Chapter 16 Alaric " What the fuck , Garrett ? " I hiss as soon as Sage and Iris are gone . But the fucker just chuckles and grins like my irritation amuses him . " What's the matter Ric ? Our great and powerful king can't handle one little car ride with his ex - girlfriend and his new mate ? " He taunts me . " How are we supposed to trust you with a whole kingdom when you can't handle two harmless women? " I roll my eyes at his childish behavior . " I have yet to understand what my baby sister sees in you . And that's the last time I tell you my secrets . I can't believe you told Iris about her . She'll never let it go now . " " You know I tell Iris everything . Shouldn't have told me if you didn't want her to know . " He shrugs and I have to resist the urge to punch my Beta . " And don't pretend you didn't love me long before your sister did . But seriously , Sage is gorgeous and seems really sweet . Have you thought anymore about telling her what she is to you ? " I shake my head , wishing it was that simple . " I can't . Her last mate nearly destroyed her . She's still healing from the wounds he gave her , both physical and emotional . If I told her now she'd run for the hills , and maybe she should . " I'm not sure I'm mate material , especially for someone like Sage . She's soft and sweet , and I'm ... not . She needs someone to tell her how amazing she is , lavish her with attention and help her heal . Even if I wasn't emotionally unavailable , I don't have the time . This kingdom isn't going to run itself . " " Maybe all you need is the love of a good woman . It worked for me . " He slings his arm over my shoulder in a show of support . " Don't sell yourself short , Ric , or her . She's survived a lot in her life . She might surprise you . Maybe she's not as needy as you expect her to be . " I sigh , scrubbing a hand over my face . " Can we change the subject please ? I assume you really were too busy to come pick me up . Because if you sent Eris merely for the purpose of fucking with me , there will be payback . " Tell me about the disappearances . How many more are missing and do we have confirmation these mutant rogues were involved in every case ? " 1 " Mutant ? Is that what we're calling them now ? " He raises an eyebrow at me . " What would you call it ? " I challenge . "I've never seen anything like them . If I didn't know better , I'd think they had lycan blood . When I was attacked , I almost didn't win , Garrett . " They're stronger and faster than a normal wolf . And there must be a lot of them if these attacks are happening all over the country . You're not really suggesting a new race of wolves just sprung up out of nowhere , are you ? " " I suppose not . You didn't find anything on your scouting trip ? " He asks and I grunt out a no . " You had to be getting close though . Your attack sounded like an ambush , like somebody knew you were coming and didn't want you poking around anymore . " " My thoughts exactly . " I agree with him . " It's certainly suspicious that it happened so close to Blackthorn Pack . But everything went to shit before I could find out . After what happened to Sage , there was no way I could stay there and ' poke around ' as you say . I had to get her away from Cassius . The man's a psychopath . 1 " Can you believe , after everything he did to her , he tried to keep Sage in Blackthorn ? I thought I was going to have to teach the welp his place when he argued with me , but his father did it for me . " " Alpha Stoane seems to be a reasonable man . " Garrett observes . " He's always been loyal to the crown . Maybe a bit Chapter 16 +25 BONUS elitist but otherwise harmless . " " I'm not sure Sage would agree with you . The way he allowed his pack to treat her is unacceptable . And his son seems to have inherited all his worst qualities and amplified them by ten . " I growl , lost in thought for a moment . " What are you plotting , Alaric ? " Garrett pushes , but I don't have an answer ... . yet . " I'll let you know when I decide . " I tell him . It's then that Eris descends the stairs , her ridiculously high heels clacking on the stone floor . I bite the inside of my cheek , stifling the impulse to tell her she's not invited to dinner and to go the fuck home . But her father is a good friend and an important ally so I hold my tongue . She's determined to worm her way back into my life but there's a reason we didn't work in the first place and nothing's changed . Not that it matters . I may not see things working out between Sage and I but now that I've met her , I can't look at anyone else . She's my mate and my lycan wants her desperately . He'd never settle for Eris now . Or anyone who's not Sage for that matter . " Look at what she's wearing ! " I hear Eris scoff turning to follow her line of sight . " Didn't your sister tell her how to dress for dinner at a King's table ? " " Fuck . Me . " I mutter under my breath , ignoring Eris completely . Sage is walking toward me in a pale pink cocktail dress that suits her porcelain skin perfectly . It's demure , with a boatneck and capped sleeves , probably chosen to hide her wounds . But fuck if the satiny material doesn't cling to her in all the right places . Sure , I've seen her naked out of necessity . But something about seeing her like this , her silver blonde hair glossy and as it flows in waves down her back , the slightest bit of makeup to give her an extra glow , it's sexy as fuck and I can't look away . It's like she was always meant for this life . " Oh , I didn't realize it was formal . " she glances nervously at Eris in her ostentatious evening gown . " Iris said this would be okay . I can go change . " She turns away but I catch her with an arm around her waist , pulling her back to me . " You're perfect . I mean , uh , the dress is perfect . No need to change ." Fuck , how does she do this to me . I'm a king , damn it . I don't trip over my words . " Alaric's right . You look stunning . " Garrett kisses her hand and I have to cough to cover the growl that slips out . " I , uh , I'll just go wash and change quickly . I'll join you for dinner shortly . " I say , making my escape before I embarrass myself any further . I need a cold shower , I think to myself . And maybe , just maybe , I need to mate the little wolfless omega after all . Cara Anderson author Thank you for reading !