By the time Emily reached near the high fence that surrounded the Mansion, she was totally out of breath.

After calming down her rapidly beating heart, she hurriedly looked around to see if someone had seen her.

Fortunately, there was no one present as far as her eyes could search.

She needed to return to the mansion before Leo woke up. It was easy to explain her whereabouts as long as she was present inside the mansion.

But there was no way her brothers would believe in her lies about her being wandering near the high fence in the middle of the night.

Once she made sure that no one was coming their way, she turned her attention towards the silver-haired boy who was sitting on the top of the fence with his back towards her.

If she could, then she would have pushed him down the fence so that the jerk could experience at least half of the misery that he was making her suffer through.

It was like how much effort she was putting in keeping his unwanted interest in her a secret from her brothers, he was putting exactly the same level of effort into exposing her lies.

"What the heck do you think you are doing here? What if the security or my brothers would have seen you?" She whispered shouted at the boy who was either completely oblivious about her presence behind him or was probably ignoring her.

She watched in silence as the boy turned his face a little sideways to show that he had heard her.

However, looking at the side profile of his face which was mostly hidden behind the curtain of his long silver hair, Emily suddenly had a very bad feeling.

Even though she had seen Rylan only a couple of times but it was impossible for her to not recognize him from this close.

"W-who...who a-are you...?" The question escaped through her lips as she started taking her steps back.

The only reply that she got was a present of the very familiar dark abyss.

***

"It's almost two in the morning. Exactly why are you drilling holes in that beautiful carpet rather than sleeping?" Shane inquired as he tried his best to hide his fifty-seventh yawn in the last hour.

Rylan completely ignored his best friend and his questions as he kept shuffling around the empty space between the sofa and the huge tv that was covering about seventy percent of the wall.

He suddenly stopped in his tracks before he turned his focus towards Shane as he said, "I'm having that exact bad feeling right now that I experienced yesterday afternoon. As if something bad is about to happen."

"Of course, you are having that feeling. If you have forgotten then let me remind you buddy. You are about to face the wrath of the Council for breaking one of the most important rules set by them." Shane immediately replied with a scoff.

However, a frown appeared on his face as he watched his friend shaking his head with a desperate look in his eyes.

"No. Not me. The bad feeling that I experienced yesterday was not for me, just like right now. Maybe.....she's in some sort of problem again?"

Rylan looked at his friend as he waited for a reply. It was as if he was waiting for Shane to tell him that the girl was perfectly fine.

"Rye, I understand that your new connection with her is making you over-conscious about her wellbeing. But look at the time. It's past two in the morning. She's probably fast asleep in her lavish bedroom inside that huge Alessandro mansion. She's with her brothers, the Alessandros, and there is always the security that guards the mansion. You should start worrying about yourself rather than the Alessandro Princess."

Shane tried to comfort his best friend as he made him sit on the sofa. He would really hate to see that beautiful carpet being destroyed just because Rylan Sullivan wanted to exercise his legs a little bit.

"You are probably right. I just can't relax with this weird feeling that's not leaving me." Rylan replied as he let out a huge sigh.

"Let Sire deal with the Council meeting first. Once this problem is sorted out, you should talk to him about your mark." Shane told his friend in a serious tone.

Seeing how Rylan was totally in control of the mark from the moment it appeared on his body, was not great signs.

Moreover, he was not the only one who's going to suffer due to the mark. The Alessandro Princess would be facing similar problems.

The only way to keep them both away from the way of harm was to make sure that they both were fully aware of the meaning of the mark and how it worked.

"Are you fucking insane! She's an Alessandro. Even though we are not enemies but we can't be together.....EVER!" Rylan quickly responded as he looked at his friend who dared to suggest such a stupid idea.

"Rye, even you are aware that if there's anyone in this entire world who can understand your condition then it's Sire. Moreover, telling him about the mark isn't an option....it's a necessity."

Shane's words made Rylan quiet down as he furrowed his brows while looking deep in thoughts.

It was right. He needed to tell his brother about the mark. There's no other option available in that case.

After a long silence, he finally turned his attention towards his friend before he nodded his head.

The way Shane's shoulders relaxed at his nod made Rylan realized that exactly how lucky he was to have such a great best friend.

"By the way, are you still experiencing that bad feeling?" Shane asked after a few minutes of comfortable silence.

Rylan slowly nodded his head in confirmation of his question.

"Just bear with it for a little bit longer. If everything went okay, then you will see her in school just in a few more hours. I'm sure the mark will calm down after that." Shane assured him as he patted his shoulder.

Both the boys were completely oblivious that the mark was giving the right signals. The Alessandro Princess was no longer safe!