JAMES 

I sat in the car waiting for my dumb Luna to come back to the car from whatever it was she was doing out there. I was already imagining everything I would be doing to her tonight. I would ravish her mercilessly, making it part of her punishment. I won’t even bother using the lubricant; I’ll penetrate her dryness to teach her a lesson of what she would go through if she ever dared think of running away again. 

But what the hell was taking her long? 

A knock on the door interrupted my thoughts; I rolled down the glass to see Gates, the guard I ordered to stay with Rosella while she sorted herself out. I noticed a look of alarm plastered on his face, and I knew immediately that something was wrong. Before he could say a word, I pushed the door open, shoving him off balance at the same time. 

“Where’s she?” I asked with a snarl, already losing my mind. I looked at the guard and wondered how dumber could he get. I’m sure Rosella must have outsmarted him too.

“She told me to turn around to give her some privacy which I did, and after some time, I realized it’s been more than an hour, and when I turned, she was nowhere to be found. I searched every part of the forest but couldn’t find her. I’m so sorry, Alpha.” he reported to me with trembling lips. 

“You dense incompetent fool!” I growled, punching him on his face, causing him to stagger backward as blood started gushing from his lips, but I didn’t care about him or anyone else. How dare that ungrateful human think of running away again?

I guess I was easy on her the last time, but I promise I won’t this time around. The worse thing was this particular road leads to four other packs, including my father’s collection, and finding her would be harder; however, I will make sure I see her. I can’t just think that she escaped just like that, I mean the guard has to be too stupid to let that happen. I kind of relaxed because knew she had no place to hide from me but she could get into the wrong hands. I don’t even want to imagine the possibilities of everything that can happen.

“What are you waiting for? Start looking for her now!” I bellowed at him. 

I was about to go into the Jungle with him and the other guard with me when my phone rang out. The interruption irritated me, but I realized it was from our pack’s doctor, Dr. Lay, as I brought out my phone. 

He had never called me out of the blues like this unless it was essential, so I asked the guards to wait while I took the call. 

“Hello, Alpha James, this is doctor Liam, so sorry for calling out of the blues this way.” he greeted, sounding excited. 

“It’s okay, doc; I know you have an excellent reason to,” I replied to him with my patience slowly running out; I needed to find Rosella fast.

“Yes, I do. Congratulations, Alpha, you’re going to be a father soon!” he announced, causing me to freeze on the spot. 

“What do you mean I’ll be a father soon? How’s that possible you said there was nothing?”

“One of our medical lab scientists mixed the results; we’re so sorry. He brought someone else’s result that day, and she just discovered her mistake only for her to get your Luna’s result to me today. She’s five weeks gone, and since she’s not a wolf, I was hoping she could start coming to the hospital for early pre-natal cate. Looking forward to meeting you soon, my regards to her.” he babbled on and on and finally ended the call.  

And that was when it hit me, Rosella was carrying my heir, she was pregnant after all this while, and now she was nowhere to be found. That’s impossible!

“Gates, call the police, the pack’s search team, even the S.W.A.T team, and make them sweep through every nook and cranny in this forest till they find my Luna!” I ordered him and started making the calls myself. 

I have to find her or I’ll lose my mind!

 

ROSELLA

 

I was still running even though no one was after me now; I couldn’t stop; even though I was out of breath, feeling weak-kneed and tired as hell, I didn’t stop. 

I would be ending my life in this forest anyway, so I had to go far deep into the woods to be able to do that because I know Alpha James and his men would be searching for me by now, and I also know he will never rest until he finds me. 

Hopefully, what he would find would be my corpse. At least he wouldn’t be able to hurt a corpse, would he? I would be out of his life for good, out of my father’s hair, so I would stop being a burden to them. 

My leg hit a stone, causing me to fall face down to the ground. A sharp pain shot through my abdomen, drawing a groan from me. My toes ached so bad as if they had fallen off. I stayed down for a while before dragging myself up and continued walking. 

The forest would have been completely dark if not for the bright light from the moon. It wasn’t complete yet; if not, I wouldn’t have had to bother taking my life. Blood-thirsty wolves who shift in the forest would tear me into shreds from limb to limb.  

I started searching for good ropes on the ground, strings from some trees or shrubs till I found one, then looked for a tree that would do the job. Then, I gathered woods to climb on use to tie the knot around one of the branches of the tree I was using. 

I didn’t think twice; I just climbed the woods, put in the rope over my neck, tightened the knots, and then kicked the woods away, so my leg was dangling mid-air. 

All the air in my lungs dried up instantly, the rope’s hold on my neck stiffened, squeezing my throat. I didn’t fight it, I didn’t throw my legs or any of that, I just stayed still waiting for death to take me, but something from nowhere suddenly flung at the rope slicing it in the air. 

I was slipping out of consciousness as I fell, expecting to fall on the hard ground and probably break a limb or two. But instead, I fell on something softer, something wrapping me protectively. 

It was a hand, a strong, firm hand that didn’t flinch even after catching me. I shut my eyes close, clutching the hem of my hoodie, shivering, waiting for the person to drag my hair, waiting for some series of slaps and angry grunt because I believed it was Alpha James.

