* Feels like ages since we been back to Grealor lmao. Thanks for 700 collections!
[GREALOR]
Gabriel Grealor was losing time. Either that or he was slowly losing his sanity, which was worrying not just his father who had thankfully healed, but also his assigned mate, Galya Belova.
"What is it this time?" a frustrated Galya asked Gabe, who was sitting outside the pack house.
He had been absent-minded for days since Tamiko had left. He was feeling the bank space the worst and no matter what he tried to do, he always ended up sleeping it off. However, even then, nothing ever seemed to be getting better, not for him.
"I want him back," the young alpha said to his mate who was staring at him wondering what the fuck was wrong with him. It had been a week since Tamiko had been taken to Kawai, and with each passing day, Gabe had gotten worse.
It was like he lived and breathed for Tamiko. He was functioning and grasping onto whatever memory he had of Tamiko. Sure, the orphaned outcast had always been clear that he hated Gabe, but that didn't stop the alpha's son from seeking him out.
He had tried to use the mind link that Tamiko had left open for him, but he never got an answer. For a whole week, he had tried and tried. He had hoped that there was something else, yet when the day ended, he was back to the same fears.
The same worries that ate him up day in and day out like it was the new normal. Gabriel was frustrated and if he wasn't careful he would lose everything while trying to seek out the one person who hated him and had never hidden it from him.
"You know the way to Kawai, don't you? Go to them and tell them you want the orphaned outcast then. Let's see if the barbarian will let his very high-born Lycan erasthai come back to a werewolf pack that gave him nothing but pain," Galya said harshly.
She had gotten tired of Gabe's demands to see Tamiko. No matter how many times they tried to remind him of the circumstances under which Tamiko was taken from there, he seemed to turn a blind eye to it.
That was risky for them all, especially given that Grealor was never going to be any match for Kawai; hell, no faction in the entire realm would ever be able to go up against the Lycans and win.
Even if they didn't have a devil for a king, the Lycans were still way ahead of them and the sooner Gabe realized that the sooner his life would be better and the sooner they would be able to fix things.
"Get up Gabriel. You can't be whining like a man without a purpose," Alpha Ashton said when he reached his son. It was a heartbreaking sight; however, he also knew they had to prepare for whatever the Lycans had in store for them.
Alpha Ashton himself was scared shitless of the Lycans, especially since the nightmare he had had of Gabe and Tamiko being married. That wasn't a pleasant one and it was a memory that haunted him all the damn time.
"Give him back, father. Who knows what they are doing to him in Kawai? We all know prisoners of war are never treated well. Perhaps he hasn't eaten in a week. What if he is locked up in the dungeons with the horrifying Lycan criminals?
"What if he is all alone in the dark with no one to talk to? What if he is being tortured for a crime he didn't even commit?" Gabe asked worriedly.
Those were things that had been in Gabriel Grealor's head since the first night Tamiko had left. He couldn't think straight and all his responsibilities as the pack alpha were either handed over to his father or his mate, which wasn't encouraging at all.
A pack with a defunct reigning alpha was easily a useless one, especially when they were almost at war with the Lycans.
"Then let him. We have to take care of our people, and not worry about some outcast who doesn't matter to anyone here—" Alpha Ashton said before he pushed. He knew his words were harsh, given his son was hopelessly in love with the Lycan prince.
Despite everything that they had denied and learned, Gabe was still not willing to let go of Tamiko. It was strange, almost like an obsession and anyone could easily think that it was because he had found out the outcast was the Lycan prince, but it wasn't that.
Gabriel Grealor had grown to care for and desire nothing other than Tamiko. None of his friends even understood him anymore, especially since he had spent every minute outside the pack house, in Tamiko's house in the woods.
His actions made them suspect that he was trying to cling to whatever was left of his memories with Tamiko, but what they didn't understand was that Gabe was undergoing a natural process.
