Vindicator

Chapter 36

Lost in thought, too focused on trying to understand the unusual bond she saw between Raff and Alessia, Karma wasn't paying attention when she returned to the Mortal realm. She had opened a doorway to bring her to the Prince, so she could report back to him on his perfectly-in-tact mate bond. When she stepped through the doorway and appeared before Chance, he and she were both startled.

Chance was startled because he had just finished pulling his boxers on when the Spectre appeared out of thin air. Karma was startled because she hadn't realized she was waltzing into the nearly-naked Prince's bedroom.

"Wow" Alessia growled in Karma's mind, her growl turning to a purr at the sight of the stunning man before them.

Karma, despite her determination to never find a mate, had to admit that Chance was hot. Still, he was her brother's mate, so she forced herself to look away before she could be caught ogling his body.

"S-sorry, your highness. I wasn't paying attention to my surroundings when I came in" she stammered, bowing low to keep her attention on the floor and hide her burning face.

"That's it, bend over for him" Alessia snickered.

Karma blushed an even deeper crimson, cursing her wolf in her head; much to Alessia's entertainment.

Chance rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. "Uh...No problem" he mumbled.

"I came to let you know what I found when I looked at your mate bond" she explained, realizing he may not realize why she barged in.

"Oh!" He said, perking up. "Tell me, what did you find? Can you fix it?" He demanded, stepping closer and forgetting about the rest of his clothes.

Karma continued to stare at the ground, her face still too red for her liking. Still, she could feel him getting closer and it made her skin tingle, with goosebumps following the sensation and covering her skin. She didn't understand her body's reaction, and found it extremely distracting. "Uh...Well...You see..." she managed to clumsily spill out.

"Out with it!" The impatient Prince growled.

That snapped her back to the present, as no amount of physical attraction would distract her from someone being an asshole. She finally stood upright to make eye contact, nearly glaring at the Royal before her. "I found a big fat pile of nothing! Just like I told you I would" she snapped at him.

Shocked, Chance stared at her in confusion. "Then why were you struggling to tell me? I thought you'd found something awful!" He said accusingly.

"Yes, tell him why you had a hard time speaking" Alessia said, snickering again. She thoroughly enjoyed the embarrassment of her human.

"I swear to the Goddess I'm going to come find you in the Lupine Realm and shove your tail so far up your ass it's going to come out of your nose" Karma hissed at Alessia.

In return, Alessia merely howled in laughter at her human.

Scoffing inwardly, Karma let out a sigh and shook her head to clear her mind. "As I said, I was distracted. I didn't find anything untoward between you and your mate; however, I found an unusual bond with him and another wolf. It's unlike any I have seen before, and something about it seems...Off" she explained.

Chance frowned, crossing his muscular arms across his chiseled chest. "Off how?" He asked.

Karma stared into Chance's eyes in a bid to not let his nudity distract her. "It's difficult to explain" she said.

"Try me, I like to think I'm a smart guy" he urged with a half-smile.

Sighing, Karma decided there wasn't much harm in explaining the bonds she saw. "Alright, well...As bizarre as it likely sounds, I can see the physical manifestation of our bonds. They all present like little threads of energy that bind us together...And the different types of bonds have different colours. The mate bond is red, for example...There's one for pack bonds, family bonds, and so on. Their colours are always bright, and very clear" she explained.

The Prince simply nodded, not showing so much as a flicker of disbelief as he listened; in fact, his brow was furrowed in concentration as he absorbed her information. Pleasantly surprised to be taken seriously, Karma continued. "When I saw your mate, I noticed a strange bond linking him to another wolf...It turned out to be his sister. The bond wasn't a normal family bond, though...And it looked like something was possibly wrong with it. I'm not sure though...Like I said, it's one I've never seen before."

"What?!" The Prince nearly bellowed after staring at her in silence for an uncomfortably long ten seconds or so. "Stop lying to me, I'm not a fool" he warned, his eyes flickering gold as he glared at Karma.

"Oooh, his wolf is feisty. I like it" Alessia commented at the signs of Xander trying to surface.

Shoving her wolf to the back of her mind, Karma frowned. "I know it sounds crazy, but that's how it works—" she began to explain.

"Not that, although it's probably a load of shit too! My mate is an Alpha heir, but you're talking about his sister. He doesn't have a sister" he said angrily, cutting her off.

Karma rolled her eyes, planting her hands on her hips. "Yes, I literally appeared out of nowhere in front of you, I work for an Alpha from a pack that never existed before, I can see physical manifestations of mate bonds, and yet...The part that is so wildly beyond belief for you is that your mate has a sister. Smart guy my ass" she growled back at him.

He bared his elongated fangs at her, bristling with hostility against her for her disrespect. "You will not disrespect a member of the royal family in such a way" he commanded.

"Just did" Karma replied hotly, but she was unable to contain the laugh that escaped her immediately after.

Chance looked shocked, as if he'd been splashed with ice water. He couldn't believe that she wasn't even close to submitting to his authority, let alone that she was laughing about it.

Karma just shook her head, sighing. "Enough of this crap. You're not my Prince, got it? My pack is not part of the Kingdom, so in my books, you get respect from me when you show respect to me. You're always flying off the damn handle at me, and I'm just here trying to help. So if you want to keep being an ass, I can go. I gave you your answer, your mate bond is fine" she said with frustration, waving her hand dismissively as she turned to leave.

"Wait" Chance said, realizing she was right. He reached out and grabbed her by the bicep to stop her from leaving. "Please" he added more gently.

Karma stopped, looking over her shoulder at him with an inquisitively raised brow.

"I'm sorry...I am being a pompous ass, and you're right. You're trying to help...The mate bond thing is just driving me crazy" he admitted.

Karma turned back to face him, crossing her arms. He took her hesitation as a sign to go on, so he did. "You're also right that my mate having a sister isn't the most fantastical thing of what you said. It's just that if an Alpha had a daughter, it would have been huge news...I can't imagine how that would have been hidden" he explained.

"Probably the same way all the other abuse in your kingdom has slipped under the Royal family's nose" she said matter-of-factly. Although it sounded like a dig towards his family, Karma was merely pointing out the truth as she saw it.

This caused Chance to grimace, or at least that's what Karma thought at first. "Sorry, I know that came out kind of harsh" she admitted. "It's just that so much stuff has been going on, and it's astonishing to me that your family has never noticed it. I do have some suggestions on how—" but she stopped her ramble, noticing that Chance's grimace was only getting worse.

"Your highness?" She asked, stepping closer to him.

He suddenly dropped to his knees with a whimper and wrapped his arms around his mid-section, doubling over in pain.

"Your highness! What is it?!" Karma asked, dropping down to her knees beside him.

"Mate...He's...Cheating..." Chance managed to choke out miserably.