The Alpha King's Hybrid Mate

Chapter Four

****Elijah’s POV****

We arrive at the Black Moon pack territory border just after 5:45 pm, which is perfect as my parents doubt that they would have had dinner yet. My father and I spent the entire trip from the castle revising the plan. We can’t afford any mistakes, not with what we have at stake. The lives of innocent girls are in our hands.

A few months ago, we received a concerning letter from an Omega from the Black Moon pack. But after we wrote back to her, we never heard back from her, so we assumed that something had happened to her.

When we arrive at the border, there are no guards on patrol, though I feel like we are being watched.

“Dad, don’t you think it’s odd that no warriors are patrolling their border?” I ask.

“I was thinking the same thing,” he replies as he gently strokes my mother’s cheek, who is sleeping in his arms. She has been sleeping for most of the trip, but we got up early in the morning, so we didn’t expect anything less.

“What should we do?” I ask.

“We’ll just keep driving; they probably got out of our way as they should have recognized our vehicles,” he replies. He does have a point; our cars were very hard to miss. We are traveling in four black SUVs with our royal family on the sides. Three of our cars are filled with our strongest warriors, and my parents and I were in a car together. We all travel in the exact same cars in case someone was to attempt an attack on us. Ever since the downfall of the north werewolf territory kingdom, we have all been careful when traveling.

There were only four royal werewolf territories in America, but we aren’t ordinary werewolves. Each royal bloodline has the power to control an element, including fire, earth, water, and air. The Heroux bloodline, which is my family, can manipulate water. My mother isn’t from a royal lineage, so she doesn’t possess the ability to control an element, but her father was one of the most powerful Alpha’s ever to lead a pack.

Not many people know how the royals can control elements; they know that we have special powers. It’s scarce, but it protects us from those who may try to harm us. The same can’t be said for the Morelli family, the fire elementals. No one really knows what truly happened to cause the kingdom to fall, but we do know that the fire elementals don’t exist anymore.

“Roman,” my mother mumbles as she stirs in her sleep, and I turn my gaze out the window. I have to admit, for a small pack out in the middle of nowhere; the scenery is very beautiful. If I wasn’t the Crown Prince of the south werewolf territory, I would love to live out here; I also would probably have found my mate by now. I’m nearly 21 and am due to take over the throne in a couple of months. It’s not like I haven’t been looking for her because I have; I’ve spent the last three years looking in every possible place I could think of. I even looked amongst the humans; I guess I never thought to look on the countryside. I don’t care if my mate isn’t a wolf; I want my mate. I will love and cherish her until the day I die.

“We’ll deal with it when the time comes,” my parent's conversation brings me from my thoughts. “Are you ready?” he asks me, and I nod in response.

“Get in position,” my mother says firmly as she looks at me.

I unbuckle my seatbelt and climb over the back of the seats and into the very back of the SUV. I have to hide in the back, so I can sneak into the packhouse while my parents keep him distracted to allow me to find anything that may seem out of place or suspicious. My father has met the Alpha before and always describes him as a sleazebag; he told me that he’s always perving on she-wolves, even though he has a mate.

We don’t once get stopped by any of the Black Moon warriors on our way through the territory, but when we pull up to the packhouse, I peek over the seats and see the Alpha and his family waiting for us out the front.

“Are you ready for this, my love?” my father asks my mother.

“Of course I am,” she answers. “Let’s take this bastard down.”

Two of our guards' guards open both of the passenger doors for my parents, and then they both step out of the car. As I’m still peeking over the back of the seats, I see the Alpha smile at my parents; however, I can tell it’s fake; his Luna is standing next to him with her arm linked through his. Their son and daughter are standing next to them, but neither one of them looks too happy that the royal family is here, and they aren’t afraid to show it either.

My parents have a quick conversation with the Alpha before they are escorted inside. When the warriors return to the car, my wolf, Aiden, starts pacing in my head; it drives me crazy when he does this.

‘Would you stop! I need to concentrate!’ I growl at him, and I feel the car start to move.

‘I can’t. Something’s coming,’ he replies.

‘Whatever,’ I tell him before pushing him into the back of my mind so I can focus on the task at hand.

“You all right back there?” Vincent calls from the front of the car; Vincent is our head trainer and our most trusted warrior, apart from the royal Beta and Gamma.

“Yeah, all good, Vince!” I call back.

