The Alpha's Temptation

An unknown fear sent a shudder through Biham. He knew that the Draka king was angry, not because the slave girl had been stolen from him, but because Morava tried to put her hand in the lion's den and extract the meat. Eltanin had come to wage war to take the slave girl back. And Biham would never return his daughter, his heir. He had to pacify Eltanin and at the same time he had to save his daughter from leaving Pegasii.

"Close the palace gate and station soldiers at every corner." His gaze drifted to Lusitania. "Get more soldiers to guard her." His throat bobbed when the girl drifted into another delirious fit. "Arrange a meeting with Eltanin." Then he growled at the healer. "I want her to come to her senses by tomorrow morning. If she doesn't, I have no use for you!"

The healer paled. "Y—Your Highness, she is—"

"Cut it!" Biham hissed. "I want her up and well. She is the future of Pegasii. I want to announce her to my people!"

The healer gulped. "Yes, Your Highness."

Biham kissed Tania's forehead once again and then strode out of the room. He was not going to meet Eltanin tonight. Instead, he would wait for the next morning. By that time, he was hoping that Tania would be fine. He marched to the meeting room where he called an urgent gathering of the counselors.

When Morava learned that Eltanin was camping outside on the east borders of Pegasii, she was horrified. She was pacing her room with her hands clasped in the front. She crumbled her gown, fidgeting with it to such an extent that it was wrinkled, as if it had been washed and never ironed. Her mother had closed her bedchamber and wasn't meeting with her. Ivy was nowhere to be found. The only person who was with her was Mizvah, who was watching her pace the room all evening.

"Why don't you sit and relax?" he said as he stretched his legs on her bed. "Come here, I will massage your back to loosen you up."

"You don't understand!" she snapped. "Do you realize what has happened?" she asked him as she stood at the ledge of the window where she could see the eastern borders. Flickers of lights dotted the landscape. There were soldiers who had burned small hearths to stay warm in the winter night. "Eltanin is out there, planning on how to kill me and then take the slave girl. He has waged war against my father. The war may be because of the girl, but on the outside I appear as if it is more about his ethics! The bastard is going to be a hero overnight by saving a slave and tainting me as the most malicious woman of Araniea!"

Mizvah raised his eyebrow in surprise. For a long time, he was quiet as he watched Morava gazing out of the window. Then he said, "Why don't you go and meet with him secretly and apologize?"

Morava turned on her heels as if a scorpion had bitten her. "Apologize?" she yelled. "I am a princess. I don't apologize to people, and especially not when they are going to attack my kingdom!"

Mizvah was taken aback. "Okay, calm down princess, if you have other options then we can discuss them. I will help you."

She gritted her teeth. "I don't!" she said and turned back to look at the soft glows of fire hearths.

"If you don't mind, I have an idea," he said in a low voice.

Morava twisted at her waist and narrowed her eyes as her gaze met his. "What is your idea?"

"What if we steal the slave girl from your father's clutches and return her to the king?"

Morava tilted her head. "I am listening."

"The king will quietly take her back. Not only the attack on your kingdom will be averted—" his lips curled up. "Your reputation will be saved as well."

Morava crossed her arms across her chest. She stared at him for so long that he grew uneasy. If she managed to steal the girl from her father's clutches and give her to Eltanin, that might put her in the good books of Eltanin once again. Moreover, if Eltanin takes her back to Draka, Pegasii would remain hers, Eltanin would not tell anyone that he has the girl. A chuckle escaped her throat. "So how do we steal the slave?"

Mizvah let out a sigh of relief. "We need to think of a plan and execute it very carefully. That part of the palace has a small cavalry. It is very heavily guarded."

Morava sauntered over to the bed. She sat on it and crawled over his legs. She straddled his thighs and lifted her gown. Mizvah put his hands on her thighs and caressed them. She said, "Let us think of a plan tonight and execute it tomorrow morning before the sun rises."

"Yes princess."

---

The moment Eltanin learned that Morava had left Draka without informing his father or the General, which was the protocol, his suspicions that she had abducted Tania was confirmed. He had called his father for an urgent meeting.

After hearing Eltanin, Alpha Alrakis was not just shocked, he was furious. "That slave girl is your mate, and you choose to only tell me about her now?" he yelled across the room.

"You wouldn't have believed me even if I had blown a horn in your face. You were so into Morava. Additionally, I didn't want to compromise her security," he replied, wondering whether he was more panicky than agitated. His thighs were shaking and he broke out into a cold sweat every time he thought that Morava might have killed her.

"You imp!" Alrakis couldn't stop yelling at his son. He punched a hole in a wall. Suddenly, he remembered, "But what about her gifts? She doesn't belong to any royal family."

He shrugged. "I don't know." Without revealing that he had taken her to extract Yunabi arcana, he said, "She had translated some ancient arcana and it seems that her gifts awakened.

"And she is a slave at Cetus Monastery?"

"Yes."

"How is it possible that she is your mate? What about the prophecy?" Alrakis wondered.

In order to dispel all his doubts, Eltanin revealed, "I had taken her to the garden of spirit."

"And?" Alrakis froze in his place as he held his breath.

"And Ladon accepted her. He even gave her a golden apple to eat."

Alrakis was so stunned that he sank onto the sofa behind him, with his eyes wide as the full moon. Goosebumps pebbled his skin. He squeaked, "You have found your mate!"

"Yes, Father," Eltanin replied. "And right now, she is with Morava!"

"Then what are you waiting for, you— you nincompoop! Go, get her!"

Eltanin didn't wait a second longer after that. He got up to leave when Alrakis said, "Do not tell anyone that she is your mate until she is here with us!"

"I won't."

On his way to Pegasii, Rigel joined him with his unit of soldiers.

---

As the army encamped outside the borders of Pegasii, Eltanin stood outside of his tent, watching the Pegasus Palace. His Tania was somewhere inside waiting for him.