The Alpha King's Hybrid Mate

Chapter Eight

****Elijah’s POV****

I watch my mate discuss her inability to shift with Hailee and Serena; if she knew that I was eavesdropping, she would probably be very mad at me. But I don’t care. I need to know that she’s okay. I need to know for my own peace of mind, that and Aiden is going crazy in the back of my mind.

‘Go with her,’ Aiden whines at me.

‘I can’t,’ I answer. ‘Mom will go ballistic at me again.’

When I attempted to walk with Allison to her MRI, my mother went off her head at me, but luckily, I could tune out most of what she was yelling out. When I noticed Allison, Hailee, and Serena standing in the middle of the corridor, I tried to listen to what they were discussing. Most of it was general things like Allison being unable to shift into her wolf or heal properly, but what caught my attention was that when Allison talks to her wolf, her eyes glow golden. I know I probably shouldn’t have been listening to Allison’s conversation, but at the same time, I feel like I should know what is going on with my mate.

They finally finish talking amongst each other, and when Hailee and Serena start walking down the hall, Allison turns around and looks at me. My heart skips a beat when our eyes meet, and Aiden jumps around in circles in my head out of enjoyment. As she’s looking at me, I notice a hint of gold in her beautiful green eyes, and from what Allison was talking about before, I’m guessing that means that her wolf is present with her. The eye contact doesn’t last long, and before I know it, she’s turning around to follow Serena and Hailee, but I take what I can get.

I watch Allison walk away, and once I can’t see her anymore, I turn my attention back to my parents. When I look at my mother, she is standing there with her hands on her hips as she glares at me.

“Were you even listening to me?” she questions me angrily.

“Not really,” I tell her honestly, and she rolls her eyes at me.

“You need to leave her alone at the moment,” my mother says, and I sigh in annoyance. “I’m serious, Elijah. She’s very fragile right now.”

“I know she is Mom. I wish she would open up to me as easily as she does to Serena.”

“I know you do. But the difference between Serena and you is that Serena is a woman,” my mother explains. “Allison is more likely to trust a woman over a man after everything she’s been through. That’s why Dr. White asked Serena to examine her rather than do it himself.” I suppose she has a point, but that doesn’t make me feel any better.

“Okay, fine. I’ll try to leave her alone,” I tell my mother.

‘How do you expect to do that?’ Aiden whines.

‘I don’t,’ I answer.

“You’re really going to do that?” my mother questions suspiciously.

“Yes,” I lie.

“If you insist,” my mother sighs as she turns to look at my father. “Do you want to go deal with the Alpha now?” she asks him.

“Yes, I would,” he answers before looking at me. “Elijah, you can go to Allison’s room since you already know where it is and start packing her things. She will be coming with us,” he instructs me.

“You don’t want me to come with you to question the Alpha?” I ask him, which turns out to be a mistake.

My father looks at me angrily, and his dark blue eyes start turning black, telling me his wolf is present. My mother slips her hand into his and strokes his thumb with hers to calm him down. He continues to glare at me as his eyes begin to turn back to his normal color, but I stay completely quiet out of fear of angering him even further.

“You ignored my direct orders before,” he growls at me. “How can I expect you to run the kingdom if you can’t even follow a simple direction?”

“My mate was in danger!” I loudly argue back.

“That doesn’t matter.”

“Yes, it does. What would you have done if Mom was in danger?” I question.

He opens his mouth to say something but decides against it; he knows I have a point. But he would never admit that. He’s a stubborn old man.

He doesn’t answer me; he just looks at my mother before walking away from us. I watch him walk down the hall, and once he turns around a corner, I look back at my mother.

“Don’t worry about him,” she tells me. “He’ll get over it. You know what he’s like.”

“I know,” I reply.

“But you are exactly like him,” she says with a grin.

“I am not!” I argue defensively.

“Yes, you are.”

“Whatever,” I sigh as I put my hands up in defeat. There is no point in arguing with her as I know she’ll win anyway.

“Now, if you don’t want to risk your father’s wrath, I suggest you do as he has asked,” my mother points out.

“Fine,” I reply. I want to argue further about me helping with Alpha Malcolm’s interrogation, but my mother also makes a good point. If I dispute my father’s decision even more, I will make my father even madder, and that will make the situation much worse.

“Good, now off you go,” my mother instructs. I sigh as I turn around and head down the corridor toward the exit.

*

*

*

It doesn’t take me long to reach the front of the packhouse as the packlands aren’t very big. I am thankful that I don’t need to keep myself hidden this time around, as the pack is probably aware of my presence by now. And if they aren’t, it won’t matter too much.

I walk in through the front door and walk around until I find the entrance to the basement. As I place my hand on the door handle, I hear someone walk up behind me. They stand there for a brief moment before clearing their throat, and when I turn around, I see that it is none other than Alpha Malcolm himself — the man who tortured and abused my mate.

“What do you think you are doing?” he demands.

“I’m getting Allison’s things. She’s leaving with me,” I inform him.

“Over my dead body!” he snarls at me. “Now, bring that useless girl to me!” I feel Aiden start to push forward, and this time, I let him take complete control.

