FATED TO ALPHA HUNTER BY VENNEH LISAH

𝐀𝐑𝐌𝐀𝐍'𝐒 𝐏𝐎𝐕:

The drive was taking forever as we headed towards the borders of the Devonshire Kingdom. Rogues had been strung along the castle walls. The effects of the bond and Ania's heat were still strong, if not worse, even miles away. My entire body vibrated as the urge to turn around and go home grew stronger.

Sweat coated my skin, and I had removed my shirt an hour ago, but even that didn't help as my temperature continued to rise along with my anger. Poor Gary had remained quiet for most of the trip, and the noise of the tires on the wheels only aggravated me further. We weren't even three hours from home when the Mind link opened up. Travis's panicked voice flitted through my head.

"I can't find her," he rushed out, and my stomach plummeted to somewhere deep inside me. I fought the urge to shift at his words.

"Excuse me?" I snarled back through the bond.

"The Queen, she ran off with Desmond. He said he was teaching her how to drive, one of the guards said, but it's been an hour and a half, and we can't find either of them or the car," he told me.

"Desmond said he was teaching her to drive, and you didn't think to f*****g question that?" I snapped at him. Gary glanced at me, and I growled, trembling to stifle down the urge to shift.

"I thought she was in her room. She was. I didn't even know she had climbed out her window until Zara went to bring her dinner in and found it wide open," Travis told me.

Gary looked at me. I snarled, infuriated. I had no doubt where she would have gone, but when I got my hands on Desmond, he would be dead.

"Check the footage to find out which road they took," I snapped at Travis.

"Already did. They left out the rear exit that ran along the river and headed for the highway," he informed me. I growled, knowing I was right. Ania was going after Rina even after I told her not to. The darn girl couldn't listen to save her life. Bloody foolish, and Travis would be in for it when I got back for not paying better attention to his guard.

"Is Dwight back yet?" I asked him. Dwight would drop whatever he was doing and follow if he knew.

"No, sir, he shouldn't be far out, though." I cut the link before feeling for Dwight's link. It opened immediately.

"Where are you?" I asked.

"Ten minutes out. What's up?" he asked, yawning.

"I am on my way back home but further out. I need you to get Ania and bring her home," I ordered.

"Ania?" he asked becoming alert instantly.

"She ran off with Desmond to go after Rina. You need to head to her until I get there," I ordered.

"Damn it! That bloody idiot should know better than to take Ania into territory with human hunters at night," Dwight growled. I knew the pact he made would now overwhelm him like a commanding force. Pacts weren't taken lightly; they required my blood and hours of enforced orders to ensure they couldn't be broken. The only one who could break the pact was me.

I could force them to break it, but it would be extremely difficult. They would still rush back for her the moment the command was lifted. That's exactly why they all turned against me when I banished her from the castle. Most of them passed out and couldn't endure the process. Only 11 made it through, and now two of them were dead. The process was similar to the council's inability to be commanded, except it was directed at a specific person. I had hoped I wouldn't have to use it, but Ania had left me with no choice. I knew she wouldn't like it, but I couldn't risk her life.

She would be bound by a blood tie to her guard; I wouldn't allow that mistake to happen again. And Desmond would learn from his mistake. I had complete trust in Dwight, Gary, and him when it came to her safety, closely followed by Travis. They had endured the trials the longest, which is why they held their positions.

The urge to protect her would be coursing through all my royal guards. Undoubtedly, the others would be searching the forests frantically for her and Desmond. However, they wouldn't have expected Desmond to do something so foolish, and as the fourth in command, they wouldn't have questioned him. I growled. He would pay!

"Which road?" Dwight asked, his voice laced with anger.

He probably wanted to kill Desmond, and Desmond would know what he was coming home to.

"Highway," I answered, and he growled. That was the worst road to travel on at night.

"What about Rina?" he asked.

"She's perfectly fine. I'll see her on the weekend. You can come, but bring my mate back!" I told him.

"I will bring the Queen back to you. And what about Desmond?" he asked.

"Leave him to me. I will deal with him myself," I growled, cutting off the connection.

"What's going on?" Gary asked, spinning the car around. Our entourage followed suit.

"Ania has run off to see Rina," I said. The moment the words left my lips, Gary floored it.

"Damn it!" he cursed, knowing how dangerous that area was at night. Desmond should have known better, and he would pay dearly for that mistake. I couldn't understand how he could agree to something like that.

My eyes flickered, and I opened the bond, reaching out for her. The heat surged towards me, intense and overwhelming. She might not be aware of it, but I certainly felt it, and its intensity triggered me to shift. Gary abruptly hit the brakes, and I barely managed to extricate myself from the car.

Cars screeched to a halt, some swerving onto the grass to avoid colliding with me, but my focus was solely on reaching my mate. I sprinted towards the forest, the trees becoming a blur as I raced past them, allowing the bond to guide me towards her. She would be in serious trouble once I laid my hands on her.

