The Crown Thief and Her Alpha Prince

CHAPTER 9 - THE WOLVES

Prince Edmund Harrow’s Point of View

“Don’t ever lie to me again, '' Edmund growled menacingly at Amelia before she went back in the palace.

The little crown thief, Amelia, tensed for a moment, her hand on the castle door handle. She did not turn towards him. A pity. Edmund almost ordered her to face him.

Her white nightgown was loose and ill-fitting, but was made from such a flimsy material that Edmund could swear he could see the delicate shade of her soft skin underneath it. In the cold night air of the gardens, when she had faced him, her perked n*****s had tented the fabric, tempting the Prince to remove the garment altogether.

Amelia nodded curtly, acknowledging that she was not to lie to him again and scurried back into the castle. 

When Amelia was out of his view, Edmund ran towards the garden wall and easily climbed over it. It was about 8 feet in height, but, for a wolf shifter, it was an easy task to go over it. Even in his human form, he was much stronger and faster than any human. 

As soon  as he was past the wall, he started running again. The castle was atop a high mountain, and being outside the walls, Edmund was on the very ridge. One misstep would mean a 100-foot drop. The Prince was not afraid however. He knew these woods well. He always ran off during the night whenever the stuffy palace life became too much for him.

With his little crown thief in the castle, the place had been downright suffocating. He was terrified of bumping into her - and Alpha Prince Edmund was not afraid of anything.

In the last three days, Edmund had done his best to avoid her. Each time he saw her, his wolf was screaming that she was his life mate, the one made for him - which was truly ridiculous. Wolves did not mate with humans. Never. Something was seriously wrong with his wolf. 

Avoiding her had almost worked too! Edmund had managed to convince himself that the female could not possibly be as enticing as he remembered her. That he was only attracted to her because part of him was jealous that his brother was getting a mate and he was not. That, as all humans, the little crown thief could not hold a candle to female wolves. That she was bland, uninteresting and meek. He had to rescue her when they first met - surely, as an Alpha Prince, he deserved a mate who could hold her own.

Then, just as the rational part of his brain was beginning to forget about her, she had jumped on him in the middle of the night. With her so close, everything he had been denying came flooding back. Amelia Cooper might be human, but she was not plain and she was far from boring. 

He had had to pin her to the ground to prevent her from attacking him with a rock. Feisty little thing. Her attempts at fighting only made him want to dominate her more. She had been just under him, so close, so tempting. He had tried to scare her, to ask her if she was afraid of what he might do to her, but that had only backfired. Her scent had grown heavy with desire.

It had taken every ounce of self-control in Edmund not to bite her neck, to mark her as his own. His animal instinct had been insanely strong. If she had just said out loud that she wanted him, he would have never been able to refrain himself. He would have taken her if she had not told him to stop. 

Thank gods she did.

She was human. She could never survive the bite marks and the force of his mating. Humans were so fragile. Plus, he was a Prince. Princes did not mate with vulgar commoners.

He had told her that he did not want her, trying to convince himself as much as he tried to convince her. While completely fooling himself into believing he did not want her was downright impossible with her so close, her scent still laced with delectable desire, Amelia had believed him. She had looked a little hurt by his words, but mostly angry. That was good.

Since his wolf thought she was his fated mate, hurting her caused him enormous pain, but her anger just amused him.

Her emerald green eyes were always challenging him. In the Onyx castle, everyone bowed before Edmund, everyone cowered in fear and were always doing everything to please him. Not Amelia, and part of Edmund found it was very refreshing. 

The other part of Edmund, the Alpha Prince part who expected everyone to respect him, was fuming at her irreverency. He wanted to teach her a lesson. He suspected he might enjoy punishing her a bit too much - and he was pretty sure she would like it too. He could bring her in the dungeons, have her at his mercy and then…

Edmund growled, shaking his head, trying to stop that train of thought.

What a f*****g mess.

He picked up speed, running until his lungs were burning, then he shifted. During nights like these, it felt better to be the wolf. When he was a beast, everything was so… simple. His thought process was reduced to his more basic needs, not clogged up by constantly worrying about what was good and bad, and what might happen.

Edmund welcomed the way his bones stretch, dark fur covering his skin, long fangs taking shape in his mouth, pointy claws emerging from his new paws. The process only took a few seconds, leaving him transformed into a beautiful and strong wolf. 

