The Wolf Princess

Chapter 7. Palace Danger

* Alpha Daemon *

As soon as I got off the horse, my warriors in the Shadow pack welcomed me.

"Alpha Daemon welcome back!"

I briefly nod as I watch the familiar place and the faces of my warriors.

"Uncle, I'll be in my library if there is something urgent."

He shook his head. "Get some rest, we just arrived. Anyway, I need to see your Aunt and have dinner together."

The Alpha house looked small after I had been to the Palace of the Alpha King which made me think about the Princess. If she's going to marry me, she's gonna have to adjust and live her. There is no way I'm going to live in the Palace.

The wooden doors of my library creaked as I pushed them open. The scent of old parchment and ink wrapped around me, familiar, grounding. Unlike the Palace, there was no pretense here. No suffocating gold, no watching eyes. Just the sound of silence, and my control. There's no place like home.

I loosened the collar of my shirt, walking toward the desk. She's going to hate it here. The thought came uninvited. But I don't care! It was her father who needed my alliance, more than I needed a good bloodline.

The spoiled Princess of the Alpha King, raised in silk, fed with silver spoons, guarded like a fragile jewel. Here, in the Shadow Pack, there were no jewels. Only survival and strength.

"She'll learn," I muttered under my breath, though I wasn't sure if I was convincing myself or the empty room.

A sharp knock broke the silence. Before I could respond, the doors burst open. One of my warriors stumbled inside, breath ragged, eyes wide with urgency.

"Alpha Daemon!"

I turned slowly, irritation flashing across my face. "Don't you forget your place, what is it?!"

"My Alpha, I apologize for the interruption," he cut in, dropping to one knee, chest heaving. "A message from the northern scouts."

The tension in his voice made my annoyance fade. I walked to my chair and sat.

"Speak."

"The Palace..." he swallowed hard, "The Palace of the Alpha King is under attack."

My hand stilled against the table.

"What?"

"The Alpha of the Dark River, Rosmund he's leading the assault himself. Their forces breached the outer walls before dawn."

Silence swallowed the room. Just a day after I left.

"Impossible." My voice dropped, dangerous and cold. "The Royal guards alone could hold off—"

"They were caught off guard, Alpha. It was planned, coordinated and no one expected an attack even not from our side." He hesitated, then added, "There's more."

My gaze snapped to him. "Say it."

"The Princess, Princess Arriane, they said she's gone."

The air shifted as my eyes widened. Gone. Not taken or captured. Does it mean she escaped before the attacked?

"Explain." Each word I spoke was slow and controlled.

"She escaped before the attack began. No one knows how, but witnesses claim she left the Palace during the night. Disguised, with only one companion."

A strange, dark stillness settled in my chest. So the little Princess had teeth after all. A bitter smirk tugged at my lips.

"She ran away," I murmured. "Before her world burned."

The warrior lowered his head. "Orders, Alpha?"

I turned away, staring out the narrow window into the darkening sky. If Alpha Rosmund had planned this, then the Princess escaping wasn't coincidence. He wanted her for his son Roden.

It was either perfect timing. Or part of something much deeper. The other Alphas hated the alliance that's going to happen between me and the Alpha King, because they wanted to be in his throne.

"Mobilize the scouts," I ordered, voice sharpening. "I want every trail leading away from that Palace tracked."

"Yes, Alpha!"

"And send word to the borders. If the Dark River pack steps into my territory without permission, they will face my wrath!"

My eyes darkened, a low growl building in my chest.

"We kill them all."

The warrior slammed his fist to his chest. "As you command Alpha Daemon!"

He rushed out, leaving the doors swinging behind him. I remained still. Thinking, I know that time is crucial.

A runaway Princess, not just a Princess but my chosen mate. A burning Palace, her home. And a war-hungry Alpha moving like a shadow in the night.

What game are you playing, Princess? This isn't the time for your petty tricks! What if the Alpha King dies?That old Alpha King maybe strong and powerful but how long can it hold before I arrive? I whispered.

And one thing was certain now. If Princess Arriane was out there alone. She wasn't just running from her fate.

She was running straight into danger.

The moment the words left my mouth, I was already moving.

"Prepare my horse," I barked, striding past the warrior without another glance. "I ride for the Palace. Now."

"My Alpha—" he hesitated, "it may already be—"

"I said now."

There was no room for doubt. No room for delay.

The wind howled past me as my horse tore through the forest, hooves pounding against the earth like a war drum. Shadows blurred at the edges of my vision, branches clawing at my cloak as if the forest itself tried to slow me down.

I felt the movement slow. I don't want to arrive their late. The scent reached me before the Palace came into view.

Thick smoke and the stench of Blood. Death is in every soil trailing to the Palace. My jaw tightened. When the Palace finally rose before me, it was no longer the grand symbol of power I had left behind. It was burning.

Flames devoured the towering walls, licking hungrily at the banners that once carried the Alpha King's crest. The great gates, once impenetrable, were shattered, hanging like broken bones.

"No trespassing! This place is under the name of the Dark River pack now!"

A big wolf from the gates shouted at us, I signaled my warriors to stay down as I gritted teeth. The warrior from the Dark River did not even recognize me. I couldn't blame him, it's rare for me to showy face to the other pack of wolves although they heard the rumors of my name as the Alpha of the Shadow pack going around, only a few has seen my human form.