The Alpha King's Princess
The Alpha King’s Princess – Chapter 53

“Do you think he’d talk to you about it all?”

Claire glanced at me. “Do you think it would be safe to ask?”

I shook my head. “I still say it’s better for you to stay. away from him for now…. You could stay at the estate.

Classes have been cancelled for practically the rest of the semester. You could just come home.”

Claire shook her head, lowering her head. “I can’t…I don’t want to.”

Her voice trembled on the edge and I sighed. “Well… then, how about chaperoned visits?”

Claire scoffed. “What am I ten?”

“No, but you’re in danger. At least this way, you could still see him. We could… do double dates or something.”

“With you and His Majesty?”

I scoffed. “No.”

“Then who?” She quirked an eyebrow at him. “Who would you really want sitting next to you on a double date?”

I wrinkled my nose. “No one. Not really, but this isn’t about me. It’s about you.”

Until I could investigate Francium and his family more thoroughly it was really the best option.

Claire nodded, “You’re a good friend. ‘ll… Ill think about it. We’re supposed to be meeting up tonight for a study session in the library.” I swallowed. “Don’t stay there too late.”

She frowned, “What’s wrong?”

“I..” I winced. “There’s a passage under the library. The painting moves aside and I have no idea where it leads, but creatures come out of it and I bet they’re part of all this too.”

She winced and nodded slowly. “Why does it feel like everything that’s happening right now is dangerous?”

“We live in dangerous times.” I stood, “Come on. I’ll walk you down if you’re still going to leave.”

“I’ll come back soon. I doubt… we’ll get much studying done.”

I shook my head. “Be careful, Claire. I mean it.”

She nodded. “I will.”

I had a sinking feeling that Claire didn’t know exactly how to be careful when it came to Francium. When we got downstairs, her car seemed to be leaning to one side.

“Ah, man!” Claire hissed, bending over on the other side. “This can’t be happening!”

I rounded the car and found both tires were flat. They didn’t look cut or anything, just flat.

Her shoulders slumped and I flagged down a Team

Gamma-2 member.

“Don’t we have any tires around?”

“I have a spare,” Claire said. “But not two.”

He nodded. “Have you checked if your battery and electrical are, okay?”

I frowned. “Why?”

He nodded behind him. “The jeep’s battery went out suddenly. We had an extra battery around, but we don’t have any others.”

Claire sighed and climbed into the car. The car didn’t even turn over when she tried to start it. Claire g*****d.

“Could you take Claire back to campus?” I asked him, laughing a bit. “She’s got a study session soon.”

He nodded as Claire got out and sighed. She pulled out her phone and texted someone.

“Hopefully, Dad will be able to get it taken care of.” I hoped so. I waved Claire goodbye as she got into the jeep and the jeep pulled away. With a sigh, I walked back inside. My sense of awareness spiked. I cast my gaze around until I looked up and found Candido staring down at me. His eyes were gleaming with moonlight. He gripped the banister tightly.

I felt frozen in his stare as he descended the stairs. It seemed that I wasn’t going to get out of this easily. I turned sharply and headed down a random hallway. I heard his footsteps behind me as I turned and turned again, hoping to put enough distance between us so that I wouldn’t have to deal with him.

Then, I ran into his solid warmth of him. He turned and pinned me between him and the wall.

I looked up at him as he bared his teeth and spoke softly. His voice rumbled in a way that I had never heard before.

“Hedy,” he growled. “We’re going to talk about this.”

I said nothing.

“Don’t just stand there and say nothing!” He growled. “

You’ve been avoiding me all this time. You’re not listening to me, and I know you’re still getting yourself in danger. What were you and Claire talking about?”

I glared at him, thrusting my chin up and baring my teeth. “None of your business.”

“She speaks,” he hissed. “You still haven’t-“

“I have nothing else to say to you, Your Majesty,” I huffed. “Don’t you have a wedding to plan?”

He pulled back. “You’re being childish and selfish.

