The Alpha's Temptation

Felis picked up a ceramic statue and threw it on the wall, roaring with anger. How did Morava become Lerna? And if Morava was here, where was Lerna?

His General of army, Alphard was standing in the room with his hands clasped behind him. He glanced at Morava who was sitting on her bed with a pillow propped behind her. She was sipping an herbal potion given by the healer, looking pale and spent. Alphard was used to his king's outbursts but this particular one was one of the worst ones. When the Alphas had caught her, she looked and smelled like Princess Lerna. Even he couldn't detect anything wrong with it. This only meant one thing--someone had created a strong illusion and made her look like Lerna. The question was--who possessed this strong dark magic?

Felis snapped his head towards Morava. He stomped to her and sat at the edge of his bed. The marks on her neck were swollen and she was wincing in pain. He wanted to grab her by her neck and shake her till she was dead for duping him, but he knew that she didn't possess the dark magic that could create this illusion. On the night of escape he saw King Rolfe of Galahar. He was sure that it was him who helped Lerna. So did Lerna go to Galahar? His head had started aching with so many questions bouncing around. Out of the twelve Alphas, ten had already marked her and they had taken her with vengeance.

Lerna had run away from them when they were so desperate to claim her. They were waiting impatiently for her.

Now that the illusion had cracked and Morava's real identity was revealed, the ten Alphas who had marked her were seething with rage. Now they were mated to a woman who wasn't even a pure blooded Hydranian. They had waited for Princess Lerna to come of age for decades. The ten Alphas who had marked had been absolutely uncontrollable. They had wreaked havoc in the palace. They couldn't do a thing to Morava because now she was their mate. They hated her but now that the mate bond was established, they couldn't help the natural attraction for her. Some of them were contemplating on rejecting her as their mate.

The two who hadn't marked her, stopped themselves instantly thanking their stars. Felis had also asked those two to stop because he was going to tear the hell or heaven, but he was going to find his sister. The child born out of the mating with her would be the real heir of Hydra Kingdom after him.

Barely able to control his rage, he glowered at Morava, the former Pegasii princess. "How did you manage to come across Rolfe?" he snarled. "And where is Rolfe?"

"Who is Rolfe?" asked Morava, sitting in a daze, staring blankly in the far distance. "I know Mizvah. He was there with me. Can you take me to Mizvah?"

"Moravaaaa!" Felis roared. Everyone in the room froze when he spilled his rage. "Tell me what do you know about Lerna. Who is she with?"

Morava shook her head. "I don't know who Lerna is... I was in the dungeons of Draka. I was escaping from them. Mizvah helped me... take me to him..." Tears poured out of her eyes unbridled. "I wanted to go to Pegasii... take me to Pegasii..."

Felis narrowed his eyes on her. He knew that she was so dazed that she wouldn't be able to answer him nicely. She needed some rest mentally and physically and only then he would be able to know about the whole scenario. With a growl, he got up and before leaving, he ordered the guards to seal her room and keep a twenty-four hour vigilance on her so that the Alphas didn't get to her.

"Alphard!" Felis called him as soon as he was out of the room.

"Yes, Your Highness," Alphard came next to him.

"How come she and her mother were in the dungeons of Draka?"

Alphard took a deep breath. Queen Sirrah was in cahoots with him. Whenever she needed a small attack on Pegasii, he would send some of his Nyxers over there. That way not only did he grant favor to Sirrah, his king was also satisfied that his Nyxers were up to something all the time. He had never revealed his alliance with Sirrah to Felis.

"The last I heard from the spies was that she was thrown out by the king of Pegasii for betraying his trust. King Biham has rejected her," said Alphard, omitting the reason why she did that. He recalled that Sirrah had sent a letter through his spies to him to take Lusitania to the Hydra Kingdom. He had arranged it all. But because of Rigel's timely intervention, Lusitania was rescued. That was the last he had heard from Sirrah.

Felis stopped in his tracks. "Why did he abandon his daughter?"

"I don't know..." Alphard replied. He had never interacted with Morava and so his secret would always remain safe.

"Send more Nyxers to find Lerna. I want information on Draka. And who is Lusitania?"

Alphard couldn't say who she was because even he didn't know why she was so important to Sirrah. "I don't have much idea, but from the limited information I have, she is someone Queen Sirrah hated a lot."

Felis's brows furrowed. "Find out about her. And I want you to keep a track on the movement around the Draka and Pegasii borders. I have a feeling that something huge is happening."

"I will!" Alphard said.

Felis strode back to his bedchamber. He was going to interrogate Princess Morava the next day. In fact, he was going to throw a carrot in front of her. One that she would never deny.

---

"These are just the last pages left, Tania," said Kinshra with a satisfied smile. They covered most of the Yunabi arcana. "Do you want to finish them now or while we travel to Pegasii?"