Page 28

E line was practicing with her bow and arrow in her backyard when she scented the Alpha King in her home.

Her heart went up to her throat, immediately. What is the Alpha King doing in her home? Is the council meeting over already? Has she done something wrong?

Quickly, she discarded her bow and arrow, removed the cloak, and straightened invisible wrinkles from her garments before she made her way back into her home.

"Good day, Alpha King. To what do I owe this—" she cut off suddenly when she saw that it wasn't the Alpha King, but her human roommate. "Ismena?"

"That will be me, Eline." Ismena let out a nervous laugh, trying to calm her own raging heart.

Damn, for a moment, she'd thought Wolfariane had walked through that door behind her.

"Wait. Why do you carry the Alpha King's scent? You do not have this scent a few days ago." Eline's confusion was blatant on her pixie face. She isn't an Alpha, so her scent is limited...not as enhanced as an Alpha's.

What the...? The woman knows she'd been hanging out with their Alpha King because she smells like him.

Wait, how does she smell like him? She'd bathed pretty well before coming out.

"Unless you had sexual intimacies with the Alpha King!?" Her eyes went as wide as saucers, "Wait. He had sex with you!? That doesn't seem possible, he has absolutely no liking for humans. Absolutely none."

"Sex!? No!" Ismena shrieked, a blush crept to her cheeks, "No way, I didn't have sex with—"

"But, wait. Even if you had sex with him, you aren't supposed to smell like him.

" The changeling female's head was working, "Females don't carry on the scents of their intimate partners at all.

Well, maybe for an hour or two after intimacy, especially if the male released inside the female or he bit her during the intercourse. "

Ismena's cheeks flamed hotter.

She continued without pausing, barely sparing her another glance. "The Alpha King has been in the Meeting Hall for more than four hours now, so that cancels off recent intimacy. It is impossible that you will scent like him. Unless... unless—"

Ismena was already halfway across the sitting room towards the kitchen to take a glass of water, but the way Eline's words came to an abrupt halt interested her. She didn't stop as she asked, "Unless what?"

Eline's eyes went wider. All the blood drained from her face as the only reasonable reason came to her mind. "No... But, that is not possible."

"What is not possible?" Ismena asked from the kitchen, pouring herself a glass of water and downing it instantly .

Eline followed her to the kitchen, her brows knitted thoroughly in a thoughtful frown. "A human? Is that even possible? For a man like the Alpha King who doesn't have one beast form but two?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about." She poured herself another glass of water.

Eline looked her straight in the eyes, "You truly do not know that you are the Alpha King's mate?"

Wolfariane Daminor Throne said nothing, just watching all of them silently. His only reaction is his two fingers rubbing the gashes on his left cheek thoughtfully—gashes that have healed miraculously, by the way.

The council raged and raged about the person that made the ring fall into the wrong hands. Chaos and their angry shouts rose higher in the air until the turmoil was started to get further out of hand.

"Enough." He let out calmly, finally.

Everywhere quieted instantly. Even those that had angry words spewing from their mouth stopped mid-rant and glanced at their Alpha King.

He leaned forward in his seat and met the eyes of each and every council member.

"First of all, let me get some things straight.

" He paused, "Yes, it is not a changeling that compromised the ring into the hands of the enemies but a human.

However, it is not a human male but a female. A small female."

Surprised gasps filled the air, and some muttered out curses.

For changelings, gender means everything. Their females are well-protected by them at all costs, and unless a female's crime was too hideous, they find it extremely hard to hurt females. Females should be protected, not hurt.

None of them were surprised at their own muttered curses of frustration either. If it was a male, they go toe to toe, fight and tear him apart. But it's a defenseless small female.

"Shit!" Head Sentinel Rodarh muttered in furious frustration, "But still, it doesn't matter. The gender shouldn't matter in this case, Alpha King. She put us all in danger. She should be brought before the council and punished extensively. Don't you all agree?"

Some nodded their consent, the others sighed warily.

"I'm as angry as you are, Rodarh, we all are." Alpha Zane spoke up for the first time. The leader and council representative of the Jaguar Clan. "But, I do not support punishing a female the council way, even if she is human and evil."

"She is not evil. That is what I have been trying to let us all know, but we were letting out anger get the better of us." Alpha Alphose finally got his words across.

"She isn't? Then, why did she hand the ring over to the enemies?" Ratinus, the Rat Alpha snapped angrily. "I say we tie her up and—"

"She is my mate."

Wolfariane never wanted to say those words, but as it made its way out of his mouth in a growl he couldn't restrain, he didn't even try to hold it back. He couldn't.

