The Royal Alpha

Chapter 23: Loopholes

SIERRA

I stay rooted in my spot. He left me. No, he left because of me. I rejected him last night and that is the reason why he kissed my forehead as farewell. I thought he was just being affectionate despite my rejection.

"He did not leave because of you, pup. I can sense the direction of your thoughts and it would be very unwise of you to think of your mate as a coward who couldn't face your rejection," says Elder Raoul breaking my train of thoughts. His words do not relieve me of the guilt at all.

"If you want to take a day break to cope with your emotional turmoil, you can do so. We can restart your training from tomorrow," continues the elder when I fail to form a coherent reply.

I think about his suggestion but cannot focus on anything. I shake my head thinking that it will clear up the mess in my head but the guilt still remains. If I go back to my room, these thoughts will keep plaguing my mind so I make a decision of staying and beginning with my work.

"As you wish, pup. Your task for today is to read all the files kept on this desk. These files are regarding the pack dynamics of the various packs in this country. You need to know about the alpha and beta families well enough to survive as a dominant she-wolf," says the elder pointing at the big stack of files on the table on my right.

I nod my head in confirmation and go towards my chair. I touch the desk and those files with my fingertips and feel a slight layer of dust on them. I look back at the elder subconsciously seeking reassurance to which the elder returns with a nod and a slight smile. I then move forward and sit on the chair and take a deep breath. The scent of Fenris fills my lungs and my wolf settles a bit. I realise that my anxiety is because of his absence but sitting in his chair gives me a sense of belonging and I smile at the elder gratefully. It seems that he purposely made me his apprentice because he knew that me and my wolf would calm a bit being in the place of work of Fenris.

I take in a few deep breaths filling my lungs with my mate's scent and take the first file from its stack and open it. The first page brings out a smile on my face. It is a file on the Samara pack, my pack. I sift through the pages and locate the page of the family tree.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"How was your day?" asks Tatiana as we walk together towards the dining hall for dinner. Today's day was fine but not without Fenris's thoughts revolving around in the back of my mind.

"It was good. Elder Raoul appointed me as his apprentice," I say.

"What? How can that be? Fenris is his apprentice," she says shock written on her face.

"Umm.. Fenris left the school early in the morning today because of some family issues," I say nervously. I don't want her to think that I somehow pushed her best friend to leave the school.

"Oh my God! I hope Yuki is fine," she says and I am somewhat relieved to see no judgement in her eyes.

"Who's Yuki?" I ask all of a sudden jealous that some other female has such strong hold on my mate's emotions.

"She's his mother, guardian actually. Yuki and her mate were very brave to support their alphas to accept Fenris into the pack," she says and I stop in my tracks. I realise that I do not know anything about my mate.

"Accept Fenris into their pack? Wasn't Fenris born in the pack?" I ask and she turns to look at me with a sympathetic face probably because I have confusion written all over my face.

"Oh sweetie. Fenris doesn't know anything about his birth parents. He was four when he was found bloodied and abandoned in the dark forest. I have heard that he was left to die on the branch of a tree and it was Alpha Zacharias who found him," she says and I flinch inwardly thinking about my mate's small body all bloody and battered. The sadness becomes overwhelming and I clench my teeth to avoid any sound to escape from my mouth.