The Alpha King's Mate novel Chapter 26

"Alpha... you don't think she's run away, again, do you?".

"No, no, she wouldn't. She wasn't scared, and she was looking forward to meeting you both. There isn't a reason she would leave me again, wait! Do you smell that?" I ask.

Troy sniffs the air in the direction I'm sniffing in and walks forward, still catching a waft of something.

"Human," he says. "One in desperate need of a bath at that!"

"Shit! I don't understand. She would have used her powers if she was in danger. Unless she might have gone willingly?" I suggest.

The bush beside us rustles, and Troy, Zayden and I let out a growl, ready to shift into wolf form if we need to.

"Ember!" I yell as he pokes his head out from the greenery. Ember limps toward me with a sore back leg.

"You're hurt. What happened, you poor thing? Where is Maia?"

I pick him up and hold him in my arms, cuddling him. Wriggling, he indicates he wants to be put down on the ground. He limps a small distance before lifting a front paw and pointing in a certain direction. Troy and I undress.

"Troy, we might be able to catch them in wolf form! Zayden, hop on Troy's back, and hold our clothes," I tell them both, throwing my clothes and boots to Zayden, who catches everything, and bundles our boots inside the clothes for safekeeping.

We run as fast as we can, following Maia's scent.

Maia

Arriving in Wellmore village, Sir Hugo drapes his enormous cape over me, hiding my hands in the iron cuffs.

I'm grateful for his cape, I haven't got my olive-green cloak, and I'm freezing.

Villagers stop in their tracks and stare at me with wonder and amazement.

"Her eyes!" Someone shouts.

"It's the Forest Princess!" Others exclaim.

"Such beauty!" Someone else adds.

The crowd forms around us, and Sir Hugo's blocking our passage.

"Move! Out of my way!" Sir Hugo demands.

The crowd doesn't move, and more people gather.

"Look around, you fool! There's clearly nowhere for me to run. I may as well be in the middle of the desert!" I tell him.

Looking around, he says, "Good point, but you can stay there anyway," and walks around, bobbing down now and then, collecting twigs for a fire.

The moment these iron cuffs come off, I am going to kill him or at least summon the wind and blow him off the edge of the earth.

The fire crackles in front of me. Sir Hugo sits on the ground next to me, and I'm infuriated because I can't even shuffle very far from him.

"I'm not going to bite you," he says.

"I don't know about that," I say. He hands me some bread with a chunk of cheese.

"Eat," he says, and I devour the bread and the chunk of cheese.

After eating, Sir Hugo goes over to the saddlebag to fetch his cape. He drapes it over me and lays down next to me.

"I'm not sleeping next to you," I say, knowing my luck has waned because I'm stuck beside him for the night.

"You're chained to a tree. There's nothing you can do about it," he says, and within minutes, he is snoring thunderously. I'm surprised all of West Wallow can't hear him.