The Princess And The Alpha *Excerpt Only*

Underground Confession

"Ryan!" I cried, darting down the steep, wooden steps. If I had been any less consumed by my hunt for my mate I would've been worried that they would break beneath my feet or that the terrible stench was going to kill me. "Ryan, where are you?!"

A hand grabbed me when I reached the bottom step and for a split second I felt relief, thinking it was Ryan, but my happiness was instantly chased away when I saw it was just a guard. He looked concerned and uncertain, like he didn't know what to do with me.

"Princess, you should not be down here. Where is the king? Does he know you are here?"

"Ryan!" I screamed, yanking my arm away.

Once I was free of the guard I raced down the aisle, looking into each empty cell until I came to the last two cells. The first cell had a young man in it that smelled of rogue. He was watching me intently with one eye, the other swollen shut. Dried blood clung to the skin on his face and I could see bruises running up and down his arms.

In the cell beside him was my mate. I felt my knees give out slightly when I saw him there, sitting quietly in the far corner. It was too dark for me to judge the true extent of his injuries but I could definitely see some bruises and some swelling on his skin. His auburn hair had chunks of dried blood or mud, I couldn't tell, and I wondered if his leg was broken, it seemed to be at an awkward angle.

"Oh God, Ryan." I whispered. I covered my mouth in horror. My heart was racing madly and I was beginning to get light headed. For a second I worried I was going to faint right there.

Then my father snapped me back to reality. I had been so caught up in seeing Ryan that I had forgotten all about him, all about the fact that I wasn't supposed to be here.

"You know this man?" he demanded, his voice colder than ice.

"Of course I know him! Let him out!" I shrieked, grabbing onto the bars of the cell. I shook the bars hard, attempting to break them, but, of course, it was an act of desperation and not one of rationality. The bars didn't budge or bend.

"Let him out?" my dad scoffed. "Do you know who this man is? Do you know what he has done?"

"I don't care!" I screeched. I tried to blink away the tears that had suddenly started welling in my eyes, but I wasn't able to keep them contained and the streamed down my cheeks. I released the bars and whirled around to face him anyway, not caring about my obvious weakness. "I want him out of that dreadful cell now!"

"Adeline, calm down." My father ordered. He grabbed me by my shoulders and gave me a shake, trying to get me to pay attention to him. "This man is nothing; he's the alpha of that appalling group of rogues."

Throughout my whole life I had deemed myself to be sane and full of nothing, if not self-control. I had been raised to be a princess, essentially a spokesperson for grace, form, and old style class. I didn't think that I would ever shift into wolf form out of sheer rage, especially against one of my own family members. But there, in that dark underground prison, I felt my bones snap and my teeth elongate. As I was shifting into my animalistic form I let out a cry that was crossed between a howl and a scream of anger. When I opened my eyes again I was on four paws and snarling furiously at the king.

"Adeline." My father warned, taking a step backwards. "I don't know what has gotten into you, but it won't be tolerated. Shift back so we can discuss this like adults at once." His voice was shaking slightly. He had never seen this side of me and I knew that he didn't want to have to fight with me. I was still his daughter, even if I was a dangerous wolf.

I just growled furiously at him and took a step closer to him, trying to intimidate him away from my mate. True, he was my father, and part of me didn't want to fight him either, but he had insulted my mate deeply and I cared for that man whether I wanted to or not.

My father held up his hands in defeat and took two careful steps away from me. He appeared to be confused beyond belief and a little frightened, but I still wasn't satisfied. I wanted him to apologize for the awful things he had said about Ryan and to let him out of that horrendous cell so someone could check his injuries.

"Alright, I can see that I've hurt your feelings in some way." My dad soothed. "How about you shift back and tell me what's going on so we can revaluate what we are going to do with these two." He suggested.

I knew my dad was making a good point. I couldn't tell him what I wanted in wolf form, however, I was too angry to change back into my rational human. I still wanted people to pay for what they had done to my mate and my wolf knew that if I shifted back there was nearly no chance of that.

"Come on, this isn't going anywhere. Let's just be adults." My dad continued.

As much as I wanted revenge I also knew my father was right. With one final snarl I stalked away from my father and the two nearby guards who looked terrified and uncertain at the same time- they had no idea if they were expected to harm me if I became violent with the king. Fortunately, it hadn't come to that and I pushed open an old wooden door with my muzzle. I entered a room filled with fresh guard uniforms and shifted. Once I was in human form I grabbed an undershirt and a pair of clean boxers before I walked back out into the main aisle. The guards averted their eyes and their cheeks turned red and I tried to cling to my dignity.

"Very good, now let's go to the palace so we can discuss this in peace and privacy." My dad suggested.

"No, I want this dealt with immediately and I won't be calmed down or contained by a cup of tea and a few quiet scolds. We need to settle this now."

"Alright, well, I'll start then. This man has committed multiple crimes against the werewolf community and, as king, it is my duty to see that he is punished for them." My dad announced, "And he had the audacity to barge onto royal land and attack many of our guards. That alone would give him a ten year sentence in a human prison."

"He will not go to a human prison. He will stay here with us. I don't care what crimes he has committed. He is my mate and I will not have him shipped off to be punished for crimes that you can't even tell me about." I spat.

I waited tensely for a harsh reply from my father but when I glared darkly at him, challenging him, I noticed that absolute shock on his face. That's when I realized how much I had confessed.

***Yikes, any idea how dad is gonna react?***