Chapter 247: Chapter 247

247 Chapter 247 : Find your next alpha

Melissa who was just from seeing Janis off, spotted her nephew Zhelimir standing in the hallway looking like he was deep in thought. She hoped him and Eira had not had another argument, their last falling out lasted a significant number of days, and everyone worried that they would never make up.

“Zhel?” Melissa put on a friendly smile and walked up to the young man who had turned to face her and was bowing slightly.

“Good afternoon aunt Melissa, you look well.”

“I wish I could say the same for you,” Melissa responded. “What seems to be troubling you? Please don’t tell me you and Eira have had another falling out?”

“Oh no nothing like that.” Zhelimir’s tone of voice was a bit jittery indicating that there indeed was something worrying him, but Melissa had just guessed it wrong.

“Then what’s got you looking so troubled? Did you come to see your cousin? Sorry if you missed her dear, she’s been so up and about lately that one would think she has gotten herself a boyfriend, she doesn’t want to open up to me of course.” A bright smile tugged Melissa’s lips when an idea materialized within her mind. “I’m sure she tells you things like these all the time though, doesn’t she Zhelimir? I mean you are her best friend after all.”

“Well I.. I mean ‘best friend’ is a bit of a stretch aunt Melissa,” the blonde responded nervously. “She tells me whatever she feels like telling me, but she most definitely hasn’t told me about a boyfriend.”

“Hmm.. well I hope she’s not wondering off into the forest again.”

Zhelimir fought the urge to show guilt, but it seemed his efforts were futile because Melissa raised her eyebrow skeptically. “Zhelimir I sincerely hope you’re not egging her on either, you know her father would be furious if he found out.”

.....

“She isn’t going into the forest I assure you that aunt Melissa, I think she’s just tired of being cooped up in the palace all the time. As a matter of fact, she told me she’s trying to make new friends.”

The nosferatu queen’s facial expression softened into a small smile. “She’s making friends?” A sigh of relief escaped the woman’s mouth which didn’t surprise Zhel at all. Eira was very introverted, a trait that only intensified because of her father’s overprotective ways.

“I hope I’ll be able to meet them one day. I realize she has Janis and Isabella, but she barely spends any time with them.” The redhead muttered.

“I’m sure when she’s ready she will open up to you about her new friend.” Zhelimir was actually hoping Eira would open up to her mother about what was going on, keeping all of it a secret was going to get to him, he could feel it. He turned to the queen and gave her another bow, “I should be going now, I will come over again later to see if Eira will have returned.” He definitely would come over and check on his cousin, she had gone to see a man she had only encountered twice in the middle of the forest. It was a reckless move even if she claimed her and the man shared some sort of connection.

“You’re welcome here anytime darling,” Melissa waved the young man goodbye. “I’ll add you a plate at the dinner table.”

*

The lycans who were gathered at the table all had very indifferent looks in their faces, they understood that their leader missed his son, and that grieving for your only child never truly ends, but after seventeen years it was absurd for him to say his son was still alive because his wife simply had a ‘feeling’.

“Alpha Edron with all due respect,” one of the councilmen spoke. “And I think I speak for us all when I say this, but it’s been seventeen years since we lost Elric. What are the odds that he is out there just wondering around finding mates?”

“Councilman are you trying to say that your Luna is wrong, and my son is long dead?”

“What I’m trying to say alpha,” the lycan responded, his voice a little more subdued this time because he could tell their leader was slowly getting irritated. “Even if your son is alive somewhere, if he wanted to be found don’t you think we would have found him by now?”

There were nods here and there at the table, none of them were willing to go on a wild goose chase to look for a man who was either dead or didn’t want to be found.

“What I’m telling you is an order not a suggestion, we are going to find my son wether you or he, likes it or not... we are going to find your next alpha.”

*

The next few minutes were a little awkward. All Eira and Elric did was sip tea while avoiding looking at each other. Eira had always liked to be alone or to sit quietly with her thoughts, but this time the silence was a little too loud.

Elric too had become very accustomed to being surrounded by nothing but silence, but he was feeling uncomfortable sitting across the redhead and not knowing what to say. She had asked him a personal question that he had avoided, and that was the beginning of the end of their conversation, until there was nothing left but deafening silence.

“I’m sorry I asked..”

The lycan looked up from his cup of tea that he had barely been drinking and shifted his gaze to the young woman sitting across from him. Her face was still turned away but he could clearly see and take in every detail of it. Could he be blamed for thinking he was cursed, why is it the woman sitting in front of him asking him ‘who hurt him’ was almost a replica of the same person who hurt him?

“What are you apologizing for princess? Finally realized that you talk a little too much for your own good?”

“Well now I take my apology back,” Eira responded in a snarky tone. “I was actually feeling a little bad for prying into your private matters but I just remembered how much of a prick you can be sometimes.”

“If I’m that much of a prick why is this the fourth encounter we’ve had, two of which you’ve initiated?”

Eira put down her cup and glared at the man, “you know something, I have been asking myself that very question, I don’t know why I even bother.” She stood up and creased down her dress. “Clearly whatever mystical connection we had, if at all it ever existed, is no longer there.”

“Maybe...” Elric responded smugly and sipped more of his tea.

“Well then, it was nice knowing you..”

“Is that what you say to your shoes each time you leave the house?”

The redhead looked down at her bare feet and blushed. “You’re the worst!” And with the snap of a finger, Eira teleported away.

The lycan put down his cup of tea and sighed in exhaustion. Unknown to the red haired princess, he was going through a rather frustrating internal battle. On one hand he very much enjoyed Eira’s presence, but on the other hand he was afraid, afraid that what happened to him all those years back would repeat itself, he did not have the mental constitution to handle something like that again.

The lycan was stuck in this vicious cycle of constantly trying to pull her close but also pushing her away. It also didn’t help that Eira looked so much like Melissa.

*

When Eira arrived at her room, an unexpected hand landed on her shoulder that made her heart leap a little.

“Zhelimir, I’m sorry I-” when the redhead turned around she was surprised to see that it was not her cousin who was standing by her side, but instead it was Jacob.

“Jacob, what are you doing in my room?”

The elf retracted his arm and took a step back, he took notice of how subtly dressed up Eira was, and how the smell of her perfume was even more prominent today. Had she done all of this for whoever she had gone to see?

“I just wanted to check in with you,” Jacob responded. “Your mother let me in, I’m sorry to have intruded.”

Eira shook her head and gave the dark haired elf a smile. “No it’s alright, I just didn’t expect you here is all.”

“You were expecting to see Zhelimir?”

Eira nodded, “he and I were supposed to meet so I thought he would be here.”

“What were you apologizing for?”

The princess flattered her eyelashes in confusion. “What do you mean?”

“When you came in, the first thing you said was ‘Zhelimir I’m sorry’.. what are you being sorry about?

The red head shook her head and made her way to sit on her bed. “Like I said, we were supposed to meet but I lost track of time. Hence my apology.”

“I see,” Jacob responded, he walked to the sofa adjacent to the woman’s bed and sat down as well. “Eira I wish to speak with you about something, something very important that I’ve kept locked away for years, but I think it’s about time you knew.”

The young woman looked up at Jacob, her eyes narrowed and full of skepticism. “What is it Jacob?”

“Eira, I am asking for your permission to court you.”