"I need him, please," Gabe pleaded with his father, who was confused as hell. Alpha Ashton couldn't understand what his son's obsessions with the Lycan prince were and it was getting on his nerves. Well, he didn't understand what was going on anyway.
The Grealor alpha was slowly entering his first phase of heat, which would be intense and cruel in the worst of ways, especially since Tamiko had refused to accept the bond, and yet Gabe had accepted it.
It would run Gabe, seeing as Tamiko wouldn't be experiencing anything. Tamiko himself would be free of any heat-related situations thanks to his uncle who had agreed with Kosta to cast a spell and let Tamiko skip it.
It had been a decision the Lycan Chief and Lycan Lord had made in a bid to let the young prince live his life freely, without worrying about anything. Besides, there were so many blanks in Tamiko's life that they needed to fill slowly for him.
"Go live in that damned shelter if that is what will get you to shut the fuck up about Tamiko. We'll try to speed up things with the Lycans to get him back. I can't promise that he will be back, but until you see him, go to his house and stay there.
"I can't deal with any more whines from you, son," Alpha Ashton said angrily while Galya looked at the alpha like he was insane. Gabe going to Tamiko's shelter and living there would be noticeable.
There would be questions on why the alpha was in the outcast's shelter and so many things that they'd have to deal with. However, even with all that in mind, Alpha Ashton knew that there was no way of controlling Gabe if he set his mind on something.
It had been a habit that Gabe always had, and just like the other times, the alpha was giving his son the go-ahead, in the hope that Gabriel would get over his obsession with Tamiko.
But would that relay work, when all his son wanted was the outcast who was living his best life in Kawai?
"Okay, father. Thank you," Gabe said, ignoring Galya's reminders of how terrible an idea that was; and that was probably the first recipe of doom for Grealor.
As Galya and Alpha Ashton watched Gabe make a run towards the house in the woods, they couldn't help but smell the scent of an omega in heat from Gabe's trail. They both knew what that meant, but just for today, they would pretend, right?
"Not a word about that scent to anyone Galya," Alpha Ashton said to Galya whose eyes were wide and whose jaw was so close to hitting the floor.
The fact that Gabe would easily be an omega wolf because of his bond with Tamiko was not an easy one for them to accept. This was almost like the universe was screwing with them, but hadn't they tormented the young Lycan for his entire life?
"You know Tamiko will reject him, right? Igor Konstantin won't let Tamiko go just because we want him back to get Gabe to stay in the alpha position," Galya stated the obvious as Gabe disappeared into the woods.
"We will cross that river when we get there—" Alpha Ashton said before they fell into a long silence, pondering over what they had just seen.
"You mean sea? Because it seems to me like Tamiko is back, with the barbarian holding his hands," Galya said defeatedly as she looked ahead to see Igor and Tamiko with a glint of danger in their eyes.
"That is just an awful dream, relax."
"Oh man, I hope it is," Galya said, only to be interrupted by Gabriel's suddenly chirpy voice.
He looked like a whipped newly-mated wolf who had just seen his mate and soon enough, the Grealor wolves would be able to do the math and know that Tamiko was Gabe's real mate.
"Tamiko! You came back! I knew you would come back for me!" Gabriel said as he threw himself at Tamiko.
However, before he could reach the broken Lycan prince, Kosta punched him in the chest, forcing the Grealor alpha to the ground so hard that there was a dent in the ground where Gabe had fallen on impact.
"Watch how you act around MY Erasthai, if you don't want me to kill you when you're in your omega heat, Gabriel Grealor," Igor warned as he landed a few punches on Gabe whose arousal was slowly filling the air.
"You're disgusting," Kosta said to Gabe when he realized what was happening.
"Kosta?" Tamiko asked, but Igor held his hand tighter before turning to Alpha Ashton.
"Hello Ashton, it seems like you have quite a problem here. Should we go back and come some other day?"
"Bloody hell," Danny, Galya's twin said as he looked at what had just happened.