squirt?' Riley asked, ruffling his hair affectionately.

Giving a small smile, Marcus nodded sadly whilst continuing to push a piece of sausage around his plate.

'Hey' Riley said, pulling the young boys attention from his plate, 'Bella is going to be well pissed if she comes home and replaces out that her baby brother has not been eating' he muttered so no-one else could hear.

Sighing, Marcus replied, 'I know, but it's not the same, she always steals my bacon and now she's not here I have too much bacon on my plate. His eyes suddenly started to fill with tears which he angrily wiped away with the sleeve of his jumper. Reaching over, Riley snatched a piece of bacon and stuffed it in his mouth quickly, 'Bella is right, bacon does taste better from your plate' he said with a grin as Marcus let out a weak chuckle.

'I should really be making the most of her not taking my food' he said reluctantly, finally raising his fork to his mouth and taking a bite.

Nodding approvingly, Riley started on his own food, keeping an eye on the youngster as they ate.

Soon the trio were finished, scraping back their chairs, they placed their plates on the pile of dirty plates and made their way out to the foyer where Marcus gave the two older boys a wave.

'I have to go get ready for training, dad is insisting I have a session with him this morning before he and Merrick set off on another search for Bella' he said ruefully. 'I tried to convince him that I was happy to skip it so he could go out earlier but he said no, so now I'm going to be forced to run round the pack house again until my legs want to fall off' he moaned, setting off up the stairs to get changed.

Grinning Daniel looked over at Riley, 'That kid does not want to be an Alpha does he?' he asked amused.

'Nope' Riley replied with a chuckle, 'He loves being the younger sibling, Bella does all the training, and he got to play computer games until Uncle Aaron said his time was up'.

'Right, shall we go and see these girls? Get this over with, I don't know about you but I'm ready to get out there and start looking' Daniel said impatiently.

Nodding, the pair made their way up to the first floor, knowing that was where the unmated girls slept. Stopping one of the teens who was making her way down to the dining room, they asked which rooms Darcy and Courtney were in.

Her eyes widening slightly at the pair, her face soon becoming flushed and her eyelashes fluttered as she gave a simpering smile toward Riley and raised her hand, indicating back the way she had come.

'Darce and Courtney share a room, its fifth on the left as you walk down' she said silkily, 'If you don't replace what you are looking for there, my room is 3rd on the right' she added with a seductive look, before continuing her way down the stairs, her hips swaying provocatively as Daniel rolled his eyes, starting up the stairs again.

'What?' Riley asked

'Seriously mate, can we not go anywhere without some she wolf trying to get you into her bed?' Daniel asked teasingly.

Shrugging his shoulders, Riley replied, 'Hey it's not my fault that my Alpha aura pulls the girls in is it?' though he seemed uninterested in the proposal.

Giving his Alpha a quizzical look, Daniel let the subject drop as they reached the top of the stairs and turned down the corridor, counting the doors until they reached the fifth on the left hand side.

Reaching out his hand, Riley gave the door a soft tentative knock before standing back slightly as shuffling footsteps could be heard on the other side and the door was pulled open just wide enough for the red head of Courtney to peek outside.

Her eyes widening in shock, Courtney let out a strangled yelp before slamming the door shut again.

Raising his eyebrows up, Riley looked at Daniel in surprise as his Beta, knocked again, calling out, 'Miss, please could we come in? Future Alpha Riley would like to speak to you about Isabella'.

Rustling could be heard from within as Courtney's panicked voice squeaked out 'Just a minute! Ummm we are not quite dressed, two minutes!'

The sounds of drawers and cupboards slamming could be heard before the door swung open again and a breathless Courtney stood back from the entrance, allowing the two men to step inside.

Looking round the room, Riley noticed the barely shut wardrobe door, that had clothes falling out of the gap and kept his smile inwards realising the girls had been hastily clearing their room up before allowing him inside.

As his eyes travelled around the room, they alighted on a slim girl with raven black hair who was sat cross legged on the bed, watching him nervously as she chewed on her nails, her guilt evident.

Taking a seat in one of the chairs that decorated the room, Riley, scooted it forward so he was next to her bed.

'Darcy?' he said quietly. He knew her as Isabella's friend but had never really spent any time getting to know her as any of his impromptu visits to the Silver Cross pack had been about spending time with Isabella, he'd not really had any interest in knowing who her friends were within the pack.

