Chapter 131

131 Chapter One Hundred Thirty One

Crysta, back in her winning mood, was back with her goals in sight. Katie ran with Cole, a sight she found revolting. For as long as she could remember, she’d been smitten with the Royal since she’d set her eyes on him. She could almost feel the presence of a mate bond between the two of them even though it was not there.

When she’d found out about the death of the princess of Sirius when she was only an infant, she’d (regretfully) felt overjoyed by the news. Fantasies of helping the royal forget his shattered destiny dominated her mind and she’d groomed herself for this exact purpose.

She’d rejected every boy that had ever tried to lay her hands on her through the years and now that she was supposed to be with him, he stood with someone claiming to be Princess Katie. It was unacceptable and the sight of the girl disgusted her to the core. The Sirius pack had spent a long time getting over the loss of the princess and had finally moved on, ‘We don’t need the ghosts of the past or at least ghostly apparitions coming back to haunt us... I’ll show everyone that you aren’t who you say you are. Hang in there, Cole, my dear. I’ll break whatever spell she has on you soon enough,’ she thought.

Crysta had fled the party the night before with her plans thwarted and having received the visual of the couple dancing within each other’s arms. It only helped fuel her anger towards the couple. She wanted Katie gone and that was exactly what she was going to do.

“Oh, is the cripple trying to join us in training as well... That’s going to be interesting,” she started, reaching the group that jogged around Katie. Prince Drake had also fallen for the girl’s trickery. He grew quiet when the girl announced her presence. Bree and Ginger ran beside her, keeping the pace quite easily as they caught up with this group.

“I didn’t know you were the one to reject one of your own, Crysta,” Drake commented, drawing the girl’s attention away from Katie.

“What makes you think ‘this one’ is one of us?” the girl spoke with disgust in her tone.

“Where is the doubt?”

“Werewolves are strong, Drake. She’s... well, she’s a cripple who’s only learned how to walk. I would be surprised if she’s got some fight in her at all,” the girl argued, “Just look at the pace you’re using. I could sleep for a day and still catch up to you.”

.....

Drake, who had seen the girl in action only a week ago, cringed at the inaccuracy contained in her information, “Take those words back...” Cole was the one to react this time.

“Oh, Cole darling, you noticed I was here... And you haven’t even greeted me yet,” the girl’s voice went soft at the mention of Cole. She flashed her pearly whites at the Royal who returned a nervous one.

“Cole, how far to wherever it is that we are going?”

“I will not be telling you that...” this was all Cole had to say to get the girl running faster.

“Try to keep up, Cole,” she called back.

“Wait, you shouldn’t push yourself so much. What if...”

“I have to know just how much I have achieved in recovery. I can’t do that at this pace, Cole, please,” she called backpedalling so that they faced each other when they spoke. Crysta hid the frustration of seeing the girl take the pace so easily as well as the nerve to ignore her while she spoke.

Cole sighed, seeing the logic behind the girl’s logic, “Very well, but the moment you feel as much as an itch, you stop for a rest... You’ve got to promise me on that...”

“Promise... Thanks,” she replied, placing a quick peck on the alpha’s cheek, “Come on, Sandra. No slacking.”

“Why is it called slacking when I do it and not when you do it?” Sandra complained, speeding up to catch up with Katie as she quickly put a distance between herself and the group they’d been running with.

After a few moments, the two had vanished as the forest obscured them from vision. Cole could still tell how close they were even though they started to get out of earshot. ‘The perks of being a werewolf and having a mate whose scent is the easiest thing to discern,’ the man thought proudly to himself before getting serious about the Beta’s daughter that had somehow made her way beside him.

“You don’t really believe that she’s...”

“Yes, Crysta. I do... I know what I feel, okay. Just drop this act before you get embarrassed,” Cole snapped at the girl. Jason and Caden looked at the two in shock...

“Do you guys know each other?” Jason asked.

“Last night, while I slept, I remembered someone who always offered me water and encouragement when I was going for the games,” Cole confessed with a sigh.

“Now that wasn’t so hard, was it? Drop the act, Cole. You...”

