SENSING THE ANGRY Alpha Wolf, the Earl Delta Captain fell to his knees with his head lowered till it was touching the floor.

"Forgive me for speaking out of turn, Alpha," Samuel rushed out.

Knowing that Hunter was certainly going to behead Samuel for his mistake, Darius quickly took back control. Hunter let out growls of displeasure in Darius' head.

"Your deployment to the border was cancelled for Ophelia's sake. Seeing how loyal you are to her, I understood that you might help her adapt here faster.

"But this gives you no right to dictate what I do with my mate," the Alpha King said sternly.

"I apologize, Alpha. I was only being concerned," the Earl Delta Captain pleaded again as he lifted his head but kept kneeling.

Just then, Noriel's voice filtered into Darius' mind.

"Alpha, the court officials have all already gone to the Royal court even before I could send the invite notes. They are impatiently waiting for you."

The Alpha King rubbed his forehead. "Take her to Delphi and carefully handpick the ladies in waiting and Earl Deltas who will stay by her side.

These few months will be critical because there will be a lot of attempts at her life. Some will be from the court members and some threatened Royals while others may come from the Queen Mother herself.

"Be observant and pre-check anything she eats or drinks. If anything goes wrong, even the lives of your entire family won't be enough to atone for it."

" I understand, Alpha. Thank you for giving me another chance to prove myself," Samuel responded, still in his bowed state.

Giving Ophelia one last look, Darius clenched his fists and left the room with his Earl Deltas trailing behind him.

He took the elevator up to the highest level of Othwyn.

While on the way, try as he might not to, Darius could only think of Ophelia. His soulmate and the person who he had hurt the most in his life.

He had wronged her so much and he knew he was going to wrong her even more but he couldn't afford to go soft. Her life depended on how he treated her.

The person he had to be most wary of was his mother. Although she made it seem like she had decided to spare Ophelia, Darius knew it wasn't true.

The Queen Mother was many things but forgiving, especially when it involved the Monroe family.

It would only be a matter of time before she reached the height of her tolerance and the Alpha King could only hope that by then, the Earl Delta would be prepared.

A SUDDEN SHIVER jerked Ophelia into consciousness. She felt too cold and weak. She opened her eyes to find herself in an unfamiliar room.

She pulled herself into a sitting position and then looked around. She was laying on a queen bed with a deep red and gold duvet covering her.

Beside the bed was a dark brown table with a full bottle of water on it. The walls were painted in pale pink acrylic paint.

A long red lounge couch was right opposite the bed with an open book thrown across it. The dark brown door was located all the way across the room.

The room looked quite simple yet quite elegant. Ophelia tried to remember how she got there and suddenly, it clicked.

Her eyes quickly went to her right hand where the dreadful bracelet laid on her wrist.

It had a shiny black stone at the centre and she turned the back to find that it had no clasp, almost like it was either glued together or made that way. Somehow, it was made to fit her wrist because she couldn't take it off.

Ophelia stood up from the bed, determined to find someone and get some answers. Once her legs touched the cold tiled floor, she stumbled and hit her side.

"Ow!" she winced, rubbing her side to ease the pain. The bottle of water had fallen to the floor.

Hearing the noise, the door was immediately opened and two women rushed in.

"Are you alright, Your Highness?!" one of them asked with concern in her eyes. She had reddish brown hair and eyes that were almost red.

Ophelia looked back to see if there was anyone else in the room besides her. When she found no one, she looked back to the two women.

"You're talking to me?" Ophelia asked, pointing to herself.

"Yes, Your Highness. Did you hurt yourself?" the same woman asked.

With furrowed brows, Ophelia wondered if it was possible to pass out and wake up a Royal. Wasn't fairy tales supposed to be impossible?

"Why do you call me 'Your Highness'?" Ophelia asked genuinely lost. It seemed like ever since she got kidnapped, all she ever felt was lost.

The two women shared similar looks of confusion.

"Did you not receive the edict, Your Highness?" the other woman asked. She had raven black hair.

Ophelia shook her head. "I didn't. But first things first, what is an edict? Also, can you drop the whole 'Your Highness' thing?"

The two women's eyes widened at the same time as if Ophelia had said a forbidden word.

"I'm sorry, Your Highness, but we can't address you as anything other than that title," the first woman said.

"The Alpha King's edict is the Royal order from the Alpha King himself, and must be followed without question. It cannot be disobeyed or returned unless the Alpha King takes it back," the second woman said.

"Right... Okay, so why would Darius ask you to call me that? Isn't he supposed to despise me?" Ophelia asked, confused.

Once again, both women's eyes widened. Ophelia wondered if they were long lost twins or something.

"You call the Alpha by his name?" the second woman asked.

"Yes?" Ophelia responded but it came out like a question.

"But only the Queen Mother, and the rest of the Alpha's family as well as the Luna can call the Alpha by his name," the second woman said again.

Ophelia wanted to tell them that she was Darius' mate but held her tongue. She would do better off being just her.

The Alpha King had shown her just how much she meant to him and she never wanted to be associated with him ever again.

{•}

Thank you for reading.