Mated: An Enemy King

Her Wolf's Doing

"She was just here!" I growled in frustration at Zakariel who'd been asking me the same question over and over again.

"Then how-"

"I do not know how the hell I could have lost her!" Admitting that plunged me into familiar feelings of failure. I'd searched both in wolf and human form, upstream and downstream, the whole damn forest around Wrenyth for Aryn, but it was as if my mate had fallen off the face of the realm in a matter of a fleeting moment. Because that is what it took for me to open the door she'd shut in my face the moment I decided to follow after her raging self. It was still just moments after and yet I'd covered almost the entirety of Wrenyth searching. But perhaps that was not the only shocking thing about the whole ordeal.

"We should consider the possibility of the princess having been taken. That is the only way to explain the lack of a trail bearing her scent." Zakariel pointed out and I growled at his conclusion, hating the possibility of it all. "The attackers could have simply used a potion to mask her scent or perhaps this could be a matter of sorcery." The more my best friend spoke the more I felt my rage soar to the skies. Sorcery or not, such a fate should have been plain impossible with all the guards I had watching Wrenyth.

The said guards stood wary of me and were at a loss for words. None had been able to pick up her scent or had the tiniest clue of where the heir of Xatis could be.

"What took you so long?" I glared at Nuela when her figure stepped out of the darkness and walked over to me.

"I came as soon as you called for me, my king."

"Anything?" I inquired, knowing she would have linked her spies on her way here, but the expression on her face was enough for me to know.

"None of them saw or heard anything, I'm afraid." The expectation to hear more from me was written all over the tribe's leader's face, but I merely ran my hands through my hair. I was at my wits end.

"Why the hell didn't you tell me that something was wrong with her, Rinarii?" My eyes snapped to my mate's sworn protector at his question to Aryn's maid. And before she could answer I was in her face, after snatching her away from the red head's hands. The maid trembled at the sight of me, but not even that could make me loosen my grip on her.

"Is she unwell?" How did I not know this? How could I not tell when she'd stood inches away from me?

"Explain, child."

"Oh lady Liira." Despite my grip on her, the maid bowed so low I wished to sneer at her for taking so much time. "I did request the princess to allow me to wake you, but she spoke against it. I swear-"

"Child, I'm sure all that matters little to the lady right now." Nuela came and stood beside Liira, her presence and calm tone seemingly what the maiden needed to ease the growing tension in her.

"It was just a little heat. Well, it started off that way, until she couldn't take it anymore. She was on her way for a swim, when his highness, well, when she ran."

"This is probably her wolf's doing." Nuela mumbled, making me frown at her.

"What in God's name are you talking about? Aryn has no wolf, we all know that."

"She did not get her wolf on her eighteenth moon birthday, that is far from not having a wolf." Liira stated. "And she would not be the first one to have a wolf delay to emerge either."

"Perhaps this conversation should be had in a more private setting." Nuela pointed out.

"Inside that wretched castle is not exactly where I wish to be right now." I glared at the leader of the Doisle tribe.

"We understand that, your majesty, but you need to change your mind for this."

"This?" My brows shot up in annoyance. "Why can't you say it right here?" I was not about to waste time walking back and forth when my mate needed me.

Nuela's gaze darted to her surroundings and back to me. "Please, your majesty." Her lips would still remain pursed as long as I stood here, I realized. Stubborn wolf!

"Fine. Make it quick." I marched into Wrenyth, ignoring familiar sights around my childhood home that even after staying here the past couple of days, I refused to dwell on. Lest they unearthed long buried memories I refused to face. Although I couldn't deny that something had changed in the atmoshere. The cold that had seeped into its walls all those years ago, didn't feel so cold any more. I shook those thoughts away before I was sucked into a life long forgotten.

"Your mate, my grand daughter might be in heat." Once safe behind the doors to Liira's bed chambers, the matriarch from Xatis beamed and as much as I held her in high regard, I couldn't help think she'd lost her mind. How the hell would a she-wolf go into heat if she had no wolf? "I smelled nothing of the sort on her." I chose the most diplomatic answer, knowing Liira's fiery temper would probably get my head bitten off for calling her insane.

"Which brings us to the second point." The two matriarchs held each other's gazes and if I wasn't sure of them belonging to two different kingdoms and wolf lines, I would have thought they were saying something in the privacy of their mind links.

"What?" I snapped, feeling very impatient.

"We are not entirely sure of this..." Nuela began. "...but we do think the princess may possess the ability to mask her scent at will and that could be the reason you were and are still unable to pick her scent. She may simply not wish to be near you...at the moment."

Mask her scent? At will? I could imagine Aryn doing just that to spite me whenever that temper of hers flared, but only if such a thing existed and I was not about to argue the matter with the two older wolves who even after saying they weren't sure, appeared confident of the fact.

"If she is indeed in heat, then why would she not seek her mate out? Why would she feel the need to isolate herself?" The fire had been raging in those beautiful eyes at the sight of me and even though I'd found her temper arousing, it did not clearly scream 'take me' from her end.

"And why should she?" Liira regarded me with one of those intimidating expressions she was known for in and out of Xatis, and I couldn't help shift in my seat. King or not, there was something in that look that could easily make one squirm.

"And why not?"

"You did reject her. And that so easily." Easily? Why the hell would they think that when I knew for a fact that wolves had been punished for the simplest of betrayals in Xatis. Did Aryn think it was that easy too?

"If her wolf decides you are not worthy, I say kudos to them both." Liira sat back, her gaze taking me in in a manner that seemed to say she couldn't wait for her great granddaughter to make me suffer a little more. Or perhaps more than a little more.

"I must commend the princess' wolf for having a spine in that regard." Koberic walked in smiling, a tray in hand and I would have scowled at his betrayal if not for the words I was trying and failing to wrap my head around. And he had brought tea.

"Oh, I must say a spine is not all there will be to see once her wolf emerges." Nuela, sipped on her tea, her eyes full of expectation. What did they know that I didn't?

"Will someone stop and explain what the hell everyone is talking about?"

"I suggest you get round to winning your mate's heart before she can actually grow claws and canines. That is all the knowledge his highness needs right now." Liira mumbled, before the three older wolves turned to their hot beverages. An action that said I'd been dismissed. I wished to curse them all for it, but after whatever had been said, whether they were right or not, I needed to get moving.

"What did they say? Will the princess be alright?" Zakariel rushed to my side, eyes full of concern.

"Let everyone return to their posts."

"I'm sorry what?" Zakariel's feet ground to a halt, his nose flaring while at it. "Are they insane? For all we know the enemy could be-"

"There is no enemy and I'm going on a treasure hunt. Alone." I shifted before Zakariel could protest.

"I'm coming." My best friend shifted right after, the resolve in his tone letting me know that he would not be taking no for an answer. "Whatever this madness is about, I will not leave my king and queen unprotected."

King and queen. My wolf and I loved the sound of that and as we stalked into the darkness, we let our senses become one with the world around us. If she was here, we'd find her.