“That can be arranged,” Aiden growls at the Alpha, and I watch as the color completely drains from his face. “And you will not speak to your Crown Prince that way!” Aiden steps forward, and the Alpha falls to his knees in submission.

“I-I ap-apologize Y-Your Highness. I-I didn’t realize it w-was y-you,” he manages to stutter out.

“That’s no excuse!” Aiden snarls back at the Alpha.

‘Let me speak to him,’ I urge Aiden.

‘Why?’ he responds.

‘Because Dad wants to talk to him, and if he finds out we got to him first, he’ll be pissed,’ I explain.

‘Okay, fine,’ he sighs. He reluctantly gives control back to me, and once he does, Alpha Malcolm starts to stand back up.

“I did not say you could rise!” I yell at him, and he instantly falls back to his knees.

“I am sorry, Your Highness,” he trembles. For an Alpha, he is pretty pathetic.

“My father is looking for you,” I say to him, and he looks at me with fear in his eyes. “I would suggest you find him before he finds you.”

“Why is he looking for me?” Alpha Malcolm asks as his voice quivers in fear.

“I think you know why,” I snarl back at him. “Now go find him, and don’t even think about trying to escape. There is nowhere you can go that we won’t find you.” He quickly nods his head and stands up. I watch him promptly walk away from me, but I also get this feeling in the pit of my stomach that something terrible is going to happen.

I brush off the feeling and make my way into Allison’s room. Once I’ve made it down the stairs, I walk over to her closet and start to rummage through it. She only has a few dresses hanging up, but when I pull them out, I notice rips and tears all through them. She doesn’t seem to have any clothing that isn’t ruined in one way or another. But I can’t say I’m surprised, especially with how they have treated her over the years.

I decide I won’t take the dresses, there’s no point, and I can get her some new clothes when she arrives at the castle. As I put the dresses back, I notice a small box sitting on the closet floor in the back corner. I pick up the box, open it, and find a beautiful green butterfly necklace sitting inside. It must mean something to Allison if she has it hidden away, so I take the necklace out of the box and put it in my jacket pocket so I can give it to her later.

I walk over to the other side of the room to where her chest of drawers are and have a quick look through them. I find a heap of medical supplies like antiseptic and bandages in the top drawer. I realize that Allison must have had to clean all her cuts herself, and I wonder if she had to steal all of these supplies.

I find some long-sleeved shirts and jeans in the second and third drawers, but they are ruined, just like the dresses in Allison’s closet. I also leave them in the drawers and move onto the bottom drawer. I’m surprised to find a pile of educational textbooks neatly stacked in the drawer. There are all kinds of math, English, history, and science books, but the one that catches my eye is titled The History of the Realms. This is a book that I have never seen before, and as the future King, I have read and studied numerous books on our history. It makes me curious to know where she got it from.

‘You’ll have to ask her where she got it,’ Aiden says.

‘I plan on it,’ I reply.

The books aren’t in very good condition, so I leave them all there except for The History of the Realms. It isn’t in as bad a condition as the rest of the books, and I would also like to give it a read.

I tuck the book under my arm, close the drawer, and head toward the basement door. As I’m leaving Allison’s room, I hear two people loudly arguing. I’m not quite sure where it’s coming from, but I follow the sound of their voices until I find them.

I stand behind a wall and peer through the doorway to have a look and see who it is that is arguing. I am surprised to see the Alpha’s son and daughter in the kitchen fighting about something. I also notice that the kitchen is a complete mess; numerous food trolleys are knocked over, plates are shattered all over the floor, and food is covering the ground. Something terrible happened here; I just don’t know what.

I turn my attention back to the squabbling siblings when I hear my mate mentioned.

“What the hell did that b***h slave do?” the sister yells.

“I don’t know what she did, but she got Kyle locked in the cells,” her brother answers angrily.

“Why the hell would Daddy lock Kyle up?” she whines.

“He didn’t. The King did.”

“Why would he do that?” the future Alpha’s sister questions.

“How am I supposed to know? I wasn’t there,” the young Alpha defensively answers.

“We need to break him out,” she grumbles at her brother.

“How do you expect us to do that? The King’s men are heavily guarding him,” he argues.

“Let’s just go down there, and we’ll figure it out,” she suggests.

“Whatever,” the young Alpha sighs as he bends down and picks up one of the unbroken plates from the floor. He places the plate on the bench he is standing next to and takes a piece of meat off the plate. “What are we going to do about Allison?” he asks his sister as he puts the meat in his mouth.

“What do you mean?” the Alpha’s daughter asks.

“It seems that the King is very interested in Allison,” he replies as he chews the food in his mouth. “I want to know why.”

“You do know why.” He looks at his sister with a confused look, and she rolls her eyes at him. “He probably knows about her ability, you i***t. You know, the entire reason Daddy has kept her around,” she explains to him in annoyance.

“How would he know about her premonitions already?” he questions before he starts coughing.

“You and I both know that her visions are unpredictable,” his sister answers with disgust as he continues to cough. “Alex, are you okay?”

