The Lost Werewolf King's Mate

I had been moving in my shadow form through every single pack in the Werewolf kingdom. I ordered every Alpha, Luna and the rest of the ranked members to prepare for the upcoming war. My powers had progressed in the last few days. I was able to move through the packs quicker and noticed more things each time. My abilities enabled me to go unseen and have people do my bidding without even realising.

Shadow and I almost wished we could be seen by all these people. They were comforting each other and encouraging each other for the upcoming war. A small part of me wanted to be a part of that too. I hadn't allowed myself to want to feel like I'm a part of some sort of community for so long, but even I couldn't deny it anymore. I craved to be acknowledged. I wanted to have friends. I wanted to find a mate and have a family. I wanted my kids to see me if I ever became a father.

I quickly cleared my mind of my distractions. The chances of having those things were very slim for me. I had to accept the hand I was dealt.

Shadow and I were glad when we were finally done with the Werewolf kingdom and started making our way to the Northern Inkling Kingdom. I knew our abilities made us move as fast as shadows, but we had gotten much faster these past few days. Shadow was also bigger and much stronger. I was shocked by all these changes, but he just kept telling me that this was because Selene walks with us.

Going to every single pack and ensuring that all preparations were under way without delay would take multiple wolves a number of weeks to do, but my abilities allowed me to do it all by myself in just two days.

I was proud of how quickly Shadow and I managed to get things done and looked forward to going to the inklings. Mathew had sent warriors to the Northern Inkling Kingdom after Queen Merrida told him where Elizabeth was during his coronation. By that point he already had an alliance agreement drafted for when Queen Merrida inevitably came crawling to him. He had made the terms of the agreement rather strict considering everything Queen Merrida put him through.

He demanded that the Northern Inkling Kingdom start sharing some of their technology with the Werewolf kingdom. He also put a clause requiring Queen Merrida to slowly reintroduce magic into her kingdom and for her to establish contact with the nearest Inkling Kingdom. That was the Eastern Inkling Kingdom and Sebastian's mate belonged to that kingdom. He did that because he was trying to get Susan's people to be treated better by the Northern Inklings. Even then, he had tried his best to take care of Elizabeth's friends.

Queen Merrida protested to all these clauses, but there wasn't much she could do at the end of the day. She tried talking to Mathew himself, but he refused an audience with her and demanded that she either accept the terms of the agreement or reject the whole thing altogether. Given what recently happened to the Silver City, she had no choice but to accept.

When I arrived in the Silver Kingdom, I found Queen Merrida quickly and was shocked to find her in bed with a gryphon.

I knew that Elizabeth had convinced King Killian to send help to the Silver kingdom, but I never knew Queen Merrida had become so ... familiar with the gryphons.

"What are we doing, Andrew?", Queen Merrida asked the man whose arms were wrapped around her naked body. "You're King Killian's royal beta. I am a Queen to the Northern Inkling Kingdom. We have no future."

The man named Andrew kissed her passionately before slipping his hand under the sheets and doing something that made Queen Merrida gasp and cry from pleasure at the same time.

His hand kept moving inside the sheets while Queen Merrida sobbed from pleasure.

"Just because I stopped my beast from roaring that you're my mate when I first saw you doesn't mean you get to say such nonsense, Merrida", he groaned into her ear. "You're my mate. You're mine!"

Merrida kept sobbing and moaning while he continued his onslaught. "I've already sent word to Killian that you're my fated mate", the man continued. "He's assured me he will find another beta. I'm staying here with you until I die."

Queen Merrida let out a loud orgasmic scream while Andrew moved his hand under the sheets.

"You did that for me?", Queen Merrida asked while trying to catch her breath.

"I would do anything for you, Merrida", the man whispered into her dark chocolate skin. "But Killian has asked for my help with something. Someone he holds very dear to his heart has gone missing. He's asked me to help find her. I have to leave for the Gryphon kingdom immediately, but I will be back."

I watched Queen Merrida, who usually has a very stern and cold look on her face, pout and give the man puppy dog eyes.

"Do you have to go Andrew?", she bit her lip and kissed him.

"Unfortunately I do", Andrew groaned into her neck. "But I'm going to leave you with something to remember me by."

All of a sudden, the sheets flew off the bed and I watched the vanilla skinned man lay Queen Merrida on her back and enter her without delay.

Shadow and I were waiting for some meaningful information to be exchanged between the two, but we couldn't watch this anymore. This was downright creepy and clearly they weren't going to discuss anything important soon.

"Raphael brings war. Prepare your warriors and your kingdom. Seek help from the Werewolf kingdom", I whispered into her ear.

She suddenly stopped moaning while Andrew thrust into her.

