Chapter 10

The look on his face was solemn, he took a few more glances at the figure in the center of his bed. The silence was stiffening and Davina couldn’t tell what was on his mind. Unlike others, whom she could easily read, Alpha Axel was different. She replayed the encounter with her abductor in her head, wondering if Axel had overheard their conversation. Just the thought of it made her swallow hard, followed by a hiss of pain

“Are you okay?” Alpha Axel inquired before rising up from where he was sitting. He slowly approached the bed with a glass of water.

“Yes.” She muttered as she tried to sit up. Her neck was bruised from when her attacker had clutched her.

Her vanilla scent filled his nostrils as he sat on the bed, he found himself leaning closer to her neck where here scent gland was. Davina froze, she did not even flinch. Even though she found it uncomfortable to be around people she wasn’t familiar with, Axel was her mate and him being around her was comforting. He pulled back as a knock on the door was heard. “Come in.” His tone of voice was cold, a huge contrast to when he had spoken to Davina.

The door was pushed upon and Blaze slowly walked in. “Alpha, Princess.” He submitted before them. Alpha Axel might not be his Alpha but the aura on him was able to make him submit, coupled with the fact that he was the princess fated mate.

A few seconds passed with no one responding, Alpha Axel glanced at his mate, noticing how she stared out the window, ignoring the man. “You may raise your head.”

“ Thank you Alpha. Princess, how do you feel now?”

As if she just realized his presence, Davina turned to look at Blaze with a smile. “I’m fine Blaze, I hope you did not inform my parents of this unfortunate event?”

Blaze shook his head. “No your highness, Ron was quite convincing. We thought that this might have been a prank, I’m sorry.” His eyes drooped like a child that has just been caught doing something wrong.

“ It’s nothing.”

Alpha Axel noticed that Blaze was stiffer when he responded to him than when he spoke to his mate. Without knowing, a frown appeared on his face and he made a mental plan to keep the two from meeting in the future. As soon as that thought came, he remembered that he was her guard and without reason, he would never leave Davina’s side.

“She is not healing, why?” Alpha Axel cuts in coldly. Davina instinctively touched her neck where the bruise had formed, she had almost forgotten about it. Compared to the pain from her pack, this was nothing.

Blaze glanced at Davina, more precisely, at her neck. He wasn’t sure of how to respond to the question.

“I can’t feel her wolf too.” His gaze on Blaze became colder as seconds goes by.

Blaze felt genuine fear from his soul, he began to shiver under Axel’s gaze. “Al- Alpha…” He glanced at Davina with a pleading expression on his face. ‘Save me. Your mate is too scary.’

Unfortunately, Davina wasn’t looking at him, instead she was staring at her mate. She felt a bit of fear from the way he spoke, the pressure from his aura was also raising. This was the aura of a leader. She watched the side of his expressionless face which was bold and confident. She didn’t even realize that someone was trying to catch her attention.

“I’m sorry Alpha, but before the mate choosing, the princess was perfectly fine. She even trained the same day and insisted on not attending the ceremony. Later that day, while we were on our way, she tricked us and tried to leave and when we caught up to her, she had changed her scent but she was still fine. I suppose this was the work of her attacker.” Under Axel’s gaze, Blaze was forced to summarize the events of the previous day.

“Leave.” Alpha Axel’s brain was processing what he heard and he was trying to put a few things together. Blaze felt as if he had just been granted amnesty and he rushed out of the room faster than he came in. After he left, Alpha Axel turned to his mate, his gaze softened. “What did he do to you? Why didn’t you fight back?”

“It was my fault.” She looked away. Davina couldn’t help but avoid his gaze as she tried to come up with an explanation, she twisted her fingers. “When I left them, I was attacked-”

“By who!” He thundered, causing her to flinch. “I’m sorry.”

If pack members and other people heard the Demon Alpha apologizing, they would want to commit suicide on the spot. Even if the Demon Alpha was wrong, he would never admit it and no one was bold enough to force him.

“I don’t know who sent them, I was forced to shift and my wolf was injured in the process. She brought me to safety before falling to a deep sleep, I’ve been worried about her.”

Axel pulled her into his arms. “Do not worry, she’ll be fine. In a day or two, she’ll be back.” He tried to comfort her.

“Really?” Davina couldn’t hide the surprise in her voice, she began to panic and her heart started beating faster.

Axel took her gentle trembling and increased heartbeat as that of excitement and gently patted her shoulder, he wouldn’t admit it but he like how docile she was in his arms. He still found it hard to picture the docile princess in his arms as the one rumored to be stubborn. “Yes. I can’t wait to meet her.”

‘And make a dozen pups.’ His wolf mind linked him.

