Olivia’s POV
All the men that were carrying me shifted back into their human forms, they didn’t bother to stash any clothing for after the battle, so they just ran naked in the woods with me, ja that was strange, but not as strange as what I saw when we entered the compound slash camp site, I stayed in my wolf form as we walked in
When we entered the campsite I noticed that there was a reason they didn’t leave any clothing for when they switched back to their human form, they didn’t need clothing, they didn’t care about clothing, this entire campsite is filled with naked people who were all gawking at me, looking at me like I was some kind of circus freak
I noticed that they were leading me to a tent that was at the edge of all the other tents, perched at the bottom of the mountain, it was three times bigger than the other tents, it was clearly their leaders tent, that I knew, but what he wanted with me, I had no idea
They stopped at the entrance and shouted “sir, we’ve got the princess, may we enter?” the way they spoke reminded me of Victorian England and medieval times, which made me more curious about finding out who orchestrated this elaborate plan to kidnap me, and why?”
“You may enter” a deep voice from within the triangle tarp responded, the tarp opened to a velvet blue curtain, and it opened to a big room with a huge round table that looked like it could accommodate fifteen people, the table was in the middle of the room taking up most of the space, the rest of the room was divided by a screen that stood behind the table
Velvet drapes of violet, blue and purple lined the walls of the tent, with a huge light in the middle of the tent, that hung right above the table
“Nice to see you again Miss Thompson” I spun around as the hairs on the back of my neck stood up, something deep inside told me that I knew this person
“Mr Keng?” I gasped with my mouth hitting the ground as I looked at my fated father-in-law “what the…what the hell?”
“Leave us” he motioned to the guys that dragged me in, they offered him a bow and left without saying a word
“Wh…what…what am I doing here Mr Keng?”
“What happened to dad, you used to call me dad nonchalantly, what happened to that?”
He rested a purple robe on top of me, I shifted back to my human form, and covered myself with it, tightening the belt around my waist
I furrowed my eyebrows at him shaking my head “you told me not to call you that, in fact if I remember correctly you threw me out for calling you that”
“Forget what I said, or did” he spoke awkwardly clearing his throat “the moon chose you for my son, I was wrong, you have every right to call me dad”
“Except that I don’t, I’m married to the prince now, don…don’t you know that?” a sudden realization hit me “oh my god, is that why you got them to attack the palace and kidnap me?”
“Yes” he inhaled sharply and offered me a seat, he sat next to me and took my hand taping it gently as he spoke, he was totally different from the man I met before, he was gentle, sweet, and caring, he genuinely treated me like a daughter
Which for some reason made me uneasy, it was a complete 180-degree turn, and a feeling in the pit of my stomach told me that something was wrong with this picture
“Kein is miserable without you; he needs you quite desperately…”
“I know, he told me” I interrupted
“No, you don’t, he’s starting a war for you, a war no one wants, if you leave the prince and go back to him, you will be saving countless lives”
“Mr Keng, I’m afraid you’ve got it all wrong, I spoke to Kein earlier and I told him that I will not be going back to him, that we were over” he sighed groaning in frustration “I know he’s not going to start a war, because right before you attacked he was leaving willingly on his own, he has accepted that I’m with the prince, trust me he wants nothing to do with me”
“Enough, I told you diplomacy will not work, you are getting nowhere, I’m stepping in” a voice boomed from behind the screen
“No” Mr Keng barked “just give me five more minutes”
“Whose that?” I asked
“No one” Mr Keng barked with his hands up trying to calm me down, I ignored him and stood up heading to the wooden screen
“Whose there, come out now” I barked
“On whose authority do you command me?”
“The wolf princess that’s who”
“That means nothing to the king” he barked emerging from behind the screen
“Oh my god, king Aziel” I curtsied avoiding eye contact “I’m so sorry your highness, I didn’t know that it was you”
“Stand up straight girl”
“Yes, your highness” he walked past me and sat next to Mr Keng “may I speak freely your highness”
“Yes, go ahead”
“Just what the hell is going on here?…Sir…um…your highness”
“I need you to leave my son and go back to your mate”
“What? You too, is this about the war that Kein is supposedly about to start? Because I can assure you that; that’s not going to happen”
“Shut up” King Aziel barked, banging his fist on the table “you insolent girl, how dare you disobey a direct order from your king?”