"What's wrong, my love?", he asked her.

"I must get in touch with the Werewolf kingdom immediately", she gently pushed him aside and got up from bed.

I left their room and wandered the kingdom to see if things were getting done. Sure enough, within minutes my message had reached the rest of the kingdom. The atmosphere was different here though.

The werewolves seemed hungry for war. They wanted to get rid of Raphael once and for all. This was different from how they had reacted in the past. Before Mathew, they all wanted to hide and protect their own packs. Now there seemed to be an understanding that no pack could stand alone. All magical creatures were at risk of extinction.

The inklings on the other hand, seemed to have given up already. They were scared shitless.

"We barely recovered from Raphael's last attack", a tall man complained to Sebastian. "Can't the werewolves handle this fight? They're natural born warriors."

Sebastian scowled at the man. "The werewolf and gryphon warriors fought the centaurs just the other day to protect us and our kingdom, Tyler", he reprimanded the man. "We didn't have to lift a finger because they were all so fucking strong. Doesn't that fill you with shame? We hid in our tents and houses while others fought for us. How can you even face your mate after something like that."

The man mumbled something under his breath and walked away angrily.

"Don't be so hard on yourself, Seb", Sebastian's mate wrapped her arms around his waist from the back. "I want you to be safe. Leave the heroics to the wolves and gryphons. I'm pretty sure the wolves are on steroids anyways. They've gotten way too big."

"They have, haven't they?" Sebastian sighed. "What on earth are they eating? How are they as big as the gryphons?"

"Be quiet or they'll hear you", Susan chuckled into his ear.

"Or worse, they'll pick a fight with the gryphons again", Sebastian chuckled as well.

"They're like a bunch of jocks on opposing teams", Susan continued joking. "Always fighting over who is stronger. I'm surprised they were able to work together when the centaurs returned."

Sebastian shook his head and made her look at him. "They only won because there weren't a lot of centaurs that returned. The centaurs most likely thought they didn't need many warriors to finish us off. If they had returned in their full numbers, we would have suffered a few casualties. There's too much hate between the gryphons and werewolves. They'll never work together. They almost killed each other while fighting the centaurs."

Susan hugged Sebastian and whispered into his chest. "Fighting Raphael is a big war, Seb. It will be much worse than any war with the centaurs. I don't want you fighting on the front lines. I've lost too much already. I can't lose you too."

"I can't watch as others die on my behalf, Susan", he rubbed her back. "I have to fight."

I left while they finished their conversation. This was also too private for me to listen to.

Sebastian was right. There was too much hate between us and gryphons. Judging from what I heard, werewolves were finally strong enough to take on the gryphons and put them in their place. He was also right that the inklings had a duty to fight just like anyone else. Werewolves may be regarded as the warriors of the magical realm, but we would need everyone to fight Raphael.

***

By the time I got back to the Werewolf kingdom it was much too late and too dark to do anything but sleep. I wasn't as tired as I thought I would be, but I knew I needed the rest. Shadow and I had been awake and travelling non-stop for the past two days.

I would ask Kendrick to fill me in on their mission during the day and I'd ask Mike where he and Elizabeth were as soon as I saw him.

When I stepped inside the seat of the Werewolf kingdom, I could feel the tension and anticipation in the air. Despite the fact that it was around 2am in the morning, plenty of people were well underway preparing for the war. The sun might as well have been up.

I didn't bother listening to all the chatter around the palace. I wanted to eat and sleep next to Danny in my bed.

In just a matter of days, Shadow and I got used to having her scent lingering in the Delta suite. She had even filled the place with pink roses and although it suite my taste, I didn't mind it because it made her happy.

My suite was almost entirely black and gold. Shadow and I liked the dark colours. They comforted us and made us feel more at ease. Danny wanted to make everything pink and although I wasn't a fan, slowly but surely she was convincing me that there was space for a pink room in the Delta suite.

I was about to make some food when I received a call from Ken.

"Ken, you better have a fucking good reason for calling me this late", I growled at him.

He laughed. "I do. My dad told me you just got back?"

I had almost forgotten that Ken's father could see me. Granted, he could only see my aura and had no idea what I looked like. "Yea", I sighed. "And I'm very tired so skip the chit chat already."

"You and I just missed one another. I wanted to tell you this in person, but he mission was a bust, Keyon. We found the sacred forest. We almost had the gem and the woman from Audrey's vision, but Raphael snatched it all away from us at the last minute."

"Fuck", I muttered through the phone. "Are the nymphs working with him? What happened?"

I could hear him sighing over the phone while he contemplated how to explain things to me. "No, the nymphs aren't working with him. He's working with the black were-bears. We found them at war and had to protect the nymphs from the bears."