“Remember a girl that was kind and fun to talk to. What happened to you, Crysta? Make one more mistake, Crysta. I won’t be so lenient,” he cut her off, taking on an angrier tone, “Katie’s been through enough already. You shouldn’t be part of the rest of her burden.”

“I don’t know what she has done to your head, but I won’t stop until I prove she isn’t who she says she is,” Crysta returned mirroring the royal’s anger before running off in pursuit of Katie with Bree and Ginger in tow.

“Caden, Jason, keep an eye on Crysta for me, just for now. In case she does something stupid,” he said to his two best friends.

“Yes, Alpha Cole,” they both replied in unison, their eyes flashing brighter as they took in the command. This, however, went unnoticed and the two royals watched as the males sped ahead at inhuman speeds.

Cole sighed... he was finally alone with Drake, something that he was aiming for. He hadn’t spoken to his royal counterpart in a long time. The two of them were destined to take over the Royal Werewolf families in a few years’ time. A friendship between the two of them was all but inevitable, considering, no one else in the world understood what they went through.

“Long time since we had a heart to heart,” Drake started.

“And now is the time that you want to start?” Cole asked.

“That depends... Do you want to talk about it? Your father...” Drake asked him. Cole’s eyes widened when he heard the words leave the prince’s mouth. No one had reason to come to a question such as that one and yet here he was being questioned about him.

“No, I don’t want to talk about it... and I’d be happy if you didn’t either,” Cole warned Drake. Drake raised his hands up in mock surrender.

“Don’t look at me like that. My lips are sealed. Can we get back to jogging now, please?” Just then, the loud laboured breathing of someone who was exhausted reached their ears. There weren’t supposed to be humans this deep into the forest in case there were wild animals in the area. Upon straining their ears, they found that the panting was coming from someone ahead of them.

Rounding a tree, they found a girl dressed in a sports bra panting heavily whilst leaning against the tree. Her breath was laboured and she barely had the energy to open her eyes. When she did, the Royals breathed out in relief upon noticing her yellow eyes, “Someone’s heavily winded. Long time no see, Honour.”

“Long time... no... see, Your highness. How is Lina so freakin... fast?” the girl replied between breaths.

“I would advise against trying to keep up with Lina. She’s a Royal and none of us know why or how she keeps getting faster. How did you end up...”

The girl understood the context of the question, “I was running and Lina found me. She wanted me to ‘push past my limits,'” Honour replied, making air quotes with her fingers, allowing herself to fall to the ground on her knees. She was heavily winded, “That girl probably has an engine for a heart. She was barely winded by the time I ran out of energy.”

“You’re not particularly strong yourself,” Drake replied, offering her his hand to take, “Come on... You could try running at our pace. You’ll get there earlier and won’t have to take one of Jackson’s punishment drills.”

Groaning loudly, the girl took the man’s hand and got up to her feet. She staggered, prompting Drake into holding her steady with one arm on her back, “Are you okay?”

“I woke up early and started this run so that I’d survive Jackson’s drills just this once. I don’t know if I’ll be able to make it,” she confessed with a sigh, her breath getting slightly more even.

“Ahem... and this is...” Cole interrupted.

“Meet Honour... Lina’s best friend, if I have my notes right. The two of them always wander off and spend a lot of time in her mother’s flower shop when Lina is not training or finding some other way to get into trouble,” Drake explained.

“Lina is getting smitten with that actor, Jack Boggle. Ever since she got his contact, they’ve been communicating a lot and she gets to watch enough of the series before it’s even released. So I wouldn’t say she’s going to get into any more trouble just yet,” Honour chuckled.

“We better get going if you’re to make it,” Drake warned, noticing light starting to seep through the canopies. They were expected to reach the training grounds before the first streaks of sunlight. Far before sunrise... they were running out of time.

They started the jog to the training grounds then and when Drake grew worried for the girl, he offered her a ride. As a Royal, his clothes remained intact when he shifted back and forth unlike normal werewolves and Betas. This ability was only reserved for alphas and Royals and that’s what allowed them to get away with this one white lie...