At the Royal Academy

"Hello! We are sorry to bother you! Is this the building of the watcher students? We were directed here by the guards!" Politely asked Robert, while still retaining his proud beta face.

Four days had passed since the ball, but Celia's parents had not managed to catch even a glance of their daughter, so they had no choice, but to visit the Academy.

"Yes, this is the building. May I ask the purpose of your visit?" Asked the secretary, still scribbling in her notebook. Other than the first glance, she had not looked in their direction, focusing on her work.

"We are here to visit our daughter, Celia Blair." Diane affirmed proudly, slightly raising her voice. Being the mother of an alpha, how could she not make it known for all those who were passing by.

"I understand. Please wait a second for me to check!" The secretary informed them, finally closing her notebook, and verifying the current location of the alpha on her laptop. It was one of her most important responsibilities, she was the one who kept track of the watcher students, even if they were on vacation or during their personal leaves.

"I am sorry! Alpha Blair is not on the Academy grounds at this moment. I was not informed of when she will return. If you want, I can let her know of your visit when she returns!" The secretary briskly said and resumed her work, not granting them another glance.

"She is not on the Academy grounds? Then where is she?" Asked Robert surprised. Celia was an introvert person, she did not have friends and was not one who would leave to walk around. Not to mention, she should have been aware they still had not left and would probably visit her.

They knew that she had already rejected Rayan, the main reason for which they phoned her some days ago. He had not told them that, but for a reason unknown to them, the night of the ball, when they had barely returned to the guest quarters, Rayan had forcefully dragged Brianna in their bedroom and marked her. Celia must have taken away any hope he had, so he finally completed the new bond with her sister.

How could anyone even guess that a certain someone, jealous of their pack's alpha, had ordered him to finalize the marking of her sister as soon as they retired for the night. The order of the highest ranked werewolf, no matter how that person struggled, at the end had to be fulfilled.

"I am very sorry, but the location of the students cannot be disclosed to anyone."

"We are her parents, we are not anybody!" Her mother stated, flabbergasted. How could this little secretary deny her the right to know of her daughter?

"You are her parents, please contact her yourself. The alpha has her Academy issued phone with her. I am certain she will respond if you call her! Now then, please excuse me!" The secretary answered, finally losing her patience.

The fact that Celia was at the palace was not a secret, but she still would not inform others of it, even her parents, those were the rules she had to abide by.

"This little... she is not answering her phone!" Stated louder Diane, getting angrier. If Celia had answered the phone, would she come all the way to the Academy?

Why would she bother coming all the way here from their guest quarters, when it was the daughter's duty to see her parents, not the other way around.

"The fact that the alpha is not answering her phone means that she does not wish to speak with you, not that her phone is closed, correct? Then I am sorry, I have nothing else I can help you with!" Replied the secretary sharply.

She knew that the alpha was in a secure environment, so she was not concerned of her safety, not answering the phone was her private matter. And frankly, she could see why such a calm and polite person, would not want to see her parents.. It did not look like they were here, as concerned and thoughtful parents, to visit their child.

Diane wanted to still argue with her, it was not the secretary's business to comment on other things other than telling them where Celia was, but she was stopped by her husband.

"Thank you for letting us know! She probably has some things she is doing and is inconvenient for her to answer the phone right now. We will talk with her later. Goodbye!" Robert said maintaining his politeness. Then quickly walked away, harshly dragging the unwilling Diane.

***

"Why did you walk away? If we talked with her some more, we could have found where Celia is!" Diane told her husband, while they were still walking down the stairs towards their car.

"It is the secretary's job to know of the students' location, but it does not mean that she would just tell it to others. Forget it, the girl probably has a reason to why she has not answered her phone yet." Robert said sighing. Could it be that Celia's anger had not passed yet?

"But still, I am worried!" Diane replied. They had already let that girl cool down for some months already. That should have been enough. Really that stupid girl, she got arrogant ever since she became a student, she was not like this in the past.

"Do you want everybody to know how poor our relationship with our daughter currently is? Did you not see that even the secretary had begun to notice some strangeness after only a few words?" Robert said upset, using the pack link. They could have so many benefits if others knew of their daughter being a watcher, but that would only be the case if they also knew of her care towards them, which right now was nonexistent.

Diane finally settled down and did not speak more. She realized her husband was right, but they had no other means to contact her. The only one to whom she would answer the call of remained Daniel previously, but the last time he called her they intervened, so even to Daniel she would no longer answer to.

"Excuse me, are you the parents of alpha Blair?"

Hearing their daughter's name and title out of a foreign voice's man, the couple stopped just as they were about to enter their car.

They looked towards the handsome blonde young man. From his appearance, he seemed to be a student at the Academy.

"Yes, we are. We have been trying to reach her phone, but we are not getting through. We are deeply worried about her. Do you know where she might be?" Her father asked, his appearance certainly looked the part of a concerned father.

