[GRANT]
The news of Grant's new appointment spread like wildfire in the mind links of the wolves of Acrod who were more than proud to have one of their own on the throne. They knew they could trust Grant with anything if the king had trusted him with the kingdom.
However, what the news hadn't mentioned was the fact that the king had a son in the realm. They didn't hint at that because they knew the people of Acrod would never accept Grant as their assigned ruler at the moment.
They would look around for the prince until they found him, and frankly, that wasn't what Grant wanted. A part of him wanted to run the kingdom for the king. He wanted to be the person the king trusted the most, and that would give him power.
"Maybe Alanor will want me back this time, right? I am technically the king of Acrod while Unar is just a prince of Udrad," Grant whispered to himself as he made his way to the brothel. He was happy and had a few coins to spend on the whores of Acrod.
Maybe he was losing his mind with the cruelty or he was just too fucked up in the head to even think straight. He had just been made the ruler after he had molested his mate.
It wasn't the best of times for him to be lingerie about, but Grant couldn't give a rat's ass about what the realm thought of him. He would do whatever he wanted and no one would tell him shit. He wasn't going to let anyone ruin his parade anyway.
"My Lord, you are… here?" the brothel master stated and Grant stared at him curiously. This man had never once said such a thing to Grant and the fact that he did today, made Grant believe that something was wrong.
Maybe the brothel master was thinking he would remain loyal to his mate now that he had the power, but then the cruel enforcer didn't care about that.
He couldn't give a shit about the weak omega he was given for a mate and he didn't want to think about it at the moment.
"Of course. I have come to celebrate my new appointment. I will be frequenting here, don't you worry about it," Grant said smugly and the brothel master sighed as he shook his head, an act that got Grant truly curious.
"What happened? Why are you so down?" Grant asked and the man before him stared at him in pity, something that was new to Grant. This was never something he had seen on anyone's face for him, and frankly, it was unsettling for him.
"You haven't heard? Your house is on fire. I thought you set it on fire because of the announcement," the brothel master said and Grant looked at the man, trying to check if the man was just messing with him.
However, now that he was focused, he could smell the stench of smoke in Acrod. It was like the entire kingdom was engulfed in the strength of whatever was burning.
"Oh shit, I have to leave. See you later," Grant said as he rushed out, and shifted into his wolf before he ran towards his house. He had a lot of valuable things in there that he didn't want to lose and he needed to make sure that it was all safe.
"Sire, your house—" Delbert said to Grant who was standing there, having just shifted back, not sure if he wanted to shout at the universe or blame someone. It was not going to be easy, because his mind was filled with so many thoughts at the moment.
"What happened here?" Grant asked. The fire had razed everything and it was pointless for him to see anything from in there. Perhaps he would just have to consider counting as losses.
The people of Acrod who had gathered there looked at him pitifully like they were hoping to find out what the fuck had happened too.
"There is no definite cause of fire, but it is assumed that the fire started in the kitchens. Perhaps you left something burning or your mate was cooking—" Delbert said and Grant scoffed at the junior warrior's statement; like that was impossible.
Then again, perhaps it was because Nour never knew how to cook shit. He never once tried and even though he was an omega, one of the members of the pack who were usually considered slaves, Nour preferred other duties other than cooking.
He couldn't be caught in the kitchens by anyone. He despised that because he hated that he would never be able to dine with his father. And if he was to cook, he wanted to cook for his father and his father alone.
"That little shit doesn't know the first thing about the kitchen, now that you said it, I bet this was his fault. Stupid little wanker doesn't know how to follow simple instructions and keeps embarrassing me," Grant sighed angrily as he began scanning the crowd.
It was obvious he was looking for his mate, but where the fuck was he supposed to find the man he had broken and hurt one too many times?
Was a part of him hoping that Nour was somewhere around here and that he would get to fuck up the young prince again in front of everyone? Well, that wouldn't be even questioned at the moment, because he was in charge of the kingdom.
They were all like his subjects while he hoped and waited for the Acrod prince to make a show so he could try and make amends with the prince and make the prince his ally. Funny how fate worked anyway.
"Nour fucking Abdallah!!" Grant called out angrily and the omegas instantly stepped back while Delbert watched intently as the enforcer called out for his erasthai, the disrespect in his tone so obvious that Delbert wanted to wring his neck.
But then he had to remind himself that this wasn't what Nour wanted at the moment, His erasthai needed him. He needed him to hold on, to not get into the dumbest fights, and to make sure that the realm was not being fucked up at the same time.
It was a long test that was so hard and undetermined for him, but he had to keep himself sane. He had to try and make things better for Nour, because it would be hard to explain that he killed Grant and took Nour's vengeance from him.
Perhaps it was a task for another day, right?
"Your mate?" Delbert asked loudly like he wanted to know what Grant had to say about the young wolf he had messed with one too many times. The omegas had already fallen for the fact that Grant hated Nour because Nour was a pushover, and it pissed Delbert off so badly.
"What?" Grant asked his eyes, staring into Delbert's, who was not relenting.
It was then that Grant saw something he could have sworn was an illusion. Ruler Grant Hindley saw raw hate and more than anything, he saw pure rage and despise in the eyes of the warrior.
Surely he had to be mistaken, right?
"Your mate, he was burnt in the fire. I'm sorry, Your Highness," Delbert said and Grant felt his heart sink into his stomach.