Raising her eyes to meet with his, Darcy gulped as she tried to stop herself from crying. 'I'm sorry Alpha' she whispered desperately, 'I'm a terrible friend, I let my future Alpha get taken'

Riley grabbed the distraught girl's hands in his, ignoring the slight shiver she got from his touch, 'Darcy, this wasn't your fault, who ever did this was just waiting for an opportunity, if she hadn't been taken that night it would have been a different night but she still would have been taken.' he said earnestly, holding her gaze so she could see his sincerity in his eyes. 'Bella is a strong girl, and I know she wouldn't want you sitting here blaming yourself, you know her, she'd be screaming, don't blame yourself, blame those a*s holes who took me!' he added making his voice high and girly in a bad imitation of Bella.

Smiling weakly, Darcy nodded uncertainly, 'Yeah, I can hear her saying it' she replied.

Releasing her hand, Riley looked up toward Courtney who was hovering uncertainly near the door, her eyes flickering from the future Alpha to his Beta. Gesturing for her to take a seat on her bed, he waited until she was comfortable before starting to ask his questions. 'I'm sure you know by now that Daniel and I are going to try and replace Isabella' he began, 'it would really help us if you told us everything you remember about the men who bought you those drinks!'

Biting her lip, Courtney shrugged, 'We already told the Alpha everything we could remember' she replied sorrowfully.

Giving her his most handsome smile that always got the she wolves to bend to his will, he cajoled her, 'Oh I know you did, but its always best to get a story first hand, make sure there are no discrepancies, you know?' he said, brushing his hair out of his eyes as she watched his movements, a slight l**t evident on her face.

Nodding slowly she replied, 'OK' and crossed her legs under her as she began to tell the two warriors what had happened that night.

'We were a bit drunk you know, Darcy and I more than Bella, she was always the adult one, can't help herself, so she drank slower than us, turned down the odd round but we were all still having fun. Then Bella said something, about it being really hot in the club, and this really handsome man asked if she needed a fan, she would usually brush those cheesy chat up lines off but I think she liked him, and he joined us. He had two friends who came and sat with Darcy and me and the waitress brought us all a drink. Darcy and I downed ours, but Bella, she was holding hers in her hand as she was talking. The next thing we know, we are back here in the clinic and the Alpha is telling us that Bella is gone' she ended, her eyes filling with tears as he voice broke down. Reaching over and patting her hand, Riley gave her the same compassionate smile he had given Darcy moments before.

'Thank you Courtney, and just as I said to Darcy, this is not your fault, you went out to celebrate her birthday that's all. he said gently as the young girl sniffed, grabbing a tissue out of the box by her bed and wiping her face. Daniel stepped forward suddenly, dropping to his knees by Courtney's bed, looking between the two girls, 'do you remember anything about the men that joined you? Anything that would make them stand out?' he asked quietly. Courtney shook her head but Darcy started to scrunch up her face as if trying to pull something from her memory.

'Rowan' she suddenly said, 'the one who sat next to Bella, he had a tattoo.. it was on his arm, I saw it because his sleeves were rolled up.. it was.. umm.. it was.. 'she muttered, trying to force the image to come forward in her mind before her eyes shot up and connected with the patiently waiting Beta excitedly, 'It was a Dragon!' she gasped hopping off her bed and grabbing a piece of paper and a pencil off the desk, drawing a crude picture of a dragon its tail slithering behind it as it crawled down the page. 'That's right!' Courtney agreed, her eyes widening as the image of Rowan's tattoo entered her mind, 'It was green and blue, on the scales you know?'

Shoving the paper into Daniel's hand she said, 'i'm sorry, I can't draw for toffee but that's what it looks like, maybe it means something?' she asked hopefully.

Giving her a huge grin, Daniel hugged the girl tightly before pulling away embarrassed, 'sorry, that was inappropriate' he apologised, 'but you have just given us our first lead.'

Smiling happily, Darcy dropped back onto her bed, looking between the two men she held their gaze before softly saying, 'please bring our friend home!

The warriors nodded before thanking the girls and taking their leave, racing back to their rooms to grab their bags before saying goodbye to the Alpha and Luna, who quickly filled them in on what they had found out about their daughters disappearance, and making their way out of the pack house, across the grounds and out onto the road to start their search.