Chapter 293

293 Home Alone... and a Road Trip

The next day was as good a day as any to have a vacation. With the sun out after a whole week of rain, who wouldn’t want to have a nice day out to relax, but that wasn’t the case for the Sirius family.

“Do we all have to go?” Drake asked the king while they stood outside the trio of cars that had been assembled to transport them.

“No, we aren’t all going. I will be going personally and you will be staying behind in my place. I haven’t visited the Golden Moon Pack in a while. Sending you would make it look as though they aren’t worth my time,” the king sighed. Drake didn’t know whether to be offended or not. He’d just been told to sit this one out...

“Oh, Drake looks like he was in the need of a trip,” Lina swooned, batting her eyelashes at the man for missing out.

'

“Not quite, I’ve already been on two trips with barely time to rest in between. I would like to enjoy some time at...”

“I am not leaving you behind to relax, Drake. Honestly, you should be more exemplary to your sister as the crown prince,” the king stopped his train of thought. The prince ripped his gaze away from the gloating sister, “Perhaps you need someone to watch over you while I’m away.”

“Father, I already have alpha Jackson and Phillip to watch me. Those two will make sure there isn’t a decision that hasn’t gone through them. And they are enough to make this assignment hell,” the prince cried.

“Honour, keep him in line for me, will you?” the king turned to the girl, ignoring his plea.

“Wait, what, why me of all people?” the girl was shocked by the sudden turn of events.

.....

“Partly because I’ve reconsidered who goes and who stays. Drake was already meant to stay behind in my place. You, however, are staying behind for other reasons,” the king said, giving the prince no room for negotiation.

“Very well, your majesty. I will stay behind,” the prince replied, standing aside while the Queen, Lina and Madeline got ready to go. Just as he was getting ready to see them off, he saw Alpha Jackson approaching the cars, dressed in a suit, “What... why do you get to go?”

“Oh, I happen to be the one in charge of security, young prince. Try not to screw up anything while I’m gone,” the alpha smirked before heading to the first car in the convoy. The three of them were gone without another word.

“You’re happy you get to stay behind, aren’t you?” Honour asked the prince, narrowing her eyes at him. His act felt too flawless.

“More like I’m relieved. I went to Lycaon on one of Katie’s whims and I’d only been back from the Golden Moon pack shortly before that. I would like to relax for a little while,” the prince admitted.

“Anything you say, your highness,” Honour replied with a smirk on her face, “I just hope everything is okay when they get there. I would also like to know what reason the king has for keeping me here.”

“Oh, if the king doesn’t give a reason for you to go, then there was probably another reason why you stayed that wasn’t his opinion. I know my father well so...”

“In other words, it was my mother that told him to leave me out of this,” the girl rushed.

“Let’s not jump to conclusions, but I wouldn’t rule her out of your list of suspects,” Drake suggested.

“Very well. You will now take me to my mother and we shall question her together,” before Drake knew it, Honour was dragging him to the flower shop against his will. ‘This girl skips the whole formalities of me being a royal... I like it,’ his thoughts rang out excitedly.

And his wolf was in agreement.

..................

Walking got them to the flower shop in a much longer time than the prince would have liked, but eventually, they were there. Instead of using a car, the girl stormed off without giving Drake a chance to point out the use of a car to travel faster, “You know we could have gotten here a lot faster.”

“You royals like to flaunt around the money and power you have at your disposal. Walking is good for you. Besides, I needed the walk to think through whatever reasons my mother could have for keeping me here,” the girl replied.

“Are you saying you have an idea of her reasoning?” the prince asked her.

“Well...” the girl dragged it on while knocking at the door, “Maybe...”

The door opened only a moment after she had started knocking, “Honour, I see you stayed behind. What a coincidence! We haven’t tended to the shop in a week, love. Help me out with the flowers.”

The girl sighed upon her mother’s acting, “Your lies still need a lot of practice.” Drake was chuckling at the antics. The two females knew each other too well. He’d worried that Honour was jumping to conclusions earlier, but that wasn’t the case.

“Would you like some help?” he asked her.

“No, we’ll handle everything no problem,” Honour replied. The prince surveyed the room, taking note of the indoor wilderness that had now grown disastrously without anyone to tend to it.

“Are you sure?” the prince asked.