“All right, I’ll let you know when it’s safe to come out.”

“Okay, thanks, man,” I reply without moving from my position. On the way to Black Moon, my father explained that while he and mom are having dinner with the pack, I will need to search the Alpha’s office and any other rooms where Malcolm may have hidden something. We need incriminating evidence against him before we can take our accusations to the council. But I’m not meant to be spotted, so I have to be careful when sneaking in and out.

“All right, all clear, Your Highness,” Vincent calls once the car has come to a complete stop, and the other men check to ensure that no one else is around.

“Thanks, Vince,” I say once I have gotten out of the car.

“No problem. It’s up to you from here,” he tells me as he shakes my hand. “Remember everything your dad told you, and everything will be fine. In response, I nod, and he leads the rest of the warriors to the packhouse.

I look around to see where I am; there’s a big building in front of me which I assume to be the packhouse, except I’m looking at the back of the building. I’m standing in a large parking lot located behind the packhouse. Still, I can’t see any back entrances, so I’m not quite sure how I’m supposed to sneak in without anyone noticing me, as there are Omega’s scattered throughout the house.

‘Check if there’s a side laundry door,’ Aiden murmurs, so I walk towards the packhouse in search of an entrance. I make my way around the side of the building, and I see a door that leads into the packhouse.

‘Good call, Aiden,’ I say to my wolf as I turn the handle on the door. Thankfully the door is unlocked, and I am able to walk straight in; as I slowly push the door open, I peek my head in the door to make sure that no one is there. Luckily there’s no one inside, but now I need to sneak up to the top floor. My father and I revised the floor plan of the building thoroughly on the way here; we have every floor plan of every pack that we rule over for situations like these. The basement on the floor plan is marked as unused, which seems suspicious to me, but my father dismissed my thoughts.

I take the floor plan out of my black suit jacket pocket and unfold it so I can have another look at it. Once I have the paper unfolded, I start to look for the laundry room on it. I eventually find it and realize that the basement is directly next to the laundry room.

My father instructed me to stick to the plan and go straight to the top floor, but I feel the need to investigate the basement. I’m not quite sure why I feel this way, but my parents have always told me to follow my instincts, no matter what. So I decide to ignore my father’s instructions, follow my instincts, and check out the basement.

I open the door that leads into the rest of the packhouse; before exiting, I check to make sure no one is around, and just like in the laundry room, there’s not a single soul to be seen. I quickly walk towards the basement door and simultaneously hear my dad’s voice come through the mind link.

‘Elijah! Where are you? We have a situation!’ But I don’t reply; instead, I put up a mental wall to block everyone out except for my wolf; I have a feeling that I’m going to need him to be alert.

‘You always need me alert, du*bass,’ Aiden tells me as I make it to the basement door.

I ignore him and turn the rusty doorknob and push open the door before walking down the creaking wooden stairs. It’s obvious that this room has been out of use for a long time, except maybe for storage.

As I walk down the stairs, the most intoxicating scent of watermelon mixed with strawberries hits me, and Aiden starts jumping around in my head.

‘Can you calm down!’ I growl at him.

‘Mate has been here,’ he murmurs as he slightly calms down.

‘Mate?’ I question, and I hurry down the stairs to see if my mate is still in here. But when I look around, all I see is broken furniture and a boarded-up window. For the most part, the room is relatively clean, but it looks like someone uses it as their bedroom as the half-broken bed is neatly made, and there are a pair of shoes sitting next to the rotting closet.

“This better not be my mate’s room!” I growl out loud. “I will kill anyone that mistreats my Queen!”

I start searching the room for any clues that may point me in the right direction of my mystery mate. I open the closet and see that there are only a couple of dresses in there that have rips and holes through them, and it makes my blood boil. I take out one of the dresses and sniff it to see if I can make out a scent, and as expected, my mate's scent is all over it, meaning that this is definitely my mate's bedroom.

'We will destroy whoever has done this to mate!' Aiden growls in my head.

'I promise you, we will, but we need to find her first,' I reply.

As I start to hang the dress back up, I hear the door to the basement open and close, followed by footsteps descending the staircase. I quickly put the dress back in the closet, if I can even call it a dress.

I close the door, but when I turn around, I find myself face to face with a very short girl with long, deep red curly hair and hazel eyes. She is glaring daggers at me and has her arms folded across her chest.