𝐀𝐍𝐈𝐀'𝐒 𝐏𝐎𝐕:

Desmond never slowed the car down once, but he glanced at me nervously when we came to a particular spot on the winding roads. We knew the castle was already aware of us leaving because Travis had mind-linked with Desmond. Desmond had ignored him, so we knew the King would know by now. That made me a little nervous because I knew he would be furious. It also made me worry about Desmond and what the king would do to him.

"What?" I asked him, noticing his sudden nervousness.

"We are about to drive through no-man's-land. I need you to get in the back. We aren't sure if the hunters know about you yet, but it wouldn't surprise me because they have eyes and ears everywhere. Nowhere is safe," he told me. My heart started beating erratically at his words, and I swallowed hard. We were deep into the forest, heading toward a narrow pass that led between the mountains.

"Climb in the back and buckle up. Stay low. The hunters have wild-game cameras in the trees. I don't want you to be spotted, and we cannot stop along this stretch, especially without the royal guards with us," Desmond instructed, and I glanced at the backseat over my shoulder. I unbuckled my seatbelt before squeezing between the seats and getting into the back. Looking around on the floor, I noticed some tools, recognizing one to be a wheel brace. There was also some duct tape and rope. I bit my lip, not wanting to know why they were in the car. The wheel brace made sense, but the duct tape and rope raised unsettling questions.

"Seatbelt, Ania," Desmond said firmly before shrugging off his jacket, leaving only one hand on the wheel at a time. I quickly plugged it in and saw him glance in the rearview mirror. He tossed me the jacket.

"Now, get down! Pull that jacket over you. The windows aren't tinted in this car," he said, and I sunk down in my seat just as he floored it, accelerating even more. I was shocked at how much speed the car had; I honestly thought we were moving too fast.

Everything zipped by in a blur. Desmond drove that fast; we were passing cars as if they were standing still. I remained quiet, letting him focus on driving along the steep, winding road leading into the mountains.

When we reached the top, it was a harrowing drive back down the other side, and he never slowed down. If anything, he sped up even more, and I began to feel queasy from the motion. The car sliding around the corners made me hit the door. His eyes flickered to me in the rearview mirror occasionally, making my heart jolt in my chest whenever he took his eyes off the road, even if it was only briefly.

After another half an hour of driving, I heard him let out a relieved sigh, so I knew we must be coming into Alpha Kelly's territory or at least off no-man's-land.

"How far out are we?" I asked him, and he looked back at me.

"We're about thirty minutes from the Pack house," Desmond answered. We drove a little further, and I saw a sign indicating that we were approaching a town when my phone started ringing. Desmond glanced at it, which was resting in the center console. As we approached another steep incline, I wondered why anyone would choose to live so far out in the mountains, hoping this road wouldn't be as winding as the last one. Leaning over, I grabbed the phone and answered it. However, I wasn't expecting to hear Rina's voice.

"Pick up, pick up," I heard her say, not realizing that the call had already connected.

"Rina?" I asked, and Desmond glanced at me in the mirror, his brows furrowed. I knew he must be listening in on the call. "Pull the phone away from the screen. There should be a microphone icon. Press it so I can hear," Desmond said. I quickly followed his instructions before focusing on the phone, desperately wishing I could see her.

"Are you there?" I heard her ask.

"Yes, can you hear me?" I asked, the phone volume turning a little static and crackling.

A sob escaped Rina. "Ania! Oh, please, thank goodness," she gasped.

"I'm right here," I told her, and she cried into the phone, trying to contain herself. "She answered?" I heard a man's voice ask in the background.

"Yes, thank you so much," I heard her gush, her voice slightly lower as if she turned her face away from the phone.

"Are you still there?" she asked.

"Yes, I am. I am..." I told her. The phone crackled before the reception dropped. It immediately started ringing again, and I answered it, putting it on loudspeaker. "Rina?" I called out.

"Listen, I need you to come and get me. I was wrong about Kelly, Ania. Send Dwight. Please, I want to come home; I am..." she fell silent.

"I don't know where I am. I can't read the sign; it's in Spanish. Where am I?" I heard her ask the person with her.

"It's the Shell service station in Riverside," a man's voice told her in the background.

"The Shell service station in Riverside. Rina is there?" I told Desmond, and he nodded, having already heard.

"Are you okay, Rina? We're almost there," I said to Rina, and she let out a sigh.

"You have to hurry, I think he already knows I ran. Wait, you're almost here?" she asked.

"You didn't say it back," I reminded her, and she broke down, sobbing into the phone.

"I thought you hadn't figured it out," Rina choked out, and the phone's audio became grainy again.

"You always say it back," I said to her.

"What kind of car did you say your boyfriend drives?" I heard the man ask in the background before hearing Rina gasp. "A black one," she replied, and I heard a bell chime in the background. "Get down behind the counter," the man said, and the phone went deadly silent.

"He found me. Please hurry," I heard her whisper into the phone. I heard the service station attendant speaking close to her and realized that she must be hiding behind the counter with him.