Chapter 13: 13: Chapter 13

LEAH

Already after a few steps into the tunnel, I regret it. I stop abruptly, which makes Boris stumble into me.

“Wait, maybe we should turn around…,” I begin. I have promised Ares to be more careful, and here I am entering a new potentially dangerous situation.

“Okay, I’ll call for reinforcements,” Boris replies quickly, turning his gaze away as he stares into nothingness. “What the hell…? I can’t mind-link anyone,” he says.

What? I immediately try to reach Ares through our link but am unsuccessful.

“Shit, okay, we should turn back, right?” I look up at Boris, who looks uncertain about what to do when we suddenly hear John’s voice calling my name again.

Boris and I turn to face the sound. It is strange to hear someone else utter my first name when only Ares is allowed to do so. This leads me to believe that he is desperate and in more danger than we first thought. We give each other a knowing look before we both start running in the direction of the voice.

The air is humid in the tunnel, and all the light we have comes from Boris’s hand flashlight. We run for what feels like an eternity. I call out John’s name but get no answer. Suddenly, Boris stops abruptly; he needs to grab my upper body so I don’t fall right over him. He holds his finger in front of his mouth to signal me to be quiet. I stand still, my heartbeat thundering in my ears as I look at Boris, who stands like he is listening to something I can’t hear.

“There’s someone over there,” he whispers almost inaudibly. I focus but hear nothing, when suddenly, I see a dim light at the far end of the tunnel. I grab Boris’s arm, panicked at encountering an enemy in this narrow tunnel. We’re not exactly in a good position to fight, especially as wolves, considering how narrow the tunnel is. I’m almost certain that Boris’s wolf would get stuck if he turned here.

Boris signals me to sneak forward, so I follow him. Carefully, I place my feet in front of each other on the gravelly road as we approach the light, constantly afraid of accidentally hitting a small rock that would be kicked up against the stone wall and sound through the tunnel like an alarm.

Boris holds out a hand and I stop immediately. Farther away, we hear voices… It sounds like a woman?

“Where the hell is John?” I whisper. “And now that I think about it… Why did we hear his voice so clearly as if he were standing nearby, but now… nothing?”

Boris turns to me with wide eyes, he must have realized it himself the second I pointed it out, but he says nothing.

“Boris?” I hiss as quietly as I can, but he doesn’t react, his gaze fixed on something far behind me.

“Boris!” I whisper as loudly as I dare. When I pull him by the arm to get his attention, he collapses and falls to the floor with a loud thud. I take a few steps back with my hand covering my mouth, terrified that his fall has now notified everyone in the tunnel that we are here. I bend down and try to pull him back to his feet, but his body is too heavy. I pick up the flashlight he had in his hands and stand up.

“It’s no use, Your Majesty,” I hear a woman’s voice say from the far end of the tunnel where we saw flickers of light before. “Our little Boris here… He needs to take a little nap.”

“Who’s there?!” I position myself in front of Boris’s still body, to protect him from this person who was now approaching us. Her way of walking reminds me of someone I once knew.

The closer she gets to me, the clearer I can see her features.

“What…what are you doing here?” I say in shock as her face is completely lit up by my flashlight.

ARES

The council members leave me alone in the Oval Office after our meeting is concluded. I run my hand through my hair; the recent events have been the most stressful I’ve had to deal with in my entire government. Even the battle by Serbia’s borders was calmer. All my choices now are influenced by the fact that I must make sure Leah is safe. She is too impulsive for her own good.

I’m both proud and furious at her over the fact that she put herself in the hands of those filthy rogues to protect Maria, Mateo, and their baby.

I rise from my seat so quickly that the chair almost falls backward from the force. I start pacing angrily around the room, with thoughts of Leah in the hands of those vile rogues in my mind.

“My king,” Yusuf says as he enters the room, bowing deeply before walking up to me. “Have you given my suggestion any more thought?”

“And tell her? How am I supposed to do that?” I turn to face him. Yusuf is my most trusted council member. He has always had my best interests in mind, and I would even call him a friend.

“She deserves to know. The longer you wait, the worse it’s going to get.” Yusuf gives me a stern look. He’s older than me, I might even go so far as to say that he’s the father I wished I’d always have.

I know he’s right, I want to tell her, but I just can’t seem to do it. A couple of days ago, we got some information about who is behind all these rogue attacks. I know why they’re after Leah, she’s valuable—and not just to me.

After the attack where they got past the castle guards and almost down to the safe room that Leah was in, I decided to investigate her background. At first, it felt like I was invading her privacy, but I kept telling myself that I was doing it for her. I must keep her safe, that’s my first priority.

We didn’t find anything exciting on her mother’s side. It wasn’t until we dug up information on her father that things got interesting. It turns out that Leah’s father is a descendant of an ancient royal bloodline from South America, which means that Leah has royal blood flowing in her veins. Does she know about this? The kingdom in South America was under a brutal attack many years ago, and it was believed that the whole royal family was murdered. But somehow her father, who was only a baby at the time, must have gotten away.

The rogue groups that are wreaking havoc around the country are controlled by two individuals, one intent on finishing the job by destroying Leah, severing the bloodline that was believed to have been cut so many years ago. The other person has its sights set on me, and one way to destroy me is to destroy the one who means everything to me.

“I’m not ready to talk to her about this yet,” I finally answer Yusuf. “I have to think about how to tell her about the reasons for all the attacks. She will be devastated to hear about those behind them.”

“Hmm,” Yusuf replies hesitantly. He lets his hand slide through his sparse beard. “It’s never good to keep information away from your mate, you know that, right?”

“I know. That’s why I’ve kept our bond half closed, so she can’t snoop around inside me while I’ve been doing this.”

Yusuf gives me a judgmental look.

“I know! All right? I know. I understand that I have gone too far. I need to talk to her, and I will do it as soon as the timing is right. Okay?”

“Hm,” Yusuf snorts at me before leaving the room.

I run my hand through my hair as I stare out the window. The sun has set, and darkness has settled like a blanket over the forest.

~“Boris?”~

No response.

~“Boris, answer me,”~ I order in my alpha voice.

No response.

~“What the fuck, Boris! Where are you?!”~

The anger inside me escalates when he doesn’t respond. I try to get through the bond with Leah to get a sense of where she is, but all I get is a faint hint of fear.

Fuck!! Where the fuck are they?!