Chapter Seven: Undercover

~Raymond~

"Dinner is ready your Highness."

Augh! If there was anything I ever hated more than life itself, it was that name.

I bet having an Alpha gene and being the sole heir to the Everlake high throne, was something a lot of people would kill to become but for me, it was just the source of my constant misery.

"Mr Newton called, he wanted to speak to you, and I told him you were sleeping like you asked." Amos went on ignoring the glare I sent his way at his continuous use of honorifics even when I frown about it a countless number of times.

"Thank you, A, and how many times do I have to tell you to please stop using these titles?" A said nothing, instead he stood motionless with his eyes bulging and his mouth slightly open staring at me as if I had just asked him to murder his mother.

My eyes closed involuntarily, and my hand went up my nose. Pitching the bridge was a recurring action that seemed to appear every time we had this conversation.

"A, I've tried my hardest to explain the term 'undercover' to you for the past two weeks we've been here, but it appears you're purposefully refusing to understand it."

Amos sighed and walked away from the door, only to return and sit beside me on the two-person sofa.

"It's not that I don't understand, but Ray, you're an Alpha prince, and the king and queen would chop off my head if they found out what you're asking me to do. For agreeing to come out here with you in the first place, I'm already a dead man! If the King discovers this..." I quickly covered his mouth with my hand.

"First and foremost, you talk too much." Amos tried to argue with my hand still covering his mouth, but I ignored him. " Second, you just turned eighteen, so I won't label you as a 'man' so soon; third, you are my best friend, so you can call me whatever you want; and finally, for God's sake, I came all the way here to get away from all that royal nonsense, so please A, let it die." Sadness rapidly washed over his face.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make things difficult for you; I just...never mind, I'll try to stick to just Ray." At his words, a large smile stretched my lips, but he lifted a finger at me, as if to say, hold that thought, and then got up from the chair.

"I'll try to be good, but don't ever say I'm not a man because I'll take it personally the next time." A laugh erupted from my throat at his joke, or what I thought was a joke until I saw the look on his face.

Amos could be very uptight, and I sometimes wondered how we stayed best friends for so long, but I couldn't imagine my life without him in it.

Amos had been my bodyguard since he was fifteen, and I was four months shy of the same age. I remember complaining to my parents about my disdain for a bodyguard that young, and they, like everything else they ignored about me, ignored that as well. And after getting to know him for a while, I was glad that for the first time in my life, I appreciated them for not listening.

Amos had been forced to mature at a young age due to the hardships of being the son of people who had been publicly executed on charges of being traitors to our park and, by extension, the entire Everlake kingdom, which consisted of fourteen different parks.

The king and queen decided to be kind to the 'traitors' young pup and put him through training with the Palace guards. When they saw his great potential, they eventually assigned him as my bodyguard. Over the years, A and I had developed an impenetrable bond, which has been one of my greatest treasures.

"Okay, fine. You're a man. Are you happy now?" I laughed as A gave me a curt nod.

"So, returning to the subject at hand, did Newton say anything else to you?"

Newton has been my butler my entire life, but he was more like a sweet grandpa who always let me get away with so much than a butler. But it was this decision to leave home that I knew he wouldn't be pleased with. That's why I went out with A one night without his or anyone else's knowledge. I can only imagine the uproar when my parents discovered the truth.

Despite this, I felt absolutely no guilt. It was unavoidable. I wasn't going to let my parents force me into marrying an overly entitled princess instead of the mate given to us by the goddess herself, which everyone else got to enjoy but us.

I'm not sure who started it, but for the longest time, royals only married royals. It was fine if your mate was part of your royal circle, but if you were unlucky like my aunt Meg and had a 'commoner' as a mate, you had to reject them and choose someone from your royal circle. It's no surprise that we were all miserable, except for my parents, who were one of the lucky ones.

I despised that role with all my heart! And do you want to know the worst part? It's because they all saw it as a normal way of life. Why, by the goddess, did some people live happily ever after while others did not?

I was not going to be a part of such nonsense, so I left. I would have fled alone if I hadn't been caught by A on my way out and he insisted on accompanying me or raised an alarm.

I had been planning my trip for over a year, so I was well prepared in terms of maintenance. I'd gotten a nice little house on Greenvale, a small but lovely island. What? My enormous allowance had to be used in some way, so why not?

I had done enough research on this island to know exactly what I was in for, so I came prepared.

I chose Greenvale because, first and foremost, it was part of my parents' territory, and secondly, they would never suspect I ran here because they had been planning on enrolling me in its most prestigious school, as they called it, Greenwealth secondary, and I had vehemently refused and even threw a lot of tantrums to that effect, which succeeded in multiplying my parents' grey hair. So why would they come here to look for me?

Thirdly, ever since the incident with the Supreme Throne, my parents had made it a point to keep me as far away from the media as possible. It was a truly terrifying situation. So, aside from a few people in the capital and those close to the throne, most people didn't know who I was. So hiding out here was ideal in every way.

Amos had nagged me about leaving Newton out of the loop for a week after we arrived, worried that the old man would have a heart attack if he didn't know whether I was safe or not because of how attached he had been to me. So I permitted A to call Newton and inform him that we were safe, and I also made him swear that he would not tell anyone that we had made contact with him.

I wasn't too concerned about him snitching because I knew Newton would rather die than harm me in any way, and by the way Amos said it, Newton knew I would die if my parents ever found out.

"No, except that he misses you and wants you to answer the phone whenever he calls just to hear your voice." I rolled my eyes and then rose from my chair.

"I'll eat later, I'm feeling stuffy, and I'd like to go for a run." A squinted at me, as if he wanted to call me out on something, but whatever it was, he kept it to himself.

"Fine, but I'm coming with you." I rolled my eyes again, this time in annoyance. Leave it to A to find something suspicious in everything I say or do.

He'd been sticking to my side like a fucken chewing gum ever since he discovered me trying to flee without his knowledge. I couldn't blame him; it was my fault that I tried to run out on him as well.

"Fine. I hope you can keep up."

I chuckled as I heard a scoff from behind me. Amos was a beta, and a fast one at that, so I knew it wouldn't be a problem, but it was always nice to ruffle his ego a little before a run, so I got a very competitive opponent instead of a typical guard who always ran two steps behind me to make sure I was protected.

*****

Running under the dark sky canvas was one of my favourite activities, and in a place as lush as Greenvale, I felt a hundred times alive!

Amos was sprinting up my flank, attempting to outrun me, but I wasn't having it. I felt so free being here, Goddess. I didn't have parents intruding on my life, servants trying to force me to practice one thing or the other, insufferable uncles and aunties trying to use me to get to my parents, as if that ever worked, and finally, no fake friends trying to butter me up so I could take them on expensive vacations and bury them in more money than they could count in their lifetime.

I was completely liberated from all that dead weight.

"Someone's coming!" I heard A say through our mind link, I immediately came to a halt and ducked behind a tree, with A following my lead.

I couldn't see anyone, but I could smell them.

Whoever it was had the sweetest scent I'd ever noticed on anyone. They scented like the best vanilla and strawberry ice cream combination I've ever smelled, and just thinking about it makes my mouth water.

I had no idea what it was, but at that moment, I wanted to abandon the cover and safety of the tree to go find them, and if it hadn't been for A's quiet but sharp growl, I would have done just that.

And just when I thought I was going to die of anticipation, I heard,

"You're nothing but a first-rate jerk!" Then the most adorable angry face I'd ever seen came into view, and oh my goddess, was I star struck.