“Who the hell are you?” she growls at me.

“That's on a need-to-know basis,” I reply calmly, which makes her sigh in annoyance.

“What are you doing in here?” she questions with her arms still crossed.

“That is a long story, my dear,” I start.

“Don't call me that!” she yells at me as she accusingly points her finger at me, and I put my hands up defensively to show her that I mean no harm, but it doesn't seem to work as she takes a couple of steps back away from me.

“I'm not going to hurt you,” I attempt to reassure her without moving from where I am standing, and she walks away from me and sits on the edge o the half-broken bed.

“Just tell me what you are doing here,” she groans as she puts her face in her hands.

“Can I trust you?” I ask, and she looks up at me with her eyebrows scrunched together.

“Can I trust you?” she responds with an attitude.

“Touche,” I say with a laugh, making her smile slightly. “My name is Elijah. I was looking for something against your Alpha, but I had a sudden urge to come down here,” I explain, and her eyes widen in surprise.

“Oh my Goddess,” she whispers to herself and stares at me in silence before she stands up and takes a couple of steps towards me. “You're the Crown Prince of the Heroux Kingdom, aren't you?” she says much more loudly.

“That I am,” I answer. “But I have a question for you, and I need you to answer me honestly.”

“Of course, Your Highness,” she replies with a bow.

“Walk with me,” I tell her as I gesture for her to walk towards the door with me. “I'm in a little bit of a hurry.”

“Okay.” She quickly walks up the stairs and exits the basement, with me following behind her. “Where do you need to go?” she asks.

“The Alpha's office,” I respond as I close the door to the basement.

“Okay, follow me,” she says, and we start walking towards the staircase leading to the packhouse's top floors. “ So, what was it you wanted to ask me before?” she questions as we continue to the top floor.

“Well, firstly, what is your name? I can't keep referring to you as the short, feisty girl in my head,” I answer, and she laughs at my comment.

“My name is Hailee,” she says with a smile, and I immediately stop walking. She also stops walking and looks at me with a confused look on her face. “What is it?” she asks.

“Are you the same Hailee that sent us the letter?”

“Yes, I am; why?”

“Why didn't you reply to us when we wrote back to you?” I ask.

“Wait, you wrote back to me?” She seems shocked, making me think that maybe there is something more going on than what Hailee had told us.

“Of course we did; it's the whole reason why we are here,” I tell her. She stands there and stares at me for a moment; she seems deep in thought, so I don't say anything else, so I don't disturb her thought process. Then her eyes widen, and a gasp escapes her lips as if she has just remembered something.

“We have to find Allison,” she says firmly, and my wolf purrs in my head like a damn cat.

'Please shut up!' I growl at him, and he retreats into the back of my mind as I turn my attention back to Hailee.

“Who is Allison?” I ask her.

“She is the pack slave. She is the reason I wrote my letter. What Malcolm is doing to her is wrong, and I refuse to put up with it anymore,” she explains. I am dumbfounded. Most pack members would sit back and let the abuse happen; I have never met anyone who would step in and try to stop it, an Omega wolf, no less.

“Where is she?” I quickly ask. I need to find this girl and get her out of this place.

“I don't know; our future Beta chased her out of the kitchen. He's going to rape her,” Hailee admits, and tears start to well up in her eyes.

“You care for her, don't you?” I ask. I can see it in the way she talks about this Allison girl, and she seems very protective of her.

“She's my best friend and doesn't have anyone else. She has no family; she never has,” Hailee replies.

“Go find her then,” I tell her, and I take a deep breath. “But I need to know, who sleeps in the basement?”

“Allison,” she whispers as a couple of tears roll down her pale cheeks.

A feral growl escapes my lips as Aiden tries to push himself forward for control, and Hailee jumps back from me in fright. This Allison girl, who Hailee is trying to protect with everything she has, is my mystery mate.

“I'm sorry, my wolf is being temperamental,” I apologize.

“It's okay, I know the feeling,” Hailee smiles.

“You go find Allison and get her to safety while I go search your Alpha's office,” I tell her.

“Okay, his office is the third door on the left when you get to the top floor,” she advises. I nod in response, and she runs down the stairs to find Allison.

My blood is boiling with anger, and my wolf wants to rip apart everyone here for what they have done to our mate. She is going to be their Queen someday, and they will pay for their crimes however Allison sees fit.