The Alpha Prince And His Bride
Book 2 The Alpha’s Forbidden Bride – Episode 14

Hunter’s eyes were completely amused as he continued to look between James and me.

Air clogged my lungs as the reality of the situation sunk into my brain.

What were we going to do? Hunter had definitely caught us; there was no denying anything now. If I thought things were bad before, I was definitely wrong. We were alone in the woods, with no help from my siblings or James’s family.

No one knew that we were out here by ourselves. In fact, when we left, everyone was busy doing their own things. This meant, it would take a while before they realized that we were missing. By the look on Hunter’s face as well as his men’s, I could tell that we didn’t have that much time left before they attacked.

“I knew that Eden had found her mate,” he said. “I never expected that it would be you, Alpha Prince James Lance Vinci. Alpha of the second best pack in the world, after the fall of Alpha Eric.”

I hadn’t considered that. When Austin and James had defeated Eric, it meant that James’s rank would have increased, since Eric’s pack was no more. My mate held the second highest ranking, which was an amazing accomplishment.

James held his stare with narrowed eyes. His posture told me many things; the main one was that he was looking for a way to get me out of here before the fight started. I wasn’t leaving, not without him.

“You know,” Hunter continued. “I originally thought that her mate would make it hard for me to replace him, after all, werewolves of all kinds cower when they hear my name. Your status however, makes everything a lot clearer for me. After coming here, your actions made it very easy for me to replace you. This means, you wanted me to replace out the truth.”

Hunter wasn’t asking, he was stating the facts, things that he’d figured out on his own.

By James’s tensed state, I could tell that he definitely knew what he was talking about. Did James bring me all the way here because he wanted Hunter to replace us? Was that what this was about?

But then why was he here alone? If he knew we’d have gotten caught, wouldn’t he have brought his entire pack with him?

“Is it war that you want?” He asked as he took another step forward, they were directly opposite each other now. The closer they got to each other, the more my heart continued to race. Even though Hunter was speaking about war, he still seemed extremely calm and collected. I shouldn’t have been surprised, war was a normal thing for Hunter and his men, and they were cold blooded killers.

I suddenly felt light headed at that reminder.

Cold blooded killers.

“She’s my mate,” James growled. “You had one before. You know that I’ll give my life for her, if it means war, then so be it.”

Hunter’s entire posture changed at the mention of his dead mate. There was this darkness in his eyes that I hadn’t seen before now. It was the first time I’d gotten a glimpse of the cold, heartless beast everyone had so often spoken about. I was even more frightened now than I was before. The air seemed to thicken around me as I fought to catch my breath.

Everything happened so fast after that. Hunter shifted into a huge black and grey wolf while every single one of his men followed right after.

James was the last to shift; his wolf was a beautiful sight to see. I’d never seen a black wolf as beautiful as his, the fur glistened in the sun and the power that radiated of him was spectacular. I was the first person the powerful wolf’s eyes fell on before he took in all of his opponents one by one, before finally settling on Hunter.

I watched in horror as they all began circling him. I didn’t know what to do, everything was happening to quickly and my anxiousness was getting the better of me. Back at the council, we were exposed to many things. However, we were never trained for fights like these. Instead, we were trained on how to act and behave like a proper lady to whichever man we were sold to for the benefits of the council.

Even if James was powerful enough to hold off some of these men, it was still too much. There was no way he could make it out of this without any help. They were all growling at him now while he continued to study each of his opponents closely.

He threw his head back and a piercing howl was sounded throughout the entire forest. He was calling for his pack, they would surely be able to hear him . . . at least I hoped so.

Before he could howl anymore, all of the wolves plunged on him at the same time while Hunter just stayed back, letting them do the dirty work. His wolf was pacing from side to side as he continued to watch, like a lion would.

Despite so many wolves attacking at once, James still managed to hurt a few of them. I could hear the sound of bones breaking and the cries from Hunter’s men.

I couldn’t see it anymore. I couldn’t stand the sight of my mate fighting all of these men on his own. It was too much for me.

I could feel myself begin to shift. The sound of bones snapping was all I could hear as my body accommodated my new shape. With a howl of my own, I lunged forward and landed straight besides James. I grabbed one of the wolves by his neck and slammed him against a tree with all of the strength that I could muster.

I tried to pry another wolf of him but couldn’t in time. I felt myself being lifted into the air and before I had a chance to figure out what just happened, pain struck my head. I heard a devastating cry and it took me a moment to realize that it came from me.

I could feel myself begin to shift once more as my body gave out and blackness took over.

. . . . . .

~JAMES~

I felt my heart drop in my chest at the sight of my mate being flung onto a rock.

A loud howl tore through me as I lunged for the wolves responsible for her pain. I ripped the two of them into pieces without a second thought, ignoring the other three that tried to hold me down.

Multiple howls filled the air and I knew what that meant.

My pack was here, as well as Austin’s.

As they surrounded us, I shifted into my human form and rushed to Eden’s side. She’d shifted back into her human form as well and was now completely naked. I grabbed her body and shielded her from the rest of men while my pack surrounded me.

I noticed that there were also more of Hunter’s men around us as well; they must have been close by. I couldn’t think about that right now. I needed to protect my mate. I could feel my soul cry out at the sight of her knocked out and bleeding in my arms. I was supposed to be protecting her, I’d failed miserably as a mate.

This was my fault. . . all my fault.

What had I done?