I waited and waited, nothing, and after a while, I felt one of the hands start patting my hair gently, followed by a deep soft voice;

“It’s okay, you’re safe now, you’ll be fine now, MATE!” the voice said the last word with a force that made me tremble, but it wasn’t out of fear this time. This time it felt natural, too real for me to understand. 

I pried my eyes open to see who had this voice… and hand only to meet the magnetic gaze of the most handsome dark-haired man. His deep blue eyes looked like the night sky where the stars nestled. The smell of freshly cut grass and an attractive masculine cologne hit my nostrils. 

His face didn’t look normal at all, it looked like something that was meticulously crafted, and every single part was in its place. His nose, his complete and smooth lips—  

Stop! Wait, was I dead and now in heaven? Someone who looked this good couldn’t be living among us! I thought, feeling myself slip back into unconsciousness. 

No, I want to see this face forever; let’s not close our eyes, baby, please!

But it felt like blood had been drained from my head, sending a numbness through my whole body that eventually knocked me out. 

 

ALPHA JULIAN 

 

After the meeting with the Alphas, I went back to the gym, where I sparred with the sparring robot. I fought and fought for hours till I was tired. 

The robot wasn’t, though; it didn’t have flesh and blood like me. Too much was on my mind; I would never think of giving up on my throne, nor do I want to give up on finding my fated mate. And it was only a matter of time before James got an heir, which would make his claim for the throne stronger according to our customs in the realm.  

“What would you do if you were me, Robot?” I asked the skinless robot holding a wooden sword with one hand and a clenched fist on the other.

“Black?” I asked my wolf, who had been grumpy since the meeting. 

“I don’t know, Kay, I don’t.” 

“Then, let’s go for a run, shall we?” 

“Sure,” he replied, and I walked out of the gym into the pack’s forest. 

Aside from my heightened sense of sight as the Alpha King, the moon’s bright lights made me feel better tonight. I had no idea night had fallen already. Of course, I could see even though the place was pitch dark, but the moon made me feel less lonely. I felt like the moon goddess had something to tell me. 

I shifted into my wolf, Black, and tore into the forest, sprinting like crazy through dead leaves and shrubs, letting Black take the wheel at this moment. We always ran whenever we had something bothering us, and this time, we had more than enough on our minds already. My heavy paws hit the floor with a large thud, and nothing beats the feeling of fresh air against your fur. Freedom. 

Black didn’t stop; he ran so fast into the night; I was sure we were out of our pack already. “We have to go back home, Black,” I told him, and he slowed down into a trot. I was tired already but yet it was like some unknown forces kept on making me run up to this point. The way I was feeling giddy, something was about to happen but I don’t know whether it’s good or bad.

I decided that I’d had enough to release my pent-up anger and the only thing left was some kind of fatigue that was starting to wash over me. I don’t maybe it’s the wind or probably some weird kind of hallucination but I felt cold. Not only did something shift in me, but my senses also became heightened. As if my body was trying to tell me something. The fatigue had disappeared into thin air.

As he was about to turn, my nose caught the most intoxicating scent I had ever smelled in the whole years of my existence. Black stopped and turned to where the smell was coming from; I couldn’t think clearly; the delicious scent numbed my other senses for a moment. It was a thick vanilla scent mixed with the freshness of the ocean; I’ve never smelt anything this delicious in my life. 

 

Black growled, possessively howling to the moon while I was still trying to let the new and startling information sink in. The alarms went off in my head and I was trying to process all that just happened. My heartbeat raised as if it was spiked and the adrenaline rush was something I was trying to get used to.

My mate? Did I find my mate? I was so confused but I knew I just did; Black wouldn’t mess with me at a crucial point like this. I really hoped this wasn’t some weird phase of hallucination.

What the hell! But what would she be doing in this forest by this time of the night?

NO!

Black roared with distress, and then I saw what it was. A female was dangling with a rope around her neck tied to a tree. She wasn’t struggling, so I thought that she was dead, but the scent came directly from her again, and from where I stood, I felt her thumping heartbeat: her quickened pulse and soft gasp. She was dying slowly, and she felt pleased with it. 

Was our mate trying to kill herself? I thought in horror, acting swiftly, Black sprinted into the air, slicing the rope cut with his claws, and as before she landed to the ground, I shifted back to my human form and caught her in my arms. 

She was as light as a feather, barely able to keep her eyes open. If I were a minute late, she would have died. Just the thought of losing someone so special made a lump of dread form in my throat. 

I looked at her breathtakingly stunning face and realized I had never seen her before, and she was probably new here. Her striking red hair blazed under the moonlight, her lips looked sickly pale, and she looked weak and malnourished. She looked like Life just dealt with her in the most gruesome manner.  

I patted her hair, muttering soothing words to her, and that was when I noticed something else, something that made me stop in my tracks. Another tiny heartbeat, it was faint, but I could hear it—another life within her. 

She was PREGNANT.

Was my mate pregnant? Oh my god, what the hell is happening? I asked no one in particular, watching her eyes close finally, causing fear to seize me. 

I had to save her first; that was most important.