The first few times he had shifted when he was a teen, it had been horrible, as if his body was simultaneously on fire and being crushed. However, now that he was more mature, he loved the process. It felt like shedding his clumsy human form to be born again into the most glorious form: an apex predator.

With his senses heightened even more in this form, Edmund could smell that two guards were guarding the drawbridge in their wolf form too, Frederic and Henry. They were both beta wolves, and had been working for years at the castle. As members of the pack, they were better treated than most servants, and both were loyal to their pack. Henry was silent and professional, but Frederic was very friendly, very close to Edmund’s brother Prince William. 

When Edmund was closer to the bridge, the guards noticed him, hearing and smelling him. They turned their gaze away, silently letting him escape for the night. They always did so when the king was absent. When King Leopold was not at the palace, Prince Edmund was second in command, only under his brother Prince William. Frederic and Henry might be amongst the best warriors, but no beta wolf could resist an Alpha’s will. Edmund could win against both of them should they try to stop him.

He ran up the bridge, and into the woods, upon the highest mountain. 

On his way there, he made sure everything was in order in his territory, sniffing around to make sure no odd odors were present. Everything seemed to be normal. A local wolf pack - actual animals, not shifters - started howling in respect when they sensed his presence. Real wolves always acted subordinates to shifters. And Edmund was no ordinary shifter: he was an Alpha. The wolves could smell his power, and were always respectful and submissive before him. 

There was a spot high up the mountain that allowed him to view the whole castle surroundings. On clear days, while he was in his wolf form, he could even see the ocean, far, far away. It was the perfect spot to get away, to live in the present moment, to be a wolf. It was quiet, and peaceful and -

“What are you doing out again, Little Brother?” a voice sounded in his head. 

Edmund jumped, then let out a growl. Being part of a pack had its perks, but he hated the way wolf shifters communicated. It was like hearing someone’s voice directly inside your head. It was very invasive. Luckily, they could not do it from very far away, which meant his brother was close.

Edmund’s facial expressions were more limited in his wolf form, but if he had been human, he would have winced. His brother, Prince William Harrow had followed him up, probably tipped by Frederic. Sure enough, Edmund could smell his brother's scent, and soon, another wolf, lighter and smaller than himself, appeared from the woods and sat beside him. 

“You know what Father would say,” continued William disapprovingly. 

Edmund growled menacingly, showing his fangs to his brother. He was not in the mood to be lectured.  With his wolf thinking he had found his fated mate, Edmund’s hormones were high and his instincts were dictating him to fight with any unmated male.

“Father is not here right now. Leave me alone William.”

William let out a whimper, adopting a more submissive posture to calm his little brother. It worked, if only a little. Edmund would never fight his brother. William always had his back. 

“Why did you follow me? You know I won’t come back to the castle just because you ask me to,” Edmund asked. “Did Frederic tip you off I was gone?”

“I am worried about you Edmund. You have been acting strange lately.”

Edmund wanted to tell his big brother about Amelia. The two brothers had once been so close. Edmund unconsciously brought his right hand to his left shoulder, his fingers tracing the big cicatrice of a bite there. Despite his need to speak to someone, Edmund could not trust William. As the elder, William was now closer to King Leopold. He might betray his secret. 

“It’s none of your business. You’re not our mother,” Edmund snapped.

In his wolf form, Edmund could smell other people's emotions even better. He could immediately feel the hurt his words caused William. He also sensed William’s general turmoil. His brother was stressed too, Edmund realized, in a way that had nothing to do with the link between the brothers. 

“You did not actually follow me,” Edmund said, as he understood. “You wanted some air too, wanted to be a free wolf for a night, and came to this spot because it is the best. You never normally do. You’re always the perfect Prince. All these princely duties fit you like a glove. You usually hate being a wolf, you think it is too bestial. You always know what to say and how to act. So what is up?”

“Did you forget Princess Eleanor Cordova of the Ivory Kingdom, my future mate, is coming tomorrow?” said William, his tone nervous.

At Edmund’s blank look, William rolled his eyes.

“Of course you did,” William sighed. “Well, you better not stay here too late and get a good night's sleep.”

“She is your fiance, not mine. Who cares about some random female? Do you even like her?”

William narrowed his eyes. He might be smaller than Edmund, but he was so serious that he looked somehow menacing.

“Princess Eleanor might be my fiance, but one day, she will be your queen, the Luna of your pack. And I heard she can be quite demanding. Everything needs to be perfect tomorrow, or my mating, and our alliance with the Kingdom of Ivory, might never happen. Just imagine how Father would react.”