Mated to the Enemy (#4 of the Hyle pack)

Four weeks

Four weeks…

28 days…

672 hours…

40320 minutes…

Four f*****g weeks and 8 packs later.

Four f*****g weeks, that we had been searching for Ivy, without finding a trail about her. Not one breadcrumb that led us in a direction. And every day, I felt more and more relieved. While my father seemed to be getting more and more mad by the day. He had almost started a war with three packs already, claiming that they would hold my missing bride captive, while I knew bloody well that she wasn’t there. Either, the packs were too far away and it was impossible for her to get to, in her wolf form from the palace, or there was just no reason for them to have Ivy under their protection. My father, besides being stubborn and angry, clearly had lost his mind and his logical thinking about it. But I had just let the man continue. The longer it would take, the more chances I would have that one day, he would just give up. We had been on the road for four f*****g weeks, I wanted to go home, I missed my room, I missed my house. The place that had once looked like my prison, was now something I was longing for. And above all, I longed for some good night's sleep in my own f*****g bed, away from my father.

I sighed, looking down at some papers in my hands. The Hyle pack was the pack that we would visit today. We had heard some stories that they would have given shelter to a princess a few months ago. She may not be there now, but she has been there before, so maybe someone would live there, that would be able to point us into a direction, a place, or another pack.

I just really hoped not!

As we almost made it to the borders, some of our guards shifted into their wolf form, leaving me and my father in our human form, so we could do the talking. We weren’t out for blood, yet. Although I could tell that if we found the pack that held Ivy in their protection, the world would loose one pack that day, and it would not be the Spike Pack if it were up to my father.

We made it to the borders of the Hyle pack, as guards started to pop up who were guarding the borders of their lands. My father, being the Alpha, talked, while the rest of us stood back, and waited for orders if need be.

“I need to have a word with your Alpha.” My father spoke, to which the guards asked some basic questions, just as all the other packs did.

Who are you?

Why are you here?

Did you have a meeting set up?

But sure enough, as all Alphas did, the Alpha of the Hyle pack granted us passage unto his lands. That is, me, my father and his Beta and Gamma. The rest of our guards and warriors needed to stay put behind the borders. But they knew that just with one mind link from their Alpha, they could easily start an attack here, or even a war.

One of the guards took us towards a big home, the Alpha’s home, as the guard called it. The door opened and a younger man walked outside, with spikey brown hair and dark blue eyes. By the looks of it, this Alpha was still pretty young, meaning that he would not have been Alpha for a lot of years. By the looks of it, our invitation for his Alpha ceremony must have gone lost in the mail once again.

Poor little us…

“Alpha, what can I do for you today?” The Alpha spoke, and already, his Beta and Gamma were coming into view, as well as a man who I remembered seeing at the engagement party. He had white hair and eyes blue as ice, the same color as Ivy’s, and then it clicked. This man was Ivy’s cousin. He had introduced himself to me. I just didn’t know what I wanted to do with that information.

Should I tell my father this?

Fuck no...

My father just growled, playing his ‘angry bad Alpha’ card again.

“We are searching for my son’s missing bride. We heard you gave shelter to a princess before and were wondering if you were doing it again right now.” The young Alpha lifted an eyebrow as he looked at my father.

“We did until a few weeks ago, yes. We gave shelter to Princess Ivy, who I indeed believe is your bride. But sadly, since the night of the engagement party, not me nor any of my pack members have seen her on our land. So am I sorry, that you have come all this way down here for nothing.” The Alpha nodded, as he already wanted to turn around and leave us, but my father growled, making the young Alpha turn around again. But I was surprised, however, at the anger that was starting to build inside the young Alpha’s eyes as he kept staring at my father. Not even blinking once.

“How dare you, growling at an Alpha on his own land.” And as I felt my father’s rage take over, I placed out my arm, stopping him from stepping forward and starting a bloody war on grounds that weren't even ours. I needed to act fast, I needed to do something to stop this madness. Best case, I needed to stall and buy some time here.

“Where did she live when you gave her sanctuary?” I asked the Alpha, whose eyes now locked onto me.

“Where did she live? Work? Spend her free time? I would like to see those places.” I urged the Alpha, hoping that my father would shut the hell up for once in his damned life.

“I want to turn this whole f*****g pack upside down.” My father barked at the young Alpha, who gave him an evil grin in return.

“Really, old man? I would love to see you try.” And all of our eyes were pulled to the side, where the man with the white hair was standing, Ivy’s cousin, as the sounds of crackling surrounded him. He had his hand out and seemed as if he was holding on to a ball of fire, while looking at us with a smirk on his face.

