'Jae. We gotta go.' The prince woke to his wolf's voice in his head.
'What's wrong?' Jae inquired of his wolf as he opened his dark eyes.
'Our rut is early. I think Syri's heat triggered it. I've held it back for as long as I could, but it's nearly here. We need to leave.'
Jae's heart spiked at his wolf's words. His rut was the last thing the prince needed at that moment. The prince looked down at the form in his arms to see Syri sleeping peacefully. 'He seems to be better. He should be alright on his own.' Jae swallowed dryly as he heard Hyuk's words.
'Where should we go? There aren't any rutting facilities here that can hold us.' Jae slowly moved away from the sleeping zeta and slipped on his pants as he waited for his wolf's reply.
'We should just run. Run to a secluded place in the forest and wait it out there.' Hyuk's voice was stern as he answered. 'You should hurry.'
The prince took his wolf's warning seriously as he quickly slipped on his shirt and hurried to the door. A quiet moan from the bed stopped the true blood in his tracks. Jae's eyes turned golden as he turned to look at the zeta one last time before rushing out of the room. The true blood's mind was consumed with the thought of getting as far from the zeta as possible that he did not even think to link anyone to tell someone of the situation.
Jae shifted into his wolf form as he reached the edge of town and sprinted into the forest. A low growl left the true blood as he felt his rut begin. The prince's body burned with lust as his mind became foggy. Images of the sleeping zeta flashed across Jae's mind as the ghost of Syri's slick filled the wolf's senses. Jae fought the urge to turn around and go to the heating zeta and continued to dash madly through the trees in hope that he could lose himself in the woods and forget the trail of vanilla and roses that lingered behind him.
'Hyuk, take over and bring us far away. I can't get him out of my head.' Jae instructed his wolf as he prepared to take the back seat in an attempt to keep himself from returning to the sleeping zeta.
'Ae.' Hyuk did not waste a second in taking full control and raced through the dark forest, bringing the prince away to seclusion.
<<<<<>>>>>
Syri felt cold when he woke. The zeta opened his eyes to find himself alone on the bed. The sun had just begun to rise, but the space felt empty and cold even with the warm sunlight. Syri sat up and looked at the space where the true blood had lied before turning his head to look around the room to find it vacant. Syri observed the coin purse and room key resting on the small table that was stationed to the right of the door before reaching off the bed and grabbing his clothes from the ground.
Once Syri had dressed, the zeta slipped out of the bed and stood to his feet. "Jae?" The zeta voiced the prince's name as he looked around the vacant room once more. Silence answered the zeta as Syri walked to the table and picked up the pouch and key. 'Where did he go?' The zeta wondered whether the prince would return or if he had already returned to the castle. 'Something important must have come up.'
'I think he began his rut.' Syri looked up as Aska's voice sounded in his mind. The zeta sniffed the air as he heard his wolf's words and detected the slightest trace of an alpha's rut.
'I hope he's okay.' Syri replied to his wolf as he held the key in his hand.
'He probably left, so he wouldn't hurt us.'
Syri nodded in agreement to Aska's statement just before he lifted his head, and his eyes widened. "Estan! I need to make sure he's okay!" The zeta spurred into action at the realization he had not heard from the gamma since Estan had left for Alia. Syri hastily exited the room and hurried down the stairs into the lobby of the inn.
"I'd like to check out of Room 204," the zeta told the female behind the counter as he handed her the key.
"Have a nice day," the female bade as the zeta rushed out of the inn. Syri turned his head from side to side as he scoured the street for anything that would aid him in achieving a sense of direction and location. He knew he was in Gern, but his memories of the ride into town were vague as the zeta was filled with pain at that time.
Syri ran his fingers through his hair as he turned every which way in an attempt to orient himself. An aggravated snort caught the zeta's ears as the worker tending to the inn's stable struggled to drag the large steed out of the stall. Syri turned to see Ajax resisting the orders of the worker and immediately rushed down the street to the stable.
"Erm, excuse me," Syri voiced as he caught the attention of the worker.
"Eh? Oh, hello there," the worker greeted in a bow as he halted his vain attempts of dragging the steed out of the stall. "Can I help you?" The man inquired as he eyed the zeta curiously.
"That is my friend's steed. He left earlier this morning, so I can take him from you," Syri explained as he gestured to the massive steed behind the worker. The man turned to look at the vorst before trailing his gaze back to the small male in front of him.
"Do you even know what a vorst is?" The man asked as he looked at the zeta's plain clothes. Only royalty was able to master a vorst, and Syri certainly did not look like he belonged with the royal family.
Syri swallowed as he realized the man did not believe him. "His name is Ajax. I know his master."
"Listen, I don't want to get into any trouble. Why don't you bring your 'friend' here, so he can take the vorst himself?" the man suggested as he eyed the zeta.