Mated. to the Alpha King

Chapter Four: Why do you hate me so much!

Rex spent more time with Elena. She enjoyed it and it kept him away from Kristal. Zephan had delivered a message ten minutes ago from the king asking for him in the throne room.

“Elena, I have to go”, Rex tried to gently pry himself from her grip. She pressed closer to him, pinning him against her bedroom wall.

Elena traced his jaw with her lips. “That’s tempting, but I have to go to the king”. She relaxed her hold.

“ I’m always in the castle. I'm always with you”, he kissed her deeply. "I think you love my father more than you love me” she said as he broke off the kiss.

Rex was almost always with the Alpha King, they barely saw each other on some days.

“That's not true, I love you more than anything else in this world. But your father is king, would you rather I defy him and your boyfriend gets killed?” he grinned at the look of horror at her face.

“No way! Father wouldn’t”.

“Maybe. I'm leaving”. He kissed her on the forehead and he left. Elena felt an ache in her chest, Rex was the only one who made her feel seen.

Early in their relationship, King Sage had thrown a fit about his daughter falling in love with an ordinary werewolf soldier. Elena had taken one look at Rex in her brother's office in his white formal shirt and black suit pants the day she returned from college three years ago and she had decided she wanted him.

Rex adjusted his suit and checked his face for lipstick marks with his phone. " Good morning sir!” two of the lower members of the king’s guard greeted in a salute as he reached the huge gold double doors of the throne room.

Rex strode into the thrown room, it was huge and it took a little more than a minute to cross the door to the foot of the throne room.

The prince stood in front of the throne talking to his father. Nicholas had a file in his hands. Antonia the Werewolf high priestess stood before the king, she was saying something that made the room thick with tension. The King's face turned red.

“Join us Rex”, Alpha King Sage said from where he sat on his throne. He had a small smile on his face that didn’t reach his eyes, he looked at Rex through slit eyes.

“Your majesty”, he bowed, avoiding eye contact with the king. Antonia, the high priestess, looked at him and he saw her face relax.

“Enough with the formalities. How's Elena doing this morning? Seeing she hasn’t come to greet me, I doubt she let you go willingly”. Alpha King Sage rose from his throne to pour himself a drink of Scotch.

“The Princess is lovely as always your Majesty”, Rex said in a cool voice.

Rex scanned the faces in the room, something was wrong, and it didn’t feel right to share a joke.

King Sage bellowed a laugh “ I always train the best. You always know what to say”. He dropped his now empty glass.

“Rex, I have a new assignment for you”. King Sage stroked the glass in his hands. “You are to keep your ears on the ground for some traitors at your engagement ceremony.”

“Engagement?” The air felt sucked out of Rex's lungs.

“You and my daughter have gone on long enough, and you’re a man I trust” Rex was at loss for words.

“Father!” Nicholas took a step towards King Sage.

“This is not the time to plan a wedding” Antonia raised her voice. “What the moon goddess has spoken is serious” Rex noted he had been right about something going on.

“I do not follow the words of women, especially one I can’t see!” His hands were balled into a fist and shaking. Rex remained quiet

“Alpha King Sage, you speak blasphemy!” the high priestess pointed.a finger at him.

“You will abdicate the throne, and no one of you blood will ever sit on it. For the crimes you have committed against the children of the moon goddess!”

Nicholas closed his eyes, his head bowed low at her words. The words that Antonia spoke made the room suddenly chilly despite their inability to get cold.

King Sage poured himself more scotch, it didn’t make him drunk, but he liked the taste of it.

“I will do no such thing Antonia. It has never happened before in our history and it will never happen”.

He stood towering over her less intimidating figure “if the moon goddess wants to place another on that throne, I would like to see her try”.

King Sage walked to the throne and sat on it “She served no justice when those murdering Alphas took my Queen.” Rex had heard of the five alphas who had tried to eliminate the royal family when Nicholas was still a toddler.

“And your took their heads and destroyed their packs for that. That was enough justice Sage”. King Sage growled at Antonia as she addressed him with his name. No one ever dared to. "I rule the werewolves and I alone decide their fate!".

Nicholas squeezed the file in his hands “Wouldn't you even beg for mercy?!” he shouted at the King.

