"I know you're stressed, but could you tone it down a bit? I'm drowning over here," the queen covered her nose as she smelled the intense pheromones radiating off her son. Even though the queen herself was an alpha, she was not inclined to submit under her son's strong scent as she birthed and raised him. The fact that Jae himself was respectful and well-mannered also played a role.

"Ah. Sorry," the true blood lessened his scent, but only enough to appease his mother. He left enough to just barely mask the presence of the sleeping zeta beneath the sheets.

The queen's expression softened as she looked at her heartbroken son. "How are you feeling? Are you okay?"

Jae reached his hand behind his neck and ran his hand up the back of his head. "You must have heard."

"Mmm hmm. Why didn't you tell me your mate re...rejected you?" Tears filled the queens eyes as she finished.

Jae's heart stung as he recalled the rejection. "I figured you'd find out eventually...and...I needed time."

"My poor baby," the queen took her son in her arms and comforted him. "You could have challenged him for her," the alpha said as she and her son parted.

"No," Jae shook his head. "She looked happy...before she saw me."

The queen let out a sad sigh before pulling her son back in for another hug.

"I'm fine, Mom. I'll be okay," the prince comforted his mother.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"Okay. As long as you're alright. You know your father will need to know," the alpha said as she and her son parted.

Jae nodded. "I'll tell him when he gets back."

"Okay. Well, I guess we will be holding interviews."

"Already?"

"Yes. You are of age. You need a mate who can give you an heir."

"Mother, I have already-"

"I know, I know. The pain is still fresh, but you will need a mate, so I will start looking."

"No," a growl resonated through the room as the wolf's eyes flashed gold. "I will choose my own mate."

The queen studied the prince for a moment before answering, "Very well, but they must be compatible. Your heir needs to be strong."

"Leave it to me."

"Okay. I will. I trust you. I will leave you to it," the queen said before pecking her son on the cheek. "I have duties to attend to."

"Okay."

"Join me for dinner?"

Jae nodded as the queen turned around to leave. She shot a slight glance towards the pile of blankets on the bed before slipping through the door. As soon as the door shut, the prince let out a strained breath. Shaky, the true blood fell to his knees and cried freely. Truthfully, he was not okay. His heart hurt like hell. His fated one rejected him, and the wolf he came to care for had less than a week to live.

After letting out the hurt and stress, Jae dried his tears and stood to his feet. He carefully uncovered the zeta and straightened the blanket before laying it over the small wolf. The true blood checked the zeta's temperature once more before turning to leave to attend to the daily duties he had been putting off.

The zeta's brown eyes fluttered open as he heard the door close. If Jae had looked closely, he would have noticed two small, fresh tear stains on the sheets just below the zeta's closed eyes.

Haikon knelt down to study the tracks of the wolf he and Xander had been hunting. The two had set off an hour after the sun had set and had hunted through the night. The rays from the morning sun were now seeping into the dense forest as the theta discovered a recently imprinted track. The alpha was in his wolf form and was moving quickly.

The theta furrowed his brows as he studied the tracks.

"What is it?" Xander inquired as he studied Haikon's expression.

"His movements don't make sense. He is running wildly."

Xander's eyes widened. "He's not stable?"

Haikon shook his head.

Xander let out a breath. "Well, there's nothing we can do about that. We'll just have to be extra careful." The delta stood to his feet and ran his fingers through his wavy hair.

Haikon could smell the delta's slight nervousness and stood to his feet. "It'll be alright."

Xander turned and looked at the theta. He let out a breath and nodded. "Mm. We can do this." The delta turned and looked down the path the alpha wolf had broken through the forest and added, "We have to do this." Xander's blood boiled as his determination to find the alpha strengthened. How dare a wolf hurt his mate!

Haikon took the lead as the two continued on their hunt. Xander kept a hand on the knife strapped to his side, ready to defend himself and Haikon from the alpha lurking in the trees.

The assassin and the tracker hunted through the day, only stopping twice to refill their water from streams trickling through the forest.

"Are we any closer?" Xander inquired of the tracker at one of their stops by a stream.

The theta nodded. "We're nearly there."

"Have his movements improved?"

The theta shook his head. "No, they've gotten worse."

"Aish," the delta cursed under his breath. "What's his stability now?"

"In the negatives."

Xander's heart sank. Thetas had the ability to determine a wolf's stability by tracking its movements. The more unstable the wolf's movements, the more dangerous and fatal they became as they had succumbed further to their feral instincts. The lower the stability, the harder it was to track and predict the wolf's movements.

"How low into the negatives? Doubles?" Xander asked the theta.

"No, he's still in the singles."

The delta let out a small breath and turned to look at the wolf's tracks. Haikon observed the delta silently. Knowing Xander's history with unstable alphas, Haikon kept a watchful eye on the delta as the two continued. The delta and theta's movements were silent as the two traversed through the thick forest. The sun had now set, and the moonlight barely reached the ground beneath the trees.

