Chapter 324

324 Anxious Pair

Cole sat in the gazebo patiently and anxiously waiting for his beautiful mate. Thirty minutes had already gone by and there was no sign of her. The pack link confirmed her current location, so he had nothing to worry about concerning where she was.

Besides, it wouldn’t help even if he asked her where she had been. The stories she’d told him of the creatures of the wild the day before had only confused him more. He knew she could speak to animals, but what she described...

Shaking the thoughts out of his mind, he reached for something in his pocket and rolled the small cubic items, feeling its smooth edges between his fingers. This peculiar item was another reason for his anxiety.

When he thought of what he wanted to talk to Katie about, he couldn’t relax and the object in his pocket only made this more challenging for him.

The king thought back to what had happened to him since he left the capital to go to Brigadia... a small town located so far from the capital with an outstanding rating on their school’s security system.

It was at that outstanding school that he had met the girl he was now patiently waiting for. It felt like a very long time ago, but it wasn’t even close to making a year since he’d met Katie.

His life hadn’t been the same since then, however. Despite the Sirius pack’s attempts at concealing her, she’d stuck out far more than he had and even gotten injured in the process. It wasn’t like he could have been injured badly in the process.

‘Maybe they don’t attack me because it would be harder to bring me harm?’ he idly posed the question. However, it was met with the calm silence of the Royal Gardens.

He almost called her through the mind link, but etiquette kept him from being so rash. As the time wore on, his anxiety only climbed higher, “What are you worried about, your majesty?” Caden asked him, walking up to the gazebo.

.....

“What are you doing here? Katie’s almost here. What are you doing here?” the man whisper-yelled through gritted teeth.

“I don’t think I’ve seen the king of Lycaon this anxious before,” Caden chuckled, “...no, change that to never. I have never seen the king of Lycaon anxious... ever.”

“No kidding. What gave it away?” Cole shrugged.

“Well, I could feel it through the beta mind link. I came to check on you to see if you’re doing alright,” the man replied. Being bound to a royal as a beta alpha made it impossible for either of them to hide anything... It was similar to the mind link shared by mates... only restricted by laws that bound the beta alphas to their royals.

If anyone were to ask Caden what was going on in the king’s head, he wouldn’t be able to answer that because he lacked permission from the king... and if the king suddenly made a request through that mind link, the beta alpha wouldn’t have the slightest bit of power to resist the command.

“Well, as you can see, Caden, I am fine,” Cole replied, “You don’t have to worry about me.”

“It’s part of my job, my king,” the man bowed, “Where is Luna Katie?”

“She’s getting ready to come here and I would want you to be gone by the time she gets here,” the royal replied. His anxiety was now on a level of its own.

Caden raised his hands in surrender and backed away from the gazebo, “Good luck then. If you need any help though, you know you can ask.” With a wink, the beta alpha bid him farewell.

When the beta alpha was gone, the king sighed and leaned back into his seat, ‘What was that about?’ However, the king didn’t have the brain power to worry about two things at the same time. When he remembered the item within his pocket, all thoughts of Caden’s sudden appearance would vanish from his mind.

Just as he was about to give up waiting, the alluring-almost intoxicating scent of his mate permeated the air announcing her long-awaited arrival. He searched the garden path and finally laid eyes on her. However, he hadn’t expected what he saw standing in his mate’s place. She hadn’t dressed the way she normally did. Her hair had been tied into a beautiful bun, exposing the mark on her shoulder in the sleeveless yellow dress she was wearing.

The star-shaped scars set on her shoulders stood out like battle scars reminding him of a time when she would have left the world of the living and that they could get through anything together...

The girl made her way to the king at a pace unrecognizable to him. In his mind, her gait could have lasted a decade before she made it to him. She was frozen in place, a portrait caught in the perfect shade of the morning sun and the pinnacle of beauty, “Good morning, Cole.” Her greeting snapped Cole out of his daze.

“Uh yeah... I just lost myself staring for a second. You look... breathtaking. Like a princess stepping out of a fairytale,” the blue-eyed man smiled warmly. Katie’s cheeks felt hot from hearing the compliment.

“Thanks for the compliment. You don’t look half bad yourself,” she replied. Cole got out of his seat and offered her one, pulling her chair out for her to sit.

'

‘What’s with him today?’ Katie’s inner voice screamed, ‘We are having breakfast, aren’t we?’

“Was it much trouble for you to get here?” he asked politely, “I made sure the flowers were trimmed to perfection.”

“I hadn’t noticed that. They definitely made the walk here more colourful,” she gave a taut smile, taking in the view of the flowers that surrounded them. ‘What’s he talking about? They look exactly the same as they always have,’ she mentally groaned.

“You didn’t like them, did you?” Cole’s disappointment was even worse, “I knew I should have had them all changed completely.”

Panicking, “Huh, no, that’s not it. I just thought the garden has always been perfect. Although, now that I take another look, they do look better than they always do. They’ve lost all their... uh, imperfections.”

The flowers in the garden had always looked beautiful whether they were tended to or not.

“If you say so,” the king replied, “Help yourself to anything you like.”

The girl regarded the spread on the table and for one of the first times in her life, the food looked like it was too much for her to eat, “Someone has an appetite today.”

“Huh, I eat normally for a wolf, but this is a two-wolf job. And this time, you shouldn’t expect me to eat everything you fail to,” Cole narrowed his eyes at his luna.

Katie chuckled at the memory. It was only the day before. She’d sorely misjudged when the king would come around and surprised him late after their date with a cart full of food she’d left over from breakfast.

“Well, you can count one wolf out. I’m not as hungry as I normally am,” the girl replied before starting to eat. Cole shrugged it off, setting a new mental mission to at least make sure she ate what he deemed was enough for the wolf to survive.

The couple spoke of everything and anything that came to mind. Cole’s nerves diminished the more they spoke. His mate was open with him as he was with her. His mind was put more at ease when he was reminded that he didn’t have to be perfect for her to keep talking to him. She focused on no one and nothing else... as did he.

“Did you think she would make it that day?” their conversation continued. Katie always seemed to have a story hanging at the back of her mind. More stories than one would expect to come from a small town such as Brigadia and from someone that spent a large part of their life training.

“I was not sure. I mean Jackeline is good at archery, but come on... she’d bruised her fingers. Back then, I wasn’t as good as I was at the Founders’ festival and I found shooting an arrow to be hard even at my best. That shot was so fun to watch. I don’t think I’ve ever got a rush from an archery game like that one. Jackeline was... still is amazing,” the girl mused.

“Ah, the Founders’ festival, that takes me back. What did you think of my archery? Quite impressive, wasn’t it?” Cole puffed out his chest.

“Oh, you need a lot of work, dear. Quite a bit. However, I did like our game back in Brigadia. It was the calmest game I’d had in a while... an amazing breath of fresh air,” the girl smiled.

“I loved that whole day. Each part of it is etched into my memory like it was yesterday,” Cole found himself answering deeply without thinking twice about it, “Life has certainly gotten interesting ever since the day I met you.”