Elijah’s POV:
“Liam, are you really feeling pity for the family because of whom our Alpha lost his brother?” I heard my other friend, Matt Willer, ask in astonishment.
I felt a sharp pain deep in my chest like someone was piercing a sword right through my heart. It has been a while since someone mentioned my brother.
Chase Smith, my innocent and caring older brother. The one who was supposed to be the Crown Prince. I lost my brother because of them! All of them are responsible for this.
My life became a complete mess because of them! I will never forgive them! NEVER!
“They are the reason for so much chaos erupting in the castle and you are still showing mercy for them, Liam? Should we not support Alpha in his tough time? We are his best friends. You are going to be his future Beta! The Beta of Werewolf King Alpha Elijah Smith! How can you of all people say that!” Matt uttered in disbelief.
“But Matty..” Liam tried to argue but I cut him off immediately.
“Anyone showing mercy for them will find me standing against them. Am I making myself clear?” I asked in a sharp tone.
Matt and others around me looked down but Liam was still looking at me with eyes filled with sadness.
“Yes Alpha” he said wearily.
“They should be happy that I didn’t kill them or better tortured them in the dungeon for what they have done!” I nearly growled in anger.
I just want them away from my sight before my coronation, because I don’t know what I’ll do once I see them, which can be detrimental to my reputation right now. But once I officially become the Werewolf King, I can’t guarantee their safety, so it’s better that they are gone as far away from me as possible.
“Nobody will ever talk about them in my castle or they will have the same faith as them!” I said using my intimidating aura on my best friend, and he finally looked down.
“Yes, my Alpha” Liam replied, bowing down.
I know he didn’t bow down only because of my aura. He just didn’t want to destroy our friendship because of a stupid fight.
“Now, please excuse me” I said as I went out of the caste before I lost it.
Without giving it much thought, I directly ran towards the forest.
I just couldn’t control my anger anymore. I let my wolf take control. In a fraction of a second, I changed into my wolf form.
I howled loudly before I started running towards the dense part of the forest. The cold breeze was kissing my fur, relaxing my tensed body.
I looked up towards the sky. The full moon tonight looked exceptionally beautiful. The forest was dark but the atmosphere was really relaxing.
‘Only if I could experience it with my mate’ I thought as I moved deep inside.
I took a deep breath; the scent of nature was calming my racing heart.
I stopped in front of my favorite lake. I always come here whenever I am going through a mental breakdown. The scenery was just breathtaking.
The beautiful lake was surrounded by giant green trees and small bushes. The water was crystal clear and the corner of the lake was surrounded by colorful wildflowers mostly in pink, white, and blue color, complimenting the night.
The bright moon was reflecting perfectly in the lake, with the moonlight lightening the surroundings with a soft glow making it exceptionally beautiful.
I drank from the lake and took a deep breath. Feeling the essence of nature.
Whenever I come here, I feel like all of my problems go away. I smiled thinking how often I came here every time I counter something bad. I moved my head down again to drink some more water.
Suddenly, I had a faint smell of roses.
‘Roses in the forest?’ I thought as I raised my head to look around because that didn’t feel like normal Roses.
Being a werewolf king, I have more heightened senses than the normal werewolves as well as Alphas.
I could tell that it was coming from the opposite side of the forest.
The way that scent is so dominant. It feels like it was a body scent of a werewolf but I have never smelled such a scent before.
‘Is there a rogue roaming around in our ground?’ Even though I was far away from the castle but still this land belonged to us.
‘Why is this scent attracting me so much?’ I thought as I looked in the direction from which the scent was coming.
I took a deep breath, taking more of the sweet aroma, I felt like I was bewitched by the scent itself. It was calling me in. Asking to come closer.
‘What the hell is wrong with me?’ I asked myself as I started moving towards the source of the scent.
‘Is that my….?’
BANG!!
The loud noise of a gunshot caught my attention. I turned towards my right to see those miserable creatures who call themselves ‘Hunters’ standing at a distance with rifles, swords, axes, and torches in their hands.
These hunters are not some ordinary hunters, they are supernatural hunters. They only hunt supernatural beings like us.
But what are these stupid creatures doing in our lands? How dare they break the peace treaty offered by them only!
If I want, I can just kill all of them in the blink of an eye but then a thought crossed my brain and I shook my head.
‘The killing can wait until my damn coronation’
After I made up my mind to refrain myself from killing, I ran in order to avoid them.
I wanted to run towards the pack house but rather, I ran in the opposite direction, towards the source of the scent.
It was like my feet were no longer listening to me. It was automatically moving towards that Rosy scent.
My wolf was out of control. It was howling inside in excitement. It just wanted to follow the scent. I felt like if I missed it today, I will miss it for life.
But honestly, I don’t know what I was missing.
As I took another deep scent, I could smell the scent of the blood mixed with roses but the scent of rose was masking it perfectly.
‘Is that rogue hurt?’ I thought confusedly.
I just kept on running towards the source. They were following me religiously, shouting like monkeys. They must have mistaken me for a rogue or some lower-rank coward werewolf but they should have checked before coming.
I fought the urge to kill them on the spot and kept on running away.
They were continuously firing at me, missing every single shot. How did they qualify to become professional supernatural hunters is still a mystery to me.
One of them was a bit shorter than the others. He had a round face and an extremely disgusting smile. He was feeling like he was winning this war.
I really wanted to tear him apart so badly. I cursed under my breath and kept on running.
The scent was becoming stronger and stronger. I couldn’t believe someone could smell this sweet.
I was enchanted by it. I wanted to reach that person as soon as possible but at the same time, I couldn’t put that person in danger. If I reach this person these hunters will not have mercy on them either.
No matter what I think, my wolf was not listening to me at all.
Suddenly, a bullet hit my shoulder and I felt like its effect was worse than what I anticipated.
‘F*ck! Bloody hunters stuffed wolfsbane in a silver bullet!’
One bullet wasn’t really enough to kill me. I have a higher tolerance than other werewolves, but it still hurts like hell. I felt a sharp pain in my shoulder but I didn’t stop or even slowed down.
The deadly combination of silver and wolfsbane was enough to make a werewolf kneel in front of them. They even used a higher concentration of wolfsbane which was intoxicating my bloodstream.
The wolfsbane circulating through my system was spreading the pain to my entire body.
I took a sharp left turn and ran towards the source. The rogue might be of help. Not every werewolf is in my situation of saving their reputation, they are free to kill a bunch of nasty hunters, and I might as well give them a hefty reward.
All of a sudden, my eyes fell on the most beautiful girl I have ever laid eyes on, and I just stopped dead on my track.
She was shining in the dark forest. The moonlight was kissing her milky white skin. Her dusky blonde wavy hair was sparkling like there were diamonds embedded in them. Her body was delicate and perfect.
Her deep set of emerald green eyes resembled the depth of the dense forest. They reminded me of the scenery of my favorite lake. Her features were delicate, like she is made up of glass. I had never seen anyone so gorgeous in my life.
I can see she was hurt, the blood flowing from her head was making her complexion look even more pale.
Her rosy scent was driving me crazy.
The moment our eyes met; she looked like she was terrified of me.
‘Is she, my mate?’