(Ethan’s POV)

Two days…That was all I had to annoy the maids and the Queen, and then we were off again, not forgetting a small oxygen tank that I now put around my wrist.

I didn’t have to hid it, like I had to with the small needle I got attached to my ankle…

…It wasn’t enough time though, to have come home, but I found myself thinking of my mate more often, while laying down with Chance. I wondered how I should act, or dress like…Would he treat me differently?

Owen still didn’t know about Damien…Damien…I liked his name.

Damien, I had found out, was still an Alpha without a mate. He had been mateless all this time.

I felt relieved when I had heard that. I know he deserves someone to look after him and doubted that I could do it, but the idea of him being with someone else haunted my dreams.

I wish I could go to him, yet…If I did…What would I say!?

…Now that I was out of the palace once again, my thoughts slowed down, as I had to act as ‘King’. There was no doubt though, there was a huge chance that I will be seeing him soon!

And that thought made me quite jittery…I wasn’t able to keep still for too long, nor was I able to hold a normal conversation for too long…

Breath Ethan!

The first Pack to see, was The Watcher’s Pack. The Watcher’s Pack was another happy crew, as they were able to be amongst the humans. It was the Shifter’s type of ‘spies’, as we looked for ideas through the humans and made sure we stayed a secret. The Watcher’s Pack was also the people that had changed the books that the human had written about us, putting them into bookshelves instead of having it out in the open. They were also originally part of The Surveillance Pack, but had broken away about a century ago, as they had gotten too big. Most Packs have a few hundred in them, except The Harvest Pack, which has about a thousand. There was another pack I hadn’t seen yet, that had close to a thousand as well, that was The History Pack…

At least I thought it was The History Pack…Dammit, there were so many packs!

…So, having separated the big pack to two smaller ones, giving them half of the original work, seemed liked a good idea to me, as the more you have in the pack, the harder it was to control.

It really started to dawn on me now, being in this pack, that it really helped knowing who you were, to know what pack was for you.

Curious people seemed to be in this pack, food loving people in The Harvest Pack, money loving people in The Treasury Pack and intelligent people within the Surveillance Pack…

I was sure it was like this everywhere, that you would most likely fit in and I was quite proud upon how my packs were being brought up over the centuries.

A long time ago, the Sollace royals had made millions upon millions and had set up the packs similar to like they are now, and it seems to be still working!

Hell…I even wondered where I would be, if I wasn’t the King…I didn’t care too much for food, but I was curious…Mmm…

But…

My thoughts came to an end when I was on my way to the next pack, two days later…When I was suddenly getting buried by earth!

That’s right, in pure sunlight and on a boring, dirt road, the car had completely fell into a hole that was so deep that I could only see dirt out of the window!

Through the sudden fall, I had been winded, and the seat belt had hurt me, making me groan in pain…

Afterwards, opening my eyes, feeling slightly dizzy, I saw dirt start to fill up from the bottom!

At first, I couldn’t think, it didn’t make sense and my head was getting sore…But I finally realized what was going on, as the dirt filled in more and more, slowly coming in an opened door, to sit and slowly pile up upon the bottom of the car…

I…Had never been so scared in my life…

Perhaps I never took the threat to the Sollace family seriously…

Getting the seatbelt snapped that was around me, I took a while to realize that someone was yelling at me to get out of the car and run!

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Right…I finally snapped out of whatever I was in and realized that I had to run like my life depended on it! As it did, I knew it now, this must be the act of that rock! This was exactly what Alpha Monk had said…Buried alive!

The guards used themselves as a ladder for me, helping me with their arms as well, and I didn’t think as I left and did as I was told…

I ran! I ran so fast that I had no direction in mind and no idea where I was going! But I was too scared to think about anything else but to run!

Seeing only two guards following from a distance behind me, I went to slow down, so that they could catch up…But then found a strange rock pounce out of the earth…As though it was looking at me! I don’t know for sure if it was, but shivers went up to my spine because I was sure…That I was its target! It was after me!

“Run, Your Majesty! Run!”

I shifted into my wolf and ran as fast and as hard as I could, remembering Owen’s teachings and guidance. I vaguely remember short words with him, but at the moment, I could only think of them later…

I couldn’t even question what happened to the rest of my guards or where I was going…I just ran…I ran and thought that this threat…Was true! And it was the scariest thing I’d ever encountered!

And those thoughts led me to think that I needed to survive, so that I could make this place safe for my son! I had to keep sane and steady, I had to find flaws…I…Had to survive!