There is worry in her voice, but I don’t care enough to find out what’s wrong. I turn and start walking away from the kitchen, and as I walk away, I hear the future Alpha’s sister begin to scream.

“Alex! Someone help!”

I ignore her screams as I continue to walk down the corridor toward the front door of the packhouse, but she comes running out of the kitchen. She must see me because she then yells at me.

“Hey, you!” I stop walking and turn around to see her running at me. “Please help me; my brother has collapsed and can’t breathe.”

She stops when she reaches me, and I feel my wolf push forward, so I allow him to take control. Aiden reaches for her neck and slams her into the wall beside us. He tightens his grip on her neck and slowly drags her up the wall so her feet dangle above the ground.

“Your brother deserves everything he’s about to get,” Aiden snarls at her.

“H-he did-didn’t do anything,” she chokes.

“He has taken part in abusing my mate and your future Queen,” he growls back at the girl he has pinned to the wall. Her eyes widen in terror as she pieces together who I am, and I can smell the fear radiating from her body.

“P-p-please don’t kill me. We were following orders,” she stutters.

‘Aiden, you need to let her go. You cannot kill her without reason,’ I urge my wolf as his anger starts to get the better of him.

‘I have reason,’ he growls at me in my head.

‘You cannot kill her without trial. And if you do, we will never be crowned King,’ I argue back.

He growls out loud but reluctantly lets go of the Alpha’s daughter.

‘Thank you,’ I say to him as he gives back control to me. I look down at the girl in front of me and see her standing there, staring at me in fear as she strokes her neck.

“I’m sorry about my wolf,” I tell her as I step back from her. “He has a bit of a temper.”

“I can see that,” she says quietly.

“That doesn’t mean what he said wasn’t true,” I clarify as I angrily cross my arms across my chest. “You and your entire pack have spent the last decade torturing and abusing my mate. And it will not go without consequences.”

“We haven’t tortured anyone,” she argues defensively, folding her arms across her chest.

All I have to do is say Allison’s name, and her eyes widen in horror as she takes a step back, but there is a wall there, so she doesn’t have anywhere to go.

“Please, I had nothing to do with that. It was my Dad. He made us do it. I didn’t do anything,” she quickly splutters.

I raise my hand to slap her across the face for lying to me, and the girl closes her eyes and raises her hands to shield her face. I heard what she and her brother were talking about in the kitchen. I have to stop myself from hitting her. I have never hit a woman and intend to keep it that way. I lower my hand and quickly walk away from her before I do something I will regret.

‘I would have done it,’ Aiden grumbles at me.

‘I know you would have,’ I sigh.

I push him into the back of my mind and head toward the front door of the packhouse so I can go back to the pack hospital. It takes me a while to find my way through the packhouse and to the front entrance, but I eventually find it. Walking toward the hospital, I feel a mind-link come through.

‘Elijah, did you get all of Allison’s things?’ my mother asks.

‘Kind of,’ I reply.

‘What does that mean?’

‘She didn’t really have anything worth taking. All of her clothes were mostly torn and ripped up. I figured she would be better off if we got her new clothes.’

‘Yes, that will most definitely be arranged for her,’ my mother answers. ‘Was there anything you thought was worth keeping?’

‘Yes. I found a necklace tucked away in a box and a book I’ve never heard of before,’ I reply.

‘What’s the book called?’ my mother asks.

‘The History of the Realms.’ There is a pause as I wait for my mother to reply, but she doesn’t. ‘Mom? You there?’

‘Yes, I’m here. I’m just thinking. I don’t recall ever studying that book, but you would think that it would’ve been in our library or that we would have to have read it, considering it’s a history book about the realms,’ she explains.

‘That’s exactly what I thought,’ I tell her through the mind-link.

‘I’ve never even heard of this book before,’ she says.

‘Neither have I.’

‘It’s so weird,’ she says through the link, but she’s more so talking to herself. ‘Just get back soon; Allison has finished her MRI,’ my mother tells me after a long pause.

‘I’m nearly there. How is she?’ I ask eagerly.

‘She’s fine, but the doctor wants to talk to you.’

‘Okay, I’ll be there soon,’ I reply. I cut off the link and continue to hurry down the path toward the pack hospital.

It only takes me a couple of minutes to get there, and as soon as I do, I rush straight in. I walk straight past the reception desk, ignoring all the stares I receive from everyone in the waiting room. I need to see my mate again.

I go through the halls and stop as soon as I see my parents standing outside my mate’s room. They seem to be in a deep conversation with each other, but I look straight past them into Allison’s room.

She’s sitting on the edge of the bed next to Hailee, with her legs dangling down the side of the bed. She has a big smile plastered across her face as she chats along with Hailee. She has the most beautiful smile I have ever seen, and I hope to see it more often. I start walking closer to the room, and as soon as she senses my presence, she looks up in my direction. Her smile immediately drops to a frown, and her deep green eyes fill with fear. My heart breaks inside a little bit when I see her instant reaction to me. How can she be so afraid of me when she hasn’t even spoken to me?