Andre’s POV
The car in front of us was pulled to a stop and I immediately grabbed Olivia and pulled her close to me defensively. We had arrived, and I had no idea how the border security was going to treat us.
I held onto Olivia and kept my eyes fixed on the road ahead. A few burly men walked up to the first two cars in front of us and I could see them talking harshly and attempting to enter the vehicle of my guards.
I sat there and gritted my teeth in anger. I was able to send in mind-link to my guards and told them not to open the door for the border control officers under any circumstances. We were now in hostile territory and we could trust no one.
I watched as officers banged on the vehicle, demanding that they open the door immediately, but no one budged, and I could see that they were losing their patience.
Olivia was seeing it all, and she held on to me with fear. Pierre was still at the wheel, and his face was still cold, daring them to come over and try to mess with him. On the other hand, Jonas rolled his eyes and seemed relaxed. I knew that this was the time to act. He had his use, and now was time for him to make himself useful.
“Jonas, what are you still doing sitting down here?”
I snapped loudly and startled everyone in the car. All eyes were on me, and Jonas looked at me, feigning confusion. I scoffed in my mind. There was no way he could pretend to me.
“What are you even talking about?” He said in a light and bamboozled tone.
Olivia looked up at me, too, in confusion, but Pierre gave a single nod and turned away from me, keeping his eyes on the road and the chaos in front of us.
“You know perfectly well what I’m talking about. Aren’t you the fucking Prince of the West? I expected that you would call your subjects and tell them that you’re going to make a grand entry so they treat you with more granter and less animalistic hostility.
Jonas gasped, and Olivia looked at me confused. Suddenly, she turned to Jonas, and I could tell that the idea had sunk into her head. She was looking for more clarification, and I was going to do just that.
“Why are you acting surprised?” I continued to Jonas. “You are a prince here, aren’t you?”
He began to stutter over his words and that was when I knew that I had pegged him.
“I… I… You see… They…”
Olivia didn’t want to wait a second and she quickly pounced on him with her words. Her face was flushed and angry and I could see the look of betrayal in her eyes.
“You are Prince?! Why didn’t you say so?!”
Jonas was struggling to answer, and as he fumbled over his words, Olivia whipped around and glared at me.
“And you. How long did you know? Since you knew, why didn’t you say anything to me?”
I shrugged my shoulders and looked at her with a face of complete innocence. However, internally, I was chuckling at Jonas’ predicament.
“I thought that he said that he was your friend. He should have told you earlier. I don’t believe such information about him should be coming from your mate. I believe you have known him longer than I have.”
My explanation was casual and simple, and Olivia whipped her head back, staring accusingly at Jonas.
“You were a prince all this time, and you never said anything. I thought we were friends, Jonas? Why would you keep something like this for me?”
Jonas was still fumbling over his words, and I soon had enough of his pathetic mumbling.
“I suggest that you get out and make yourself useful. You are the Prince of the West, and I allowed you to ride with us for this one reason. Get this fixed. Now.”
Jonas shot me a death glare and begrudgingly got out of the car.
We all watched him walk up to the officers and immediately they saw him, they got on one knee.
“Pierre, lower the window. I want to hear what he’s saying.”
Immediately, Pierre put the window down, and I listened attentively to what Jonas told the officers.
“… With some friends from a neighbouring pack and the attitude that you have just displayed is appalling. You are border control and not a pack of thugs. Give me a reason why I shouldn’t have all of you executed immediately for this unruly behaviour.”
The border officers trembled in fear, lowering their heads and not daring to look up at Jonas’ angry face and the fiery glint in his golden eyes.
“For… Forgive us, Prince Jonas. We… We were…”
“You were nothing. I don’t expect this kind of hostile welcome ever again. I’m letting you off with the warning. Don’t you dare try this insolence again?”
“Yes, Prince Jonas.”
They remained on the floor and Jonas walked back to the car and got back in the front seat with Pierre.
The men quickly stood up and allowed our fleet of cars access to the pack. There was a dense silence as we finally crossed the border into Elvis Pine.
Olivia was glaring at Jonas with so much spite that all I could do was sit down silently, gloat, and enjoy the show as Olivia picked Jonas apart piece by piece.
“I can’t believe that you kept this secret for me, Jonas. All this time, I thought we were friends, but you were hiding such a vital piece of information about yourself from me.”
“Olivia, you have to understand that I didn’t really think that it was necessary when we initially met. You were shaken from the gang attacking you, and I decided that such information was not worthwhile at that particular time.”
“But you could have told me after. You stayed in my pack for weeks, and you never mentioned anything. You knew that we were going to Elvis Pine. You could have told us then. I don’t think that was a bad time then.”
“It’s not as a thing simple as you think, Olivia…”
“Well, make it simple. Why did you keep this from me?”
A smug smile crept over my face, and Jonas took his eyes off Olivia for a second and stole a glance at my smug-looking face.
I could almost read his thoughts, and I could tell that he was cursing me silently for exposing this part about him to Olivia. But I could care less about what he thought. I was simply enjoying the show, and it seemed that Pierre was told, as I noticed that for the first time since this journey began, he had a half smile on his face, and his ears were attentive to the explanation that Jonas was about to give.
“My family isn’t the only royal family here in Elvis Pine. There are about three other Royal families, and we don’t get along as well as anyone would hope. You should know by now that Elvis Pine is a hostile state and the packs here are very hostile, especially to humans. Me not revealing my identity to you was simply an act of personal security. I didn’t think that I would need to, especially now, because I thought that the border would have a more humane style of ushering cars into the pack.”
“But unfortunately, I was wrong. I just wanted to keep a cool head and try my best to ease through the park without drawing unnecessary attention to myself. We would have been swarmed by now if everyone knew who I was. And I expect that the border officers will tell the other two families of my arrival. The last thing I want is to get into a runt with them…”