The Tangled Princess

Chapter Four

We were sitting in my father's study. I sat beside my father, and Alpha King sat on his opposite side along with his Beta, Marcus. Beta Marcus was the royal second in command. He was tall, with broad shoulders and shoulder-length brown hair which somehow looked good on him. Conrad had short dark brown hair, which suited him, but Beta's long hair made him look fiercer. Paired with his dark brown eyes, his look was more animalistic than the kings. However, I knew Conrad's exterior was merely a distraction, a call for his opponent to underestimate him. Alpha was tall, but he wasn't as bulky as his beta, which might have been intentional—a leaner form must have given him more speed than his opponents.

As I waited for their formal greetings to be done, Selene pointedly caught my eye. I raised my eyebrow questioningly, to which she shook her head and looked at my father again. My father had invited Selene and some other leaders from the most powerful covens. Bessie was talking to my mate at the moment, and from her expression, it was safe to say that she was impressed by him. I knew my mate had already impressed half of the witch population, and I might have been jealous had I not known about werewolves. They treat mate bonds as the most sacred thing. Even when some of them reject their mates, they never stay happy for long. They firmly believed that Goddess always punished people who reject mate bonds. We could take our time, but rejection is similar to sin in the werewolf community. After their greetings, Alpha sat on his chair and signalled his beta to begin this meeting.

"We are very grateful for all the witches and warlocks present here," Beta said in his slightly boyish tone. He didn't look boyish at all, but his voice wasn't as deep as his Alpha’s."The reason behind this meeting was to make everyone aware that vampires are encroaching on our territory, and we have also detected hints of magic."

My father looked at me for a second then turned to his direction to ask, "Are you implying that we are involved with vampires?"

"Could be," the alpha king answered him in his same monotonous voice.

"There are other creatures of Magic in this world, Alpha. And don’t forget the hybrids—hybrids can select their kingdom, so even there was magic involved, you can't prove it was from someone in our jurisdiction," I said looking straight in his eyes. Witches were neutral creatures. They never fought for one side during wars. But from their non-threatening stance, it was evident that they already knew we were not with vampires; they came here for a very different purpose. I was curious to know their real reason.

"I know. We are not here to point fingers at you. We are here to ask for your kingdom to join us in this fight," said Conrad.

"They are killing humans too! Last month, ten humans were killed outside our territory, which led to human police searching for a serial killer," Beta added quickly. My father and I were still quiet; I was waiting for him to respond first.

"We will not help you," my father said sternly, a tone of finality in his voice. That was him saying that the meeting was over.

"We have to, Father," I said as politely as I could. "We could have said no if they were only going against werewolves, but they are involving humans too. Even if we say no now, there is a huge possibility of them killing more humans, which will jeopardize all supernatural creatures."

My father was unhappy to hear my opinion, but I could see that he was thinking about it.

"Princess is right, my dear king. " Selene's soft voice caught everyone's attention. "Goddess herself has intertwined our path with them." She looked at me and Alpha while saying this. "We must follow what she has planned for us."

Her voice was serene and soft, but still, we could hear the undertone of command. She wanted us to stand by the werewolves. My father sighed. I could understand his problem. For years, witches had never been involved in a supernatural fight. We were prideful creatures who didn't work for anyone, but this situation was serious. Witches and warlocks knew and understood better than any other supernaturals the situation that could arise if humans got any inclination of our existence. Our history was a bloody one, and we would be fools if we gave them another chance to repeat it.

"Hypothetically, if we say yes to your request, what do you want us to do?" I asked calmly to diffuse some tension.

Beta Marcus answered my question. "Well, first we want you to come and recognize what kind of magic they are using. We managed to capture its essence. We were planning on staying for a week to convince the warlock king, but if you agree to come with us, we'll be leaving tomorrow morning with you, Luna."

I glared at him when he addressed me as Luna, but my father interrupted before I could say something. "If I send her with you, when will she come back?"

"It depends on her," Conrad said, glancing in my direction.

"Then it's your decision, Princess," my father said, and I smiled. I knew he would leave this on me, but I needed some time and some distance where my magic was not crackling. My mind was a jumbled mess due to Conrad's presence.

"I need some time. I will give my decision before nightfall today," I said, then got up to bow to my father, then to my mate who was glaring at me. At least it wasn't the same expressionless face.

His glares were almost adorable. It seemed like my mate didn't express any emotion other than displeasure. Oh well, I was fine with whatever he showed. I grinned at him and left the room to think about my very obvious decision.

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