Chapter 42 - My Omega Queen

POV: Grace

My eyes narrow on my parents’ guilty faces, and the realization hits me like a ton of bricks. They want us to take a chosen mate. That’s why both of my parents came on the trip. I mentally scold myself for my misstep and blame it on my lack of sleep.

“I’d rather die.” Raksha growls inside my head, making my chest tremble. It was not loud enough for our hosts to hear, but my father’s eyes glistened as his wolf, Arthur, picked up on Raksha’s retort. The hair on my forearms stood up in front of Arthur’s threatening stare. One does not easily growl at the King, regardless of who they are. And weirdly, this is the first time Raksha has done it.

My father opened his mouth slightly, but he didn’t get to say anything before our hosts reached our side.

“Welcome to the Silver Fangs pack, my King, my Queen,” The Alpha said as both he, the Luna and their son bowed their heads low in front of my parents. Then the Alpha turned toward me and smiled softly, letting me know that he was also updated on my parents’ delusional plan, “little Princess.” And he bowed his head, but only slightly.

The Alpha continued, “Let me introduce to you my beautiful Luna here, Caroline, and our second son, Jason.”

Jason then puts on his most charming smile and says, “Nice to meet you all”, then turns toward me, “especially Grace here.”

The cringe sent shivers down my spine, but I remember Arthur’s warning gaze and put on my best fake smile, “Nice to meet you,” I reply, then I turn toward my parents with the same smile, “Mother, Father, If you’ll excuse me now, I would like to not waste any more time and head toward the party to find my fated mate.”

My father throws me an incredulous look which promises me a good scolding later.

I dash out of there before anyone can say anything to stop me, following the footsteps of my fellow pack members toward the music and dancing.

The gathering looks exactly like the others. Tables filled with food and alcohol are spread out along the streets, leaving the middle empty for mingling. A mixture of smells fills my nostrils, ranging from Silver Fangs members to rogues, but werewolves nonetheless. I walk around for a few hours, engaging in conversations with multiple people that either recognize me or not. My aura is not as strong as my parents’, since I don’t have an official high rank in the pack, besides being next in line for the throne. I prefer it this way, though. Nothing compares to normal conversations with people that do not bend their words based on your rank.

However, as the moon shines brightly over us and makes way for the sun, after about eight full laps of the whole village, a knot of despair and disappointment forms in my stomach.

I crouch down in a dark, lone alley, “Good feeling about this year, my ass”, I clench my fingers and hit the ground with my fist. Blood splatters now paint the gray ground where my knuckles met the earth, but I feel no pain, only rage. I can vividly imagine my parents’ faces when I will return in the morning with no Prince Charming at my arm, my father forcing me to accept a chosen mate against my will.

As if on cue, I hear the sounds of distress of a she-wolf from further into the dark alley, where the light of the moon doesn’t reach. It is not unusual for she-wolves to be raped or forcefully marked during the Mating Season, but that doesn’t mean I personally agree with such acts. Mate bonds should always be a blessing from the Moon Goddess, rather than curses. So, I waste no time and follow the scream into the dark. I use my ears and wolven abilities to guide myself through the twists and corners of the alley, until I reach two figures. I see a male that grips the wrists of a she-wolf, facing her backside, and holding her face pushed into the wall.

Raksha lends me her claws and fangs, and I lunge at the male. Taken by surprise, I throw him to the ground, straddling him tightly with my feet, and I begin to pummel his face inside the ground. I might have included some punches for my own benefit too.

Suddenly, a wave of lucidity washes over me, as I look at the bloodied pulp of meat underneath my fists. Even for werewolf healing abilities, he is going to take a few days to recover. Raksha becomes agitated and tries to warn me of something, but it is too late. I feel the faint smell of pine trees buried in fresh snow before the pain of a sting in my neck. Then my body grows heavy and I hear an apology before everything goes dark.

My head feels heavy, and I struggle to pry my eyelids open. Slowly, my vision clears up and I begin to make out my surroundings. A quick glance around tells me that I am being held inside a tent-like structure, with close to no objects besides a pot chamber. My hands are tied to a metal ring that seems to come out from underneath the ground.

My connection with Raksha is closed off, and I do not have access to any of her wolven abilities, which can only mean one thing; I’ve been poisoned.

My heart is racing inside of my chest and my thoughts are a jumbled mess. We were taught about hostage situations in class. However, in their scenarios, we were the ones holding the hostages, not the other way around.

“Calm down, Grace, the first step is to calm your heart.” I repeat like a mantra. I breathe in and breathe out at a steady pace until my heart resumes its normal rhythm. Then, I begin to think. It seems to be daylight outside, which means that my parents already put out an alert and must be looking for me like crazy.

This thought helps me maintain my calm. Regardless of who my kidnappers might be, the whole werewolf county is now on their lead. It’s only a matter of time until they will be found and brought to justice, and there is only one possible punishment for kidnapping the King’s heir. Execution.

The door of the tent rustles for a second and then a young woman comes in, dressed in some rags, carrying a tray of food and a glass of water. I instantly recognize her face as the she-wolf that was in danger of being raped last night. My face distorts in anger at the thought of having been taken advantage of and tricked like that. So much for being a good person, I guess.

The woman looks startled when she notices that I am awake, almost dropping the tray.

“Y-you’re awake,” She whispers, almost to herself, then continues, “Your Majesty.”

I take a deep whiff of her smell, but without my connection to Raksha, I might as well be human. Nothing but the breeze of the forest fills my nostrils.

I try to even out my face, then ask in quick succession, “Who are you? Where am I?” Then the next question comes out more in a snarl, as I pull on my hands, “Why am I tied?!”

