116

116
Emma

“My ladies.” 

We turn around to see a young man dressed in a fancy uniform and a dazzling smile. “I’m Zenis, and I will be in charge of showing you to the south wing where your pack members are residing.” 

Selena suddenly turns strangely shy, stepping behind me while tugging at my sleeve. I remember that the Alpha King told me that a general would escort us there, and I do my best to hide my sceptical expression. “General Zenis, thank you for escorting us.” 

“All my pleasure, my lady,” he bows theatrically, and I am taken aback as the soft giggle of Serena reaches my ear. 

Oh, okay. 

“Why are we staying in this wing then?” I ask as we are already following Zenis, who has turned around to lead us to the south wing. “When all our pack members are staying in another.” 

Zenis chuckles, speaking to me over his shoulder. “The southern wing is typically assigned to the warriors. I doubt that you would have felt comfortable there. This one is way prettier, believe me.” 

I roll my eyes towards Selena, but she just looks at me with wide eyes. 

“What’s wrong?” I mouth, but she just scrunches up her face, averting her gaze. 

Fine for me. 

He is extremely bubbly and keeps talking nonstop about everything possible. It doesn’t even make much sense while he skips randomly between subjects. One minute he is telling us something about the architecture of the palace, and suddenly he is explaining the training schedule of the royal warriors. Even if he gives the impression, I don’t think that he is disclosing anything of importance to us, and is seemingly only talking to keep us entertained. My guts tell me that he isn’t trustworthy, and we have to be cautious around him, even though he looks like a teenage boy. He also has great self-confidence as he babbles along while walking in front of us, never turning around to check if we are following or actually listening to him. 

Well, must be the inhumane sense of hearing. 

Does he even have his wolf? 

Checking on Serena once again, I find her eyes locked onto him, listening to his words spellbound, and I’m slowly starting to freak out. 

I really need to talk to her. 

‘Sese,’ I mindlink her, not getting any reaction. And just as I’m about to try again, Zenis turns around, his hands locked behind his back. 

“Here we are,” he announces, moving his hand to the large windows to our right. “Please be careful while reaching your pack members, and remember that due to security reasons, mindlinks don’t work in this part of the castle.” 

Bastards. 

I force a smile, mirroring his excited expression, and thank him for having us brought here. 

“It was all my pleasure, my ladies.” He bows, laying his arm over his chest. “We will see each other later.” 

Ugh, he is so fake. 

A small squeal comes from Serena, and my head snaps towards her. She looks up at me with wide eyes, and I guess she wanted to say something as well, but her words got stuck in her throat. 

I want to laugh, the sound of it already tickling the top of my throat, but as I lift my head again, it dies there and then. 

“Where did he go?” I ask as I spin around, watching back and forth, finding the hallway empty. 

Serena is as confused as I am, looking for our guide, confused just like me. “I don’t know. We just let him out of our sight for a second,” she whispers, and I gulp, grabbing her wrist. 

“We need to go,” I tell her, anxiously, dragging her down the corridor. “Let’s see where our pack members are.” 

A movement catches our attention, and we move our gaze to the garden outside the windows. A tall figure is standing there waving at us enthusiastically, and we gasp, relieved. 

“Dad!” Serena exclaims and starts running outside. She passes the open doors quickly, descending the stairs and disappearing from my view shortly before she shows up again, running over the grass field. 

I walk after her, stepping into the sun and halting for a moment to take a deep breath and let the sunrays fall on my face. Exhaling slowly, I reopen my eyes, seeing Serena reaching her father and running right into his papa-bear hug. With a smile, I clasp the fabric of my long shirt, lifting it before I step onto the grass to approach them. 

The closer I come, the more I can make out what they are saying, hearing Serena babbling excitedly about everything that happened since we arrived and how the situation at home was. Uncle Hendrick listens to her attentively, nodding repeatedly while she keeps stumbling over her sentences, jumping from one event to the other without any context. 

It must have been a tough time for her as well. 

Hendrick spreads his arm, inviting me into a hug as well, and I walk into his embrace happily. “Hey, Uncle Hendrick. How are you?” 

“Tell me how you are feeling first. Is everything alright?” His eyes scan my body, halting on my belly, and I nod, flashing him a reassuring smile. 

“Everything is fine. Don’t worry,” I squeeze his arm, taking a step back. “What are you doing here?” 

My gaze roams the small park, finding a few of our warriors sitting around and observing us. “We got locked into this wing after they separated us from Cayden,” he explains in a cautious tone. 

“You got locked in?” I ask, sounding more shocked at what I should be at this point. 

He nods, confirming my fear. “But they let us out after someone drowned.” 

“Drowned? Where?” Lifting my brow, I get him to shrug. 

“I don’t know. We heard the guards talking about it, but they didn’t tell us anything special, even if Gregorius asked.” He looks around, grimacing pensively. “They just ignored us. You didn’t come here alone, did you?” he changes the subject suddenly, and I shake my head. 

“Kai got imprisoned, and Ace was ordered away,” I explain. 

“And Ryder and Junior are still stuffing their faces,” Serena adds, finishing my sentence, and Hendrick looks back and forth between us, not quite knowing which issue to address first. 

But of course, his heart always wins. 

“What do you mean by ‘they are still stuffing their faces’? And they left you alone?” he asks his daughter in his outraged dad tone. 

“There is a huge buffet,” Serena mutters, tilting her head from one side to the other, visibly uncomfortable, and he gasps, looking back at me. “And what do you mean he was imprisoned? And Ace left you alone, too?” 

I’m just about to open my mouth when Serena squeals, lifting her arm to point to the other end of the park. “Isn’t that Ace?” 

Turning my head to look in the direction she is pointing, I spot him walking towards us, causing my breath to hitch in my throat. 

Oh, my… 

My thoughts risk drifting into a naughty direction until I hear Hendrick murmur, “Leaving a pregnant woman alone in such a place. They will hear from me.”