The Prince’s Unwilling mate by Mutya

099 Griffin

By the tI finally could go to bed, | was exhausted, and I still didn’t have an appetites Desperately wanting to

feel closer to Ayla | decided to just go to sleep in the bed that still vaguely smells of her. When | find one of my

shirts she wore to bed the last night we were together under her pillows | slip into it. Normally | would sleep

topless but, having her scent envelopis the most calming thing forat this moment. | allow myself to

close my eyes and imagine she is peacefully sleeping next to me. | know this will alone causemore pain in

the morning. But for now, I let it lullinto a peaceful sleep.

ork

The next morning | woke up after a fitful sleep. Wearing a shirt that smelled of her helpedfall asleep

peacefully. However, | should have known that it would never be enough to actually have a peaceful night. Even

my subconscious misses the feeling of her in my arms when | am sleeping. | needed to get up though, we would

travel to the White Oak pack shortly. After the announcement on the website, | let the pack know we were still

actively searching for their Princess.

And after yesterday's hiccup, we now truly had the support of the entire pack and it meant the world to me. Not

only because it would make my life, and my mission to get the love of my life back toso much easier. No, |

wanted Ayla to have a warm, loving pack. That missed her, that believed her and fought for her to go htoo.

Being without our mates

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even without having completed the process was painful for any wolf. We had always managed to take the edge

off with texting every day. Making sure we were surrounded by each other's scent. | highly doubt David. would

allow her any of those.

That's the dark place my mind keeps going back to. Trying to imagine what he is doing to her. How he is trying to

break her because | know from my own experience just how strong she is. And just how stubborn she is, she will

keep fighting him if not physically she will fight him mentally. | wish | could tell her to just go along with

everything he is coming up with. That | would never blher for acting like she prefers him over me. | know it

is not true but, if that is what is going to keep her safe she should do it. Just hold out long enough forto

cand save her. Sadly | cannot reach her and she will be too stubborn, she lovestoo much to speak badly

about me.

With a body that feels like it's been run over by a tow truck, | shuffle towards the bathroom. Hoping that a hot

shower will release sof the tension in my body. | feel like | have to be ready for anything, every second of

the day now. So my body has been tensed up ever since reading that letter. Ready to pounce on whoever | need

to pounce on. And it made my muscles sore, of course, the lack of nutrition doesn’t help either. But how could |

be stuffing my face when | am not sure that Ayla even gets to eat anything?

When | walk out of the shower Mom is waiting for me, a plate of scrambled eggs with bacon sits on my dining

room table next to a mug of coffee.

“Honey, | know you don’t want to but you need to eat something. The

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only way we are getting your mate back is by keeping our strengths up. You know Ayla would never want you to

starve yourself” She adds the last words in a gentler tone.

She is right, | can practically hear Ayla scoldfor not taking care of myself. It feels like nobody gets it though.

Nobody seems to understand how much the simplest things like eating or even breathing feel without her. No

one in my family or pack has ever been through something like this. So there is nobody here | can talk to.

“I know Mom, | just miss her so much that it hurts me” | can barely hold in my sobs.

Suddenly Mom's arms are around me, it feels so comforting. Like it did when | was a little pup crying over a

scraped knee or a missing toy. Only now | was an adult, set to take over the throne in a few years. And now it

was my heart that was hurting and I lost my mate, not my favorite toy So Mom's hugs could only go so far. Still,

it comfortedenough to attempt to eat breakfast. My mouth felt dry, and my throat was swollen. | had trouble

with every bite | swallowed down. Feeling like the bit of fluffy eggs got lodged in my throat.

Two hours later | sat in the royal jet, heading towards the White Oak pack once more. Next towas an empty

chair, the chair where Ayla should have been seated. | should be flying to the White Oak pack not because |

needed to find out what happened to her. No, we needed to be

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going there together to visit her family. Maybe even to go over to bring them sgood news.

Still, 1 was glad to be out of the castle, looking for hints here would feel so much better than just sitting at home.

Staring at words or images on a computer screen to try and get more information. After landing we would go

straight to the packhouse to speak with Alpha Cedric and the rest of his family, he was heartbroken about the

news too. But as the Alpha, he couldn't just cover to the castle and leave the pack without a leader. More so

because the kidnapping had taken place on his packground. Indicating a breach of security, something he had to

look into. Both to keep the rest of the pack safe and to see if there are any hints to find out what happened to

Ayla.

After we arrived we did as we planned, we spoke to Alpha Cedric and he had snews for us. Since it had been

peace among

the neighboring packs for so long there wasn’t any security around the borders of the pack apart from the

guards station at the entrance. With the party and how well-loved Ayla was in this pack. almost everyone had

attended the party so security was at an all-tlow.

Sof the security cameras on the property had managed to capture three unknown wolves. He had also been

able to track most of Ayla’s route home, not all of it as the security cameras where put into place to protect the

heart of the pack better. And to possibly form evidence if there ever was a fight between pack members.

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It was better than nothing though because it meant there was a set path Ayla had taken to her home. With our

combined force we would research every inch of said path to look for traces or hints of what had happened to

her. Agreeing with the rest of us that the Blood Moon pack had to be involved. David more specifically, Cedric

asked everyone to look at the wolves on the camera. Hopefully one of the former Blood Moon members could

confirm who it was. The council had already agreed with us that we had more than enough evidence to act on

our suspicions that it was David who kidnapped my mate.

So we didn’t need to know who kidnapped her to be able to act upon it. It was still valuable information. We

could maybe use it to put spressure on the kidnapper hoping they would crumble underneath the weight of

it. Confessing and pointing us out to Ayla in return for a lesser

sentence.

Upon seeing the security camera footage both Jessa and Dan jumped up stating they knew who the wolf on the

screen was. But | noticed. something else as | closely monitored the videos for any lead that could bring Ayla

back to me.

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