"You had to do what?" I growled loudly. "How many warriors did we lose? Where are you right now? You're too far for me to mindlink. Shouldn't you be in hospital right right now? Where's the boss?" While bombarding him with all my questions, I realised I hadn't sensed Elizabeth or Mike either. "Where's Elizabeth, Ken? She and Mike should have been back ages ago."

"You're asking too many questions, Keyon", he tried calming me down. "A lot of things have happened and the boss needs us right now so we can't let him down."

"We've never let him down", I growled at him. "Now answer my questions."

He took a deep breath before answering me. "We lost ten warriors."

"You fought black were-bears and only lost ten warriors? Were you fighting the cubs?"

He chuckled. "No. We were fighting full grown were-bears.You should have seen it, Keyon. Our wolves were almost as big as the bears. Orion was so much bigger than even the biggest were-bear. We were stronger and faster. It was incredible. I've never seen anything like it. We should have died in that battle, but we made it out alive and our warriors are even stationed in the Nymph Kingdom to keep watch."

I slumped down in my chair. That didn't make any sense. It would take at least two or three werewolves to bring down a single were-bear. We should have lost more than half of the 100 warriors that went on that mission.

"There's more", he said nervously. "The ten warriors that died mindlinked Mathew that they had the gem and the woman right before they were killed. The warrior that mindliked Mathew screamed Danny's name before he was killed."

"Why?", I asked him.

"The boss wants you to find that out. Danny appeared at the Nymph kingdom out of nowhere. She had dead warriors all around her and claimed Raphael killed them. Mathew says he doesn't believe her story."

"Then he can order her to tell him the truth!", I growled through the phone.

I could hear him shaking his head. "The boss wants you to do this, Kenyon. He wants you to interrogate her and get to the bottom of things. He...he says kill her if you have to."

I stood up from my chair and slammed my hand against the table. "You're lying", I roared at him.

"I am your brother,Kenyon", he roared back at me. "I would never lie to you. You know that."

I slammed my hand against the table again. There were dozens of warriors who were trained to interrogate. Any one of them could do this. I liked Danny and I didn't keep it a secret from anyone. Torturing her would hurt me too.

I heard Ken sighing. "I know this is hard, Keyon. I asked the boss if I could do it instead, but he said it has to be you. "

"But why, Ken? Mathew is not unreasonable. Why would he ask me to do this?"

"I don't know."

We both remained quiet. Regardless of the order, if it came from Mathew I had to comply.

"Where are Elizabeth and Mike?", I decided to ask a question that he was clearly trying to avoid answering.

"Killian has her", he replied coldly.

I took a second to steady myself. She is our Queen. Shadow and I had only known her for a few days, but we knew we would lay down our lives for her.

"If Killian has our Queen then why aren't we storming the Gryphon kingdom right this very second?" My voice was calm and cold while I tried to control my own anger and fear, as well as Shadow's.

"Your guess is as good as mine!", he snarled. "I told Mathew the same thing, but he insisted that we get ready for the war with Raphael while he challenged Killian."

I clutched at my chest and sat back down.

"If Killian has her then he's probably expecting the boss to come after her. He'll be waiting for him with a whole army."

"You're preaching to the choir, Keyon!", he exclaimed. "He left a few minutes before you arrived. I asked 20 warriors to follow him secretly from a distance. It's not much, but it will help him."

I slowly grabbed my car keys and headed to the door. "That won't be enough, Ken", I said calmly. "I'm going too. If he left a few minutes ago, then I can catch up to him soon. He needs us."

"Keyon, you must follow his orders", Ken growled at me. "He's our king!"

I snarled at him. "It's a stupid order and it will get him killed!"

"Look", he sighed. "You have to stay there and deal with Danny. I'm hoping I'll bring Evangeline when I get back and then we can check in on the boss."

I stopped right before I reached the door and took more deep breaths. Mathew had given an order that put both him and Elizabeth at risk. It was fucking stupid. He should be taking an army with him to bring her back. Ken and I would have to find a way to make it to thr Gryphon kingdom as soon as we were done here.

I took another deep breath and walked away from the door. Mathew needed us here and clearly a lot of things, besides the war, were happening.

"How did the trackers manage to track down Evangeline?", I tried distracting myself from the subject of our captured Queen.

"They didn't. I'm with the Nymph Prince, Prince Owen, and he claims he knows how to find her", he responded. "I'll fill you in on the nymphs when I get back. It's a long story."

"What the hell is going on, Ken?" I asked him with a defeated voice. "Why are so many things going wrong at the same time?"

"I don't know, Keyon", he sighed. I really don't know."