“Will you just tell me what exactly the problem is there?” Riannon was losing herpatience with her mate.

This was the first time they didn’t agree on something atonce and it was very new.

And confusing.

And she didn’t like this at all.“Can you just trust me on that?” Gideon ran his hand over his face, “That patheticexcuse of a king isn’t worth talking about.”“See, this is the problem here,” she was putting her diamond studs into her earswhile watching him in the mirror, “I can tell that there is a story, but you are notsharing this with me.“There isn’t too much to share,” he finally admitted as he was buttoning his shirt,leaving the last two buttons undone.

Just the way she liked it so much.

“You’re doing this again,” Ria reprimanded him with a small smile on her lips,“and here ! thought that you could share anything with me.

We need that alliance,you know that.”“Fine,” he growled, surrendering to her, and went to the window to check if Reidand Maya were already waiting for them outside, “We would have already beenin that alliance with the Northern Kingdom.

It was in the plans and my fatherworked for it really hard.”“And what happened?” Riannon was now interested more than ever, sensing thattherewould be something worth hearing.

Daily new chapters update oncom“They wanted an alliance through marriage,” he gave a pointed cough, and sheknew at once why he did not like that story.“And who was the happy couple?” she already regretted asking him about theNorth.“It was supposed to be me and Kai’s sister, Elene.”

Kai was the name of the northern king.

Riannon knew that because it was her jobto know these things.

But the mysterious princess of the northern kingdom –there was no information about her anywhere.

They were hiding her as if shewas their most precious treasure.She didn’t notice how her fists clenched.

She did not like the thoughts but we’renow in her head.

Did he have a betrothed? Did they have anything? Did he kissher? Were they doing other things? He didn’t get all these skills from nowhere.She knew he had experience and she did not care before.

But right now, Onyxwas growling angrily inside of her, sharing herthoughts.

“How nice.” She didn’t know why her voice came out so high pitched.

She wasn’therself.

Gideon strolled towards her through the room and caught her in hisarms.

“It never happened, Ria,” a smirk was dancing on his lips as he pulled hercloser and took“Why?” she looked at him, feeling her heart beating faster.

She needed to knowthis for somany reasons.“I refused,” he told her, lowering himself to place his forehead on hers.“Why did you?” she rubbed her nose over his, feeling the warmth spreading overher.

was the one to say no to the princess.

Not the other way around.

Thisknowledge was important to her for some reason and Onyx was calmer inside ofher now.“I did it because of you,” Gideon said and now she wanted to let out a little laugh,but when she opened her eyes and saw him staring at her, the smile faded.magic

“Because deep inside, even though I never wanted to admit it, I always wanted tofind you, my mate.

My one and only.

Mine...” She felt a jab of guilt deep inside her chest.

He waited for her.

He even risked arelationship with another kingdom just because of the possibility that he couldfind her.

Meanwhile, she gave up on him early on and married Brayden, thebiggest mistake of her life.“And this is why you think that you will not be able to form an alliance with him?”she asked, instead of telling him what she really wanted to tell, “It was years agoas far as I understand.

Maybe he already cooled down after that.”“No,” Gideon stepped away and rubbed the back of his neck, “This...

Wasn’t theend ofthe story.”For a few moments he wasn’t saying anything and that got her scared.

How badwasthis?“Do tell,” Riannon insisted, furrowing her brows and bracing herself for the worst.Daily new chapters update on com“That deal was between our parents and they brushed that under the rug,” hermate continued, “They were wise and did not want to ruin our relationship.

Butafter his father and my parents died, everything changed.

We both became kingsbut we couldn’t maintain a civil...

partnership.

He was competing with me in everything and it never ended well.But what was worse, one day he sent us a message that he wanted to arrangeanother marriage between our royal families.

He asked for Savvy’s hand inmarriage and she was just fifteen at the time!”

Riannon bit her tongue.

She was also fifteen when her parents started talkingabout her marrying Brayden.

It was typical for alpha families and especially forthe royals.“Ria, I just couldn‘t do that to my sister,” Gideon sighed.

She knew that he feltresponsible for Savannah.

In many ways, he was replacing a father for her.

“Shewas just a kid back then...

And deserved better than this.

Better than a contractmarriage.

But of course,first place.

Because after that he could use everything as a perfect excuse to dowhatever he wanted.

