The Prince’s Unwilling mate

132 Griffin

“I am taking in Hannah for questioning, you follow the others through the tunnels and arrest them. Princess Ayla has escaped her kidnappers. We need to search the woods for her” I mindlink the warriors, as Jay mindlinks his pack members.

We rush back to the pack house, without needing to speak, we both know where we want to go. Likewise, we walk her to Jay’s office, his eyes glossed over on the way there. As we arrived, Tessie was waiting for us, arms crossed over her chest and a face that spelled trouble.

“I am sorry, I had to, she is Ayla’s mother after all” Jay whispered to me.

Now that I was so close to having my mate back, I could hear the double meaning of Jay’s words. It made sense that he told Tessie, as she was his mate and Ayla’s mother. But I just knew he made it clear that Ayla’s fierceness came from her mother and not him.

“Jay, Griffin, please tell me that you did not hurt a she–wolf, however despicable she is?” Tessie asked, there was an edge to her voice I could not quite place.

She has been through a lot too, so I didn’t think too much of it. Not until I noticed the regretful look on Jay’s face. I knew it wasn’t because he hit

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Hannah because he hadn’t been alone with her. The answer came in the form of Tessie’s fist, socking Hannah right in the nose. There was a sickening crunch like someone crumbled up a cracker. Then my sweet, caring, and gentle mother–in–law shook her hand to loosen her fingers. Preparing for the next punch.

“Tessie, she is pregnant” I yelled at her, I knew she wouldn’t want to beat up a pregnant wolf.

“Lucky you, I care for your unborn mutt more than you did for my pup” She snarled at Hannah.

But she opened the door to the office and took a seat. We had Hannah sit down across from Tessie. As we sat down next to our respective mate and mother–in–law.

“Like I told you, Hannah, I can give both you and David a royal pardon for the execution. But only if you tell me what happened. Starting by what caused you to run out this morning” I told her.

I wanted to know all that had happened, and how my sweet mate had been treated. That wasn’t the priority now, though. Knowing how she had managed to escape. What she had with her, how long she had been gone etcetera, etcetera would provide me with the most answers.

“Nobody, gets this, but I love David, I do. He isn’t as bad as you all think he is. But the things his father did to him. That would mess with

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everyone’s head” She sobs, I roll my eyes and am about to snap at her to hurry it along.

But

When Tessie speaks up; “Then why did you two not mate, it is his pup you are carrying is it not?”

Hannah, by the looks of it, still rightfully scared of Tessie, just nodded” at this. But Tessie surprises all of us by putting her hand on Hannah’s. The latter flinches, but she doesn’t pull her hand back.

But

“I am a mother too Sweetheart and your pup comes first, make us understand why we should not just execute you and David. And your pup with it” The sweet caring Tessie that held Hannah’s hand was replaced by the ice–cold venomous woman that just punched a younger girl in the face.

Honestly, she was kind of scary, and I was glad I was on her good side. It was effective though because Hannah crumbled and started sobbing again. But this time she wasn’t just crying, telling all of us how much she loved that son of a bitch. Now he told me about the punishments. About Ayla being chained to the bed, and not getting fed enough. My knuckles turned white from the force I used to hold the top of the desk. All to try to stop myself from lashing out at Hannah, either verbally or physically.

“When we were having breakfast this morning Jason, my brother

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mindlinked me that Ayla had escaped and that he had found David unconscious” While I resent, Hannah I understand why she ran out of her like she did.

I would have done the same if anybody at all had mindlinked me that they found Ayla unconscious. While David, did come to, he had trouble speaking and when Hannah arrived we did too so she didn’t have a lot of time to talk to him.

What her brother let her know he suspects though is that Ayla realizing, David forgot to chain her to the bed after she had passed out again and had tried to kill David. All so she could get the keys from his body and escape. She succeeded in getting the keys and escaping, as we all knew by now. But she didn’t succeed in killing David.

Everything indicated that she had suffocated David, he was found with a pillow on his face. He must have passed out and stopped struggling, and she must have seized the opportunity and ran. Leaving us with the question of why she wasn’t here yet. More so since Jason, thinking David had died, ran out again to find Ayla to make sure that she couldn’t escape and tell me or the others about his involvement. And he had not found her, so he went back and mindlinked his sister.

It must have been hours ago and she knew the way around these parts because it is where he grew up.

***

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“Crown prince, we followed them for as far as we could but they blocked the tunnel. With silver netting and rocks, there is no way we can break through it. This must have been a planned escape route.?”

One of my warriors mindlinks me as we are just wrapping up questioning Hannah.

“You can come back to the BloodMoon pack, you can take a break. I’ll go out to join the search for the princess with a fresh group of warriors” I

answer.

“None of us want to come back when the Princess is still out there. We much rather join the search for our Princess.” Another warrior answers

1. me.

Their answer warms my heart and the thing is, I know they will not get rest. Not when they want to be out there searching for Ayla. The pack bound is a wonderful thing. It makes us stronger, it does more for us than anything else does.

“She will be happy to hear how much all of you care for her, I will see

you out there in a bit,” I tell all of them before I step out of the room. To be met with the rest of my warriors, who all have heard that Ayla has escaped but seems to be lost or hurt in the woods.

“We are here to help you find our Princess,” one of them tells me, I feel the swirl of warmth you can only feel when the pack bond is getting

stronger.

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132 GriffinUpstodatee from Novel(D)ra/m/a.O(r)g

And I hope Ayla is out there somewhere, and she feels this warmth in her heart too. Hopefully, it gives her some strength to hold on and wait for me.

Now that we are safe, we all shift to our wolf forms because that makes it easier to find Ayla. Everyone stayed between the entrance of the dungeon and the pack house. But we cannot find her there, and the thing is if she did that. She would have already found her way back to the pack house.

“I think we need to go in the other direction” I mindlink everybody

They all follow me and soon it turns out I was right. The scent of Ayla is getting stronger and stronger. At first, it seems like she has just passed through here because we do not see her. Until I suddenly spot a secluded cave, what if she needed a rest? Which makes sense with all that

Hannah told me. So I rush up to the entrance to the cave only to be met with a horrifying sight”

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