Think of the werewolf world. You want to support me.

You claim to want the world unified under my command, but you’re holding this oath against me.”

“You’re being unreasonable about an oath that you made when you were a teenager! You were manipulated and you can’t see that. You don’t even want to acknowledge it.”

“I-”

“I get that you don’t want me, but that’s not going to stop me from saying what’s right or doing what I think is right. You marry Sibyl because you’re afraid of the backlash, but I know that you know that she is the worst possible decision you can make!”

“You’re just-“

He drew closer, just close enough to almost graze his lips against mine when a voice called from down the hallway. He pulled back sharply and turned.

“This isn’t done.”

“You mean you’re not done,” I said. “I am.”

I pushed past him and headed back to my room, stomping my way up. I closed and locked my door before opening my laptop. Candido was insane if he thought that marrying Sibyl would secure him Red Moon’s cooperation. Norton was already lying, and they hadn’t even gotten married yet.

I opened all the documents I had about the Red Moon Pack’s movements. It was frustrating because no matter how hard I looked there was nothing overtly nefarious. Even the photo of her going in to that spa with the vampire writing wasn’t giving me anything.

I opened the book again and growled. The words still made no sense to me. I lifted it to the window to see if the moonlight might change something, but nothing happened. I closed it, but as I did, I heard the sound of a car coming and parking.

I hurried out of my room to cross the hall to a room that had a window facing the front of the house.

Downstairs was a collection of cars bearing the Red

Moon sigil.

I wanted to punch the wall. How dare she show up like this?

I went back to the laptop and a message from Armageddon appeared

Why are you researching the Red Moon. Pack?

My reply was vicious. Because Norton is a stimy liar, and I’m sure his daughter is no better. They’re threats.

I didn’t check what he said. I just closed the laptop, hid it and got changed to go for a run. I was so fired up between my encounter with Candido and Siby showing up here, I needed to get out.

I jogged downstairs and took off out the back door, tearing through the forest as fast as my feet would take me. None of this was fair. None of this made any sense.

I reached the clearing that I had been left in sooner than I thought. The moon was high in the sky, waxing tonight towards a crescent moon.

I slumped onto a fallen tree and huffed.

“Moon Goddess,” I said. “What is it that you want from me?”

The moon didn’t answer. The wind didn’t move and for a moment I felt ridiculous. What was I doing out here praying when I needed to be inside digging up something, or listening in to what was happening?

I knew that the recording protocols were activated the second Candido entered into any of his usual meeting rooms and I had already hacked Sibyl and Norton’s phones. If they were doing anything suspicious, I’d know about it as soon as I got back.

I just needed a breather. Just a few moments of peace before I headed back. Between Candido, Claire, and Francium, my mind was whirling.

How was I supposed to fix all of this?

I had no idea how long I remained outside, running through the forest, but as I headed back, a bit exhausted, my head felt clearer. One way or another, I was going to get everything under control. Maybe if I told Candido about Francium he’d do something smart for a change, but I doubted it. He was so focused on what he thought was the best, what was safest and easiest, that he wasn’t seeing the full picture.

I stopped near the side of the house, realizing that I had come from different direction than I left when I heard someone g***n. I darted behind a tree and crouched, straining my hearing. Was it an attack? Was it a creature or something?

I leaned around the tree just enough to see, pushing my power to extend my hearing when I recognized the female voice.

“Oh, right there… Please right there…”

Sibyl m****d, pressed up against a man’s body in the shadow of a tree. Her skirt was hiked up around her h**s and she thrusted forward, moaning and groaning.

My face heated and I wanted to look way. Maybe I had been wrong and Candido’s relationship with her was more intimate than I thought. Maybe he had been holding back and not he wasn’t.

I didn’t want to see Candido with another woman.

Jealousy and fury burned in me, but as I prepared myself to sneak away, Sibyl whimpered.

“Oh, please…

“

“Not here.”

I froze.

That man wasn’t Candido.