"Ohh, it must be because she is recuperating still. Perhaps she did not want you to worry." Replied the young man, trying to justify to why she had not answered her phone. They had also tried to call her, but for four days now she had not answered. Their teacher, Gabriel, informed them to wait a while longer, but they were still concerned.

Perhaps their alpha was truly hurt gravely, if even to her parents she could not respond to.

"Recuperating? Why, what happened?" Her mother asked, confused more than worried.

"Oh, she was injured during one of our exercises. She is at the palace at the moment." The young man answered.

"Thank you for informing us, young man. Let's go quickly!" Robert said, not staying a moment longer.

Diane agreed and quickly got in the car, but she was no longer concerned. That girl of hers was now even good at lying.

To purposely stay beside the king she faked her injuries and claimed they were graver than they truly were. Just some days earlier she was looking fine at the ball, she even fought another werewolf. She never would have thought of her being this capable of seducing a man. She really misplaced her hopes on Brianna.

"Marcus who were those people and just why did you inform them of the alpha's current location and state?" Asked Evan, just now climbing down the stairs.

"They were Celia's parents and they were looking for her. Our alpha did not want to see them concerned and did not tell them of her injuries, it seemed. She has not answered their calls." Marcus replied, glad that he managed to avoid her parents from misunderstanding their daughter.

"I really do not understand how you managed to pass the exams to become a watcher?! Honestly, the alpha should have tossed you out of the ring back then!" Evan stated sighing, while holding his hand on his temple, massaging it.

"What do you mean?" Asked Marcus quite upset, he had just done a good deed, but Evan still thought he was stupid.

"Our alpha has been injured for several weeks now, would her parents visit just now? If they were truly concerned about her, they would have visited ages ago. Not to mention, though she is injured, even to us she has replied from time to time.

Not answering any of her parents' calls, means she is not close to them at all. Or have you forgotten how quickly she came from her vacation last time?" Evan explained to the confused Marcus.

Only now Marcus realized that Evan was right, but what could he do about it?

"Forget it. Anyway, our alpha can handle herself, it is not like she is in danger just talking with her parents, and also if she truly does not wish to see them, the guards would not let them inside. Just be more careful next time!" Evan tried to ease the pale man's worries.

At the palace

Having rested like she never rested before, so comfortable and cozy, Celia slowly opened her eyes, waking up. Her eyes did not even accustom themselves with the morning light, before she widened them in surprise.

She had previously thought that she would not get a wink of sleep, when Salas had pulled her in his embrace. But, not only had she slept like a baby, she was now, from her own accord, clinging on to him like, for lack of a better word, a monkey.

Salas had his hand placed under her head, but that was the only part of his body that seemed to touch her from his will. She was the one who not only had her head rested on his hand with her face near his, but her hand was also sprawled on his chest hugging him, and her right foot was hugging his legs as well.

She did not dare move, only checking with her ears if his breathing was even. Confirming he truly was still sleeping, she slowly raised her leg which, in her own opinion, was in the more compromising position, and placed it on her other foot, trying to not make any sounds.

But, perhaps feeling the movement, he murmured a bit, shifting his face even more towards her own. His curled long eyelashes were now right in front of her eyes, with his nose barely not touching hers, and his lips were also at a dangerously close distance away.

She closed her mouth, which she had opened in fright a second before, afraid that even the air she breathed could be felt by him, waking him up. Then, with as much gentleness as she could muster, tried to remove her hand. But, she had barely clenched her hand's muscles, lifting only a little bit her weight, when he placed his own hand on hers.

Her first thought was that he woke up, but his eyes were still closed, still she froze not knowing how to take it back, without waking him up. She was too ashamed to be caught in this position. If she had slept curled up in a corner with him hugging her, it would have still been better. At least, he would be the one clinging, not her.

Unfortunately, she did not need to consider more of what to do. His full lips were raising slowly in a devilish smirk while his blue eyes slowly opened, just in time to see her helpless face.

"What are you doing?" He hoarsely asked, his voice with a tone lower because of sleeping.

"Nothing your highness, I was just trying to take back my hand that you snatched away!" She quickly said, proud of herself for finding a proper reason for the hand that rested on his chest.

"Really?" He asked playfully.

"Yes!" She assured, trying to maintain her confidence.

"Then I was also the one who placed your foot on mine. Such a heavily sleeper you are, not feeling both of those movements." He asked, chuckling.

Realizing he was always up, and felt all of her movements, she frowned upset, trying to snatch away with force this time her hand, not that it could budge as he held it.

"Your highness, please let go!" She said upset and shy as well.

"Salas!"

"What?" Celia asked, not understanding why he had said his name.

"Call me Salas and I will!" He said, looking in her eyes, pleased.

"S-Salas, please let go!" She said, this time with her voice lowered.

He complied, not wanting to embarrass her more, so she could finally move. She did not wait for a second longer, before she sprinted on her feet, and quickly went to the bathroom. Seriously, how could she fall asleep so easily near a man she barely knew some months ago? When she previously did not even have a crush or held a boy's hand.

"Cause he is our mate!" Waning replied to her rhetorical question.

