The Alpha Prince's Bodyguard

Chapter 9

***Fourteen years earlier***

Ve stands on the outskirts of a large celebration. After two weeks away, each of the princes receive their assigned elite bodyguard once again, the ceremony nearly as pompous as the original awarding.

Each joined back together, and they greeted each other like two long-lost best friends.

It has been a full year since each elite bodyguard was assigned to each of the princes. There was one whole year where they had no individual training, only working on the skills already acquired. The belief is that after a year together, eating, sleeping and working in close quarters, that they will be close enough, wanting that bond and that friendship to form the basis of that highly respected, highly dangerous job.

That year meant to make two young people know each other inside and out, to have a deep understanding in an effort to better protect and be protected.

The small girl can barely see through the crowd, though it is clear that Rhys is not in attendance.

Ve has tried her best to fulfill the task over the last year, failing miserably. She knows that their reunion isn't going to be as celebratory. She knows a pleasant nod is the best that she can hope for. She arrived later than the other four, and now she is expecting no reunion at all because Rhys is not with the others.

The crowd doesn't part for her. She is not bought forward to join what she is meant to be part of. More than anything, it is like she is purposely ignored, small hands clenching into fists as she grits her teeth, she needs to find Rhys now.

They may not be bonded like she was hoping and, try as she might, she can't get to know him on a personal level because there has to be two willing parties, and he's not willing to let her in.

He may not know her well, but in this year she has observed him, and she understands him as much as he has allowed her.

She understands his habits, his likes and mostly his most sacred places. She has followed him everywhere, even when it is clear her presence is not wanted, and at some times he is even resentful of it. Unfortunately, her presence is a requirement, so she can never even fulfill his most basic wish of leaving him alone.

She has a few ideas of where he might be. One really sticks out in her mind. He may not even notice his own habit, but as she looks on from the outside unable to do anything more than watch. She can see the pattern. In his most vulnerable times, there is a place he will retreat. Even at her young age, she can understand that this is his most important place and every time he feels down he ends up there.

Ve moves away from the crowd without drawing a single eye, they never pay any attention to her so why would today be any different? She knew from the very first day that Rhys was not very well liked and that her selection was not so well-intentioned. It was a tough pill to swallow, knowing that her appointment was some sick sort of punishment, diminishing all her hard work in the camp, her entire childhood in training to be nothing more than a joke.

As much as she tried to ignore it and make her place known and her words recognized, it seemed like she was just failing. She thought that this training could change all that.

She had hoped…

Ve walks into a small clearing. Surrounding the clearing is lush greenery and in the clearing is a small shimmering pond, beautiful yet incredibly understated. The pond is so small, it is barely classified as a body of water and isn't much of a draw card, which is part of its appeal. Beautiful, yet there is no risk of anyone else disturbing his peace.

Which is why he is so shocked when he hears footsteps coming toward him.

Rhys jumps up from his seated position. The serenity that he managed to get for himself is gone, and his vigilance has returned. He knows that the hate will one day turn to violence. Is it today?

It has been one whole year, another year growing older, completely free from parental influence. He becomes more ostracized with each day, yet still having a few hangers on that only want to be around him for his position of power, however lacking it may be. Worse still, are the ones trying to get a leg up to his brothers or father.

To him, it feels like an empty title.

Prince? The name even feels so far removed from how he is treated. Then today, just in case he forgot his position, his father makes a big deal of the elite bodyguards return, yet he is not even invited.

Not that he thinks much of Ve, and maybe he is about as protected by himself as he is with her beside him, but she is all he has been given. However little it may be.

Rhys sees Ve’s tiny figure approaching him and he relaxes slightly. She is petite even for her age and has very pretty colored eyes and pale soft skin. Her face has an angelic quality to it. Made more beautiful when she smiles even though he has looked past it so many times.

If she was anyone else or held any other position he might even comment that she is a cute girl. But for a bodyguard of such high standing, she is completely inappropriate, and it is laughable to see her in that position.

"What are you doing here?"

Rhys doesn't mean to sound as dismissive as he does, just a follower that's not really required. She doesn't mean much in his life, and while her presence might be a joke, she doesn't really negatively affect him, which is why he isn’t so resistant to her. Her voice is soft, as if unsure about her own words. It is important, but he has rarely listened to it before.

"There is something I need to tell you"

Rhys’ lip curls in disgust, and he is more aggressive than he should be, the peace that he had moments before is gone and there are so few times that he can feel at peace.

"Out with it"

Ve clasps her hands together, she is still shaking from what has transpired. Before these last two weeks, she tried to see the good in it all, deluding herself to think there was some sort of purpose. She convinced herself that it was going to get better, but it only got a lot worse.

"It was just the training, I wasn't included at all, and they also went as far…"

Rhys glares at her, he has enough of his own problems to deal with without listening to hers. Getting excluded, is that what she's worried about? He has had it for as long as he can remember. It is something that she just has to get used to. He cuts off her sentence. Not caring to hear what she has to say at all.

"And what do you expect me to do about it Ve? Does it look like I am in any position to make anything better? I can't make anything better for myself, which means I have no chance of ever being able to make anything better for you, whatever you grievance, just deal with it like I have to each and every day"

Rhys stomps away. His twelve-year-old body is substantially bigger than most of his peers and he can make a hell of a lot of noise when he wants to and right now he wants the world to know that it failed him.

Ve doesn't chase him, she blinks back tears, refusing to let them fall. Every muscle in her body is strained. Her heart is hurt.

All her ideas are now gone, no one will help her. She can only help herself. Sierra was right. Ve wanted desperately for her to be wrong. There is no changing it. It is all on her.

At the very start of the two weeks, the five elite bodyguards boarded a mini-bus and drove away from the pack.

Ve stayed quiet on the bus, looking around, observing, something she has become very good at in the past year. After listening in to the laughing and joking she started to feel a bit of the camaraderie she did at the original training camp. They went from fellow trainees with no hard feelings, to her being completely excluded for the last year, that feeling that started to drop away as they were driving.

The road became a lot different to the road traveled when they were originally on their way to the pack, but Ve didn't think much of it.

The road and the surroundings were beautiful but incredibly secluded. She couldn't remember when they last passed a town. The road never ending.

Ve was genuinely confused when the bus pulled up to a stop. It looked nothing like the camp but the excitement in the bus growing so she failed to know what was ahead.

Rough hands grabbed her, tearing her from her seat and throwing her out that open bus door.

Wide violet eyes stared at the door in shock. She recovered quickly and tried to scramble back on, a foot raising to kick her directly in the jaw, sending her sprawling back onto the rough bitumen of the road. Her pain to a soundtrack of mocking laughter.

Her jaw throbbing, her hands scuffed up and bleeding as the bus took off with a spin of wheels, leaving her in a plume of exhaust fumes.

Leaving a scared little girl behind, all dreams of ever being a part of something disappearing as fast as the bus. Her last connection to what came before.

Frightened violet eyes scanned the area, not a single sign of civilization anywhere.

They didn't even leave her bags, she was alone, no money, no equipment and no idea where she was.

Ve stares at the small pond hearing Rhys' footsteps echoing in her ears. He didn’t care what happened to her. She is not sure why she thought he would. Hadn’t the last year crushed her expectations enough? She wraps her arms around herself in protectiveness much the way she did when she watched the bus drive away.

She is alone in this world and that is a tough lesson to learn at eleven years old.

Her hopes for something more are dashed, there will never be friendship, everything is to be professional. She has a job to do, and she will use whatever tools she needs to accomplish it.

She is alone in the world and that is a big burden to carry.