“Please, someone make my day and let me use this thing.” My father gritted his teeth, seeing that this was one of the packs that had a wizard. We had heard of it before; packs that would have a wizard or a witch at their disposal, to help them, in cases just like these.

That is amazing!

This will shut my father up for sure.

Thank you, Moon Goddess!

“We do not want any trouble,” I spoke to the young Alpha in front of me, even though I let my voice come off angry and stern.

“I am just looking for my bride, that is all. Show us the places and we will be on our way within the hour.” The young Alpha seemed to be thinking about it for a while, but eventually, nodded his head, as he let out a big sigh.

“Milo, will you take the Alpha to the coffee shop? I think Bailey would love to meet him to get a kick out of her day.” He grinned wide, seeing Milo smirk at his Alpha’s words, making my father livid. Even though he knew when to keep his mouth shut. And now was a really good time to do that.

“I will take the new Alpha to her old apartment, Colin. You take the Beta to the hairdresser’s salon and Damon can lead the Gamma to the building where we held that party, while Ivy was living here. We all meet at the borders, so we can wave the Spike Pack goodbye, since they will be on their way again shortly, never to come back here.” The young Alpha concluded, glaring at my father. I knew bloody well, if my father would start a fight with this one, he would lose, but I wasn’t so sure if my father saw it that way as well. I think he was only seeing red at the moment.

“Fine.” I answered, stepping forward to show him that I would follow him, to which he sighed deeply and started to walk away, giving me the impression that he was in a constant mind link with others, probably to make sure that everyone stayed safe inside his own pack.

During our walk, he never spoke one word to me. Hate and anger radiating towards me. I honestly couldn’t blame him for it, but still. I couldn’t help but wonder what would have happened, if I were here and my father would have been inside another pack, or I had just lived inside another pack to start with. I felt as if people always had their judgement ready for me, while they didn’t even know me at all. And they also didn't take a chance to get to know me. Once the words 'Spike Pack' were out, I was just stamped as garbage, bad and disposable.

We walked up towards what looked like an apartment building. The young Alpha took a key, opening the front door, which led to a hallway of doors, each door leading into another condo. I couldn’t help but wonder how it would be, living here, inside the Hyle pack. The place looked amazing. I hadn’t seen a lot of wolves and she-wolves, but the ones that I did see seemed very happy to be living here. I wondered how I would have been, if I had gotten the chance at a normal life. One without a manipulative father who wanted to use you as a poppet for his own play.

The young Alpha cleared his throat as he stopped at one of the doors, opening the door and sticking his head inside.

“Addie, are you home?” I frowned, looking at the young Alpha.

“Addison, she was Ivy’s roommate.” The Alpha answered me in an automatic voice, without using any emotion.

“Looks like she is out for work.” He concluded, when nobody answered back, he reached out his arm inside the condo.

“You have ten minutes. I’ll wait right here.” He spoke as he leaned against the wall, his eyes telling me that he wasn’t playing around. I needed to be out in ten minutes or he would come and kick me out himself.

Message received,

little prick!

But I just sighed and nodded, before I stepped into the condo and closed the door behind me.

I took a deep breath, feeling that this was the first time I was able to finally breathe and relax. I turned my head on my shoulders, feeling my neck would be stiff as a brick by tomorrow. My muscles had been flexing non stop for days, meeting pack after pack. Standing ready, just because someone would call out a war or a fight. It didn’t matter when or where, we had learned to always stand ready to fight, whenever the situation presented itself to us.

I looked around the small condo. A small living room with two couches, a small kitchen to my left, which still had some dirty dishes on them. Across the kitchen stood one door open, showing me a small room inside, which was probably the room where Ivy had slept in a while ago.

I was surprised, however, as my wolf Roan popped into my mind, his tail wagging as his tongue was playfully hanging out.

What’s up with you, Roan?

I took a deep breath, wanting to step over towards the bedroom and start my search, when I was taken by surprise as an amazing smell filled my nostrils.

Strawberries?

Not to mention, Roan started to wag his tail even harder. Using my wolf hearing, I even heard some mumbling coming from the right. Unable to stop, my feet stepped over towards a door next to one of the sofas, seeing that it was standing slightly open. And the closer my feet brought me towards the door, the harder the mumbling became. And with one extra step, my breathing stopped, I lost the ability to speak, the ability to hear, I only heard my wolf Roan, howling deep inside of me, as I could only think about one thing…

“MINE!”