"If that were true, I would not be so flustered each time I wake up and see him near!" She said, using her mind link.

"When you are sleeping, your subconscious mind takes over. It does what your conscious mind truly wants, but does not dare." Waning said amused.

Celia no longer replied to Waning, and also did not contradict her. Waning was her wolf, she knew Celia best. How could she fight against herself? It was a battle that she could never win.

Fortunately at least, by the time she dared exit the bathroom, Salas was no longer in the room. She did not have to ponder where he went, as a maid shortly knocked on the door.

The maid, Jenna, was the one who had attended to her when she was staying in the guest room. As such, she was familiar with her and she also helped Celia by bringing her clothes and some daily necessities from the other room.

This was the bright side of receiving help from someone she already knew, the downside was that she felt awkward because of the room where they currently were in.

Jenna, on the other hand, was an experienced maid so she acted normal like she always had, helping Celia feel a little bit comfortable. She had also informed her of Salas's current location and asked her of what she would like to do for the day.

The condition that Salas had asked her to abide when they previously talked was that she had to live in the Royal Palace on the weekends. As the day before was a Friday, Celia would still be in the Palace until Monday morning, when she would return to the Academy for her classes.

Luckily, breakfast was uneventful as Salas was still caught up in his work and had eaten in his office, so she ate alone, getting some time to herself to get used to all the changes that happened in so little time. During the last six months, her life had turned 180 degrees around, but the last month was even more eventful, to say the least.

Having some quiet moments, she went to the place she found herself most comfortable these days, the royal garden.

Jenna had been thoughtful and had also brought her a book to have a relaxing moment. Sitting on the grass, while reading a nice romance novel was wonderful. The only problem was that even the romance novel kept reminding her of Salas. And how could it not, when the male character was exactly like Salas, had Jenna did so intentionally, or was it a coincidence?

Especially the part where he had declared his love for the female character. Thinking about it again, she found herself blushing with her lips raising in a small smile.

"I did not think the royal garden was a place anyone could waltz into, without a care in the world?!" A high screechy voice stated loudly, interrupting Celia from her day dream. It was a voice that she could recognize even if she did not wish to.

"I was also under the same impression. His highness had said that it is not opened to the public!" Celia said calmly, not even bothering to look towards the person who had come and directly patronized her, without so much as a hello beforehand.

"You should not think you're all that! Just because you were his highness's partner for the ball and got lucky when we fought, does not make you a queen. Get off your high horse!" Yvonne said, annoyed. This woman that came out of nowhere had stolen a man she had worked years to get. This brat was not even born yet, when she had fallen in love with Salas.

It was only because, she knew that all those who came near him with the purpose of being his mate had been harshly rejected, that she did not do so as well. She worked hard first, because she knew he appreciated strength, and if not him at least the Council.

A little advice from her grandfather would make the other councilmembers come and plead her to become his queen. And, as the idea would not come from her own lips, she would do them a favor and would innocently and graciously accept it.

In the time she got ready to face him from a higher position, he would also have gotten over the wish to find his real mate, and would accept her, if only for the fact that she was the strongest female werewolf.

But then, this girl had to come along, the first female alpha, and a watcher as well. She ruined everything for her, all her plans turned to dust. That was why, even if she wanted to still keep her façade, it was impossible in front of Celia.

She was so angry, that she felt the urge to even squeeze the life out of the rose that she had approached while she was talking. She kept imagining that the black as night rose was Celia, and its small fragile stem was actually her throat.

"Would you please stop hurting the rose!" Celia said a bit more forcefully, with Waning letting her alpha aura spread around.

Seeing Yvonne about to crush it, she was already on her feet and had her hand placed in front of the rose protectively, as the former had already let go of it a bit frightened.

Touched by Celia, the black rose turned transparent, before becoming blue with small tinges of white on its edges, under the very eyes of a dumbfounded Emery.

"Do you need more proof?" Salas asked the head councilmember, as they approached the two women.

Yvonne flinched at the unexpected voice, she did not know that the old man would convince Salas so easily to come and meet her and had wondered off, away from the waiting room. Seeing the indoor garden that had fascinated her since childhood, she dared enter it and was angered to see Celia there. She let her anger get the best of her, could they have heard the previous exchange?

"No, I do not!" Emery denied quickly, he was maintaining his calm on the surface, but inside his soul he was crying tears of joy. The mate of the king that they had given up on, the only person who would make the fairies' flower show a blue color, the queen of the werewolves.

Salas had just informed him that there was no need for him to keep insisting on finding a mate, as he had found his true mate. But Emery, perhaps because they had hopelessly searched for such a long time, did not dare believe him. They had come to the garden just for the reason of asking Celia to touch one of the roses, proving that she was the queen.

Who knew they would find her doing just that?!

Honestly, if Salas had not asked him to keep it a secret for now, just until the one behind the attacks was caught, the elder would already be bowing to the mother of all werewolves, but he could not. But the least he could do, was to remove the person who had disturbed her.