Aaron POV
"We shouldn't have left her there. She should be with us." Ralph said agrily. I massaged the space between my eyes. This lycan was giving me a headache.
"And where would we have put her, genius?" I retorted and he went quiet.
"She will be fine. The pack warriors must have brought her by now." Ralph retreated to the back of my mind.
My mind went back to my mate. She is fine, I kept telling myself.
But if she was already in the territory, then why can't I smell her? She must be in the dungeons underground.
The sound of ringing on my phone pulled me out of my thoughts. Sam was the only contact I had.
'Sam.'
'Good evening, boss. Have you checked that email, yet?' Sam asked me through the phone.
I let out a frustrated sigh. I had totally forgotten about that.
'Hello...?' Sam said again.
'Not yet. I have been a little occupied lately. I will check it in the morning.' I hung up the phone before Sam replied.
My head was killing me. I took off my clothes and went for a quick shower. I tried so hard not to think about my mate too much.
I came back, put on a pair of sweatpants and slumped down onto my bed, letting sleep take over.
I jerked up when a familiar scent hit my nostrils. This was one of the many reasons I loved Ralph. He was always looking for us even when I was tired.
I looked towards the door and saw it was my mother who was standing there.
'We are not going to make this a habit, are we, mother?' I asked her, still laying in my bed. I knew she heard me when she opened the door.
'Good morning. I brought breakfast.' She said cheerfully as she set a tray on my table.
'Thank you. Anything else?'
I saw her face drop a little. I was really not in the mood for chit chat this morning.
'We found vampires near the borders yesterday. You should be careful.'
'What do you mean?'
She let out a small chuckle before answering, 'Honey, I'm your mother. You really think I don't know that you go out when everyone is not around?'
That had me for a moment but I immediately composed myself. Well, it was bound to happen soon or later.
'Don't worry, I won't tell your father. Your secret is safe with me. Just be careful out there, okay?'
'I wasn't really worried but, thank you, mother.' I gave her a little smile. 'So who killed the vampires, did you find anything?'
'No, just a human girl. She was also brought yesterday. She is in the dungeons.'
Ralph let out a small growl and I had to grip the sides of my beds because he was fighting to come out.
'What are you going to do with her?' I tried to sound normal.
'Well, your father gave that duty to Alex, to "train" him for his upcoming position.' She strained the word out.
'Why do you say it like that?' I sat upright on my bed because I was suddenly interested.
She sat on the edge of my bed before sighing. 'I love your brother but he is going to be a terrible king.'
'But I thought you were happy.'
'I am... But, let's face it, your brother is careless, spoilt. He is irresponsible.' I couldn't help but be a little amused. The one normal son everyone was supposed to love was a dickhead.
'Well then, there is nothing that can't be done now.' I stretched out my arms and was about to go to the bathroom but her next words stopped me in my tracks.
'You could claim your position.' She walked towards me and stood in front of me. I was about to answer her when I heard her heartbeat. It was beating a little slower than usual.
'What's wrong with you?'
'What?'
'Your heartbeat is slow. What's wrong with you?'
'You can hear that?' She asked with obvious panic and surprise in her voice.
'I'm werewolf, remember?' I asked rhetorically.
'It's nothing.' She turned around and left.
Something was definitely up with her. I gritted my teeth in frustration.
"I can't believe we are actually gonna do that." Ralph said in my head.
'Yes, buddy. We are going to find out what going on with her.' I said out loud and walked to my bathroom for a quick shower.
I woke up from the ringing of my phone. I checked the time and it was already past twelve in the afternoon. I remember taking a shower and coming back to sleep.
Guess I was that tired, huh. I picked up my call,
'Sam.'
'Good afternoon. Have you checked that email, yet?'
'I was about to.' I yawned as I took out my laptop and sat on the bed.
'Were you sleeping?' I stared at the phone annoyingly. He continued,
'Anyways, you are going to love this,' Sam said and I didn't miss a hint of playfulness in his voice. He hung up the phone when I was about to ask him what he meant.
"Ralph."
I opened my laptop and stood a little farther away from the bed. I took off my clothes and my bones began to break, transforming into a werewolf in no time. It didn't really hurt when when I changed into a werewolf but hurts a little when I shift into my lycan. I suppose it gets better with time.
I walked towards the bed on all fours. I stared at the screen and reread the email three more times before bursting in a laughter.
"Well, well, well. Now that's unexpected." Ralph said, sounding equally amused.
I shifted back into human and put on my shirt and black denim trousers. I picked up my phone and dialled Sam.
'I guess you have read it.' Sam said over the phone.
'Why didn't you tell me?'
'Well, I thought you should see for yourself.' He sounded a little sad.
'I'm not angry, Sam, you can relax.' I heard him let out a sigh and I chuckled.
'So what are you going to do?'
'Well, I...' I stopped mid sentence. Everything around me disappeared until it was just me and... that scent.
The scent I would recognise even if I was twenty feet underground. The scent that makes Ralph go haywire everytime. The scent I want to drown in...
The scent of my mate.
'I will call you back.' I didn't wait for Sam to answer. I threw my phone on the bed and walked towards the door.
She was there. My mate was there and I couldn't even touch her. I rested my head on the door, with one hand on the handle.
'Aren't we going up?' I heard her ask whoever she was with. Even her voice was doing things to me. I wasn't sure how long I was going to hold.
I heard someone say something and her scent began to fade away, probably because she was going back.
I stayed at the door without moving for about ten minutes. I was fighting with every emotion, every promise I had ever made with my life. I was hanging by a piece of thread and right here, right now, it snapped.
'You know there's no going back after this, right?' I asked Ralph.
"Let's go meet the king." I turned the handle and opened the door.
For the first time in fourteen years, I was going to see my father.