I stood up straight planting my feet on the ground and made eye contact with this towering man who rules over thousands of Alpha’s and Luna’s of which I am neither
“If I recall correctly your highness, we are only in this situation because of a law you passed, and because you are the king, I obeyed against my will, I left my mate, breaking his heart and mine” I paused taking a breath “you will have to forgive me, your highness, because I will not blindly follow one of your orders again” I said through clenched teeth “so if this is important to you, you will explain everything to me, and I will make my decision”
I blinked away my anger filled tears as I stood my ground, I’ve never hated the fact that I cry whenever I get mad more than I hate it right now
“Ha, see I told you, if anyone can talk some sense into Kein is her, she can get him to send everyone back home” Mr Keng boomed gleaming with joy
“Everyone, whose everyone?”
“Let’s just tell her Aziel”
“Fine you tell her, my son just lost his mate, he’ll be wondering where I am” they nodded to each other, and the king left after giving me a menacing stare
“Come, sit” Mr Keng whispered in a defeated tone, I sat down without saying word, listing with bated breath to what he had to say
“I encouraged Kein to leave the pack, by telling him that Caroline would be a good asset if he made her his wife, which he did, and I also got investors to pump money into his business, so that he would focus all his energy on it, and just like that Kein was out of our world and could not see all the things that I did”
“What did you do?”
“I’m the Alpha of the Hullyunghan Pack”
My hand flew to my mouth creating a slapping sound, the sting was nothing compared to the realisation that I’ve been disrespecting the Alpha all this time
“But I gave it up, and put Sobong in my stead”
“Why did you do that?”
“Because as the king's right-hand man, I needed to create his army for him”
“Army?”
He put his hands out gesturing to the tent and in turn the camp site around us
“Oh my god, you created all these rogues, just so the king can have an army. Do you have any idea what you’ve done, you’ve ripped countless families apart, and on top of that you drove the inhabitants of this beautiful city out of their homes, for what? Your own selfish gain?”
“Yes, I admit it, I did all that, and now because of you, it’s all about to come crashing down”
“Because of me?” I scoffed at his words “politicians are honestly the worst”
“Kein has rounded up a substantial number of Alphas and their packs, I’ve done my best to delay the attack so far, but if you stay here, if you stay married to the prince, war is inevitable”
“No, I don’t buy that, that’s bullshit”
“What?”
“I get that Kein’s motivation is to get me back, but I’m willing to bet anything that all those Alpha’s have a different motivation, what is it?”
“They want a new king”
“Good, we need a new king”
“No, you’re not listening, there is a difference between Lycan blood and human blood, all these soldiers were bitten or scratched, they may turn into wolves, but they will never…”
“They’ll never be strong enough to beat a real pack” he nodded “how long did it take you to figure that out before you stopped?”
“Too long”
“So, I leave Alexander, and go back to Kein and the war stops” he nodded “but we haven’t solved anything have we? Just take a look out there, all those people exist, we can’t just sweep them under the rug”
“But we can keep them alive”
“They’re still rogues without a home living in tents, and naked, why are they naked?”
“The king doesn’t want them to forget that they’re lesser beings, they don’t deserve clothing according to him”
Anger coursed through my veins as I spoke “I’m sorry Alpha, I can’t do what you’re asking, we’re the ones in the position of power here, if we do nothing; nothing will change”
His face turned red shaking with rage “I can see you need some more time to think about it, Mateo, Phineas get in here” he barked; I averted my eyes as the naked men came running in with their things swinging around in the air
“Take her away” Alpha Keng barked
“What?”
“You’re right Miss Thompson you are in a position of power, I await your answer. you have until sundown; I do hope you’ll have seen things our way by then”
“Wait no, you can’t do this” he ignored me turning his back as they dragged me away
They led me behind the tent towards a small hill at the base of the mountain, the long brown haired one opened the bars to the makeshift cell that was carved into the hill “we cleaned it up for ja princess” he smirked at me revealing two missing front teeth
“You can’t keep me here you know” I ducked into the cell and sat down “you have no idea who is coming for me, you must let me go, or else everyone here is going to die”
“Sorry ma’am, just following orders”
“Fine, can I have some water please”
“Coming right up” he started to walk away, then turned around with a huge smile on his face “you almost got me” he laughed pointing at me “your trying to use your Lycan blood to get out of there, you can’t fool me”
“With water? How would that work exactly?”
“I don’t know, I don’t have Lycan blood now do I”
“Fine, forget it” they stood on either side of my cell guarding me as they were commissioned
I looked around my confined stone prison, and wrapped my arms around my legs “I can’t believe I was supposed to get married today”
I know that I said no, but secretly I loved that offer “Kein please hurry”