Chapter 227

Vorbuk was sleeping soundlessly in his warm bed inside the king's chambers. It was his new room ever since he took over Theapan as the new king. The night was dark and servants of the palace did not wander around the king's chambers at night. Out of respect for the king servants rarely would wander by as it would risk disrupting the king's rest. If there was an emergency only private guards stood along the hallway in case the king awoke in the night and needed to call for a servant.

BANG! SLAM!

There was a loud slam as the door to the king's chambers was broken down. Landing with a loud bang against the floor. Shooting up out of the bed the wolf growled deeply from being startled. He could feel the pressure on the bed letting up as Prince Leo shot up out of the bed. The prince quickly reacting stretched out his hand to grab his sword. Freezing in action the prince realized the one who broke down the door was not a threat and sighed deeply.

Prince Leo stepped over quickly to the door and reached out. Grasping the large white tiger that was on top of the fallen door by the back of its neck and pulling it up.

"Why did you not bother to knock?" Prince Leo scolded Chase, "Haven't we asked you repeatedly to stop using that form so much inside the palace? You have hands why did you tackle the door with your beast form?"

"Mreow?" The tiger purred at the prince that was holding onto the back of his neck. Slowly shifting into his child form as his green eyes seemed to be in a hurry. "Came to find father."

Vorbuk could see the struggle in the child's effort to talk to the prince from the expression on his face. The young tiger was not one who easily got along with others. He was only able to open up to Daryl because the man had slowly bought him over with food.

Shifting into his human form Vorbuk stepped over towards the both of them, "What are you doing up so late, Chase?"

"Training. N-No-" Chase responded instantly before realizing his urgency had been forgotten. "Had to find you."

"Leo, let go of him." Vorbuk said while pointing at how the prince was still holding onto the back of Chase's clothes even after the tiger had returned to his human form.

"Ah." Leo realized the situation and let go of Chase. Backing up he stood beside Vorbuk. "I was too lost in thought over the fact he broke another door in the palace that I forgot."

"Daryl-" Chase began to speak only to pause and make sure he had both of their attention. He did not want to repeat his words to them. Talking took too much work and made him feel tired. "Found Aoki outside. Ashley went to King Luke."

Both Prince Leo and Vorbuk flinched at the last words.

Vorbuk felt like something inside of him dropped. There was something wrong and he could feel it. The way Ashley had been acting around him lately whenever mention of King Luke was brought up had given him the feeling that something was wrong. He had ignored it for a long time because he chose to avoid dealing with it. Whatever happens was something that Vorbuk felt would be his fault.

He could not blame Ashley for finally snapping however he could not forgive him so easily either. If Ashley really did something reckless on his own to this extent it would damage what trust was currently built up between them. He had not known Ashley for long but the vampire had always taken care of him in his own way. That was enough to build a sense of trust between them even if it wasn't boundless trust it was still there. He didn't know how he would handle dealing with Ashley after this if something happened.

"I've got to go deal with this." Vorbuk said before quickly walking away.

Prince Leo didn't know what to do as he was left standing beside Chase. He called out to Vorbuk from behind, "Am I suppose to just wait here?!"

Am I suppose to watch the tiger?!

"Why don't you send him back to his room where he should be! He shouldn't see these things!" Vorbuk called back before rushing out of the room and leaving. It was only the two of them left standing alone in the room together as the prince tried to understand why he was left alone with the boy. He was not that close with the young tiger and had little understanding on how to deal with him.

The young tiger boy stared up at Prince Leo watching Vorbuk leave. His thoughts were a mess of confusion as he tried to understand why the wolf was so close to the prince. Why does father take such interest in this prince?

He could understand his fathers connection with Princess Isis. Princess Isis was the one father had chosen to become queen in the future. She would become my mother... But what is Prince Leo?

Ah, I think I heard of something mentioned before. Royalty can sometimes have them...

What were they called again... The young tiger thought hard as he tried to understand what title the prince held among the group for his new father.

Prince Leo felt the strange gaze that the young boy was giving him and turned his head. "What is wrong with you?"

A concubine! I think that's what they called it! Chase suddenly remembered the term he was looking for. He had heard that many royal families were known to have them throughout history.

Is that what this prince is for father? The strange look of pity and denial that Prince Leo saw on Chase's face gave him a strange chill down his spine.

"Whatever weird thoughts you're having in your head," Prince Leo's head throbbed. "get rid of them now."

Nevermind.. He'll be alone forever. Chase decided to drop that thought. "Why does father help you?"

"Because we're family." Prince Leo responded simply. At least to the prince he considered their group to be similar to family in his heart.

"But he could have remained out of mortal affairs and lived peacefully in the wild." It was the first time that so many words had been muttered from Chase's mouth. Though those words cut through Prince Leo deeply. It was true that Vorbuk was a beast. He could have chosen to ignore Prince Leo completely and remain hidden away from mortal affairs. As a beast Vorbuk had no reason to need to step foot near civilization.

In fact most beasts with free will chose most commonly to avoid mortals because they had no real need for them. It was safer for them to avoid mortals. They only communicated with those of their own kind. Beasts that tried to enter mortal territories were usually rare.

"Go to bed." Prince Leo gave up talking to Chase and chose to run him out of the room. He couldn't understand the sudden sense of doubt he felt in himself. It was hard to describe what he felt the more he thought about it.

What am I worried about? He tried to understand it himself.