The woman bites her lower lip. A battle is visibly fought inside of her mind, trying to decide what and how much she should tell me. Eventually, she takes another step closer to me, then sits down on her legs, places the tray in front of her and bows low in front of me.

“We do not wish to harm you, Princess.” The girl says in a soft tone, betraying a tinge of fear.

“You f*cking poisoned me.” I snarl back.

The girl’s shoulders tense, but she continues, “It was the safest option.”

“Safest?!” Her words do not make sense to me, and I am starting to lose my temper, “Free me right now.” I shout with every bit of authority that I can muster without my aura.

I notice the girl’s arms beginning to tremble, “I- I’m a-afraid I c-cannot do t-that right now, Princess.” Then she lifts her head but still avoids eye contact, and she pushes the tray toward me.

With a newfound determination, the girl continues to explain,

“I am sure the King will do whatever it takes to get back his daughter, Princess. We just have to wait, and nobody else has to get hurt. Now, please drink.” The girl lifts up the glass of water to my lips.

I fling my head forward to hit the glass and throw it sideways, breaking upon impact with the ground. She must be delusional to think that I would trust anything she gave me after they had just poisoned me.

The girl gasps at my action, and she swiftly scurries to clean up.

Footsteps can be heard rattling toward us right before another female, about my age, comes through the door.

“What’s going on here?!” She asks loudly.

Based on how fast she arrived, I assume that she was just outside my tent door.

The young girl answers in a hurry while cleaning up the glass pieces, “N-Nothing, Lyra, I just dropped the glass.” I notice her finger getting pricked by a shard, but she continues to clean up.

The older woman, Lyra, gazes at the young girl, and then at me. Her look tells me that she didn’t believe a word the girl said.

Lyra’s eyes narrow on me and says pointedly, “Your Majesty, it is not our intention to harm you.” Then after a pause, “But if we absolutely must, we will.” Then she turns toward the girl, and her tone softens, “Ava, clean up and get out of here. It seems that the Princess is not thirsty.”

“But she hasn’t eaten or drunk anything. I really think-“ Ava retorts, but Lyra cuts her off, “Zain will be back later today and will handle her. Perhaps… it would be better if she were hungry and thirsty.”

Ava visibly thins her lips, holding on to a reply, but she decides to let it go and so both of them exit the tent. I am left alone with my thoughts. It is clear now that I have been kidnapped for ransom from my father.

“Sh*t, how could I have been so stupid.” I scold myself, knowing that I’ve put my parents in a tough position due to my lack of judgment. If I had a mate, he would have been able to locate me. There’s no way that I won’t be forced into taking a chosen mate now. Just the thought of marking and taking Jason to bed gives me goosebumps.

“I have to get out of here.” I decide, and my mind begins working like a well-oiled machine.

I assess the situation, which doesn’t look too promising. Even if I somehow manage to free my hands, my tent is guarded by I-don’t-know-how-many people, and moreover, it is daylight outside, so my chances of managing to slip by are slim to none.

So, I wait.

Hours go by. Nobody else enters my tent in the time being, neither to feed nor serve me water. My thirst gets harder and harder to ignore, as I lick my dry lips to wet them. I was about to call for someone when a sliver of power begins flowing in my veins. Not enough to communicate with Raksha, but enough to sharpen my nails into little claws. I make sure that nobody is intent on entering the tent before I begin sawing at my bindings. The rope is thick, but my claws are sharp, and I make short work of them.

I stand up and stretch my limbs, as quietly as possible. I peer underneath the tent cloth. The forest lies ahead of me like a second home, calling to me. From where I stood, I could see nothing else other than the vast length of the unknown forest… and two pairs of legs moving around the tent.

Sh*t.

I’ve got one shot at this, and I pray at the Moon Goddess that it works. I pick up the chamber pot with utter disgust, then at the right time, I use all my strength to throw it across the room underneath the tent cloth. The chamber pot lands with a loud thud and rolls around the dirt. I see the two pairs of legs running toward the sound created by the chamber pot, and I take advantage of this time to run out through the door.

Luckily, the door was pointed directly at the forest, and nobody else was there. I was not afraid. A forest shall never hurt a wolf, for they are part of a whole. So, I ran straight ahead in the open hands of mother nature. With no idea of my exact location, my first thought was to look for a source of running water to help me lose my tracks. I tried to listen, but my limited hearing could only pick up on some noisy birds and the sound of my own stomps hitting the ground, crushing the fallen dried leaves into bits and pieces.

A loud howl echoed throughout the forest, so loud that I couldn’t even tell the direction it came from. My heart skipped a beat and my legs trembled, making me trip and fall head-first into a pile of leaves. I do not need a wolf to translate for me what that howl meant. My kidnappers figured out that I escaped and they sent out an alert.

Bigger sh*t.

I stand up, ignoring the throbbing pain coming from my knees, and start running. I curse human weakness in my mind, knowing that with Raksha, these scratches would’ve healed already. My ears are now completely focused on noticing any trace of paws or howls. I keep running, but I don’t hear any other sounds. I breathe with relief for a moment, before my years of training kick in and I realize that no sound doesn’t mean a good thing. It means danger. Birds and wildlife go silent when in the presence of a predator, to maximize their chances of not being found. As the realization hits me, my legs come to a halt.

“I know you’re there,” I speak confidently, surrounded by nothing but trees, in the middle of a forest.

Seconds pass, and then finally, a massive brown wolf comes out from behind a tree just ten steps in front of me. What would have happened had I passed by it? Would it have lunged at me and killed me mercilessly? Would it have left enough pieces of myself for my parents to bury?

The wolf stares at me, smelling the air and assessing me.

Considering that it is as massive as Raksha, this must be their Alpha.

Huge. Pile. Of. Sh*t.