DANIEL'S POV
"How long will it take? I swear if you guys are fooling me, I'll shred you guys to pieces." I hollered, feeling a bit on edge as we've been walking for the last 20 minutes or so with a blindfold on my eyes.
'Like as if it's gonna stop me from finding the trail.' I scoffed in my mind at their failed attempt at hiding their head base from me.
"We are almost there." One of the rogues said, and I heard the sound of a door creaking and then closing.
I was about to ask them again how much time will they take, but the removal of the blindfold from around my eyes stopped me.
Blinking my teary eyes, I looked forward towards the person who was sitting leisurely on a chair before feeling my eyes widening when I noticed what, or should I say who the person was.
"Ro-Robert?" I stuttered, not knowing if I was right or my mind was playing games with me.
"Well, hello to you too, Mr alpha-beta Daniel," Robert said while scoffing at me.
"How dare you tell your pathetic friends to call me here after what you did with the pack and us. If I knew it was you-"
"-then you would've never come to this place. Right?" Robert said, cutting me off.
"You still care about me. Don't you? Well, let's not lie to each other. You know how I can easily catch lies, don't you?" Robert said as he asked his men to lose their grip on me.
"What are you doing here? Weren't you-"
"-dead? That's what you wanted to ask, right?" Robert finished the sentence again, and I couldn't help but look at him quizzically.
"Well, let's say, Alexander's bad days are not over yet. That day when they had wounded me by stabbing me 10 times with that silver-copper-laced dagger, I had fallen into the river. All of you thought I died, right? But luckily for me, and badly for Alexander, someone saved my life. And here I am, all healthy, ready to fight back." Robert said.
Looking at him smirking like this, I couldn't help but feel confused. Should I be happy that he was alive? Or should I be sad that he was alive?
"Bro, I know you are not exactly happy to see me since I am going to create trouble and it will be a hell of a lot of work for you to handle, but at least don't make that weird face that looks like you are about to poop." He said chuckling before offering me a drink.
I looked at the drink or should I say, the shake that he offered me and felt a turmoil of emotions swirling inside me
"You still like Oreo chocolate shakes, don't you? You are still a kid." He said before sipping on his drink, which must be a mango shake with lots of cherries in it.
Looking at the guy sitting in front of me, I couldn't help but think about all the good memories we had together.
Well, who was this Robert?
The person sitting in front of me was the only son of Alexander's father's elder brother. He was the son of Leonardo Roosevelt, a.k.a the real and rightful deserver of the king position.
Alexander's grandfather had two sons, Theodore Roosevelt and Leonardo Roosevelt. Both of them were remarkable in their ways. They knew how to fight, how to run a pack, how to handle a crisis, and also, how to compete with each other rightfully because both were eligible for the throne.
There is no such tradition that only an elder son is allowed to sit on the throne. Here it was more based on abilities than first come first receive basis.
Both of them were the best fighters with the best sense of righteousness, or that's what everyone had thought before one day when the elder son Leonardo Roosevelt was caught having an explicit romance with a rogue who wanted to kill Alexander's father, Matthew Roosevelt.
Originally, Leonardo's mate was a rogue that they had found while exiling a few of them. However, when she came to know that Leonardo was a nominee or eligible candidate for being a potential king, she had rejected him.
She rejected him saying, she loved her carefree life more than the caged life that royal life offers. Brokenhearted from rejection, he went berserk and almost killed his mother, who was bad-mouthing a rogue one day.
After that day, Matthew Roosevelt lost his hope in his elder son because he was often caught having intercourse with rogues before he would kill them to shun them out.
Thinking that a wife would be able to handle him, Matthew married him to the daughter of the then council head, from which Robert came into the picture.
However, the daughter of the council head died painfully under the merciless torture of Leonardo Roosevelt.
Since Robert was the son of the elder son, then even though Alexander's father became the king, Robert was still the rightful heir and eligible candidate for the crown once Theodore leaves the throne, but that also didn't happen for few reasons.