“If you insist, I guess I don’t mind you helping, but don’t you have more important things to do right now?” the girl asked her.

“If I get something urgent, I will be contacted. At the moment, I shall help you since you are also part of the empire. In a way, I am still doing my job,” the prince gloated. The excuse was crystal clear, but Honour was glad he wanted to help.

“Yeah, keep telling yourself that while you get to helping me prune the roses,” the girl replied with a giggle.

“Understood,” the prince bowed before getting the tools required to get the job done. Honour chuckled at his behaviour and nearly forgot she was supposed to be working as well.

“Hey, Honour, how in the world do you get through this shop? It’s like a forest in here. I know it’s a week, but this is a forest,” the man yelled from within the disaster of plant life, “Ah, roses have thorns. Whyyyy?” he screamed, albeit unharmed.

Honour bit back a laugh, “Of course, they do. Don’t you know the phrase ‘as prickly as a rose,’?” the girl asked amidst her laughter.

“No, I don’t. Why would girls fancy a plant that’s this vicious? Goddess, they are everywhere,” the man cried and hence commenced their morning of gardening.

‘I’m right here,’ the girl thought to herself, imitating the role of the goddess he’d called out to. It was the first time she’d thought of something about the role that wasn’t ominous...

‘I wonder...’

.....................

Lina enjoyed her hobby of spoiling people her age and letting Madeline watch episodes of her favourite shows on her tablet was just one way to do that.

Madeline was bored at first, but as the story behind what they were watching started to make sense to her, she started to lose all her sleep and get glued to the screen before her. ‘Mission accomplished...’

“Careful, you two. One chatterbox is enough in this family,” Queen Martha warned as she noticed a new problem blooming right in front of her.

“Oh, I beg to differ. This way, I don’t get to bother explaining all of this to you simple-minded oldies,” Lina flipped her off.

The queen’s jaw dropped at her daughter’s reply. “You walked into that one, honey,” the king rubbed his wife’s back.

“I know, my love. Though I guess I don’t have to worry about getting an earful about a human surviving the wild. I wonder where they get the rogues he fights at some point. Perhaps they use the ones the hunters have in captivity,” the queen began to question.

“Well, you’d probably know if you ever gave the man the chance to explain it all to you,” Lina interfered.

“These rogues are also acting. I doubt they have real rogues in the show,” Madeline suddenly interfered although her eyes remained pinned to the screen.

“Just when I was sure we were warding the conversation away from us, we stumble into it and in far more detail,” the king commented, breaking the awkward silence that was about to build.

“Yeah, I guess so,” Lina replied. She watched the rogues on the screen more. The words she’d heard Madeline say a moment ago reminded her of the rogues she’d faced in the reserve. Remembering the feral murderous wolves made the ones in the video look more like a joke. How it had slipped her mind still bothered her.

It was all the more proof that she had not been present during the entire fight in the reserve. The king noticed the change in her daughter’s demeanour, “Lina, you should be glad you haven’t been through something like your friend has.”

“On the contrary, I’ve been protected my whole life. There was that time when I was abducted, but I barely felt that as well. I was unconscious the entire time. Katie was the one to save me that time,” the girl replied, “Makes me wonder if there will ever be a time when I’m useful.”

“Lina, you must realise that saving someone requires that person to be in danger in the first place. Praying for something like that to happen would not exactly make you the hero you’re trying to be,” the queen chuckled.

“I hadn’t thought about it like that. It doesn’t change what’s been happening though. When everyone was attacked in the reserve, I didn’t help either,” she replied.

“You’re safe without a scratch on you. For those of us in this car, that’s all that matters,” the king replied sternly, “My family comes before my kingdom.”

“Is that why you argued with Katie that day?” Lina asked him.

“Yes, that is why we disagreed, but...” the man got sad, “I was completely wrong then. Katie had taken everything into consideration. I don’t think I would have had anyone take care of it any better than she did.

She acknowledged her weakness and put her trust in others to take care of the pack while she positioned herself in the one place that would let her get rid of most of the rogues without spending too much energy in case a beta alpha had shown up. I was impressed.”

“Those are high compliments coming from you,” Queen Martha exclaimed.

“Yeah, they are. I just wish I had told her that before she rushed off into that plane. She wouldn’t let herself get any kind of rest. Drake’s report was thorough. The girl’s an enigma...”