“And that’s why you are a cowering dog son. Sometimes I wonder if I truly am your father” Nicholas inhaled sharply.

“What you have spoken Antonia is high treason. I spare your life because you are Claudia’s sister. If I as much as hear a rumor about what was spoken here today, I will hunt you down”.

“I loved her too. She would be sad to see you this way” Antonia retorted.

“The wedding will hold. Rex you have served well, it’s time you became a general” the Alpha king said ignoring her. Rex knelt before the King, ignoring the furious stares of Nicholas and Antonia.

“I am greatly honored your majesty”. Alpha King Sage waved his hands, dismissing them.

King Sage intended to weigh every Alpha at the party and root out every rebellion in his Kingdom before it grew further.

Antonia disappeared quickly. Nicholas kept walking ahead of Rex. Rex caught up to him and held his shoulder to stop him. "Calm down Nick”, the prince glared at him. Rex knew he was guilty for not saying anything, but he had more to loose that Nicholas and Antonia.

“You suck up to my father and Elena so much it makes me sick!”

“I don't”

“Liar”. Rex sighed. He wouldn’t argue with Nicholas. Truthfully, on some days he could hardly breathe.

Nicholas rubbed his face with his free hand. “Maybe you should see for yourself. Our secret missions and aids to help the packs are no longer enough!” Nicholas threw the rumpled file on the floor and left.

Rex picked it up and opened it. There was a picture of a girl, she was blonde and breathtakingly beautiful like Elena, but with blue eyes. She looked like Luna Queen Claudia. He remembered her from a ball the king had hosted a month ago.

The pictures in the file were gory. Half of her face was gone. Rex kept flipping, he remembered the king had danced with her for so long, everyone had noticed. From the looks of the pictures of her and her pack, Rex was sure she had said no to the King and he hadn’t taken it well.

Rex put everything out of his mind, for now he had his work to do for the day. They would figure out this mess later.

Kristal bolted up the flight of stairs when she was done for the day. She was chatting with Andrea her best friend, she didn’t see the dark figure walking down the staircase.

She bumped into it. “Ouch, can’t you see where you are going?” she bent to pick her things that fell on the ground.

“You were the one on your phone and too blind to see me”. She felt hot and looked up to see Rex. He held her gaze. She gathered her things and stood.

“You could have gotten out of the way” she muttered. So much for trying to avoid him, she thought.

Rex shoved her out of his way and walked away. Kristal was thankful she wore flats, she ran to her room and didn’t stop until she was behind closed doors.

She got into the shower and allowed herself to cry. She wasn’t good enough for him. Her mate hated her, and she couldn’t escape him.

She had heard about the engagement from Arlene when she got orders from the King to send out invitations. She would have to watch him marry the princess and there was nothing a nobody like her could do about it.

Kristal heard the princess was beautiful and blond. She took some strands of her red curls and looked at them. Everyone in her family had dark hair, her real father was a redhead.

Kristal's father chased them out and married another werewolf. Kristal was six when her mum gave both to Cara in her second marriage to John Walker. She always felt like an outcast, a reminder to her mother of a horrible past.

She had to find a way out of this hell hole or die of heartbreak. “You can’t leave Kristal, think about Dad and Cara”, she told herself.

She stood in front of the bathroom mirror.“Keep your head low. No one here is your friend”. Kristal planned to become as tough as Arlene and she wouldn’t break, not even for Rex. Kristal pulled on a hoodie and jeans, she needed to go for a walk to calm down.

Rex's mind was reeling as he walked to the training court. He bumped into a small figure in the dark.

“I’m so sorry…I didn’t see…” the person dragged him into the cover of the garden that lined the pathway to the training court.

“shhh” a finger pressed against his lips, he realized it was a woman.

She threw back the hood of her hoodie. His eyes grew large. She wasn’t wearing the dress he had seen on her earlier, Antonia now donned a hoodie and jean trousers with boots.

“Why are you here, high Priestess?”. He felt something was terribly wrong.

Antonia took his right hand and kissed it. “Your Majesty”, she whispered. Rex tried to swallow but a bullet of panic rose in his throat.