He is such a prick, Ria.

Honestly.”She walked to him and brushed her palm over his cheek, enjoying the prickleshis stubblegave her.“We still need to talk to him,” she said firmly and, judging by his knitted brows,this was not what he expected.“Ria, I am telling you,” he grunted, but she placed a finger on his lips to make himstop and then met his gaze.“No, Gideon, I am telling you.

We need him.” She looked him in the eye in hopethat he would see everything that was on her mind, “We are not letting people diebecause of your pride.

And his.

We still don‘t know which werewolf packs wouldbetray you.

And if.

There are many pieces of the puzzle that we don’t have.

Butone thing is certain, they were sure that they wouldn’t be able to handle both ofyou.

We have to use it.

Otherwise, we still may lose even now.

And I...

I don’twant to witness anything like that ever again.”

“Fine,” the Lycan king growled in annoyance.

But in truth, he knew that for her hewould do whatever it took.

“We will try to deal with Kai after all this mess.”She couldn’t hold back her grin and stood on the tips of her toes to give him aquick kiss.

“That‘s my king,” she praised him, “And now, it’s time for the show!”They met with Maya, Reid and Ash outside of the mansion as they still didn‘thave the time to check the building properly and were not sure that there were nosurprises from the foxesand bears inside.“Ash,” Riannon turned to her Gamma, “You will need to keep an eye on Marcusat alltimes.

In no way make him feel special today.

He is just a regular warrior for you,so only givehim his usual tasks.

See who he talks to and at 3 pm make sure that the warriorshave a runthrough the eastern side of the forest.”“What for?” Ash looked curious now.“He is a traitor and I need him to have something to give to his masters,” Riannonsmirked and then turned to Maya, noticing how her friend looked better than sheexpected.“ Are you...” “I am fine,” her best friend interrupted, “Just tell me what to do.” “Well, we arehaving Dean’s funeral tonight.

His body will be burned according to our “There isno need for this,” Maya stopped her and now her eyes were glistening with tearsthat wanted to escape her, “He was one of the traitors too...” Daily new chaptersupdate on com “He was misled,” Riannon gave her a weak smile, “I am not judging him for whathappened.

And we will never know all the details.

But, Maya, he can help us now.

Let him.”They stared at each other for some time and then the Beta simply nodded, givingher permission.“What do you want me to do?” she asked.“I want you to be you and drown yourself in work,” Ria informed her, “I need youto assign every omega you can find a task today that would keep them busy.Everyone but Alice.

Make her help in the kitchen today.

And leave only the chefand her.

I need her there.”“Why would you need Alice?” Maya was surprised to hear that name.

She knewthe omega but she was never anything special, to begin with, to pay her anyattention.“She works for the foxes,” Gideon told her, and the Beta’s eyes glowed as shetried to control her wolf.“I will kill her,” she growled.“Not if you want real revenge,” Ria interjected and it helped.

“We need her alivenow.”“Is this why you want Marcus too?” Maya gritted her teeth, still fighting withherself, “He is a traitor too?”“Yes,” Riannon nodded and Ash growled.“Do you even realise what you are asking?” the beta had her claws out, “If theyare the traitors, then they are the ones guilty of Dean’s death too! They couldhave helped her catch him.” Daily new chapters update on com “And we will deal with themwhen the time comes,” Ria promised, “But right now we need

to take care of everyone.

Time for revenge will come.

I swear.”“If you can’t perform Beta’s job at the moment, everyone will understand,” Gideonsaid, and Riannon gave him a glare.

However, this was what made her calmdown and she retractedher claws.“No, I am fine,” Maya said and Reid wrapped her arm around her.

“I‘ll be with youthe whole time,” he leaned down and kissed her forehead.“Okay,” Riannon forced a little smile, “We will meet after the funeral and talk.

Ihave a lot to tell you all.

But work first.”searching the Luna’s and the Alpha’s office and found a few bugs in Brayden’sold desk and bookshelves.

However, her office was clean.“This is a bit insulting,” Ria rolled her eyes, “As if they didn’t pay me anyattention!”“That was obviously a big mistake on their part,” the lycan chuckled, “Look whathappened thanks to that!”They had a map before them where Riannon had already made a few marks.Now, allthey had to do was wait.

And Alice didn’t make them wait long...