Chapter 4 #2
I needed to rise and be a person worthy of the throne…if we all survived the dark witch’s attack in three days.
I couldn’t let anyone else die because of me. I needed power to protect the kingdom and its people, which meant I had to win the favor of the Alphas and the King.
I wasn’t in a rush to be the next Queen. There was still the tiny question of who my King would be, but at least I could start acting like it.
I could start convincing the kingdom to accept Torin’s vampire side, because if they could, they would accept me as a human Queen, right?
But even that wasn’t as important as healing Torin’s brokenness through his belonging to the werewolf kingdom.
He could start his healing journey if Torin felt more accepted within the kingdom.
The kingdom was quiet as we arrived. Hayden was transported to the kingdom’s hospital. I stood outside the hospital room while the pack doctor worked on Hayden for hours. The painful screams booming from the other side of the door made my heart sink to my stomach.
I imagined the medical staff rebreaking Hayden’s bones to put them back together correctly. He must have started healing incorrectly during the long journey back. While Hayden’s sharp cries filled the entire hospital floor reserved for royals, I cried, sitting on the bench in front of the door.
My tears only strengthened my resolve to become stronger to protect my mates and the kingdom.
The doctor finally called me inside Hayden’s room.
He told me he’d sedated him so he could heal while sleeping and prevent him from feeling extreme pain.
Hayden wasn’t completely cleared of the risks of things going badly.
The doctor said to wait one more day to accurately determine that his life was out of danger.
As his mate, I could help Hayden heal faster by being around and supporting him in spirit. His soul felt the proximity of his other half. The doctor said that since our souls were connected, Hayden would intuitively feel me and want to recover.
I was grateful I could help in some way.
After the doctor left the room, I looked around the ample space. The laminate floor was a light-brown shade, and instead of the usual white clinical walls, this room had light-green paint.
But no matter how soothing the royal hospital room was, I still inhaled the scent of cleaning supplies and bleached sheets.
Hayden’s entire body was covered under a white sheet, wires sticking everywhere. The soft drip of an IV hooked on a stand beside his bed echoed in the room. The other sound came from the beeping monitor on his other side.
At least the beeping was rhythmic—it must be a good sign.
I pulled a chair next to Hayden’s custom-made hospital bed. They were larger and longer for supernaturals.
His face was devoid of any movements. I brushed my fingertips over his light stubble, and Hayden’s chest rose slower as if he took a deeper breath, trying to take in his mate’s scent.
How could I not make the connection that the little beaten-up boy I’d taken care of was Hayden?
His sky-blue eyes were the same. His hair as a boy had been darker and longer.
He used to be such a scrawny boy, and now he was bursting with muscle.
If he looked like a fallen angel as a boy, now he looked like a rising phoenix.
Hayden was strong, and he would survive this.
Although everyone in the kingdom already knew Hayden was my mate, I couldn’t ignore my other mate. Calling on all my courage, I decided to talk to Dad as soon as possible about both men. Without the truth, there couldn’t be the type of love and freedom I desired.
I stood and poured icy water into a plastic cup. I still wore my dirty and torn-up clothes. Earlier, the doctor offered to bandage my scratches and put ointment over my bruises, but I denied it.
I would stay with Hayden for the rest of the night, and early in the morning, I’d shower in my bedroom in the manor before I met the Alphas and Dad. They must already be on their way here.
I adjusted my chair to Hayden’s rolling bed and placed my head beside his hand. My left hand rested on Hayden’s forearm, and I felt the slightest twitch under my palm. I smiled. Good. He knew I was here for him.
My gaze fell on the golden bracelet. It glimmered under the light of the fluorescent fixtures. All I had to do was learn to command it and use the whip as a weapon.
I’d be more equally matched to the dark witch.
But I only had two more days…and then it hit me.
The day after tomorrow was my twenty-sixth birthday. If I were hooked to one of those devices Hayden was attached to, the beeping would have gone wild with that realization.
Cordelia’s choice of raising hell on my birthday wasn’t a coincidence. She knew more than she let me know. She was cunning and cruel.
And she wanted to put me to rest forever on my birthday.
The kingdom’s manor was a part of a self-sustaining town tucked into the forest. It was private property with no trespassing signs, and the humans from the nearby small cities usually stayed away.
The King made sure no werewolves lived in poverty and had food on the table and a roof over their heads. I liked that Dad was forward-looking, not ignoring the advancement of technology or the progress of science and business.
Despite his reservations toward humans, King Brendan encouraged werewolves to mingle with them. He ensured pack members received enough training from young pups to gain control over their wolves, allowing the werewolves to walk among humans while in control of their beasts.
The King believed that physical training also trained the mind—an essential part for werewolves to coexist in the mortal realm. Dad’s concern about humans’ well-being was admirable and shared by me. That was one thing Dad and I had in common besides being stubborn.
The palace was the largest residence, with ivy trailing along the walls, hedges framing the grand entrance, and a circular driveway with trees in the middle. Everything was as I remembered it to be five years ago.
When I walked inside the manor in the wee hours this morning, after leaving Hayden’s bedside, the manor was busy with staff and the Alphas arriving. Torin and Dad were back, and everything in me pulled me to go around the halls until I found Torin’s room, but I didn’t.
I headed straight to my old bedroom to take a shower. I left behind the crunch of tires on the driveway, the tapping of shoes, and the sound of staff cleaning as I climbed the curving stairways.
Everyone here had a job and a purpose. Many werewolves ventured out of the kingdom or their packs to attend university or start businesses, but most returned just like I did.
Werewolves stuck together to survive. They might be stronger and faster than the humans, but the humans had strength in their numbers.
Dad feared the humans discovering supernaturals' existence, for they could hunt the werewolves and bring them to extinction.
He even told me the humans could capture the werewolves to harvest their abilities, using them for medicinal purposes.
Each night, tucked beneath my childhood blankets, Dad would tell me what he was mostly afraid of—vile humans who wanted to entertain others for a profit by displaying werewolves in cages. Over the years, the hatred and loathing for humans grew as strong as for vampires.
But there was one problem—although I was the King’s daughter, I was still a human. Maybe not an evil one, but werewolves saw me as a human.
I was an anomaly whom the Alphas despised and feared.
The Alphas held me at arm’s length. Their cold stares pierced me like icy arrows, constantly reminding me that I was different.
I didn’t belong. In the werewolf kingdom, I was an outsider now imposing on the Alphas’ meeting. Would they ever see me as their equal?