"Do you think he'll be alright?" Estan asked Yejin as the gamma and alpha watched the brooding true mate march down the hallway.
"Honestly, I'm not sure," Yejin replied with a slight shake of his head. "I've never seen Jae be so affected by someone."
"Mm," Estan sounded in response. "Me neither." The two mates continued to observe the moody prince as Jae made his way to his office. The morning sun shone into the corridor from the tall, wide windows, lighting the hallway in a warm glow.
"He's back to how he was before Syri."
"Mm. I hadn't seen him smile so much." The gamma's expression fell as he recalled how distant the prince was before he had met the zeta.
"He'll come around soon," the alpha said as the two let their gaze linger on the prince as Jae turned the corner. It was more a prayer than a statement.
"Hopefully," the gamma agreed before turning to face his mate. "I better get going."
Yejin nodded in response as he stole a kiss on his mate's cheek. Estan's face turned red as a small smile came to his lips. "Have a good day, Love," Yejin said as he smiled down on his mate.
"You, too," Estan returned bashfully as he began walking away from his mate. Yejin lifted a brow as he watched the gamma walk off. Estan slowed in his tracks as he felt the alpha's eyes on him and turned around to see his mate looking after him longingly. The gamma shook his head at his mate's adorable habit of watching him walk away before going about his day. 'You better hurry your butt up or else your soldiers will get all rowdy and will begin causing all sorts of trouble.' Estan linked his mate as he continued on his way.
'Ahh, I've been caught.' Yejin smirked as he heard the gamma's voice in his mind.
'Mm-hmm, red-handed. Now, hurry up. You don't want the boys to be left alone too long.'
'Duly noted.' With that, Yejin made a one-eighty and started toward the opposite end of the corridor.
This was the first day after the disappearance of the zeta, and the prince was only growing moodier. The true blood was silent as he went about his duties, and his brows were almost constantly slightly furrowed no matter what task the prince was completing. The workers and servants inside the castle were quick to notice the prince's dark demeanor and took note to avoid him as much as possible.
The prince worked endlessly throughout the morning, reading numerous contracts, business proposals, and reports. The true blood had decided to try his best to acclimate to how his life was without the zeta and knew it was not working, so he decided to bury himself in his duties. It would be nearly impossible to forget the one who brought him happiness and light.
Jae's world felt incredibly bleak without the zeta and came to realize just how bright Syri had made his life. The prince's heart fluttered when the true blood's sensitive sense of smell detected the slightest trace of vanilla and roses wafting into the study from the opened window. Pain was quick to erase the short-lived excitement when the prince remembered Syri was no longer near. He had gone far away.
Hope entered the prince when he recalled catching the same scent the night before only to shake his head at his hopeless yearning. 'I must be crazy. There's no way Syri is here.'
Jae let out a breath as he returned to concentrating on the report before him as the sun continued to rise.
<<<<<>>>>>
The sun had nearly reached its peak when the five rounded up the grazing steeds and began herding them back to the stables.
"Whew! That was a good run," Ibbi exclaimed as the five caught their breaths before putting the steeds into their select stalls.
"Thanks for prepping the stalls, Wyx," Kip said to the leader of the other team.
"No problem, Kip. It's my job," Wyx replied with a chuckle. While the morning team watched the steeds in the field, the evening team prepped the stalls. And likewise, for the evening team, the morning team preps their stalls whilst the evening team is out in the fields. "Is this the newest addition?" The delta inquired as he saw the small pink-haired standing beside Ibbi.
"Yes," Kip responded as he went to stand beside the zeta. "This is Syri. Syri, meet Wyx, the mentor for the evening team. Wyx, meet Syri." The delta and zeta bowed to each other respectfully in greeting.
"Nice to meet you, Syri. Glad to have you on the stable squad," Wyx greeted politely as he rounded up his team. "This is Hern, Danny, Valri, and Rin. Everyone, meet Syri." The four members of Wyx's team inclined their heads to the zeta who returned the greeting.
Once the greetings had been given and Syri was officially introduced to the entire squad, the two teams split and began tending to their designated steeds.
"Syri," Kip called the zeta's name, grabbing the small male's attention. "Follow me. I'll introduce you to Ajax," Kip said with a smile as he began leading the zeta down the corridor on the left of the second row of halls to the very last and largest stall. The vorst lifted its head at the approach of the two werewolves and let out a snort when it eyed the zeta. Syri gave a secret smile in greeting to the vorst as he followed Ajax into the stall.
'We meet again, Zeta.' Ajax's proud voice sounded in Syri's mind as Kip introduced the vorst to the zeta. "Syri, this is Ajax. He will be the one you care for the most. I will handle the saddling and bridling, and you will do the feeding and pampering. We will clean him together once a week, but you will brush him every day." Kip took a pause in case the zeta had any questions before saying, "Why don't you come up and let him get used to you?"
The zeta nodded in response as the beta stepped away from the massive steed and allowed Syri to slowly approach the vorst. 'Well, this is a turn of events.' Ajax greeted his new caretaker as Syri reached up and stroked his muzzle.