Chapter 54

Axel’s POV

The date with Jasmine was finally a success and I was insanely happy about that. Of course, this momentary happiness didn’t last long as Jasmine got a note from Barbie. For now we couldn’t do anything, but wait and look for information. When Jasmine left to investigate I decided to work too. Dimitri was in my office too and honestly, he wasn’t that bad once I got to know him. By now we actually could call ourselves friends. Suddenly he gasped and dropped on his knees. I had no clue what just happened.

“Are you okay? What happened?”

“Jasmine, she found the crown and now every single demon knows that the rightful heir is back. I should’ve gone with her, so she wouldn’t do something reckless.”

“Let’s ask her brother, he has to know what’s going on.”

“Ares, what just happened? What did Jasmine do?” - Dimitri asked him, showing how upset he was.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about. I was here the whole time.”

“You two are bound by blood. Don’t tell me this bullshit. I know very well that you’re somehow involved in this.”

“Calm down, will you? Instead of screaming we should look for her, don’t you think?”

After Dimitri composed himself, he asked for Ajax and he instantly appeared. This still amazed me, but I was getting used to all these different powers. At first we visited the castle, but Jasmine wasn’t there. Truthfully speaking, she was nowhere to be found and we were just blindly hopping between places. Moments later the three of them were on their knees again, but at least now we understood what happened. I had no idea where we were, but a huge crowd gathered outside a mansion and up front was Jasmine standing. Both me and Dimitri were angry with her. She was way too reckless and always dived into things without thinking it through properly. According to her zodiac sign, which was Libra, she should’ve thought about everything at least twice. However, most of the time she didn’t even think once, let alone twice. I was sure that she’d be the death of me. After we arrived at the castle and settled down in the bedroom she started talking.

“This time I was following the traitor and he ended up at a mansion, the same mansion now belongs to Hector. The man went into the forest and hid the crown in a cave. The cave was enchanted, exclusively made for that man. I still couldn’t figure out the connection between him and the Queen though. I needed Ares to lift the spell and asked for his help. I found the crown inside, took it with me and went back to the mansion. There I discovered that it belongs to Hector. Turns out many demons still believed that my family didn’t die and the heir will return. Then Cecily appeared and I eavesdropped on their conversion. They are the traitors we’re looking for. Hector already knew about my true identity, so it didn’t make a difference if I told the truth. I just left out a tiny little piece of information and now we have an advantage. We know that they're traitors, but they don’t know that we know and we have to keep it that way until we have solid evidence in our hands. I already have a plan, but I’ll need all the help I can get.”

“That’s great and all, but you should’ve told us beforehand. And you don’t even have to ask, we’ll help you with everything.” - Dimitri said after a long silence as he processed everything.

I was still in a state of shock and couldn’t utter a single word. Jasmine was truly a miracle. She’s been through so much and she was still standing strong. I’ve loved her ever since I saw her and my love for her was getting stronger and stronger as the days passed. I was afraid to tell her about my feelings fearing that she didn’t feel the same. I was a coward when it came to Jasmine. I seriously had to man up and confess my feelings, before it was too late.

“I don’t think you need me here Jasmine. I won’t be able to help you with demon politics anyway. I’ll go back and tell the others everything and I’ll talk to other Alphas about Barbie. I refuse to believe that she disappeared from the face of earth.”

“Okay Axel. I’m so happy that you’re here for me and you don’t leave me alone.”

“There’s no way I’d leave you alone. I love you Jasmine from the bottom of my heart.” - crap, the words just escaped my mouth. This was not the way I wanted to confess.

“I love you too Axel. I wanted to tell you this for a while now, but I was waiting for you to pull yourself together. I’ve already initiated two kisses and I can’t be the only one who puts some effort into this relationship.”

I was speechless and felt like I was on cloud nine. She loved me too. Not caring about Dimitri standing in the room too, I strode towards Jasmine and kissed her passionately. Her lips were addicting and tasted like peaches. She must be using peach flavored chapstick. We kissed before, but this was different. This kiss was full of love and passion and I didn’t want to stop kissing her. Her lips were my new addiction. Both of us needed to break apart for air. Her face was flushed, her lips were swollen and her chest was rising and falling rapidly as her breathing turned back to normal. Without saying anything else I left the room and headed downstairs so Ajex could teleport me and Ares back to the pack house who stayed downstairs saying he already knew everything because of his bond with Jasmine.

After I told everything to our families and friends I went to my office and started the video conference with the Alphas. It was a sensitive topic and nobody could be trusted, but we needed to lure Barbie out of her hiding. I trusted Jasmine and based on her intelligence she would deal with Hector and he wouldn't even notice what hit him until it was too late. The conference call lasted for about an hour and everyone agreed to help. Now all we had to do was wait. She was near, that's for sure, but we needed the exact location and not just some speculation. I hoped that she didn't lure the Alphas in her trap, but knowing this whole mess it wasn't entirely impossible.

We were bitching about everything that happened so far, but the real fight is still before us. This was the crucial moment and we mustn't mess up anything. Everything started to make sense and the blank spaces were filled in slowly. I just hope that nobody will have to die in the process after getting caught in the crossfire. I wanted to keep the negative thoughts at bay, but there was this nagging feeling that something bad would happen before the victory. If it wasn't for Barbie, the werewolves wouldn't even have to be involved, but we can't let her off the hook, so she could be Queen. That title could only belong to Jasmine and nobody else.