Their Hidden Princess (Zora and Maximus) novel Chapter 282

Max’s POV

Max, Kairos, and Thorne chased after Neo, following his trail by scenting his path around the perimeter. Though they hustled to follow after him, they never actually saw him. The bastard was fast, faster than any werewolf Max had ever encountered before.

He was strong too, in a way that made each of the three men furious. Max wouldn’t mind the fifth mate to bring in the extra muscle, but he would have hoped the fifth would be someone they could implicitly trust.

There was something off about Neo. Maybe it was his mysterious background or the standoffishness he showed the other mates … Whatever it was, Max couldn’t be comfortable with the man, even after trying. For Zora, he wanted this to go smoothly.

He knew she needed all five of her mates to be strong enough to take down the vampire king, so he was trying his best to accept

Neo as one of them.

It wasn’t working.

The three moved quickly, pushing their tracking abilities to the limits, but no matter how quickly they moved, they were unable to catch up to Neo. In a short time, they entirely lost his trail, like the man had vanished.

Kairos shifted back to human first, likely just so he could curse at the top of his lungs. “Fuck! Fuck that asshole.”

Thorne and Max shifted next. Neither of them made any motion to try to calm Kairos down. Max himself was feeling like a failure for all of this.

‘I don’t trust him,” Thorne said flat–out. “I was trying to be polite in front of Zora, but I can’t do it anymore. The guy gives me

he creeps.”

‘Maybe we just don’t know him well enough,” Max said, still trying to be the peacekeeper. “Zora seems to trust him, so we have to put the effort in.”

‘We have to?” Kairos scoffed. “What about him? He has made no efforts since he got here, acting like he’s top shit. He’s an sshole, is what he is. Arrogant.”

‘You do,” Thorne said simply. “If he is actually Zora’s fifth mate.”

‘She seems confident,” Max said. “Though I guess the curse could be interfering with the bond somehow.”

‘Yeah,” Max said. He could admit, even with the necessity of the fifth mate, he wasn’t happy that Neo came with so many problems. Being cursed and an amnesiac was bad enough, but having all that strength and speed on top of it? It made Max feel ike they were a step behind, somehow.

‘If he’s not here, we should get back to the house,” Thorne said. “I don’t want to leave Zora alone for too long.”

“Agreed,” Max said.

Kairos cursed again, loudly, at the top of his longs. “I don’t want that asshole alone with Zora ever.”

Max and Thorne looked at each other, and an agreement passed between the two of them as well.

“I think Kairos might be onto something here,” Thorne said. “If he’s faking things, he could use their time alone to manipulate her.”

Max knew Zora had a strong will. He didn’t think she could be talked off of their path. But, he didn’t want to see her hurt, and that was entirely within Neo’s power to do. Zora was quick to trust him. Any betrayal would cut her deeply. He couldn’t allow that. He had to protect her however he could.