The Alpha King's Princess
The Alpha King’s Princess – Chapter 44

“Pandora, are you there?”

“Yes,” I replied.

“I am in route to the site. I need your eyes through the surveillance of the area. It’ll be flooded with the alpha king’s guards.”

“I’m on it,” I said, opening the channels carefully. One of them was in Team Gamma’s truck. My heart lurched.

Candido was heading there. Did he and Armageddon know each other?

I opened the map of the werewolf territory and activated all the tracking beacons I could manage. I had one on each of the major security details of every alpha of the big three. Norton was heading there, as was Devon, Francium’s father. I peered into the car and found it interesting that he was taking two of his sons. I didn’t recognize either of them.

“I can be there—”

“No,” Armageddon said stiffly. “I need you on surveillance, not risking your life or distracting me.”

I huffed. “We have a mission.”

“And you’re too inexperienced to know how to suppress your wolf. You’d be a distraction. Stay where you are.”

I set my teeth. It was just as well. I didn’t want to chance revealing myself to Candido and the rest of Team Gamma, or anyone else that would be there.

“Fine, I’m sending back-up.”

I sent out a call for Artemis’ and two other teams to support Armageddon on site.

“Good choices,” Armageddon said. I’ll rendezvous with them and get you up to date when we’re done. Get some rest.”

I set my jaw. “I’m not logging off.”

He scoffed. “Do what you want then, you willful little thing.”

I rolled my eyes and kept scanning the movements of the security team. It was all being recorded, but it was good to have a sense of what was going on.

I followed Devon and his son for a moment as they surveyed the east side. They seemed oddly aware of where the cameras were and were careful to speak so softly that the microphones barely caught what they were saying.

I highlighted the sound bytes I needed to amplify and kept my eye on thing. The police officers came and started collecting bodies. Then, the teams of Moon Shadow started to withdraw.

I saw Candido standing at the edge of the city, staring into the forest as if he could see a trail, then he turned back and headed back to the car.

“Good work,” Armageddon said. “Withdraw. Debrief through the standard protocols.”

I slumped back as the sun began to rise through my window. I set my surveillance system to follow Candido and the other two alphas, recording their every move, and logged out. I was exhausted. I stuffed the laptop back into its hiding place and did my best to catch some sleep.

In the morning, Candido was still gone. The entire house seemed to be on high alert and antsy. Allen was gone which only made me worry. It was rare that they were both gone at the same time. Something must have happened with the investigation, or he was out in talks with the other alphas or the police.

I left the estate in a pretty bad mood. When I got to campus, there were announcements that all classes were canceled in honor of our win, but I was pretty sure it had more to do with the attack near the border. Regardless, I headed to Claire’s dorm room, hoping to see her.

I knocked and waited. Claire answered. Her face flushed and she looked a little nervous.

I smirked at her and went on tiptoe, trying to see around her. “Something to hide, Claire?”

She stepped out and closed the door behind her. Her face was bright red.

“Hedy, please don’t tease me right now.”

I leaned close. “Is it…Francium?”

She worried her l*p and nodded. I grinned at her, taking her hands.

“So glad things are working out. I’ll leave you to it. Call me… after you’re sure you’re done.”

She scowled at me, and I turned, hustling away from her, but she turned back inside her room, and I had the feeling that I wouldn’t be hearing from her for a while. At least someone’s love life was going the way it was supposed to.

Since classes were canceled, the hallways were mostly empty. I walked without much care through the halls. Then, I felt a presence. My heart lurched, and I turned around, searching for the source of it.

Candido rounded the corner and stopped, looking at me. He looked like he hadn’t slept. I almost felt bad that I had been upset with him.

His eyes narrowed, and he came close to me.

“Why are you here? Classes are canceled.”

“I came to see Claire, but she’s busy.”

“Go home.”

“I have homework,” I said, walking away from him. A bit of my irritation drove me to ignore him. “Maybe you should go home and get some sleep.”

He followed me. “You can do homework at home.”

I shrugged. “I need the library.”

“We have plenty of—”

“Your Majesty?”

He cursed and I didn’t even turn back to look at him as he growled and called out to me. I headed to the library. I didn’t really want to be around Candido right now. Feeling his presence was one thing, but having to do so while thinking about Armageddon was something different.

I got to the library and found it empty, luckily. I found a secluded table at the back of the library and sat down. The member of Team Gamma-2 assigned to trail me looked over at me and I pouted.

“What?”

He shook his head. “I just feel bad from Team Gamma, he’s always in a bad mood when you’re upset with him.”

I winced and sighed at the pang of guilt. Team Gamma was great. They didn’t deserve to deal with Candido’s bad mood just because I was upset with him.

I sent Candido a text message.

Be nice to Team Gamma. They’re doing their jobs.

He replied That’s what you’re texting me about? Not about why you’re so upset with me?

I glared at the screen. You know why I’m upset with you. Don’t take out your anger on your security team. It’s childish.

I set my phone down and opened my textbook, planning to stay right where I was. I grinned, feeling a little triumphant. Years of hearing him call me childish, it was nice to be able to throw his words back in his face. Maybe it was also a bit childish, but at least I had an excuse.

I finished my algebra homework and went to my English homework before getting up to search for a book I needed. As I found the right shelf, I felt a presence behind me. I whirled around ready to swing, and stopped as I saw Candido standing there. His eyes were flickering with moonlight. His nostrils flared and he approached me, looming over me with his shoulder drawn up to his ears.

“You… are enjoying this, aren’t you?”

I tilted my head. “Enjoying what?”

“Being so obstinate.”

I shrugged and grabbed my book. “You want me to be carefree right? Isn’t this part of being young?”

He growled, “Hedy, don’t toy with me. You—”

“Who is toying with who?” I asked looking up at him. “You want me to ask you questions, to lean on you, but you won’t answer me.”

“Why do you need to know anything about mates?” He growled. “You’re not twenty—”

“Yet,” I said. “And everyone knows that age has little to do with it.”

“It has everything to do with it!” he hissed. “No one feels the mating pull before they turn twenty.”

I stared up at him. I couldn’t tell if he was lying or that was truly what he believed.

“That’s not what the Moon Goddess books say.”

He frowned, “What… What book?”

I rolled my eyes and marched back to my table. I pulled out the book from my bag and opened it to the page. As I turned around, I froze. He was pale, staring at the book.

I frowned. “What?”

“Where did you replace this book?”

“On a shelf,” I said. “Why?”

“You couldn’t have gotten that book from any shelf,” he said and approached me. “Tell me the truth.”

“I checked it out from the library and everything.”

“That book isn’t from the library,” he hissed. “You—”

His phone rang, and he cursed. He lifted the book from my hand. “Come home on time. We’ll talk about it then.”

I grit my teeth. It felt like he was just keeping secrets from me as he stormed out. I had half a mind to stay overnight in Claire’s room since she was probably going to be busy with Francium. I sat down and went back to work, trying not to be upset about the book or Candido.

Before I realized it, night had fallen, and my alarm went off. I stood, ready to head back to the dorms to bunk with Claire when I heard something.

I turned my head, searching for the source, but it wasn’t coming from inside the library.

It was coming from below.