(Damien’s POV)

I was getting strange, and I didn’t know how to hold this strangeness at bay!

Being informed that the King was seeing the packs and that he was due to see mine in a few days, had made me stress out and become strange!

Seeing all the problems within my area, it being only two, I fixed them straight away!

And then I saw a whole lot of other problems, as I walked around my pack, in our recent home base.

Rushing people to fix things that were broken, dust things that were dusty and upgrade old things, it was becoming obvious.

Putting a hand through my hair, I then breathed out and put my head on the desk before me.

I was so nervous!

I had tried to move on from my mate, upon returning back here, but it never had felt right. What sucked the most, was that everyone thought I was still waiting for my mate, because I never told anyone that I had indeed found him. It really was a mess!

Having been with two women prior to meeting my mate, I had tried to once again be with another, but left before any of us got too heated up, as I was unable to continue.

It wasn’t the same anymore!

…I could get turned on, I could happily hear the moans and spread her legs, but…

Women…Or anyone…Just didn’t cut it anymore!

I had tried to get it on with a male, but he ended up trying to show me how to be intimate and I got angry!

I knew it was different!

After I got the courage once again, I went back to him and he showed me a little more of intimacy with males and it did get me hard…Just not as hard as my sexy mate had done…

No, nothing in my life had made me so fucking hard before!

I could have burst so easily back then, that I remember!

I was…Completely, sexually frustrated!

Not only that…Which I try to ignore, I was also realizing how lonely I was. I know that I mostly thought about him sexually, but I knew, that wasn’t my only problem…

I want his presence, his smell, his life…I want it all…

Considering that I had no idea what he was like personally, I was eager to find out! I was aching to know his thoughts, and personality…

…It just wasn’t fair!

…I still very much wanted my mate by my side…

Knocking my head on the desk again, I really was so nervous!

I wanted to look good to him, to show him that I do my job well as an Alpha of one of his packs, but at the same time…

I knew it, I wanted him to want me too!

I wanted him to come to me!

Dammit!

I was such a big idiot!

Banging my head on the desk again, I was glad I sent everyone away. I had never acted like this before and not only was it getting to them…It was getting to me as well!

It was hard to be a shifter in this pack and not let anyone know about my mate, so I’ve had to block people out of my head from time to time because…How could I let them know that I, their Alpha, was rejected by an Omega!?

I was acting fine before I had heard the news of the King coming here! I was looking after my pack well, just getting in a rogue and questioning them. I heard some news about another rogue and sent a one of my men to check it out, otherwise, we were happily expanding our area, which was something only our pack could do.

We were able to travel anywhere and go to any boundary of any other pack and directly ask them if there was a problem. Not only were we free in this concept, but our pack was also the only one that could communicate over long distance, while not in our wolf forms…

Taking a deep breath, I pulled my head up, feeling so tired all of a sudden and decided to try and sleep.

I had so many worries…Even Hexxah wasn’t helping! He was just as nervous and skittish as I was…And excited…Loyal…

To another degree, Hexxah was adamant on our mate and it had very much annoyed him that I had tried to move on, but he couldn’t help but let me try at the very least…Not that it mattered, both of us just weren’t ready to move on in the slightest!

It was a couple of hours, just after falling asleep, when I got one of my men inside my head telling me that he’d seen someone rush into The History Pack, just to the north of us.

I asked him if he knew who it was, but he had no idea and then I told him to stick around and ask. We had the rights to do that, being the Pack in charge of rogues. In fact, we were a very nosy bunch, knowing a lot of gossip…It irritated me to no end!

Again, just as I went to sleep, my man spoke back to me and said, “It was His Majesty the King, Alpha, he was attacked and lost all his guards! He looks terrible!”

I sat up and then put my feet out of the blankets, anxiety running through me as the words started to make sense to me in my head, “Repeat your last, Simon!”

“I said it was the King, he was attacked, Alpha!”

Getting up to my feet, I felt myself feel pain where my heart was, and I looked over towards my clothes in the easily removable closest.

I knew I had to get dressed and get out of here, I needed to go and see him!

Just…

The pain in my heart…

The idea that my mate had been attacked…The fact that it was real, that it seemed he had run for his life…

My natural instinct was to protect him! He must not die!

Taking a few deep breaths, I then tried to forget it, so that I could move, and rushed to get out of there. I was running straight towards The History Pack like a mad rogue on drugs but….I needed to make sure that my precious mate was ok!