DANIEL'S POV

"How long will it take? I swear if you guys are fooling me, I'll shred you guys to pieces." I hollered feeling a bit on edge as we've been walking for the last 20 minutes or so with a blindfold on my eyes. ​​

'Like as if it's gonna stop me from finding the trail.' I scoffed in my mind.

"We are almost there." One of the rogues said before I heard the sound of a door creaking and then closing.

I was about to ask them again, how much time will they take, but the removal of the blindfold from around my eyes stopped me.

Blinking my teary eyes, I looked forward towards the person who was sitting leisurely on a chair before feeling my eyes widening when I noticed what or should I saw who the person was.

"Ro-Robert?" I stuttered, not knowing if I was right or my mind was playing games with me.

"Well, hello to you too, Mr alpha-beta Daniel," Robert said while scoffing at me.

"How dare you tell your pathetic friends to call me here, after what you did with the pack and us. If I knew it was you-"

"-then you would've never come to this place. Right?" Robert said cutting me off.

"You still care about me. Don't you? Well, let's not lie to each other. You know how I can easily catch lies, don't you?" Robert said as he asked his men to lose their grip on me.

"What are you doing here? Weren't you-"

"-dead? That's what you wanted to ask, right?" Robert finished the sentence again and I couldn't help but look at him quizzically.

"Well, let's say, Alexander's bad days are not over yet. That day when they had wounded me by stabbing me 10 times with that silver-copper laced dagger, I had fallen into the river. All of you thought I died, right? But luckily for me, and badly for Alexander, someone saved my life. And here I am, all healthy, ready to fight back." Robert said.

Looking at him smirking like this, I couldn't help but feel confused. Should I be happy that he was alive? Or should I be sad, that he was alive?

"Bro, I know you are not exactly happy to see me since I am going to create trouble and it will be a hell of a lot of work for you to handle, but at least don't make that weird face that looks like you are about to poop." He said chuckling before offering me a drink.

I looked at the drink or should I say, the shake that he offered me and felt a turmoil of emotions swirling inside me

"You still like Oreo chocolate shakes, don't you? You are still a kid." He said before sipping on his drink, which must be a mango shake with lots of cherries in it.

Looking at the guy sitting in front of me, I couldn't help but think about all the good memories we had together.

Well, who was this Robert?

The person sitting in front of me was the only son of Alexander's father's elder brother. He was the son of Leonardo Roosevelt, a.k.a the real and rightful deserver of the king position.

Alexander's grandfather had two sons, Theodore Roosevelt and Leonardo Roosevelt. Both of them were remarkable in their ways. They know how to fight, how to run a pack, how to handle a crisis, and also, how to compete with each other rightfully because both were eligible for the throne.

There is no such tradition that only an elder son is allowed to sit on the throne. Here it was more based on abilities than first come first receive basis.

Both of them were the best fighters with the best sense of righteousness, or that's what everyone had thought before one day when the elder son Leonardo Roosevelt was caught having an explicit romance with a rogue who wanted to kill Alexander's father's, Matthew Roosevelt.

Originally, Leonardo's mate was a rogue that they had to find while exiling a few of them. However, when she came to know that Leonardo was a nominee or eligible candidate for being a potential king, she had rejected him.

She rejected him saying, she loved her carefree life more than the caged life that royal life offers. Brokenhearted from rejection, he went berserk and almost killed his mother who was bad-mouthing a rogue one day.

After that day, Matthew Roosevelt lost his hope in his elder son because he was often caught having intercourse with rogues before he would kill them to shun them out.

Thinking that a wife would be able to handle him, Matthew married him to the daughter of the then council head, from which Robert came into the picture.

However, the daughter of the council head died painfully under the merciless torture of Leonardo Roosevelt.

Since Robert was the son of the elder son, then even though Alexander's father became the king, Robert was still the rightful heir and eligible candidate for the crown once Theodore leaves the throne, but that also didn't happen for few reasons.

First, Robert was not a pure son of two mates but a forced marriage. Second, pack people favoured Alexander more than Leonardo because let's say, Alexander was more on the soft side and Robert was more on the side of righteousness and trust.

And third, Robert had accidentally killed a girl, who had become a rogue accidentally because she was kicked out of her pack brutally after being used.

Theodore had heard about that girl being kicked out and was planning on taking the girl directly under the pack run by the palace itself, but it's said that Robert couldn't control his wolf that had shifted for the first time and shred her into pieces after raping her brutally.

Theodore Roosevelt was so angry that he kicked him and declared that he won't become the king.

I still remember that day when a scared and guilty-looking Robert had come knocking on my door as he cried and wailed about how sorry he felt when he realised what his wolf has done.

It couldn't be considered his fault. The werewolves when turning into their wolves for the first time their emotions, sense and hormones are triggered 50 times, and thus, most of the time a teenager is locked into the dungeon for initial 5 days. It wasn't his fault that he had shifted that day only and no one was there in the forest at that time to help him control his wolf.

When Theodore came to know about what Leonardo did, he had outrageously beaten him black and blue and cursed him in front of all the pack, saying,

'He was exactly like his father It turned that the son of a rapist also turned out to be a rapist. Like father like son. What could've we expected more from this Satan's spawn.'

Robert was very hurt after listening to this and had tried to kill Theodore in his sleep, under the Influence of his anger. Seeing him as the potential threat, Theodore Roosevelt had ordered the royal security guards to kill him in the night.