The man is irritated at the council's anger for the small woman with the body of a goddess and the smile of a wicked angel. But, if the man is irked, it's nothing compared to the way his wolf was feeling. "She is my mate. "

Shocked silence.

The quietness was so thick and tensed in the air, with only the bombshell of the Alpha King's calmly but fiercely spoken words hovering over them.

"Hell." Head Sentinel Rodarh muttered out loud, at last. No matter what they expected to hear, it wasn't that.

"She is my mate." The growl tore from his mouth. Again. "You all want to harm my mate?"

Then, his eyes flashed amber. Raging amber-gold.

The silence broke, and suddenly, everyone was talking at once to each other. Smatterings of the sentences were able to be made out, while some weren't.

"What!? Shit, the King's wolf is close to the surface..." Alpha Ratinus.

"I think we have angered the wolf...!" Alpha Asisy.

"Shit, I didn't expect this...!" Head Sentinel Rodarh.

"Hades, we have been planning on how to punish and devour his mate...!? Right in front of him?" Alpha Morose, the python alpha.

"How did he hold out for that long...? I wouldn't have been able to." Alpha Zane.

"It's the first time he's losing a bit of control in front of us, shows how enraged the Alpha King is...!" Head Sentinel Rodarh.

"I have no hand in this at all...!" Alpha Ratinus.

"Please, do calm down, Alpha King. We will not harm your mate." Adanel finally spoke up towards the Alpha King, leaning forward to convey his own sincerity. "We have no intentions of ever harming a mate. Ever."

"I am calm, Head Sentinel Adanel." Wolfariane was leaning back on his chair in the most relaxing pose ever, his tone as cool and calm as always, even as he fought his inner battles within him .

A raging wolf who feels the threat to what 'belongs to him' is hard to control. His eyes flashed amber again. "I am perfectly calm."

They know he isn't, and that made it even worse. His deceptive calmness.

They know that the only way to calm the King Wolf is to show their sincerity. Also, the King Wolf has to FEEL that they are no threat to his mate. If not, it is a disaster waiting to happen.

No one... absolutely no one... wants to be perceived as a threat by the King Wolf, or even the King Cougar inside him. The Mortal might be rational, but his other halves are not.

Rodarh spoke next, raising his hand in surrender. "I will never harm your mate, King Wolf. Never." He was trying to speak to the wolf directly through the Alpha King, "I did not know that she is your mate, or I will never—EVER—suggest making a meal out of her."

Zane, the Jaguar Alpha winced slightly. Rodarh does have a knack for letting his tongue put him in trouble whenever he's angry. If not for the male is Wolfariane who is legendary for his control, Zane believes that there would have been bloodshed here today.

You do not threaten a mate. Ever.

He has been mated for ten years, so he knows this down to his bones.

"Me too, Wolf King." Alpha Asisy raised his hands too in surrender. Reddish-brown eyes of the tiger have covered the leader's gray eyes, so the Wolf King will feel the tiger's sincerity too. "I will never harm your mate."

The others did the same thing. Each and every member of the twelve council did the same thing one after another until finally, the weight pressing on the Alpha King's shoulders began receding .

Feeling heavy on the shoulders is one of the signs of the animal trying to force a shift if the male is not willing.

But, with the receding of the feeling, followed by the feeling of the wolf going back to the deepest part of his mind and settling down there again, Wolfariane took a very deep breath and opened steady blue eyes to the council again.

Heavy signs of relief filled the air with different breaths. They all knew when the danger passed through their other halves.

"Thank Heavens, that was close." Head Sentinel Rodarh muttered.

Alpha Alphose and Alpha Degar looked at each other. A smile curved their lips at what just happened.

"You, Head Sentinel Rodarh, are always quick to make decisions. I cannot believe you suggested that we kill a Mate." Alpha Morose snapped, still annoyed at the prospect.

"We can't believe it either." Most of the other council members added, glaring at the fifty-four-year-old elephant changeling.

"What? So, now it's all my fault?" Head Sentinel Rodarh asked, horrified. "How was I to know that she is his mate? We all agreed together that the culprit who lost the King's ring has to be punished. We were all in this together."

"No way, Rodarh. You are all alone in that." Alpha Asisy pursed his lips in disapproval as if to say he never for once supported the notion.

"Tsk tsk tsk, you always make bad decisions when you're angry, Rodarh. Learn to control yourself." Alpha Ratinus added too, shaking his head in disappointment.

The others added there's too.

Head Sentinel Rodarh was left with his mouth gaping wide open .