Haikon suddenly stopped in his tracks and sniffed the air. Xander waited silently as the theta closed his eyes and listened. This was the crucial moment. They had caught up to the wolf. The two remained silent and still as they listened. Xander also closed his eyes and listened intently to their surroundings. The cool, night breeze whistled through the trees, rustling the leaves and creating its haunting sound. The theta's ear twitched as he picked up the footfalls of various animals. Then, the crunching of a dry twig brought the theta's attention to his right. And there it could be heard: the low growl of the alpha.

The delta's eyes snapped open as he, too, picked up the sound of the alpha. Xander felt his throat close up as the the sound approached. Soon, the growl intensified. The alpha was now running, running towards them. "Change!" The delta ordered as the alpha came upon them.

The theta was quick to heed to the delta's command and swiftly shifted into his wolf form. His black fur shimmered under the sparse moonlight, and his yellow eyes glowed brightly in the night. A brown wolf with bright blue eyes rushed past the theta. Haikon watched as Xander confronted the alpha who came to a stop before the two wolves.

The tip of Xander's tail swished as he and the alpha engaged in circling one another. Saliva dripped from the alpha's opened snout as the wolf bared his teeth. Haikon watched as the two higher ranking wolves sized each other before charging. A whine sounded as the alpha sank his teeth into the delta's side. Spinning around to gain momentum, the alpha released his hold on the blue-eyed wolf, and the delta was sent flying through the air. Haikon rushed to the wolf flying through the air and jumped between the delta and the tree the wolf was thrown towards.

Haikon let out a grimace as he crashed into the tree. The theta shifted to his human form to check on the delta who had also changed out of his wolf form upon crashing into Haikon. Xander looked around the surrounding trees as Haikon studied the wounds in the delta's side. They were not fatal. Xander could still hunt.

Haikon followed Xander's gaze and looked around them. The alpha had disappeared. The wolf had run off into the trees after throwing Xander towards the tree.

"Let's go," Xander said as he stood to his feet. Haikon followed the delta, and the two disappeared into the trees in search of the alpha.

"Where did it go?" Xander sniffed the air, looking for any trace of the newly lost scent.

"This way," Haikon said as he picked up the scent of the alpha.

"Gosh, this bastard moves fast," the delta commented as he followed the theta deeper into the forest. "I wonder why the prince needs him alive."

"Don't wonder. Just do your job."

"'Just do your job,'" the delta mimicked the theta's curt words. Xander knew he shouldn't be joking around in a situation like this, but he needed to distract himself from the unstable alpha for a little bit, even if it was just a split second.

"Shh!" Haikon let out a sharp warning.

Keen to the theta, Xander knew Haikon sensed something. The delta's face grew serious at the theta's tense composure. The two males silently crouched behind a bunch of shrubs and observed their surroundings. A low growl reached their ears, sending shivers down the males' spines. They turned their heads to see two, red eyes glowing at them from behind forest growth about twenty feet in front of them.

"Is that-"

"Yep. That's him," Haikon confirmed through his impeccable tracking skills. They had found the alpha. "You're up, Delta," Haikon said as he moved aside and took shelter behind a wide tree. Thetas were excellent trackers, but deltas were expert fighters. Once Haikon tracked down the target, Xander eliminated it.

The sound of daggers being drawn resonated quietly as the delta readied his weapons. The glowing red eyes grew bigger as the alpha slowly approached the delta. "Come on, just a little closer." Xander adjusted his grip on the daggers in his hands. Deltas were naturally weaker than alphas when it came to strength; however, no wolf could beat a trained delta's flexibility and innate skill.

Xander sized the target in the shadows and released a dagger. If Xander could not beat the alpha in his wolf form, he would fight in his human state with weapons. He had trained for years for situations like these. The delta's confrontation with the alpha just an hour before allowed the delta to size the alpha and determine his strength. He was not an alpha Xander could beat wolf-on-wolf. A howl sounded as the dagger reached its mark. But, before Xander could throw the second dagger, the alpha bounded towards him wildly. Haikon quickly ran out from behind his tree and tackled Xander to the ground as the alpha leaped over them.

Fighting instinct, Haikon kept his eyes wide open. He needed to be ready to act at any moment in response to the alpha's unpredictable movements. Xander's eyes widened as he watched the alpha leap over Haikon. His eyes had a wild glint. It was almost as if he was an addict fiercely searching for his next fix. Xander's gaze moved to the theta covering him as the tail of the alpha exited his range of sight.

"Haikon! I could have gotten him!" Xander protested as he looked up at the man hovering over him.

"We're not supposed to kill him, remember?"

"Yes! I wasn't going to stab him in a fatal spot; just enough to maim him," Xander huffed as he sat up under the theta. "Anyways, where did he go?" The delta looked around at the surrounding trees. "Did he run off?" Xander was growing annoyed at the alpha's habit of running off and leaving some crazy trail that he and the theta would have to follow.

Haikon's face turned white as he smelled the awfully strong scent of the alpha. "No," the theta began in a low whisper. "He's still here."