Axel coughed gently but he knew better than argue with his wolf on the issue. He tried to restrain himself thinking about mating Davina until the introduction ceremony. “I’m sure she is as beautiful as you.”

“You will be surprised.” Davina forced out a smile but she was feeling pained. The guilt of lying was beginning to eat her up but there was nothing she could do about it for the fear that Axel might leave her or she would be forced to return to her Cinderella lifestyle in her previous pack. “Don’t you have pack duties?”

Axel stared at her for a moment, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. “Nothing is more important than you.”

Even though she tried, Davina could not prevent the blush that appeared on her cheeks. When he spoke, the look in his eyes were so deep and intense, it threatened to overwhelm her but it wasn’t scary as she could also feel warmth from them. In an attempt to divert his attention. “Tell me about your pack?”

“It’s ours,” Alpha Axel took her hands and began tracing it with his fingers. Everywhere he touched was tingling. “We have a large territory, second to the royal pack. There are about two thousand people in the pack, about seventy percent are able to protect themselves in case of danger. The other thirty percent are made up of mostly women and children, they train but not as much as the others but they would be led to the underground bunker in case of any unforeseen events.”

“Don’t you have to deal with spies?”

“There are certain ways to deal with them. About what happened today, I promise to get to the root of the matter and give you an explanation.”

“It is alright, it wasn’t anyone’s fault.”

“Why did he keep asking you about the princess?”

Davina’s eyes widened, her mind was in a reel as she began to come up with a logical explanation. The room was pin drop silent aside from her heart that was beating very fast. With his enhanced hearing, Davina was sure that Axel wouldn’t miss it. “I- I.” She stammered.

The warmth in Alpha Axel’s eyes suddenly disappeared, his eyes was fixed on Davina as he got up from the bed. “Tell me the truth, Are you Princess Davina Alisha Andronov?”

Davina nodded, the fear in her eyes couldn’t be concealed and she couldn’t bring herself to speak until she had an explanation.

“Listen, don’t be scared. You are my mate and I would rather hurt myself than to lay a finger on you,” Even though he said this, the pressure in the room was intense, his voice was frigid and devoid of warmth. “You are the princess, right?”

“Do not scare our mate, you overgrown dog!” Axel’s wolf growled in his head as he struggled to take control but Axel created a mind block which prevented him.

“I am the princess, I don’t know who that man was or why he thought I was not the princess,” It took a lot of mental energy to ensure that she spoke without stuttering. “Please believe me.” She blinked her eyes that had began to water, a drop of tear escaped and rolled down her cheek.

That simple act of hers was what destroyed the pressure barrier in the room. In a flash, Alpha Axel was by her side, pulling her into his arms. “I’m sorry. Please do not cry, I’m sorry I doubted you.”

Davina could not stop the tears, she kept crying. The warmth she felt from his arms was her undoing, she cried for all the times that she had been hurt. She cried for the times that she had been too weak to fight back. She cried for the time that she discovered the truth about identity. She let it all out.

There were times that she had been in so much pain but she had to act fine in public, she couldn’t let out all the feelings inside her so she’ll hide in her room and her pillows would get stained by her tears.

The feeling of Axel’s arms around her made her understand that she would no longer be hurt but respected. She had a home but it was one that would be built on lies. She would have to live with the fear that the real princess might show up someday and everything she now had would be taken away- including Alpha Axel.

Axel. Her mate.

She stopped crying, not because she wanted to but the tears didn’t flow anymore. Davina started to formulate a plan, she was prepared to let go of everything else but not Axel. He was the Demon Alpha and if he stood by her side, no one would dare go against her. All she needed was to have him wrapped around her fingers, she didn’t want him to be with her because she was his mate but Axel has to want her.

He has to want her so much that he won’t be comfortable when she wasn’t around. While she was finalizing her plot, Davina did not notice the look that was in Axel’s eyes. An expression of pain and loneliness appeared on his face.

Davina suddenly pulled away from him. “I’m sorry for ruining your shirt,” She dabbed on his shirt lightly in an attempt to straighten the creases. “Today was the first time I felt so weak.” She lied.

“It’s fine, William said you were injected with something that caused it. He is still trying to figure it out.” The trace of pain on his face had completely disappeared.

“I don’t think I look good anymore, wait here.” She got up and rushed to the bathroom. She was right. Her eyes were red and puffy but there was something else, tranquility. She felt calm. She had made up her mind, she would no longer act weak unless it was with Axel. She had to win his heart and being docile around him might work but around others, she had to be strong. She was a princess and with enough effort, she would never return to being a pauper. She was going to fight for what she had and wanted.

‘Even if the princess returns, I’ll get rid of her.’ She thought with a strong resolve to win.