Princess...

Chapter 27

"I called her princess, Alpha Lupus." He admitted and I felt myself blush, realising how it sounded even more stupid when it was being said in front of the Alpha.

"Princess, huh?" I opened my mouth to defend the nickname but closed it quickly when Alpha Lupus kept talking "I think I'm going to have to use that one, Rogue Jet." He walked off chuckling and when I was sure he was gone, my eyes snapped up to meet Jet's equally confused ones.

"What in the Moon Goddess does that mean?" I breathed my inner wolf still giddy on the scent of Alpha Lupus' cologne. I couldn't help it, her emotions and urges held a deeper control over my human form than I liked to admit, though I never questioned it for a second. Jet shrugged but wouldn't give me the scissors back, rubbing the side of his head where I'd just missed him. He ushered me inside so I could get cleaned up before helping the twins with cleaning. Raula had handled breakfast, allowing me to help Jet first because Louvel, Adolfina and I wouldn't have long to clean the off-limits areas before the pack returned. Tugging on my uniform, I pulled my hair from its ponytail, seeing no reason to obey the Alpha's orders when he wasn't even here. I joined the twins in the kitchen and we made the trek over to the far West Wing, coming upon the familiar doors and they entered the bathroom, wordlessly telling me I had to do the rest of the rooms by myself. I started in the study, where books were discarded carelessly across the sofa and table, picking up each one and returning them to their places before dusting and disinfecting, giving a satisfied nod before exiting the room.

"Come on newbie, we're almost done in here!" Louvel called, not even coming to the door to hurry me on. I rolled my eyes and entered the boardroom, realising it hadn't even been used since I last cleaned up, clicking the door softly closed behind me and hesitating before I entered Alpha Lupus' bedroom. When I opened the door, the curtains were drawn and I moved to open them first, casting a bright light that illuminated the rest of the room. I first noticed that the bed was perfectly made, the scent of cologne barely recognisable on the Alpha's pillow and my brows furrowed; when was the last time he slept in his bed? I mentally noted that it wasn't my place to worry about where Salt Lake City's Alpha spent his nights, straightening up the armchair beside the bookshelf and tidying the books back into their places. I allowed myself a few more moments to breathe in Alpha Lupus' scent before I forced myself to leave the grey bedroom, finding Louvel tapping her foot impatiently in the hallway

"It took you long enough newbie. Come on, it's lunchtime." She dragged me by my arm halfway through the West Wing before I managed to shrug out of her grip, matching Adolfina's pace as we made our way down to the kitchen. Raula had just set down our plates on the island when we sat, giving us her usual cheery smile before taking a seat herself and tucking in. Lunch for today was tacos, something I had hated my whole life; much to the disgust of my old pack, who loved them. I nibbled on the salad to the side before handing the tacos to Adolfina, who accepted them without question. I had nothing else to do today and decided to take a walk outside, minus the uniform. I opened my wardrobe doors and chose a pale blue sundress that would appease Janie to no end and felt a pang of longing to see my green-eyed roommate again. I'd been here for at least a week now, and I wondered if anyone was even searching for me. Usually, the human's would go berserk when one of their own went missing, though in the werewolf world we knew that meant one of two things; they had been killed by a rogue, or a werewolf had discovered the human was their mate and they began a new life together, creating hybrid litters that were even more temperamental and dangerous than a full werewolf pup with a human form. 

The Alpha King oversaw any hybrid litters, ensuring that they wouldn't harm our existence with the difficult nature of growing up in dual heritage, as the humans would call it. Remembering the royal family, I knew Alpha Lupus and the King were close and had finally come to the realisation that as soon as he arrived, he would recognise me as a Farkas child, ruining my cover I'd taken 6 years to build. I felt the warmth on my skin as I walked the perimeter of the field, basking in the midday sun that beat down on Salt Lake City territory. I spent hours out here, only going back inside when I heard the pack return from their travels, feeling the anxiety build in my stomach in case Alpha Lupus had finally found my old pack. Honi had stormed into the kitchen, running her hands through her jet black hair and fiddling with the lip ring on her mouth in frustration

"He took us to Idaho. Fucking Idaho! He still didn't get his answers but Goddess was he pissed when Alpha Idaho couldn't tell him anything else. I've never seen him so livid, except maybe after he found out the Farkas empire had fallen the other day." I dropped the glass of water I was holding and didn't even flinch when it shattered to the ground, millions of glass shards exploding around my feet.

"The... The Farkas empire has fallen?" I repeated, eyes glazed over as my parent's faces flashed through my mind and all of the memories I had with them tumbled over my thoughts

"Yeah... Some rogue attack on New Orleans. Both Edon and Ylva are dead so their son Rafael is going to take over this week before the Alpha King's ceremony." Honi eyed me suspiciously and my inner wolf snarled, begging me to keep it together for a few more minutes until I could be alone. I shrugged in a way that I hoped conveyed nonchalance as I shakily swept up the broken glass from the floor.

"So who are his pack now then?" Louvel asked, clearly desperate for more gossip and I felt the anger bubbling through my veins at how careless she was being when two people had died.

"Well Lucian died years ago, and so did the daughter who was second in line, whatever her name was. So it's Rafael as Alpha, Z'ev Fenrir as his Beta and some guy named Annik as the Delta I think." I couldn't process what was being said, my mind still tripping over the fact that my parents were dead. I excused myself as soon as the broken glass pieces were in the bin, stumbling blindly until I got to my room and collapsed against the closed door, silent sobs convulsing my body. They were dead. How could they be dead? It had been years since I saw them last when I told them I'd rather die than be a part of their pack. I didn't know that the werewolves knew about Lucian's death, though I had barely processed it myself in my years in the human world. I'd been alone one night in the apartment, flicking through werewolf news, when a story caught my attention of a rogue ambush just outside of New Orleans territory. It had claimed the lives of 12 warriors from the Farkas pack, and my brother Lucian who stood no chance against the rogue army that was waiting for them. I cried for days afterwards, but Janie thought it was just my 'time of the month', comforting me as I did her which helped slightly. There was the troubling case that no one believed I was alive. I suppose, given my parents' powerful reputation in the werewolf world, a daughter being banished from their pack would tarnish their name further; though faking my death seemed a little extreme, looking back on it.

But now I had bigger problems, Z'ev was the Beta of the Farkas pack and I imagine with that kind of power, he would stop at nothing to track me down, no matter how much bloodshed he unleashed in the process. I was safe in Salt Lake City territory, but for how long? The King's celebration of the new royal litter was being held soon, and a nagging feeling in the back of my mind told me that the ceremony would be held here; in the territory of the Alpha King's most trusted pack. I spent most of the night sobbing into my pillow until eventually I was exhausted, and I passed out under the comforter in the early hours of the morning.