"ANY NEWS FROM the Storm Forest Pack?" The Alpha King asked, his eyes not leaving the couch where his mate's scent was strongest.

"Alpha Jackson already sent some of his Deltas to search the city but until now, they have found nothing," the Earl Delta Captain replied.

"And the reinforcements from the Capital?"

Samuel shook his head. "As Duke Beta Noriel was kidnapped too, no one knows where he kept the military deployment token. Except you and Duke Beta Noriel, no one can deploy the royal army."

Darius frowned. After his father's death, he destroyed all the deployment tokens possessed by the Viscount Epsilons.

The only person who had a deployment token was him and he gave it to Noriel before leaving Montana.

All he wanted was for no one else to have the chance to use the Royal Army for his own benefit. It never occurred to him that his decisions would someday backfire.

Just then, the Alpha King heard a knock on the door and a Earl Delta walked in.

"Alpha." He bowed. "The staff informed us that the head chef killed himself about a while ago.

"The rest of the staff in the kitchen claimed to know nothing about it. We are still interrogating them one by one but so far, we have nothing. "

Darius fisted his hands, resisting the urge to punch something. "Anything from the people following Efrain?"

"Thetas from the Storm Forest Pack went to the Governor's mansion and found out that two days ago, he had already taken his wife and daughter out of the country. We also lost sight of the Governor," the Earl Delta said.

The Alpha King turned to the Earl Delta Captain who responded; "His wife and child are in Italy, Alpha."

Governor Efrain's biggest mistake was underestimating the extent of Darius' power.

"Contact Captain Sergio, to find out from the Marquee Gammas below him what pack region they are in and have the pack Alpha of that region take them into custody. They are not to be harmed in any way unless I give the order," Darius ordered.

Being assigned to a pack of a region in a country, a Marquee Gamma served as a messenger and enforcer for the Alpha King.

"Noted, Alpha!" Samuel bowed and turned with the other Delta when Darius called him back.

"Take him with you," the King said as he pointed to Keano.

With a nod, the Captain lifted Keano off the ground, placed him on his shoulder, and left the room.

Now alone in the room, Darius walked to the bed where Ophelia's shirt was carelessly thrown near the bed head.

Sitting on the bed, the Alpha King picked up the shirt and brought it up to his nose. He took a long deep sniff, letting the sweet scent of wild berries fill his nose.

No matter how much he wanted to go on a rampage and kill everyone involved until he found his mate, Darius knew he had to be level-headed in order to think clearly.

Any mistake on his part, could result in something bad happening to his mate and he didn't want that to happen.

Not after searching, and waiting, almost his entire life for her.

Still holding the white shirt in one hand, Darius reached into the pocket of his grey sweatpants with his free hand and grabbed his phone. He dialled a number and put the phone on loudspeaker.

"Mr President," Darius greeted.

"King Darius," the President's gruff voice greeted back. "I already know what Efrain has done. Rest assured, we will give you a worthy enough explanation.

"I have my people on his tail at the moment and once he's found, he'll be handed over to you to be punished as you please."

"My apologies, but until my mate is found, I can't sincerely accept your kindness. My mate was kidnapped in your country and the act was presided over by a governor under you.

"His life and the lives of everyone in this state will certainly not be enough to compensate for it if my mate isn't found."

"I understand, King Darius. The disappearance of the Luna Queen is my fault. I promise that every security force in New York City and the neighbouring states is on this case.

"Whatever is demanded by the kidnappers will be settled by the government of the United States," The President responded, his voice stern but pleading, and the Alpha King knew then that he wanted to avoid a war by all means.

"I appreciate that you are taking responsibility and I recognise your efforts. I will remember it in the future," Darius said sincerely.

Darius heard the President release a breath of relief. "Thank you, King Darius."

With that said, the line went dead as the King hung up, but suddenly, as if on cue, his phone rang.

Seeing that it was an unknown number, he quickly mindlinked the Captain to track the number, in case it was the captors. At first, Darius only heard tapping when he picked up the call, until a male's voice filtered through.

"Hello, Alpha King Darius."

With a growl, Darius knew who it was, after all, he could recognise that voice from anywhere. "Cut to the chase and tell me what you want, Gabriel!"

The person burst into laughter. "Aren't you even the tiniest bit surprised that I'm still alive?"

"You aren't that smart to successfully fake your death. I knew all along that you were still alive.

"But, I had assumed that you would be smart enough to stay hidden and not try anything stupid. But I guess I thought too highly of you." The Alpha King said with a scoff.

Gabriel chuckled. "And, that's why you've always been the smartest one of us three, little brother."

IT HAD BEEN about two hours since Ophelia found out that she was pregnant but she was already extremely protective of her unborn child.

She didn't know how she would do it but all she knew was that she would make sure her child would be born safely.

Noriel had explained to Ophelia why her child formed quickly. Once again, it was all thanks to Darius belonging to the highest ranking of the Werewolf society.

But regardless of how her baby was made, Ophelia knew she would give it all the love her heart could carry. She would never be like her mother.

Her unborn child was quickly becoming the ray of hope in her life and she would rather eliminate everyone than let that light fade.

Ophelia touched her stomach with a smile on her face. She hoped her child would have Darius' green eyes and black hair.

She would love it if her child would take everything from Darius, and hoped that her child would get nothing from the Monroe family.

{•}

Thank you for reading.