First, Robert was not a pure son of two mates but a forced marriage. Second, pack people favored Alexander more than Leonardo because let's say, Alexander was more on the soft side and Robert was more on the side of righteousness and trust.
And third, Robert had accidentally killed a girl, who had become a rogue accidentally because she was kicked out of her pack brutally after being used.
Theodore had heard about that girl being kicked out and was planning on taking the girl directly under the pack run by the palace itself, but it's said that Robert couldn't control his wolf that had shifted for the first time and shred her into pieces after raping her brutally.
Theodore Roosevelt was so angry that he kicked him and declared that he won't become the king.
I still remember that day when a scared and guilty-looking Robert had come knocking on my door as he cried and wailed about how sorry he felt when he realized what his wolf has done.
It couldn't be considered his fault. The werewolves when turning into their wolves for the first time, their emotions, sensations, and hormones are triggered 50 times, and thus, most of the time, a teenager is locked into the dungeon for initial 5 days. It wasn't his fault that he had shifted that day only, and no one was there in the forest at that time to help him control his wolf.
When Theodore came to know about what Robert did, he had outrageously beaten him black and blue and cursed him in front of all the pack, saying,
"What are you talking about?"
"Look, my men who were rogues told you that they will help you get Victoria, and you immediately followed them without even caring about the consequences. It means how much you love her. Besides, from what I was informed, I don't think Alexander loves her.
As far as I have learned about mate bond, no matter how wrong your mate is, a person in love still sides with his mate. And it makes me think if Victoria is his real mate, or is he using her because she is beautiful. I haven't seen her personally, but from my men's description, I heard she is really beautiful, sexy, and hot, I wonder if she is good in bed-" Robert said, and I grabbed his collar growling as my wolf itched to surface.
"Calm down, my boy. See, that's the kind of reaction you get when someone badmouths your mate or tries to hurt your mate. But what had Alexander done? He sided with Laila just because she is the leader. Are you fuckin kidding me?" He said, sipping on his drink.
However, it would be wrong if I say his words didn't affect me. He was right about this thing. Even I had heard of how protective a mate is for their other half, and Alexander was an alpha, to begin with.
When I am feeling this protectiveness towards her when I am not her mate as he had said, then shouldn't he be feeling ten times more protective of her.
I heard from my father that he had almost killed the beta of his time because he had commented casually on my mother.
"You know, seeing how you are reacting about her, I think you are her mate, and Alexander is just coming in between by forcing his so-called infatuation on her and calling it a mate bond," Robert said.
"Just imagine how brokenhearted the girl will be when Alexander will found his real mate and will discard her. To be honest, seeing how Alexander always sides with Laila, I think she is his real mate." He continued as the images of Victoria crying brokenhearted and looking all pained starting appearing in my head, making my mind fuzzy with killing thoughts.
"Enough about her. Tell me why you had called me here. I know, for me inviting here, you surely have multiple evil designs on Alexander." I muttered, trying to keep my mind away from those images.
"That's like my boy. Always so intelligent. I want your help with something very minute. In return, you will get Victoria, your mate, and you can live happily after with her.
Don't worry, it's not killing Alexander or something. All you have to do is add this small powder, in his drink, which will make him unconscious for few minutes since making an alpha king unconscious is a tough nut to crack.
I will have a one on one with Alexander fair and square. If I win, I will get the throne, you'll get your girl and Alexander will have to live like a normal pack member or as he wishes.
And if he wins, he gets to keep the throne, about the girl, you guys can decide, and I'll leave your lives for better. How is it?" Robert explained, and I couldn't help but think twice at his lucrative offer.
I don't think there was anything wrong with his offer. And as far as I know, he is the one to keep his promise as I still remember how he had almost lost his life bringing a rare lotus that he had promised Rosaline, so I don't think he'll be going back on his words either.
Besides, if Alexander is capable to be an alpha king, he'll have to fight him and prove his strength sooner or later, anyways.
After thinking for a long time, I couldn't help but say,
"I'll do it."
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