OPHELIA TURNED HER head to face Noriel who was seated against the wall on the left.

With his eyes closed, and frown lines appearing on his forehead, Ophelia knew he was worried about how to keep them safe.

"We need to get out of here, Noriel," she said, breaking the silence in the room.

Noriel opened his eyes and sat up, carefully laying his injured leg on the ground. He had wrapped it up a while ago.

"I can't tell how many guards there are outside. I don't know where we are or how far we are from Montana or New York. The walls are too thick for me to hear from outside.

Breaking out would be a bad idea since we don't know what to expect once we are out of his room," Noriel illustrated, strengthening Ophelia's worries.

"So what do we do? Just sit ducks and wait for a miracle?" Ophelia asked in disbelief. She didn't mean to sound snappy but she was getting anxious.

Noriel didn't seem to mind her tone. "We can only wait for the Alpha and try to find out as much as we can about the mastermind. Once we know what we are dealing with, we might just be able to find a way out."

Ophelia narrowed her brows, confused about what he was trying to tell her. "What's to say we'll be alive when Darius eventually comes? You heard the scary man, they intend to kill my child!"

"Even at the cost of my life, I will keep you and the Royal heir safe," Noriel swore just as the door opened.

The sound of the door stunned Ophelia a bit. She stood up after Noriel, not wanting to be caught in a compromising position.

Like before, Noriel pulled her behind him. She stayed there but kept her unwavering eyes on the approaching persons.

It was the scary man but this time, he was accompanied by another man whose green eyes were terrifyingly familiar. He smelt a lot different from the scary man and more like Noriel. He was a wolf.

"Prince Gabriel?" Noriel called out in surprise.

The man, Prince Gabriel, smirked. "In the flesh, Nory. Now that is the reaction I hoped for."

"Don't call me that!" Noriel snapped with a growl.

"You weren't against me calling you that before," Prince Gabriel said.

"That was before you became a traitor to the kingdom. It wasn't enough that you collaborated with the witches to kill the late Alpha King.

"You were also stupid enough to even try to overthrow the current King. As a member of the Royal bloodline, how would you face your ancestors on the other side?" Noriel asked, not bothering to hide the disgust in his tone.

"I only wanted to take what was rightfully supposed to be mine. After all, as the first child of the Alpha King, the Kingdom should have been mine!" Prince Gabriel growled.

Noriel scoffed. "Have you ever wondered why Alpha Darius was preferred over you for the choice of Crown Prince?"

"He was obviously favoured by our father because his mother was our father's true mate," Prince Gabriel said and Ophelia could almost see envy coating his words.

"Wrong! Alpha Darius was made King because he had the interest of the people at heart. You, on the other hand, only cared about power and wealth." Noriel chuckled.

"And you thought it was because he was favoured by the late King. No wonder you could never beat Alpha Darius even though you are his older brother."

Prince Gabriel's face went red in anger. As he glowered at Noriel with his fists tightly clenched beside him.

Hearing their conversation, certain things now made sense.

One, Prince Gabriel was Darius' older brother who betrayed the Werewolf community by allying with witches to kill his own father in order to to usurp the throne. And two, he tried to take the throne from Darius.

Knowing all this, made Ophelia even more cautious of him. Although the scary man was huge and frightening, Ophelia somehow knew to be wary of Prince Gabriel.

"Just you watch, Noriel, I will make you eat your words, once all the plans that I have laid out come into play!" Prince Gabriel said after some time.

Then, he began to laugh by himself and Ophelia wondered what could have amused him. However, she didn't have to wonder for too long.

"Oh, Noriel, I see what you are trying to do. You want to keep the attention away from my brother's pretty little mate, don't you?"

"Stay away from her, Prince Gabriel!" Noriel warned.

Prince Gabriel tsked. "I don't want to hurt the little redhead but unfortunately, her mate isn't being too cooperative. He refused to hand over the Alpha King's seal of command. "

"Are you crazy? The Alpha would never give that to you. Giving you the Seal of command is like basically handing the kingdom over to you," Noriel fired back.

Prince Gabriel smirked. "Yes, indeed I'm quite crazy for demanding back what was taken from me.

"But my sanity shouldn't be the matter. What's important should be the fact that no matter if my dearest younger brother gives up the Seal or not, I will still end up winning in the end."

"What do you mean?" Noriel asked the same question brewing in Ophelia's mind.

"No matter how dire the situation is, the Alpha King would need the approval of at least ten court members to utilise the power of the seal.

"And even if she's the true mate of the King, there is no way that the court members would agree for the King to simply give out such a powerful tool to the enemy all because of a woman.

"And, if my dearest younger brother is desperate enough to even try to take the seal without the knowledge of the court, he would evoke the wrath of the members against him for risking the safety of the kingdom.

"Then the court will deem him unworthy to rule the werewolf kingdom, and hand over the kingdom to our youngest brother who would be much easier to take out by my own hands.

"Or maybe a different turn of events could occur, and by some luck, Darius actually ends up finding this location.

"Having that knowledge, he'll waste no time and come running in order to save this little redhead without bringing the seal. But sadly and unfortunately for him, his mate will already be dead before he gets close.

"With his mate's death by his actions, Darius would then turn feral, leaving the kingdom once again to our youngest brother who again would be easier to dispose of than Darius," Prince Gabriel carefully explained with an evil glint in his eyes.

At the end of his explanation, Ophelia realised that Noriel was right, only Darius could save them now. But she also knew that even Darius might also be in a difficult position that could end up killing her as well.

{•}

Thank you for reading.