"I know you're stressed, but could you tone it down a bit? I'm drowning over here," the queen covered her nose as she smelled the intense pheromones radiating off her son. Even though the queen herself was an alpha, she was not inclined to submit to her son's strong scent as she birthed and raised him. The fact that Jae himself was respectful and well-mannered also played a role.
"Ah. Sorry," the true blood lessened his scent, but only enough to appease his mother. He left enough to just barely mask the presence of the sleeping zeta beneath the sheets.
The queen's expression softened as she looked at her heartbroken son. "How are you feeling? Are you okay?"
Jae reached his hand behind his neck and ran his hand up the back of his head. "You must have heard."
"Mmm hmm. Why didn't you tell me your mate re...rejected you?" Tears filled the queens eyes as she finished.
Jae's heart stung as he recalled the rejection. "I figured you'd find out eventually...and...I needed time."
"My poor baby," the queen took her son in her arms and comforted him. "You could have challenged him for her," the alpha said as she and her son parted.
"No," Jae shook his head. "She looked happy...before she saw me."
The queen let out a sad sigh before pulling her son back in for another hug.
"I'm fine, Mom. I'll be okay," the prince comforted his mother.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes."
"Okay. As long as you're alright. You know your father will need to know," the alpha said as she and her son parted.
Jae nodded. "I'll tell him when he gets back."
"Okay. Well, I guess we will be holding interviews."
"Already?"
"Yes. You are of age. You need a mate who can give you an heir."
"Mother, I have already-"
"I know, I know. The pain is still fresh, but you will need a mate, so I will start looking."
"No," a growl resonated through the room as the wolf's eyes flashed gold. "I will choose my own mate."
The queen studied the prince for a moment before answering, "Very well, but they must be compatible. Your heir needs to be strong."
"Leave it to me."
"Okay. I will. I trust you. I will leave you to it," the queen said before pecking her son on the cheek. "I have duties to attend to."
"Okay."
"Join me for dinner?"
Jae nodded as the queen turned around to leave. She shot a slight glance towards the pile of blankets on the bed before slipping through the door. As soon as the door shut, the prince let out a strained breath. Shaky, the true blood fell to his knees and cried freely. Truthfully, he was not okay. His heart hurt like hell. His fated one rejected him, and the wolf he came to care for had less than a week to live.
After letting out the hurt and stress, Jae dried his tears and stood to his feet. He carefully uncovered the zeta and straightened the blanket before laying it over the small wolf. The true blood checked the zeta's temperature once more before turning to leave to attend to the daily duties he had been putting off.
The zeta's brown eyes fluttered open as he heard the door close. If Jae had looked closely, he would have noticed two small, fresh tear stains on the sheets just below the zeta's closed eyes.
<3<3<3<3
Haikon knelt down to study the tracks of the wolf he and Xander had been hunting. The two had set off an hour after the sun had set and had hunted through the night. The rays from the morning sun were now seeping into the dense forest as the theta discovered a recently imprinted track. The alpha was in his wolf form and was moving quickly.
The theta furrowed his brows as he studied the tracks.
"What is it?" Xander inquired as he studied Haikon's expression.
"His movements don't make sense. He is running wildly."
Xander's eyes widened. "He's not stable?"
Haikon shook his head.
Xander let out a breath. "Well, there's nothing we can do about that. We'll just have to be extra careful." The delta stood to his feet and ran his fingers through his wavy hair.
Haikon could smell the delta's slight nervousness and stood to his feet. "It'll be alright."
Xander turned and looked at the theta. He let out a breath and nodded. "Mm. We can do this." The delta turned and looked down the path the alpha wolf had broken through the forest and added, "We have to do this." Xander's blood boiled as his determination to find the alpha strengthened. How dare a wolf hurt his mate!
Haikon took the lead as the two continued on their hunt. Xander kept a hand on the knife strapped to his side, ready to defend himself and Haikon from the alpha lurking in the trees.
The assassin and the tracker hunted through the day, only stopping twice to refill their water from streams trickling through the forest.
"Are we any closer?" Xander inquired of the tracker at one of their stops by a stream.
The theta nodded. "We're nearly there."
"Have his movements improved?"
The theta shook his head. "No, they've gotten worse."
"Aish," the delta cursed under his breath. "What's his stability now?"
"In the negatives."
Xander's heart sank. Thetas had the ability to determine a wolf's stability by tracking its movements. The more unstable the wolf's movements, the more dangerous and fatal they became as they had succumbed further to their feral instincts. The lower the stability, the harder it was to track and predict the wolf's movements.
"How low into the negatives? Doubles?" Xander asked the theta.
"No, he's still in the singles."
The delta let out a small breath and turned to look at the wolf's tracks. Haikon observed the delta silently. Knowing Xander's history with unstable alphas, Haikon kept a watchful eye on the delta as the two continued. The delta and theta's movements were silent as the two traversed through the thick forest. The sun had now set, and the moonlight barely reached the ground beneath the trees.