The Nerdy Prince and His Nemesis.

Chapter Two. A Cry For Help.

Chapter Two. A Cry For Help.

King Asher the second sighed as he opened the double doors into his younger brother’s apartment. The room was still in darkness despite the hour of the day. The only light coming from the gaps around the edges of the drawn curtains, and a small desk light, which illuminated Prince Hamish Colton’s handsome unshaven face, as he worked on his computer. Papers were scattered around the room, some made into balls, which had been thrown in the direction of the overflowing wastepaper basked. Others were of maps and images of their enemies. The air was stale, and Asher let out another frustrated sigh. The king, who could almost be Prince Hamish’s twin, with dark brown hair, and amber eyes, If not for the three year age gap, strode to the unopened drapes, pulling them open in one fluid motion, before opening the large window to air the room out.

The daylight broke through the window, illuminating the cork board which now took up the whole length of the back wall. At the top was a large piece of paper with the word Nemesis written in black, a question mark underneath. Below the image that sat on top of a huge pyramid were various images, all of them Asher knew, some of them he had met on the battlefield, others with red crossed placed on them he or one of his family had killed. Paper cuttings along with maps and company logos sat in various places on the board, red string pinning each one to another in a spiders web of clues, to the identity of the person who his brother had been determined to find for a little over 3 years.

Asher knew his brother would never let this go until he solved the puzzle. It was not in his nature. He would carry on for eternity, until it was solved. With a quick scan of the area, Asher noted the three plates, stacked with as yet untouched food. His brother to focused on his task to eat, or even take care of his personal hygiene. Asher would like to guess he hadn’t had a shower in the past three days he had remained up here, without coming downstairs even to train. Asher loved his brother, the Nerdy Prince as those who knew him affectionately called him. It had been deemed impossible that a werewolf could be neuro diverse, and the King was not one to outwardly argue with science, but deep down he begged to differ. Hamish could never leave a puzzle unsolved, had super intelligence, and would hyper focus where nothing else mattered other than what he was doing, and they would wait days upon days for him to emerge from his cave. It had been the same pattern of behaviour for 3 years, which had increased in the last 18 months since the Nemesis had left a message for Prince Hamish to send help. They had missed them by moments, and the rescue team captured, causing serious injury to one of their most beloved pack mates.

Sometimes, it was necessary for the king to intervene, to make his hyper focused brother eat, train, bathe and sleep. To tell him that enough was enough, using his royal tone to compel his brother to comply.

Once upon a time, his mother could get Hamish to listen, but since she and their father had abdicated the throne for Asher and Alisha his mate, their power had somewhat diminished enabling the Nerdy Prince to ignore the order. Hamish was not being disrespectful , just something inside his mind could not let go of what he was doing, a driving force that nobody could fully understand pushing him harder and harder, to solve the mystery.

“He needs to find his mate,” Max the kings wolf groaned.

“I do not disagree, but unless he has a damned shower, the poor wolf would probably reject him, because of the stench,” Asher groaned.

“Oi, Bro. You stink. Shower time,” The king looked over at his brother.

Hamish let out a frustrated sigh. Why did his family always insist on arriving to remind him of however many days he had been cooked up in his rooms at the Royal Crescent Moon Pack, just when he was on the verge of a potential break through.

“Ten more minutes,” Hamish dismissed his brothers request, not even looking up from the lists of students that he had acquired by hacking all of the top universities in the world, to look for a name, or anything unusual. It was clear that Nemesis was highly intelligent, and he had little doubt that they would have attended a top tier university, at some point in their lives.

“Nope. What ever break through you think you might have can wait. You need a shower, then to come for a meeting with me, Mam and Dad,” Asher declared, then circled around his brother’s desk, and lifted him off his chair, dragging the prince through to his bathroom, and manhandling him into the shower. Without even removing the prince’s clothes he turned on the water, as Hamish shuddered under the freezing cold spray.

“Asher, for God’s Sake, you could have warmed the water!” Hamish growled at his brother, who simply grinned at him.

“Where is the fun in that,” the mischievous king grinned at him, as Hamish shook his head, knowing how much his elder brother loved a good prank.

“Get washed, comb your hair, clean your teeth, and change your clothes. Because Dad is beginning to worry about you again,” the king ordered, before tuning on his heel and walking out of the bedroom, determining that if his brother did not emerge fully clean and ready for this meeting his father had called, then he would head straight back to his room, and use his royal tone, to compel him to do so.

Hamish shook his head, then lifted his wet white t-shirt off his body, bending down and taking a quick sniff of his armpit, and scrunching up his nose in disgust. It wasn’t that the prince was deliberately dirty, just that sometimes he needed a reminder when he was focused on his job of finding his Nemesis. He would never admit it, but he was glad Asher had made him take a shower.

