The Alpha King's Princess
The Alpha King’s Princess – Chapter 42

He knew better than I did that I couldn’t answer that. Aside from him definitely been healthier, bigger, stronger, and older, there was the matter of our secret identities. We’ve worked together for the past four years, but we couldn’t blow that all now. Not when everything was so dangerous and unsure.

Still, the way his hands skimmed over my h**s made it hard not to give in. Heat and pleasure pooled between my legs. I wanted more of his hands on me, whomever he was. It was insane because I couldn’t think of anything else I wanted more. I thought back to my dreams of Candido, and the feeling of need and desire started to grow.

A pang of fear went through me. Was this what people talked about when they mentioned the draw of a mate? But what about Candido? I love him. I couldn’t even imagine giving my body and heart to anyone else.

“We’re… here about—”

“I know what we’re here about,” he ground out, forcing his face into the crook of my shoulder. “You smell delicious. I could devour you whole.”

I shuddered and closed my eyes. I could feel the warmth of his breath through his mask against my shoulder.

“You can’t,” I said softly, unable to say anything else.

It was the only thing I could think to say. My heart didn’t want him. My heart wanted Candido.

“You’re right.” He took another deep breath. “But I would without thought.”

What did that mean? I tried to get away from him, but he held me still, pressing his large hand against the softness of my stomach. Just that touch made my knees tremble, and my mind go hazy.

“Just a moment….” He said softly. “Can’t you… feel it?”

I didn’t want to agree, but I nodded. It was almost heartbreaking. I didn’t know Armageddon, but I felt drawn to him. I love Candido, but my b***d was burning with need the longer Armageddon touched me. I knew Candido, and I felt drawn to him too, but it had never been like this. What was I supposed to do? Was that normal?

“Sometime in the future,” Armageddon said. “When everything is settled… we have to… We have to meet again.”

He pulled back, not waiting for my answer. Was I supposed to give one? I turned towards him slowly as he crouched beside the girls and looked at them.

“Artemis said the can was unmarked. It told them to give it to the lab for analysis. We should at least be able to replace the manufacturer of the can.”

“Do you think it will give us a clue?”

He turned his head. “I think it would be a good place to start. Whoever is manufacturing this has to have a contact within the werewolf world. We replace that contact, and we might have a trail to the source. Is it possible that this is the same substance as what was found on those other sites?”

I shook myself and nodded. “Yes. Very likely.”

He huffed. “Do you recognize these girls?”

I turned and shook my head. “No.”

I crouched beside them and searched their pockets and purses for identification. I passed their IDs to him as he pulled out a phone and took photos. Being this near to him, I should have been able to smell him, but I couldn’t. Was that because I was still healing or because he was cloaking his scent somehow?

Since he could smell me, wouldn’t that make it easier for him to replace me? If he did replace me, then what? Would he go against Candido to have me? Did he already know who I am? This was all so confusing.

“They’re students of the Red Moon campus,” he said. “I’ll take them to the lobby and get them sent home.”

I grit my teeth, thinking about Sibyl and her relationship with Candido.

“They aren’t the first,” Armageddon said.

I looked at him. “You’ve been tracking this longer than I thought.”

“…I have a different interest in it. The other victims were graduates and one of them was barely fourteen.”

I swallowed. “I take it… they were killed?”

“Yes, but they were all pregnant when they died,” he said. “The official story is that they were simply murdered, but there is reason to believe that the pregnancies killed them.”

I worried my l*p. How? That early? There had to be something else going on. I tucked their things back into their pockets and purses. He kneeled and lifted them from the floor. I opened the door.

“Pandora,” he said. “We will have to talk about this.”

“What do you use to cloak your scent?”

“I don’t.”

I grit my teeth and walked out, saying nothing more. I listened for his footsteps as I turned down the hallway and did my best to put a lot of distance between us. I headed back to the locker room to put everything back and catch my breath. Was that enough of a hint that there was something wrong with me? Did I give myself away?

Would he follow my scent anyway or leave me be?

What was I going to do?

I thought the encounter would keep me up, but I slept soundly. My dreams were confusing and unclear, but I tried not to let them get to me. Today was the final match of the championships. We’d never made it this far, and I didn’t want to let up on our momentum.

Thoughts about Candido and Armageddon would just have to wait until I was sure that my plan to infiltrate the school’s social circles could move forward. The first move to make that happen was to get us a solid victory today.

The game was long. The other teams didn’t seem willing to lose. They had won one championship years ago, but that wasn’t why they were pushing back so hard against our offensive. They grumbled about us being from the capital and seemed fueled by their anger towards us, but their anger seemed to only spur our team on until I was scoring the last and winning goal of the game.

The stadium went up in a loud, roaring cheer. Claire rushed me with the rest of the team, lifting me into the air with cheers of joy. For a moment, the moment felt too bright, and too unreal. If I had never decided to leave Wolf Fang, if I had never joined Moon Shadow, would I have ever had a moment like this?

“Hedy, look!”

They set me down as Candido walked onto the field with the trophy rolling beside him. He smiled at me. His eyes glinted.

Claire grabbed me by the shoulders and marched me towards him.

“What are you doing?”

“The rest of them too scared. You won the goal. Receive the trophy!”

“But—”

“No buts!” The captain said.

I stopped just in front of Candido as he reached me.

“Congratulations,” he said with a smile.

He leaned down, his lips grew closer. It didn’t seem any different than any other time, but his eyes flashed with moonlight and I thought of Armageddon’s body pressed up against me and the sound of Candido’s voice from my dream.

My knees gave out, and I melted to the ground, landing on my a*s.

Everyone laughed, but Candido only smiled at me. People gasped as he offered his hand to me and helped me stand. He placed the trophy in my arms before lifting the microphone to speak.

I stumbled back and away from him as Claire put an arm around my shoulder and everyone listened to Candido’s speech.

His voice was warm and gentle. He congratulated us and acknowledged how hard people had worked to make it here before launching into social problems. People seemed shocked that he hadn’t known about how the middle level packs were treating smaller packs, but they seemed more shocked about what he planned to do about it. He was removing the monopoly of hospitals, the academies, and so on from local packs and centralizing it all, so the same treatment and opportunity that people got in his territory was accessible everywhere.

“It’s time that the title of alpha king means more than alpha of the first pack.”

I looked around at how surprised people were, murmuring about how different Candido was from what they expected him to be.

When he was done, he turned to me among the applause and stroked my face gently. He pressed a soft k**s to my forehead before leaving. People cheered and clapped as he exited. I saw on the faces of the other teams that his message had meant a lot to them. My phone chimed along with everyone else’s.

Someone let out a cry of relief. I opened the message and smiled.

The werewolf hospital system and the entire noble academy system was being taken over by Candido as was his right as the alpha king.

“All hail the alpha king!”