The witnesses

Ryan's POV

Priscilla was causing a scene in the palace, and it did not feel real to me. Why the fuse? Was it a crime that I found my true mate? It could never be!

"I had told you to become my mate, but you went ahead to look for a mate!"

What had given her such guts to talk to me in such a manner? It could be because of the privilege I gave to her.

Celine got close to her. "Could you reduce the loudness of your voice?"

She wouldn't listen, and continued ranting, drawing the attention of all workers in my palace. The maids walking around came closer to us, pretending to be doing a clean up, while some of them were hiding behind walls to listen.

"Lower your voice." Celine told her.

She lowered it a little, and walked some steps to me as though she had something important to say. Celine also came closer.

"Because I'm pregnant," she said in a low tone that the workers could not have heard.

Celine bit her lips, and the efforts she was using to make her stay calm was immediately thrown away. She matched away from us, stomping her feet against the ground to head to her room.

"I'm comforted because I know I have a grip on you."

A grip on me? I wasn't surprised by that, but I held her by her neck, tuning my voice to sound lifeless and meaningful to her ears.

"You would have to shut up so no one can hear you!"

She froze, and for a few seconds, I noticed that her fingers were shaking uncontrollably. She stopped ranting, but sat on the floor, making the presence of the sofas to be meaningless.

She hadn't stopped drawing attention. She was crying out, and the guards and maids watching us might have felt we were acting a movie.

How was I going to make her stop the show? She felt she owned me.

That same moment, Allerio came in. I was eager to solve the issue of my mate running away from the mating hall. I followed him outside to the council hall that was just beside the house where I lived. The council hall and every other building beside it were inside the same fence that made up the palace.

"What's up with her?" He asked when we just got into the hall.

"My mate?"

He shook his head. "I mean Priscilla."

How was I going to explain to him that a mistress was putting me in a tight corner?

"She's pregnant for me."

"When was that?"

I waved off the topic to focus on the main purpose he had come for. He still needed to give me an explanation for everything that had transpired.

"Have you made any findings about her?" I asked.

"It's not hard, I will try to find out from one of those people who attended the ball. One of them would definitely know her."

Of course it wasn't hard for us to find out what we wanted, but I was becoming unsure of myself. What could have made her run from the hall?

That question kept ringing in my head over and over again, and it pained me that I had no answer for it.

"Was she scared of me?" I asked.

Was that not an absurd question? How could my mate be scared of me?

Allerio appeared to be thinking. He was looking at the other chairs and then to me as though the answers could be found in that way.

"It can't be.... I'm not sure."

"You do not know?"

"I have got some of those people that had attended the ball. They could explain to you."

That was progress, I thought. It was going to go a long way.

"Where are they?"

"They are outside."

"Bring them in."

He went to the entrance of the hall, talked to two of the guards standing outside, and in just a minute or two, they returned with a young man and a girl.

"Did you see everything that had transpired?"

"Yes." They answered in unison.

"I know the girl, your mate."

Good, he could start dishing out the information of everything that was about her.

"Tell me about her."

My ears were already itching to hear what they had to say, but they were staring at me as though they were contemplating to answer. The boy looked at the girl, trying to signal her to talk, and the girl did the same thing. Was it hard to talk about?

"Tell me." I was close to losing my patience.

The girl nudged the boy to speak.

"Her name is Kate."

"Kate?"

"Yes, and her father is the alpha of the pack of seers, the Tolias pack."

The Tolias pack. I remembered following my father there to get the help of a seer. It was such an incident that my mate hailed from there.

I nodded, it seemed that the first puzzle was already solved. I was certain that if I found her, then everything would be solved already.

"Allerio!" I called out to him. "We are leaving now!"

I got up from my seat, walking towards the entrance of the hall.

"Wait!" The girl called out to me. "You don't have to go now."

Was there a reason why I shouldn't go now? There couldn't be a reason to stop me from going.

"And why shouldn't I go when it's that important?"

"The Tolias pack has some kind of fetish, you don't just go to meet them without an invitation."

That startled me. I was an alpha, and it didn't make sense that I was going to go with an invitation. Moreover, their pack was small as compared to mine.

"I don't get you."

Just before they could give me an answer, Celine walked in, and that was against the rules I had set. She was not supposed to come inside the hall. Only my council members were allowed inside.

"What are you doing here?" I took up a stern voice.

"I also heard about your mate." She was smiling, and at the same time, sending shivers down my spine.

She was acting strange. The first moment when Priscilla was expressing her displeasure concerning my mate, she had left angrily after discovering Priscilla was pregnant.

"Her name is Kate," She rubbed her hands over my chest, looking at the boy and girl, and then she turned to look at me. "I can assist you in bringing her home."

I wasn't sure I heard her clearly, wasn't she supposed to show displeasure just the same way Priscilla had done?