Alexander and I knew nothing about this.

My father was among that security team.

And just like that, the friendship bond that Robert, Alexander and I shared was broken when we all thought and came to know that he tried to kill the king and had died.

"So you are here to take revenge on your father?" I asked after a long time seeing that he doesn't have any intention to talk anytime soon.

"Geez! Your thought process is so wrong. Of course not." He said, making me sigh in relief.

"-I am just here to take what's rightfully mine. The crown, the position and the love." He said, making me stand in shock when he said that.

"I won't allow you to harm Alexander while I am still in the picture," I warned him, keeping the shake aside.

"Daniel, dear Daniel. You are so naive, no? I promise you, I won't kill Alexander, or it wouldn't be me who will be killing him for sure." He said smiling with a meaningful gaze.

"Robert, why are you doing this? It wasn't Alexander's fault at that time. If you have any feud with Theodore then go ahead and confront him. The pack needs Alexander now. We are already having a tough time, with all the rogues lurking around." I couldn't help but say, wanting to make him understand.

"Confront him? The council head? And what good will it bring me, apart from national security behind me? Do you want me to die? Besides, the pack doesn't need Alexander, Daniel. The pack needs a stronger alpha king, have the right sense of duty and doesn't put his prejudices before siding or taking any decisions."

"Alexander is also the right alpha king. And he always takes decisions that are best for the pack. He never works on any prejudices-" I started, but was cut mid-sentence by Robert.

"Yeah? Like how he did today? Not side with Laila because of his prejudice that she is always right because she is his so-called pack border control leader?" Robert said and I would hate to say but he was right in this case.

But there was something, more important than that, and it was,

"How do you know all that?" I asked perplexed.

"Well, let's just say that I have my way with things." He said before smirking as he continued.

"But seriously, is it true that you love that half-human? What's her name? Victoria, right? Do you love her?" He asked and I don't know why, but hearing her name from his mouth made me want to kill him.

"Don't bring her into this. She has got nothing to do with it. Besides, whether I love her or don't love her, is not relevant to your deals. She is innocent and I would prefer that she stays safe." I hollered as an unknown emotion started to build again.

"I will take that as a yes. Daniel and Alexander hunter, loving the same girl. Is the story of Damien and Daniel from the reign of Damien going to be repeated?" Robert murmured, which confused me.

"What are you talking about?"

"Look, my men, who were rogues told you that they will help you get Victoria and you immediately followed them without even caring about the consequences. It means how much you love her. Besides, from what I was informed, I don't think Alexander loves her.

As far as I have learned about mate bond, no matter how wrong your mate is, a person in love still sides with his mate. And it makes me think, if Victoria is his real mate, or is he using her because she is beautiful. I haven't seen her personally, but from my men description, I heard she is really beautiful, sexy and hot, I wonder if she is good in bed-" Robert said and I grabbed his collar, growling as my wolf itched to surface.

"Calm down, my boy. See, that's the kind of reaction you get when someone badmouths your mate or tries to hurt your mate. But what had Alexander done? He sided with Laila just because she is the leader. Are you fuckin kidding me?" He said sipping on his drink.

However, it would be wrong if I say his words didn't affect me. He was right about this thing. Even I had heard of how protective a mate is for their other half, and Alexander was an alpha, to begin with.

When I am feeling this protectiveness towards her when I am not her mate as he had said, then shouldn't he be feeling ten times more protective of her.

I heard from my father that he had almost killed the beta of his time because he had commented casually on my mother.

"You know, seeing how you are reacting about her, I think you are her mate and Alexander are just coming in between by forcing his so-called infatuation on her and calling it a mate bond," Robert said.

"Just imagine how brokenhearted the girl will be when Alexander will found his real mate and will discard her. To be honest, seeing how Alexander always sides with Laila, I think she is his real mate." He continued as the images of Victoria crying brokenhearted and looking all pained starting appearing in my head, making my mind fuzzy with killing thoughts.

"Enough about her. Tell me why you had called me here. I know, for me inviting here, you surely have multiple evil designs on Alexander." I muttered, trying to keep my mind away from those images.

"That's like my boy. Always so intelligent. I want your help with something very minute. In return, you will get Victoria, your mate and you can live happily after with her.

Don't worry, it's not killing Alexander or something. All you have to do is add this small powder in his drink, which will make him unconscious for few minutes, since making an alpha king unconscious is a tough nut to crack.

I will have a one on one with Alexander fair and square. If I win, I will get the throne, you'll get your girl and Alexander will have to live like a normal pack member or as he wishes.

And if he wins, he gets to keep the throne, about the girl, you guys can decide and I'll leave your lives for better. How is it?" Robert explained, and I couldn't help but think twice at his lucrative offer.

I don't think there was anything wrong with his offer. And as far as I know, he is the one to keep his promise, as I still remember how he had almost lost his life bringing a rare lotus that he had promised Rosaline, so I don't think he'll be going back on his words either.

Besides, if Alexander is capable to be an alpha king, he'll have to fight him and prove his strength sooner or later, anyways.

After thinking for a long time, I couldn't help but say,

"I'll do it."

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A/N - Sorry guys for keeping you waiting for this long. Due to me being naughty as always, I had injured my hand and wasn't able to write. I wrote the chapter the first thing doctor told me, it was fine now.

I hope you like it.