Queen Chloe the Kings mother sat in what was once her office, but now belonged to her beloved daughter-in-law the current queen of werewolves, Alisha.

“Are you certain Hamish is the right person to send to Mars?” King Zander the Kings father asked his mate.

Chloe nodded her purple haired head at him.

“Yes. You said yourself that a break over to Mars and Davina’s pack might do Hamish some good,” she answered.

“Yeah, I did. But that was for him to spend time with his old friends Max, Lucas and Millie. Not to go help the Ultima Wolf of Ireland with a missing pack member,” Zander sighed, worried his son was going to go from one puzzle that was taking up all of his time, to another unsolved riddle, which might just tip Hamish over the edge.

“I have never met Alpha Mars,” Alisha sighed. It was an oversight on her and Asher’s parts, but in their defence, travelling to Ireland had been on their list, but with various wars, battles, and the great awakening, where human’s found out about the existence of werewolves, they had been a tad busy.

“To be fair, we haven’t seen any of the Harvest Moon group for what, must be close to twenty years now,” Asher said.

“We did see Max, Millie and Lucas, but not since the graduated from the Academy, which has to be what, nearly ten years ago. Time fly’s when you are beating the s**t out of your enemies,” Chloe giggled.

“When is Hannah and Del due back from their mating moon?” the queen asked.

“Nicki and Josh were expecting them yesterday, only to find out that Hannah had gone into heat, so they have extended their time away,” Chloe smiled.

“Another pup to add to the family,” Alisha grinned.

“Hopefully,” her purple haired mother-in-law grinned.

The door to the Queen’s office opened, and Hamish walked in, smelling a lot fresher than just twenty minutes ago.

“You haven’t shaved?” Chloe said, smiling warmly at her son.

“Thought I would keep the scruff,” Hamish stated, before taking a seat on the long white leather sofa, beside his mother and father.

“I approve, you suit it,” Alisha smiled at him, soliciting a growl from the king as he held onto her, his wolf muttering ‘Mine’ under his breath.

Alisha rolled her eyes as Chloe giggled. Zander turned to his youngest son, his face turning serious.

“Hamish. Alpha Mars from The Royal Harvest Moon Pack has been on the phone. He needs our help.”

Hamish turned to his father, his face an older version of his own, and furrowed his brow.

“Why? What is going on?” Hamish asked.

“It seems like a pack member has gone missing. They haven’t seen them for years,” Zander informed him.

“Who?” Hamish asked, concern flooding his system, as Kylo his wolf instantly became alert, for no apparent reason.

“Veronica,” Chloe sighed.

“Ronnie? I thought she was in America at Uni, or college as they call it over there?” Hamish asked about the little girl he once had a soft spot for, when they were pups.

“That is what everyone thought. She took a year out before heading to M.I.T. She was supposed to return home but contacted them to say she was heading straight to campus. She had been calling every week, but for the last 18 months the calls became strange. Ronan felt something was off and decided that he and Siobhan would go pay their daughter a surprise visit. Only when they got there, they found out that she had never arrived at university. He set off looking for her, and they have come to a complete dead end,” Zander informed the prince.

“Why did they leave it so long to tell us?” Hamish growled out in frustration.

“Because Mars knew we had a lot going on. But now they are extremely concerned as they recorded the last few calls, and when they listened back, they were all saying the same thing. They were recordings,” Asher sighed, running his hand through his hair which he kept a little longer than Hamish’s preferred length.

Hamish cursed under his breath. It was true, the whole family had been busy searching for the Costa Lobo, who had joined forces with the Russian Federation of Werewolves, and the Humans Against the Beast movement, collectively known by the acronym of the name Chloe had given them years before Corrupt Underhand Narcissistic Traitorous Scumbags. The last few years had been a challenge to say the least, moving from one battle, to the next, including all-out war, and defeating spy operations at the heart of the human government. Guilt nipped at the edges of his mind. Lucas, Ronnie’s elder brother had been a close friend during their school years, he loved his only sister, the eldest of the crayon twins as they called Ronnie and her twin brother Reggie, not only because of their names, but because the pair fought like cat and dog. Hamish felt like he had let both Lucas and Max down.

“We need you to go over to Ireland, to help find her,” Chloe smiled at her youngest son.

“Give me an hour to pack, I will text Liane and ask her to take me,” Hamish instantly said, standing to his feet and already making his way out the door.

He was determined that he would find the little girl with red curls, who was as fiery as her hair. He remembered a time when she had sat with him for hours as he showed her how to program computers, when she was tiny, to stop her from getting in trouble for punching her brother. He had had a soft spot for her then.

Yes, he would unravel this mystery, because Ronnie was an important part of his childhood. Finding his Nemesis would wait, after all, he was hardly any further forwards than he was three years ago when this all started, a few more weeks would make no difference.